Siblings for Samuel

No, it's not what you may be thinking (I'm not pregnant!)--you could call these "instant siblings," or maybe "honorary siblings." It all started when Saúl and I discovered we had to look for a new place to live. (To make a short story even shorter, the owners of the house we'd been living in had received a more lucrative offer and asked if we'd be willing to move. Since our agreement with them was almost up anyway, we agreed.)

The three "hermanitos," Josías, Alison, and Samuel, in the patio at our new house

We went through all the usual house-hunting steps: we asked around, scanned and circled for-rent ads in the classifieds, made phone calls and visits; but we soon discovered there were few viable options in our price range. Santa Cruz is going through an economic boom these days, and rental prices have boomed as well. After several days of intensive searching we found a small apartment in a different part of the city whose rent we figured we could manage to cover, at least until we found a more permanent situation...but somehow I didn't feel at peace with the decision. The night before we had planned to sign the rental agreement, I asked Saúl to consider an offer our friends Yovana and Martín had made some weeks back--an offer to share their house with them and live in their spare room--and he agreed.

Alison and Sam are learning to share food and toys--something some of us grown-ups still have a hard time with, come to think of it.

As you can probably imagine, it took some serious downsizing to move from a two-bedroom house to a single bedroom, but by God's grace we managed to sell all of our large furniture and appliances the same day we moved, without even having to advertise; our friends in our old neighborhood and some of their relatives were our best customers.

So now we live with our good friends Martín and Yovana, and (this is where the siblings part comes in) with their two children, Josías (age six) and Alison (eighteen months old). This was quite a change in the social life of our only child! As you might guess, it wasn't all smooth sailing--on the plus side, Sam's gained camraderie and a wider selection of toys; on the minus side, his new comrades often want to play with the same toys he does, and vice versa. New parenting phrases for Saúl and me have included "No, honey, that's Alison's cup--that one is yours"; "Can you share, please?"; "No hitting!"--oh, and "Be GENTLE with the doggie!" (Besides Josías and Alison, Samuel's new playmates include a puppy named Doki; we're sometimes worried that Samuel, in his excitement, will crush poor Doki out of pure affection!)

Three kids and a dog--it's a recipe for fun and, occasionally, tears--see the ending of this video for evidence of the latter. :-(

All in all, though, I'm pleased with our move, especially because of the advantages for Samuel. He is indeed learning to share--last Sunday in the toddler church school class, he voluntarily handed crayon after crayon to Hana, one of his little classmates. He's also learning to become more independent by imitating his older "siblings"; since our move to their house just a couple of weeks ago, Samuel has started to take more initiative in spoon-feeding himself, for example, and has developed a faster running walk (which he needs if he expects to keep up with the other two!). Having watched Alison climb and clamber over the living room furniture seems to be preparing Samuel to climb too. Last night we took him to a playground, and after watching an older boy climb up on some playground equipment using his hands and feet; immediately Samuel stooped down and did the same thing, and he managed to make it almost on his own; Saúl was right behind him the whole time, ready to rescue Samuel if he fell, but he ended up not needing to be steadied at all. (I wished we'd caught that on video!)

I guess the moral of the story is yet another reminder (because we so quickly forget, don't we?) that God uses all things for good for those who love Him. Moving was not our idea, but God had a greater purpose, and Samuel's new "siblings" are helping us discover it.