Imani Gazette

Below is the newsletter Imani wrote yesterday, I won't be able to include the photos as they are on the other computer.

Today was a good day. This is a picture of my first day of school. Well we may look confident, but the only one confident there is my mom and sis akila.

Well let me tell you about her. She is nice (sometimes because she has a brain problem since she was born). I like her as a sister, but she can be annoying sometimes. If she's in a good mood, I mean who would play with her when she's mean, seriously, they would be generous and all but when she's mean? Come on they would be dumb (not including people who have a brain problem). Here's a picture of her. She took this silly picture, ok, it's dumb but hey it was the only picture I could find of her.

Well this i the end of the Imani Gazette. Bye bye.

Imani is the sweetest girl and such a good sister for Akila. She is forgiving and understanding. Sometimes she loses it with Akila but not as often as you would expect. She is mature enough to be able to look at a situation and know that Akila could not control her behavior and not get mad at her.

In this newsletter, she was trying to convey some points about Akila and that sometimes she likes to play with her, and sometimes not. On the rare occasion that Akila and Imani end up playing together one on one, Michael and I get very protective of their space and won't let the boys go near them to interrupt the play. It happens so infrequently that when it does, it is precious. We are always intentional about processing it with Imani afterwards and pointing out how enjoyable Akila can be when her brain is functioning well.

Part of the challenge is that Akila is a girly girl and Imani is not. Akila actually seems to play with dolls and Barbies now more than she did when she was little. Not many of her middle school peers are playing much with dolls. I have to talk her out of bring dolls with to evening school events to avoid some embarrassment for her. She finally does seem self conscious about bringing the teddy bear with to events at school.

Anyway, Imani is precious. I thank God every day for his discernment in choosing all 4 of our children. They are the perfect fit for each other and for Michael and I. They compliment each other so well and look out for each other. We are blessed.