- MY SILLY (helpful) SISTER -

for those of you that don't already know, my parents adopted a 14y girl from haiti that just arrived home this february '08 - madisyn helps out so much around the house & is so thoughtful & considerate - when she first got home, mom would let her do a few things, but never 'made' her as she wanted her to blend in & didn't want her to think they just adopted her to 'work' for them - after just a few weeks, madisyn broke down & when asked what was wrong, she said, "i want to do more around here - mom, you do everything & only let me do just a little bit & i want to do more!" - they all agreed that she's part of the family, so therefore she can help out as much as they do & it's been going great

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well mom told me today (in front of madisyn) that last night mom was showering & madisyn was cleaning in the kitchen - well, when mom got out, madisyn said, "look what i did!!!" [& was pleased at her HUGE accomplishment] - mom looked & you all know what teflon looks like in a new pot/pan? - it's the shiny black stuff that coats the pan so things don't stick, right? - well, guess what??? - yep, mom's new pots/pans have NOOOOOOOOOOOOO teflon left on them!! - madisyn said that she couldn't believe how dirty mom's pots/pans were because in haiti when they're left in the fire to cook foods, they get all black & you must scrub them really, REALLY hard to get all that black off & then that tells you they're then... clean - well, she wanted to give her mom 'clean' pots/pans & boy was she a happy young girl to do so too

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as mom was telling me this, i looked at madisyn & she was just beaming from ear to ear - i said, "you really got it clean, huh?" - she smiled & said, "VERY clean!"

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[sidenote: you all must know one thing - years ago when my memaw [mom's mom] was alive, she stayed at the house one day & while mom was gone/busy, etc., she cleaned up after dinner - well, she'd never had any of the new fangled stuff called teflon pots/pans, so she scrubbed the heck out of them & took all the teflon off - after memaw left, mom noticed what she'd done & was furious! - not mad at memaw helping, as she appreciated that, but we'd no money to get any more pots/pans & she was so upset for what she was left with - it's kind of been a funny jab over the years remembering back & saying, "you remember when your memaw ruined my pots/pans?", etc. & now she's got a daughter that did the same thing, but....... since memaw's passed & we all miss her so much, i know mom would love to have her back, even if it was just to destroy her pots/pans again & for this reason if for no other, madisyn got in no trouble at all & mom will still go on using those scratched up, ugly pots/pans because life's short]

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memaw... i'm sure madisyn would say thank you if she only knew how you paved the way for her!