In Which I Introduce Myself, My Family, and Our Home

Greetings world! My name is Liora Mayim and I am eleven years old.  I am a member of the Mayim otter family.  In this picture, I am with my dad Kyle, little sister Maayan (she's three-and-a-half), and mom Jennifer.

This is a close-up portrait of me.  As I said, I am eleven, soon to be twelve.  Because I am a Jewish otter, when I turn twelve I will have a coming-of-age ceremony called a Bat Mitzvah.  I will lead services, read from the Torah, and give a speech.  I am already practicing and am getting very excited--and maybe just a little nervous too!

This is my sister, Maayan.  She can be adorable...but quite the handful too! She likes to run around and bounce big balls, and because our father is the swim coach, she (and I) can already swim quite well! We like to go for family swims.

This is my mother, Jennifer.  She designs fashion accessories using sea shells.  She made her pendant and my purse.  Although she and my father go by their English names (they do have Hebrew names as well), the two of them decided to give us girls Hebrew names only.

And this is my father, Kyle.  Dad is the swim coach for all the children in our village.  He can get the most nervous child into the water, and he loves to take me on adventures.

After we took introductory photos, it was time to move in and get settled.  We have three rooms in our apartment: a big room in the middle, and smaller rooms on the sides.  The one on the right is slightly smaller than the one on the left; Mom and Dad decided that would be the bedroom.  Except for a baby bath the last people left, we have no furniture for that room yet.  This is a picture of the room on the left, our parlor.  The desk is for Mom's fashion design projects.  I am not allowed in without permission and Maayan is not allowed in without an adult.

This is a photo of Maayan and me with our new dolls.  Maayan's is made of hard plastic and is fairly indestructible, exactly what she needs.  Mine is much more delicate and is made of beads strung together; we have decided that she will live on the top shelf of the desk so Maayan cannot get to her.

And...here we are in the playroom.  As you can see, Maayan has quickly forgotten her doll in favor of kicking balls around.

 

While I talk about our family, I should mention that Mom and Dad are passionate about adoption and always have been.  It isn't because they couldn't have kids--after all, they had Maayan and me.  Rather, Mom and Dad just feel that this is a good way for them to help the world.  We have an awesome social worker, Ms. R., working with us; Mom and Dad asked to be approved for a sibling group of three so she is working on making that happen.  Ms. R. is really great: she cares about our family as a whole, not just as customers.  She even sat down with Maayan and me (no parents!) and went over what adoption means and if we are ready for more siblings.  We said of course we are!