Day 3 - ish

Our first full day at the house went pretty well. He's still orienting himself to the layout of everything, but he listens to "left" and "right" if we offer advice.

Monday did start off VERY early though. He was tired from all of the travel and excitement on Sunday, so he went to bed around 8:30ish. Well, that was fine except that he woke up around 4am and stayed up. I finally went in at 6 and offered to play a movie for him, but he got bored fairly quickly without language dubbing. He decided he wanted to go outside, so we played around in the back for a while and listened to his audio book.

When he discovered that my car was open he we played in there for a long time. Everything was good until he accidentally set off the car alarm. haha I decided that maybe we should go do something, so I asked him if he wanted to go to Starbucks with me. I explained that it was a coffee shop and he looked less than interested. Then I said that he could get warm vanilla milk and he was all in.

Don't worry. He put on his seatbelt before we left.

So we had our first trip to Starbucks. The vanilla steamer was quickly consumed and he declared Starbucks to be good. :) Since the outing went pretty fast, I decided to hop over to Target. We got what we needed, and then I remembered that we wanted to get him a Bop It. So we walked over to the toy section and I found one. Once I turned it on and he heard that it was a game, he was all smiles. He said a HUGE thank you and we went to check out.

He listened to his audio book in Starbucks too. - HP book 6

It wasn't long before he had the game all figured out! He gets upset with himself when he loses too quickly, so sometimes we step in and ask to play along. It's not so bad when OTHER people cause you to lose...haha

We decided to try out the zoo yesterday while Alona was with us, so that she could see the zoo and so that she could provide better explanations. I didn't remember there being much tactile and auditory interest in the exhibits at the zoo though, and I was right. He said he liked it, but he was very tired by the time we finished. They let us check it out before we payed in case we wanted to spring for a membership, but we opted to just pay for our visit when we left. I think he would like visiting with other children, but more for the social aspect than the exhibits.

We came home from the zoo and had lunch, and O had his first popsicle. This was also declared to be good. As was the string cheese, of which he requested seconds.

Another big thing around here now is audio books. O LOVES listening to audio books and would probably listen all day if he were allowed. Drew asked him after lunch if he would like to have Harry Potter book 7 and he was overjoyed. He apparently had all of the others except the last one, and has listened to them multiple times. He had been listening to Book 6 all morning (even in the Starbucks). They set it up on an iPod and speaker dock and listened for about an hour in his room. After that, I had to coax him into an activity. He was falling asleep on the floor (which wouldn't be a problem except that we really want to avoid a bad sleep cycle.

He wasn't too excited about my efforts, but I finally managed to wake him up enough to go outside and play with me. We spent a good deal of time yesterday playing with his new basketball. We pass it back and forth or see how many times he can bounce it in a row. His top yesterday was over 300!

Other than that, he helped me make dinner. We had mashed potatoes and sausage. O helped slice the potatoes and then mashed and stirred them after they boiled. He wanted to make sure I knew to use salt. I let him taste the potatoes after he added the salt and he declared there was not enough, so he ground in some more salt, tasted them again, and declared them to be normal. haha

After dinner, Drew set up a swing in the front yard with some help from Jonathan. O was getting a little testy by the time it was finished, but we went out and got a few laughs. I think he will like it more today when he is not so tired.

After O got ready for bed, we talked some more about what other books he would like Drew to find. He loves fantasy books and has a seemingly endless list of desired books in his mind. He chose two authors last night and we managed to find both on the site Drew was using. He was very pleased, but wanted to make sure Drew knew to download them in Russian.

So we had a short talk about staying in bed until 7, and then Drew and I hung out and listened to Harry Potter with him for about 15 minutes. He was already falling asleep on the floor, so we had him get in bed, said some prayers, and left with a reminder about staying in bed until 7.

A Peek

Here is a quick look into our first few days through photos.

Saturday Night:

Our welcome poster.

There were SO many people at the airport to pick up their host children!

 

The first time we saw him.

Our first official picture together!

He liked all the textured stickers on his poster.

O was so tired--even if he didn't want to admit it.

Sunday:

We went swimming at the hotel after breakfast.

O LOVES swimming!!!

Swimming toward Drew.

Warming up after swimming.

He had Drew walk him around the whole room so he could check out everything from higher up.

Being silly

We took a picture before we left the hotel. A (on the left) is staying with us for one week.

We went for a walk to burn off some energy.

O found out that Texas is hot!

O likes Sherlock a lot. Sherlock is not quite as excited by his little boy roughness.

Drew had to run to work, so we went along and played basketball.

A came with us to check out the arena.

Well, I'm off! I'll post soon with more photos!

Big Night

So, we're a little delayed on the delivery, but we have some big news...

Tonight things are changing for our little family.

Today the two of us are headed to the airport. Yesterday the two of us prepared our house. This morning the two of us packed up the car.

But tonight.

Tonight the two of us will pick up one precious little boy at the airport.

Tonight the THREE of us will share a hotel room. Tonight the THREE of us will change into pajamas and say bedtime prayers. And tomorrow. Tomorrow ALL THREE of us will drive back home. Tomorrow night the littlest one will be tucked into a bed prepared just for him.

Tonight begins our summer of adventure, laughs and lots of love.

Here is a picture of the precious boy we are hosting for the summer.

O is from Eastern Europe. He is nine years old and will be living with us for about six weeks as part of a hosting program. We are so excited for all the ways we will see God's love through this experience. We have so much love for this sweet boy already.

And now for some more visual delight - here are some pictures of the boys' room!

For those of you wondering about Little Man's adoption, there have not been any improvements to the situation. Drew and I love that little boy with all of our hearts (and so do all of his grandparents, aunt and uncle). We will continue to fight and wait for him as long as it takes.

Prayer

We would love for you to keep our government officials and the officials from Little Man's country in your thoughts and prayers as they meet together today and tomorrow. We do not know what will come of the talks, but we can pray that relations will be improved and that everyone there will be filled with wisdom and grace.

Let's turn this:

Into this:

That smile just melts me.

Our House

So...we have been pretty quiet lately. How about a blog post about some of the things we've been doing to keep busy?!

Hooray! I knew you guys would like that idea!

The last time we wrote was in February, so we have quite a bit of ground to cover. Drew has been really busy with work this spring, but it has finally slowed down! This means that I can really get back to menu planning and making dinner again. And it also means that we're catching up on projects in and around the house.

Drew's mom brought us a sweet gift when they came through at the end of February. We now have the majority of Drew's childhood books and stuffed animals all set up in Little Man's room. We just love books and reading, so it was really fun to go through everything and see what we shared in common.

These photos don't even show all of the books!

The crates under the chair are filled with stuffed animals as well.

Drew was in a wedding at the very beginning of March. We were so happy to celebrate with our friends as they begin their marriage! It was a beautiful and fun evening!

I started nannying at our house. It has really been SO much fun! Plus, Drew likes how much cleaner the house is these days! This also means that I have more time for crafting and projects.

I finally started getting into my artisan bread book! I received the book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, for Christmas. I really wanted to try it, but was intimidated by the process: Yeast. Rising Dough. Kneading. Rolling Pins. Once I started into the book though, I realized that I really can make bread! I decided to start with the Challah dough, and my friend Erica came over this past Friday and helped me turn it into Caramel Sticky Buns. We had fun, and the sticky buns were delicious! You should all get this book!

And now, for our most recent project. We found this fabric at Ikea and thought it was really fun. I cut it into strips, and Drew and I stabled the fabric over each drawer front on the unfinished dresser in Little Man's room. I am really glad it turned out so well! Now we just have to decide about painting or replacing the knobs...

That pretty much wraps up what you missed. No new news on our journey to bring Little Man home, and we're still praying about God's plan for this time of waiting. Our church is planning an adoption Sunday for the 21st, and Drew and I will be participating in a short video that will be played during the services. We've got our fingers crossed that we will come across much more eloquent than we actually are! Other than that, we're trying to take advantage of the sunny days, when they come, and working to get our yard ready for spring.

Sherlock is excited about the nicer weather ahead.

Although, he doesn't seem to mind the rainy days TOO much...

Keeping in Touch

I wish I had news for you all, but I don't. It is just as quiet on the adoption front over here as it is on the blog. But that is not to say that we're not still thinking and praying. We may not be considered parents by any government or society standards, but our hearts tell a different story.

We miss our Little Man every day and pray for him. We do not know how our future will play out, but we have been irrevocably changed through this journey. Through this time of hurt and confusion, we are learning to admit we have no control. Our eyes have been opened to new truths.

While we do not know what is coming, we are excited, and a little fearful, at all of the prospects. We can no longer live in ignorance, and we do not want to. Our boy may never have stepped foot in our house, but his life has already affected every corner of our home. Living through these trials has opened our minds to many other possibilities, and that is exciting.