Alone time

Down by the river

I want to say thank you to everyone for sharing your stories and pictures of the girls as they experience love from a family.  Having seen their smiles and eyes over here, they look truly happy in North Carolina.  There is no worry, no fear of what’s next, they can just be kids.  Something we all think back to in our own memories, be it a family vacation, or playing in a little league game, or just goofing around the house with friends, or sleep overs.  These are the types of memories that will have a lasting effect on their lives.  I’m praying that God opens doors and hearts for y’all.  As one family is approaching it, they are excited to see what their host child shows them.  That’s awesome!  They have a true servant’s attitude.  Enough about this, but please keep posting and sending emails as we do miss the children.  Yesterday we had the opportunity to Skype with one of the children, I love technology!

While we miss the other children very much, we are enjoying the alone time with Sophia.  We got to the orphanage, again it’s around breakfast time, so we waited outside the cafeteria for about 5 minutes thinking Sophia was inside.  She wasn’t.  She came walking down the path from the dorm so we went over and got our hugs.  Next stop was to see the doctor for her daily medication (I really can’t wait to get her home to take care of her).  Her spirits are up and she is feeling WAY better, but there are some lingering effects from the cold.  We showed her the pictures of Luda’s hair and funny earrings at Target. Side note, it might be worthwhile for someone at Target to take notice of the type of publicity they are getting through this program.  I’ll mention their name again and again and again, IF they wouldn’t mind helping the program out.  I mean, we only attend a church with 8000 people.  Plus the church of the family in Texas, Charlotte, Indiana and the thousands of people on Facebook who are reading these experiences in said states.  Maybe I’ll forward my blog to the CEO.

We shared with Sophia the pictures of Yulia and her outfits.  OMG!  I love this girl!  Her outfits rock!!!  Especially the new shoes!  LOVE IT!!  Luda looks like she was always a part of her host family (wink wink) she is fitting in so well.  Ahhh, God works miracles and the way in which these girls will find their forever family will certainly bring Him glory!  I look forward to watching, praying and participating.  I think I used enough exclamation points to hammer home how full my heart is!

We spent today talking with Sophia about the various things our family does.  For instance, here’s what I told her about our oldest son Tyler.  He likes to read.  He’s a good student.  He plays soccer and hockey.  He likes to go swimming.  He doesn’t speak Russian.  He is excited to have a sister.  He is not a mean boy and he will protect you.  Lastly, we shared with her that Tyler loves her.  During this whole exchange it was a fairly one way conversation.  Occasionally, I would get an “I understand” back.  For the most part, it was just me talking and her smiling.

For Alex, I told her that he likes to ride his bike.  Now at this she replied that she too likes to ride a bike.  I told her Adam doesn’t know how yet.  I told her that Alex likes to read his Bible and play soccer.  He likes candy A LOT.  At this one I actually said he REALLY LIKES candy, and she smiled.  I explained that the boys will wake up early and go downstairs to watch cartoons.  I told her they like to play with the water hose.

I told her I saw a picture of her on the back of a motorcycle and asked her if she liked it.  She said no.  Bummer.  We may have to try again as it may not have been a Harley.  I told her that Alex likes to pretend he’s an airplane on the back and hold his arms out.  My big seven-year old has no fear, which scares the dickens out of us sometimes.   I told her that I like playing with my sons and I like playing with her.  Her reaction to most of what I was telling her about our family life was a smile and the occasional laugh.  It felt good to hear her laugh.  I can't wait to get her home and really get her going.

I told her that my boys like to wrestle and they don’t hit or kick…at least not in front of me.  We talked about dancing and singing in the kitchen, trying to plant a garden, my dog with bad breath who likes to lick your face, eating dessert first before dinner, going out to eat, picking apples, oranges, and strawberries, that Lisa and I both have jobs, and that Tyler puts his clothes in pile.  Right next to the hamper.  It’s amazing how close to the hamper they actually are, but they don’t quite make it in.  I love him just the same.

Towards the end of my talk about our family, I told her that we want to help as many children here as we can so we are sharing their stories and pictures.  I told her we pray for her every night…and her friends.  I told her thank you for listening to me talk about our family.  She replied, “Спасибо.”

We were walking up to the car and I had a few more things to say.  I told her we will take care of her and we love her very much.  I wish I had a video recorder to capture the look on her face.  It warmed my heart and I had to give her a hug.  As Lisa was getting her good bye hug, she told Sophia again, “Я люблю тебя.”  This time Sophia said, “Я то же.”  Which loosely translated means, me too.