Tag Archives: Friends

Everyday Life

Beautiful day

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Last night, I got a text message from my friend Caryl. Have I told you about her before? She is awesome. She organized an effort to clean, organize and decorate our house while we were away. She stocked our fridge. She planned a bake sale for us. And much, much more. She is a wonderful, solid friend. Anyways, last night, she texted me to see if I wanted to meet up with her today with kids and dogs at the park. Caryl doesn’t even have a dog, but she figured everyone in our household needed to get out… she’s thoughtful like that. Of course, I was eager to hang out with her, to get out of the house with the kids, especially since it was supposed to be 60 here today.

So, that’s what we did this morning. Two kids, 5 kids and 2 moms at the levee, out for a walk. Her kids are almost 2, 3 and 11. Her almost 2 yo was scared of the crazy dogs running around, but the other 4 had a blast together. Her 11yo is great with little kids. Ilya just adores her. It turned out to be such a beautiful day to be out, windy but beautiful. It was OVER 60. At one point, I think it hit 70!

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This is Lena out at the levee, taken by her 11yo friend. I won’t show you any of our other photos, since I don’t know how Caryl feels about photos of her kids on the internet.

We came home and had lunch, eating leftovers. I really love how they don’t question what I give them and if I tell them they need to eat what’s on their plate before they can have an apple, they will. That is one thing I totally appreciate, knowing how picky kids can be. We had a little refusal with the broccoli last night, but both kids ate it once we showed them that they could have a clementine when they finished it.

Naptime was hard. It was not so fun. Ha, until they were asleep. That was nice. I love my quiet time and have no guilt about sitting on the couch during it. I just sit and read blogs and catch up on emails. And, when Aaron got home from work, he took the kids to the playground. Seriously awesome.

But now, I think they’re home and I should figure out what in the world is happening with dinner. Aaron asked me if we could have leftovers and if pasta and mashed potatoes “went together.” Maybe at a buffet…

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First Adoption

Overwhelmed

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I was overwhelmed the second we stepped off the plane in Washington D.C. So glad to be off the long flight and so glad to be back in the U.S.

….the second that someone started singing “The Christmas Song” (“Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire”) on the PA system in Dulles.

…when we pulled into our driveway and even more so when we saw a package under the mat. A package from a dear friend who lives far away.

…when I stepped into our kitchen, food covering the countertops. Fridge stuffed full. Packages all over the kitchen table.

…when I went into the dining room and saw a beautiful table cloth, big enough for our huge table, two sweet scrapbooks, more cards and candy.

…when I went into the living room and saw the beautiful tree, and all of the other awesome decorations. Saw presents under the tree, ready for tomorrow.

…when I stepped into the bathroom, needing to give Lena a bath that very minute, not even thinking about where I had packed the shampoo. Set her into the tub, look down and there is a basket of bath goodies, including shampoo. And lotion, another thing that I had been needing for them.

I am so overwhelmed that I haven’t even gone upstairs yet to see my dogs, knowing that seeing them (and whatever surprises lie upstairs) will put me over the edge.

I have always loved Christmas, found it magical. I think this is even the first Christmas I haven’t been at my parents house, with my sisters and all. It is sad to not be there with them… I miss them a lot. But I am very grateful to be here in this moment, surrounded by so many wonderful people and spending it with Aaron, Ilya and Lena.

First Adoption

How Things Are Going

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We got all of the embassy stuff straightened out yesterday. Fortunately, an extremely nice and proficient woman works in Aaron’s HR department. She got us taken care of. We also had an American helping us at the embassy. He was nice. Even a bit Mr. Rogers like.

The kids are still hard. Scratch that, Lena is still hard. Ilya has his moments… he talks to us in Russian and we don’t understand. He gets upset over food. He can get really wound up. Yes, he just seems like a 3 year old. He can also be so cute. Like finding a piece of string on the floor and telling us it’s a snake or how good he’s gotten at signing “more please”.

Lena on the other hand is really hard. Incredibly hard and frustrating at times. She has thrown two fits in the last hour. The first because I wouldn’t let her play with dirty tissues and the second because she wanted to drink out of the big water bottle or Ilya’s cup instead of her own– they all just had water in them. We also had a fit today because she wanted to go the bathroom at the same time as Ilya. She will repeat behavior that she knows she should not do and will laugh until she has something taken away from her. I am hoping it is just because she’s 3. I talked to my sister tonight and she was encouraging. I haven’t felt in my right mind lately, so it was good to hear how she’d handle the situation. And that her bio kids act the same way. Lena still is not talking much. I am hoping that this because she was with children even younger than her at the orphanage and she needs to catch up. She has picked up some words and will use them without being prompted. She also seems very comfortable signing with us and will sign sometimes when she is upset too. The signs we’re using are all pretty basic… “more” “please” “potty” “drink” “eat” “sleep” “wait” “no” “stop”. They both have more, eat and please down very well and seem to understand the rest, but will rarely sign them to us.

Ilya drinks A LOT. 1-2 cups of water an hour. I am not sure why this is. He has only had two accidents during the day. The first was when we were walking home a few days ago and could not get him to a bathroom. The second was today, he was upset because we were waiting on dinner and Lena was upset. He cannot make it through the night now, but he has accepted this and will let us put diapers on him now. I am not worried about him making it through the night.

I am really ready for bed. I have not been feeling too great for the last couple of days.

Don’t they make it look like everything is just perfect here?
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I had a video of Ilya learning to count in English for you, but it won’t process in Flickr, so you’re just going to have to wait another day.

Everyday Life

Superhero? Angel?

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This morning, I packed up one of my dogs. We put all of her stuff in the car and drove her over to Kansas City. And handed her off to Amy.

I’ve told you about Amy before… Amy the photographer, fellow dog lover, gigantic-hearted superhero. That’s her.

Yup, she and her family offered to take our Josie while we’re away. She lives down in Texas, but was up in KC and brought Miss Josie back with her.

I think Amy is a superhero. For real. Or an angel. Something like that. We were hoping to find someone would take one of our dogs, so it would be easier to get care for the other two. We had even decided that Josie would be the one to send off. Then, Amy emailed me, and asked specifically if we still needed someone to help with the dogs, and said they could take Josie.

Wow. She and her family are pretty amazing. We’re so grateful to have her in our lives and so grateful for how she has supported us during this adoption!

Adoption, First Adoption, Orphan Care

How It Started

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We had some of those new friends I blogged about earlier over for dinner tonight. It’s rare to meet another couple who has a heart for orphans &  adoption. It’s also rare to meet someone my age with a heart for orphans & adoption. It’s rare to meet someone in real life with a heart for orphans & adoption. SO, it’s very rare to meet a couple, my age, in real life, with hearts for orphans and adoption. But, this sweet new friend found me through another blog, and happened to live an hour away and they were sweet enough to participate in our fundraiser last week and come over for dinner tonight. How awesome, right?

We talked a lot about adoption. One question they asked was how we got started thinking and talking about adoption. It had been a long time coming for us, but the thing that really took adoption from the future and brought in into the present for us was this post . And then this post.

Those posts broke our hearts. Go read them. The need is GREAT.