The process begins... and Old Stuff

Old Stuff
I HAVE A COUPLE OF EARLY-HOSTING-DAYS JOURNAL ENTRIES THAT I INTENDED TO POST TO THE BLOG A WHILE BACK, BUT FORGOT ABOUT. HERE THEY ARE:

Monday, 6/29/09 So far, so good. Kolya speaks Russian – yea! I can more or less communicate with him… So here’s how we’re doing, five days into hosting --First the downside: We go to the first dentist visit today -- says he doesn't want to go, but I did tell him that it won't hurt (hope it really doesn't!). The main issue we're having is that he wants to play the video game all the time, and acts bored when t.v. and video games are off-limits. (Only allow video game for 30-40 minutes per day, and television is at night, mostly.) He's also doing some "testing" when we tell him "no" about something, but we just stick to our guns, and he accepts it. (except the gumball machine that I finally just had to put away because he would not quit getting gum, even after I told him to stop :o))

During the day, it is so blasted HOT here that it is really miserable outside unless we're in the pool. (We’ve also had water balloon fights and water hose fights.) I've just sent the boys upstairs to find toys to play with (a room full, and they're bored...). Oh, yea! they just found a couple of still-working remote control cars!

Tyler (about to turn 8, and the only child still at home) wants to tell on him and get him into trouble, and there's some DEFINITE jealousy there. Kolya has shown no interest at all in the Bibles we gave him. In Bible class yesterday, he asked me when it would be over… He also has no interest in the journal. I told him he is supposed to write in it every day about what he's done. The first day I gave it to him, he wrote 2 words: "swimming" in Russian, and "bicycle" in English (from the flash card). He hasn't picked it up since. The other thing is that he grunts and points, instead of trying to use English words. He will repeat them after me, though. At home, we drink mostly water from the refrigerator door, but he keeps wanting something else ("coca-cola"), so that's something I have to watch, too. Toothbrushing lasts just ... about … 4 seconds. Tyler tells him to do it again – ha!

However, ON THE UPSIDE: He is a pleasant boy, helpful, and well-mannered. He enjoyed helping David hang a couple of ceiling fans on Saturday, and he likes fishing in the pond (said “oy!” when a big bass jumped out of the water), loves swimming, and riding bikes. He acts like these are all things that he has done before, although he's not the best swimmer, so we have to watch him. He's a good eater, trying everything we give him, pretty much, and eats it all even when he doesn't like it. He's never acted afraid or sad, and I've yet to see him cry. For Tyler, we have always kept a couple of fruit bowls out on the kitchen counter, and Kolya has learned that he can have fresh fruit any time he wants, which he apparently loves having the power to do. Also, he appears to be VERY intelligent, and thinks ahead what we might want/need next. This morning David was reheating a cup of coffee in the microwave, and left the room. A few minutes later, Kolya came walking in to him with the coffee cup and saying "beep-beep-beep!"

On our trip back from Atlanta to New Orleans, we stopped for a couple of hours at Gulf Shores and enjoyed the beach. He seemed familiar with the beach, and was excited to be there. We're having fun, and I'm trying to keep things as "normal" around here as possible. We're not trying to be the entertainment committee, but doing things the way we would even if Kolya weren't here. We are Audobon members, so we may make a few trips to the Audobon Zoo and Aquarium and IMax theater in the summertime. I’ve spent enough time writing this lengthy essay! If you stuck with it, you are strong and powerful! Hope everyone else is having fun!

Sunday, July 05, 2009 We had a good time on the holiday weekend. On Friday, David took off work and we went to the lake to play. On the way we stopped for lunch at Subway, and when we got back in the car, Tyler was crying and saying that Kolya had hit and kicked him repeatedly. Kolya said that Tyler threw his flip-flop into the back of the Landcruiser. Well, I told Kolya that we are to NEVER hit, and that he could not play the video game next week. The first tears came then. He hid under his Star Wars blankie to do his crying there in the back seat. He sulked until we got into the boat at the lake. We had a lot of fun with the boys on the double tube. Kolya and I pulled clams out of the lake while Tyler and David waded in to explore a beach. When we got home, David put the clams on ice and fried them up on Saturday for lunch. Kolya really loved them, and he thoroughly enjoyed helping David open them up to be cooked.Kolya still shows no interest in church, although he did try to sing, humming along during the service. He also likes the craft-making part of Bible class. Tonight at bedtime, he wanted to sleep with us, but I took him and Tyler up to bed at 9:00. Kolya held onto my arm and wanted me to stay with him, so after lights-out I climbed up into the bunk with him. He put his arm around me so sweetly. Then he rolled over and asked me to lightly scratch his back. When he had had enough of that, he held my hand. Tyler had trouble sleeping, so he came up with us. Then I sang several songs to them. Tyler went back down to his bunk, Kolya fell asleep, and then I joined Tyler until he finally fell asleep, too. It was a pretty good night. :o)

8/29/09 (today): We met with our local adoption group, LEEAF, today. That's Louisiana Eastern European Adoptive Families. The kids went to Young Chef's Academy and the parents went to the pizza place next door. The gatherings are usually really good, and this one was no exception. I brought Kolya's summer photo book with me, and it was fun to share that. My friend Suzy and her husband are in the process of adopting 3 Russian kids. Oh, did I forget to mention that they already HAVE 3 Russian kids?!!! What a woman, huh?! They had a wonderful first trip over to meet the kids last month, and anticipate being able to return to bring them home around the end of October.

We are supposed to find out this week whether Kolya is legally available for adoption. Hopefully, we will find out for sure this week. Once we have that information in hand, we make an appointment with INS (now USCIS), take them our home study and several other documents, fill out an application to classify Kolya appropriately, and submit our fingerprints to them so they can check us out. Then, we sit and wait for INS to do their thing and send us the form that we will submit (with still more documentation) to the other country. This can take months! I hope it only takes weeks...

We will most likely host Kolya again for the Christmas hosting. The winter program is 4 weeks instead of 6. Sure would be cool to be going over to get him permanently not long after that!
This week pray for: Kolya to be available for adoption, and for us to get that information this week. Next post: I'll give a rundown on our summer hosting experiences.