Happy Anniversary...the first 24hrs with Andrew and Kathlena

Today is David and I's 14th wedding anniversary. I guarantee you that neither of us thought 14yrs ago that we would be spending this anniversary in Russia with two new children added to our family through adoption. The Lord's grace and mercy abounds in our lives. My sweet hubby came home from the market with an anniversary present....a European plugged curling iron. I am ecstatic!!! From the "razyetka" (plug) kablooie that happened on day 2 in Ark I have not been able to use my curling iron because our adapter got fried. I could not be happier with a curling iron especially in this arid climate...my hair is supercharged! ( I think that David posted about this but if not the story is we were trying to hook up the power strip to the European plug and adapter. Well this was working well until the adapter fell and arced blowing a fuse in our suite. David then had to go and try to explain to the no English speaking hotel staff the problem. It was quite comical but my resourceful husband with pointing to plugs and using our First Thousand Words in Russian children's book was able to communicate. A technician was sent to our floor and fixed the problem...thankfully it was only a fuse!

The children have done so well. Better than I could have imagined. They slept without a peep all night. Kathlena awoke with some amazing bed hair...I think David is posting some pictures soon of this. Nana get out your hair tools ready...she has more hair than we thought. Emily and J.Michael both, along with Mom and Dad have been working with them on their English. It is amazing how quickly they are picking it up. They are like little parrots but some words are really sticking...they are understanding it.

Andrew is so sweet...he really loves to be hugged and held, but is shy about it. I think he is so overwhelmed with the "dream" of having a family really being true. His big smile, eagerness to learn, and be loved is an answer to many years of prayer for him--our God is so faithful. We know there is much to be done and worked on with these children, but truly we see that the Lord in his mercy and grace for his children has gone before us and prepared them for this change. Andrew is parroting everything including whole phrases of English. I was sitting with him working with the First 1000 Words in Russian book and I would say "what is this?" he would say "what is this?" then I said "no you tell me what is this?" and he repeated that whole phrase to me we all laughed as I realized he will just repeat whatever I say...understanding will come though. He is so smart.

Kathlena too is eager to learn and so smart. I was playing a counting game with her with rubles and she would repeat every number I said up to 8, well that was all the ruble coins we had so she might have counted more but truly it is amazing how a little one on one attention and they are picking up so much. I had been told numerous times that the language really would not be an issue but for me 'seeing was believing" and I can tell you language is not an issue even with older children. Their desire to have a family and assimilate into that family is so much greater. Kathlena is all girl. She goes around the hotel room "tidying" up. She picks up lint off the floor and puts it in the trash. She is always busy, working and really is fascinated with the commode flushing. I am not too concerned with potty training. I am glad we brought pull ups though, because she did go potty in the pull up during the night, but during the day she will tell me "potty" also learned in the last 24hrs. She lets me feed her and when she wants more she says "ahhh" which I said to her to get her to open her mouth more. Now she thinks this means more. She sucks her thumb when she is laying down to nap or sleep at night.

Grandparents will be glad to know that Andrew can already say your names to your pictures. He says"Dedushka-DoDad" and Babushka-Nana and Babushka-Grandmommie" Now PawPaw we are still working on yours he knows you are dedushka(Grandpa) but PawPaw is a little confusing with Papa that he calls David, but we are still working on it. Kathlena is taking it all in and smiles when she sees your pictures...it will be neat to see what they do when they meet you. I was so impressed at both orphanages with the caretakers diligence to go over the photo albums we left for them. When we took Andrew to go get Kathlena we got to see Kathlena's group one more time. When we entered the room one of the caretakers began talking to Andrew. She talked to him about his airplane bed that she had seen in the picture book...obviously she had gone over it many times.

Well today has been a challenging, good day. We have had to stay in our hotel room mostly for today, as we do not have Andrew and Kathlena's papers yet, so we have been advised not to leave the hotel. Our Russian is not good and if someone were to speak to the children we would not know what they are saying. To be on the safe side we are staying put. Sad because it is a beautiful day today...the sun is actually out. David and the boys just went to run stairs to burn off some energy...the room is getting smaller by the hour! Fortunately, the hotel has 12 floors so they had a good climb. We get papers at 6pm from Helen so we will be able to get out tomorrow. Hopefully, the weather will hold as we hope to go tour the Wooden Village. It is one of the only attractions in Arkhangelsk. This town is know for wood crafting...how appropriate for our children to come from this town as David loves to work with wood as a hobby.