Day 3- March 6

Long version:

After a great breakfast (well, OK breakfast) we joined up with the Dini’s and walked to the toy store up the road. What a beautiful day!! It was sunny and warm- probably in the 40’s. Soooo nice!

The toy store is amazing. 3 floors of just about anything you could imagine. It is kinda neat- almost like the farmer’s market at home, each little area is a different “shoppe” only separated by the type of merchandise and maybe an area of the store- say, for instance, the corner or the side of the wall. What ever you purchase in each area, you pay the person in that area. What fun it was to try out our mylinke ruske- little Russian that we knew. I sure felt important- I was the holder of the dictionary J

We picked up a snow suit for Eli- we have a couple at home, but not knowing what size he needed and having such limited space, we opted to get one here. It is adorable. We traced his foot today so we can get some boots a little later. I bought a pair of 7’s on clearance just before we left. I’m glad now that we didn’t bring them. The size 6 Tennis shoes from Mamaw were way too big- so we know that we’ll need to get a 5 or so. Unless our son is like Dolly Parton- you know, she always said she wears a 5 but a 6 feels so good she buys a 7 J

Today was good. He cried a little when he came in the room- like 30 secs- I greeted him and scooped him up again and we got down to the serious business of playing and eating. Do I know the way to a boys heart, or what? We got the sippy cup down today. I was sooo proud of our son. I don’t know that he has ever sucked from a cup before. He was a pro by the end of our short visit. He really liked the cinnamon graham goldfish today. They are yummy!!

We got out the harness bear today. We are trying to introduce this slowly and make it a toy/backpack instead of being seen as a restraint. He played with the buckles for quite a while, just like the Abster back home J I can’t believe how good his eye hand coordination is. He was putting them right in where they belong.

We also had the tape measurer today. That was a hit- the round kind with the button on top to rewind the tape. He would pull it out- and several times he’d hand it to me and say- Mama? Like he knew I could fix it. OK- so my child’s only words are Mama and Papa- good start.

We had asked earlier if we could join the children in their playgroups to watch them interacting with the other children. So, a little earlier than usual, they came in the music room to get us. We went to the room we had taken Eli the other day. The children were having potty time- so he was taken away to the restroom and placed on one of the little toilets. How cute! He kinda sat there rocking back and forth, looking around, trying to pick up the other toilets.

He came back out and the main caregiver, of the 3 in the room, had a little Barbie Doll radio that played music. They were all dancing- tansuyet- with the stuffed animals. She gave Eli a huge baby doll. He held that doll, the same size as himself and danced all around the room. He dropped it a couple of times- OOOpahh!! We all said and threw our hands in the air. He thought that was funny and kept doing it, until…. The Big kid in the group came over and picked up the baby. Eli looked at the main caregiver and started complaining and pointing. It was hysterical. He didn’t go back and grab it- he was pleading his case before the caregiver.

I’m thinking that the bite marks he has on his little body would probably match quite well with this other child’s bite print. The mommy in me to my little boy wanted to snatch back the doll to give back to my boy. The general mommy feelings made me feel so much compassion for these other children who might never have a family or a mommy to call their own. So sad. So, I compromised. I fixed the doll’s hat, gave it back to my son, and distracted the other little guy with another stuffed animal- cobaka- dog- and played with him for a little bit. I don’t really feel like I want to bring all these children home, because I know I would go mad trying to care for so many- but I am praying more than ever before for families to listen to the calling God may be placing on their hearts to provide families for the fatherless and motherless.

Well, all too soon it was time to come home. We scooped up our son and hugged and kissed him some more and left. Little did we know just how long it would take to get home. There must have been a terrible accident- we ended up taking many detours and arriving home after driving clear around to the other side of the city- took over 2 hours to get home. It was kinda nice to have the different scenery, but that was a long time coming home!

We were so tired- we didn’t feel like going out in public to eat, so we had the lovely ramen noodles that the Goeppner’s left us, followed by the great candy bars. Thinking about you, Chris and Penny!! We don’t have a hotpot yet, but the water cooler on each floor has boiling water in it and the floor maid will give you a tea pot. It was pretty good.

One more day down. Looking forward to Friday with our son. Can’t believe we’ll have to go the whole weekend without seeing him.

Thank you, God, for this amazing adventure you’ve called us to. Thank you for provision for a trip that is impossible by our human standards. Thank you for friendships we are forming, for the ability to get to know our son’s area of birth better and to have this time to ourselves to be able to share it with each other- every moment together.

Short version:
Walked to toy store in am and bought snow suit for Eli. Visit went well, we’re able to see him with his playgroup. Took a long time to get home. Looking forward to tomorrow!!