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Friday, March 14, 2008

Tues, March 11

Detailed version:

We met Sherri for breakfast at 7. Came back to the room and had a few moments of conversation and prayer with Sherri as she prepared for court. It is such an amazing thing to me that we are able to come before the throne room of God, making our requests- and He, the awesome, loving Father that He is, always has time to listen and calm our fears, still our hearts and keep us in perfect peace.

We met up with the Winkler’s around 10. What a wonderful couple! They came and picked up both our families and brought us across town to their house. We were able to hang out with them and visit with their 4 lovely children. One of the women we had met with N the other day was also there. I was so glad to see her again, as we had not had the chance to say goodbye earlier.

These families, here serving God in a foreign country, took us under their wings and made us feel so welcome. “They will know we are Christians by our love,” the Bible says. Well, these wonderfully kind folks here in Krasnoyarsk, the Winkler’s, N and M have shown us they are Christ followers. We have felt so loved. I am hoping to keep in contact with these great folk here!

They had us back to the hotel by 1:30pm- with time to spare to get ready to go to Sosonovoborsk to spend more time with our sons. This time Jeannette came with us. Their little guy, Thomas, has now become accustomed to the time change and is enjoying a few hours of shut eye. Yelena drove today. We women in the car were very impressed. It is a very offensive, aggressive driving style here that takes some getting used to. Once used to it- it would be difficult to drive in the US without getting a ticket, I think. J

So, when we arrived, we stopped by the front door to remove our shoes and put on our slippers (or blue plastic booties over shoes if you don’t bring slippers). As we’re getting ready to go up to our room, here came Andrei around the corner. We followed him up to the music room. How fun for Jeannette!

Our son was a little later coming in again today. I think we may be coming just as nap time is over. He came in the room with the caregiver, then turned around and tried to walk right back out. Then he tried to match the day before with his healthy lungs. We came to find out after a little bit longer with him that he was just in a crabby mood today. He was totally not a happy camper.

So, we tried our Russian on him. Te hoshish cracker? Do you want a cracker? Then he stopped crying. He seemed happier- had a snack of banana, water and some crackers. He seems to be taking longer to warm up to us. I wonder if he’s as tired of 2 hour parents as we are? How hard to have these people continue to come in and say we love you. Good Job. Good! Here is a snack. We talk in a different tongue, and even the few words we do know come out sounding different to him. I probably wouldn’t be a very happy camper either.

But then, he begins to warm up. He really likes the banana. And the crackers. He loves playing the cracker game with us. It’s a new tradition we developed. Tim holds the crackers closed up in his hand. Eli takes one finger at a time and opens the hand, then takes one cracker and eats it. He then repeats it until the crackers are gone. Smart kid!

We looked at books for quite a while. I’m so glad that we have several books at home. He really seems content sitting on our lap reading books- looking at pictures. We keep saying gyde cobaka- where’s the dog? Or whatever item we know the Russian word for.

We took a cute green with white striped polo shirt today, some little jeans and new shoes. At one point, he seemed to want his orange girly sandals taken off, so we utilized this opportunity to put a new outfit on over his current clothes. He looked like a new person with little boy clothes on. Too cute! I had him walk around the room for a few minutes with me to make sure the shoes seemed to fit correctly. He really seemed to enjoy the outfit. I would have left it on a little longer, but it was so hot in the room, I couldn’t leave him with up to 5 layers on his little body.

He played with tape measurer I brought for a long time- He’d pull out about a foot or two and then try to put it back in the plastic case. He’d hand it to me and say Mama? I’d help him fix it, and the game continued. On and on and on. I was glad to see him so easily entertained. Gives me great hopes for the plane rides. 5 hour, 12 hour and 3 hours long. Your prayers would be greatly coveted that day!

One of the baby doctors came in to look at Eli’s ear- He has bloody crusties on his ear, and it has been getting worse every day. Tim and I have been concerned what is causing it and how we could best treat it. The doctor told us it was due to too many sweets and citrus- allergic reaction……He was just transferred to his new play group a week ago, yes, just one week before he leaves the orphanage, he gets moved to a new room with all new caregivers and children. How sad is that? Just a big period of change for our son. Anyway, she said the caregivers really love our son and they enjoy giving him sweets- so that is what he has- the bloody crusties are due to an allergic reaction he is having from all the sweets, chocolate and citrus. So Yelena is going to get some medicine that the Dr said to use. She’ll bring it tomorrow for us. Hope this helps. I have some antibiotic ointment if we don’t see any improvement.

We came back to the hotel and found the rest of the Dini clan in the lobby. After getting Sherri, our 3 AWAA families all went to the German Restaurant across from the hotel to celebrate! Sherri had a successful court!!! YYYYEEEAAHHHHH!! It will make a difference for this one…..

Short version:

Had lunch with missionary family here in Krasnoyarsk. Spent another few hours on the road and with our son. Had a great celebration dinner with other families tonight. Yeahhhhh!! We are all parents!

1 comment:

sonya said...

Oh, poor baby, an earache is very painful and no wonder if he has been a grumpy boy what with having to change rooms and the ear problem as well. He may not have been sleeping as well at night either with the change and therefore sleeping more deeply at nap time. I am sure when he gets to spend all his time around his two wonderful, "extremely happy" parents his disposition will improve. As matter of fact, I don't know anyone whom could be around you two very long and not have an improvement in their disposition. All will be well and I am sending that straight as a sincere prayer. Love you, Sonya