post placement hues

I say post placement hues because I wanted to say blues- but there is always a silver lining!!

We did our post placement as early as we could, got all the documentation together, did all our notary, certifying and apostilling and had it in to our agency a full 2 weeks early. YEAH!! How cool is that???

Just after I mailed the document, I was preparing to file it away. I looked through it, kinda nostalgic and thankful that this step was done. As I looked at the apostille page, I thought, hmmmm I don't recognize that name. So I looked at the next page and it was then that the cold feeling of dread made me swallow my heart into my stomach. The secretary of state had affixed the wrong apostille to our document!! It was for the county before Putnam, I can only assume, on the computer.

Sooo, long story short, we had our agency send back that incorrect document, and since the secretary of state's office told us they couldn't place the correct apostille in the exact same staple marks (as Russia requires perfect paperwork- otherwise they fear it is a forgery....) we got new documents from our homestudy agency.

God has just worked this together beautifully. Both documents arrived a little bit ago with the lovely FedEx truck. Since Elisha was already asleep (meaning Mama can't speed off to Columbus to have the document corrected), the documents will travel with Papa in the wee early morning hours and he should be able to make it over before he has to teach in Columbus tomorrow.

So, as my first thought was to talk about the blues this could have created, instead, there is a whole rainbow of hues. I am sooo thankful for the wonderful coordinator and social worker we have. They were able to come together to help us get this back on line to get our report in on time.

For those of you who may be wondering.... No, nothing will happen to Elisha or us if we don't get this report in on time. We will continue to be a happy family. However, it may affect the other families waiting to bring home their children, and the ability of our agency to help in that process for all future children to be adopted from Russia. So, while this won't affect us, I do not want to get to heaven and find that there are many children impacted eternally by my lack of action in something so simple.

Sooo, first report down- 3 more to go- at 1 year, 2 years and 3 years. Amazing how fast this is going!

Ninging, cycling and swimming

Elisha has started a new thing lately. He LOVES to sing with us as we are practicing our music for worship on Sunday. A few weeks ago, when he first started doing this, he would say, "Ninging??" and run toward the sanctuary where we practice. Now, any time we pass the church building, which is almost every time we go anywhere, he gets all excited and starts saying loudly, "Ninging??? Mama, Ninging???" pointing to the church and jumping up and down (as far as his car seat allows :0))

Our drummer, Jason, is a great guy. He told Elisha he could play on his drums while we were setting up a week or so ago. Here he is, in seventh heaven, trying to play just like Jason.......


He does really well- tapping them all pretty gently (for a drum, that is) and he has been practicing at home.

He loves to hit the cymbals and hear the loud crash they make. Although, he also enjoyed building a crescendo on the cymbal until it got really loud.

He LOVES anything musical, and really enjoys playing the electric piano (not plugged in) while we are practicing. (Jason is playing the drums during this time- and he has taken to watching in amazement as the drum sticks move so fast you can hardly see them. He has been practicing these moves lately at home on his "air drums"- like "air guitar";0)

So as we are driving along and he is asking if we are going to stop and go "ninging??" I look back in the rear view mirror and he is playing his "air drums" and getting the whole trap set in...... it is so cute to watch!

He is getting pretty proficient on his tricycle. We went to neyne and nanann's (Wesley and Cheyenne's) school the other night to play on the playground equipment and have a big space to "trike" on with his tricycle.

He still wants very little to do with slides and playground equipment. I'm sad about that, but know he's using his survival techniques. He's gotten shocked on all the playground equipment he's been on so far- so we are trying to take it slow so he'll realize how much fun it is to go down the slide again, without getting shocked.

Anyone have suggestions for decreasing the static charge? I've been thinking about taking a big can of static guard. (I'm picturing one that would fit in with a movie like SpaceBalls....)Not sure if that will work. Hoping someone out there reading can give some ideas ???? please????


Last night was his first night of swimming lessons. We decided we were going to go ahead and go to St Croix this year- in October ( I just realized it will be our one year anniversary of meeting our little guy for the first time!!! *snif* WOW!! has it already been that long????) and I wanted to make sure he had a little bit of water awareness before we took him into the ocean.

Theresa is his teacher. He is in class with one other 2 year old and a 4 year old. He did pretty well, staying with the teacher in the water for about 25 out of the 30 minutes. We're going to keep working on the comfort level- ability to put face under water, blow bubbles, blow out air when under water, instead of sucking in water.

The other little boy in his class goes to church with us and is in the nursery with Elisha. HHHmmmmm. Wonder if he'll enjoy the nursery more if he knows some of the other children better that are in there?

I have to laugh. It seems I'm finally getting into "summer" now that fall is almost upon us.

More Fair...

I worked Friday at Roseville. This is the store I had been at all the time before becoming a Mama. It sure was nice to see all the familiar faces and get caught up with the "happenens" with all my friends there.

I went to the fair after work and met up with Tim and Eli. Thanks Barb and Cathy for letting us park at your house!! Thanks Slack family for letting us use your nice big stroller!!

We ate dinner again at the wonderful corn booth. We still can't get over how absolutely fabulous the weather was for the whole fair week- low 80's and beautiful!! pretty cool at night, too.
We walked around and ended up close to the Merry Go Round again. There was a big concert Fri night at the fair, so I thought the rides would not be as crowded. Apparently so did everyone else.... It was packed on the midway!!

We ran into Tim's Uncle Joe and Aunt Barbara. Elisha has only seen them a couple of times- so it was nice to be able to talk to them. They had some antique tractors at the fair, and boy was Elisha excited when they said he could ride on them!

When it came time to say goodbye, he said, "bye bye Baba, Mamaw's sista." I had told him that she was Mamaw's (Tim's mom) sister. He got it down!

I must also mention, since my comment on the Merry go round from Tues included wet pants, he had a dry diaper the whole evening!!! Yeah, my little man!!

Muskingum County Fair

We took Elisha to the Muskingum County Fair on Tuesday. We, of course, stopped by and had dinner first at the Rolling Plains Corn Stand. This is our church booth, and, as you've already guessed, our main seller is fresh corn on the cob. Yummy!!

We ran into an old friend of ours there and she decided to join us in our walk around, since she had some time to kill before she needed to be somewhere else. I must admit, I was a bit frustrated at first. I had wanted "family" time and for Elisha to be able to experience the fair with us. I soon learned that God provides gifts to us in many ways. This wonderful friend ended up sticking with us, pushing the stroller while I carried Elisha a little, carrying my purse (she wanted to make sure nothing happened to it as we had it on the seat of the stroller) and talking to Tim while Elisha and I rode the merry go round. If only we could see these things in hindsight.

I have been amazed at how the exhaustion of new motherhood makes my emotions that much closer to the surface. It seems I feel emotions much more quickly, more strongly and find it more difficult to control. Strange. I'll label it exhaustion for now.

We passed the Merry Go Round and Elisha was suddenly a very determined boy. He wanted to ride the horsey. So we went to the ticket booth and got our wrist bracelets and hands stamped.

So, here are some pics of Elisha on the Merry go round. He wasn't quite sure what to think at first. He had a huge smile on his face, and when the ride started, he was giggling. The kind that says,"I think I'm having fun. Yeah. This is fun. OK. Well, ...... Yeah, this really is fun!!" I was almost afraid he'd start crying- but then he saw his Papa and everything was great. When the ride was over he was signing "more" and saying more......

I had initially planned to take him on some more of the kiddie rides- but we soon discovered that the fair and all the stimulation suppressed what little control he had over his bladder (or on his desire to leave) and we needed to change his clothes. (No, he is not potty trained.....yet.)
So we changed him and walked around for a few more minutes and then he and Mama came home and Papa stayed and helped work and then close the fair booth for church.

Lovely day- and he seemed to enjoy seeing all the animals- he just wanted to pet them all. Not good when the animal weighs several hundred pounds...... :0)

Shopping with Grandma

Elisha, my Mom and I all went shopping on Sat while I was in PA. Shopping with my Mom is soo much fun. Of course, we went to our fav place- Gabes!! If any of you know what I'm talking about, no further explanation is needed. If you don't know- I'm not sure I could describe it. Great store- everything was on clearance, too!!

Few funny points during the day....

I went to the changing room to try on some clothes. The very nice woman there let us use the handicapped stall so I could take Eli with me into the room and have space to move. Well, they've just redone their changing rooms and the "stalls" look like restroom stalls. Eli said, "Kaka?" I told him in a little bit- wasn't sure if he had to go, or was just saying that's what it looked like in there.

So, we go in, I sit him on the little bench and gave him the book we were buying for him to look at. Great book about a little red tractor. So, I quickly try on my clothes and then we get ready to head out.

Well, apparently, he thought we were in some strange restroom without a hole- yes, he filled his diaper. I had to laugh. Poor little guy must have been confused- I set him on the bench, hand him a book and tell him to sit for a few minutes. What's a boy to think?????

My good friend, Denise, joined us at Gabes. It was so nice to see her. I had been telling my Mom on the way to Gabes how much it means for me to get comments on the posts on our blog, and even more special when it is from friends and family that are keeping up with us on the blog. Since we had originally intended this blog to keep our families and long distance friends up to date, it is so rewarding to receive comments from those we so rarely see. (Disclaimer- I really enjoy any comments- my new friends I've met- you guys are great and I love reading your comments, too.). I mentioned that Denise and a few of my cousins in Kentucky have blessed me more than they'd ever know with their comments here. So, we called Denise, and she ran over to join us and meet Elisha in person.

We went to a great Chinese Buffet restaurant for lunch. The young lady waiting on us was completely taken with Elisha. I wasn't quite sure what to make of her attention at first, but just decided our son has an amazing persona around him. At one point, she is kneeling down helping him eat. ( only a few bites- she must have seen my face.... )He just opened up his mouth and took it- I noticed she was standing behind him- I wondered if he inadvertently switched back to orphanage mode as he looked up with "baby birdie mouth."

She took his plasticware and washed it- brought him a cookie- brought over other staff to meet him- kept touching his arms saying how soft he was. It was quite bizarre, to say the least. Mom and Denise had mentioned that he was adopted from Russia to her- and I think she was amazed at how perfect he is. I wonder if orphans in China are viewed the same as they are in Russia?

Speaking of which- and this is totally off subject- please pray for those adopting from Russia right now. I'm not sure if this conflict with Georgia will affect them or not- but it's hard not to think it will affect an adoption- especially if we get pulled into a war with Russia. God is bigger than any thing here on Earth- please just lift these children and families as I'm sure this must be a difficult time for all.

Post Placement Report

OK- I promised an update on our visit- here it is---- It was great!!
It was so nice to see Therese again. She came in and sat down with us and we talked about what was going on, how Elisha is doing, answered some questions, showed her around so she could see all the improvements we had made.

We actually received the report all ready to go and apostille yesterday in the mail. First placement report complete (almost). Only 3 more to go.....

Funny note...

Since we came back from Russia, we have continued to observe the tradition they have of removing shoes by the door when you first enter the home. This works really well when Eli has on muddy shoes :0)

We don't make it a point for visitors, though. Well, Tim and I don't...... hehehe

Therese came in and we were standing in the kitchen. He'd walk by and point to her shoes and say "shoo" with the upspeak he uses when asking questions. He did that several times. At first we thought maybe he liked her shoes.....When we moved into the living room to talk and complete the report, he was walking over to her, pointing and touching her shoes saying, "shoo off....shoo off!!" It was amazing how much it bothered him that someone else was "breaking the rules."

An Evening with Daduska at the park

Elisha and I went to PA over the weekend to visit my parents. Tim had to work a double shift (2 twenty four hour shifts) so we thought we'd go see my folks. Dad and I took Elisha to the playground at the elementary school to play on the equipment. Elisha had a blast, and so did Dad and I!!
He climbed through the tube to get over to the slide. He is becoming more and more agile. It amazes me to watch him grow and change.



After climbing through the tube, he grabbed the metal pole for support and discovered the amazing powers of electrostatic shock. Notice only 1 hand is closed here- the crackle was loud! He was trying to figure out what got him....later, on the bigger slides, by the time he got to the bottom, his hair was sticking straight out like he had his hand on an electrostatic meter at the science fair. I laughed so hard- poor Dad- everytime he'd go to catch Elisha, poor little guy would get shocked. Gave snap, crackle, pop a whole new meaning......


He really enjoyed the equipment. It was great to have Dad there- he was at the bottom of the slide to catch Eli and Baka stayed with him, too. (Baka- our little dog :0)

Notice the hand- he spent most of the day with his hands closed- every time he opened them, he'd touch some metal support and get shocked. He was having a blast with his Grandpa!

He'd look up and say, "Hi, Mama" after sliding down- what a heart warmer!!

He did not want to ride in the stroller anymore- so he asked to push it. Dad and I couldn't help but laugh as he'd run full steam and the front wheel would turn and next thing you know, he's going the opposite direction as the stroller did a 180..... too cute!
He loved the bouncy animals. He went around and wanted to ride on each animal. He'd put his hands up toward his mouth and make little munching noises while on the chipmunk. Makes me wish we lived closer to equipment like this where we are now. I LOVE being out in the country- but I miss some aspects of growing up in town as a child. The parks and grocery stores in walking distance, being able to jump on my bike and take off on side streets and ride for hours without fearing being run down by other cars- our lane now is a lovely little country lane- not the best for walking down the road with family or biking- especially with a little one.
So, after about an hour, we began to head back home- Elisha did not want to ride in the stroller, again, and Baka was dragging her feet, so we came up with this for a solution. I couldn't believe how long Baka rode in the stroller. She was quite content just sitting there. I'm still chuckling....

Cosi

We went to Cosi (Columbus Science Center) with our dear friends Van and Melissa last Sunday- oops, Sunday before last- sorry it's been so long since I posted. :0)

Here are a few pics to share the day of adventure and discovery with you:



If you turn your head sideways, you'll see Elisha on a space age potty. They were able to see what the space station would be like. He's probably thinking- great- you get strapped onto this potty, too....

Here Elisha and Abigail are turning a huge granite ball resting on a small amount of water. They enjoyed being outside at the little park they have there.

Then came the underwater journey- this floor has little squirts of water that popped up randomly. He is trying to catch the water- look out backside!! We were all a little wet after this adventure- but oh the giggles and laughter!!
Sorry for the postition- If you turn your head sideways again you'll see Elisha in the little house in the toddler play area. I was just about to tell him not to drag all the gigantic legos into the little house when he set it down and I realized he had decided it would be a good stool to be able to wash his hands. What a great mind!!

Here Elisha and Papa are playing in the First Aid area- the kids get to play in over sized ambulances, dr offices, etc. He had a blast!!

quick post

Yesterday was a great day.... one of our first family outings to just have fun ;0)

We met up with another family and went to the science center. Stay tuned for pics later.

Tomorrow is our meeting with our social worker for our first post placement report. Yeah!! More on that later, too.

Worship team was slim on Sunday- so they needed me to sing;) How wonderful to do that!! Thanks Kathy for saying you always need me to sing!!!! Isn't it wonderful, indeed, to feel loved and needed by others?

I think of what Orlo preached about a few weeks back- Our self- image and our self esteem are different- self esteem is what we think of ourselves- We are created in the image of God- so our self image is actually that of a child of God- what a boost to think in that vein and lay aside any negative self talk!!