A Day in the Park

Today was a day full of fun! First we went to visit Uncle Drew at Best Buy which is less than a mile from home! Sophia LOVES her Uncle Drew so needed a fix! Then we drove through to get a couple of hot dogs for the kids to eat at the park! Their new word for the day P A R K. Imagine that with the R extremely rolled and you will know how Zack says it!

While eating at the park, Steph and I heard the ice cream truck and we looked at each other stunned because neither kid responded. We realized that they had no clue what the ice cream truck was. Even when it pulled up at the park, they just kept eating their dogs!

So, I thought we'd learn a couple more words - ice cream and truck. I ran them over and bought them Skittles. Ice cream is just too messy for a 3 and 5 year old away from home. They love SkEEEEtles as they say it. Sophia's Skittles magically vanish, and she ends up eating about 10. Zack tires of them at half the bag. I don't like giving kids candy especially in excess, but this was about educating them as to the appropriate adrenaline rush that should happen when one hears the ice cream truck coming! LOL After sugaring up, off they went to experience the park for the first time! They both had great fun! I have never heard Sophia laugh so much! I mean she has a fake laugh that she uses often when she copies her big brother, but this time, we heard her real laugh! It was adorable!

Zack was in his zone climbing like a monkey!

Here Zack climbed to the top of the aparatus! It was very high, but he just kept climbing as I stood underneath hoping he could land it!

OI! Zack just swinging around flashing the Jordans Auntie Stephanie bought him!

Here you see the three seconds Zack typically pauses before he takes a leap!

The kids play very well together. Here you see Zack very proudly pushing his sister on the swing. She kept randomly getting off mid swing, and he'd go around and softly tell her something in Russian and help her back up on the swing!

Sophia was like a crazy woman on the slide! She would just catapult herself down! I could hear other moms telling their kids to be careful because she was so small. Seeing her run, climb and play really caused me to see what a baby she still is as she is still shaky on climbing and even running. It was so awesome to see her running wild and laughing from the bottom of her toes!

Zack teaching little sis how to swing in a new way!

Here is a hearty laugh as a little chubby Mexican boy chased her! We joke about her being chased by a little Uncle Andrew!

My camera battery died so I missed his climbing up the pole with zero effort, but here's a shot of him swinging out to slide down.

I have heard a few questions about the kids missing their culture and perhaps being shell shocked. To be completely candid with you all, they have not missed a beat. It is as though they have always been a part of our family. We cannot remember life w/o them, and I don't sense that they miss anything about their orphanages or Russia. This is not to say that I will not be teaching them about their culture in the future. I think that will be very important. I hope that one day they too can adopt kids from an orphanage or even better, go back to Russia and reform an orphanage or two or three or the entire system.

As of yesterday, there are no adoption agencies with current accreditation in Russia. This is a HUGE concern. It is election time in Russia and many politicians gain strength by opposing the international adoption of Russia's orphans. Russia, in general, does not consider the needs of the Russian orphans. They are seen as sub human, and most certainly not considered as having needs that must be met. This is a dark time in the adoption world for MANY families who have been waiting for months and in some cases years to bring home a child. Please pray for the re-accreditation process to begin soon and not to be thwarted by power hungry Russian politicians (not unlike many American politicians).

I praise God that Zack and Sophia and many others made it home before this dark time. If I had stayed with my original agency, I would be stuck in the great abyss as well, and Zack and Sophia would likely still be waiting for someone to adopt them. Since they are not "babies," they would likely still be in Russia. I give God the glory for having His hand on their lives and giving me the courage to step through the right hoops.

I hope you are continuing to enjoy the blog. If so, please comment. This way I know that you want to see more!