Saturday

I had grits this morning which was awesome…I brought instant packs with me and just had the restaurant bring me hot water. Andrew had an omelet and then tried some porridge which was quite good. He thinks he will have the porridge tomorrow.

Every day with Patrick gets even better than the day before. He is just wonderful. We had about 15 seconds of crying today and the rest was really happy. He didn’t sleep today but just cuddled with Mommy – too many distractions outside. I definitely did NOT mind! Lots of people and children passed but he just laid his head down on me and watched. We went inside a little earlier than usual but he didn’t care. He had a snack and even took some from Daddy (this is huge!). He walked a little and laughed so hard out loud today! He laid on the floor and wanted Mommy to tickle him – I gladly obliged. He also let Daddy tickle him a little too and didn’t cry when Daddy got closer. He was so animated today!

Our hearts feel like they will burst – we have two such beautiful and wonderful boys. We don’t know how we could be this blessed!!!! They bring such joy to us every time we see them. God is so good! We are so anxious for all the paperwork to be completed and for us to be officially declared their parents. We seriously sit in our rooms in the evenings and often look at the pictures we have taken.

On another note, please pray for Calvin. As we mentioned before, he is very small – too small. We have been communicating with a pediatrician specializing in international adoption and he has been helping us. We know Calvin is very resilient – his first month of life he only gained 250 grams (600 is usual), his 2nd month he had pneumonia and lost weight. We just want to help him the best we can. We know having surgery will help so much but we are pretty sure he will have to gain a fair amount and be healthier before they will even consider the surgery. We are concerned for him and are really praying the 15 days will be waived when we go to court so we can bring him home as soon as possible so he can get the medical help he very much needs.

We had quite the excursion this afternoon! We walked with our friends and their baby to a photo developer and had a few photos printed and then we went to lunch. We had a cultural experience. The menu was entirely in Kazakh (we had a few things written on paper to order and a Russian handbook but the waiter did not understand Russian). I ordered borscht, Russian salad, and a yogurt parfait; Andrew pointed at a couple items on the menu (he had no idea what! tho he knew one was a dessert) and ended up with some really yummy meat and a great dessert. He also tried sasha drink which is also called birch tree drink (it’s kind of a cross between root beer and cream soda without the carbonation). Anyway, it was a lot of fun!

We have decided that Calvin will probably be an engineer. At 17 months, he is a perfectionist. He was so mad when his tower of stacking cups kept falling that we finally had to take the cups away. We have noticed that he has been more aggressive the past few days and really showing anger. We don’t always know the cause but it seems mostly that he just wants his way. This is hard for us and frustrating because we are trying to be good parents but are constantly being watched and wonder what our translator thinks of us when he is throwing these fits. Calvin will be super happy one minute and screaming mad the next – and happy almost as quickly again. We aren’t sure if this is his response to change or what. Anyway, please pray for us to have wisdom and pray for him. He is such a sweet child most of the time! Oh, he loved these duplo blocks today and was very good at pulling them apart. He tried so hard to pull a single one apart (as in, not stacked :) and was shaking with his eyes wide open, straining to pull the non-existent pieces apart. It was so cute! We think we will definitely have to get some duplos!

Tonight, we will probably stay in our room. We are exhausted. We’ll probably watch a movie and relax. We aren’t too hungry after our big lunch so will probably just have something light. Keep in touch – we’d love to hear what’s going on with you!

***I write these posts throughout the day so if they seem disjointed, I apologize. It’s easier to remember things if I write as the day progresses. :) ***