More kid news

August 7, 2004 Saturday

Many have mentioned that we are "rescuing" our children. While I suppose to a point this is the case, I do want to add that we ourselves are also being rescued. At least I think so! It is a different kind of rescuing of course. John and I have plenty o' food back home, and enough clothing to be able to change them every day, and family who loves us, etc. But, these children are rescuing us from a lot of things too:

1.) Empty Lap Syndrome. Any couple longing for children feels the emptiness in their arms and laps very, very acutely. When they see other moms rocking their babies, there is a piercing pain that jabs through their hearts. "When will it be our turn?" they wonder. And even if they have waited as long as JOhn and I did, the pain never lessens. My lap and arms are full and overflowing now! When one of them wants down to play, there is another to jump right in. A child in the lap is a bandaid for the soul in many ways. How very blessed am I!

2.) They have rescued us from our Silent House. I was never so happy to tell our Empty House good-bye when we left. (Yes, I actually did say "good bye" to it... out loud even!) Some of you out there with many screaming kids might wish for a quiet home once in a while, but I have come to really hate ours. It means we're there all alone - still. I hate walking by bedrooms unoccupied by the little ones that were "supposed" to be there so long ago. Now not just ONE of our extra bedrooms will be full, but BOTH of them will be. How wonderful is THAT? My house will be full of love and laughter and singing and talking and playing for a long time now, and I can't wait to hear how "not quiet" my house will be when we get home. You will never ever hear me complain about the noise in my house. Ever.

3.) Our children have rescued us from always having to be grown-ups. We can now have tea-parties, climb jungle gyms, play tag, make kites, draw in color books, sing silly songs, play dress-up, kick balls, etc., etc. CAN'T WAIT!!!!

4.) Our children have rescued us from dressers and walls with nobody's pictures on them. I LOVE taking pictures (if you can't tell that by now....) and it really stinks that I take pictures for other peoples' children all the time, and yet there is no one on my own walls at home. I can't wait to plaster every empty surface in my house with sweet pictures of my babies. *bliss*


Ok, enough for now. I think you get the idea. The point is, though, that this rescuing business DEFINITELY goes both ways...

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Today before going to the orphanage, we stopped by a toy store. Wow, was it FULL! I wish I had brought my camera in there. Oh well! We bought three balls and some other misc. toys to keep us busy on our visits with the children. Yesterday, Adam asked me to buy him a ball, so I couldn't wait to give it to him today. It is a really nice soccer ball. The two little girls got regular plastic balls like you get at the grocery store.

We got to the orphanage at 10:15. Well, apparently their Saturday schedule is different than the rest of the week or something, because they didn't come outside until 11:00. That was ok though because it gave me time to walk around and get pictures of the grounds, and of a few of the children. I even got a picture of The Bathroom. *Shriek*

While I was taking pictures I figured out what our Gotcha Day Tradition is going to be from now on: We'll collect shoes all summer from rummage sales, etc., and send them to their orphanage. The children had really, really pitiful shoes here. They barely hang onto their little feet. The boys wear girls' shoes, etc. It's really sad. I should have brought a big suitcase full of shoes when I came, but I'm a dumb-dumb head and didn't.

Katya seemed to be hurting from her dentists' appointment yesterday, so I had her wait a minute after she dropped us off at the hotel and ran upstairs for some of our samples of Advil. She was reallllllly grateful. It made me feel good that we could do that little something for her.

My mind was mush yesterday. For some reason I was thinking that Aleksa was five. Nuh-uh. She's going to be four in a few days. John and I have both been doing this kind of thing in the last few days. We often have no idea what day it is, (I mean, we SERIOUSLY have no idea...), and have no clue how long we've been here in Belgorad-Dnetrovsky. I thought maybe it was 3 or 4 days yesterday when I decided to figure it out. I almost Fell Over when I saw that it was 10! Brain Mush. That's what we've got!

I have to tell on John for a minute... This afternoon has been pretty quiet in our room. He's been doing stuff for work, and all of a sudden, he got up, grabbed our bag of toys, and had The Most Pitiful look on his face. I asked him what was wrong and he said that he wanted to play with his kids but couldn't. (I just so happened to have my camera in hand when he said that...) ;O)

Aleksa isn't feeling well tonight. Our colds got her. :O( I'm really bummed about that because there is no doubt that we gave it to her. The other two next. She wanted to snuggle and snuggle tonight, so that was nice...

Adam has an enormous blister on his foot from his new shoes. He was hurting pretty good tonight, and limped around. He asked us for some new socks, and though we didn't have any "new" ones to hand over right now, Papa took off his and gave them to him. Adam thought that was pretty cool. I thought so too. John is such a good Dad, er, "Papa." (I wonder how long they'll actually call us Mama and Papa... I hope forever, but I doubt it.)

Babushka Fisher got to chat with the older kids tonight when she called. Our little chatterbox Aleksa clammed up, but she was all smiles while Grandma talked to her. She wasn't feeling well. Grandma got to hear her cry, however, because while the other two were talking, I had to put Aleksa down. Instant screaming. Adam and Liana were SOOOOO excited to get to talk to their babushka. They were just plain giddy. It was fun. Who knows what they said, but it was fun. 6:00pm our time is the best time to talk to the kids if anyone else wants to call us.

Btw, THANK YOU SO MUCH for all of the emails and comments on our blog. We have been overwhelmed by how many people have been "tuning in" to our story, and for all the kind words of encouragement and support. We can't respond to everyone, but please just know that we have read them all, and we really do appreciate you all very much. Keep 'em coming! We ain't home yet!

Love, Shelly

The kids with their new balls
Poor Papa
Shoes...