Catch Up

Just to catch you up.  I'm currently home for the 10 day wait.  We passed court!  Benjamin Matthew, Max Jacob, and Jeremiah Michael are our SONS!  I will be leaving soon to go back and get them.  Sorry for the lack of updates, but I had very limited internet in region.  I would use all my internet patience each day trying to get a few minutes of Skype time with the kids at home.  Facebook worked pretty well, blogger would just crash. 

So, here are a few pictures to catch you up...

Play dough was a favorite.  They are trained to play only on little boards, so we had to find "boards" for them to play on.  Daddy's breaking the rules by having his play dough on the table.  A moment later Jeremiah fixed it by placing Daddy's play dough on his board. 

It is very rare to actually see Benjamin sit.  He squats like this, or plays standing up, but most of the time he is just too busy to sit down.  In the corner of the picture you can see Jeremiah digging in our back pack.  He would search it thoroughly each day to see if there were any new treasures.

Max has a lot of patience and is creative.  He doesn't just want roll the play dough into balls and then find the next toy, he wants to make a kitty cat that includes whiskers and a textured body to show it's fur.

Benjamin is trying to get his yo-yo back on his finger.  He never quite got the hang of getting it to come up... even though his yo-yo is an auto-return yo-yo.  But he loves dropping it until the sting is out and then rolling it across the floor to wind the string back up. 

Jeremiah LOVES bubbles.  He loves them so much that on two separate days he got so excited that he threw his arms up and spilled them.  But his brothers fixed the problem by having him "catch" their bubbles with his tube to try to get more.  When this didn't work Max poured a bit of his bubble mix into Jeremiah's tube to share.  And for all the therapists out there, yes, I know he is "W-Sitting".  It is hard to convince him to sit in any other position.

These are the 6 keys it takes to get through the 4 locked doors to get into my apartment.

Benjamin is wearing a 2T.  He will be 5 in a few days.

Jeremiah is wearing a size 3.  He is 7.  I couldn't find a tag on Max's shirts.  But I can't wait to get them home and fatten them up.  If this surprises you, please at least skim the info at this link: http://butbygraceitcouldbeme.blogspot.com/2012/02/learning-experience-ee-doctors.html

Paper has been a hit.  Between Origami, coloring, and drawing things to help communicate, I'm not sure what I would do without it.  Benjamin liked blowing up the paper balls like balloons.  Then he would fold it back up and blow it up again.

Max is showing off his snowman drawings.

Jeremiah showing off his bubble he caught.

Benjamin showing off his baby wipe. 

Facebook Post from February 5th:

So I brought the baby wipes to today's visit. They were antibacterial, scented wipes. I'm not normally a fan of antibacterial nor scented products, but it's not like I can just swing by Target. Little did I realize the kick they would get out of these baby wipes. I handed them out before their snack of bananas. They started smelling them. I showed them that they were to wash their hands with... and they continued to smell them. Then a couple of people walked by... and the boys shoved the baby wipes under their noses. Then, their desire to eat their bananas drove them to copying me finally using them to wash their hands. I am trying to teach them to pray before meals and for the first time, they folded their hands and waited rather than just shoving their food in their mouths. Every baby step just makes me such a proud mama. But, by about 12 seconds after "Amen" was said, the bananas were gone. I'm not even going to work on the concept of eating slowly at this point. That will come once we are home and true hunger is no longer an issue... but they waited through prayer! After they ate and drank, it was time to clean up the table. I used a baby wipe to clean off the sticky spots. This reminded them of their baby wipes again and they went back to smelling them and then proceeded to wipe down EVERYTHING with them. Their hands... their faces... their shirts... their pants... their cubby... their chair... their coat... the floor. After they wiped each item down they would smell it and chuckle. Before I knew it the foyer was a bit cleaner and the visit was over. It wasn't exactly how I imagined the visit to go, but it worked.

 Facebook Post from February 7th:

I have mentioned that the hygiene doesn't meet my standards. But, much of that difference is culture, not lack of care. They are very particular about the boys wearing three layers of clothing in our 85 degree room, because they believe they will get sick if they get cold. They make sure the boys tuck in their undershirts and have their collar straight. They care. Early in our visit yesterday morning, the doctor came in. The boys were very happy to see her and she was very affectionate with them. She wanted to see what they were playing with. She talked to them... not at them. She very much made eye contact with them and they ate up every minute of it. I have seen this doctor, and one other doctor go in and out of the groupa often. It seems that they are doing their best to care for the kids. They definitely don't have the technology or money to do much... but I could see in this woman's eyes that she wants to do everything she can to help. I am very thankful for the staff showing so much love to my boys.

Skyping with the kids.  Andrew is wiggling his tooth... which did eventually fall out.

We brought photo albums for the boys.  I'm glad I didn't spend a ton of money on them because they have been looked through so much that they are falling to pieces. 

Some of the kids in our boys' groupa were allowed to go outside.  Our boys weren't allowed on this day, but they were allowed on another day, but there was so much commotion that I wasn't able to get a picture that day.  The little girl I'm helping is just a sweety pie and SO wants a Mama of her own.  She always grabs for my hand and says "Mama?" with a questioning sad look in her eyes.  I wish I could tell all these little ones that Mamas and Papas were coming for them, but none of these little ones are even available for international adoption.  So all we can do is pray. 

 Facebook Post from February 7th:

I was allowed to play outside with Jeremiah, Max, and Benjamin today. The nannies dressed them in two long sleeve undershirts, a sweater, a thermal sweater, a heavy coat, tights, leggings, jeans, thermal pants, snow pants, scarf, hat, gloves, boots, oh and socks and underwear. It took longer to dress them then they were allowed to be outside. In America we bake cookies to show we care... here, they add another layer.

Comment to a question:  It was about 40 degrees when we went outside. I'm glad they went out then, because the next few days it is only supposed to be in the single digits. But seriously, I think I'm more likely to get heat stroke than frostbite here. At least in the places I have stayed, the heat is controlled by the government. Turned on on a certain day... and turned off on a certain day... despite the weather. It is normally about 85 degrees inside. In my apartment I can open the door to the porch to let in cool air, but when I'm at the orphanage I just melt. I have tried just wearing short sleeves to the orphanage... but I get scolded by the staff.

Wikistick glasses.  They certainly can find ways to make me laugh. 

We passed court!  They are ours forever!