Anya and Samuel Laughin'

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Battles Continue

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We have been sending Samuel and Anya to a therapist for about 6 months now.  Dr. Kelly does play therapy, creating a safe zone for the kids to express their inner frustrations.  Nellie, Zach, myself and Matthias are ready for some play therapy.  I remember something my friend Jeff told me about Misha, a boy he adopted from Russia.  He said 5 years after the adoption, the boy still lies, and blatantly.    The funny thing is that there are days when you really believe you are making progress.  Then reality hits, and you see what was thought of as progress, was merely a calculation, a behavior displayed to yield a desired result.  This stands in stark contrast to any child we have raised previoulsy.  Our biological children at home, are really sick of these manipulative behaviors.  We are sick of them.  Talk about draining. But God has been our miracle worker over and over.  He is the one making progress, and He is not taking ...
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Anya's First Day of Public School - Today

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I forgot a Key Post

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Just reading through this nice new format on the blog, I realized I left out an important day or two I wanted to pass along.  After the 10 day wait for the court approval of the adoption, you have an opportunity to get the children.  There was some concern about my taking Samuel home to downtown Kiev.  I took this as a slight, which was kind of arrogant.  They were thinking of my best interests.  Having Samuel downtown in Kiev in the apartment was so difficult. He would not watch TV, nor play with toys, nor eat most of what we tried to feed him, and for entertainment, he would stare at the washing machine.  The days dragged on, until I called Igor and asked if Samuel could return to the orphanage for a few days.  Igor, always nice, said "no problem". But this is besides the point.  The day before our embassy appointment, we were running between a police station in Kiev and another government office, and a notary service at breakneck speed....
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