- 3/24/2007 10:00:00 PMDay 2 - SaturdayI woke up at 6AM and read my Sunday School lesson. Yuri was the 2nd person awake at 7:00. He had a bowl of Sugar Smacks. At supper yesterday, he didn't seem interested in milk but he definitely has it with cereal. He was a little more settled down this morning. Yesterday was a long busy day but today was starting out calm.
We prepared for our trip down to Appleton for the Vacation Bible School with the other Russian kids. We left home around 8:40 and arrived in Freedom around 9:45. We were one of the first families there. The school door that was facing the street was locked so we went across the street to the church. One of the doors was open but there was no one inside the building. Within a few minutes, the rest of the host families arrived and we headed toward a different door of the school. They had coffee, juice and some donuts waiting for us.
Yuri began to do something I didn't expect - he stuck close to us. Even though other Russian children that he had made the trip with were all around, he would signal to us and then whisper in our ear. It was as if he was telling us or asking something in private. This is similar to what my own children might do if we had gone to a strange place and they only thing the knew was me. Perhaps he was trying to say, "I know that person" or "He is also from my orphanage". I don't know what he said but he did this many times while we were down there. He would ask permission to go into the gym or to get something to eat from the snack bar that was laid out. It felt like he viewed himself as part of our family.
We began the class with Larissa helping to introduce everyone. She seemed especially fond of Yuri and Yuri of her. Apparently Yuri has told her that we have a "super house" again and asked when she was going to visit. The pastor of the church gave a lesson on Christmas which Larissa translated. It was a short lesson and Yuri seemed familiar with the name Jesus.
After the lesson, all of the children gathered and began to sing some songs. Some in Russian and some English. Yuri seemed a little bossy. At times he was the only kid not facing the teacher. He would point his finger at the other kids and be telling them something. In addition to being a high-energy kid, I think he is a little mischievous too. While they were singing, I had a chance to talk with another prospective parent named Gary. He and his wife have been married for 12 years and have no children of their own. I asked him what he thought of the cost of adopting internationally. Just based on a quick review of the estimated costs provided by the Light-house project, it seems it's going to be around $37,000. I said, "that number kind of scares me". Gary responded, "Well their kids right? How do you put a price on that?"
In some ways he is correct, however his answer didn't sit well with me. "Well...", I said. "That is a LOT of money and I take spending that much very seriously." He asked what I did and I said, "I just have a regular 8 to 5 job. I am not independently wealthy". He said, "I'm not made out of money either". I said, "If money is going to play such a huge role in this, I want to know how to get through or around it".
In between classes, all of the kids (and some of the adults) went into the gym and played. Yuri liked that - especially the part with throwing balls at people. He ran, laughed and played. When he wanted something, he came to me or Peggy directly. At times we would bring him to Larissa to find out what he was saying. On once occasion he was asking if he could have some of the nuts that were out on the counter.
The kids did some crafts with glue and paper and had another class on the meaning of Easter. Yuri was very drawn to Larissa's camera and then to mine. I had brought our digital camera and video camera down to record the day. Yuri wanted very much to get his hands on both camera's.
During one of the craft periods, I had a chance to talk with Gary again and another father who had adopted from Russia just 8 months prior. All afternoon I've been dying to for more information about financing the adoption. I asked the other father, "Do you think you will adopt again or from Russia again?" He said, "I have to pay for this one first" Then I asked, "So what do you think about the cost?" He said, "It turned out to be quite a bit more than what they said it was going to be. You just have to make up your mind and just do it".
We left the VBS around 2:20 PM and headed back to Lena. Yuri and Megan horsed around in the back seat of the van. It is very clear that Yuri gets wound up very easily and does not settle down quickly. He was not too obnoxious but he clearly believes himself to be the center of attention. He squeals, giggles and makes lots of machine gun noises.
When we got home, Megan, Ellie and Yuri went outside and played. I was tired and took a nap. While I was sleeping, I heard someone come into the room and open a dresser drawer and then leave. It was a light-weight person. After I woke up, Peggy mentioned that Yuri asked about or was looking for me. She told him I was up stairs making "Zzzzzzzz".
Around 5 PM, I took out the laptop and began to type up the outline for my lesson tomorrow. Yuri was very interested in the laptop and kept looking over my shoulder at it. Peggy prepared supper - Polish sausage, egg noodles and French cut green beans. During dinner, Yuri made it very clear that he did not like green beans. He split his small pile of beans in half as if to say, "I'll eat half". Then he just sat there looking at the pile.
We were quite firm with him and insistent that he eat his beans. I scraped the other half of his beans onto my plate and at them. He ate most of his half which wasn't very much - about 2 fork fulls. We told him good job. Had it been one of my own kids or one of their friends (that I know well) I would have been much more firm. As it is, I hope we laid some ground work that he is to eat what we serve and obey us when we speak to him.
Peggy put him to bed around 9:00. He was a little excited but went to bed fairly well. He seems very interested in sleeping in the top bunk. Peggy told him that tomorrow he can sleep there.
