Thursday, B went with cousin H and Aunt R all day. So, it was just me, C, and the boys! We hung out at the house in the morning, had violin lesson in the afternoon, and then met friends at the pool. V*ktor was unhappy about having to wear sunscreen, but he ended up having a blast swimming anyway! I got the kids home, fed C, and took off to go have dinner with a friend and do a little shopping for V.
Friday afternoon, I took all 4 kids up to that little Aquarium I talked about a few months ago (with our friends that weekend we were camping). They had snakes there this time! A rattlesnake taken out of a cage 10 feet away is kind of creepy, though! We had planned on feeding the geese at the hatchery museum up the road, but... Apparently, somebody STOLE the geese! Really? Who does that? Losers. Anyway, so I took the kids to the state park where I knew there were plenty of geese. Ummm, word of advice, don't try to feed 40 geese with only 6 pieces of bread. They will not be happy! None of them touched us, but they were all very close and honking loudly! When more started coming across the lake, we made our way to the car QUICKLY! LOL - Won't be feeding geese there anytime soon! Need some a little less tame who keep their distance :) We had burgers and Dorito salad for supper. I put the girls to bed and Brian took the boys out to pick corn. He took more than 3 pictures, so they must have had a great time! (I always give him a hard time because he never takes enough pictures.)
Saturday was hmmm.... shall we say - not a good day. The morning seemed to be okay when V*ktor had his violin lesson, but he was getting frustrated easily. Then, we went to a picnic. He was completely withdrawn and antisocial the whole time (claiming sleepy again), not wanting to eat. VERY frustrating! We had a Cub Scout derby - where they race the little matchbox cars, and he seemed engaged watching. He didn't really have to talk to anyone there, though. Back at home, he just wanted to be alone in his room. We had prepared him several days ahead that for this one night, we would be going out and a friend was coming to stay at our house with him and our kids. With this program, we can't just leave him with anyone anytime, so my awesome friend volunteered several weeks ago. We had to do a background check and everything! He had met her a few times already, and we thought things would go smoothly. Basically we spent about 1 1/2 hours out until we decided to come back home. His violin had gotten knocked off the bed and the bridge broke. The bridge is a small part that can be replaced, and since, thankfully, nothing else appears to be broken, it should be a quick, inexpensive fix. My friend, S, tried to explain this to him on the computer translator, but he was inconsolable. Imagine - you have never had anything of your own - nothing of much value or importance... Then, you are given a violin and lessons to play it. Now, it's broken, and you think that this wonderful, beautiful thing that was yours for just a moment..... is gone. Plus, though you've tried to take SUCH good care of it, just a second of sitting it down, just once, has caused it to be ruined. That is only what I can guess that he was feeling, plus add the anxiety of not being able to communicate your feelings because of a language barrier... We just needed to come home. I think at first he thought I was really mad at him, he looked scared as well as upset. Then, we got through it, he calmed down, all kids were asleep. We prayed for a better day today.
And we GOT it! For as bad as yesterday was, today was 100 times AWESOME! He didn't give us (much) trouble waking up this morning for church. He was pleasant, talked to people, smiled, really enjoyed being at church. We changed clothes, grabbed quick lunch, then headed down to a car show. He LOVED that! Plus, there were bounce houses for the kids to play in. THEN, it wouldn't be a summer in the midwest without a Tractor Pull! So, all the kids did the tractor pull :) What an amazing smile at the end -plus a blue ribbon. Back home, we blew up balloons, put up streamers, wrapped presents. We are not allowed to disclose his actual birthday, but we just went ahead and celebrated a birthday today! 5 boys from our youth group and Brian's parents came over for cake, ice cream, and presents. Then, Grandma/Grandpa took the girls home while we had a blast with all the boys! Borrowed Wii from Uncle D, Bop-It, music (LOUD) from V*ktor's new MP3 player, chess, checkers, and soccer out in the front yard! They had sooooo much fun! Thanks to W - who let us borrow his ginormous Christian music collection, we were able to load up the MP3 player for him ahead of time! We saw so many smiles, lots of laughter, tons of goofing around and just plain giddiness over everything! It was definitely an amazing day :) When we said goodnight and he went to bed, he said it was "SUPER!" He's still awake listening to his MP3. Since we're not getting up early, I'm inclined to let him continue :)All of it comes down to this - we are making a difference in his life - through the help of so many of you. Whether he finds his forever family, this summer IS impacting him for the better. We trust in that, and we are thankful for all of your faithful prayers and support. Keep it up!
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