Tuesday was Mary and Dad day. The plan was for me to take Monday off while Mark worked, and then for Mark to take Tuesday off while I worked. While I got to take Mary to the dentist and eye doctor, Mark took her for a Fun Day. Mark and I both got up and got to work about 6:30, and let Mary sleep in a bit. They watched some TV and played some games, and then joined the rest of the kids for a pool party.
The pool offered a great opportunity for kids from two different orphanages to play together. Mary had never been down a pool slide before, and it took a lot of encouragement from everyone to convince her to take the first plunge. Once she accomplished that, she was invincible! Christina was not so lucky...the deep end was a little much for her and she was pulled from the pool once with a pole and a second time by a fully clothed man!
After the pool party disbanded, Mark and Mary moved on to Tokens and Tickets. Mary wanted to play every game in the store, but proved to need a little practice. The deck was stacked against her when Dad accidentally selected the expert level of the guitar game, but she sure tried hard. Mary insisted on riding the kiddie horse, and further wanted to choose Barbie items from the prize store prior to actually winning any tickets! When she finally had her fill of games, Mark and the attendand finally steered her toward a nice necklace with a Jesus fish, and a fancy ring.
Mark and Mary returned home anticipating dinner at McDonald's. I finished working, and we set off for the newly remodeled McDonald's on Washington Center. A Number Six and a Polly Pocket for Mary , and she was a happy girl. She took a couple of passes through the Human Habitrail and we were off again. Despite Mary 's pleas of "Harry Potter, pleeeaaasssseeeeee" we decided to enjoy a family round of Putt Putt.
The first couple of holes were a little rough, leaving us to question the wisdom of choosing this activity. We have discovered a perfectionistic streak in Mary much like my own. But about three holes in, Mark worked with her a little, showed her how to putt, and she settled into a serious game. At the end, we worked on math skills by totalling up the score. When Mary discovered that she had earned the highest score among the three of us, she danced and cheered for herself! We didn't have the heart to explain golf scores.....
The final promised activity of the evening: Ice cream and Harry Potter. Mark and Mary created mega-cones full of Nestle Crunch, Peanut Butter, and Sundae Cone ice creams, and gobbled them down in front of the television. Simon joined us to wach The Chamber of Secrets, and we pretty much ignored bedtime.
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Day 11 - Wednesday, 16 August, 2006
A week and a half into Mary 's visit, we are finally settling into a groove. Mary has adjusted to the time change well enough for us to get familiar with her natural sleep cycle. She is definitely my child...she likes to stay up late, and to sleep in!! As each day goes by, it's harder and harder to wake her up. I feel certain that this is God's little payback to me!
Once she wakes up, though, she gets up and around quickly. She makes her bed, brushes her teeth and cleans her new pierced ears without being reminded (OK, so not so much like me after all!).
Having to get a *little* work done this morning, I dropped her off at camp and headed back home for the morning conference calls. While she was at camp, volunteers from Child Evangelism Fellowship visited the camp to work with the kids. At the end of their time, Mary approached one of the volunteers and spoke with her for quite a while through one of the translators. At the end of the conversation, Mary prayed with them and accepted Jesus!
I picked Mary up from camp at about 1:00, and we headed over to the Maxwell's for Mary to swim and play and for me to do several more conference calls! Special thanks continue to flow to Becky and her family for helping out and making Mary feel such a welcome part of the family! She had a blast in the pool all afternoon, and it was comforting for me to watch her out the window while I was working!
Mary has really settled into the family, and has enjoyed the time she can spend with her host cousins. Rachel and Mary perform handstands in the pool together, and Mary patiently tows the Jared and Julia around the pool in tubes. All in all, they are having a great time being kids together!
As the day wanes, we say our goodbyes and head home for dinner, a short video, and some much-needed sleep!
Day 10 - Tuesday, 15 August, 2006
Tuesday morning's alarm blared entirely too early, and we all staggered downstairs to make tea and coffee, and to scarf down the new breakfast of choice--Fruity Cheerios! Once the bowl emptied out, Mary joined me to make her own sandwich for lunch. She also filled up the Pringle Keeper, holding one perfect single serving of pringles, and she added an apple, an orange, AND a banana to the lunch bag.
Mary and I went to camp, where I set up camp in a hallway of the church and took a couple of conference calls, sticking my nose into the classroom between calls. In class, the kids each traced their hands and feet, and attached them to a paper doll of themselves. The teachers then worked with the kids to learn the English words for the body parts, calling out "Arm" and watching all the kids point out the arm on their doll. Mary 's doll is the one with the big feet!!!!!
For the afternoon, Mary went over to Christina's house to hang out. They played in the spa, watched videos, played the piano and sang all afternoon. Two exhausted girls were pulled out of the hot tub at 5:30 when Mark got there to pick Mary up!
Mark threw some salmon on the grill, and I made a salad and sugar snap peas. The salmon and salad were hits, the sugar snap peas...not so much! But today, dinner was just a quick break on the road to tonight's much-awaited Ear Piercing Extravaganza. Mary and I picked up Rachel, and the three girls hit the road!
Claire's was not busy at all, and Mary quickly chose starter earrings with a pretty pink flower. They started with the left ear, but the earring only shot halfway through her earlobe. She was such a trooper as the woman pulled the earring out, re-positioned the marks for the piercings, and tried again! Mary winced a bit when they went through, but she held up great!
We were in and out in a flash, and the girls decided that some exercise (mall-walking) was in order....all the way to Cold Stone Creamery! Rachel ordered Cake Batter with Kit Kat crumbles, and Mary got Strawberry with Gummi Bears, both in waffle cones. I watched and swiped a taste from each of them!!
Day 5 - Thursday, 10 August, 2006
This morning was a little more organized, and I was up and showered before Mary woke up….after about 3 hours sleep on the basement couch.
After taking care of a bit of work and making sure that everything was covered, Mary and I got some breakfast (OK, Mary got Rasin Bran – her choice – and I got a vat of Starbucks House Blend). Mark, Mary , and I packed up and headed out the door, with a stop by Becky’s to pick up Mary ’s swimsuit.
After ESL and a craft, we all headed out to Fox Island County Park, where one of their naturalists showed us all up by knowing more Russian than all of the host parents put together (OK, well, that’s an exaggeration….but she knew some good phrases!). She let the kids all pet a variety of animal pelts and learn the English words for them. After the presentation, everyone posed for photos before heading down to the lake for a cookout and swimming.
Thunder and a little lightning threatened, and put an end to the water fun. Mary and Christina had some fun with changing….Mary grabbed her top and pants, but failed to take her panties. Christina decided that panties were all she needed, and failed to take her pants and top. Between the two of them, they make up one full outfit and one naked child! I think Christina would have volunteered, but her Mom had a VERY different position on the matter! (Sorry, Lisa!!)
When rain and mosquitos finally drove us out of the park, we all headed back to camp to regroup. Families gradually drifted back home while the last few kids hung out and played Clifford ABC Bingo. Once they all got the hang of it, they had fun trading places as the caller and writing the English alphabet on the board and doing the Bingo Dance each time someone filled a line on a card. And Bingo didn’t mean the end of the game…these girls knew how to keep a party going!
On the way home, we stopped off at Wal-Mart to pick up some printed photos, and popped into the pet store. Mary did not seem terribly impressed by the bunnies, but we picked up a bone for her to give to Simon. He loves it! After that, we stopped into the dollar store. Mary picked up a little cell phone, some sparkly barrettes, and a big tub of foam ocean animal stickers. Yes, stickers. We are inexperienced at this parenting thing!
We arrived home to a new bit of drama. Before we left camp, Mary and Christina had come up with a plan for each of them to take one of Christina walkie-talkies and to talk on them from home. They were pretty disappointed when that didn’t work, but a nice long phone call solved that problem and brought Mary out of her funk.
After the call and a little recovery time, Mary came downstairs. Mark found a virtual Cyrillic keyboard online, and Mary was able to type out a question to me. We pasted it into a translator tool, and communication was made! Mary asked if we would be going back tomorrow to “the place where Natalia and Maxim are”…Day Camp. I was pleased to answer “Da.”
After that, she said she was ready to eat, and scarfed down a loaded taco (complete with guacamole and LOTS of sour cream) and some Mexican rice. After dinner, she watched a short Veggie Tales video and headed up to her room. She asked to play a little in her room before bed, and since it was a little early we agreed. Bad move. The armoire in her room is now coated with foam stickers that we got at the dollar store. Not sure whether to praise her for doing such a great job or punish her for trashing the furniture…..Since we didn’t tell her not to do it, I guess I can’t say a while lot other than “Let’s not have any more of this putting stickers on furniture business!” But we both knew she was special when our ultimate reaction was “She did a really good job!”
She also raided my teddy bear collection, and rearranged the contents of her room. It took a little cajoling and a kind but firm Russian “Bed. Now.” And she hit the sack by about 9.
Day 1 - Sunday, 6 August, 2006
Mary's first day began on no more than 6 hours of sleep, having hit the hay at about 2:00 AM. She was up and playing quietly in her room when we woke up at 8:00 this morning! Mary and I went downstairs to make coffee and get some breakfast together. A quick response to "Chai eelee Sok" and the first juicebox made its exit from the stockpile! I boiled some water, made a double batch of instant oatmeal, and Mark emerged just in time to offer Mary a choice of white or brown sugar (she went with white).
Once Mark and I had coffee in us, and Mary was full of oatmeal and banana, she got ready for the day, and set forth to "settle in" to her room. This activity was made up of exploring each closet, locating Items of Interest, and relocating them to very specific places in her room. It also included collecting several choice selections from the "niece and nephew" toy bin in the basement.
Mary dedicated significant effort and concentration to the placement of her new treasures throughout the room. It was really sweet to watch her place the Taco Bell Dog in a spot, step back, cock her head, crouch back down, move it a quarter inch, and then nod approvingly. She seemed very sure of herself, and very particular!
Once she was satisfied with her work, Mary's attention shifted to her new best friend, Simon. Gone was any shred of fear that may have been present the night before...Tolstay sabaka and Mary had fun playing and even a little bit of roughousing before we got down to the real business of the morning...perusing the Sunday paper ads to get a feel for where to shop for a few new outfits and what she might like.
Let's just say that Mary has a strong sense of fashion, and very much knows what she likes. She was not at all shy about providing an unbiased review of each outfit on the page. Thumbs up with her award-winning smile or scrunched up face accompanied by "No, no"--we clearly knew what she thought. We very quickly discovered that PINK was the favorite, and I guess we shouldn't have been surprised.
Following the newspaper reconnaisance, we all piled into the car for the short trip to Target, where Mary quickly identified not only the clothes of her choice, but also the correct American sizes! She is destined to be an excellent shopper! We agreed ahead of time on the quantity of shirts, pants/skirts, shoes, etc. and she selected items right within the budget. Mark was a great help in the selection process. My shopping radar, though, was not nearly as well-honed as the two of them.
As we moved on to shoes, we discovered a somewhat disconcerting fact. Mary's feet are almost as big as mine! We found a pair of pink tennis shoes that fit, and then moved on to the selection of Dress Flip Flops. Since summerwear is considered "out-of-season" now that it's August, we were a little challenged with finding her first choice in a large enough size, and after trying several different styles, we settled on a pair of two-toned leather ones that really almost fit me!
Once this was complete, a quick lunch of bologna sandwiches before we braved the hot sun to take Simon out for a walk around the neighborhood. While there wasn't much chatter, we did learn the Russian for squirrel, and Mary very conscientiously kept Simon away from all passing cars.
A little TV (Gilmore Girls...don't ask me what she got out of it without understanding any English!) before we peeled her away to go meet Mark's sister, brother-in-law, and their four kids. The kids were all very excited to meet her, and Jerod even put forth an excellent "Priviyet, Mariya!" Excellent job for a six-year-old!
The kids immediately hit the playset, and with a little coaxing, Mary was on the swings keeping pace with Rachel, and grinning from ear to ear. After a time, swings gave way to the slide, and then, after a chocolate/banana fudgesicle (which was judged very good indeed), the whole gang hit the soccer field. Well, we all stood in a circle and kicked the soccer ball. Same thing, right?
Being a home full of kids, with an educator for Mom, we borrowed many learning tools, including videos, books, and a Leap Pad...Mary took to the leap pad like a fish to water, and, much to our amazement, grabbed a book of Bible stories, and started sounding them out and reading them in English! God is really doing something special in this beautiful little girl!
We'll deal with teeth-brushing tomorrow. For today, we just know that this little girl is a blessing, and that she had a great day!
Mary's Arrival - Saturday, 5 August, 2006
Well, we have just said Good Night to Mary's first full day in the US....and ALL are exhausted!
Mary arrived in Fort Wayne at about midnight last night with her group from Ukraine. Seven children, aged 6-12, travelled nearly 40 hours with their escorts, to stay in Fort Wayne for the next three weeks. The group began their journey with an overnight train trip to Kiev, where they boarded a Delta flight to JFK.
After clearing immigration and customs in New York, the group boarded a final Delta flight to Indianapolis, where they were met by the Program Director and one brave host-parent driver. The final leg of this groups journey took them on a 2.5 hour car ride north to Fort Wayne. Reports are that only one of the children got carsick!
The group of host families gathered anxiously at about 11:45 PM in the lobby of Don Hall's Guest House to wait for the travellers. A unique combination of excitement, exhaustion, and nerves filled the room, as families practiced their greetings in Russian and clutched floppy stuffed animals. Right at 12:00, the call came out..."They're HERE!" as the minivan pulled into the parking lot.
Families craned their necks to get a glimpse of the first children emerging from the van; it seemed an eternity for them to gather their backpacks together and walk the short way into the hotel. One by one, the group's translator, introduced the bleary-eyed children to their anxious host families. Nervous hugs were exchanged, and families dispersed into the night
Mary figured out the seatbelt in the Honda, and we were off for the 10-minute ride home--the shortest of all the host families! After this quiet ride, Mary retrieved her backpack, elephant, and welcome baloons and stepped up to our door.
As always when meeting new people, Simon displayed his usual wiggly exuberance. I don't think Mary was quite prepared for this, and she stood frozen at the door for a few moments, while I pulled him aside and calmed him down. Mary made it to a chair, where we brought Simon up to her. We let her pet him, and once he sniffed her, he settled right down. The two became fast friends later in the night when Simon picked a very quiet moment on the House Tour to let out an award-winning belch. It brought a laugh from all, and an amusing end to a hectic day!
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