Long Time No Blog!

We have so much to catch up on. I enjoyed looking back on our blog at those months we were in Kazakhstan. It seems like it was yesterday and not seven months ago! The kids have made so many strides in these seven months since coming home.

Their english is coming along quite well. I would say at this point that Zhenya speaks more clearly and correctly, but Alyosha understands more. He talks a lot and desires to share everything that's going on in his mind and sometimes things get pretty jumbled! They are both big talkers. They both have very outgoing personalities, something we would never have guessed from Alyosha those first few days with him at the orphanage. Zhenya has never met a stranger. She continues to talk to everyone she sees. She is a little charmer and usually has all adults giggling at her abrupt and loud greetings and questions.

Their behavior in the beginning was a little surprising to us. When we first brought them back to the apartment in Pavlodar they were pretty crazy acting. It was very hard to keep their excitement at bay. We were basically surviving there for those last couple weeks. We didn't know how firm to be with them and it was quite frustrating trying to find the balance of what to correct and when to show mercy. Everything was so new and exciting and we understood they had never really had to practice self control with things they'd never been around. By the end of our time there we were at our wits end for sure. I mean they must have turned the lights on and off hundreds of times which we can laugh at now, but at a time when we were dealing with paperwork and trying to get home it wasn't very funny dealing with the lack of obedience they were showing and hyperness in our tiny living space. The lights were just one example of their curiosity. It's pretty amazing what kids can find to get into in even the smallest of living spaces! Words cannot describe the relief we felt once we were home and could really begin cracking down on the toddler like behaviors from them both. It was and has been hard at times, but they have come so far. Only occasionally do they play with the lights now! Self control has been a huge issue with them both. The first few months home when we corrected Alyosha he would have meltdowns just like you would see from a two or three year old. He would get very angry and unreasonable. He was not used to adults seeing his every move and expecting things from him. He has a very easy going temperament and is a super happy kid, so it was again very surprising to us when he'd do this. Those outbursts are few and far between now. We are still working with both of them on their wills and breaking them because they were never broken. They were their only allies in life and they only knew how to look out for themselves. They have never learned the concept of thinking about anyone other than themselves. It so makes sense being raised in an orphanage that you would naturally be this way since we are sinful and self-centered beings. It is only God who can show us and make us into anything else by His grace!
Praise the Lord they have such sweet personalities and have very pliable temperaments. I really don't know what we'd do if we had kids with major emotional issues or kids that were having a hard time bonding.

We are bonding great with them. They are very loving and giving of themselves and have not seemed to resent anything. They have never seemed homesick or miss their homeland. At least not yet. We talk to them about the orphanage and ask questions. The first three or four months Alyosha didn't really want to talk about it. In recent months though he has talked a little about things there. He'll tell us about a child he remembers that did something or how someone got in trouble. He told us recently that for punishment the caregivers had the kids do squats or put their heads down between their legs while sitting on the floor. They were hit on the hands with a ruler too. Alyosha and Zhenya seemed to have both experienced some of this discipline, although neither seems to be able to recall why =) Zhenya has always wanted to talk about the orphanage. She knows we are very interested, so she is excited when she remembers something like how they drank some sort of yogurt drink before bed, or that they played with clay sometimes, or makes sure we know that at the orphanage they didn't have this or that.
Dave and I have our days when we still feel like we have a bit to go with feeling like they are totally ours. We feel close and loving toward them, but I think sometimes we feel they were someone else's and get frustrated at their lack of training and well, some days are harder than others. We know it's completely normal to feel this way some days and know with each day/week/month that passes it will all seem more and more natural. I know with each month that has already passed they feel more and more like our kids and Trumans =)