Last week the Rast girls, the Bunch girls and Julia, Sodebergs daughter all came over for our first tutor session. The last time I had seen all these children together they all were orphans in unclean clothes with unwashed faces living in an institution that kept them clothed and fed and warm but offered them little else.
How it warmed my heart to see their shinny clean faces, coordinating outfits and cute hair bows in their hair. When I was around the kids in the orphanage I tried not inhale deeply as to not catch any whiffs of what odors may be wafting from their little bodies and hair so I reveled in the ability I had to breath deeply around them and give them all tight hugs and welcome them into our home.
It got a little crazy, and praise to our tutor, Miss Katie for surviving the 1st day. We had six Ukraine children sitting around a table and the volume got louder and louder until we as Mom's had to step in and lay down some ground rules.
Alex was of course out numbered five to one so I'm sure he can't wait for Lawrence's to bring home their boy (or boys) to help even the boy girl ratio-of course we'll have Lobo's and Benson's girls to keep the girls numbers up but we can't wait until they're all home safe and sound and learning English together.
It was wonderful to talk to Amy, Julee and Leslie and compare notes, give suggestions and mostly just know that we all have struggles and challenges.
We were planning on a trip to the park for lunch but because of the dreary day we changed to McDonald's with the indoor playground. We picked up one more girl, Bill and Lezlie Strader met us there with their daughter Julia. So we had seven Russian speaking children and mine and Julee's home grown children making our grand total ELEVEN children running around McDonald's.
My Rylee and Julee's Emmy hit it off and Rylee can't wait for next Thursday to play with her new friend during the two hour tutor session. (During Tuesday's session where Alex has it one on one with Miss Katie-Rylee just hung around listening so having Julee's kids there was really nice to keep Rylee occupied!)
It's quite a drive for Julee & Amy and a big sacrifice for Leslie with her hectic work schedule to be there but I think it was therapeutic for not just us but our children as well.
I do wish I could have understood Russian if only for the first half hour to hear what the children were saying to each other about their new lives here in America. Were they saying good things? Bad things? Comparing parenting techniques? Giving each other advice?
I got two pictures that I'll post but forgot to take my camera to McDonald's. Julee let me snap some pic's on her camera but I never got the kids all rounded up for a group picture-I"ll have to be more diligent this week.
How it warmed my heart to see their shinny clean faces, coordinating outfits and cute hair bows in their hair. When I was around the kids in the orphanage I tried not inhale deeply as to not catch any whiffs of what odors may be wafting from their little bodies and hair so I reveled in the ability I had to breath deeply around them and give them all tight hugs and welcome them into our home.
It got a little crazy, and praise to our tutor, Miss Katie for surviving the 1st day. We had six Ukraine children sitting around a table and the volume got louder and louder until we as Mom's had to step in and lay down some ground rules.
Alex was of course out numbered five to one so I'm sure he can't wait for Lawrence's to bring home their boy (or boys) to help even the boy girl ratio-of course we'll have Lobo's and Benson's girls to keep the girls numbers up but we can't wait until they're all home safe and sound and learning English together.
It was wonderful to talk to Amy, Julee and Leslie and compare notes, give suggestions and mostly just know that we all have struggles and challenges.
We were planning on a trip to the park for lunch but because of the dreary day we changed to McDonald's with the indoor playground. We picked up one more girl, Bill and Lezlie Strader met us there with their daughter Julia. So we had seven Russian speaking children and mine and Julee's home grown children making our grand total ELEVEN children running around McDonald's.
My Rylee and Julee's Emmy hit it off and Rylee can't wait for next Thursday to play with her new friend during the two hour tutor session. (During Tuesday's session where Alex has it one on one with Miss Katie-Rylee just hung around listening so having Julee's kids there was really nice to keep Rylee occupied!)
It's quite a drive for Julee & Amy and a big sacrifice for Leslie with her hectic work schedule to be there but I think it was therapeutic for not just us but our children as well.
I do wish I could have understood Russian if only for the first half hour to hear what the children were saying to each other about their new lives here in America. Were they saying good things? Bad things? Comparing parenting techniques? Giving each other advice?
I got two pictures that I'll post but forgot to take my camera to McDonald's. Julee let me snap some pic's on her camera but I never got the kids all rounded up for a group picture-I"ll have to be more diligent this week.
2 of my blog friends said something...:
Can't wait for this week's session. Thanks for all you do and thanks for letting me bring all my kids. Emi's excited to play with Rylee, too.
Oh, I wish we were there getting tutoring. We had our first session of tutoring today in the orphanage. I'm sure yours was better.
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