Boy Time!!

We have spent the last few days visiting with the boys twice a day. Our new town is much smaller and so an easy routine has developed already. After we wake up, we walk about 30 min to their orphanage, visit outside for around an hour or sometimes longer (depends on what time they tell us to be "home" with the boys) walk back to the hotel, stopping at a pizza place for coffee (the menu is in English!). Around 4 we set out again and then visit for a while in a "waiting room". After this visit, we again stop at the pizza place for dinner, then go home to read and try to stay awake long enough to Skype with the girls when naptime at home is over.

I miss my girls so much now and just can not wait to go home. Last night baby girl was giving me kisses on Skype over and over until I thought my heart might actually burst! Being away form them is the hardest part of this process. Many things are very challenging, but not being able to hold and kiss my girls is just terrible.

Getting to know the boys is very interesting. The language barrier is very hard. Unlike our times with Heidi who is very much still like a baby, these boys have a LOT to tell us, and I cannot understand anything. They jabber on and on, and it feels so sad to not know the things on their hearts in these very early times together. I can't tell them we are coming back in the afternoon, be gentle with the ipad, share the toy with your brother, I love you. Instead, everything must be expressed with body language! It is amazing just how much I can understand, though. That they are VERY proud to have a "Mama and Papa" (they tell everyone they see), that they are trying to figure out what we will be like, that they are sinners, that they are adorable and funny, that they are ALL BOY!!

The first few visits were all just about fun, I actually think I wanted to impress them with how cool and wonderful I was. Now we are getting into the real stuff. What are they to think? Here we show up saying we are their mother and father, and they have no idea what that even means! Being a family is about love and learning. They have no concept for this, but they do know that what feels good is to find their boundaries, push them, and win. Our job will be to show them that love means us teaching them how to become godly men. This is going to be a privilege, and a challenge. We are so thankful to be given the opportunity to have these boys in our home, and we also know that it will not be easy. Yes, they are VERY cute. Yes, they are affectionate and lovable! And yes, most of all, they need a savior. How great our joy will be to teach them about the One who redeems, rescues, and truly loves. What we are doing with them now is not real life. It is strange and hard and I simply cannot wait for real family time to begin!

And let me tell you, I LOVE BOYS!! How great is it that even ones who grow up in an orphanage in Eastern Europe know that burping is awesome and smashing and kicking and running is the best? Fun times are ahead!