Days of Elijah Day 17 & 18

Debbie was so sweet on the phone today. She asked how Elijah was doing and said she was sad that she's been missing the updates. :-) I told I didn't have one yesterday because I was too busy looking for flights for her...not that I could've done anything anyway.

So, here we are. Here's the special picture I promised you!



He was very excited when he saw me put the Ergo on, and immediately put his arms up to be picked up.
As you can tell, he was having a great time! So was I! I brought it again today, and both times he put his head right down on my chest. Ohhhh, what a healing balm for this mother that misses cudling her 5 "babies" at home something awful. Not to mention that he is willing to be held so close AND that he is enjoying it.
Both days I walked around with him for about 10 minutes singing "Jesus Loves Me" to him.
Very special times indeed.

 He still has times where he pushes on my chin, but it seems to becoming less and less. Mostly, he does it when I'm really "in his face" trying to teach him how to kiss my cheek instead of just my picture. LOL Can't blame him, can you? But the Ergo puts him just down far enough so he has enough space.


To be honest, yesterday morning, I didn't really want to go to the orphanage. My heart was heavy for Debbie and the troubles she was having (which was just the beginning unfortunately) and the weather looked really rainy, windy and cold. But, I'm not here to be comfortable, so out I went, really wishing I had remembered my umbrella after I walked far enough to not make it worthwhile to go back. One of my busses finally came and it was packed. (Don't worry, this story does have a point.) I'm not sure why people don't move down the aisle, but they all wanted to stand right at the doorway. I pushed my way on - that's what you have to do here - being polite gets you nowhere. And I was trying to move in even further, as I knew an older man was trying to get on behind me with a large black "box" with a handle. Eventually, I paid and got through to a seat that opened up as others were getting off on the next stop. The older gentleman sat down next to me. He starts jabbering away at me. I can't understand a word he's saying of course. I kind of shrug my shoulders, put my hands up like "ummm...what?". I didn't want to interupt him. Guess I should have! But he keeps trying to explain and starts making the sign of the cross on his forehead and making a cross with his fingers. I hear the word "Chreest", which is how they pronounce "Christ" in Russian, I believe. I guess I'll never know exactly what he was trying to ask me, but maybe it was if I believed in "Chreest" because I showed him some common courtesy? If so, wow...that speaks volumes, just volumes...think about that for awhile. (Please know I certainly don't mean to imply that Christians are the only ones that show common courtesy to others. That's not what I mean at all.)

I eventually got out my little Russian dictionary to show him I didn't speak Russian. He got it. He told me the only words he knew in English. "Please sit down". LOL I need to learn those words in Russian for the plane ride with the little man. He asked if I spoke "Deutsch" (German). Nope. He did though. He asked if I had little ones. (This is all through charades.) Sorry, I said no for sake of simplicity. I didn't really want to tell him I was on the way to the "detsky dom" (baby house). He asked if I knew how old he was. Don't ask me how I understood all this, I just did. I said "nyet" (no). He showed me on his fingers and then wrote it on the foggy window. 60. Just 20 years older than me. (Oops, did I just admit my age on a public blog?) I would have easily put him at 75. Wow...it's a tough life here. Then he noticed my wedding ring. He showed me that he took his off and put it on his right hand. :-( I assume that means the same thing here as it does in the States. But, shortly before that, he pointed out the sun to me. It was one of those picturesque skies, with just the sun's rays radiating from behind the big, puffy rain clouds. Very beautiful! It's how I think the sky will look when Jesus comes back again. So, I took that as my sign that everything is going to be alright...Debbie will get here ok, everything else will be ok. The God of the Universe, the one that made the heavens and the earth, cares enough to send someone to point out His beauty to me. I might have missed it otherwise.


The past few visits have gone well. Carpenters are putting new interior doors on in the waiting room, so we had to be in the playroom. Yea! Oh, I was invited to stay for lunch yesterday. It wasn't even my idea. But there was one (rare) big piece of chicken in his soup! (Funny, the soup smelled like fish though.) I would have cut it at least in half for my 4 yo, but I wanted to see how he did with it. Yes, mean mother, I know.  He actually chewed it half way decent. That was very encouraging to see.

I'll leave you with a few pictures. That's why you're here anyway, right?

Having fun with mommy's mask, which I only had to wear during the 2nd lunch visit. It's in my bag all the time in case someone asks me to put it on.



Anyone have one of these in their basment that we could buy from you for Elijah? This one is probably as old as me (remember - that's old!) as it still has metal around the middle. It just makes a soft tinkling, musical sound. He really does well with it.




We spend at least 20 minutes a day looking at the photo album, by his choice. Rebekah, do you see who he's looking at? :-)



The vacuum was left in the room and he knew exactly what to do with it.

He did this all by himself. He got in and placed "Bear" right where he goes when we go for a ride in the wagon. Usually, Bear ends up on the floor though.

This is the bag I brought the Ergo in. He was just pulling it around, back and forth, on the same path I walk with him. So cute!