If I could only show you pictures! !

So, tomorrow is our court day, so the first thing I would like to do is ask for prayers please for:

The judge to have a soft heart, and see that the Lord has placed the perfect boys for our family in our hands.

That Diester and I are calm, and answer the questions well.

And for some friends of ours that just took in 2 teenage nephews to care for, who have had a pretty rough road to travel, and not much to travel with. 

Thank you, and may God be blessing you also.

I also wanted to shout out a sincere thank you to the ones that have sent an e-mail, commented on a blog, or posted on FB.  The return messages are such a blessing~~it is nice to hear from home.  So, thank you!  We love hearing from you! please know that!

So, I wanted to share with you our day today!  I got up once again at 4:00 a.m. ready for the day (HAHA) because my body still does not know we are in Russia.  And Diester was up by 5:30 a.m.  I was skyping after my bible study.  We got ready for the day, and were picked up by 8:00 to go see the boys. 

Oh my, what a blessing!  I want to keep this brief, but I am quite a yacker on my blog it seems.  My stories end up lasting forever, I know. 

Let me get going~we pull into the orphanage, and Diester asks the driver to drive around the back so that we can see if the kids are outside playing.  Sure enough, and as we got to R.A.'s group, he sees our car, and is pretty much bouncing back and forth on one foot and then the other pointing at our car, and saying "Machina".  Diester lowers the window, and then R.A. catches a glimpse of us, and starts excitedly saying, which we could actually hear "Mamma Pappa"  We waved to him from inside the car, and he was so cute, just excited as could be, waving back at us.  As I write this now, I want you to know that we prayed on our way there for the Lord to let us see R.A. smile more.  He is very reserved with his emotions.  We were praying that the Lord would allow us to bond more, and to see some emotions expressed.  So, as you can see, as God does in grand style, R.A. was so happy to see us, and showed his excitability in an extreme that we had not seen so far.  It was such 'another' blessing! ! !   So, we got out of the car, grabbed our garb, and headed back to get the little guys!  We are heading back there, and R.A. is allowed to come greet us, and he is just running~~it was absolutely precious.  Diester picked him up, they hugged, and R.A. just held onto him.  Then I held him, and we just showered him with love and affection.  WOWSA!  Nothing could be better than that, right?

Well, then we head around to get little I.A., and he sees us, and gets the biggest grin on his face.  I was holding R.A. at the time, and I.A. saw Diester at the end of the sidewalk, and he was so cute.  He was practically doing a jig on his way down the sidewalk~~it was like he couldn't contain his joy.  The little jaunt to the end of the sidewalk where Diester stood almost became a little dance.  I didn't have the video running, but there are pix, and they speak volumes.  It was incredible.  His little dimples were showing so much, and then when Diester picked him up, and they both were smiling as big as their faces would allow, and he started giggling when Diester would talk to him.  I think he knows he's in for some fun when this 'big guy' comes around, and he just cannot contain his happiness.  The sparkle in his eyes was tremendous!

So, we walked around, and did the bubble thing again.  You know, some bubbles work better than others?  Believe it or not, this group of bubbles just did not seem to be working as well, and you know, Diester had bought these cute little Thomas the Train bubble blowing things, and they were as cute as could be, but the boys just did not get them, and when they did, the bubbles just would not work.  So be it!  We had fun anyway with the wands that worked.

Then the kitty cat made it's way near us.  The boys are scared of this cat, because they are not exposed to any 'live' animals, so it actually made it nice to see them move in closer to us for protection, even though they wanted desperately to touch the kitty, they also didn't want to get near it, so they came in by Mamma to be protected, and I just held my arms around them, and we watched Diester pet the cat.  It became our entertainment for a bit, and also provided more bonding opportunity, so that they would be able to get some nurturing from mom.  My turn!  :-) 

Then, of course there is the ongoing fascination of the car, any car.  We realized that babies are taught that it is a 'bee-bee' (I think for the sound of the horn), and we know R.A. just loves them too.  So, we offered to take them a ride in the 'machina'.  Diester climbed in with R.A. (3rd trip in the car), and I tried again with I.A.  R.A. just climbed right in, and sat right down on Diester's lap.  I was 'trying' with I.A., and the very upset fussing started again, however, Diester told me to climb in anyway with him on my lap, so I did, and he started throwing a fit, which lasted 3 seconds.  Yes, you heard me right.  As soon as he sat down once we were in the car, he settled right down, and was in AWE just looking around as we drove around the orphanage.  Funny thing, R.A. tells our driver,  "I am not afraid." and our driver Eugene says back to him (this whole time Diester and I have no clue what was being said) You are not afraid? Well, you should not be afraid, it is not an animal that could bite you."   We found out later about that conversation.  So, needless to say, we all enjoyed our leisurely drive around the estate of the orphanage.

During our visit, Diester has R.A. in his arms, and Diester asked him "deer Mama?" and R.A. appropriately pointed to me, and then he said "deer Papa?" and R.A. pointed to him.  It was VERY cool.  

After it was time for them to go back with their groups, we headed inside to visit with the Dr. and the social worker (representing our case in court). We spoke with them, and got a review of the medical/social background of the boys. 

Time to go!  We headed back to our apt this afternoon, and then we had a 'court briefing' for which we were thankful. 

Praise God that I am done with this post.  I am so tired, and need to get to bed.  God bless you all!  Michelle