Out With A Bang

Dave sez,

So, Shani's LAST week with us was his - AND Justin's - FIRST time at Snowblast.

Snowblast is a pretty cool weekend. It's Martin Luther King, Jr. Day weekend at Ironwood Springs Christian Ranch in Stewartville. It's snow tubing, arts and crafts activities, Christian fellowship and good eatin'. Our church is a part of Snowblast over MLK weekend, and we go camping a couple of weekends over the summer. We got to go camping there with Justin back in August. The video we posted on him dancing on one of the picnic benches with his cousin Matthew is from the Chuck Wagon dinner there.

Cathy and I were excited to take the boys there this year; because, after having Justin for a week last year, we went to find some more support and encouragement. This year, it was a chance to show that prayers had been answered! Not just for Justin, but for Shani, too.

It was really exciting to see Justin make new friends! It was cool to see the moment he met his new friend Cody. We walked into the lodge, and in the middle of a crowded room, the two boys saw one another. Cody came over to Justin and said, "Hi." An instant later, I was a pack mule carrying all the gear in and down into the boys dorm where we picked our bunks. Justin and Shani pointed to their bunks and I icked one nearby. Cody moved from the bunk he picked to the top bunk above Shani's.

There was never a shy moment for Justin all weekend long.

He and Shani dove into tubing and activities like champs!

We signed EVERY body up for Pastor Todd's para-cord craft session. I think para-cord - parachute cord - is probably THE greatest thing in the world! Todd brings about a dozen or so different color parachute cord rolls, and shows how to make bracelets, key chain straps and even chokers. When craft time came around, though, Justin followed some friends of his - girls - to pottery and left Shani with me in the para-cord class. Mama was at home, enjoying what I like to call her "Chinese Food of Guilt" - no matter how hard she tried to enjoy some quality, personal, "me" time - Chinese food, a nice bath and a girlie chick flick; she kept missing all her boys! It was kind of hard for Shani, being by himself, with me. There really wasn't any easy way to help him through learning how to make his bracelet. So I made my own - Blue, White and Yelow - Ukrainian flag colors - Blue and Purple for Shani - and Blue, Purple and Red for Cathy. Like I said, I love para-cord!

The hardest part of the weekend was unplugging both Justin and Shani to take Shani back to the airport for his flight back. Snowblast was a nice distraction from the reality that Shani was heading back to the orphanage for who knows how long...

I started to feel a little blue on Friday; but seeing the boys and the fun they were having, I knew we'd be alright. Plus, we'd be calling him every Sunday before church, just like we did Justin.

We had a good talk on the way back to Snowblast, Justin and I. We worked on his sign-reading.
Monday morning on the way to have lunch with Cathy, Justin asked why I talked about him so much.
I guess I have taken a pretty big liberty in talking about him without thinking of whether I was embarassing him. We agreed that there would be boundaries. I would try not to embarass him to much. I told him that I talk about the things I'm MOST proud of that he does.

Of course, he does some things that are really funny and amusing and cute, too...

...Now the real work starts. We start the process of bringing Shani home. Justin will be able to see what we did for him in how we bring his brother home.

   

Pride & Joy

Dave sez,

So here's what we know so far - the Mayans were WRONG! The Zombie Apocalypse has not started yet and is probably a few years off still. We know this because Robert Zemekis is a BETTER prognosticator. He sent Marty McFly Back to the Future to help his family in 2015. The world was still intact and had not as yet collapsed into chaos and anarchy - much - as yet. So we can all breath easier.

But that's not the reason you called...

Our son, Justin, is a pretty smart kid. He noticed something almost as soon as Cathy and I did.

I noticed that when Shani started to fade early, fall asleep quickly, wake up and - as Justin puts it - "stand up" - early, he was like me. I'll wake up before the alarm goes off, sometimes an half hour or an hour early, and I'll lay there staring at the ceiling waiting for the thing to go off. "Come on! Wake me up already! Can't you see me, laying here? Waiting on YOU?! Let's go already! Bring it!"

I'm used to getting up pretty early. So, when Number Two Son got up early one morning and came in the living room, I thought, "Huh. That's pretty unusual. A kid who doesn't sleep in and hug the pillow until the last possible second."

Justin is very focused. He has a laser-intense focus. Number One Son is good with numbers and problem-solving, knows what he wants - and usually what he wants he wants NOW! - he's a night owl tht likes to sleep as long and as late as he can. from what Cathy and I have seen of Justin, I would call him our Pride. He's very conscious f his appearance and very self-conscious of his size. Of the two boys, he seems more mature. As I imagine them making their way through Maidan Station together, I imagine Justin and Shani holding hands and Justin leading Shani. Justin seems more rugged and tough. Or at least more defensive.

Shani's a little more creative. He's more easy going. He's still as much of a handful as Justin is. Right now, he's going through exactly what Justin went through last year. Coming to the states from the orphanage his eyes are as wide as saucers and he's trying to take it ALL in at once.

I asked Justin if Shani needed to see The Karate Kid with Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith. If Shani's "focus needs MORE focus". Justin said, "Yeah!"

So, today begins Shani's training in focus.