We have reached a milestone! It is now two years that our boy Justin has been home! "Hurrah"!
We enjoy holidays and birthdays together. One important milestone is when Cathy and I were first connected with Justin. We are so grateful, that after waiting so long for our prayers to be answered - when we had nearly lost hope - Justin found us. He had a little help. As we were agonizing, and I was struggling with whether or not to post a status that I wanted to be a dad in 2011, some very good friends of ours got to spend time with him and see the situation he was in. He was visiting on a three week hosting program. He had a family that wanted him. But God had other plans. I will never forget first hearing about Justin. More importantly, our friends knew that we would be right together. So much so, that they vouched for us and recommended that we spend time together to get to know each other. I just happened to have a week of vacation. Everything started to fall into place. Our first week together was incredible. Cathy and I were scared and we weren't sure just exactly what we were getting ourselves into - but, then, what parent does? We weren't sure after waiting and praying and hoping that we could spend time with him and then be able to let him go. But it turned out, that after all the time waiting, we only had to go another nine months and we would finally be a family! I would realize my desire to be a dad. My son would come home.
We got to know him more while we were over in Kiev bringing him home. Justin is hooked on Avatar: The Last Airbender! As much as I like Batman and comic books, that's how much he loves Aang and Avatar: The Last Airbender. He loves SpongeBob and Power Rangers. He's a big fan of Anime. His favorite movie is the updated Karate Kid. Not surprising, he's a fan of the Rocky movies. Not surprising either, he loves wrestling, karate, soccer and just about any sport. He's a natural. He's picked up basketball, baseball and football, pretty easily. Skateboarding and rollerblading...not so much. We were working on a math assignment that we both learned something from. The assignment was to show that he had a grasp of integers. He had a choice between writing a rap song, or drawing a cartoon strip showing that he had a grasp of how integers worked. So we looked at the assignment and he asked if I would help him draw a comic. That's what he asked me to help him do. He wanted my help to draw a comic. So, we talked about it and I asked him what he thought of the idea of creating a hero called Integer Man to (wait for it) "solve the problem". I mean, come on, this is my wheelhouse! So, we're working on the assignment together, and we struggled over "sequential art". Justin did not know how to lay out his panels for the assignment. He was going to scatter them all over the page. I explained to him that people read left to right, top to bottom. His first panel had to be in the top left and the story would have to move across the page to the final panel in the bottom right of the page. We struggled over this because he's not that much of a reader beyond having to read the Harry Potter and Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. He's a fan of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, and Anakin Skywalker...so that may get him reading more, even if it is science fiction. I think I'm pretty okay with that...even though I'm not a big fan of the prequel trilogy...
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| We've agreed to disagree on the Star Wars prequel trilogy...and Jar Jar Binks. |
Justin is working very hard to adjust to regular Seventh Grade. It's not an easy adjustment. Things were simpler and easier in the Newcomers Program. He makes friends pretty easily. He's very likable and he has charm and charisma. As brave and tough as he acts, I spent nearly the first full year that he was home with us sleeping in his room so that he would get a good night's sleep. Take my word for it, that when Justin's brother Ethan came home, I was so glad to be able to sleep in my own bed again! One of the things Cathy and I are finding is that he. Always. Has. To. Be. Right. Inside voices get thrown out the window when that comes into question. Cathy has worked in accounting for over two decades. Math is my worst subject. I've never won a money argument with her. It's almost funny watching the two of them turn purple over Justin's Math homework! He's struggling mightily to get a handle on it. When he gets frustrated he gets impatient and he turns into a little firecracker.
But, he's got a great sense of humor. He loves to laugh and play and have fun. He's helping Cathy and me lighten up and loosen up and not take things so seriously...Okay, we're working on that. It's a work in progress...
Justin has been an incredible blessing. Every day has been an adventure to treasure and enjoy. Cathy and I are grateful for him; and because of him, we have Ethan. And, because he introduced us to Ethan, honorable second son introduced us to our little girl, Masha.
