Throwback Thursday

Dave sez, It was November 2012 when we were first introduced to Masha. Cathy and I were visiting Ethan while we waited for his court date to be scheduled and he pointed her out. We asked him if she had any brothers or sisters with her in the orphanage. He told us no. Then he looked up at both of us, and a very big grin creased his face. "Masha," he whispered to both of us, "sister?" The two of us looked at each other. She was a girl, all by herself, at the orphanage. By the Fall of 2012, we had talked and talked about whether or not we were at our journey's end. When Justin first found us, we had no idea about Ethan. It was the first week of January 2011. He was the answer to our prayers. We thought that we were blessed and lucky to have one child. We thought we would be one, and done.

  
As we got to know more about Justin, we learned that he had a cousin in the orphanage, Ethan. Justin introduced Ethan - then - as, "This is Shani - MY BROTHER!" We spent time with both boys, but made sure that Justin was the focus of our attention. We made the mistake of talking with Justin about Ethan after our court appearance. It hurt Justin's feeling to have to share such an important day for him with any one else. After his Gotcha Day, we visited Ethan until our flight home. When I said "baka-baka" to Ethan, I looked him in the eye and told him that Mama and I would be back and we would bring him home for good. A few months later, we had an opportunity to host him over Christmas as New Year's. It was good to see him again.

Over the months between bringing Justin and Ethan home, Cathy and I talked about our family plan and goals. We prayed for guidance. We agreed it would be a good idea to stop with just the two boys. The more we talked about what we wanted and desired, Cathy shared how much she longed for a daughter. But we agreed that most of the girls we'd seen at the Cradle of Children's Hope were part of sibling groups. There would be no way that we could handle building a larger family just for the sake of wanting a daughter.

Cathy and I actually looked at each other and said the only way we could consider adopting a third child is if it were a girl and she were all by herself, without any brothers or sisters.

From our lips to God's ears.

And here we are. In Kiev. A third time. Bringing our daughter, Masha home.

We are still waiting for our court date to be scheduled. We are praying that our court date comes up before next Friday. Thank you for joining us in our prayers.

While we wait we are spending some quality time, bonding with our girl. Today was more sentences. writing them out and reading them aloud. Cathy had her read a two-page story. When she got down to the bottom of the first page, she breathed a sigh of relief thinking that she was done. Her eyed bugged wide when Cathy turned the page for her to continue. She flopped back on the couch like one of the Peanuts characters, with a worn gasp. It was really funny to see. When she was finally done, she did the same thing. "So. Tired. Can't. Move. Ever. Sentence. Is. Just. One. Word..."

We sat on the floor as usual to play Uno. She kicked off her slippers. I put a lot of effort into shuffling. She was watching, and flopped onto her back at the sight of my shuffling.

So, I tickled her feet.

She jumped up and ducked behind Cathy. She snatched her cards from her spot as I dealt them, ducking back behind Mama. I grabbed the camera out of our backpack to try and capture a picture of her hiding behind Mom, but she ducked down to where I couldn't see her. I put the camera away. She came out from hiding.

It is fun to see that spark. It is going to be interesting to see what kind of ingredients we are mixing when we bring her home to see Ethan and meet Justin for the first time. Justin is anxious, because he has only seen her on a computer screen when we Skype. He's never met her.

We're probably going to have our hands full, just between her and Ethan. He is no fan of reading. Justin is just now discovering books. But he is more active and outdoorsy. Ethan and Masha seem like they could be couch potatoes like Mom and Dad...used to be.

We're becoming more active because of our kids. That's because they run us ragged - bah-dum-bump!

I'm looking forward to playing Monopoly, Uno and a host of other board and card games - "and loving it!"

Here's to building a calendar full of Throwback Thursdays!