Focaccia

My dear friend, Susanna, showed up with some homemade focaccia (similar to this photo) this morning. She said that she had read my recent blogposts and figured that I needed some comfort food. Being from Italy, she said that focaccia IS her comfort food. I was touched by her desire to reach out and help me and my family. During her visit, she paid sweet attention to Calvin and Silas. Once again I am reminded of how God can bless these adopted orphans with showers of love from people here in the US. Everywhere I take them, they are doted and loved on. They spent 2-5 years in an orphanage and now they are viewed as highly important and special. What a blessing!

This morning I took the boys with me to Wal-mart to pick up a few items. You would have thought that they were in heaven. They could not wait to get in Bonnie - our van - and drive there, much less have the opportunity to ride in a shopping cart and cruise around Wal-mart. I am sure the novelty will wear off at some point, but it's fun to see this new world through their eyes. 

Afterwards, I met Tyler at the mechanic - Paul is the most friendly and fair mechanic here in FL. We love him! The air conditioning on the van isn't working and we had Paul take a look at it. Tyler has just put more Freon in two days ago and less than 24 hours later it was blowing hot air. After a careful look, Paul said that part would cost over $1,000 to fix. Tyler said that if we sold the van, we might get $1,000 for it. Regardless, we do not have $1,000 to fix it, nor will we anytime soon. I know that there are people in the world who drive unairconditioned vehicles, but it's already 80 degrees here in FL and we have some LONG drives ahead of us this summer: 30 min drives to psychiatrist for Iryna, 1 1/2 hour drives to the pediatric cardiologist, 3 hour drives for the cardiac catheter and heart surgeries, plus we are moving in August to OH and we're driving up from FL. Sorry to vent, but it's frustrating!!!!!

I have been using google translate to help communicate with Calvin. Did you know that you can translate from English to Russian and it will pronounce the Russian? So I can ask Calvin questions this way. Love it. Calvin is eager to communicate, which makes things easier. He is always asking "What's this?" He is such a smart boy.

Silas' bowels have plugged up. This can be good OR bad. Bad meaning less fiber, good meaning less diaper changes for me. Ha ha.

How are the older three kids doing with Silas and Calvin here? I interviewed them to see what they thought:

Iryna:

What do you think about Silas? 

Good.

Do you enjoy playing with him?

Yeah.

Is he a good brother?

Yes.

Anything you want to tell me about Silas?

Yes.

What? 

I like to play and take a bath with him and to take his jammies. I want to go outside and play. That's it.

What do you think about Calvin?

I want to play with him. I want to take a bath. I want to play outside. I want to take his jammies. I want to, uh, play with swing. I want to take a slide. That's it.

Is he a good brother?

Yes.

Anything else you want to tell me about Calvin?

That's it, mama. See?

Keith:

What do you think about Silas?

Because, I like you.

Do you enjoy playing with him?

Yes.

Is he a good brother?

Yes.

Anything else you want to tell me about Silas?

Yes. Because we play with Silas. Because, uh, Calvin Silas play. Bye bye, Mama.

Anna:

What do you think of Silas?

I think he's cute. He's fun to play with. And he knows how to put on great shows.

Is he a good brother?

Yes!

Anything else you want to tell me about Silas?

Not really.

What do you think of Calvin?

He's fun to play with. He's enjoyable to have around. 

Is he a good brother?

Yes!

Anything else you want to tell me about Calvin?

Nope.