Testing, testing, and more testing ...

a pick-up soccer game with the kids!

I’ve hesitated to write much the past few days.  Week two is apparently all about testing boundaries.  The language barrier is really tough when you are trying to communicate subtleties.  I want so desperately to tell him how proud I am of him and how well he is doing.  Of course, I also want to say, “for the love, child, please stop slamming every door in the house!”  To celebrate the 4^th, we went to the pool in the morning (many thanks to Ms. Dawn!!)  and then to a cookout that evening.  We all had a blast at the pool.  Roman must be part fish, he loves to swim and dive and play squirt guns and float and swim some more!  L.J. learned to dive (with a mask on), Bailey learned to swim (with her floaties on), and Olivia must’ve drug Ms. Dawn around 50 laps in the shallow end “practicing” her swimming.  Gabe loved the water, but possibly Ms. Dawn’s chocolate cookies more ;)  We went home and took a quick power nap, then headed for our SS cookout.  We have some good friends that speak fluent Russian that were there as well.  It was nice to be able to communicate with Roman without the language barrier.  One of the sweetest things that has happened so far, is when he kept asking when we were going to go home so, I asked him if he was bored or tired.  He said he didn’t understand the question, so I said why do you want to go home?  He looked at me like I was crazy and said, “because it’s home and I like it there.”  I know it sounds silly, but I really needed to hear that!  Today felt like a marathon of testing, both from Roman and the rest of my brood, so to say that I’m exhausted would be an understatement!  But God has been faithful to carry us through.  Please continue to pray with us!!