The past few days with Santa have been great! She is an amazing girl! Very outgoing, giggly and happy! We have been pleasantly surprised with her cheerful attitude. One might think that all the children and teenagers would react that way if they were given the opportunity to visit America, but not all of them easily adjust right away. (It's quite a lot for a child to leave everything they know to live with strangers in a different country who speak a different language.) So far she has been very easy going. She speaks Russian and very little English, so it's been hard to communicate with her, but she doesn't get frustrated. She laughs with us at how funny it can be when we try to act out what we are trying to say. I've never been very good at charades! LOL But we get by! The photo dictionary of American English we bought at Borders has been a lifesaver!
One of the first things she told us (in English) was, "I like to cook." She has baked us muffins, made us a Russian version of salad with cucumbers and tomatoes, and cooked dinner for us last night. She made a huge egg and ham omelette for everyone. It was delicious! I took her grocery shopping with me on Monday. She made a list of produce and ingredients she wanted that we translated. She was very happy to go through the store and pick the produce she wanted. She also has a very healthy appetite! LOL! This girl can eat! In the orphanages the children are given a small plate of food at each meal. They don't get to choose what they want to eat or have any second helpings. She loves being able to choose what she wants to eat and even cook it! (I don't even know how many apples and bananas this girl has eaten in just the few days she has been here, but I can tell you I think she ate 6 apples in one day!) And most of the time she tells us thank you after she eats a meal.
New Horizons for Children had a welcome party for all the host children in the area. She and the girls had a blast playing in the water at the "spray ground" that was rented. It was great to see all these children having a blast in the water! Most of them had never seen anything like it! We took her to the GA Aquarium and she loved it! She really liked the Beluga whales. We had a great time and she was able to see things that I'm sure she would never have had the opportunity to see before. She loved touching the stingrays, sharks, and horse shoe crabs.
We also took her to church on Sunday. We told her the night before and we could tell she didn't really want to go. She didn't have an attitude about it, she just asked us if it was necessary. We told her yes and she said okay. She was very compliant. I know that the average Russian Orthodox church is very different from our Baptist church. So, I imagine that was what she had in mind when we said church. We told her it was a BIG church with many people. She took it all in very well. She liked the music and laughed happily at some of the joyful singing. And then there were a few Baptisms! She looked at me and smiled while she pointed to her clothes. She thought it strange was that they were getting in the water with all those clothes on. She said a cute little "Hmm!" when the first person was baptized. I could see her mind thinking, "Well, okay!" (We will have to find the passage in her Russian Bible about Jesus being baptized and explain why we do that.) I was able to find the beginning of the New Testament in her Bible and pointed for her to read a little while our pastor was preaching. At least I know that she was reading about Jesus. I think our first visit to church went very well. We have had a few family Bible times before we go to bed. We translated a few verses on the computer and highlighted a few passages in her Bible. We pray that the seeds we are planting with her will one day grow into a faith and relationship with Jesus.
We are enjoying our time with her very much. She is definitely a teenager! (And I mean that in the best possible way.) She usually wants to stay up late, but does go to bed when we say it's time without too many "Awws." She likes to look pretty and do her eyeshadow. She also pointed to a magazine in the checkout lane of the grocery store indicating that she liked one of these current teen "heart throbs" that I have no idea about. LOL! She seems like a normal 14 year old girl! Which is great! She loves "mothering" our girls and you can tell she enjoys being a part of a family. She would thrive in a forever family. I know nothing of her past or her situation, but it's obvious she has had a stable background. Obviously there has to be some reason why she is in an orphanage, but she seems to be very resilient to whatever her circumstances have been. New Horizons for Children knows more about each of the children and can get more information from the orphanages. But, they don't freely give out all the background info on a child upfront to host families. We are only hosting her temporarily and they are technically just a hosting program. They are not an adoption agency and can't legally give out all the background info on a child. They will give more info and help guide and direct a family if there is a desire to take further steps. She has been doing great. What a blessing it has been already! We pray that God will use us in His plan for this girl. We know He wanted us to have her this summer. We look forward to doing many more fun things with her for the next few weeks, and sharing more about this great girl with you!
how any man looks at those lovey tight, sexy girls in swimsuits and doesn't get rock hard I have no idea
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