In the 10 Day Wait

Maxim being "Bundled" by his caretakers

Hello everyone, Daniel posting again. (hope you don't get tired of hearing from me). Jenna and I decided to post separately (Not on the same day) because of our current circumstances, which are good, but we can't explain right now.

I thought the above picture of Maxim looked kind of funny. It is common in Ukraine for parents to bundle their little ones up (in the winter) so that they basically look like small versions of the Pillsbury dough boy.

We are able to spend much more time with Maxim during the 10 day wait and we are even with him during his meals.

At one of the meals we were with Maxim and he chose a very large spoon to eat with. He then tried to put the entire spoon in his mouth and it looked a bit awkward to me. So I handed him a small spoon and I tried to gesture with my hands that he should use this spoon instead. Well he eagerly grabbed the smaller spoon, but instead of putting the large spoon down he started using a spoon in each hand. So I thought, "this should be interesting", He then rather adeptly loaded each spoon with food and brought them both to his mouth. He then sat there looking at each spoon trying to decide which one to put in his mouth first. Evidently he could not decide because he suddenly shoved both spoons simultaneously into his mouth. Jenna and I could not believe he actually accomplished this, and we started laughing. Maxim thought it was funny too so he sat there grinning with two spoons in his mouth. I can see we have a lot to learn from each other. Maxim is a vary happy boy and we are so glad to be able to have him as our child.

It is frustrating at times trying to communicate with each other. We can tell he has a problem speaking Russian, (Sometimes his caretakers have trouble understanding him), and he will try to tell us something in Russian or Ukrainian or whatever language he speaks in. Jenna and I just smile and nod and try to understand. Then we try to talk with him and we chatter away and Maxim just looks at us and smiles and nods. Kind of funny when you think about it.

This makes me think of Jenna and I trying to communicate with the local people. When we tell them we do not understand them, they repeat what they just said only in a much louder voice, (I guess it is not just Americans that do that). I do feel bad sometimes because I do not understand the language. Earlier today on the way to the Internet cafe, a man with crutches started talking to me as I crossed the street. Sometimes I explain that I can't understand, sometimes I just shake my head no. Anyway, as I was crossing the street and just getting to the other side, the man started to say something to me. I looked at him quickly and motioned no with my hand and shook my head no (At first I thought he was trying to sell something or solicit me in some way). After I walked about 50 feet I realized he was not trying to sell me something, so I turned back to look. There he was crossing the street with a woman holding his arm. I felt so bad, he was asking me to help him get across the street.

Yesterday Jenna and I were forced to change our return airline tickets as the original return was December 13th. However we still did not have a good idea of when to make the return flight. I need to be back at work before the end of the year, so we made my flight Dec 28th. and Jenna and Maxim's flight on Jan 6th. We just don't know how long the Kiev paperwork is going to take plus we know that offices close on the holidays, and there are weekends, and we only had certain days available to fly. We were told that the passport paperwork would be slower this time of year, and we are shy to make our flights too early because of the delays we have already had. This was our second changed flight. Anyway be praying for Jenna while she is here alone for the week after I am gone. I know that will be hard for her emotionally as we left home and our children on November 2nd.