Moments and Discoveries...

Today we had time to ponder over the past week or so. We are learning more and more about the girls. We would like to share some moments with you.

Before we found out the girls were going to have to stay at camp....At dinner, one night, Tanya realized that Katia, Dara, the both of them, Mark and I were all going to be together when Anthony comes. She was worried and said: Where will our brother sleep? It's nice to know how thoughtful she is!

We came back to the flat with the girls and the housekeeper was still cleaining. We went to sit on a bench and Anya said: Why is father coming over here to sit with us? Wasn't a real postive moment but she said Father!

Mark took the girls to the market with him to buy food for camp. They had a ton of stuff! They wanted suckers too and Mark said no. They told Dara they like it when Phyllis comes to the market, she doesn't say no! Uh OH! They have us figured out already! Dara and Mark make me practice saying NOOOOO! LOL!

Both girls tease us on our Russian!

While walking in the park one day, they both were giddy and silly. Anya said to Dara she wants us to only speak English because she likes it when people look at us! Then Tanya was tickeling Anya and Anya said with my voice inflection and in English: Tanyaaaaa! Be niiiiice! It was so funny!

A fun moment with Mark....we were all walking back to the flat and it was dark outside. There are two entrances to the courtyard that leads to our flat. We started to go into the first one while the girls went ahead to the second one to hide and scare Mark. Our gate would not open...so I told Mark to run and scare them. Before I could turn the corner to our gate I hear blood curdleing screams! LOL! Then Dara was hiding in the unlit stairwell and scared all three of them! Good Times!!!! I am sure our neighbors really love us here! It's kinda funny, our stairwell has been lit every night since! LOL!

Tanya had a memory card from a camera, not sure where it came from. She downloaded pictures. I was in the kitchen and she called me into the living room. She looked at me sweetly and said look. They were pictures of her! It was a wonderful moment between us. Another sweet moment with her...she was sitting in the floor of our bedroom with the computer on the bed. I went in there to check on her. I stroked her hair and told her I loved her than rubbed her back a bit. It was sweet and tender. She did not pull away. (Ok....Mark keeps teasing me 'cause I say 'sweet' a lot! Sorry! But they are just so darn sweet!)

We have learned a lot about the girls. They have spent 7 summers, a couple of months each time, in Italy but in seperate families. The Italian governement gives tax breaks to those who host orphans. I knew they had been to Italy but did not realize they had been their 7 summers and seperated. They both said they did not like the families they stayed with. Both girls are fluent in Italian!

We have learned that Anya cooks and cooks very well. She is always polite and says Thank you for everything! Tanya always asks before she does anything, like taking a shower, going out on the balcony, playing with the computer, etc. We have also learned that Tanya is extremely boy crazy! Cute but not so much...you know what I mean!

We have learned that they love each other deeply. They may be stinkers to each other at times but they always, always watch out for each other.

Our girls have amazing friends! We are proud that they have made good choices for friends. (We wish we could bring them all home!) Most of you know that Tanya has a wall built up around her. She uses anger and attitude as her wall. We believe that it has been a blessing that we have to visit them at the camp. When Tanya acts angry or has attitude with us, her friends ask her why she behaves that way. They tell her it's obvious that we love and care for her very much and she should be nice to us. Not the we NEED that but SHE needs that. She watches us interact with her friends and the other kids....she watches how her friends interact with us. She is taking it all in and slowly learning to trust. It's like watching the snow melt and seeing a beautiful flower unfold from beneath the cold. God knew what He was doing by having them stay at the camp. God is always in control! I will trust in HIM!

Just wanted to share some sweet moments! Missing all of you!