Batman opened a can of worms

Batman is a pretty prominent figure in our house. He is by far Sam's favorite superhero and when we found a kid's book on batman at the library yesterday it seemed like a major find. The book is written like a very simple comic book that explains how Batman became Batman. Tonight Sam wanted to read it before bed and when we got to the part where Batman's parents died I was trying to explain why Batman was sad. I could tell the minute Sam sort of understood because his eyes filled with tears and he looked up at me and said "Nee desky dom" which means "no orphanage". I immediately started backtracking, reassuring, hugging, kissing, anything I could think of to explain that we weren't going to die and Sam wasn't going back to the orphanage.

All of the books, and every social worker tells you to talk openly about the adoption and your child's story. They don't tell you what to do when they understand just enough English to get the whole story confused. Sam doesn't understand tenses so everything you tell him is right now. And no matter how many times I try to explain that he had a Russian mama and papa and now he has an American mama and papa it isn't making sense. It broke my heart how terrified and sad he was. I don't want to mistake fear for connection but when he calmed down we just laid in bed together whispering about how much I loved him and he would whisper back that he loved me. I want him to fall asleep with the idea in his head that he is loved.

Other than that we are doing great. Sam is excited for Christmas without really understanding what it means. I have literally wrapped Christmas presents for him right behind him while he watched cartoons and he didn't even notice. At this point I think the pile of presents may be bigger than Sam.

We've had really cold weather the last week including some snow (see pictures below). Sam liked the snow but wasn't wildly ecstatic about it the way most kids in Tennessee get. All those years living in Russia made him a bit impervious.

His English seems to be growing in leaps and bounds. My favorites currently are the way he says "you're welcome" whenever he hears the words thank you and the way he says "it's okay" every time I apologize for something.

We are so lucky to have Sam. He is sweet and loving and curious and smart and everything a little boy ought to be.

Guess who was on the nice list...

We had a wonderful Christmas here in the Tweten household. A lovely Christmas Eve service followed by a delicious dinner at Chili's and then the morning we all look forward to. 

Christmas morning I woke up early and tried to let Tim sleep. It didn't work and so we were up by 7. 

Our tree looked  like this. Lovely and piled high with presents. 

But the one who really made out this Christmas is our little S. 

A new bed

A whole bunch of fancy clothes courtesy of some Gap gift cards. 

Our three favorites: a little pea coat, a batman shirt that says "I do my own stunts", and a shirt with a steam roller on it that says " this is how I roll" (that's Tim's favorite)

Where the Wild Things Are from Mom and Chuck the Talking Dump Truck from Dad

We had a lot of fun getting stuff for him and can't wait until next year when he's actually here.

I have the rest of the week off, tomorrow I am visiting the Bethany Office, the County Clerk's office and the Secretary of State's office and hopefully will get all of the paperwork signed, sealed and delivered and off to Russia ASAP. 

I'm also working on S's quilt and curtains for his room. I'll post pictures when it's finished. 

I hope everyone had a great Christmas!

A Christmas Letter

So there is absolutely no way that Christmas cards are going out from this branch of the Twetens. I had every intention of sending them, I promise. I was even going to write out one of those Christmas letters that everyone seems to like so much. And then it occurred to me that there is still a stack of thank you cards waiting to be sent from our fundraiser and if we have to buy any more stamps this year we may as well be subsidizing the post office.

So here it is. The Tweten Family Christmas letter in all it's glory, just minus the postage.

Dear friends and family -

It has been a crazy year in this Tweten Household.

Most of you already know all this so I'll just hit the high points.

Carrie decided in March that having a corporate job was not all it was cracked up to be and even though she swore she would never do it, decided to go back to school and get her masters. She just hit the mid point and is now on the down hill slide of the program. She is enjoying all of her classes and is only mildly dreading the Science class she's starting in January. She could also use some prayer on January 9th when she will be sitting in cold classrooms all morning long taking two praxis exams. She's sure she'll pass but a little prayer never hurt. She is looking forward to going into the classroom and the age she wants to teach changes weekly. Currently she's thinking kindergarten, mostly because the 3 and 4 year olds in her Sunday school class are so sweet. She's crazy, we know.

Tim is working away at his job and is excited to be joining the social committee next year so that he can be overlord of the party planning committee. It's just a short step from there to CEO. He's also enjoying his work with the junior highers at our church, and I've seen him grow as he teaches them. He even won the "Mr. Dependable" award at their latest Christmas party.

In April we adopted another cat (we are one cat away from crazy cat people), his name is Henri, and due to an accident involving a fence when we got him he only had three legs. Tim was convinced no one was going to adopt him, so we had to. He fits right in with Charley and spends a good portion of the day terrorizing Sophie.

Tim likes to call Henri our distraction from the real thing. In May we met with Bethany Christian Services about our calling to adopt. It seems strange that it was that long ago but I still remember how nervous we were sitting on that couch, basically deciding to have a baby.

It has been a long eight months. Since May we have filled out more paperwork than seems humanly possible, fallen in love with our little man S, had every aspect of our lives analyzed, and felt the frustration of having something this important be so completely out of our control. We never thought in October when we finished our homestudy process that we would still be waiting for it to be completed and approved at the end of the year. We never thought when we saw S's little face on Bethany's website that we would shortly be praying for a sister too. We know that God's timing is perfect, even when it's just paperwork.

In October we were involved in nothing short of a miracle. All of you know about our Both Hands Project, if you don't, click on the Both Hands Tag on the left. One crisp fall Saturday we watched our friends, our family, and a whole bunch of teenagers give their lives away to help people they had never met. It was great. The video says it better than I could, so if you haven't already, watch that.

Christmas this year is going to be pretty mellow as we try and reconcile various Christmas traditions. Do we eat Mexican food on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? Do we open presents in the morning or in the evening? Do we eat Turkey or prime rib? Mostly we are spending this Christmas praying for S and E and wishing they were here instead of thousands of miles away. Both of us said we weren't going to buy anything for them for Christmas and both of us were lying. Mostly we spend this Christmas looking forward to the next when hopefully our tree will have a few homemade ornaments, and a lot more gifts under the tree.

This year was a good year for us. God has taught both of us wonderful things about joy and patience and loving someone you've never met. This year was a good year, but we know that next year will be better.

We hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas filled with the love of our Savior, the peace of the Holy Spirit, and the wonder of the Heavenly Father.

And next year we promise to send actual Christmas cards with (hopefully) an awesome family photo.

Merry Christmas and Happy 2010,

Tim and Carrie