Sam's Boldness and How We Should Represent Christ

For some time now, I have been thinking about Sam’s book of pictures that we took to him on the first trip over there. It had photos of Carrie and I. It had a little story about us going on a plane and bringing him back to America. And maybe most importantly to Sam at least, it contained pictures of the cats. Apparently at some point between the time that we left Sam at the orphanage and brought him to America, some older boys took his book and hid it from him. They ripped pages out of it, and finally they throw it in the trash.

We really did not know what happened to it until Sam told Carrie all of this one night while she was putting him to bed. I cannot help to think about how that little photo book represented a promise of a new life to Sam. I cannot help to draw a comparison, because I love a good comparison. Sam’s photo book represented to Sam a chance for a new life just like the Bible promises to anyone who believes. The comparison fails in the sense that Sam is flawed, and we as his parents are blemished and have and will continue to be imperfect parents. The Bible, on the other hand, promises are perfect and the only ones screwing them up are us.

Why am I writing about all of this? Because as we (and I study more intensely) study Acts in youth group we are seeing the first Christians. And we are seeing the first Christians being persecuted for their belief. Our teacher, Chris White, said this past week that if we are really living boldly for Christ that we should expect to be persecuted. One of the questions, I was suppose to ask the guys in my small group was have they ever been persecuted for their faith? Most had no answer and the best answer I could come up with is that I had a job interview stop because I talked about doing charity for church. I really wish I could have thought of Sam and his persecution. I bet he was bold in his faith and his book that we were going to come and get him and bring him back to America. I bet he was even a little boastful. I am not saying that we should taunt non-believers with, “I am going to heaven and you are going to hell.” But we should be boastful in the since that what Christ has done and continues to do for us all. As a result of Sam’s faith and boldness, he was persecuted. How can a 4 year old boy who only met us for 8 hours have some much faith in us? He had enough faith to be bold and in turn be physically and emotionally persecuted.

Where is my boldness? Where is our boldness as Christians in a Christian nation? I hope Sam never looses his boldness and his ability to stand up for what he believes in.

All quiet on this front

January was the first month we had with Sam that wasn't littered with holidays/celebrations. It was a quiet month, evidenced by the lack of photos and blog posts.

Sam is improving leaps and bounds. His english is amazing. I never speak Russian anymore unless it's an endearment here or there. The biggest sign that the change in language is clicking is that he's started playing in English. Batman and the Joker are now fighting in their native tongues!

It is amazing to watch him change and grow. He has recently started telling long winded stories that only occasionally make sense. My favorite is about a wolf that came into the desky dom which Sam punched and then it was dead.

We're still dealing with some issues. We tried to take him to the learning center at church while Tim and I went to listen to the sermon and it was a disaster so he's still not ready to be alone with anyone except babushka.

Sam was home 3 months on January 31st. I took some video of him that night before bed just so you could all see how much he's changing. I also posted some pictures.



Sam Loves Papa
And cars
Mexican food...not so much! So handsome!

The Past & Present

A long time ago we found Sam's picture on the Russian Orphan database. Before we adopted him or were even saw him the first time, it is what I would look at when I was at work. It was how I remembered why we were doing this adoption. It tided me over from the hard times to easy times.

It was the past. He is no longer an orphan and no longer on that site. He had remained on the site for a couple of months after we had adopted him. He is no longer there and it just makes it feel that much more offical. He is ours and no longer parentless.

If you want to rejoice with us please click on the link below and enjoy the 404 Not Found page that it directs you too. He has always been a gift straight from God with Him this would have never happened. Thank you, God! He is still a gift even when he gets into our bed at 4am and doesn't go back to sleep until 5:15.

http://www.usynovite.ru/files/photos/uf/ufvj.jpg

Football Dance

This is what Sam thinks of Papa watching football on Sunday's.

Christmas, New Years, and Two Months Home

I don't know how to sum up the past few weeks into a short post. Christmas was amazing, if a little overwhelming for all of us. Sam had a veritable sea of presents to open and still doesn't really understand why Christmas was one day and not everyday. He got a lot of great presents, hot wheels track, nerf guns, a Leapster2, some games, and building blocks. It's funny though that he still mostly just plays with his batman cape and paper airplanes and his koosh ball.

Yesterday marked 2 months home and it's hard to believe it's been that long and also hard to believe it's only been two months. Sam's english gets better everyday, but everything else feels like two steps forward, one step back. I'm happy that the holidays are over and things can get as back to normal as they can get.

As for New Years, I sort of hate making resolutions but I've been thinking a lot about finding joy in the everyday things. We are so blessed and I want to be able to see that in everything. I want to use my body more, read more, and find more ways to show Sam the beauty of the world around him. I want to make more friends and find a better balance to everything. Practically, I want to give up soda since it is the one thing I really can't live without and it's not good for me.

Other than that we're good. I've put some pictures below. Enjoy!

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.

One Month Home

We've been home one month as of yesterday. I can't really believe it, since it seems like a week and yet it's hard to remember our house without Sam in it. In the past month he's been to the doctor, tried to go to church, learned his whole alphabet, celebrated mama's birthday, had a birthday, made new friends, watched a million hours of Super Why!, charmed all of his grandparents, and stolen all of our hearts.

For any of you that our curious here is where Sam is at in the following areas:

Bonding: This is a work in progress. Sam is just starting to really believe that this is permanent. He loves when Tim and I tell him that we are his mama and papa forever, he loves when we empathize with his dislike and fear of the orphanage, he will make eye contact with us on his own but not for an extended period of time. He loves his Papa to death, literally I think it may be killing Tim. If Tim is home Sam is glued to him. Sam loves mama in a different way. If he needs something than he usually asks mama, and at bedtime it is the mama show. He is so sweet when we snuggle and he rubs my hair and gives me little kisses.

English: Also a work in progress. He learns words quickly, and understands a lot. He loves when he can use a word spontaneously and gets lots of praise for it. My favorite thing is when he says "Say thank you Sam." when he does something for you. He can count to fourteen and knows about 50 words. I may be hurting this more than helping because I let him get away with too much Russian and I speak too much Russian to him. It's easier to communicate with him in Russian but know one else can.

Here are some things that Sam is doing right now that I don't ever want to forget:

The way he sings along to everything when he doesn't know the words. My favorite is a Super Why song where Princess Presto says "S-P-E-L-L, I really love to spell." and he sings the letters with his little accent. Super cute.

The licking. Two hours with Miss Lesley's golden retriever and Sam replaced kissing with licking. Super gross but also kinda cute.

The way he says "Santa Claus" and you hear the magic in his voice. Not everyone is into Santa but I'm not going to take that magic away.

How much he loves games. Any games, board games, computer games, made up games. He fits right into our family.

The way he runs to the door when he hears the garage door open in the afternoon screaming "Papa, Papa!" Dad is totally a rockstar in this house.

Sam's favorite song is "Fe, fi, fo" which is a little song they sang on Super Why.

How he says Henri's name "Kenari"

There is more stuff I'm sure that I'm not thinking of.

Okay, here's what you came here for. Pictures from the last month!