Our Time Together

There is so much activity going on inside and outside our home these days.  School, Gymboree, swim lessons, CCD, and the latest is Kumon.  We rarely get a break from our day to day routine.  But last Sunday proved to be a beautiful day.  The sun was shining and we decided to hang up the routine and head over to Webb Bridge Park for a much needed breath of fresh air. As I stood taking photos of my kids, it hit me.  They seemed so big.  They both have grown so much.  Christopher will be seven in April and Nathaniel will be four in June.  Time flies...

As I stood there taking photos and a video of Christopher swinging on the monkey bars, I kept thinking back to the many, sunny days we spent at our playground in Tampa.  We would swing and sing silly songs, one of his favorites was Sesame Street's, "Sunny Days."  We would sing number and color songs we learned from a little stuffed worm.  I was always nervous when he would jump or dance across the little wooden bridge that linked the slide to the jungle gym. I thought he'd never grow up.  But here we are, four years and four months later.  Long and lean, he has started a new chapter now.  Gone are the days of singing on the swings.  Now it's about other things like, "Look how high I can go, mommy!"  "I'm beating you, Nathaniel!" and "You can't catch me!"  Gone are the days when we would swing and sing together our funny songs about numbers and colors.  This day gave me a chance to reflect on those special times together.   A mother's preogative I guess.  He is such a beautiful boy with a gentle, kind, and loving soul that is deeply hidden under what can only be described as a ferocious energy force!  He does not have a stop button.  It's only go, go, go.  Yes, he has grown in so many ways.  I want him to slow down.  But I know the truth.  Slow is not in our future.

Nathaniel has come a long way in the growing up game.  He has blossomed into a loving, stubborn (so stubborn!), but happy child.  And like Christopher and I, we also got to spend many, happy, sunny days at our playground.  Swinging, however, was not exactly his favorite thing to do. I would get him situated and just as I would begin to push him, he would cringe with the most petrified look on his face.  I would slow him down to take him off and he would say his most favorite word, "No!"  As I watched him play last Sunday, it was clear to me his relationship with the swings had changed.  He seemed to really enjoy it now.  The picture I took of him reflects his tenacious free spirit, and captured joy that can only be seen through the eyes of a child.  The three years he has been ours have flown by.  It's clear, he has grown not only in size but in mighty personality.  Gone is the small, pale little baby who could barely sit up on his own.  Here now is a big boy.  A big boy with enormous conviction!

Then there is my husband.  Dedicated.  Loving.  My soul mate.  He is the best father, husband, son and son-in-law ever. He's alpha cat to our beloved furry family members.   The boys adore him.  My parents and his mother adore him.  I adore him.  He is the glue that holds our family together.  He is the holder of all things--toys, hands and hearts.

I will cherish the time we took for ourselves last Sunday.  Even though these photos are part of the past now, they captured in a few very brief moments the essence of our family time, reflective time and growing together time.  Our family has grown--very fast, so big and deeply close.

Playdoh to the Rescue!

Playdoh has come to the rescue in our house this week.  Lots of homework, days of flooding rains, unspent energy and cabin fever had my children literally crawling the walls!  So out came the many beautiful colors of Playdoh and like magic, both boys were immersed in worlds of make-believe pizzas, cakes, cars and even christmas trees.  Many thanks to our family and friends who gifted us at Christmas time with so many new colors.  There's nothing like the smell and feel of brand new Playdoh and the sight of happy, busy children! 

Our 3 yr. old Russian Cutie

Goof-a-potamus  2012

The adoption of our second son (seen here as the "goof-a-potamus") happened 3 yrs. after we brought our first son home.  Going in, we knew this one was without a doubt our final adoption related adventure.  I was determined to make the most of whatever came our way.  Little did I know lots of adventure was waiting for us, some good and not so good!  The good news:  Our beautiful (now 3 yr. old) is from the city of Tver (formerly known as Kalinin from 1931-1990) which is the administrative center for Tver Oblast, Russia. It is located 3 hours by car, northwest of Moscow. (We are sooo thankful we didn't have to make the 15 hr. train trek across the arctic tundra again!)  It is a small, quaint community richly steeped in Russian Empire history.  During the Cold War, it was home to the air base Kryuchkovo, which is no longer in service.  Today,  Tver is home to Migalovo, which is one of Russia's biggest military airlift facilities. It has a fairly busy city center and retail shopping area. The food in this part of Russia was so fresh, delicious and locally grown.   Honestly, both regions of Russia provided some of the best food I have ever tasted.  No kidding.  Fresh vegetables, cabbage, mushrooms were served daily at the Metro in Petrozavodsk and locally grown vegetables and fresh fish caught in some of the coldest waters in the world were served at the  Hotel Osnabruck in Tver.  The bad news:  Things got a little wacky with a visa official in Tver who at the last minute decided he wanted to make things very difficult for the "Americans" (that would be us!).  My poor husband was fined $500 US dollars for "not having the correct visa" and was booked, fingerprinted and told in broken English, "never come back to Tver if you don't want to get arrested!"  Well...I bet you can guess what our answer was...thank you and buh bye!

Two Amigos

Daddy and his boys

Awwwe!  The day we left the orphanage.

Our 6 yr. old Russian Cutie

So proud to finish the Fun Run 2012

My husband and I have the pleasure of loving and parenting 2 young sons from different regions in Russia.  We adopted our first son (seen here) back in 2006 with the help of an incredible US adoption agency, European Adoption Consultants (eaci.com) based in Strongsville, OH. What an adventure!  My 6 yr. old is from the Republic of Karelia, city of Petrozavodsk which is Karelia's capital city.  It is located 15 hours by train, north of Moscow and is in a remote but surprisingly busy area of the Russian Federation. Petrozavodsk is within walking distance to Lake Onega which is a beautiful recreational area.  There are about 1650 islands on the lake. They include Kizhi, which hosts a historical complex of 89 orthodox wooden churches and other wooden constructions of 15th–20th centuries.  Traveling to this region was, to say the least, an experience never to be forgotten!  Beautiful, interesting people reside in this arctic region of Russia.  I will share more about this area in future posts.


Made a birdhouse with Daddy

 "The first time ever I saw your face..."

One happy family 2006