Well, Hello 2011

Oh my goodness, I'm so far behind! Life has been crazy busy for us, so I'm just now catching up the blog.....

New years eve was a fun one! Its also my mom's birthday, so we decided to go snow tubing. We had a ball! Losha is none too thrilled about snow, because, lets face it- he lives in it all the time. He probably thinks we're crazy to get so excited over it. My parents got him snow bibs for Christmas, so we had to put them to good use. He said he had never been skiing before and had no desire what-so-ever to try it, by displaying the Russian snarl lip. We showed him snow tubing and at first, he acted uninterested in it. After the first run, he was gung-ho!!! Him and I went down together and the rule was you were supposed to drag your feet at a certain point in order to slow yourself down.Well, Losha either didn't understand this, or just wanted to keep flying down the hill, because I was stuck digging my toes in trying to slow us down, and wasn't too successful at it. We got fussed at. We laughed it off, but the guy on a power trip told us that was our "warning" and we wouldn't get another one.....I politely told him he was very wrong about that :) No one messes with my Russian! Losha was so worn out that he didn't make it to midnight to ring in the new year. He could not have cared less. He took his shower and went straight to bed....after falling asleep in the car on the way home. So John and I rang it in in style---Party Animals that we are- in our bed. 2010 wasn't my most favorite year, to say the least. John and I were hit pretty hard with lots of trials. But it ended quite nicely......

New Years day we all slept in and then we just lounged around the house all morning. Losha discovered Fear Factor on TV and was quite entertained by that show. I forgot how much I liked it too. And lucky for us, there was a Fear Factor marathon on all day. We took Losha to the movies that afternoon to see Tron 3D. Not my pick. But he seemed to enjoy it. He really seemed to enjoy the popcorn and Dr. Pepper. Then he enjoyed my Diet Coke. Then we took him to enjoy some pizza. After 2 slices from the buffet, he said he was full. We managed to get him to eat another 3 slices once we cut off his Dr. Pepper supply. The kid just drinks and drinks that stuff. He doesn't seem to realize that he's getting full of Dr. Pepper and not food. He said he was ready to go home, so we rented 2 movies and headed that way. He wanted to rent "A Haunting in Connecticut" and "Step Up 3". Weird choices, I know. We watched the horror one first- I don't recommend it. Its very freaky. And apparently it gave Losha nightmares. I don't know why, considering he watched half of it from underneath his blanket with his eyes shut. Once we turned it off, he refused to go to bed. He kept saying "I not sleepy" over and over as he pointed to the TV. So we stayed up to watch another episode of Fear Factor until he settled down. We asked him if he wanted John to sleep with him, and at first he said yes, then after he settled down he said no.  The next morning he told me he kept waking up from nightmares and I felt a little bad.....

Sunday we went to church and he was bored stiff! He just does NOT enjoy church at all, which really makes me sad. I know its just because he can't understand anything....... he squirmed all through it. We ran errands after church and after each store he would ask "home?". True boy- hates shopping. Then when we finally got home we watched Step Up 3. He really liked that one. We lounged around all afternoon. It was so nice to not have to be somewhere for once. We watched movies on TV the rest of the night, including the notebook, my favorite. He was not a fan. He kept squirming and tried to change the channel. We made him close his eyes during a couple of scenes, and he was trying his best to open one eye to watch it. Yeah, talk about embarrassing and awkward!!!!!!!

Monday he went to spend the day with John's dad. They played wii and made some pottery. John's dad is AWESOME at pottery, for those of you who don't know. I have a whole cabinet full of his "throw aways" that are perfectly fine to everyone but his dad. Losha made 3 bowls. He was explaining to me how he could pinch the clay and it would make it tall. He also explained (all of this through acting out) that one bowl must have been wobbly. John said that by the third bowl, he had done pretty well. Him and John rented more movies and Losha picked "Predators". I can't wait to watch it tonight!! yeah, thats sarcasm. He wouldn't eat dinner last night, because heaven forbid I steamed some broccoli. He ate his garlic bread and I forced him to eat his chicken. The rice and broccoli was a no go. I've about given up on him liking any vegetable, especially anything green. It always gets the Russian Snarl Lip.

Oh my goodness, I almost forgot the most important part of the past couple of days! Geez! Losha was able to tell us a little about his past and his life in Russia. Thanks to the Russian equivalent of facebook, called Kontakte, he pulled up his profile. He was able to show us his sister (19 years old) and his brother (23 years old). He told us he has 3 brothers and 2 sisters, but I think the 19 yo sister and 23 yo brother are his biological siblings. I think the others are step- related. He explained to us that they all go to his grandmothers house every weekend. His grandmother has 4 cats. We asked him how his family felt about him being in America with us, and he said "they are not afraid for me". Or, thats how it was translated, thanks to Google Translate. He said he missed Russia, when we asked him. He also said he was happy in Russia. We were able to see his orphanage, which he calls his "ranch". He pulled up one of his friends in the orphanage, and she had an album of her birthday party at the orphanage this past March. His orphanage was very clean, with painted bright blue and gray walls and a stage area. There were lots of toys around and all the kids were very clean and all at least seemed happy. There were balloons everywhere, along with a "Happy Birthday" banner. Losha was in most of the pictures, popping the balloons and playing dress up. The birthday theme was from the movie Madagascar and Losha was the lion. Very appropriate. There was also a picture of all of the kids in his "group" outside in front of the orphanage, complete with birthday balloons and his orphanage building looked old, but not dilapidated. It was European- everything is old over there. We were also able to pull up Googe Earth and Losha found his orphanage (made up of 3 buildings) and showed us the wing that he lives in. He also showed us his school and the region his grandmother lives in. Overall, I felt so at peace about sending him back. I know he is taken care of, and most importantly, I know he is happy. After this conversation with him, John and I both felt that adoption was just not the right thing. We just don't feel comfortable taking him away from his family and from everything that he know and loves. The bottom line, is that he's happy there, and most importantly, he has a family. Although, in my own selfishness, I will miss him terribly. I already get all teary eyed just thinking about putting him back on that plane.
Am I attached? Absolutely.
Do I want to send him back? Uh, no!
Does he belong there? Yes!
As much as I love the little man, I feel God's peace about this. I have prayed all along for God's plan to be revealed as to WHY he was one of only 15 orphans allowed out of Russian in December. I still don't know that. I also have prayed for God to make it very obvious about what we're supposed to do with him, and to give us peace over our decision- God did just that! Losha was looking for the experience, and not a "forever family". I pray we were able to provide that for him. We got a lot in return. We got the love of an orphan, we got the look on his face Christmas morning, and we got to open our hearts and home to him, even if for a short while.
Ok, I'm getting all sentimental and mushy now, and I'm gonna get off here before I have an emotional meltdown........ :)