New Lenses

With each day we are discovering something new with and about our kids.
Some firsts for them include:
1.  escalators
2.  bowling alleys
3.  home made pizza
4.  french toast
5.  movies and popcorn
6.  hot showers
7.  using soap!
8.  playing X-box
9.  making home made thank-you cards and delivering them to a neighbor (who recently cooked us dinner)
10.  Sunday school
11.  strict bed-times
12.  reading the Bible in English and Russian each morning
13.  using a vacuum (they love this one!)
14.  reading in English (okay little words, but they are reading some!)
15.  wrestling with Dad
16.  getting flowers from Dad on Valentine's Day (Tanya is still smiling about this one!)
17.  swimming in a pool
18.  sitting in a sauna
19.  getting hugs and kisses each night
20.  praying with Mom and Dad each night
21.  family photo shoot
22.  playing basketball with Dad

and one of my favorites...
23.  putting in and taking out contacts all by himself! (Victor had 5% vision all his life.  We took him to the Doctor and got his prescription in contacts and now he sees up to 70%!)

Granted, it's only been about a month, but it feels as if God is stretching out each day and filling our hearts with buckets and buckets of love.  

For those of you who are interested...
We have now established some what of a routine.  Mornings are filled with everyone helping out with breakfast, reading Scripture, and getting ready for lessons.
From 10-12:30 we've been teaching them English using various methods.  Then again they help out with lunch.  After lunch they read, play English computer games, answer questions (homework) and work with me or Matt one on one with their reading English lessons.

Next is Quiet hour.
Yep.
We have them sit in their beds and either sleep or read each afternoon for an hour.  And they never once have argued with us about it!  It's like we are all so exhausted from learning how to be a family that we all need this break.  Then we have free time where they usually go outside or play 'wii' (something active).  Next they help with dinner, then we play games, watch funny English shows (like America's Funniest Videos, Hannah Montana, or something else that will keep their interest).
And bed time is at 9:00pm.

It honestly feels like we've all been together for years.  Each person is learning his/her role in the family and little by little we are gelling together.

Of course there are variations in schedule and teenage attitudes beginning to surface.  But we are thanking and praising our Father in Heaven for the first precious weeks together as a family.

And we would like to say thank you to all of you, our friends and family, who have prayed us up to this point!  Please keep us in your prayers as we grow and bond more and more each day.