Surrender

It is strange to think that we spent the past few months counting down the days to Friday when we picked Bryce up and now we are counting down the days to come home. The three of us that traveld to come and get Bryce are prepared for home and counting down the days to share this bundle of energy with each of you. We are learning alot about the perspective of an internationally adopted child and the way you need to re-program your brain and the principles you have for parenting.

To put you in Bryce's shoes...You spent the first 2 years of your life in one place that is clearly an institution. The orphanage Bryce came from is good and cared for him yet it is not parents and the full nurturing a child needs. He does not speak out language, we smell differnet than what he is used to, we have him running around doing all of the visits and paperwork needed, we feed him food that is different from what he is used to and we give him more individual attention than what he has recived in 2 years. We touch his hair, watch him go potty (wow the smell) feed him etc. and it has rocked his world. EVERYTHING is DIFFERENT!

And yet we serve a God that has brought us to a place of full surrender in Him. Bryce eats very well, can already say each of our names and 10-20 other words, is fun to play with, goes to sleep and wakes up exactly when the schedule said he would except for night one (we have to walk him, push him in the stroller and hold him, he gives each of us lots of kisses and hugs, goes potty most of the time, loves his big sister and is a wonderful little man yet this is all new. We are reading him and the words of experst each day to fully understand each change that comes with him but we would not change it for the world.

Today we thought that the 3 hour Womens Day service would be a bit long for Bryce so we had the morning here and went on a walk. We spent 1. hours at the Subway where they have a play area and watched Bryce gradually get more confidence with each minute that passed. When we left he did not complain at all...The food at Subway is different in terms of texture of meat but the same style. We took the AbtoBus (Bus) back to the hotel and Bryce went down for his nap of 1.5 hours. He plays so hard and it always ready to sleep.

We then went to the Ice Sculptors and slides and had a good time with him and then the he went through a 2 hour time of generally struggling with over stimulation. We wnet to dinner and he ate two meals and so Cindy and I were able to take him on a walk and a family waiting for Friday and their 10 days wait to end played games with Julia (Big thanks to Pete and Mary Ellen) while we spent soem specific time with Bryce and it was like medicine. We went into de-stimulatiom mode. We prepared his evening snack and he fell asleep promptly at 8:59pm and wanted to fall asleep in Billy's arms.

Things that amaze me here...
1. I am amazed at the number of families that come to Krasnoyarsk and spent the entire time in the hotel. This is a city filled with adventure and we have tried to get as much as we could to fully understand Bryce and his place of birth.

2. The way families help each other here. Last week we had to chance to be with families at the start of this journey and this week we have some families that have been a huge help to us.

3. Julia has been amazing on this trip. I never could have imagined her courage and strength and dependence on the Lord at the age of 9.

4. Being here for close to three weeks make us appreciate all of our friends serving as missionaries and cultural adjustment they go through.

5. How God gives you this desire of your heart and yet He does it in a way where you must fully surrender to him. We are literally placing every step of this journey before Him and I am so grateful for all of the Scripture I was encouraged to memorize as it is paying off. Now its time to put this into practice with the same vigor at home.

6. That my spelling with this Blog is terrible. At times I am literally falling asleep as I type. Two ahl of mine Englist techers I am sorrrrrrry.

7. The pizza here is really good. Go figure.

8. That Bryce is really adjusting to us well. We are not talking about record attachment but her is so kind 95% of the time. We struggle with trying to control his behavior and no just does not seem to work. If you have a chance God can change the attitudes of the heart. It is not as much and issue of defienace (although some of it is simply being 2) but it is also the adjustment he is making. In the orphanage they start with the things we love with our little children so early to make the independent.

We are still working on coming home several days early.

Billy for the Family