Week 1 with Vanda

     Today marked our first full week here with Looking back I can see steady growth as we work to knit her into our family. Yes, I did say work. While I had hoped for a vacation, all of us are having to work a bit. Parenting, regardless of the age, requires major effort. There have been tears, rebellion, frustration, fears, and misunderstandings to work through as we learn more of her past, and she learns what to expect from us. And we are not done. We have also seen the importance of teamwork in our marriage and how we must be united to be the parents we are called to be. As friends have reminded us, this is not a sprint, but a marathon, one step at a time,  just like all parenting. 

Vanda. One week from tomorrow we will leave for the U.S.! 

     Today was a good day. We met with the orphan court directors in our hotel room just before lunch for about 25 minutes. They walked the 30 minutes (round trip) from their office to the hotel. People here walk everywhere. Yes, there are plenty of cars too, but walking is the norm. Daugavpils turned their main street into a walking street, one of the first cities in the area to do so. Back at our hotel, I introduced Vanda to a typing program today, and she was at it for over 90 minutes. We am seeing that she loves to learn. For our family outing today we went bowling, followed by a trip to our favorite place for dinner, Cili Pica (Chili Pizza). This evening we continued our daily bible reading. This accomplishes many things at once. It is a great family activity, we read aloud, we share thoughts, it strengthens her English skills, and we all gain a greater understanding of the greatest book. Another multipurpose activity we have started is that of journaling. Journaling provides great practice in transferring thoughts into English words, as well as documenting our trip, and giving her practice writing in English.

     Vanda is quite social and enjoys talking with her friends, via the many modern communication tools we have surrounded ourselves with. Her treat at the end of the day is to sit in front of the computer connecting with her friends. 

    We are very thankful for being able to see the growth over the week and for a very teachable spirit Vanda has had all day. She went to bed a very  happy girl.


One of the adopted,
Kirk, Beth and Vanda too!


For more pictures go to: picasaweb.google.com/Bleavins/LatviaTrip1#