We saw the boys!!

Today was special because we could visit the boys. Their names now are Erik and Jevgenij. Just as blonde and cute as the pictures. And though the director warned us they are fiesty boys, they seemed very normal to us.

The director also went over the health histories and was open to any questions we might have. And basically there are no health concerns. They are developing well. The one area that is still a little slow is speech for both of them.

The director said that this is often the case in the institutional environment. They provide physical therapy, massage, whirlpool and speech therapy for any of the children with needs throughout the time they stay there. But the reality is that there are many different caregivers and large groups of children doing things together.

The children in the group were all overstimulated and excited by visitors and they were especially attentive to the presence of a male. Men are rarely ever seen there and of course are not among the caregivers.

The caregiver for this afternoon said she hopes that it works out for the adoption with us. The boys really need a family and the older one is asking about it every day. We also know that they have been on the list to be adopted for about a year already.

We asked about what to take for the children and about their sizes. I learned that things are measured according to height - so the label of shirts is by centimeters. So we will look for something around the size of 89 cm and 99 cm.

We got to spend time outside with them too and one rides a tricyle very well and the other one without pedals.

The older one came to the car when we were ready to leave, motioned that he wanted to come along. But we will have more visits. It sure is exciting!

We started to look at furniture too, kids beds with guards. The youngest has still been in a crib, but the director said he could probably use a regular bed with guards. But neither is ready for bunk beds.

So many things to think of and prepare. And at the same time we do have some things to prepare and take care of in our LCC roles too.

We are not giving our decision yet, and we will take advantage of some gradual time to get to know the boys. We will be praying about it, but so far we have peace.