Thursday, April 30, 2009

Mother's day is coming



Today the boys were part of a program at preschool for mothers! Lithuanian mother's day falls on the first Sunday of May. And May 1 is a holiday so this was just before the holiday weekend. (Saturday is LCC graduation too.)

Hopefully I will eventually get a video uploaded here from the school program.

This is also Exam week at LCC and the goodbyes have started for the staff and faculty who are leaving after the Spring term. It feels sad but I guess we have to be happy that we get to meet such interesting people from all parts of the US and Canada. Some Lithuanians move on as well to other work.

Today we went to an allergist to check David. I have heard from some that if there are allergies it is better to treat them first before the adenoid surgery. Well this doctor is definitely a proponent of that. Really cautioned me about going ahead with the surgery. But we do have it scehduled already for next Friday. And the presurgery tests are scheduled for before the resulted come back from the blood tests that were done today for allergins, both food and inhalants.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Spring seems here to stay


well the leaves are not open on the trees but there are signs they are coming finally. This weekend I had opportunity to be with other moms of young children visiting the quaint resort town of Nida where there are sand dunes as well.

The Fathers with kids got together yesterday where one family lives who has a lot of space- and also has motorcycles! So Gregg was pretty happy to take the boys on their first motorcycle rides. Mom was happy enough not to see that.

Last weekend we also enjoyed celebrating a friend's birthday- her name is also
Sharon. She did not perhaps need such a party but it sure made it fun for the boys.

We have also done more riding bikes since last Saturday when David got a new bike with training wheels.

Unfortunately, Erik got a cold and needed to be home so we have had our schedules rearranged once again. We are thinking to send David back to preschool even though he has not had the surgery yet. It has just been more to manage with the boys home all the time than we are keeping up with. And now that the weather is warmer perhaps it will not be so likely he gets sick. The heat was off in preschool for the last couple of weeks and that could have contributed to Erik getting sick too. (He likes to think so, since it would be another reason not to go back!)

Thursday, April 16, 2009

After Easter update


Today the boys had opportunity to play with other boys from our building. I think it was noticably quiet. Will try posting a video clip to show you. They make more noise that this inside! The other boys seemed quite entertained by having these young boys to kick the ball around with.

There has been a lot happening and not enough time to get it recorded. The boys are chattering away to the point we are ready for them to be quiet! Mostly it is good, though there are some ways we have to be diligently involved in training especially David for properly and respectfully expressing himself. David has become much more insistent on his way and not the follower he once was, when Erik seemed to dominate most things. And so there are more conflicts than there used to be.

The doctor says that she sees considerable change in the boys over this last year. What a difference living in a family has made for them, she exclaims. We continue to hear comments about how lucky they are and what we have saved them from. Some day they will understand that too!

On Saturday we had a student come for the day while we were away at a wedding in Siauliai, 2+ hours away. That is the first time we did an all day kind of event way from them. The bride was Simona who worked with Gregg in Silute youth group for a couple of years while a student at LCC. She married an American and they have plans to be in the USA for the first part of their marriage before ministry together somewhere.
We got home after 9:30 to put the boys to bed. They were quite wound up and proved to be so for the next couple of days. Seems we pay for being away.

Easter Sunday was a beautiful day and we had responsibilities for the service at Silute Free Christian Church. The boys were dressed up for the day, but they probably will be more remembered for their distruptions of the service :(.

But, actually we have been very pleased in the interest that the boys take in bible stories and lately in the meaning of Jesus' death on the cross. Erik asked last week for a different bible story book. The one we have is too much for little kids. So I did find one at LCC library and it has lots of pictures that are a little more realistic than the toddler books, and stories a bit longer than what we had. He sat for 150 pages... 45 minutes later I was saying- enough now!

Erik is becoming a little theologian it seems. The questions he asks are pretty deep, especially for a 5 year old. He thinks a lot about it and what makes sense and what does not. Like, why did God create angels that turned bad? How could God die (He understands that Jesus and God are one)? Will animals go to heaven?
The questions can go on for a long time especially at bedtime.

We had a little Easter Egg/ candy hunt in the back yard here for the boys. Seems like it was the first time they ever did this!

On Monday we went on a bus trip with others from LCC to Rumsiskes- an outdoor museum of types that had Easter activities. In one of those the children roll eggs and if their egg hits another they get both eggs, if not their egg stays as a target for someone else.


The experience on the bus was somewhat unforgettable. The boys had more options to move around than they every do in a car seat. They were walking in the aisle and visiting other children on the trip. In some ways that made it easier to make a 3 1/2 hour trip. But on the way home when they were tired, they were still wound up and so the trip tired us out.

We found out the next steps we need for the immigration process for the boys. We will be reapplying for our permits and then the boys apply for theirs. As long as we apply within 90 days of the date the court revoked their Lithuanian citizenship, they should be able to get permanent resident permits. And we have found a way to accomplish what we need to do without leaving the country which is what we were a bit worried about over the last couple of weeks.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

detective Erik


We have had another bump in the road so to speak- David contracted brochial infection once again this weekend. So far it is just viral so we hope it passes more quickly (go back to Dr. on Friday).

So since David is home all this week and since the weather has gotten warmer during the day, we went for a walk along the little lake and into the forest area around the lake tday. We hoped to feed some ducks but they were not inclined to come to water's edge. So as we walked around the lake was came upon marshy areas and alas had the opportunity to watch quite a few frogs jumping around. When we returned to the apartment my key was gone.

And it was high time for David's medicine and for his nap. We stopped by a neighbor who earlier in the summer had a key to our place but they no longer had one. And then called Gregg to come home from LCC on break to let us in. (It also afforded a chance we had not had for tea with neighbors)

Then when Gregg and Erik came home they went for the walk as I described it to see if they could find the key. Gregg says he would not have seen it, but Erik found the key! in the marshy ground.

So we celebrate! And we hope for David's recovery- though he really sounds like his lungs are full of something, he does play with almost full energy.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

A day out and other news






After a quick trip to the market in the morning we headed out to HBH near Palanga for some outdoor play with the boys and good food too. We were also able to make a comparison video to 18 months ago, quite short actually, of the boys using the sliding board. They are much more mobile now, and use English of course- and just noticably more language. Will try to post the video here too.

We have not heard yet what the details of the immigration issues are that we will be facing, but apparently it is related to the boys having gotten US citizenship.

This week I took opportunity to check with some at preschool about whether they have seen signs that adenoid surgery will benefit Erik. The teacher says he breaths with his mouth open a lot and she and the speech therapist think it will probably help and certainly won't hurt.

I am more convinced that David needs it. He had trouble breathing some the last few nights, can hear the obstruction when he breathes. He also has come down with another infection. Low fever this afternoon after we were home from the outing. He had a little sore throat when he first woke up this morning but it seemed to go away and he had no fever.