Before Wildwood

Summer will get divided into segments- the first part, Wildwood and Black Rock weeks- 3 in all, and then back to regular schedule.

So here are some sights and experiences before going to Wildwood. (At the momemt we have a few days on our own in Wildwood, the only time for the summer we are not living with someone else)














and here is an early Father's day gift before we head to Wildwood- chocoaltes. The boys are very interested in all gift giving, though they get right in the middle of it and assume they will benefit. At the very minimum by helping to unwrap the gifts...

snapshot view

This post will have to represent the month of May, got stopped a few times in the process!




pictures will need to tell the story here. We enjoy time with Gregg's parents and his sister brings her dog from time to time. We also visited a family the boys got to know 2 summers ago, and my sister Carol's family, as well as my mother and other sister. As long as there is new activity the boys are quite happy. And the first weeks brought plenty of that. Now, surrounded by the same things they were so excited about in the first weeks we are a little suprised to hear from time to time, "I don't have anything to do." typical children I guess.

Grandma's house

After a short flight, 5 hour layover in Copenhagen and a 9 hour flight to Washington DC, and 3 hour car ride, we are at Grandma Brubaker's house.

I have learned to call where ever I sleep for more than a few nights "home" but not so for the boys. After church on Sunday I told David it is time to go home. He looked rather quizically at me and said- mommy you said go home, we're not going home, we are going to grandma's house! True indeed.

What a flurry of activity with warmer weather, sunshine most of the time, space, new things to play with. With just a half a day of rain David was complaining that he is never going to get to play outside. This from a boy who did not often get to play outside yet this spring in Lithuania. Erik continues to practice his head stands while watching TV.

We got a quick visit from Grandma Buckwalter the day after we arrived too since she had reason to be in Lancaster county already. And just today we visited my grandmother who at 94 is still quite sharp, though hard of hearing. She got to go outside today because we were with her. She runs her own scooter. She lives in assisted living now.

And by next week we will be seeing some other cousings and two of my sisters in NJ.

count down

Well the trip to the USA for the summer is really getting close now! We leave on Friday morning and arrive in Washington Dulles airport at 3 in the afternoon. Of course there is a time difference to take into account.

The boys are very eager for this and have been counting down the days, very good practice for math skills and understanding :)

Weather in Lithuania is still making life a little unhandy. I hoped to wash the winter jackets and other things to put them away before coming to the states, but it just does not stay warm! Many we know are suffering in this cold because the heat is turned off by tradition in April. We have the choice to heat or not as the control is the natural gas burner in our apartment. So it has been nice these cold nights to keep the damp chill out of the apartment.

Good night and sleep well...

We are getting used to a new routine started by Erik last week, or maybe even the week before. After our rather long routine of settling in bed and him asking what time we are coming to bed, he says, goodnight and sleep well. And then he makes a rather conspicious sound of kissing the air toward us. Tonight it was also following by "I love you."

I am still getting getting used to it. Erik is not comfortable with kissing - being kissed or kissing anyone else. And when his teached instructed him to give me is project on Friday and give me a kiss he got quite red and somehow forced himself to sort of do the task. yet, he is starting to say I love you at night, and not in response to one of us.

David occasionally will say I love you too. But, he has been comfortable with kisses and kissed us occasionally without difficulty. On the other hand, he has some difficulty with boundaries both in physical interaction with us as well as emotional. He more often than not is playing games and trying to tease or get a reaction and it can get tiring for mommy. Due to this he gets into much trouble at bedtime and Daddy needs to get him ready to bed for him to concentrate at all most days.

We had a different kind of week with the LCC end of semester events. Good bye to staff and faculty leaving and graduation.

I was away for a couple of days at the beginning of the week too which tested the boys security levels. Both had reactions. Erik seemed to sleep restlessly with mom away. And David was quick to act up for the next days after mom came home. But maybe it is just part of his next stage. Wish I could call it "development" but sometimes it just seems like the next complicated stage. His preschool teachers find it difficult as he becomes more verbal and aggressive, yet still has difficulty staying on task. We try to remember that he has a few limitations that were hard-wired into him from the beginning and at the same time have to be aware of being manipulated because there is a lot he does understand. We just wish he could put the pieces together of what he understands to do more productive things.

journalling

It has been a while since I took time to write down all the unique things happening and so some of them will unfortunately be lost for the record.
The picture here we captured after David made this version of the Lithuanian flag. We were not involved in it at all, he made it and came announcing in Lithuanian- Lietuvos velava, lietuvos veleva. (Lithuanian flag, Lithuanian flag)
And it is correct, yellow, green red.

Last week I traveled to Kaunas for a meeting with a steering committee of church leaders from all different Christian churches in Lithuania. Among the leaders was Catholic priest Kestutis Kevelas who is now also the director of Marijos Radija (Radio Maria). After we met about planning for a leadership skills conference this coming fall to be held at LCC, Fr. Kestutis invited the steering committe to the radio station to record a program about the conference. Just like that. And we did. So it was the first time I have been on the radio in Lithuania- and speaking in Lithuanian of course.

At the end of the program he asked us to share what our faith meant to us as well. afterward, he asked us to stay longer to record our testimonies separately for another program. So, I was on 2 programs that aired this week. And they promise to repeat the programs at future times too.

Meanwhile, Gregg of course has been a double duty dad at some times that my schedule has been quite busy. We do have the boys in the local preschool full-time so that usually takes care of the times I am working, but there are special weekend conferences and trips from time to time.

Atvelykas

The second Sunday of Easter= Atvelykas in Lithuania




We learned only Saturday about this celebration in Klaipeda. In olden times the celebration of Easter was extended and people visited relatives and god-parents visited their godchildren- those they had witness baptism. And if it had not happened during the week, certainly by atvelykas they should do that. So among the various ethnic games and activities was the celebration of god-parents!


We also went to a small Lithuanian restaurant for traditional food before the event. Erik and David really enjoy cepeliniai and it is fun to watch them eat food they really like. They are somewhat picky about eating at home.