Day 26 - Church and Party and Church and Party

We love to spend time with people. Even better, we love to spend time with family. And even better than that we love that Denys loves to spend time with our family. Since today was within 48 hours of his departure, we decided a party was in order.

After church most of the Robinsons, a few of the Hatchetts, and some Griffiths gathered at Gmama's for pizza, salad, and cake. We had a wonderful time visiting and enjoying each other's company. And every single person in attendance had pictures made with the Guest of Honor!

Now, this silly boy gets excited easily, but his thrill was palpable when I pulled out the camera. When he arrived he'd already hugged everyone in the room. (He discovered early on this is way we greet each other in our world!) But the wattage of his smile was amped up immeasurably for these photos. I wish there were room to post every single one of these, because they are precious.

This is how we roll.

I know I can tell you all day how much fun we have together and how close we are, but I had a chance to grab a picture that sort-of explains this "Robinson Phenomenon" in a way words cannot. See, even Daddy Mac was in on the action!

The kiddos played like crazy in the yard and were completely filthy. MG was in such bad shape she had to have a shower before she could leave Gmama's. Jason then took her and the boys home for showers before church began - Because NO ONE wanted to sit and sniff "stinky boy" during the service. (I'm not sure anyone loves The Preacher that much.)

AR is still a bit puny so I let her finish her nap and then headed to church a bit late. But seeing as how I brought pizza and cake for dinner after the service, no one seemed to mind my tardiness.

So we ate and talked and just enjoyed each other's company. (Did I mention that we love to spend time with folks?) Of course, the kids were bored with pizza rather quickly and went to wreak havoc on one of the Sunday School rooms. Amazingly enough, when time came to clean up, the mess had not been made by a single one of my children! Too bad for them; they had to clean it up anyway.

Dad wins again.

We came home and, as I'm trying to get the kiddos settled in, I hear a roar coming from J's room. Apparently Dad and the boys had decided a little wrestle mania was in order. I think Jason whipped them all pretty soundly, but they returned again and again. Yes, Mom just stayed on the outskirts and watched and managed to avoid being dragged into the melee.

Monday's are always wild around here. I've got several loads of laundry that need to be finished and a suitcase, looking smaller and smaller, that needs to be packed. We'll also do our usual piano and gymnastics. It's probably a very good thing we'll be rather busy and somewhat distracted since no one is looking forward to Tuesday morning.

~Megan

*There will be no 4 Under $40 this week.

Days 4 & 5

I am so excited about a long afternoon and evening with nothing to do! The 3 big kiddos have been riding bikes and playing. The temperature is entirely too cold for me, but if your general geographic location is closer to Siberia, then temps in the 40s don't seem painfully low. (That means Denys doesn't even have on a coat!) We are short one adult sized bicycle helment, so we are improvising and Denys will be riding in a baseball helment. Hey, the rules say he must wear a helment; a helment is a helment? Right? Once inside, it was time for the Wii. Here's a little clip of the moment I like to call "I Might Lose My TV."

This morning was our first time at church. The nursery workers were stoked we brought the screaming monkey Anna Ruth received from Honey & Papa. (Hmmm . . . another video might be in order.) Denys went to class with Jonah and Millie Grace. That crowd was probably a bit young for him, but Mrs. Wanda and Mrs. Pattie are two of the best Sunday School teachers we have at FBCT so if he was going to learn anything he would certainly do it there. I'm sure he didn't understand much, but our church family loved on him anyway. I caught him copying the inscription of the Lord's Supper Table on his doodle paper. "This do in remembrance of me." I was gently reminded that it's in remembrance of what Christ has done that's entirely the reason Denys is here!

How Denys would've spent the entire weekend,
if we'd let him!

We had lunch at the wonderful Crossroads Restaurant here in Tallapoosa. (If you've never been let me share that it gets 4-Stars for a great Sunday Buffet of country cooking at incredibly reasonable prices.) Denys's plate looked a bit different than what I would have let my kiddos choose normally - fried chicken, puree (mashed potatoes), twice baked potato, macaroni & cheese and a biscuit. A plate full of starches! He put a hurting on it and as long as he's not hungry, I'm good.

I had every intention of blogging when we got home last night, but our 2 hour trip was rather elongated  We were all very sleepy and grumpy when we tumbled through the door at 9:30pm and I sent everyone to bed - ASAP!

Trying on Papa's old helments!

I have always known I have a fantastic family. Dad, Mom, Abby, Wes, and Taylor are some of the coolest people I know, but getting to see them in action, loving on a kid with whom they can't fluently communicate and whom they've never met, is truly a beautiful thing. These guys did such a great job helping Denys feel comfortable that we all got to learn more about him that we didn't know - he can do back-hand-springs!

Since Abby and Wesley shared Dexter, their boxer, we got to see how much Denys loves dogs and how gently he is willing to play - or not so gently as the case may be. Mom & Dad shared their time and food and home and toys. Denys was so comfortable that he asked my mom if he could bring home a couple of her old Hot Wheels cars - the Ferrari and the Porsche  And I have to give a shout-out to my little bro. I've never noticed before, but he gives the most AWESOME hugs - the kind that just wrap you up and don't let you wiggle until he's done. For a kid without a family this is a BIG deal!

This weekend I've seen Denys interact with Anna Ruth a bit more and even help her up when she's fallen. He's playing until he's wiped out and sleeps soundly until at least 7am. (And yes, I know this because baby monitors aren't good only monitoring babies!) He seems a bit more adamant about the things he doesn't like, but not to the point of anger or acting out. Jason and I are able to use Google Translate (the app we couldn't live without!) to make sure he understands what we want him to, but he is not as efficient at using the Ukrainian keyboard so we're not sure what he's thinking. He seems plenty happy and I suppose as long as he's smiling we're in good shape. We'll have him call the chaperone again tonight to check-in and get ready to celebrate Christmas with the big families tomorrow and Tuesday.

Merry Christmas and (Jason's new holiday greeting of choice) Happy Incarnation!

~Megan