Going Home... again

I'm in Moscow. I had a great visit with Tess yesterday. She was thrilled to see me! She ran up and hugged me and kept saying, "Mama...mama!" Oh, I needed that so much! She DOES care!

I brought out the balloons again and she remembered from the day before and said, "Balloon!". Genious! You can tell she's a Knight! ;) She can say balloon, kick, up, spider (from I book I brought), circle (we were drawing together), ready...set...go! I don't think language will be too much of an issue with this girl! But, I am still thinking the obeying me might be our biggest challenge. I just read a book about abandoned kids. Their only control allie is anger. I can see that. We'll be playing and she'll just switch real quick to, "Neight" (no) and have a very grumpy face. But, I discovered if I just keep playing like I didn't hear her, she snaps out of it in just seconds. She especially does that when I touch her skin. I've heard a lot about that. If I rub her arm or whatever. So, I have made a point to touch her during our playing. If she's tossing the ball I made sure to touch her hand when I give it back. I was helping her ride the little bike in the play room again. I put my hands over her hands on the handle bars. And when I helped her peddle, I held on to her legs instead of her shoes. She forgets about the "touch" when it's in play. Just lots of learning on my part. There is light at the end of this tunnel. I can see it far far away - if I squint! ;)

My driver will be here to pick me up in 30 minutes to take me to the airport. I"m going HOME HOME HOME! Praise the Lord for Skype. I got to talk w/ the kids for an hour this morning for FREE. Not too many things in life are free!

I'll blog again at home soon. I'm ready for this stinkin' 15 hours of travel today. Did I mention I'm heading home?