The Avilla Family's own....

Adoption Adventure

Second Day in America: "Aw, Papa, Magazine!"

That is the whine that I heard from number two and three sisters most of the day today. No, they were not petitioning me for the latest issue of Seventeen magazine. Magazine is the phonetic sound for the Russian word "store". Apparently older sister Elena spread the word yesterday when she returned from her shopping trip to WalMart with me to buy her bike. The younger two girls wanted their "time on the town" and reminded me about it repeatedly.

But before I made that trip with Tamara in the afternoon, here's a couple things that happened today. The nearby hills were stripped of all California poppies (now displayed on our kitchen counter), the garage was emptied of every toy, vehicle, and piece of sports equipment, and two of the neighborhood girls accused Sveta of giving them the finger (Mama told her "We don't do that in our family, bad manners"). This all happened before 10 a.m. As things were slowing down around lunchtime, reinforcements arrived in the form of our good friends Ruth and her five adopted Russian and Bulgarian kids - yep, we're not the only crazy people in the county adopting multiple kids! Three of Ruth's girls are siblings, similar in ages to our older girls. Her son and other daughter from Bulgaria are closer in age to Lise and Vanya. That made ten kids between the ages of four and eleven. I felt a strong urge to "find a cave", but instead sublimated my fears by focusing constructively on adding the final piece to the new swingset, the slide. I had lots of help and the slide was tested many times before final assembly. The kids went into the house for lunch and I lingered in the garage for a few minutes to avoid the commotion. But even with all the kids seated and eating when I came in, I realized this scene was beyond my coping capacity. Ruth is an easy-going woman that seems to take everything in stride and she and Kerry were jabbering away managing things nicely. Thanks, Hun, for your motherly skills!

My four youngest received rides with Dad on the bike going as fast as I dared. And frankly, I can't remember much about the rest of the afternoon! Ruth and her children left, then Kerry prepared a shopping list and I headed to Longs and Safeway with Tamara. She was visibly excited to get in the car with me to leave. After depositing our seven rolls of film at Longs, I gave her the grand tour of the store: Sprite! (a whole aisle of soda!), cookies, colored marker pens. Then on to Safeway. I walked through the door and spread my arms out and exclaimed "Magazine!" but she didn't seem impressed. Only after I returned home did I understand why. We had unloaded the car of all the bags of groceries and she came back and sat in the passenger seat. She kept speaking in Russian and I didn't understand. I said "Show me" and she came around to my door and tried to put my seatbelt on me, and handed me the keys. "Grooska, grooska" she kept saying. I didn't understand, so I told her I wanted to look the word up in the dictionary in the kitchen. Grooska, grooska, hmmm… - toys! Aw, man, what kind of precedent did I set yesterday with Elena! Luckily, it was almost dinner time and Kerry came to the rescue "Skora abyed" (Dinner soon!). What a great team we are! Kerry also fended off Svetlana, who had been whining at me since I arrived home with Tamara. "There are many kinds of stores and you will get to see them all in good time". (Most of this was said in English, but the girls seemed to be appeased).

I am very glad that I took these last two days off instead of returning to work immediately. For one thing, I can barely keep my eyes open in the mid-afternoon. And there have been many precious moments that I have enjoyed. We shot video of Elena on skates for the first time today and she was giggling up and down the block with Kerry and Ruth's oldest daughter holding her up. Tomorrow we will begin training for the big Easter egg hunt at my parents home, where young and old alike compete in a mad rush of exuberance off their back porch and spilling into the creek and field behind the house. My sisters Jeanine and Beth whip the crowd of children and adults into a frenzy, then twenty-plus people explode out of the house scouring the yard for the scores of plastic eggs my Dad hides. It will be a grand time for my large extended family to meet the girls - I will send you an update…
David

The Adventure of a Lifetime with consequences for eternity starts with one step for your family, too!...


for information about Adoption Adventure Network's
visitation and hosting programs!