Michael & Liz are Bloggable

Right on time, Liza finally arrived at RDU. We got there extremely early because we were told that sometimes the flights arrive early. Well that only built our anxiety and we were just really nervous for her to come down the escalator. We brought a big fluffy dog for her as well as a bouquet of Daisies. They brought the kids down in pairs so that it didn't overwhelm the families or the kids and it gave the greetings some time. We found out that she was going to be the first one down the stairs and sure enough there she came.

Out of the first pair of girls coming down, we couldn't tell which one she was but it quickly became obvious. The girl she was standing next to towered over her. She was the extremely short, shy one with the baseball cap pulled over her eyes and head down. Shy is an understatement, you could see how nervous she was to meet us. What 8 year old wouldn't be though? It was understandable. Well when we walked up to her she immediately lit up and grabbed the dog. She loved it instantly. She never did say a word to us at the airport but we did our best to butcher the russian language with comments like "are you homesick", "are you tired", "are you hungry". I even had trouble saying "we try" to her. Something to let her know we are trying to communicate and we're sorry we suck at it.

We got a couple minutes with the interpreter and I think it opened our eyes to what we are here for and more importantly, what she is here for. He said he doesn't think she'll have an asthma attack but she has an inhaler just in case. He said she cannot eat sweets or soda or she will vomit. He didn't explain why but for some reason that is something she can't handle. That was pretty much all we talked about and then headed home. I'm hoping the doctors appointments reveal some issues they can resolve for her. Throughout dinner we kept asking, "stomach hurts?" and she continued to say "da", "da".

The car ride home was quiet as you would expect, except for one moment when I noticed her squinting and I offered my sunglasses. She laughed and put them on but took them off after a few seconds.

When we got home, she was reluctant to move anywhere. She stood still and I must say from her behavior, she is extremely polite. We tried to give her a tour but she had no idea what we were trying to do. She wouldn't walk on carpet without taking off her shoes, and when we had dinner, she wouldn't eat until Liz and I had our food. She didn't eat a lot anyway though. We had pizza for dinner and she had only about two bites.

After dinner we ran around with the dogs outside. SHE LOVES THE DOGS! She just follows them around if you can believe that. Usually it's the other way around. I think it's clear she favors Daisy but she loves holding them and getting kisses. I think we could have left her in the backyard playing fetch with the dogs for hours. We don't know what it means but whenever she plays with them, she says the words "koo koo, koo koo" (like the koo koo clock) over and over again. We don't understand but she smiled and giggled when we repeated it after her.

The theme of the night (and I'm afraid the next 6 weeks) is lack of communication. I said to Liz at one point "Before she came, I realized that we couldn't communicate anything to her, but it slipped my mind that she couldn't communicate to us!." There were many times when we were trying to say something and she would correct our grammar or just throw her hands up in frustration. At one point she goes "uh, nyet oh". I'm assuming she's talking about our bad pronunciation. I tried to limit the number of times I said "I don't understand" but it really could have been 50 times. The first time I said it she goes "uuugh" and hits her hand to her forehead. It was as if she was told beforehand "ok, they will say 'i dont understand' a lot, just beware of that". Tomorrow we meet with the interpreter for 15 minutes and go to get her some clothes from a church donation drive. Should be a good time.

As far as who she is, from what we can tell she only has a Mom and she brought two pictures of her. We framed them and put them on her dresser for her, hoping to soothe the homesickness. She tried to tell us about her home and Minsk but obviously we have to put understanding on hold. Like I said she is extremely shy but she quickly opened up and I think Liz and I agree she is a happy child. We are trying to keep the mood light and fun because it's frustrating that she can't talk to us. We will do our best to meet up with other Belarussian kids so that frustration is limited.

Before dinner we were also able to call home for her. It was 2AM in Belarus but it seems like both her and her mom appreciated the call. I don't know if this was something that all kids do, but it seemed like Liza didn't say a word on the phone, it was all very quiet da's and nyet's. And then all of a sudden they hung up. We said "kharasho?"(meaning good?), and she says "da" with a smile. I guess that's good.

Well here is what everyone has been waiting for. Here are pictures of us picking her up at the airport and her meeting Gryffin for the first time. (you can click them to zoom).


We promise to have many more photos soon!