Lost in Translation

Sometimes we get lost in translation...or should I say, lost without a translator. While we are definitely communicating more this summer, there are certainly times when I wish I knew more Russian. Yesterday was one of those times.

Yesterday we packed up the kids, loaded them in the car and headed down to see my mom in St. Augustine, Florida. It's only about a 7 hour trip...I say that jokingly because Venya must have said, "Ma-shee-na 7 hours!" meaning, "Car??? 7 hours???" about 100 times.

Well, I guess over a 7 hour trip (which actually turned out to be 8 hours due to heavy rain) one would expect a kid to get a little bored. So Venya, while he didn't complain, began to speak a little more English. You know, break up the trip with some good conversation...only we didn't get very far.

It started with Venya calling my name...

Venya: Holly

I turned and looked over my left shoulder and to the back seat...fully expecting to once again hear, "Ma-shee-na 7 hours???" only this time he said something different...something funny although I'm not sure that humor is what he was going for.

Venya: Daddy...cheese and then he held up his hands as if he were shooting a gun and said, Pow, pow, pow!

I gave him my usual puzzled look and said, "Again?" which he has quickly learned the meaning of.

Venya: Daddy...money (he added another English word)...cheese and again a pow, pow, pow

This time I chuckled a little while thinking what in the world is he trying to tell me? We did just make a pit stop at a convience store to get gas and a snack, but no one got CHEESE. Sydney got a strawberry granola bar...and I talked myself out of getting a diet coke. What cheese is he talking about? What's the pow, pow, pow?

He tried again...
Venya: Daddy...cheese sandwich...then he drew four circles in the air with his finger and again went pow, pow, pow as he pretended to be shooting at the circles with his gun.

We were all laughing now as he shook his head and turned his eyes toward the window. I looked at Bobby and said, "Do you think he's saying that he wants you to pay for some cheese (Chuck-E-Cheese) and play the "pow, pow, pow" game? Venya was shaking his head no in the back seat. I've been told that he can probably understand more English than he can speak and I now know this to be true.

He tried one final time...

Venya: Daddy... Okay, I get that, he's referring to Bobby,

Money...usually means "to buy" or "paid for something,"

Cheese sandwich...not sure about this one, Sydney had a grilled cheese but that was hours ago and a strawberry granola bar 30 minutes ago,

Me...Venya pointing to himself,

Now he added a charade...he pointed to his eyes and this usually means that he sees or he saw something,

And once again, the gun with his hands and a pow, pow, pow.

Laughter filled the car. We still don't know exactly what he was trying to say, but I enjoyed spending the next few hours thinking about it. I mean we used to play the alphabet game or "I'm going on a trip and I'm taking..." when I was a kid, but "Guess What the Sweet Belarussian in the Back Seat is Saying" is far more interesting...and funny. I actually laughed out loud as I laid in bed last night remembering the whole scene...and one of these days, I'm going to ask the translator, especially since I'm a little concerned over the pow, pow, pow.

Art Day at the Henderson's Farm!

So, yesterday was Art Day at CarrieBeth and Mitchell's farm! (Thanks guys for hosting!) I didn't get to go...I take that back, I decided to take a break from all of the "going" and sent Bobby and Sydney and Venya on their way. The kids had a great time...making tie dyed t-shirts, playing in the sprinklers and eating hot dogs in the sun. Apparently they finished the day with a shaving cream fight. Now even though I enjoyed a little break, I kind of wish I'd been there for that!

Snapshots

Chuck-E-Cheese and Your Heart

Well, today we decided to take a break from the pool and the 100 degree temperatures and we headed to one of Venya's favorite indoor places...Chuck-E-Cheese! I am quite certain that I had not been there since last summer and for good reason. I mean, even though several of my friends have insisted that "the pizza is actually really good," I'm still one who tends to vote for calling Domino's and hitting the couch. And let's face it, anyone can tire pretty quickly of the dancing mechanical mouse and all of his mechanical friends. The one playing the guitar even has a broken eye, so he gives you this eerie wink as you stand there and watch. It's just not my cup of tea.

Anyway, I have to say that there is some good to be found at this place...I saw it last summer and I saw it again today and well, before I get ahead of myself, let's just say that it's enough to make me go back a few more times this summer. Today, I got a glimpse of Venya's heart at Chuck-E-Cheese of all places...and I'm pretty sure that Sydney did as well.

See, for about an hour, the kids bounced around in the arcade area of the restaurant...going from game to game and collecting as many tickets as they could possibly hold. They even tried that old trick that my sisters and I used to do...pull slowly on the tickets and you might be able to pull an extra one from the roll.

Anyway, after all of our playing time, we were ready to close it out. But before we dashed off to the prize case, we had to hit the ticket counting machine, which in my opinion is one very cool device. All you have to do is put your tickets into the "feeder" and it pulls them through and counts them. At the same time, it makes this very cool chomping sound, as if someone is on the other side of the feeder and is actually EATING the tickets.

Well, Sydney went first with her stack of tickets and gradually loaded each individual strand into the machine, the whole time watching the tally go up. Eventually, her last ticket went through to the "ticket monster" and we all glanced up to see the total number on the display screen. It read 94 and she was more than content with that. I was even content for her...but someone else was not. As I looked over, I saw Venya counting out 6 of his tickets. He handed them to Sydney and said, "Sydney...100" as he pointed back to the ticket counting machine. See, he knew something she didn't. The cooler prizes in the prize case start at...you guessed it, 100 and he quickly, and generously, got her there.

Of course, Venya then ran all of his tickets through and received his final tally...234. I was watching him now as he confidently pulled the slip with his total on it from the machine and carried it over to the clerk at the prize counter. He pointed to 4 different things that he wanted...one of them being a pair of stick-on earrings, which I found odd...until he turned and handed them, along with two other prizes, to Sydney.

And there it was. Again I saw it...Venya has a generous heart and what he can't communicate in English, he communicates pretty clearly through action. Why don't I do that more? I'm even starting think that sometimes it's all the things I say that actually get in the way of simply acting how I genuinely feel. Funny...and I thought we were helping Venya. But this year again, the lessons he is teaching me, and teaching us, are priceless.

Venya did keep one thing for himself...a plastic spinning top which he has placed in her hand with no argument every time Sydney has said, "My turn," and I'm pretty sure, she gets it. I'm pretty sure, she sees what I see because at the end of our Chuck-E-Cheese visit she finally "cashed in" on a toy car, which she slowly turned and handed to Venya with her sweet, six year old smile. So, it's day 5 and I can already say without hesitation, that we will miss him when he returns to Belarus. I know I'm sappy, but I'm also tired...after all, I DID get up at 5:45 this morning.

Dressed and Ready!

So, for the past three mornings in a row I have found Venya dressed and ready in the living room before 7AM! I walk out of our bedroom in my pajamas and with the sleep still in my eyes and there he is...bright-eyed and ready to go. He even goes so far as to put his shoes on. I'm not really sure what time he actually wakes up, but I know this, he's ready and I'm....well, I'm not.

See, I'm in "summertime" mode which is really far away from "ready" mode. The only thing I'm really ready to do is sit on the couch and sip some coffee, and I'm content to do that for about 3 hours.

I have to admire him though. There is a sweetness about it, and some degree of perseverence to keep trying to get the Campbell crew going so early in the moring. I sometimes wonder if he thinks that one of these mornings I might actually get dressed and go somewhere exciting and he's afraid that if he's not ready, he'll miss it. SO, he gets dressed and he gets ready and then probably internally faces the disappointment when I once again, round the corner in my pjs and head toward the coffee pot.

Sometimes I think that I wish I could approach life "dressed and ready" and with a child-like excitement. I mean, I think about getting up early, I just don't actually do it very often and I'm pretty certain that I've never really been EXCITED about morning (with the exception of Christmas, of course). I can easily talk myself out of morning exercise. "I'll do it later," I say to myself as I roll over. I struggle...I mean really struggle...with getting up EARLY for a quiet time and think of how simple that sounds. Get up, sit in the quiet, spend time with God...I mean, there is really nothing in that that sounds hard...except for the getting up part and if step one doesn't happen, then step two doesn't either.

So, tomorrow, I might actually challenge myself to get up, to get dressed, and to get ready for the day. I'm going to try to change my attitude and try to think, "Yeah! Hello Morning!" instead of "UGGHH...morning." Maybe I'll beat him to the living room shoes and all, but Lord only knows what early hour it will be if I make it there BEFORE he does! But I think it's worth trying...I think a change in my approach to the day could be really interesting. I just might need a nap before the day is over!

The Deep End Swimming Test

So, last year we didn't realize that Venya couldn't swim until Bobby was fully dressed and in the deep end of the swimming pool executing our first rescue mission. I remember the last words out of my mouth were, "Is he OKAY?". That was just before Bobby ran past me with a leap that only an ex-lifeguard could do. It was funny later in the day, but for a moment I remember rethinking the whole swimming pool installation...especially since the non-swimming victim weighed roughly 80 lbs and seemed to have no fear.

Anyway, this year we decided we would be smarter. We would be prepared. We would all go out together at the same time and ease our way into the pool...reminding Venya through a series of charades that THIS is the DEEP END!

Needless to say, we couldn't hold him back. I think I was two steps out of the back door when I heard his splash and began to watch the awkward, and awfully splashy, swim across the four foot area of the pool! Once again, I had all of those motherly thoughts that we mothers have around pools. I should remind him not to DIVE into the 4ft. area. I should figure out a way to tell him, "No running around the pool." I need to communicate that around the water we are very careful and by the way, wait for the adults to get out here before you go jumping in!

But how could I be so serious in the presence of such laughter? How do you slow a kid down (especially a boy) when he is so excited to be in the water that he can't decide exactly where to be in the water? I think in less than 2 minutes Venya and Sydney had every pool toy that we own out of the deck box and into the swimming pool. Bobby jokingly reminded that "the more you take out, the more you put away" to which we both laughed. Again, who could stop the excitement? Who would want to?

We swam for about an hour before coming in for lunch. Oh yeah, getting back to topic, he CAN swim and with each stroke he took yesterday he looked more like a "swimmer" and less like a "splasher." One of these days I'll get around to addressing the pool rules, but for now, I'll have a little faith and let the kid have some fun!

He's Here!

Well, two things are true tonight as I sit here and write...he's here and I am a terrible blogger. I have no photo of our reunion tonight. The short video clip that I have is just of the bus pulling into the parking lot and that's it. The "regular camera" didn't even make it out of the camera pouch. Like I said, I'm a terrible blogger. I've got no footage.

Anyway, enough about that. He is here. He is back and all is well. It was great to see the bus pulling into the parking lot. The tinted windows kept us from being able to see faces, but I did see someone in stripes put a fist to the window, bang a few times, and then wave. I was certain it was him and I was right! We hugged him as he got off the bus and I immediately asked, "How are you?" Funny...after all of this time I still can't remember that he doesn't speak English and therefore, had no answer.

Sydney was super excited which was cute. She talked the whole way home in some slightly different, yet still very English, voice. He gave her a silly band and let her play with his happy meal toy, so so far, his demeanor seems very much the same.

We got home and immediately tried to call his mom and thankfully, we were able to reach her. He talked for a while and then we put him to bed. I'd better hit the sack myself. Tomorrow's a big day. Thanks God for bringing him here safely and thanks for the sweet reunion...now for some rest.

The Night Before Venya Arrives! written 6-18-10

Well, it’s the night before he arrives and it’s no surprise that I’m my usual self…easily excited, overly anxious and even a bit sentimental. As I sit here on the couch watching the US OPEN I can’t help but think about the blond headed 10 year old boy who left home today at the 1500 hour….roughly 8am this morning our time. I wonder where he is right now, how he’s doing, is he hungry, is he tired? We won’t actually be hugging him until 11 o’clock tomorrow night. It’s a long way for a young man to go, but I’m glad he does it…glad his mom has the faith to allow him to do it.

When I think about it now, I’m not sure what made us originally sign up for this experience…maybe God just nudged us one morning at church and we responded and the next thing we knew we had a 6 week visitor in our home. When we first heard about the program (The American Belarussian Relief Organization) I remember thinking, “That’s cool. We could do that.” But I think that about a lot of things and we don’t actually DO them. Over time, I started searching for information from people who had already hosted children in the past. After hearing their stories and meeting with Don and Yasmin Teeter, we decided we were in…we just didn’t know exactly what that meant.

So, last summer was our first summer with a non-english speaking Belarussian child in our home. I wish I had taken the time then to write about his FIRST experience with us or I guess I should say, OUR first experience with him . There were so many funny things that happened, yet I can’t recount them right now. This blog is about this summer and this experience. This summer begins tonight…and it’s filled with all the anticipation that goes with seeing someone you love, when you haven’t seen them in a really long time. I can’t wait to hug him! I can't wait to see how much he's changed...and how much he has stayed the same. :)

I think we are prepared…but those are big words. His bed is ready. We’ve got plenty of groceries. We went to Walmart last night and bought him some new socks and clean underwear along with a few t-shirts and shorts. We thankfully received the bag of "hand me down" clothes that Tricia brought over for him and they are all placed in the drawers in his room, ready for wearing. We’re ready…and now we just wait.

We tucked Sydney in bed a little while ago and told her to rest up. She’ll be up late tomorrow night since we told her that we would take her with us to meet the bus when Venya arrives. (Something she didn’t get to do last year.) In the morning, Yasmin and Don (and several others from the group) will take the bus from Coastal Christian High School to Charlotte…meet the kids, hug the kids, feed the kids and then start the four hour trip back to Wilmington.

I pray for safe travels for everyone. I pray that the kids don’t get sick, as many have done in the past after traveling for over 30 hours. I pray for Tatsiana (Venya’s mother) who must have kissed her son goodbye this morning. I’m grateful for so many things, but tonight I’m overly sentimental about the fact that I have a home that is a “holiday” spot for a child from another country. I’m grateful for my church (PC3) and for the mission that it steadfastly sticks to which is "to reach people and help them walk with God.” Thank you for helping me…now God, give me strength, to help Venya for the next 6 weeks and beyond.