One less fish in the sea

Andrei and Brent and some friends went fishing at a trout pond. Brent forgot to take the camera, but Andrei caught one right away and then watched the owner guy gut it and filet it. Since Brent and I don't eat fish, I had Andrei cook it and eat it all himself.

Showing off


Pepper, garlic salt, and lemon juice


Bake for 15 minutes


How's it taste?


Mmm, yummy!

11 days now

Why Vegan? No single choice has a farther-reaching and more profoundly positive impact on our health, the environment, and all of life on Earth than choosing vegan.
- Alternative Baking Company, Inc

First post-placement

We had our first post-placement visit this past week, even though it's not due for a while. The Russian government requires us to send a report 6 months, 1 year, 2 years and 3 years after the adoption, to make sure Andrei's doing okay.

It was non eventful.

We had a new social worker because our old one doesn't take cases anymore. I gave her the report format from our adoption coordinator and we went through it in about a half hour. She commented that Andrei seemed to be doing very well, his English was good, and everything looked fine.
Andrei told us that he didn't like her because he was scared that he'd have to go back to Chuvashia. But we assured him that he's stuck with us.
I thought I'd be stressed out but it was easy. One (almost) down, three to go. :)

Things I never thought I'd say

"No, Rachel is not a ninja"


(Reading the story of Jacob and Rachel and a picture of Rachel wearing a veil)
Parenting is sure interesting.

Amusing conversations

I suppose we're moving past the 'get to know you' stage and into the 'who are you to me and what is this whole adoption thing' stage.

Andrei's been acting like a baby lately, and (when he's not doing it to get out of chores) I hold him and call him my baby and rock him. He pretends to cry and I tell him I'm here for him always and he's my baby Andrei.
The other day we were reading about Abraham and Sarah and how they were sad because they didn't have a baby. Andrei then said he was my baby and I hugged him, then he said something about coming out of my tummy. Um, no, remember - you were in Russia, and then you came to live with us. "Oh" he says "I remember - I was in [orphanage teacher's] tummy!" No, sorry. You were in another lady's tummy and then you went to the orphanage and then you came here. (I really have to look up his birth-mother's name because I don't even remember it right now) I guess this is how the conversations start.

Yesterday we were watching TV and the spiders were making babies and he correctly pointed out to me that mamas make milk from *here* (poking me) Then he asked me if I made milk. I said, no, mamas only make milk when they have babies. "But I'm your baby!" "Yes, but only when babies are little" He then proceeded to crawl in my lap and tell me he was hungry (uh oh) I asked him what he wanted to eat and he said a banana (phew!)

It's interesting to see what he already knows and what corolations he's making. All day he tells me about how things were 'in Chuvashia'. Everything from "we had grass in Chuvashia" to "we had magical fairy princesses in Chuvashia" He says he misses his friends.

I wonder how he will process the news that he has another lady in his life that he never remembers meeting.