No brain power for clever titles. :)

For all of you who are following along, thank you for your prayers. They are felt! We had another good day enjoying our giggly guest. I didn't anticipate how tiring it would be to be fully engaged with four children from 6am until 7:30pm. We are together all day and there are needs and demands through out. On a typical day without a non-English speaking 9 year old visiting, I can count on "room time" to have some time to disengage a bit. The boys know the routine and I guard it carefully -- it is precious time! Up until today I was too nervous Irina would feel isolated so I didn't push it. Today, I decided it HAD to happen to protect my sanity. I am thankful that all four kids played happily and independently in different spaces for 40 minutes and I was alone. Such a coveted time to recharge a bit. This is a direct answer to my prayer request from yesterday! Thank you for praying.

Making salt dough ornaments

It is interesting to have no idea what Ira is thinking. She still talks incessantly and laughs her cute chuckle, so it appears she is happy. But, she could be saying, "That food you made me is so gross..haha haha...." Or maybe, "You have such dark circles under your eyes... hahahahaha..." I'm hoping she is truly enjoying herself as it appears. We haven't had much success with google translate. She doesn't seem overwhelmed though by my not understanding her. I have to be careful not to say "Da" too much. Who knows what I am agreeing to?!?!

She LOVES Aaron and is very protective of him.

We went to a different park today and she still loves to hold my hand. It's sweet! But, she also loves to run with the boys giggling all the way. (Do you see the trend? She giggles A LOT!) She has entered a new phase of repeatedly calling me Momma. I've tried to discourage it, but she insists. As I've said before, she is taught to call all caregivers Momma, but it's still a little weird. It's moved on to the toddler phase of shouting it loudly whenever she needs me and it is repeated louder and louder until I come running. I'm trying not to be too quick to come to her aid, but it's hard. At the park, she called me Momma so much that another parent remarked... "Three boys and one girl. That's nice." It ended up being quite the stepping stone. I explained that we were hosting her from the Ukraine and the other parent continued to be intrigued and ask more questions. Finally he said, "That's such a nice thing you're doing." I just couldn't resist and the Holy Spirit did the prompting. You see, I'm not nice. I'm selfish and I yell at my boys more then I would like to admit. We're not doing this because we're "nice people." I sort of surprised myself when the words came out of my mouth. "It's all Jesus. He loves us so much and He's called us to love on this little girl this Christmas." Not exactly sure that's what I said, but the words that came out were His and not mine. We're not doing this because we want you to think we're good people. Truly. I am being humbled and thankful that I can lean in to Him.

In the woods near the park... following the boys on a nature hunt.

Also... a friend dropped off a loaner bike and helmet. Thank you Pilsons! Pray for our dentist appointment tomorrow. She has LOTS of tooth decay and it's not pretty. Not sure what the dentist will tackle, but her teeth are in bad shape. Please pray that she is not scared and it is a positive experience. Thank you for praying!