It has been three months since Kris
landed in America for the first time. I think he is taking the
country by storm! It has been a time of adventure, exploration,
adjustment and, quite frankly, exhaustion.
Kris has acclimated himself to life
here in America. He makes friends easily and has a crew of friends
at church and at soccer.In fact, he pretty much makes friends everywhere he goes.
He tends to repeat phrases that he has
learned. It's his way of learning the language. This can be a good
thing or a bad thing. You can only imagine some of things he's been
repeating! Today's phrase is “Just shake it off!” He's also learning the rules of the road and the various types signs on the American road. He is looking forward to taking his driving permit test.
One evening at the store he spied a row
of gumball machines. He asked what it was and so I explained how
you put in the money, turn the crank and lift the door to get your
gum or prize. His eyes lit up! “We do not have this in Latvia. I
would like to try this.” So he puts in the quarter, turns the crank
(saying “krukcht” as he turns the crank) and out comes his
glow-in-the-dark spider. “I must try this again! I like this
process!” Three spiders later … we head out the door and head
for home.
He is thoroughly enjoying playing
soccer with Faith Christian School. He feels like he is a part of
something bigger than himself – a team. He really has bonded with
his teammates and his coach. He's even scored a few goals so far
this year. I think that during the process he is learning to accept
others and be accepted by others, respect himself and others and building
self-confidence.
Over the past few weeks Kris has taken
to building and launching model rockets. He loves it! We build the
rockets together and then launch them at the high school field
nearby. We have built several of them. One crashed straight into
the ground without the parachute opening – that one was my fault.
Saturday was windy and one rocket went very, very high. The wind
caught it and it landed three blocks away and hanging off a roof. He
scampered up (with a little boost from me) and managed to snag it.
The security guard wasn't too pleased with us at first but he chilled
once he saw what we were doing.
This exercise reminds me of my youth –
spending hours making model rockets with my Uncle Joe and taking them
to the football field in Central Valley for launching! Several never
made it down and are probably still stuck in the trees there.
Kris is quite helpful around the house,
too. He is quite proud of the fact that he has kept his room clean
and tidy for three weeks. This only came after some grumbling and
“Are you kidding me?” after being asked to clean his room but
we'll take the minor victories when we can get them. He also likes
to take care of the dogs too. This weekend all three dogs were given
a bath. He also entertains them and walks them. He made a little
video of what happens when we are not home – he is riding his bike
around the kitchen/living area down stairs making a figure “8”
around the kitchen table and the couch while all the dogs are chasing
him! All the while exclaiming “Come on dogs! It is time for the
circus!” He enjoys cleaning too! He even used the leaf blower one
time to clean the downstairs – dog hair and papers were everywhere!
Hysterical!
For the first two months whenever we
mentioned school, Kris would say that perhaps he can skip going to
school for a few years. It is only during the past few weeks that
his attitude has changed about that. Now he says that he would like
to go to school. I have no doubt that he will do just fine once he
settles in to life in academia. He does seem a little apprehensive
about learning English but we are working on getting him the help he
needs to do well. We have had several conversations about schooling
and I impress upon him that all I expect from him is to do his very
best and we will help him however we can.
Kris and I have been taking advantage
of the time in the car traveling to and from soccer games and fishing
and flying rockets to get to know each other. We've had our
disagreements during this phase but we respect each other andl we have a pretty good relationship.
We've shared bits and pieces of each others lives. Without getting
into details he's had a terrible start in life but with God's grace
he has managed to become quite the young man!
Despite some of the challenges to
adjusting to life with a new teen in the house – three loaves of
bread, two and ½ gallons of milk, four boxes of cereal and lots of
ketchup and mayonnaise each week; some attitude issues; financial
challenges; trying to find balance in our lives – Eileen and I
firmly believe that we have won the “kid lottery” with this guy.
Don't get me wrong … this adoption thing is NOT for the faint of
heart. There are many nights we have fallen into bed just whipped
from all the running around. Despite all the little hurdles in the
process we cannot imagine our family without Kris. We have God to
thank for that.
