Day One

The start of the first day was full of nervous energy!  To start, Dmitrijs (the true spelling of his name) slept almost 13 hours.  We were worried about when to wake him up, how much to let him sleep, and whether he was just sitting in his room waiting for someone to tell him it was time to come out!  Eventually, he did come out on his own and came down for a pancake breakfast.  He enjoyed the pancakes and really liked the syrup!  After breakfast we headed to a farmer's market  to attempt to find out what foods he likes.  This was probably not the best idea.  The farmer's market was PACKED yesterday and we think it overwhelmed him.  It was also painfully hot!  So, after picking up a few things here and there, including some sunglasses for Dmitrijs, we headed back to the house.

Back at the house we introduced him to the Wii.  He chose to try Mario Kart (one of our favorites), but it can be a little frustrating when you're just learning the remote and all of the special symbols and things.  Plus, it is really difficult to explain when you don't speak the same language.  We kept pausing the game to try to explain things, but Dmitrijs was just interested in figuring it out.  For instance, in the hallway we have nightlights that turn on and off automatically depending on how much they sense sunlight.  During the day the nightlights are usually off even though there are no windows in the hall.  However, when you walk by them they frequently turn on.  When Dmitrijs noticed this he experimented walking back and forth in front of the light and then trying to take giant steps over the light and even jump around it!!  It was hysterical to watch and loads of fun!  Plus, we learned that he is a quick learner.

After Wii, we all went to the YMCA to enjoy the pool.  Dmitrijs is an excellent swimmer and was open to some feedback on his skills and willing to learn new things, too!  By the end of the day we had played several rounds of monkey in the middle, dived for numerous diving sticks and torpedoes, sprayed each other with noodles and water guns, and even practiced jumping and diving in the deep end (something he said he "didn't like to do" at the beginning)!  While at the pool Dmitrijs was excited to show us his flips underwater.  Casey started counting how many he could do and when he came up after four she made a big deal about how great it was that he could do that many in a row.  His response was his first English sentence to us, "My record is 12."  We were told by the chaperone that he knows some English and is continuing to learn it, but that full sentence was amazing!  We teased him about knowing more English than he's letting on, but he keeps insisting that he really doesn't know much.  We think he understands much more than he says and that as he gets more comfortable that he will try to use his language skills more often.  We also learned that he prefers Russian to Latvian, which differs from information we were previously given, but is somewhat of a blessing.  It is MUCH easier to find Russian resources than Latvian!

Anyway, after the pool, we came home and showered.  Then we had some dinner, spaghetti, which he enjoyed and said he'd never eaten before.  Then we played Wii Sports Resort.  He LOVED fencing!  Giggled the whole time and sighed when he got "knocked off the platform."  He also enjoyed the table tennis game.

Then it was time for ice cream and a round of Yikers, which he won multiple times--without us letting him win!  Then we played a round of Spot It and he taught us some Latvian and Russian words and we had him practice some English words.

After the game we came upstairs and played with Merlin (our youngest and funniest cat!) who has really taken a liking to Dmitrijs.  They enjoy each other while Dmitrijs waves a cat toy with the feather on the end all around his room and Merlin flops and jumps around trying to attack it.  It is great fun, loads of laughs, and an excellent ice breaker.

Before bed we all wrote in a journal about our day.  In Dmitrijs' journal he said that he felt happy and good.  He said that his favorite parts of the day were playing games and going to the pool and that he would like to do them again.  We wrote pretty much the same thing!  After journal, we showed him the Latvian Bible (generously sent to us by an anonymous source that we still haven't discovered!) and the children's Bible story books that we have translated to Latvian.  He said he was tired and didn't want to read tonight, so we said that was OK, but we would read tomorrow.  He nodded in understanding.  Before bed we prayed together.  He is getting used to this routine, but it is obviously foreign to him.  We are looking for advice on how to better include Dmitrijs in our prayer times, as this is one place when the language barrier seems to be more of an issue.  Comments are appreciated with suggestions on how to do this better!

All in all, our first day was AMAZING.  We are excited about the next five weeks and are hoping that he will continue to gain trust in us and open up.  Thank you for praying for and encouraging us!  If you live in the area and are interested in getting together send us a message.  We know we won't be able to see everyone, but we will certainly try to do what we can, based of course on how he is feeling.  Anyway, we are looking forward to day 2!  Updates again soon!!