A Picture Perfect Family

Wow, where do I begin? There is so much to share.

Evan continues to amaze us daily. He completely understands everything we say and communicates with a new word everyday. The other day, I told him to tell his Grandpa, "See you tomorrow" and Evan said "see morrow." He will try to say almost anything that we ask him to say.

Shortly after our last post we celebrated the 4th of July. Boy, was that an emotional day! Just the pure excitement as we celebrated what the 4th is all about with our sweet NEW AMERICAN BOY! We did the typical July 4th stuff and celebrated big. The day began with the Oxford Parade, then we went to Chic-Fil-A to play and eat, then to my parent's (Mimi and Pops) lake house where we rode the boat and cooked out. We ended the day with Clay's parents (Grandma and Grandpa) at the city fireworks show, which we left early because of a storm. We even told him all about how great America is and what a wonderful place it is to live...like he understands that. :-) It was a great day!

Evan had his 2 year check-up. Our pediatrician was blown away with the progress that Evan has made since we got home. He could not believe his vocabulary, he went on and on telling us how great Evan is doing. Evan has grown almost 3 inches and gained about 3 pounds since we have been home. We had to buy him new pajamas because his others were getting so short, he did look cute in his high waters though. :-)

On July 31st we took Evan and Wesley to their first Braves game! Go Braves! Clay's brother, Brent also went with us. We had a wonderful time. Evan was so cute doing the tomahawk chop! Wesley had his face painted and I wish you could have seen the look on Evan's face...like who are you and what did you do with Wesley. Braves tickets...free gift, parking...$10, tomahawks for Evan and Wes...$10, drinks...$16, Wesley's face painted...$13, holding Evan while hearing the National anthem at his first baseball game...priceless!!! We found out that the Schattes (the family who we stayed with in Russia) took Hannah to her first Major league baseball game the same weekend. Hannah is doing great also by the way. She is growing, talking, and her hair is growing so pretty. We can't wait to see them again. They are flying down to visit in October.

When we first picked Evan up from the baby home, we had trouble getting him to use the potty. We decided that he was going through so much of a transition that we wouldn't force the issue so we put him in diapers. Well, he is now into week 3 of using the potty. Evan's a big boy now! He is so funny, we tell him good job for using the potty and now he hops up and says
"Gu Jhob!"

Well, Evan has officially started school...yes school. His first day was August 1st, that was a hard Mama moment for sure. We enrolled him in 2 year-Pre-K at Social Circle Christian School. He goes 2 mornings a week on Mondays and Fridays from 8:00 - 11:30. We felt like he really missed the interaction with kids his own age, after all...he was around them 24/7 everyday of his life for almost 2 years. We noticed that even in the grocery store if he saw a child his age, he would want to go over and play and talk to him or her. The first day he cried which broke our hearts. Clay went to work late so that he could go with me to take Evan, he knew I would cry too. I was just afraid of Evan thinking, okay...I see small wooden tables, small wooden chairs, lots of kids...oh no, they are leaving me again. His teacher said that he did great and did not cry long at all. He goes to music class at 9:00 and we are friends with the music teacher. She called us that night to tell us that he did a great job in music. She said that with most 2 yr. olds it takes them a good month or so to begin to really act silly and interact with her in class, but Evan jumped right in. He danced with her, played with the instruments, and tried to sing with her. Today, was his 3rd time going. When the teacher at car pool opened the car door, he said "Hello, Hello" and waved at her. She unbuckled him and he gave me a kiss, waved bye-bye, and said, "Luv ya" and bye-bye." Ahhh, my little boy is growing up already.

Enough about us. Thank you all for praying for our friends, The Hardmans and The Groffs. The Hardmans are now home enjoying time with Kadin everyday. The Groffs are still in Russia. They should have been headed home by now but the passport office is giving them trouble. As you know, Russian offices can just make up rules and that is exactly what they are doing. It looks like they are going to be there an extra week or so. Please continue to pray for them.

Many of you know but some of you might not, but the adoption situation is pretty slow right now in Irkutsk. Yes, slower than before. In early July an adoptive mother in N.C beat her 2 yr. child to death. The same judge that granted our adoption granted that one. The judge was encouraged not to grant any adoptions right now. Please keep the families of Irkutsk in your prayers. Like we did, they have been waiting a very long time to be reunited with their children and now don't know what to expect. We know God's plan is to reunite these families together!!

We will try to post once a month.

Love,
The Hodges...family of 3!