We had a wonderful weekend with the Schatte Family. We hadn't seen them since we lived together in Irkutsk as we were adopting Evan and they were adopting Hannah.
It began when we picked them up at the airport Friday afternoon. What a wonderful feeling to see them again. Evan and Hannah have both changed so much since we were all together in Russia. Evan seemed very excited to see "Uncle Mark" and "Aunt Carol" and Hannah. We loaded up the Expedition and headed home. "Welcome to Atalanta" we said as it took us about twice as long to get home as it normally would due to a stalled vehicle on I-20. Evan was a bit fussy since he had to miss his nap to go to the airport, but was okay when we popped in the Elf DVD. Hannah and Evan looked so cute sitting next to one another in the car seats. When we arrived in Covington it was time for Clay to get off of work so we stopped by the bank. Everyone there was very anxious to meet this wonderful family whom they had heard so much about.
Now, it was time for dinner...where else would be take them but El Charros of course! When we sat together in that small apartment in Irktusk we would talk about the things that we missed about home...they heard a lot about El Charros during those talks. :-) We had so much fun catching up over dinner. Hannah and Evan were so sweet. We have the best picture of Evan hugging Hannah at the resturant, they both have the biggest smiles on their faces...like oh, I missed you so much! I totally embassased Mark and Carol when I asked for a to go cup for my tea as we were leavign the resturant...though I didn't know it until much later.
We went home and Carol and I left for a Beth Moore confrence, when we got home the kids were asleep. The four us stayed up late talking about the "good ole days," it felt so familiar and so wonderful to be back together again.
The next mornign Mark cooked Egg, ham, and cheese sandwhiches...one of our favorite meals while we were in Irkutsk. We were so amazed at how much Evan and Hannah obviously remembered our two families being together. Hannah snuggled with me and Clay for long amonuts of tiem as did Evan snuggle with Mark and Carol. The rememembered the opposite adults as someone that they could trust in a confussing tiem and being like their other caretakers. We enjoyed the morning hanging around the house and after naptime it was time for Wesley's 6th birthday party. Mark and Carol could not wait to meet Wesley because we had told them so many stories about him and how even though he is my baby brother...he was like our little boy. He made the wait for us so much more bearable!
After the party we went to the Pumpkin Patch in Stockbridge. The kids had a ball looking at all of the pumpkins and sitting on the big ones. We have some great photos of Evan and Hannah. One the way home we ate at Shane's Rib Shack. It was so delicious that the guys took a picture of the Mamas and the babies standing in front of the Rib Shack...yes a bit redneck but what the heck...they are visting the south. Evan and Hannah took a bath together when we got home and had so much fun that they did not want to get out of the tub, but it was bedtime for them.
We put them down and then it was time to do what we always did after we put them to bed...sit up late, talk, watch Mark's magic tricks, and enjoy each other's company. The only thing that we didn't do that we always did was eat chocolate and crowd around the small table. This time we were much more comfortable on the sofas. We reministed about that special time in our life when all we had was each other and the presence of the Holy Spirt which was ever so powerful in that apartment! We talked about the great memories we have and about all of the stressful moments that we shared together. We laughed about the time that Evan laid on his belly to eat bread off the streets of Irkutsk that he was feeding the birds, and about the time that Clay had Carol freeking out about all of the birds that he had attracted with bread, and about funny things like a ruck sack and Mark drinking bath water. :-) I was saying to them how...I don't miss being in Irkutsk, or being away from our family, or miss being away from home, but I miss the "Feeling" that we had in Russia. The feeling of being away from the hussle and bussle of daily distractions like work and tv, phones, etc. Don't get me wrong, we were VERY ready to come home. Mark said that he knew exactly what I was talking about and that probably no one else could understand that except for the people that go through it and we all agreed. There was something so special about that time together with each other and our precious Lord that I will never ever forget for the rest of my life. It was the most memorable thing that has ever happened to me and I am so thankful to God for every minute of it that we had. Looking back for that reason, I would not change anything about trip #2.
The next morning we went to Chuch. Mark and Carol really enjoyed visiting our church. We had to laugh at Pastor Paul while he was giving his sermon. We brought up that Schattes and that they were here visiting us and who they were...he said we kept saying "oh our friends are coming, our friends are coming" then he said "and that was just Clay, don't get me started on Brandi" It was so funny, but his point was that true friends go to battle for each other and that we went to battle for each other against the enemy over and over again while we were in Russia. Paul is so right! That intense battle created a bond that will never be broken and it was a victorious battle with God right along side of each of us!
After church we went to the Log Cabin for some good southern cookin'! It was wonderful but I embassed Mark and Carol when I asked for a cup. When I asked the waitress for a to to cup, she smiled big and asked if anyone else would like a cup as well. I noticed that Carol sort of hid her face and wouldn't make eye contact while Mark stumbled over his words before he finially said "sure." They both started laughing when she walked away and Mark told me that he could not believe that I would ask for such a thing. I told him that it was that we were so giving and gracious down south. Apparently, up north you would have to pay for another drink because they are a bit greedy :-) When it was time to leave Mark quickly grabbed Hannah and asked Carol to carry his tea out. It un-nerved Mark so much that he didn't even drink his tea when we got home and we threw it away that night. I can't wait to visit them and see the looks on their faces when I ask for a cup to go. :-)
When we got home it was past nap time. Mom and Wesley came over and Mark and Clay played baseball with Wesley. After the kids woke up we rode Am Pa's golf cart to Clay's cousin's farm which borders our farm. They raise chickens and turkeys and have horses and donkeys. It is always one of Wesley's favortie things to do. The kids had so much fun feeding the animals, holding the baby chickens and sitting on the horse. Wesley was sitting on the donkey and it decided to start running luckily Wesley's grabbed tight to it's mane. We got more great pictures of course, the best ones are in our field with Am Pa's cows in the background...Evan and Hannah were both wearing red and blue. We got them to hug, kiss, and really pose for some great shots. We came home and I cooked meatloaf, corn, green bean casserole and bread for dinner. We were really sad that it was our last day toghether. After dinner, we pulled out the calendar to schedule our trip to PA, we are going to see them in May and we can't wait.
Monday morning we went to the airport to drop them off. Evan kept saying "no bye-bye, n0 pane." We all cried as we hugged good-bye, I think Clay even got a little teary eyed...though he said he and Hannah were the only ones to not cry. :-) Carol and Hannah looked back as they walked off and Evan pointed to his lips for one last kiss so Clay ran with Evan halfway as Carol and Hannah ran halfway back for one last hug and kiss...until next time anyway.
It's official!!! Our Northern Family...The Schattes are in Vietnam and they just adopted Josiah!!! I know everyone knows but just in case, the Schattes are the family who we lived with in Russia while we adopted Evan. They adopted their daughter Hannah the week after we adopted Evan.
May 11, 2008
Living in Russia...April 2005
Evan couldn't keep his eyes off of Hannah.
There are many reasons that Uncle Mark and Aunt Carol are special to Evan, but there's one thing that makes them extra cool...They were both in the ARMY!!! Which totally amazes Evan. Evan had asked them to bring some of their Army stuff to show him and boy did they ever! Uncle Mark gave Evan one of his real Army coats, and some very special coins that he earned from the Army. Aunt Carol gave Evan her old hat!! Evan must be pretty special. Evan had a lot of fun learning about the Army. He was so interested in everything that Mark had to say about it and asked a lot of questions. That's our little boy...so inquisitive and curious about the world and everything in it. Another thing that makes Uncle Mark cool is that he can do magic tricks!
" Cool!!! That's for me???"
Aunt Carol showing Evan the proper way to wear his hat.
Army Talk
(We also celebrated Mother's Day...I'll post that in a separate blog tomorrow.)
