What To Do, What To Do

Having not slept much last night, I was pretty shot in the morning.  My cold had set in full throttle.  All I wanted to do was sleep.  And so I did...until 10:30. When I woke up, my son served me scrambled eggs with cheese and beef stick that he had made everyone for breakfast.  It was delicious - all the more so, because I didn't have to make it.  I then sent my family out on a cold medicine search while I slowly started moving again.  Unfortunately, they returned empty handed.

Since the embassy did not have our amendment yet, there was no need for us to go be interviewed.  Anna's now-stamped passport was returned to us, but the rest of the day was pretty much wide open.  What to do?  

First we contacted our travel agent to find us new flights home.  We would not be making our Thursday flight.  We are aiming for Saturday.  Please pray that our amendment makes it this week.

Misha and I made chocolate chip cookies.  I had brought most of the ingredients to make them with our coordinator in Mariupol.  Some how I thought we had more time there.  Lugging brown sugar, baking soda, chocolate chips, vanilla, and measuring utensils out of the suitcase (and a baking sheet), we set to work.  Misha quickly turned over the job of mixing to me (no electric mixer, of course).  We guessed on the oven temperature.  I was prepared for Celsius, but the oven had Min. and Max.  (you also had to light the pilot).  They turned out great, so all was well.  I had thought this would be fun for Anna, too, but she showed no interest in it.

We watched a lot of TV.  It's hard to monitor content appropriateness (even in cartoons) when you don't understand the language.  I guess we'll just have to negotiate appropriate shows once we get home.  

There is a small playground outside our apartment that we went to.  Misha wasn't too enthused.  Like most pre-teens, he would rather hang out watching more TV.  It didn't have that much to entertain him, but Anna loved it and it got us out of the apartment for awhile.  We also took a family trip to the market for dinner and breakfast food.  My men carried it all home for us.  Such good manners!

For dinner I made spaghetti, cheesy bread, and coleslaw.  Misha didn't want any sauce on his and insisted on adding Mayo and ketchup to his noodles.  Anna, of course wanted the same.  Mayo and ketchup is pretty standard for many foods. Getting Anna to eat became somewhat of a challenge.  For her it was a game, for us it was a frustration and battle.  We finally took her food away which brought a storm of tears.  Misha was surprised by our actions.  We told him that we wanted her to have food, but we didn't want her to play around and that we had already asked at least 5 times for her to eat.  We told Anna that she could have one more chance to eat or that was it until breakfast.  She chose to eat and we had no more problems.  She even had seconds.  And Misha was reassured that we didn't mean to starve his sister.

William and I have come to the conclusion that not many people have ever told Anna "no" and meant it.  Misha is a great big brother, but wants to see his sister happy and often gives in to her demands.  We're trying to change some of this.  

After dinner was more TV.  We let Anna stay up later, hoping that we could avoid the drama of the night before.  I tried putting both kids down at the same time (they share a bed here).  Did it work?  Of course not.  I let Misha get up and play cards with William.  I did the "Super Nanny" strategy of simply walking Anna back to bed each time she got up, but this became a new game.  A firm voice did nothing either.  Finally, I turned off all the lights, including the one in the hall that we've used as a night light and shut the door.  This frightened her.  I quickly opened the door, showed her it wasn't locked, gave her kisses, and put her in bed.  I told her she needed to stay in bed.  She was agreeable and went right to sleep.  I really don't like using extremes like this, but hopefully, they are helping to establish our authority with her.  Misha was simply glad not to be involved in trying to get her to bed.

For the remainder of the evening, Misha and I played solitaire games and then it was time for bed for all of us.  

As frustrating as it's been not having things go according to plan with the Embassy, I can't help but be thankful for the time to get to know Anna and Misha better.  I know once we get home and into the bustle of everyday living with 4 kids, it will be harder.  This is really a great opportunity for us to become family in a more solid way.  I am so thankful for friends and family at home that can pick up the slack and flex with us.  We are truly blessed.