Haiku, part deux

(Gareth)

The poetry continues...

Day 8

Today is gotcha!

It is OK to be sad,

we'll take care of you!

Just like on Day 1,

They ran around and around,

but they will calm down:)

Day 9

Our routine starts now.

Living like a family,

They went right to sleep!

Day 10

Missing our home, I

cried to Kim for the first time.

We will get through this!

Omelets for lunch time,

then we rode the paddle boats,

finished Aladdin.

Day 11

The kids asked all day

if we could go get ice cream.

We finally went!

Day 12

Need new scenery.

A new playground across town.

This one's a winner!

Day 13

Ride to Budapest.

Please sit down and buckle up!

Applied for visas!

Day 14

Anniversary!

Three years seems like yesterday:)

Can't wait for more years <3

We swam in a pool.

Kids were LOUD in the hot tub,

Thanks, Alfa Hotel!

Day 15

Woke up before 6...

Played and got ice cream again!

Now let's watch Ice Age!

The kids are in a great routine now. They are getting up really early (between 5:30-6:15), but they know what to do. Here is what a typical day looks like in the Bonner Apartment in Miskolc, Hungary:

6:00 A.M.--Hear kids' footsteps upstairs and hope it stops.

6:10—Take blankets and pillows, and coffee upstairs because it didn't stop.

6:45—Turn on cartoons and get dressed for the day.

7:15—Go downstairs and eat cereal.

7:45—English learning time!

8:30—Play time (puzzles, coloring, or playing outside)

10:15—Go for a walk or to the park to play.

12:00 P.M. Lunch time

12:30-2:00—Rest/quiet time (Stay inside, nap, watch TV, color, draw, etc.)

2:00—Afternoon English learning time:)

2:45—Go for a walk to the park, the market, or for ice cream

3:30-5:00—Play time outside

5:30—Supper time

6:30—Bath time

7:15—Wind down, movie (girls do hair and/or nails)

8:15—Start going to bed;)

8:35—Kids are asleep (usually all night)

8:40-10:30—Intelligent adult conversation, count receipts, clean, laundry

10:30—Bedtime for parents

Life in Miskolc

Hungarian adoption law requires families to stay in the country for 30 days, which started last Thursday for us when the kids came into our custody. After the 30 days, we have to travel to Budapest and stay there a few more days for final appointments regarding important documents, doctor visits, and passports.

The kids have been doing great adjusting to a new life in an apartment with two people who don't speak their language. So far, they've slept through the night, going to sleep at 8:30 and waking up around 6:15 a.m.. (This morning we heard little feet at 6:00 a.m.) The first two nights we slept upstairs with them so we could learn their routine and be there in case anything happened. After two full nights of sleep, we came back downstairs to our area.

So far, they have eaten everything we've put in front of them. The cooking situation is somewhat complicated. I enjoy cooking but there's a twist here since I can't read the labels or directions on any food items. We've had pretty basic stuff for lunch and dinner like sandwiches, pizza, and spaghetti. We found some white, mushroom sauce and made a casserole for dinner with pasta and veggies. Gareth made ham and cheese omelets one day for dinner. The kids loved it!

Each day our goal is to plan something “fun” away from the apartment to do. We need one thing, other than the games and activities at the apartment, to look forward to to help pass the time and keep us occupied. On Saturday we rented a paddle boat on the lake at the park for about $5. Everyone got a chance to drive and get wet under the fountain in the middle of the lake. Sunday we went for a walk to get ice cream. Yum! Today we got really brave, bought bus tickets, and rode public transportation (by ourselves with the kids!) to a different park. I'm happy to report that we all made it there and back in one piece! :)

Tomorrow, Tuesday, we will ride to Budapest for our 1:00 p.m. appointment at the U.S. Embassy to apply for the kids' VISAs. It's a 3 hour trip one way, which isn't a lot of fun, but it's a change of scenery and we're kinda excited about that.

Wednesday is our 3 year anniversary! Is anyone available to come babysit so we can go out? (haha!) I'm so thankful for these past 3 years. We spent half of it trying to get here! It's kinda cool that we get to remember our wedding while we're here. Most likely we'll all go for a walk back to the ice cream shop to celebrate...I have a feeling we'll be at that place a lot.

Your messages and comments of encouragement mean a lot to us. We look forward to reading them when we can. The past couple of days have been a huge adjustment for all of us. We wish we were home so you could meet our kids already and be with our family and friends, but we'll be there soon!

4 official days down, 30 more until home!

Gotcha Day! (Name reveal!)

Gotcha Day went very well!

First, we had a meeting at the government office to sign the final decision to make them Bonners!

We drove to pick them up, said a quick goodbye to the foster parents, and packed up in the van. There were happy and sad tears. The foster parents were so kind and happy for the kids, but they will miss them dearly.

We came back to the apartment to play and eat dinner (grilled turkey and cheese sandwiches, with a side of cucumbers and apples.) Bath time was messy but we all got clean :) The girls got a mani-pedi while brother took his bath. 

Bed time was great! After prayers and back rub, they really fell asleep without any problems. Around 9:00 everyone was out. Gareth and I were out too, not long after that. We all slept upstairs and around 6:45 a.m, the youngest started to stir. I was surprised it was morning and time to get up! No problems during that night! Awesome!

Today was our first whole day as a family. We stuck around the apartment today trying to establish a daily routine. After breakfast and cartoons, we started with some learning time.

 Big Brother: Matthew Mallie Bonner

Big Sister: Vivian Mae Bonner

 Little Sister: Alexandra Kathleen "Annie Kate" Bonner

Next, we headed out to the park to run off some energy!

For lunch, Adam's mom made goulash! It was delicious and set a high standard for all future bowls of goulash.

After lunch, we had some rest time, learning time (practicing names, letters, and numbers), and outside play.

Gareth and Matthew walked to the store to buy some groceries, and he went later with Annie Kate and Vivian to get some aluminum foil for our baked chicken. Yum!

After dinner, we had bath and teeth-brushing time, and then we watched some of Aladdin (in Hungarian, of course) and turned it off at 8:30 to head to bed. The kids were great; no fussing about bedtime (what a blessing!).

These past few days have been a wide range of mixed emotions. It is daunting to know that these kids are in our care now. They look to us for all their needs; but we've been waiting for this for a year and a half! We could not have done this without God instilling this commitment within us, and knowing that this is His calling for us. We realize that our lives are forever changed, along with our priorities, motivations, and routines.

We look forward to all the progress our family will experience in the coming months and years!

And now for some poetry....

(Gareth)

Ahem (clears throat). And now a series of haikus from our first week in Hungary....ahem...

Day 1

Ride to foster home,

Meet the kids for the first time.

We are excited!

Day 2

Stop jumping on the

furniture, and stop running

up and down the stairs!

See the kids again--

Kids come to our apartment.

They went so crazy.

Day 3

“Nem!” is our new word,

Indoor playground, McDonald's!

Today was better.

The only thing that

occupies Little Sister--

songs on my shoulders.

Day 4

Sidewalk chalk today!

Used time-out sad chair some.

We also fed ducks!

Day 5

To the zoo today!

Stay with us, don't run AWAY!

Spaghetti for lunch.

Day 6

Go away, you rain!

Social workers come today

to talk to the kids.

Day 7

First time on the bus,

took visa photos today,

Gotcha tomorrow!

Last foster home day,

We survived the shopping mall,

Now time for a date:)

Thank you.

Tomorrow (Thursday) is “Gotcha Day!” We will go to an appointment here in Miskolc to get temporary custody of the kids and then go pick them up! No more sending them back after this! The next couple of days will be a hard transition for the kids. They have to say goodbye to the only real family they've known for the past 5 years. This family seems really nice, and we believe they've tried hard to take good care of them. I think it'll be an emotional day for everyone. Happy and sad tears for the next couple of days. It will also be confusing for them that we aren't going straight to America. We have to stay 30 days until it's all finalized. We are expecting them to regress some and be sad. We are expecting them to be confused. We helped them pack their suitcases today.

Pray for us to know how to best respond to them as we cannot clearly communicate. Pray for us to have wisdom on how to fill the days with fun, bonding activities.

The adventure truly begins!

Stay tuned for the name reveal tomorrow :)

Day 4 with the Kids

We had a great day today compared to the first couple of days. We are seeing improvements day by day (regarding behavior and bonding); they are learning boundaries, rewards, and consequences. We implemented a time-out "sad" chair today; we used it several times, and it was effective. We sat with them in time-out, then took them back to the place of offense and showed them what they did, and they seemed to understand. Then they got to play again!

Here are some pics from the day 

(again, we can't show their faces until they're officially in our custody):

Anya and Apa!

We are beginning our transition and adjusting/bonding phase. Yesterday had lots of frustrating moments. Any time the kids get into a new environment (where they are safe and comfortable, like our apartment), they want to run and explore. The youngest one loves to get any kind of attention (positive or negative), so she will take things she knows are not hers and run with it just so we will chase her; she will also put anything in her mouth (to swallow OR spit---these items include, but are not limited to Play-Doh, stickers, things off the floor, etc.). We are pretty sure most of this is an act and will heal with time. They all three can be very loving; the older two are easily engaged in whatever activities we want them to participate in.

Yesterday we went to a park (5 minute walk from our apartment) and played there for about an hour. Adam (translator) ordered us a pizza and we ate it at the apartment. Those were great times of bonding; it is down time in the apartment that makes people antsy.

----------------------------------------

So last night after much prayer, we decided to utilize a different defensive strategy---the ole zone box with one chaser (basketball). So one of us stays with the older two while the other follows the youngest around and makes sure she does not hurt herself (or adjust the stove, the heater, the water, or the overly-accessible controls to the gas hot water heater). 

Today was better. We (with Adam) picked them up and went to an indoor play-place today (tunnels, slides, balls, etc.) and had a great time. All three kids were well-behaved, and didn't even resist when it was time to go. We had lunch at McDonald's (yep), and they were great there too. They ate their food and stayed seated in the booth, and even got to play in the play place afterwards. 

Riding for any distance is frustrating to the little one because she has to use a booster seat (plus she is not used to riding much). And she just doesn't like sitting still. But the more she does it, the better it will get.

Adam took our training wheels off a little today when he left us at the apartment with the kids for two hours (I know, parents, two hours doesn't sound like much.....unless they don't speak English!). It was pretty good for the most part, better than yesterday.

Putting our zone/chaser defense to action, nobody died.

Gareth carried little sister on his shoulders up and down the stairs for close to an hour while singing “Itsy Bitsy Spider.” She has the first verse down (the noises anyway). But hey, whatever works. The older two played with Play-Doh, colored, and watched cartoons. It was raining today, so we couldn't go for a walk or to the park—maybe tomorrow. Within 30 minutes of being at the apartment, little sister found an old bath tub in the back yard filled with stagnant water, mud and leaves. While Gareth was walking toward her, yep, she jumped in.

She had no pants for the rest of the day.

But today WAS better. All three kids have begun to say “anya” and “apa” (mom and dad) to us, which is really special. The boy has also learned “thank you,” “you're welcome,” “mom,” “dad,” and “Mississippi.” Sometimes dad is “dag” and Mississippi is “Mish-uh-ship-pi,” but hey, we're learning.

We hope tomorrow will be even better!

Tomorrow we will spend most of the day at the apartment. We hope it will be sunny so we can go for a walk and go back to the park.

We praise God for a better day today and for what He will continue to do in our family. Our prayer requests right now are continued bonding and trust (especially with little sister), their moving in with us next weekend, and their detachment from their foster parents (that will be really hard and confusing for them).

Thanks for your prayers and concern!

Day One!

We met the kids today! They were looking out the window waving when we drove up. The oldest and the youngest were immediately engaging, but the middle was a little shy (she eventually warmed up). We first looked at some books, and they showed us the picture they had of us. Then we sculpted flowers, snakes, and necklaces with Play-Doh. Next we played “soccer” (indoors----it is windy and rainy here for now). Finally, we colored with them. The youngest decided to color on the carpet instead of the paper and it quickly became a game of “keep-the-crayons-away.” After an hour and a half, our translator Adam said it was time to go. We'll see them again tomorrow, and they will spend some time with us in our apartment.

Today we went to Tesco (like Walmart) for the 2nd time already and got some more groceries and cleaning supplies.

Gareth almost blew an outlet already.

We get about 25 channels on the TV, but only one (CNN, sorry Granny) is in English.

Our apartment is nice. We have a living room, kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom downstairs. There is a second floor where another small kitchen area, bathroom, and bedroom is located. The kids have beds there. Not sure of the sleeping arrangements just yet. I have a feeling we will all be sleeping upstairs or downstairs at the beginning. The beds are actually big enough for us all to fit on one. (Yes, large bed but with a dense, foam “mattress.”)

We haven't been able to use our cell phones since we aren't around WiFi. Maybe we'll find a cafe with WiFI and be able to use them in the future.

Thanks for your prayers! We are still a little bonkers from the quick time change, but thankfully, for this first week we have time to ourselves in the evenings and can rest early.

We can't post any pictures of their faces online until we are back in the U.S., but we'll have plenty to show when it's all official :)

We Made It!

After not sleeping much, and running full speed through the Washington, D.C., airport to make our connection to Brussels, we are in Hungary.
We are safely in our apartment in Miskolc, Hungary, and we FINALLY got Internet. We are excited about a meeting in the morning with our social worker, and even more excited about meeting the children! Our meetings start at 9 in the morning (which is 2 a.m. at home; we are 7 hours ahead of CDT).
We still won't be able to communicate with people back home constantly (because we have to buy minutes), but it's great to hear from all of you and know you're praying for us!

The Send-off...

It's finally here...we've waited 15 months for this! We head to New Orleans tomorrow morning to fly to Hungary. Wow. From New Orleans, we fly to Washington, D.C., then Brussels, Belgium, and finally to Budapest, Hungary.

Our friends and family met us for a send-off at Glory Bound tonight, and we had a wonderful time.

All our bags are packed...

...we're ready to go...

We've been blessed to have people volunteer to take care of our home and responsibilities while we're away. Please pray for our safety, a big faith, good communication, and fast bonding with our kids. We meet them Thursday!

"... for the LORD will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard." --Isaiah 52:12b

...And we're off!

In one week....

...we'll be in Budapest!

That's right! We (FINALLY) got the final approval on Tuesday and booked our tickets to Budapest!

We are meeting our kids in 8 DAYS!!! AHHH!!!!

So here's the rundown of what we'll be up to for the next few days/weeks.

Tuesday, May 13th, we fly from 
New Orleans>>Washington D.C.>>Brussels>>Budapest.

We will arrive on Wednesday and go 3.5 hours from the capital to Miskolc. This is where we will spend most of our time. We will stay in an apartment there. 

Thursday we wake up, visit with social workers, do some work at the court, and then meet our kids and their foster parents!

For the next 7-9 days, we will visit them at the foster home, as well as go to the park and ice cream shops for bonding time. 

At the end of 7-9 days, the children will come into our care and live at the apartment with us.  For the following 20-30 days, we just get to be together and learn about each other as a family. Yes, the translator leaves at this point and we get to test out our acting skills as we communicate with our kids and learn each others' language. A social worker will come by a few times to see how things are going. We will make trips to the embassy in Budapest to get important papers signed and printed. We'll have doctors' appointments as well. If everything goes smoothly, we expect to be back home at the end of June. 

All kinds of stuff can happen between now and then, and we need your prayers.

• Please begin praying for our bonding time and transitions as a family.
• Pray we can find creative ways to communicate and learn each other quickly. 
• Pray for energy on the long days and grace on the tough days. 
• Pray for all the official paperwork to go smoothly and be approved. 

Again we've been so blessed by the outpouring of love and encouragement we received from coworkers, friends and family. Just tonight a family donated a kids' play kitchen that they no longer needed. We also were given a booster seat for our youngest daughter. My (Kim) room moms got together and planned a surprise meeting to present me with one BIG Target card from my class. Then, my colleagues hosted a surprise gift card shower. They both were wonderful surprises!  

Beautiful canvas from the shower made by our sweet friend, 

Tori, and her daughter :)

We finished up the kids' rooms this week! It's been so much fun painting, putting together furniture, and picking the bedding for these rooms. Hope they like their new home ;)

The girls (ages 6 & 8) will share this room: 

Big brother will have his own room :)

Thanks for reading along and following us on the journey! We plan to keep this blog updated as we are in country, so subscribe at the top to get emails when we update or keep checking back!