A Different Kind of Summer (featuring some poetry)

This summer is the opposite of most summers. Usually in the summer, we are just at the house by ourselves, saying, “Only two more weeks and we go to the beach, etc.” We try to go places. This summer, we're saying, “In three weeks, we'll be home!” We'll be in Petal, Mississippi, USA. We'll get to start our routines at our home, the kids' forever home. There will be some crazy exploration of the house, and some testing of what belongs to whom, but after a few days, we'll settle in (and let our bodies' sleep cycles regulate).

(Gareth)

Let's try cinquains this time instead of haikus:

Day 16

Pizza!

Let's take some home!

Kidding, they inhaled it.

Then Mini-Movie collection!

Night night.

Day 17 (Saturday—we hoped the cartoons would be different today)

Cartoons!

No different.

Fun, water-coloring!

Annie Kate fell in the water.

Again.

Day 18

Movies!

Saw Rio 2

at Cinema City.

First movie ever for the kids,

Priceless:)

Day 19 (June 2)

Rainy,

We stayed inside

then we watched Aladdin.

The weather finally cleared up!

Ice cream;)

Day 20 (Tuesday)

Swimming

all the day long!

At Aurora Hotel.

We had the whole place to ourselves.

Wiped out.

Day 21

Tesco.

All five of us.

Kim and Vivian shopped.

I kept the others at the front.

Stocked up!

Day 22

Bus ride!

The other park

has a merry-go-round.

AK fell asleep after that.

Shhhh, shhhh.

Day 23

Pizza!

Sixteen dollars.

Can't beat that with a stick.

WE'LL BE HOME THREE WEEKS FROM TODAY.

Fly, time.

The kids (especially the girls) have begun to voluntarily go outside and play creatively with one another. This is a good sign; they feel safe with us and around our apartment. We can tell they are relaxing more by using their imagination, role-playing, building things in the yard, etc.

Matthew likes to go outside and run around too, but he also likes to stay inside at the kitchen table and work math problems, practice English, draw, color, etc. He has had a sore throat and cough lately, so we don't make him go outside to play.

There are still trials, and still some parts of the day can be difficult and long; but overall, the days are going faster, and each day something gets a little easier. Sometimes things regress, but the kids are learning to trust us, and learning that some things that may feel unpleasant (bath time, cleaning things, picking up things, taking care of possessions, etc.) are for their own good.

We are also learning to trust them. A few weeks ago, we didn't want them anywhere without our supervision. Honestly, it was because we didn't know them yet. We didn't know if they would hurt themselves, someone else, or part of the apartment. We are beginning to know and trust them more wholeheartedly now, and they are just kids. They are kids who like to be silly and who like to have fun. Sometimes they want us to play with them, and sometimes they want to play be themselves; and that is fine with us.

They are also beginning to learn boundaries and how to behave in certain environments, and we as their parents are becoming more at ease taking them to stores and restaurants. When we move out of this apartment in a few weeks, there will be another environment change, and that causes confusion, which brings behavior changes. We'll stay several days in Budapest. But finally, on June 27, we will arrive in New Orleans, Louisiana, late on a Friday night. And we will go home—our home.

We are trusting each other. We are becoming a family.