Our First few days......

Well, we have been home since late Friday afternoon. We were greeted by our family and amazing friends at the airport....we know that many could not make it due to work and sick children but we appreciate your heartfelt emails and wishes. We were very excited to see Nate and Kate and get back to being a family. We are finally getting back on schedule and into a somewhat normal family routine....Maiah was very excited to get back to school and Seth was very disappointed that he could not go....we expected this!!

Seth is doing very well...he is a sweet boy in need of much love and affection. His smile makes you melt inside. He is learning English but does not like it much....he fights us every step of the way. He does love school work as he is used to a strict school routine. He has mastered writing his name, alphabet and he knows all his numbers, we are working on what they are in English. He can say and recognize 1-8 already. We have tried every movie and finally found one that he will not make us turn off, it just so happens to be an annoying purple dinosaur!! Derek's favorite:) Seth has had his face iced everyday as he walks into everything...not sure if he does not see it or is just so excited...he has 2 bruises on his face right now and just tried walking through our clear glass storm door as he was heading out of the house. Everything is new and he has to touch everything...this included every new person and thing on all 3 planes it took us to get home. We never apologized so much in our life. This new, big, amazing world has just opened up to him and he is taking full advantage:) In some cases, it has not been safe!! It is just like having a 2 year old that needs to be watched 24/7!! Seth has some behaviors that require much attention and we are working through these. He has made his way to the Time Out Bench a few times now but we sit with him explaining with hands signals and the few words we know that he understands. He seems to internalize his frustrations with the language and when things dont quite go his way.

Please dont stop praying for Seth and for us.....we are being tried and tested in every way. As you can imagine, when you are obedient to God and you are helping his kingdom...we know that Seth will know the Lord one day.....you become vulnerable to attacks spiritually, mentally and physically. We have some of all going on. Seth is smart like an eight year old in the body of a 4 year old that understands the world like a 2 year old. We need much prayer covering his transition and our family. We trust that God called us to bring this sweet boy into our family and that He will get us through this time/season of transition.

We appreciate your continued love and prayers,
Petrins