For the least of these: Soooo....this is what it is like to have a teenage girl?

Boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy! Having a teenage girl sure does bring a new level of drama into our home. I am reverting back to how I felt before she came...."I feel inadequate to handle this". But I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength (Phil 4:13). It sure it not easy but whoever said doing God's work was supposed to be easy?

Lidiya is really starting to come out of her shell. Oh really quick, I should mention that her name in Russian is pronounced "Lee-da". I keep calling her Li-di-ya and she keeps correcting me. She does not like the English pronunciation of her name! Ok, anyhow....when she is home with us, she is starting to knock some of the walls down that she had built up the first week. With that comes attitude. Yes, teenage attitude. Teenage girl attitude. Yikes! But, I am thankful for the attitude because that means she is starting to get comfortable with us.

One example of this was when we decided we were going to take her for ice cream to Sunni Skies. Here is how it all began. A few days earlier, Coby was singing a Justin Bieber song "Baby, baby, baby". OK, I didn't even know he knew any JB songs and I surely didn't even know that was a JB song! But Lidiya did! She said, "Ohhhh...Justin Bieber!" So, we tried getting her to sing the song (I really wanted to hear her sing it since it is in English) but she did not want to have anything to do with singing! Well, the night we were going to take her to Sunni Skies, she wanted ice cream and pulled it out of the freezer. I told her, "OK, you sing, you can have ice cream". She said, "nooooo". And we kept going back and forth with that. She got to the point of taking the ice cream and running around the house with it because she wanted it but I kept telling her she had to sing first. I finally made her put it back in the freezer and we left in the car. At this point, she is in the back seat pouting. I'm thinking it is because we told her "no" on the ice cream but little did she know, we were going to get ice cream anyhow. We pull up to Sunni Skies and she refuses to get out of the car. Are you kidding me?!?! This is an ice cream place and you can't help but know that by the big ice cream sign out front. Well, I finally got her out of the car and inside and when I asked her what she wanted she said, "I do not want any". What?!?! After the big fuss about the Blue Bunny Vanilla Ice Cream at home? You now decide you do not want any? I don't think so! So, I got her some anyhow and of course she ate it. But what an ordeal. Later she admitted that she was not happy that we tried to make her sing! Sheesh.

Then, yesterday we had plans to spend the afternoon with a family that is hosting two Ukrainian girls that Lidiya traveled here with. She did not know them prior to coming but since they speak the same language, I thought it would be awesome to get them together. I asked her several times before going if she wanted to hang out with them and the answer every time was yes. So, we start with going to Cold Stone (are you seeing a pattern here yet?) at 2:00. When we leave there, we follow them back to their house. As soon as we pull up Lidiya says, "noooooo". And once again refuses to get out of the car. Oh my word! Here we go again. After at least 15 minutes, we finally convince her to come inside where she sits down and refuses to talk to anyone. She is sitting on the couch and pouting. But at least she isn't in the car where it will get to 95+ degrees. The four other girls (two hosted, two daughters) and Coby (what fun for him) are all hanging out playing air hockey, video games, watching Shrek in Russian, etc. Then, after being there for about 2 1/2 hours, we get ready to pray a blessing over our food and fellowship and she refuses to come in. This is where I put my foot down and told her she did not have a choice. So, she came to pray with us but quickly sat back down on the couch and refused to eat. After dinner, Shirley (the other mom) asked Lidiya if she wanted to go upstairs with the girls and play video games. Lidiya said "no". Shirley said, "just to watch?" and Lidiya said, "OK". Yay! Thank you to Shirley for that! Then, after a while they came downstairs, went outside and had a silly string fight. Ohhhh....Lidiya was all over that!! She was finally laughing and having a great time.

When we got home, she had to eat something because, oh yeah, she didn't eat any dinner!!! Then, she went upstairs and we were back to normal. She was having a pillow fight with Danny and really nailing him with those pillows! Climbing up on him and throwing pillows on him and then body slamming him. It was funny! Then, she goes in my closet and shuts the door. I was wondering what in the world that was all about but then she comes out wearing Danny's clothes!!! She goes around and models them to everyone and then goes back in the closet and shuts the door. The next time she comes out she is wearing my pajama top, Coby's pants, my knee-high boots and Danny's hat! This goes on several more times and each time she comes out just showing off, laughing her sides off and modeling the outfits!

So, the night ended well until I told her that tomorrow the plan was to go to another friend's house. "Nooooooo" was the response!! Oh how I hope we do not end up with her pouting on the couch and having an attitude when we go today!! What I am starting to realize, after talking to several people about this, is that she might not want to "share" us. She realizes her time here is short and she wants all of our attention and does not want to have to share it with other people. It completely breaks my heart knowing that this might be going on in her mind. She knows that she goes back in 3 weeks. What can we do to make the next 3 weeks the best for her? Just love on her. That is my goal. We have not done much with her so far in regards to "stuff".....shopping, beach trips, amusement parks, etc. We have eaten a lot of ice cream went to Duke Gardens and visited a few friends. The first couple of weeks, I just wanted her to know what it is like to be a part of our family and to feel loved. These next few weeks, we plan to do more with her. I have discounted tickets to Pelicans for Snowballs and Putt Putt, Monkey Joes, Roller Skating, Movies, a Lake Day with our Sunday School Class, etc. Plus, we plan on taking her to either the beach or an amusement park.

What a blessing it has been to have her in our home. She has really affected me and I can see her affecting Danny and Coby, as well. They are both changing in small ways. I just pray that as much of a blessing that she has been to us - that we can be an equal blessing to her, as well.

Here is a pic of Lidiya pouting on the couch...

A pic of her indulging in the silly string war against Coby!

A pic of Coby covered in silly string by 5 girls who were attacking him!

After the silly string war, the girls came in and we did flash cards to learn Russian while they learn English. Here is a pic of Lidiya talking to Julia.