Marty...and on being overwhelmed

Poor Marty is kind of going through it a little bit. Please keep him in your prayers. We don’t know what the problem is, but he hasn’t felt well since we got to Russia – and is just not himself. Kind of a vertigo thing maybe, when we get off the elevator at our apartment, he feels like the elevator is still moving; and he has been so tired, he can’t keep his eyes open.

And, he really needs to be himself and wide-awake for sake of the court hearing. Since we are being watched so closely, and everyone takes notes on how we play with Anya, if Marty isn’t feeling well and is kind of standing back…that doesn’t look good. It is so hard to think of that. This morning I was tired, and we were playing outside. My instinct was to let Anya and Marty play, they were having fun…and I was going to sit on a log and watch. But then I thought twice about that.

We both really need to work harder on our Russian. Just saying yes and no and nodding out heads isn’t going to cut it. For us to know more conversational Russian means that we care more. It says a lot to the Russian people that we took the time and the effort to learn Russian. I fell that I can speak it OK – however, I speak using cheat sheets and a book. So, it’s hard for me to speak on the fly. And, twice as hard to know what people are saying to us.

This trip is very different than our first trip here. There seems to be so much pressure on everything…although I am sure most of it is self-imposed. Last time we would only visit the Baby home one time a day, and we would spend hours walking downtown, going to lunch and to the grocery store. That is not the way things are on this trip. We have only been into town one time. When we are not at the baby home, there are more documents I need to review, organize or complete. It is overwhelming. It is hard to enjoy the time we have with Anya when there seems to be so much between now and when we get to enjoy her in our house. And, all the junk between here and there is on my plate – wondering how I am going to get to the store so we have something to eat, deal with al mountains of paperwork, sleep, and learn more Russian in the next few days…just feeling a little overwhelmed, I probably need a nap and some fruit roll-ups.

Please keep us in your prayers over these issues.