Happy 1st Americanski Birthday, Dennis!

So many of you have said - Hey, update your blog already! You're not in Moldova anymore! And you're right. We've been home for a month! I picked this picture of Dennis at the zoo to try to capture the essence of how wild our life has been since returning from Moldova! Get it? Wild? :)
Where to begin... So much has happened since we returned! Maybe I can just list some highlights for you... This may be stream of consciousness since I'm a parent now and don't sleep near as much as I used to....

We've been to the Frist, the Nashville Zoo (Dennis loves him some monkeys and meerkats), the movies, the mall, Target (a family favorite), Pump It Up, church at Rolling Hills, Kairos at Brentwood Baptist, a Predators game (thanks to our amazing Dentist Dr. Wallace) RHCC youth group at the YMCA, and so much more!

We've survived the first trip to a real doctor and walked out with a clean bill of heath and survived first trip to a real Dentist - that didn't go so well. 2 cavities. Not bad for not seeing a dentist till 15, right? One cavity was so bad all the peach flavored happy-gas and 3 shots in the face couldn't numb poor Dennis enough to endure that filling.

Dennis started school at McMurray Middle School a week after arriving, went to school for 2 days, tried out for the boys soccer team and made it! You should have seen me at 9 o'clock at night picking out shin guards and soccer cleats. Dennis wondered why so many places we go everyone knows me but why nobody knows me at Academy Sports. Hilarious. It's a whole new world... We've met his teachers, worn everyone out with our questions, cheered him on at every soccer game, and probably embarrassed him a million times. Next week is Spring Break and Dennis signed up to go on a mission trip with Rolling Hills youth group to Kentucky. Amazing that he is ready to give back and serve Americans living in poverty. I can't wait to see what God does in and through him next week...

Funny Dennis-ism's so far.
"I'm flying with Peaches!" Dennis on the gas at the dentist...
"I was singing and I totally lost control!" Dennis at the dentist singing a song about Stefan Cel Mare - a king from Moldova or Dacia at the time...
"So many Spanish girls talk to me at school. Everyone wants to know who I like."
He loves fruit. He doesn't "like so much" hamburgers, although as to not make me feel bad he says, "I like the way you do, I just don't like so much." Hotdogs, same category. Homemade chili from dad? Not so much. Anything Emily cooks? He loves. I'm not sure what that's about. :) He loves ribs from Chili's and you can probably hear him groan with happiness wherever you are on Sundays at lunch when he's face down in some ribs.

And some things just aren't like Moldova...
Dennis still laughs when people pull off the road when a fire truck is coming. He says, "Oui Te! That would never happen in Moldova!" And yes, he says that every time. :) He laughs when you stop at a school bus with the sign out. He doesn't know why we throw salt on our sidewalks in the snow when dirt worked just fine in Moldova. He doesn't understand arch supports in shoes or why one needs to wear a different outfit everyday. He also can't believe he is in America. The other night he told me that he loved Moldova but even when he was little he would hear about America and he knew deep down inside he would be here one day - he just had no idea when we met 4 and a half years ago that it would be in our family. :)

So... Just some random fun info about our first month as a family. Most of our days look like this... Emily or I take Dennis to school, we work, he goes to school, we get home and have dinner, Dennis puts on Emily's apron and tries to help cook, we eat, I clean up, Emily helps with 3 hours of Algebra homework (I am no help there) and I take over for Social Studies homework - teaching my child from a former Communist country about the battle of big horn, western expansion, slavery and civil war battles. I never thought I would need this information again - and definitely not so soon! And in case you're wondering, this is a lot different than an average day, say, before February 1st. :)

So thanks for your thoughts and prayers and for asking us to update our blog - that means you care enough to read it and for that Emily and I are very grateful. Parenting is hard work we've learned, and we're starting to realize the reason everyone said, "Wow, a teenager? Out of the frying pan, into the fire!" We appreciate your continued support and prayer as we learn how to be the parents God created us to be and as Dennis continues to learn what it means to be a son and to be able to come home each afternoon and fall into the loving arms of a mom and dad. It reminds us each day of our need to run into the arms of our Father, too.

Thanks again for joining us on this journey! We'll try to update this more than once a month. :)

jon (and emily)