That's My Boy!!!

Ashley took Sergey to get his hair cut. The cut turned out great (he wanted to look like Cristiano Ronaldo) but his favorite part was definitely getting his hair washed. Thanks to Veronica Stone Salon for donating the hair cut.

So I was looking for cool things for Sergey to do while he is here this Summer so I called up the Atlanta Braves a few weeks ago to see if they could help me out. Well, the doorbell rang the next day and I had a strange package that neither Ashley nor I was expecting. Inside was an autographed baseball by Eric Hinske and three tickets to watch batting practice from the field yesterday, June 30th. How cool is that? I'm sure others out there may have done the same but what a great organization. I'm a fan for life!!! Could it get any better? Stay tuned...

Sergey loves to point at statues and cars and say "that's you" or "that's your car". Well here he said that this was both of us playing baseball.

Before the game I explained to Sergey that we were going to go to the Braves game and watch batting practice from the Field. Right away he asked me "can we approach the players?" I told him that it was against the rules to interact with the players but we might get lucky and to bring his ball. He was pumped!!! So we we didn't know what to expect or could have asked for a better outcome.

When we went to the game on Saturday we had Jason explain that Martin Prado was leading the league in hits... Prado instantly became his favorite player. During batting practice and the game, Sergey took 39 pictures of Prado. Yes, 39.... We may have to warn Prado that he has a 14 year old Russian boy stalking him...

Remember what I said about Prado? Well the highlight of Sergey's life may have been when Prado came over and signed Sergey's ball. He was so excited he was shaking!! Afterwards he kissed the ball and wouldn't let it out of his sight. This is now his most prized possession.

Lucky for Sergey some other players decided to sign autographs. This is David Ross signing Sergey's ball.

Future Hall of Fame catcher Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez decided to stop by and sign autographs. Sergey got a little shy (he asked me to go do it) and I had to explain in English/broken Russian that players only sign autographs for kids and he needed to go. That's all it took and he went over and got his ball signed.

We explained to Sergey that we needed to go and thank our friend Melissa from the Braves for giving us the tickets. When we got there he immediately started joking around with Melissa and her co-workers. When we took the picture Sergey had to pose with his newly autographed baseball.

Did I mention Sergey is Russian and this week is his first exposure to baseball? You would have thought he'd been a fan all of his life.

When Sergey saw the pitching game he had to try it out. As he threw a ball for the first time in his life he hit 52mph and even topped that at 53 later on. I leaned over to the cage attendent and said "He's Russian and this is his first time ever throwing a baseball"... He looked at me with an amazed look on his face and said "He's got skills and if he tweaked his motion he would easily throw over 60"... The funny thing is that kids easily a head taller and 50lbs heavier were struggling to hit 50mph and none topped Sergey. There may just be a future here, hmmm....

Sergey charmed Melissa so much she hooked him up with some new seats. Section 108 Row 5 seats 1-3 between the visitors dugout and home plate. The funny thing is Ashley and I haven't ever sat in seats that good. He may be ruined for life... I hope he doesn't mind sitting in our Uecker seats the rest of the summer. Thanks Melissa!! You're awesome!!!

Popcorn is one of his favorite things. He just had to get every last one.

So we had Jason explain the rules on Saturday and I had this idea that if I showed him the game by keeping score he would learn in faster... Well, after the 3rd inning Sergey asked me if he could keep score (I hadn't told him my idea) and by the end of the game he was keeping score on the iPad with little help from me. It only took a couple innings and now he definitely gets it. What a smart kid!!!

As a final thought for June 30th I'd like to send out some HUGE Thank Yous (because I'm sure they all follow the blog):

To Melissa Farmer and the Atlanta Braves - You didn't have to do anything, but you did. Not only did you give Sergey an autographed baseball and tickets to see batting practice but you went above and beyond and threw in amazing seats. Thank you!!! You have a lifetime fan in me, Ashley and now Sergey.

To Martin Prado - You had no idea what you were doing when you signed Sergey's baseball. You not only made his day, you made his life!!! He was on cloud 9 the rest of the night. Thank you!

To David Ross and Ivan Rodriguez - Sergey proudly shows off your autographs to whomever will listen. Thank you!

To Jim Lett (National's Bullpen Coach) - You may not remember this but as you walked by you gave a 14 year old boy a new baseball. That boy was Sergey. He will never forget that and neither will we. Thank you!

--Posted by EJ

Espana -- NOOOOOO

We started the day off with a trip back to the dentist to fill 5 cavities. Two were quite deep (almost needed root canals), but Sergey was a champ. Both sides on the lower and the upper right were numb. He was fascinated by the numbness. He thought his face was swollen and made me take a picture so he could see it wasn't. Everyone at Deerfield Dentistry was amazing and donated all of the services. True charity. Sergey said he couldn't smile in this picture because he couldn't move his face.

The afternoon was spent at the eye doctor. 20/25 and no glasses was the verdict. EJ went for a checkup and they rocked their glasses. Sergey was amazed at his huge retinas.

After the eye doctor we went to the Dervishians (friends of EJs from work who are also hosting Misha) for a pool party and dinner with a couple of other families that are hosting (or hosted) and a chaperone from St Petersburg (not from Sergey's orphanage). They have a pool and Sergey went nuts.

He's also an acrobat. Back flips...

and front flips -- all over the place. The other kids just watched in amazement. He is really athletic and coordinated.

We are loving our underwater camera!!!

This is Oksana, Sergey, Misha, and Sasha (Nathan). Oksana, Misha and Sasha are from the same orphanage in St Petersburg. Sasha is now "Nathan" and has been in the US for 4 months. His English is really good and he's our favorite little translator because he acts like you're an idiot for not understanding Russian.

When we came home, we watched the recording of Espana vs Portugal. Sergey loves Ronaldo and was pretty sad to see the result. He yelled, "Espana -- NOOOOOOOOOO!" on their goal. It was pretty funny. I convinced Sergey to try a mohawk like Cristiano Ronaldo--this picture is too dark, but he loved it.


You may have noticed Sergey's wristband that he always wears. It is for the Soccer Club team in St Petersburg. He loves it. He washes it by hand and wouldn't let me come close to take it to the washing machine. It is his most valuable possession. After we got home from dinner, he told us that he wants us to have it as a gift so we will never forget him. Then he gave me the biggest hug yet. My eyes welled up in tears as we hugged, because that is basically the only possession he has and he gave it to us. I am learning so much from him.

шутник - Joker

One of our favorite things about Sergey's personality is his sense of humor. He is ALWAYS joking around. One of the first words we had to learn in Russian was Joker. Today he came with me to get my laptop from work so I can work from home for a few days, and he immediately started teasing my friend, Kevin. I gave him a laser pointer, and it was getting dangerously close to Kevin's eye. I guess he missed that Seinfeld...

One of his best jokes was on Saturday when we were shopping. We measured his feet against EJ's and his are bigger!! So he starts calling EJ "Little Foot" in his Russian accent. To make it even better, at the shoe store he went and found some baby shoes and brought them over for EJ to try on. It was hilarious.

Sergey was cold, so I felt obligated to introduce him to the Snuggie.

Too bad for Sergey, but EJ had to work on Monday. :(

He earned time to play video games by studying English.

I mentioned Sergey loves mushrooms, but he also loves shrimp -- so tonight we made a yummy stir fry with green beans, shrimp and mushrooms.

He absolutely loved it -- probably the best meal he's ever had. Mmmm. Mayonnaise and Ketchup and a side of real food...

I let him sit in the front on the first day, and I think I better get used to riding in the back from now on...He loves taking pictures of himself!! In Russia, they don't use big smiles a lot especially in pictures, so I think he was practicing his smile.

We went for a 10 mile bike ride along a greenway in Forsyth County.

Sergey also went to the dentist today. Dr. Erik Atkinson in Alpharetta donated his cleaning and exam, which is awesome. Erik and his staff were awesome at interacting with him. Unfortunately Sergey has a few cavities to fix and one possible root canal. Ouch! He's getting some fixed tomorrow, and I think he's going to wig out having half of his mouth numb. It should be pretty funny. He also has to go to the eye doctor, so it will be a busy day...

More pictures from the weekend

It's been two days and you'd think he's been around us for a lifetime...

Sergey and Kolya. Anyone have tickets for the gun show??? Kid's ripped.

We went to a party with the other families hosting in the Atlanta area on Sunday night. This is Sergey's friend, Kolya. They met on the train to Moscow and are buddies. We've set up a few soccer play dates...Sergey was by far closer to us than any of the other kids to their families. He proudly introduced us to all of his friends. This is my American Mom and Dad he would say.

Sergey LOVES mushrooms. He asked me to make them everyday. This was his second helping.

Sergey was a little worried about 3 hour church, but he told Jason at the end that it wasn't that bad, and he kind of even liked it. He was really shy with the other kids (he's shy when he doesn't know what's going on), but as soon as we got home he was ready to party. He was really proud of his Sunday clothes. His feet are the same size as EJ, so he borrowed his penny loafers and rocked it.

We made a poster of English and Russian words (with Jason's help) to help us communicate. Sergey knows more English than he lets on...he's learning and remembering so quickly it's amazing. He knows the English alphabet and can sound out the words very easily. We also have an awesome translating app on the ipad that we can use with the russian keyboard, so the communicating is going really well.

Sergey flew through this model car. He is so proud of it.

Everywhere we go, we have to stop and take pictures of cars in the parking lot. Good thing we live in a nice area with lots of nice cars to keep him busy. It's funny, because he doesn't discriminate. He had to take a picture of an old rusty Buick...

We went to our first Braves game. He was pumped, but it was over 100, so we only stayed a few innings. Zharka!!! (HOT!) It's only about 80 degrees in St Petersburg on the hottest day, so this is killer for him.

We stopped by a Porsche dealership and Sergey had to strike a pose...We had a great weekend. Big thanks to Jas for translator duty. We couldn't have made it this far without him!!! He taught Sergey how to communicate with us, and made the transition VERY smooth. Several people remarked how close we already were and were very surprised/impressed. All thanks to Jas!!

First Night Pictures

Even though he'd been traveling for a few days and had major jet lag, we couldn't get him to relax. He even said he was never going to sleep. We couldn't quite convince him that America would still be here in the morning. Must have really felt like a dream for him. He finally fell asleep on the way to the airport to pick up Jason at 11:00 pm! He slept in until 9:30 the next day, and we haven't had any issues with the time difference, so it's been nice. I'll write some more tomorrow about Jason's visit this weekend.

He's here!!!

After a 12 hour train ride and a 12 hour flight, Sergey made it to Atlanta on Friday, June 25. We met him at the airport, and we were so anxious for the group to clear customs and come up the elevator. I made a sign in Russian that said, "Welcome to America Sergey" (I know -- how original) and we picked up a few mylar balloons from the dollar store. We ordered the shirts that the kids would be wearing so we could have common ground and assumed others would do the same. We were the only family wearing the shirt and looked like we were going to a family reunion or something. We must have really looked official, because people passing by our group would always ask us what our group was doing at the airport.

Sergey was the first kid off the escalator, and he was searching the crowd trying to find us. We were kind of stuck in the back, so it took us a minute to connect, but when we did it was big hugs from Sergey. He was so excited to be here. Bad idea to write the sign in Russian, because he immediately started talking to us a mile a minute and we just stood there shaking our heads. With the help of a 10 year old, we learned he ate on the plane and wasn't hungry and he was ready to leave. He asked, "What are they waiting for. Let's go!!" Big thanks to the guy that took the blurry picture above, complete with his thumb.

Communicating was a little tough, but we had a picture Russian/English dictionary and a lot of hand gestures. When we got to our house his eyes lit up and he said, "Whooaa." He was so excited when he saw our 50" plasma and he almost fell over when he went downstairs and saw the 63". We saved the best for last with his room. EJ and I had spent a lot of time decorating it and getting it ready for a teenage boy. We had a Jabulani soccer ball waiting on his bed. I've never seen anyone so happy. He ran over and gave me a big hug and kiss on the cheek.

We spent the first night playing soccer and pool and eating pizza. Sergey loves to tease and joke around. He doesn't have many male figures in his life. His father passed away and all of the teachers at the orphanage are female. He has become EJ's shadow. And they are two peas in a pod, even without the same language. We also learned Sergey loves to take pictures...of everything! Seriously, everything. He also loves cars and can name most makes and models. Here are some pictures from the first night.

Summer in America

A couple of months ago, EJ and I heard about a great program that involves hosting orphans from Eastern Europe (Russia, Ukraine and Latvia) for about 6 weeks in the summer. We jumped at the chance to sign up and are hosting Sergey from St Petersburg, Russia this summer. I wanted to keep a blog about our experience to spread the word about hosting and to keep in touch with our family and friends that don't live close. I figured this would also be an awesome way to keep a journal of our experience.

Once we decided to host, we had a list of pictures to choose from. We chose Sergey because of his huge smile, and he loves sports (especially soccer). He was also a "last chance" kid -- that means that because of his age (14), this is the absolute last time he would be eligible for the program. He had qualified with good grades and behavior three times, but no one had ever picked him. Even though he hadn't been picked, he never gave up hope and still dreamed about coming to America. That was all we needed to know -- he was the kid for us. Luckily for us, EJ made me call New Horizons at 5:30 on a Friday afternoon on our way to watch the Braves. The deadline to sign up was the next day, so we just barely made it. This is his picture from the posting.

The purpose of the hosting program is to give the kids the summer of a lifetime in America, learn some English and get to spend time in a family and be loved. We are also teaching him about Christ and the Bible. The goal of the program is not adoption, but about 60% of the kids end up getting adopted by the host families or other families that are considering adoption. It's such a high rate because the families get to spend time together first.

We are so impressed with New Horizons for Children and the impact they are making for these kids. At the end of this year over 2000 kids will have come to America with their program in the last 8 or so years. It's been a great experience meeting other families that are participating. Check them out for the Christmas hosting program in a few months!!