A..ya has connected with the girls and has made the terrible twosome a threesome. Her brother, who never talked, smiled and seemed to want to disappear into the wall paper smiles on a regular basis when asked questions or is having a good time. All Teri and I did was give them some space and not yell at them. It will all be different if they decide to come back and stay. They only get the choice because of Leo..d's age of sixteen. How can You force someone that old, yet that young to make a change like this and also let him decide an issue this important when he is so young. I know it is a convoluted sentence, I find it hard to put it in his hands. I am confident that he will decide to come to America, but what if he doesn't.
He has his sister's future in his hands and that is a big responsibility. I wouldn't want it at that age. He doesn't know America well enough to get the full picture of what he will be missing if he goes back. I have never been prouder to be an American then I have since we adopted children and I started really thinking about what we have here and how great it is even with a government that doesn't seem to want to do anything for the people but make big long windy pronouncements about what the other side is doing wrong.We dropped Leo..d off at camp and made plans to have Scott and Sasha Evans pick him up from camp and spend sometime with him and I would pick him up in the early evening giving me a chance to talk with Patrice who would get some quiet time to talk with Leo..d without his sister around.
It turned out to be a good talk. Leo..d likes his hosts, us and feels his sister has benefited from her relationship with the girls and he has to have a talk with his sister about staying. or not. It was explained to him the advantages of staying here vs going back. He knows very little about what he could do here. He knew about the three levels of school, but nothing else. He was told he would have to work hard and that he would not be alone. He would have a network of people to help him , but he would have to work hard to learn the language. He would get ESL to help him.
I went by to pick him up about seven. I drove up to the house and didn't know what to do when I got there. The Evens are very down to earth people , but I went to their front door anyway. I rang the bell three time and got no answer. I listened and heard nothing. I began to wonder if I'd gone to the wrong home and maybe this was only the place from the party tomorrow. I walked around the back and a small group of people greeted me. I was offered a drink and I sat down. I wanted Patrice to tell me right off the bat that Leo..d wanted to stay, but I let the conversation get going and I let her get into it. There was no "well he wants to stay" it was the next best thing and maybe in the long run an insight into who this young man is. He wanted to talk to his sister about it and would make a decision soon. He was open and you didn't have to pull answers out of him Patrice was surprised and pleased. I stayed about an hour, I felt comfortable and enjoyed talking with everyone. They said a lot of nice stuff about us and I don't know what we have done to deserve it. This is not false modesty it is the truth. Teri and I have done nothing really special, but I guess that was what was needed. I guess a full house may beat a pair in this case.We will see very soon.
