Ever Ever

Watching Dennis settle in, gain language skills and come into his own is an amazing process.

Our stay in Minnesota certainly compounded Dennis’ confusion of home and family. Even after arriving in Alice Springs it took a couple of weeks for him to understand that this was HIS home. Having his room decorated in trucks, cars, boats, planes and trains and set up with a toddler bed, a little table and stools and a bookcase full of books definitely helped, but he didn’t understand that everything in the room was his until we started receiving the boxes of toys and books that I had mailed home from Minnesota.

Having experience more turmoil and commotion in just three years than many people experience in a lifetime, he struggles with the concept of permanency. Only after opening one of the boxes we mailed home and noticing Dennis’ recognition of the contents and how amazed he was, I realized that he didn’t understand the items belonged to him. I explained that the books and toys were his “ever, ever”, which is how he refers to Dave and I, as his Mama and Poppa “ever ever”. He face lit up with pure joy as he hugged each of the objects in the box, exclaiming “Neeska’s” (as he referred to himself at the time).

It was one of those heart melting moments, that I’ll never forget.

This photo isn’t even remotely related to this post other then the main character. It’s just a subtle attempt to a apply guilt to my mother. (She’s sent her fair share my direction in the past 20 years).

This is the Russian carrying the last box he received from Grandma on April 24th. Every time we visit the APO (Armed Forces Post Office), Dennis thinks we should be collecting a box from grandma. On a recent visit, a family was filling a flat rate box for shipping and Dennis got quite concerned that they had grandma’s box and he wanted it back.