A Week Full Of Guests

Life has been a little crazy since we arrived home. We have had visitors from all over the world come to stay with us this week.
My parents and brother have come from Australia and we also had friends arrive from England last night. It is so much fun to see everyone and introduce our new family members to their grandparents and one of their Uncles. It seems to be going well, but I am sure that at times they are feeling overwhelmed with all the attention they are receiving. The girls have enjoyed getting to know their new grandparents and it is always fun to turn around and see them giving random hugs to them and smiling while playing a game with them. I am so excited for them to have a loving family around them.
But, with these new people around comes no routine. We had started to get into a morning schedule and chores and things were going really well. Then came spring break and guests and that is all gone. But, I wouldn't trade that for the fun they are having with their Grandparents and Uncle!
I am still struggling to find food for Nastia to eat. Yesterday, with the help of a Russian friend, I asked her about what she would eat and she responded that she just doesn't like to eat! As a mother this obviously concerns me, but I watch her and she seems to find snacks every now and then to eat so I know she isn't starving to death. I just have to allow her to make the choice whether she wants to eat or not. I am sure will tell me when she is hungry. Or my hope is that she will come around once things start to settle down a little.

We had our first little frustration among siblings the other day. Nastia got mad at Miranda and none of us could figure out why. Miranda kept trying to make contact with her and every time, she would be either ignored or physically shrugged off. Even though I knew that it would be coming at some point, it was still hard to watch. I have tried really hard to not treat our new daughters any different to our other children, so I didn't want to let the rudeness that was shown to Miranda go. I pulled Nastia aside and with the help of the translator on my phone (really that thing is a godsend) I told her that I knew she probably didn't mean to be rude to her but that it wasn't ok. She seemed to understand but still wouldn't even be in the same car as her.
Mike took a turn and spoke with her for a while that evening and found out that she was actually mad about the fact that I didn't let her call her brother. The problem was, she hadn't actually asked me to call her brother, which I would have let her do. I don't think that was all that was going on, but that was all he could get out of her. He pointed out to her that the reason for her angriness was not actually Miranda's fault, and she agreed to be nicer. What I think happened was, she had been thinking about calling him and saw Miranda speak with someone on the phone and decided that Miranda was allowed and she wasn't, so decided to not speak with her anymore. She still hasn't asked me to call her brother, but things between the girls are better again.
I am hopeful that as they learn to speak English, these communication issues will become a little easier. But, I am also under no illusion that these teenage girls will argue repeatedly for the rest of their existence! That is the new life I am learning to deal with :)