Here We Are...

Terrorizing the Neighbors aka Halloween

2011-11-01T07:01:00.000-06:00

I realized this year justhow much I HATE Halloween! The actualevent itself is fun but it makes my blood boil as I buy hundreds of pieces of chocolatethat I don’t even get to eat (880 this year) and rack my brain trying to comewith costumes that my 10 year old boys will think are “cool” without being gory,satanic or expensive. Charity is just ashard – I don’t want my darling daughter to look like a street walker! Anyway – now that my little rant is over hereare a few pics of last night’s romp around the ‘hood. They had a great time and got enough candy tolast for awhile. I will be sortingthrough to pull out all the sticky/chewy stuff today – they all have sealantsso none of that is allowed – but it looks like they will still have WAY morecandy than any kid should eat in 6 months!

Let the sugar highs begin….

There goes the neighborhood....

Motley Crew

Our Egyptian Prince

Meets his Cleopatra

Every father's nightmare!

"Hello ladies."

Our Beautiful Bug

When 900 years you reach, look as good, you will not.

Joseph's (bat) and Jonathan's (cat) pumpkins

Michael's (spider) and Charity's (Larry the Cucumber) pumpkins.

Remember - Charity had that green pumpkin. It never turned orange which she was very happy about so that her "vision" for it could be realized.

2011-10-17T19:31:00.001-06:00

Okay – so I always have the best of intentions when it comesto this blog. When I’m taking pictures Imentally compose entries – I just never seem to get around to actually doinganything with it.

I commandeered my step-dad’s camera last weekend to grabsome pics before our sports seasons were over.

Michael is in his element every fall. The kid eats, sleeps, breathes and eats again football. He was super excited to be on a team again with his favorite coach this year.

We spent the past three months cheering on the Cardinals and specifically "big" #80.

On offense Michael played center - a new position for him. He did great, had a few bad snaps here and there but enjoyed the position and wasn't afraid of getting creamed by the other team. He knew his mother had that fear covered.

Defense saw him on the line. This is where my gentle giant really comes alive. He is a very sweet kid in general but get the boy in pads and a helmet and he becomes a whole new child. He LOVES to hit and takes great pride in every tackle credited to him.

Our season ended in a close playoff game on Sunday. The boys were disappointed but as much as I love winning (and I really love winning) it is kind of a relief to have a little more down time in our calendar.

After two dismal seasons playing football, Joseph decided to give soccer another try this fall. He loves all sports so we really weren't too concerned about him having a good time. He is naturally athletic (which I can say in all modesty because he shares no genes with Eric or I) so his biggest challenge is keeping his ego in check (:

Luckily he had (assistant) Coach Dad to keep him grounded.

The keys to Joseph's game?

1) Focus

2) Hustle

3) Throw in a little fancy footwork for good measure!

So, how did the season go? Let's just say- the boys had a great time but Coach Don had a full head of hair at the beginning of the season....

Charity's game has always been soccer and she absolutely loves toplay it.

She broke her ankle thissummer and had to sit out the first couple of games. It has taken awhile to come back from herinjury but she got 3 goals in the last 2 games and ended the season well. It’s hard for her to choose her favorite partof the game. Is it:

The snacks?

The medal?

Or the friends?

Whatever the choice - she can't wait until spring soccer starts!

So what does Jonathan do while all these games and practices are going on? Unfortunately the answer to that is - a whole lot of sitting around and hoping that someone else's sibling will be there to play with. He has been having some behavior issues and so part of the discipline process has been a fall season devoid of extra activities for him - bummer.

But our little charmer is absolutely impossible not to love :)

2011-02-04T20:21:00.000-06:00

At long last I’m posting on my blog – mostly because my cousin guilted me into it. So, here you go Julie. As we speak I should be packing to go to Ukraine. Charity and I are leaving on Sunday to go with my neighbor to finish up their adoption. It should be a good trip and we are all really excited. Mostly just to get this little girl home to her family – she’s absolutely WONDERFUL and we all love her. We had a big day in our house today and while nothing will physically change for us – it does change the dynamics in our household a bit. We moved a year ago out of the little bitty house we were renting:

Into a bigger house to rent. Today we signed the mortgage/purchase agreement to buy the house we’ve been living in and after 5 or so years – we are homeowners once again. Pictures are below. (Thanks to my friend Senda for the pics of the outside – I am blatantly stealing them!) The house was built in the 1890’s or so and is so much fun. Like any other old house, there will always be upgrades to do but we really love it and are very excited.

No post would be complete without at least one pic of the kids. It’s been so long since I posted that I have tons to choose from. This one is from the Homecoming parade in October. The older boys were in the parade. They all have blue hair because their little league football team was the Lions.

The final picture is of the hand-off of our dossier by our adoption guru at the airport as it made it’s way to Bulgaria with another adoptive couple who was kind enough to hand deliver it. We are officially a waiting family. And while we anticipate a long wait – we are VERY excited! “Dear Lord, protect my “babies” until we can get there to bring them home.”

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-22T20:06:00.000-06:00

We ARE still here and I DO intend to post regularly again soon. In the meantime - Merry Christmas from our whole clan!

Do you know their mom and dad?

2010-09-16T13:00:00.004-06:00

Or are you their mom and dad? The Ukrainian government maintains a website of waiting children. Saturday morning Eric was browsing the pictures and ran across one of the boys we know. He also has an older brother who we spent quite a bit of time with. We met these boys when we were hanging out at Joseph's orphanage. They were wonderful boys - sweet, but not too sweet and good, but not too good. They were fun to hang out with and the older one would come down to spend time in Joseph's room often - the room where his little brother slept. He appeared to be a good influence on the younger boys and they loved playing with him. The younger boy is 9 and his older brother is 15 years old - about to age out. It terrifies me and makes me so sad that this sweet boy/young man is about to be denied the chance at a family. So here is my plea - help me find these boys a home - FAST! Please post the link and share it with anyone you know who might be able to help them. Pray for them and let's get them home.

http://www.sirotstvy.net/ua/child_needs_family/2708.html?pg=31

Adoption Disruptions....

2010-09-01T19:01:00.000-06:00

I didn't intend for this to be my first post after my hiatus but I just got done reading it and thought it made some excellent points (and ranted in a constructive fashion - an art I have yet to master!)

http://minichfamilyblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/for-as-long-as-we-all-shall-live.html

Read it. Ponder it. Pass it on.

VBS Week

2010-08-05T08:17:00.000-06:00

Last week was VBS at our church. They brought in a BMX/FMX team and had all kinds of stunts each night. The kickoff was Sunday and it has so HOT outside. But the blow-ups were fun (our church loves blow-ups) and the tricks were pretty spectacular and hopefully it brought some new faces to our church and ultimately to their Savior.

Jonathan loves the blow-ups too. He would play in these things 24/7 - even when it's over 90 degrees outside!

Michael loves this human wrecking ball game. He has surprisingly good balance and didn't get beat by the 3 girls that were playing against him!

Best friends and best neighbors!


I DID NOT need anyone giving Joseph any more ideas on how to inflict bodily harm on himself (but they were super cool)!

Family fun at Summer FX - did I mention it was really hot!

"Puzzling" news...aka "Every Piece Counts"

2010-08-04T19:08:00.001-06:00

So my darling children want to do something to help raise money to bring home their next siblings. They have talked about a lemonade stand and an ice-cream stand. I said no to both of those because - let's face it, I'm going to have to do most of the work and will probably watch them literally eat up all the profits. Not too long after one of these discussions I noticed Charity and Joseph standing out by the street trying to sell their "artwork" as a fundraiser. It simultaneously made me laugh out loud and touched/broke my heart. They want to DO something! That same day I was reading a new blog and saw a fundraiser that her kids were doing - I knew it was one my kids would LOVE and was something they could actually do and that hasn't been done by every adopting family we know. So, today I ordered a 500 piece puzzle by my favorite artist. The kids will get "sponsors" for each of the 500 pieces. We will then write the name of the "sponsor" on the back of the puzzle piece. The goal is for them to be able to see 500 people give a little bit (minimum of $1) to help them meet their goal. 500 people who will have a part in something bigger than themselves. We will eventually frame the puzzle with glass on both sides so that our family - and especially the new ones will have that reminder of God's faithfulness and the kindness of our friends and family (after the adoption is over - since framing isn't cheap and one of the main goals is for them to raise some money :)! I love this for many reasons but also because most kids can scrounge up a dollar or two and so I won't care when they hit up their friends to be a "sponsor". This should be fun!

This will be the finished product:

July is gone :(

2010-08-03T20:21:00.000-06:00

Which means school is just around the corner (7 days to be exact - booo!) The kids got their "teacher" letters in the mail this week and we bought school supplies last Monday so I guess technically we are ready to go back - that being said, I'm never ready to go back. I'll drown my back to school blues by reliving some of the fun from this summer!

The 3 older kids spent a week at camp in the middle of July. They were placed in "family" groups for the week. They had a great week learning all about the Creation and having their lives touched by the missionary from Haiti. (I don't have any pics of Charity yet but I'm sure she looked just as "campy" as the girls in this group!)

Joseph loves mini-golf....

Especially when he sinks his putt!

I'm not sure what the deal with the bandanna's was but they wore them all week apparently, and have continued to sport them at home every now and then!

While the kids were at camp, I was here:

With them:

This isn't the most flattering picture of all of us but riding the bikes was one of our favorite parts of the trip so...it makes the blog! It was a great week with some great friends and proof that we all married great men who allowed/urged us to go.

The day after we all got back it was time once again for the county fair.

Tell me this isn't the quintessential 4-H kid picture! On the way to the fair!

Okay, this one is pretty good too!

Joseph and his bff - these two are so stinkin cute. They passed the football ALL WEEK outside of the dairy barn. Kind of annoying to people trying to pass through but it was nice for the moms - we knew exactly where to find them!

Not a great picture but it's the only one I've got right now - and he did SUCH a good job showing his pig. It sounds silly to those who haven't done it but it takes a lot of work to do it right. He surprised us all with how well he did. He really loved it and had a great time!

One of the best parts of the fair is hanging out with our cousins. Charity is in the white shirt - I'm not sure what these crazies were discussing but my guess is - if we could implement it - it would CHANGE THE WORLD!

This might be my favorite picture of the week - Michael and Alida giving pep talks to their "girls" before going in the ring.

The week pretty much revolved around Michael but this proves that the others were all there supporting him and having a grand ol' time in the process.

It was a great couple of weeks. VBS was last week - pics to come but for now I'm off to sleep - hoping for a fun day tomorrow and maybe a spare half hour to post some more. I DO miss you lovely little blog.

Oh- quick what's cooking (I always forget):

We had baked potato bar tonight with homemade buttermilk biscuits. Not sure why we were carbo-loading but boy was it good!!!

Random Pics

2010-07-06T19:26:00.001-06:00

Since I have been bad about updating on a regular basis for the past 6 weeks or so, I will take the most boring route and throw a bunch of pictures out here for the far off relatives and readers who like to watch my kids grow up. For all the rest of you - feel free to skip this one (although I have to tell you - I don't really trust anyone who doesn't think I have great kids!)

We have been doing a lot of swimming (at other's houses and at ours)

Swimming and diving....

Or doing something fearless off the diving board (this kid couldn't swim last year and hasn't had any lessons to change that but has managed to pick up enough skills to keep from drowning)

Or trying to drown themselves (or look at the bottom - whatever....)

and doing it all with great friends and neighbors!

So, have I mentioned that we are adopting from Bulgaria? Well this is what sealed the deal for Eric - I sip (shot?) of Bulgarian brandy. He decided he must visit and bring home a child from a country that can make something smell so sweet and taste so ~~awful~~ wonderful. (please read that with LOTS of sarcasm)

He did like the beer though (actually I think one of those is Ukrainian - but we love that country too)

Never did figure out why my daughter decided to dress up as a flamingo for an afternoon. She ran around the neighborhood looking like this. Hmmmm.....

So I mentioned that we were in the midst of 4-h madness (and lovin' almost every minute of it.) This is Hank getting hosed down before a little walk.

Uncle Brian (my baby brother) plays "judge" and helps Michael learn a thing or two before show day.

We waited at a pharmacy for several hours so each of the kids could get physicals and our two bio kids could have their TB tests read for the homestudy. Joseph and Jonathan test positive for TB and have been x-rayed (negative) and treated with 6 months of antibiotics so they are in the clear. The kids were actually very good and we got through them quickly.

Aren't they sweet? Jonathan was in trouble (again) and not able to join in the fun. It's been a rough summer for that little monster.

Looking through pics on Michael's camera to see if he had any shots for his poster - notice how my mom's head is turned away - she did that as soon as I came over to take a group shot :)

Progress

2010-07-06T14:43:00.000-06:00

Guess who just mailed off her homestudy paperwork? Yep - that would be me!! We are on our way. Unfortunately the next two weeks are completely booked and a majority of our family will be away from home so the actual home visit will have to wait until at least the last week of July but boy is it a relief to get the part that I can control done.

That pile of papers in the corner (covering the return address to maintain some privacy) are my copies of the documents.

Now we wait - and gear up for all the fun of the next two weeks. A well known fact about me (and my kids and extended family) is that we are fair rats. Absolutely love hanging out at the fair, watching the shows, and catching up with friends. This year is Michael's first year of "real" 4-H and so we have spent this week finishing up books and projects between morning and afternoon trips to the barn. (And of course getting physicals and fingerprints for my homestudy - did I mention I got that done?!) Our dining room is 4-H central right now - which is fairly inconvenient since it is stinking hot out there and it would be kind of nice to eat inside.

We have poster board and pictures for photography, an electric circuit board, and 5 4-H manuals in here, a bird feeder and model for Joseph's mini 4-H, a pillow and friendship bracelet making stuff for Charity's mini 4-H plus in the lower right hand corner is all my adoption paperwork - but that pile is greatly diminished now that I mailed off the homestudy paperwork - not sure I have told you all that interesting bit of news yet.

Our goal is to get his photography project done tomorrow and then we will be done until Saturday. He will mix up his cookie dough and stick it in the freezer so that he can slice and bake them when he gets back from camp - the day before the fair starts. That's right ladies and gentlemen - my kids go to camp the week before the fair. Now for those of you who have never done 4-H this might not sound like that big of deal - and really it doesn't have to be. However, I am a procrastinator and it took a good deal of work and discipline on my part to pull off getting projects done a week early instead of an hour early.

So the three older kids leave for camp on Sunday afternoon and I leave for a hiking trip (just me and 4 friends - HOW MUCH FUN IS THAT?!) to Colorado on Sunday evening. After this week I think I'll need it. But, at least I got my homestudy mailed off....

Pop Quiz

2010-06-29T07:18:00.002-06:00

Q: What is white and green and red all over?

A: The flag of the birth country of our next child (or two) - Bulgaria.

Eric and I officially started the process to adopt from Bulgaria at the end of last week (i.e. we sent off the first payment - ouch!) Hopefully our homestudy packet will arrive today and I can get going on that. Now that we are out of the waiting phase I'm ready to just get moving and get that referral as fast as possible. You know me - very little patience when it comes to getting my kiddos home! I'm not sure what to expect from this adventure. I should really stop reading the blogs - they only confuse me; such different information and experiences. The good thing is, we have complete trust in our agency and their staff. I know they will make this process as painless as possible - love them!!

Not so great news

2010-06-24T08:34:00.004-06:00

A few weeks ago we got an update on the registration of the other 4 children we were hoping to add to our family. The news is - they aren't registered yet. The judge apparently wanted some more information and it has slowed the process down considerably. The bottom line is that by the time the kids are available for adoption the oldest one will be 14 years old. I hate saying it but that puts a whole different spin on things. I know the hormones are going to be out of control with 4 girls all within 4 years of each other anyway but the reason it was doable was because they would have been with our family for a couple of years before things really kicked into high gear. We're not sure it's smart to add 4 of that age when we will be dealing with another 4 that are only slightly younger than that. We won't be able to give anyone the attention they need and I'm afraid it is a recipe for disaster. Technically we don't have to make any real decisions on this issue since they were never truly "ours" but it feels like a loss all the same. I feel really bad for the kids. They didn't have a great shot at finding families before but now their situation has just gotten worse. Please pray for these poor babies. Pray that God will open the hearts of their forever family (I really thought we were that family) and they would obey the call and go get their kids. As for us, stay tuned....

Odds and Ends

2010-06-10T13:36:00.007-06:00

I've kept you, my lovely readers, up to date for the most part over the past couple of weeks but I do have a few fun pics that haven't had any place in any of my other posts. So, in no particular order here we go:

Michael is in his first year of 4-H. This morning they had an electric workshop for 1st year members and they actually worked on their projects. My step-dad provided MJ with the board for his circuit-board (beautiful piece of walnut) but Michael had to stain/polyurethane it. Go WITH the grain Michael, with the grain. The workshop was a success. Michael and Eric worked hard and took their time and it looks nice. Hopefully the judge agrees. Most important is the fact that Michael did the work and understands the ins and outs of his project. I'll admit I was NOT saying that when they came home - in fact I did a pretty good impression of the Wicked Witch because the wires aren't perfectly straight, they don't have crisp corners, etc. But I'll just keep telling myself - he did it himself and he's 9 years old. For now we will strive "To Make the Best Better", perfection will come in time :)

Another Michael 4-H picture. He is mixing up feed for his pig - Hank.

Meet Hank.

This is not something I see a lot of out of this kid. He is SO active - getting him to sit still and read is torture. Reading is also still on the difficult side. I mean, he's only been in this country for 18 months! He's close to reading on level so hopefully a few more moments like above will bring him closer to that goal.

Our neighbors are hosting a Ukranian girl this summer (in fact, she comes tomorrow!) We are all excited but Charity especially is beside herself. This family has 4 boys and the kids pretty much run back and forth between our 2 houses all day long. Adding a girl to the mix for a few weeks will be like heaven for Charity. She went over to help set up girl toys in the guest bedroom for her yesterday.

Yet another boy in our neighborhood! He was in Charity's class for the past 2 years and he and my daughter are good buddies. He has more freedom than my kids (I watch too much crime-drama on TV to let my kids run around unsupervised) and will show up often to play with our yahoos.

WHAT'S COOKING?
I had kind of forgotten about this feature but since I looked back at my blog I realized that I kind of like it and will try to remember to keep it up.

On the menu for today - Smothered Pork Chops. My kids got me The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook for my birthday. I love that show and have a great time reading the cookbook and all their magazines. We will be trying this recipe for the first time tonight but I know it will be a success because the ATK staff has already tried it dozens of times!

Pool!

2010-06-10T12:22:00.006-06:00

So my mom has one of those pools that you take down every year (we affectionately call them hillbilly pools and love swimming in it!) but she decided not to put it up this year. Instead she decided to send it to my house. I'm sure our neighbors LOVE us (the kids actually do) but we set it up in the backyard the other night and the kids have been dying to use it ever since. Yesterday the pH leveled off so Eric let Charity take the inaugural swim. It is still cloudy and probably 68-70 degrees but in she went.

First she had to check her goggles to make sure they don't leak...

And jumped right in!!

And this is today:

The neighbor kids have been as antsy to get in as my own 4 were. They don't care that it isn't pretty (or warm) yet. Just like everything else at our house (myself included) it is a work in progress....

Slip Slidin' Away

2010-06-04T13:34:00.012-06:00

Today is another beautiful day! We've had a few pop-up thunderstorms this week but it's pretty much been sunny and mid 80's all week. What a perfect way to start summer break! Yesterday the boys decided to play on the slip-n-slide in our yard with the neighbor boys. This is apparently one of those activities that you never grow too old for. I was really wishing I was a little less reserved (and about 20 years younger) so that I could join in the fun without injury - to my body or my pride :)!

Apparently the problem isn't that you outgrow them mentally - but physically. My "big" boys were sliding off the end of it so what do they do - add another one of course!!

My poor grass! An afternoon of the watery playground has completely destroyed it. Hopefully it will bounce back in a few days :) but even if it doesn't - it was SO worth it. They had so much fun!

In other news, with the start of June comes the start of the SUPER SUMMER CHALLENGE!!

Since it's the first week, the kids are still pretty motivated so I'm getting quite a bit of work out of them - without argument. Joseph especially has been racking up the points today. He even power-washed the front porch for me. It was a dirty job but it looks great now. Amazing what a little water will do!

The safety glasses were HIS idea!

RACE DAY!!!!

2010-05-31T19:41:00.009-06:00

Growing up in this area has made Eric and I natural race fans. He enjoys it more than I do and definitely knows more about Indy Cars than I do but I DO like it and have enjoyed going to the race the past two years (and listening to it for the 31 years prior to that.) This year was hotter than most (record breaking temperatures actually) but me and my SPF 50 sunscreen made it through the day and had a wonderful time. The kids hung out with my mom and step-dad and were happy with the t-shirts that we brought home for them. Eric is already figuring out where he wants to sit next year (I request shade and pit-action, but we'll see what he decides on). We were in the Northwest Vista this year, right as you enter turn 4. If you watched the race and saw that huge crash on the final lap - that was just a few yards down from our seats. I saw it happen - Eric was watching the finish line and hoping Dario would run out of fuel. We aren't huge Target-Chip Ganassi fans. But they do have one thing going for them - they aren't Penske. (We like Andretti Auto Sports.) Anyway, here are some pictures of the day. We tailgated with my brothers, my cousin, and some of their friends. It was HOT and so the pictures will embarrass the daylights out of them but, oh well. That's what you get when you hang out with a blogger :)

Oh my word - my husband is actually smiling. I'm pretty sure it was something somebody said. The cantaloupe WAS pretty good though!

Amanda was the main chef for the day - excellent marinated pork loin and yummy veggie packets. Eric and I snitched some of her food as well as our buffalo chicken. It was really too hot to eat much but it was soooo good.

My brothers and I. There aren't many pictures of us together over the age of about 9 years old. I'm sure my mom will be pleased to see this one - maybe I should have photo-shopped out the beer can. He's legal, just still her baby. :)

The guys playing a rousing game of corn hole. I'm pretty sure my husband was victorious - that's because he kept his shirt on. The glare off of the other 3's pale white bellies was distracting them.

This was the view from our seats. The only time they were slow enough for me to get a decent shot was during cautions and of course the stupid truck got in my shot. Grrr...

This shot is of a group of my friends from high school who have been getting together at my friend Billy's parent's house to celebrate the race for about 16 or 17 years. How can I possibly be that old and who keeps having all these kids? P.S. photo credit for this goes to my friend Corie - although actually I think it was Beth who took it since Corie is in the shot but I stole it off of her fa.ce.bo.ok page....

How We Know Summer Has Arrived

2010-05-29T20:28:00.011-06:00

Summer always comes in with a bang at our house. The last day of school, my birthday, Charity's birthday and a little event called the Indy 500 all happen within the same week and all are noteworthy events worth celebrating. I will post race-day pictures later but here are a few from the rest of the week.

Charity doing barn "chores" when we went out to the barn to walk Michael's 4-H calf.

Michael walking his calf for the first time. Her name is Hot Fudge. Isn't she cute. I love Jersey calves. They are so pretty!

My two favorite second graders - oops - they are third graders now.

I'm really surprised Jonathan didn't take off on this thing. The keys were in it but he was mature and just sat there pretending to drive.

Picking cherries in the neighbor's tree with the neighbor's kid (6th grade), niece (2nd grade) and grandson (3rd grade) - confusing mixture in that family but so very nice to play with!

Charity invited her class over for her birthday party. The kids had a great time playing kickball, eating party food, and throwing water balloons. She has had such a great class these past two years. I can't imagine it ever being any better. It was very hard to say good-bye on Thursday. Poor babies.

The girls stayed for a sleep-over. Charity was exhausted after all the excitement and just wanted to snuggle with her BFF and watch a movie. Fine with me - nice and quiet activity.

They didn't stay quiet for long. The girls finally fell asleep around 1:00 or so (I was already out cold) and were up around 6:30. Needless to say, they were dragging the next morning. They played Beatle's Rock Band and just vegged out. I could almost bet that Charity was singing Revolution in this picture - it is her favorite!

2010-05-25T07:08:00.003-06:00

Can I just say - I HATE LAUNDRY! I was feeling all good because I had washed and dried 7 loads of laundry yesterday and was all "caught up". Now, they aren't folded yet but at least everything was clean. I wake up this morning to find two more stinkin' loads of clothes. I don't know why I'm surprised. You would think after 18 months of having 4 kids I would just embrace the fact that we are a 2 loads/day family but I apparently love living in denial! I also decided that since the forecast for this week is high 80's with lots of humidity, I should probably get my summer clothes out of storage and put away the sweaters. WHY?!!! As if I don't have enough to do I had to start another project. My living room is a mess and everything else is falling apart because I'm too busy sorting clothes (and watching Mansfield Park while I work) to keep on top of it. Some day I will be organized, some day I will be organized, some day I will be organized....

2010-05-24T20:56:00.003-06:00

So, as previously stated - May is a crazy month around our house. The kiddos have 3 days left of school and I have never been so thankful for a year to wind down in my whole life - although I probably said that last year too, and the year before that, and the year before that....

My next door neighbor and I were finally able to get some of the garden put in this evening after soccer practice. We decided to put one out together and I have to tell you, working in it was a lot more fun with her out there to chat with. We'll see if we can make it through the summer still feeling that way. The thing is monstrous! I'll have to post a picture or two once we get it looking pretty. There hasn't been a garden in this spot anytime in the recent past (in fact there used to be a tree standing in the middle of it) so we are dealing with sod as well as your normal weeds. I've got all kinds of tricks up my sleeve to get rid of the grass before next spring but since we moved in in January - it was a little late to get that rolling for this year. We'll just have to do it the old fashioned way - send the kids out to pull it up!!!

These are the only pictures I have taken this whole month! Bad paparazzi mom!! I'll have to remedy that this weekend. We have Charity's birthday parties on Friday/Saturday and the race on Sunday so surely I can find something to take pictures of!

Joseph and cousin Hallie as we wait to pick up Jonathan from therapy. Fun times, fun times.

Alida was the "popular" one that day since she had brought her DS. All the kids wanted to sit beside her and watch her play. I have never understood that - IT IS NOT FUN TO WATCH SOMEONE ELSE PLAY VIDEO GAMES!!!

Jonathan and his classmate getting as up close and personal as you can safely get with the walrus on their field trip. This guy (and yes, I know it's a guy - I've seen proof on previous visits) is always coming up to the window to play with the kids. They love it and it makes for some fun pictures.

This would be the "toothless wonder" in all his glory. (We also call him our resident meth-head but that's not very PC is it?) Six teeth missing out of the front of his mouth. The four middle ones on top and two lower. He'd better hope they come in soon - it is almost corn on the cob season. Plus, I'm really sick of cutting up his apples.

April

2010-05-21T08:59:00.003-06:00

Just a quick post to catch us up on the kids. These are April pics.

Went to the local Children's Museum on a teacher-in-service day. The kids were able to work together to build the arch with minimal assistance from mom - just another reminder that they are getting older - and taller :)

Jonathan pretending to be a bump on a log.

I have no idea what our crazy girl was doing here. We were on a field trip and she was all wound up. Let's pretend they were doing a trust fall. Yeah, I bet that was it.

I mentioned in a previous post that the older kids were doing PS119 with our church. This is Michael and Joseph with our next door neighbors and good friends on the morning they showed off their "mad skills" in "big church". It was really cute. I'll have to see if I can post the video once I get it. They amaze me with how quickly they get the scripture memorized. This year the script had motions and a rhythm to it - super fun!

We all took a Sunday afternoon to tour the State Museum after church. They had an Abraham Lincoln exhibit - Michael's favorite president - and so we took the whole crew to tour the museum. This was as we were leaving. Where is Michael you ask? He is a history dork - oops I mean buff - and decided he would stay with my mom and step-dad and look at more stuff when the rest of us were ready to leave. I love that kid! He is a teacher's dream - motivated to learn, well-behaved but fun and funny as well.

So I've been putting this off...

2010-05-20T20:59:00.002-06:00

I don't know why I've been so reluctant to put this news out there - actually I do. It's because I know we are slightly on the nutty side and by putting our news out there for everyone to read I will just be confirming it. We have decided to go back to Ukraine to get some more crazy kids to add to our family. Charity has been begging us for sisters and since we do everything our little princess asks us to - we caved. Not really - we are hoping to get her some sisters, but not because she asked us to. In fact I think the only reason we would be doing this is because God asked us to. My friend Lydia (and also our adoption guru) went to Ukraine to pick up her son at the end of last year. During that process she met a girl at his orphanage who touched her heart and wrote about her on her blog. Her post touched my heart and I even mentioned her in my Christmas letter hoping to drum up some interest and find this girl a family - never dreaming that family might be us. If you clicked on Lydia's post then you will see why I never even considered it - okay, I considered it, but only for a second. The fact that it was a sibling group of 5 (actually it is 4) when we already have 4 completely stopped me from spending much time in that field of thought. Eric, however, set up camp in that field and decided that we might be the family for these kids. He tells Lydia that if she can't find another family for them then he knows someone who might be interested. Hmmm, who could that be Mr. Eric? So, then the group of kids being hosted for Christmas comes over. Yulia is one of them and we think, great! Her host family will fall in love with her and so will everyone who meets her and she'll find a family and we will support them as they go through the process. Well, everyone who met her (host family included) DID fall in love with her but they were also all scared off by the fact that there are 4 of them. So...here we are. We are waiting to find out exactly when they will be available for adoption. Once we figure that out we will start our paperwork. I'm pretty fast at it (since I'm very impatient) and our homestudy lady is amazing so it shouldn't be much of an issue. There is a chance that it won't work out and the kids won't get registered (their paperwork was supposed to have been filed in January or something but you never know) but if everything goes as hoped then we should have some new additions to our family in a year or so - hopefully sooner - that whole impatience thing!

I thought it was supposed to be MARCH madness...

2010-05-20T11:48:00.001-06:00

I think the hardest part about this blog thing is deciding how to come back after taking so many weeks off. Obviously life begins to get in the way of my computer time and so while there are many things going on that I would like to share - I just don't have time to devote to posting them. As bad as the celebration "cluster" is in Dec/Jan (Christmas, New Year's, anniversary, and 4 birthdays) - May is always the worst month for me. Between end of the school year events, field trips, soccer, baseball and birthdays I'm pretty much a raving lunatic for the whole month. Eric has decided that we are going to The Race again this year and he wants to take Joseph to the track for practice one day too. Throw in new wheelchair fittings and evaluations for Jonathan's medicaid waiver stuff and we've added just a couple more things to an already full calendar. For now I will content myself with putting up snippets about our life (at the risk of sounding self-absorbed) and hope that one day soon I can post more pictures and tell better stories.

M is for March and Michael

2010-04-07T12:00:00.000-06:00

I'm not sure how it happened but my camera is telling me that Michael is the "child of the month". He has had several camera worthy events in the past few weeks. The other 3 kids will all get their turn as the spring wears on and we have field trips, baseball and soccer to post. I'll eventually get around to posting spring break and easter as well. Fun times - just no time to write about them.

Our school had their 3rd grade music program a few weeks ago. What an event - 200 3rd graders, their siblings, parents, and grandparents, and their RECORDERS! What joy - anyone who can make one of those things actually sound pretty has accomplished a feat. A feat I have yet to witness. The kids were cute as all get out, they sang very nicely, and showed off quite well. But really - 200 3rd graders with recorders....

Michael was excited to go to his very first lock-in early in March. Being the paparazzi mom that I am (and not wanting to miss out on any of the fun) I volunteered to help out even though it meant giving up a night of sleep. Michael was prepared to sleep (for a couple of hours anyway) and was the 1st boy in his room so he got to lay out his stuff in the prime tv-watching spot.

He thought it was so cool to be eating pizza at 10:00 pm and all of the 3rd and 4th graders were amazed at the amount of caffeine that they were allowed (or shall we say - even encouraged) to consume.

Michael and a couple of his friends posing at the photo booth. They are such dorks - but so much fun!

There were about 10-15 blow-ups stationed in the 2 gyms at the church for the kids to spend hours on. All night I kept thinking how much this lock-in reminded me of post-proms in High School. How sad - the things that amused me as a 17 year old, amuse my 9 year old!

Roller skating at 1:30 a.m. - and Michael had never been on skates before. He and the wall were good buddies but by the end he was getting a little braver.

This is how he and his friends spent a large chunk of their time at the rink - hanging out and drinking caffeinated beverages. His momma on the other hand was reliving her youth out on the floor.

The next morning - after 3 hours of sleep. They were sooooo tired!

The next day the famous Aunt Teri had invited us over to meet her friend and room helper - Natasha. She is from Ukraine and had been coerced into teaching us how to make Varenky - very similar to perogies. These are by far the favorite dish I ate in Ukraine - especially the cherry ones - and I was super excited to learn how to make them.

Charity and Jonathan got right in on the action.

Joseph, on the other hand, really wants nothing to do with anything Ukrainian and took a little bit to warm up. The funny thing is - the kid LOVES Ukrainian food and would eat borsht every day if his mom would make it for him.

Last but not least - I just think this picture is funny - my 2 favorite 2nd graders hanging out and enjoying the sunshine. Neither of them sits still for long - so to catch a moment with both of them relaxing is a rare treasure!

WHAT'S COOKING?
My favorite recipe for using up leftover ham is on the menu for tonight! Yum - straight up comfort food! If you are watching your weight - save up your calories for this one - I ALWAYS go back for seconds on it! Homemade chocolate pudding for dessert.

Review of the busy mom's Bible

2010-03-27T08:50:00.004-06:00

Okay, so I promised I would use this bible (published by Zondervan) for a few weeks and then write a review of it on my blog. I don't normally do stuff like this but I have to admit I was intrigued by the special features in The Busy Mom's Bible (plus - it has a pink cover which always makes me smile). Like many moms I am easily sidetracked by the "urgent" away from the "important" - in this case the "important" being time in God's word. This bible contains 52 one-minute Thought-Starters that give you a verse or two and a quick thought to dwell on throughout the day. It then goes on to give an outline for those of us who find we have 5 or 10 minutes more. In the back of the Bible are more studies and reading plans - all designed for 5 or 10-minute study times. The amazing thing that I discovered was that when I thought I only had a minute - I actually realized that I was able to spend the extra time as well. It's incredible how God has a way of aligning my day when I take that time to focus on him first.
Another nice feature of this bible is it's slim design. It easily fits into my bag and is handy when I'm waiting at an appointment or to pick up one of the yahoos from an activity or school.
The bottom line is - we all know we need to spend more time in the Word and in this season of growing a family even spending the few minutes a day outlined in The Busy Mom's Bible are often the difference between anxiety and peace.

Killing Time

2010-03-03T12:31:00.007-06:00

So I'm sitting at the local hospital killing time - a typical Wednesday afternoon. Jonathan has PT on Wednesdays and I decided to bring the 'ol laptop with me today. I don't know why I don't do it more often. I don't feel a bit of guilt sitting here typing away and catching up on other blogs. We only live 5 minutes from the hospital (and that's if I hit both stop-lights between here and there) but it just seems silly to drive home and wait. Sometimes I do, but I kind of like sitting here and just enjoying the downtime. (They should put in a tanning bed or something - then I could get that sunkissed look while I waited for my kid. Maybe I'll just go up to the nursery and sit under the bilirubin lights. Do you think it would have the same effect?) Jonathan is such a loudmouth. Every once in a while I'll hear him from way back in the back of the PT room. I never hear the other patients that are back there! But, they all seem to love him here - he's quite the celebrity for some reason. He's such a little charmer and it sometimes takes people awhile to figure out that he's also a little schemer. I'm worried about 1st grade. Some of the teachers are so sweet and compassionate that I think Jonathan would steal their heart and run right over them. We'll see how things go. I'm hoping we get him assigned to his 1st grade teacher a little early so she can be involved in his IEP conference in 2 weeks. I may have to make a few phone calls to make that happen.

The other 3 start PS119 practice today. This is a bible memorization group that meets about twice a year at church. They take a passage of scripture (35-50 verses) and memorize it in script form and then present it to the congregation. Ms. Lisa does a great job with the kids and they have so much fun hiding God's word in their hearts with their friends. They are so excited. I love it too. It's amazing how quickly the kids can get this stuff memorized. While each kid has their own part memorized they also tend to have the entire passage memorized by the time we present it about 7 weeks from now - WORD PERFECT! I have trouble just remembering my cell phone number - let alone 35 verses of scripture!

WHAT'S COOKING?
Eric is bummed but tonight is meatloaf (prepared by my cousin Heather) with corn (maybe I'll cream it) and throw together some mashed red potatoes. I love meatloaf and so do Joseph and Jonathan, so we're excited. The others can just suck it up and eat! I'm a real sweetie!!

Yeah! It's Friday!

2010-02-26T14:36:00.003-06:00

I LOVE Fridays! The kids have no homework and it just feels like a free day. Our small group from church meets the 1st/3rd/5th Fridays and we always look forward to that. The 2nd/4th Fridays are nice too - time to hang out with the family, take our time eating dinner and maybe watch a movie or play a game. Eric is not a huge fan of board games - his wife is pretty competitive and tends to suck all the fun out of it - but once in a while we can convince him to play with us. Maybe today will be one of those days. I could really go for a game of Phase 10!
I was in such a good mood today that I even bought ice-cream. I don't like to have it on hand because if it is here then I will eat it - ALL OF IT! But today I splurged and got a couple of pints of B&J for the adults and some mint moose tracks for the kiddos (I'll probably eat most of that too :O ) Let the Friday festivities begin!

Michael almost didn't go to school today. This is how Eric found him when he went up to check on the kiddos before going to bed. He hadn't actually "worship the porcelain God" but every little thing mentally sets him off. He apparently thought it would be safer to just camp out there last night. He didn't have a fever or any symptoms at all so off to school he went. Happily, I might add, since the school-wide reading party was today and it was report-card day. He is SUCH a first-born!

WHAT'S COOKING?
Today I am using up leftover chicken taco meat from Wednesday. I found a recipe for Chicken Taco Soup that I thought was worth trying. I threw in some leftover Mexican Rice from Wednesday and used pinto beans instead of black beans (Eric is allergic - to the black, not the pinto. This is not a murder plot!) and added in some cilantro. The recipe calls for beer, which I didn't have, so while I was out grabbing the ice cream I grabbed a 6-pack of AmberBock. Since I now have beer on hand I will probably throw together a couple of loafs of beer bread too.

Down Day

2010-02-25T11:40:00.002-06:00

The goal today was to do absolutely nothing. So far, so good. I've only done the necessities - get kids ready for school, pack lunches, shower, made bed, boot over laundry, unload/load dishwasher, feed kid. That's it. I'm taking it easy for the rest of the afternoon. Jonathan took a fall yesterday and was crying at bedtime about his leg hurting. I took him to the ER and after x-rays they pretty much determined that he probably pulled/tore a muscle and time would tell. If he is still in pain on Monday we are supposed to go see our family doc. They doped him up so he/we could sleep and sent us on our merry way. I've babied him today which he loves. We aren't letting him stand or do the stairs on his own and I even lifted him onto the toilet. I brought toys downstairs for him (I'm kind of a toy Nazi and want them left upstairs at all times) and he has pretty much just laid around today.

Now that he's taking a nap I'm going to rock out on the Wii with the Beatles and then do homework with the other 3. I'll be ready for bed tonight but I have to gear up for the big "budget meeting" tonight. We haven't revamped the budget since we've moved and our expenses have changed quite a bit. Eric warned me that tonight is the night that we are duking it out. I actually love my budget. It gives me so much freedom. I do not enjoy the process of setting it up though. Since I take care of 98% of the household expenses - and have for about 9 years - Eric is sometimes a little clueless as to how much things cost. Our grocery bill makes the poor guy's hair stand on end. Putting all of these things down on paper is a really good communication exercise:)

This picture actually has nothing to do with anything - Charity just makes me laugh. Eric's sister was here this weekend and she was reading to the kids. Before they got started we sent them up to get ready for bed and this is how Darling Daughter came down.

WHAT'S COOKING?
On today's menu (thanks to my cousin Heather): Chicken Noodle Soup and Cornbread Muffins. Charity might actually eat tonight - that would make 2 days this week. Maybe we'll have the Crockpot Tapioca Pudding that Eric made yesterday for dessert to reward her. (She usually misses out on dessert - we tend to have it on days that she won't eat what we are having.)

Catching up Part 2

2010-02-23T20:40:00.004-06:00

Two posts within a week - what an accomplishment! We will continue with our little trip down memory lane today and hopefully get us all caught up. So without further introduction:

December 2009

Michael had his 9th birthday party early in the month. The poor bus driver - all those extra boys! Charity promptly escaped to Grandma's house for the duration of the party.

This is the picture I used in the Christmas card this year. The ankle-biters loved standing outside in the freezing cold getting their pictures taken. They looked like little movie stars - putting their coats on "between takes." The pink cheeks (and noses) give them a healthy glow - don't you think?

Christmas morning. No matching pajamas this year - apparently the novelty of 3 boys has worn off. I'm just pleased they are all fully clothed and no hands are wandering into unmentionable areas. WHY DO BOYS ALWAYS NEED TO MAKE "ADJUSTMENTS"?!!

January 2010

We (along with 1/2 the state) decided to head to the children's museum for the day. The crowds were awful but it's always a good time when we get to hang out with our friends. If only we could convince these good people to move closer to us. Did you notice the boys' matching Bear's shirts - I may have spoken too soon about the novelty of three boys wearing off! If you look closely Charity is wearing her "I 'heart' Bear's Football" shirt too. We don't discriminate in our household.

Joseph really wanted a big party for his birthday like Michael had but he just doesn't have that many friends yet so we convinced him to invite his best friend over for a sleepover and a "day of fun". We picked up Hayden around 11am and proceeded to the movie theater for a viewing of The Squeakquel. Eric asked if the movie was going to be good. Honey - it is talking chipmunks - we are talking Oscar worthy here! We splurged and bought popcorn and drinks as well. (Quite frankly the movie itself was a splurge - the only time we ever go to a movie is when the local theater has the free showings during the summer.) We then headed to play Monster Mini Golf. This was a new experience for Joseph and Jonathan as well. Luckily it wasn't that crowded and we could take as much time as we needed - although let's face it - who is going to tell the kid in the wheelchair to hurry up and get his ball in the hole already! After golf - Hayden won - we told Joseph he could go anywhere he wanted to eat. We could never offer this to Michael - we would end up at a high end steak house every time, but Joseph has cheap taste and wanted nothing more than to go to McDonald's and play in the playland! Fun times!

Have I mentioned that we have had a COLD winter. I hate being cold - and apparently so does Jonathan. He even broke down and put on Grandma's hat as he and Olivia curled up on the couch. She makes a great "electric" blanket - if you can get past the licking! Look - even the dog has a coat on!! Send in the warmer weather, I'm way past ready!

February 2009

We moved at the end of January to a bigger house - what this means to my kids is SLEEPOVERS!!! Charity was the lucky one who got to go first. Our school had a teacher's in-service day scheduled so these two sweeties got off the bus with my little troublemaker last Thursday. They had a great time exploring the house and finding all kinds of "treasures" for the 24 hours they were here. The boys are all ready for it to be their turn next!

NEW FEATURE: WHAT'S COOKING (literally)?

I have several friends who ask me this question on a regular basis. I am no Julia Child - and have no desire to be - but with 4 children and a husband, let's face it, a good portion of my life revolves around food. So, with that in mind I will stick our dinner offering for the day at the bottom of each post. If anything ever looks interesting and you want info just give me a shout (comment style) and I can fill you in.

Today we had Italian beef (courtesy of my cousin Bonnita). This is a favorite in my Chicago loving household. I butter and broil the buns with provolone or mozzarella cheese on them and then top them with this wonderful beef. Even Charity - the pickiest one in our house - looks forward to this meal. I served it tonight with Ore-Ida Zesties and green beans sauteed in butter with McCormick Salad Supreme seasoning. Yummy! Maybe I'll eat leftovers for lunch tomorrow!

Time for some Catch Up

2010-02-19T15:11:00.001-06:00

Okay, so saying it's been awhile since I updated would be an understatement. When it comes down to it I just can't take dial-up internet - so I went on strike. I was going weeks on end without even looking at my email, let alone logging on to the internet to do anything fun. Luckily my darling husband felt my pain and was keeping me informed AND he got me a new house which is in the lovely land of DSL wired bliss. So - we're back. I've realized already that I may have been using the dial-up as an excuse since I haven't updated and we've been in this house for over 3 weeks....

So today's job is to update the blog - while keeping an eye on 6 kids (Charity has 2 friends over) and cleaning up the messes they make by just being kids. (I love these ankle-biters like crazy!!!) I thought I would just start captioning our way through the fall and winter and get us caught up that way. We'll see how this goes.

OCTOBER 2009

This picture pretty much sums up our fall. Michael (#80) and Joseph each played football. This is Michael's favorite sport by far and it was Joseph's first attempt at playing. It went well and everyone had a great time. Michael's team went undefeated during the regular season but lost in the local championship game - 1 game short of the superbowl. He was devastated. Joseph's team was in a "rebuilding phase" and so victory was not something they tasted a whole lot of. He had to live vicariously through Michael's team. Charity played soccer again this fall and Eric helped coach her team. They lost only one game (not that anyone keeps score :) )and Charity scored several goals so it was a successful season for her as well.

Charity and Michael attended our church's 2nd & 3rd grade retreat (Joseph had a football game and had to miss out.) They headed down to a camp/retreat center about an hour south of here and had a great time learning about the "Unbelievable, Inconceivable Love of God". In this picture is the wonderful Ms. Lisa - our incredible 1st-4th grade pastor.

Here's the toothless wonder in all his glory. Jonathan has lost 6 teeth in the past year - only 2 of them have come back in. Stinkin' cute!

One of our favorite fall activities is making smores in the fire pit on the deck. Joseph is kind of a weirdo and prefers to eat vegetables instead of sweets, but even he will indulge in the delicious gooey fun of marshmallows, chocolate and grahams.

H1N1 hit our house this year. Charity was the one afflicted and luckily it didn't spread. Poor thing was quarantined to her room and any time she left we made her put on this mask. She hated it!! The one redeeming thing for her was that her sucker of a daddy picked her up a "Snuggie" when he was picking up her Tamiflu prescription. I guess it was all worth it.

These are 8 of my favorite kids on the planet!!! My cousin Heather's kids and my kids love spending time together. We don't get them all together often enough but when we do - watch out! They have such a great time together.

Charity is not a girly-girl but she absolutely HATED scooping the guts out of her pumpkin. We had 2 huge pumpkins and 2 smaller pumpkins and of course Charity had drawn one of the big ones - that meant lots of guts!!!

Pumpkins - (left to right) Jonathan, Charity, Joseph, and Michael. Michael's is especially appropriate - he has a sensitive gag reflex :)

They look so different at night! Not bad for a bunch of elementary students!! Okay - Eric did his fair share of work on them but I still think they look great.

The four bank robbers and their trusty steeds. Charity's was a unicorn. I'm not really sure where they came up with this but all four of them wanted to be old west bank robbers. It annoyed them to no end when people called them cowboys!

NOVEMBER 2009

Grandparent's day in 2nd grade. They had to split their time between the two classes but I think a good time was had by all.

Joseph looking very much like an American boy on his first Thanksgiving - last year Eric and I spent Thanksgiving at McDonald's in Sevastopal. This was way better!

My baby brother and my favorite (and only) niece. Kaelynn wasn't quite sure what to think of Uncle Brian. She'll figure out pretty soon - uncles are a lot of fun!!

Aunt Teri with Charity and Jonathan. Aunt Teri spoils my kids rotten - the best kind of spoiling - they are the center of her world when she is around. They LOVE it when she comes over.

I just love this picture of Michael. My father-in-law took it and I just think he looks like such a little man. He apparently didn't get the memo that my kids aren't allowed to grow up because he has been doing a lot of it lately!

School is in session

2009-09-08T19:26:00.006-06:00

Well, the kiddos are in school now. We have actually nearly completed the first trimester but I'm just now feeling like my head is above water. It is going to be a tough year for poor Joseph. Jonathan has a definite advantage since he hadn't started reading in Russian yet. He was a little behind but seems to be staying up with his classmates okay. We do a little extra work at home during the week but still focus most of our extra energy on his physical limitations. Joseph on the other hand is really behind. They tested his reading level during the first week of school and found out he was reading at a "3" on our school's scale. This is the lowest level you can be to leave Kindergarten. His teacher (who I absolutely LOVE) talked to a 1st grade teacher about resources to help him and this teacher said he could just join her class for reading groups. To make a very long and not very exciting story short - Joseph joins this 1st grade class for reading groups, attends a reading recovery class with another teacher, and joins a different 2nd grade class for "specials" since he is in 1st grade when his normal class goes to special. He misses quite a bit of time with his "homeroom" teacher and so she sends that work home for him to do at home. Luckily math is not a struggle for him and he is on level for that so that stuff goes quickly. We spend about 2-3 hours a day on homework 4 days a week. Add football practice in there for Michael and Joseph and soccer for Charity and it makes for some crazy days. We were fortunate that all the practices were on Tuesday and Thursday so we can relax a little more 3 out of the 5 school nights. Now that sports seasons are done I hope we can spread the work out a little bit more and really focus on the reading. He has improved so much since the beginning of the year. I think it is possible that in 2 years no one will know that this kid isn't a native english-speaking kid.

Our Summer in Pictures Part 2

2009-08-08T14:03:00.010-06:00

Well, July is over and school has started again - booo. We made the most of the last few weeks and packed in as much fun as we could. All the kids managed to earn the points they needed from the Super Summer Challenge (Charity pulled it out at the last possible moment - earning 45 of her 200 points in 4 days) and are now looking forward to the family trip to Holiday World in beautiful Santa Clause, Indiana over Labor Day weekend. We're hoping for a great school year for all the kids. Joseph has been dying to get back in the classroom for months. Mom is apparently not a great teacher, well - not a patient one anyway. So here is the month of July in captions. Now that school is in session the photos will be fewer but hopefully I can update a little more often. There is something about seeing mom on the computer that makes my kids DESPERATELY need my attention.

Our vacation started out on a rough note. The brakes on our van decided that they were on vacation as well - in fact they were retiring. So, while Eric was at the local Rotary meeting, the kids and I hung out in the auto repair shop until my friend Beth could rescue us. It ended up being a great afternoon somehow - hanging out with Beth, Jubal and the George clan. I'm so glad it happened in a place where we had friends to help us and where we knew a reliable and honest mechanic. Thanks to our friend Chris and to Dave's Automotive in Valpo for fitting our repair in so swiftly.

Michael and his buddy Jubal. We were able to help celebrate Jubal's (half)birthday while we were on vacation. We had a great time hanging out with these faithful friends and reconnecting with others from our church during "law school days".

Jonathan managed to get in on the bowling fun as well. He managed to beat both his brothers the first game, of course he had bumpers and they didn't but we aren't going to discount his victory on that technicality.

Burying small children in sand is a favorite activity of Eric's. We had a great time on the beach - it was a little chilly but the "under 10" crowd didn't care. The look on Jonathan's face here tells you exactly what he thought of being submerged in grit! It makes me laugh out loud everytime. I'm telling you - we are NOT nice people!

I said that the kids didn't mind the chilly weather - well Charity was the exception when we made her go wash off all that sand. Lake Michigan is REALLY cold. I don't blame her for being a pansy. It think I might have spent a total of 30 minutes in the water all week (but I got a lot of reading done and my tan was fantastic!)

Eric and his baby brave the water. I can't believe how brown Jonathan got this summer. I really thought that he would be a burn risk all summer but he has tanned up quite nicely. Granted - we were constantly putting sunscreen on him but still, I don't think he got the least bit pink all summer. Yeah me, for once I did it right!

Look at my handsome boys! It doesn't get much better than this.

Going for a spin in Mr. W's Porsche. This car is the definition of a "sweet ride"!

Last day at the beach. I have a picture of Michael and Charity like this last July. It is at times like this that I am struck again by just how much life has changed in one year.

Our last indulgence before returning to real life. There is a large dairy farm off of I-65 that has incredible ice-cream. Eric and I are normally really good and get kid size cones for everybody but this time he and I splurged and got the waffles. Ugh - my stomach was protesting the whole way home but I refuse to regret eating every bite of that cone!

I looked back at one point on our drive home to find my two oldest looking this cool. Rest assured that this picture will resurface when they are about 17 years old!

The day after we got home from vacation we dropped Michael off for a week at camp. I missed him like crazy and life was more than a little weird without him around but we made it. He had a blast and loved spending the week with Mr. Josh and a bunch of his buddies from church. He learned so much about what worship is and we have had several reminders since camp to keep applying what he has learned to real life. He made the decision to follow Jesus about a year or so ago but has been struggling with the idea of being baptized in front of our church. Many people do it in private (Eric and I did) but I really think it is important for Michael to follow Jesus' example and take this step of obedience in public. We are going to let him meet with our 1st-4th grade associate and bounce some of his fears off of her but my guess is he will be getting baptized sometime in the next few months.

Aaahhh fair time! Can't you smell the blue ribbons in the air? Or maybe it's the funnel cakes mixed with the unmistakable odor of the pig barn! Joseph loved working on his Mini 4-H projects. He is a little handy-man in the making and loves to work on stuff so this was right up his alley. I'm not sure he loved making cookies but his pillow was excellent and his model was above reproach!

Hanging out on the golf cart with Little Papa and my favorite niece (yes she's my only one but that is just a minor detail!) Jonathan had had some issues so he didn't GET to go to the fair - this also meant Eric didn't HAVE to go to the fair.

Jonathan did get to join us the next day and decided that he would like to snuggle up with one of the babies. Aren't they sweet!

Michael really enjoys working with the dairy animals. I think he will have a great time in his first year of "real" 4-H next year.

Charity and Hannah (my youngest brother's girlfriend). We LOVE Hannah as is evidenced by the fact that my two youngest yell her name at the top of their lungs EVERY TIME they see her. She seems to love them anyway, what a patient young lady!

I love this picture because this is how I spent MANY hours at the fair when I was a kid. Granted - they aren't playing euchre like I did but still.... Ah, memories!

We did take a break from the fair to take in an Indians game with Eric's family. (Jonathan took turns snuggling with everybody. Here it is with Aunt Laura.) It was a "dollar menu" night which works out well for our family. My kids feel like we spoiled them with ball-park food and Eric's wallet feels like we got out for cheaper than we could at McDonald's! Win-win situation folks!

Oh look, Aunt Teri got in on the action as well. That's okay, she took him home with her after the game so he could eat all the sugar he wanted that night as far as I'm concerned!

I know I'm slightly biased but I just might have 4 of the cutest kids on the planet.

The three older kids took part in the fair's jackpot show on the last Saturday of the fair. They each showed a calf. Charity's heifer was acting crazy but she managed to keep control of her in the ring and came out with the all important ribbon and bag of Skittles.

Joseph and Michael did a great job as well. They are both pretty mild mannered so not much phases them but Joseph's sweet smile caught the Judge's attention and he got second place in the class. This of course annoyed his sister to no end because, "he's never even showed a cow before and he didn't even know what kind of cow she is!" I'm sure what she really meant was, "wow! I'm excited for you, Joseph, and am very proud of your accomplishment and not the least bit jealous that you got $2 with your ribbon and Skittles."

Jonathan played baseball the last 4 Friday's of the summer. He got to play on the major league diamond at the park which made his older brothers jealous. He actually can hit the ball off the tee pretty well. Fielding is another story but he had so much fun and loved getting to do something the other kids had been doing.

This picture cracks me up. We spent the evening at our town pool celebrating the birthdays of 3 of the boys' friends. Jonathan scooted from the kid pool to the sprinkler area and left his version of "foot prints" along the concrete.

My two favorite 2nd graders after a night of swimming. I don't get very many of the two of them together so I nabbed the opportunity!

The end of summer signals the beginning of football season - Michael's favorite time of the year. Michael and Joseph enjoyed football camp with their friends Cameron and Aiden. They are so tough!

The last activity of the summer was a trip to the state fair with some of our friends. We don't get to spend nearly enough time with these great people and so this day was ideal. The weather was beautiful and the kids were behaving, making it a great day!

Little farmers in the making. This area of the fair is my kids' favorite every year. They love walking through each area, collecting their harvest, selling it at the market and then going to the store to "buy" a snack. The lovely green Pioneer Seed hats are just a bonus!

Jonathan and Lucas getting up close and personal with some baby dairy steers. I can't decide who's cuter - the kids or the calf!

This is my favorite picture of the whole summer. We will call it "Back to School Blues". The kids and I had spent the morning buying school supplies and they were exhausted and hungry. I was in line at Subway (conveniently and ingeniously located at the exit of our local Wal-Mart) and looked over to see these happy campers. I don't know why I had my camera on me but I'm so glad I was able to capture this moment for posterity's sake!

Our Summer in Pictures (part 1)

2009-07-16T09:13:00.022-06:00

Michael is at church camp (booooo! In general, I hate it when my kids are gone for more than a few hours) and for the first time in way too long we have absolutely nothing on the calendar for the day today. The fair will be starting next week and we have the kids' mini 4-H projects done (2 days early thank you very much!) If you know me personally you know this already, but for those of you who just know me through my blog I'll let you in on a little secret about me - I am a complete fair rat (who happens to married to a "fair hater")! My dad's side of the family has been producing fair rat's for years and my brothers and I caught the bug as well. (My sister escaped somehow, but even she comes down for at least one day of it.) We were all 10 year 4-H members and Michael will begin his journey in 4-H next year. The kids and I will be at our county's fair nearly every day and while it is my favorite week of the year, it always signals the end of the summer to me. This summer has gone way too quickly and it is just nutty that we start school in 25 short days (another booooo!) With that in mind I thought I would take the day to post a bunch of pictures and just caption our way through the summer. The plan is to do June today and July another day.(This will take me all freakin' day since I have dial-up internet - don't even get me started on how much that irritates me:) But I promise I will be a mother to my children as the pictures take 5 hours to upload.) I know it is a lot of pictures but we just have so much fun and my kids are so stinking cute! My cousin Heather gives me a hard time for saying that my house is in a state of perpetual "play group" but it is really true. We definitely have moments of anger, irritation, and insanity - there is no doubt about that - but with the ankle biters being SO close in age, they can play happily pretty much all day every day - they just switch up who they are playing with when they get annoyed.

Group photo taken after hiking at a local nature park. Eric called me and told me he was coming home early and we were going on a hike. This was the first time we had gone since the boys had been home. It will be challenging figuring out how to do the whole Jonathan thing as they get older but for now he rides on Eric's shoulders and off we go.

Eric hasn't gotten fishing licenses for the kids but on the free fishing weekend we killed some time before a birthday party by fishing. (I'm the official photographer because I don't touch fish or bait so....) Anyway, Michael got the first (and only) catch of the afternoon and his kind father made him "kiss" it before throwing it back.

Aunt Teri takes the kids to the zoo at the beginning of the summer every year. For the past couple of years I have been invited along with the stipulation that I have to be "Aunt Mommy" all day - in other words, not overly concerned about little things like rules and manners. I also have to be WAY more fun than I would be on a normal day. This picture is as we were waiting for the dolphin show to begin. They all want to sit in the splash zone - of course - but inevitably as soon as Charity gets wet, she starts whining about how cold she is. This year was no different and all of us got drenched!

The goats at the zoo (especially this white one) could not get enough of Jonathan's wheel chair. They kept nibbling it and nudging it and basically invading Jonathan's personal space. And I, like the good mother I am, laughed and took pictures of it instead of coming to his rescue!

VBS week at our church is a big deal. Over 800 kids came through the program this year and they always have such a great time. The theme this year was "Treasure Quest" and the week was filled with all kinds of pirate fun and of course learning about God. Michael and Joseph were in the same group and I caught this moment. This especially warms my heart because they had no idea I was standing there. These two are such good buddies and they love each other as brothers should. Again, one year ago we didn't even know we were missing Joseph and Jonathan. Now we can't imagine or remember life without them.

This was the day after the last evening of VBS. The kids had gotten pirate masks the night before and decided to wear them as we did the grocery shopping. Some things just aren't worth arguing about - so here is Michael and 2 pirates eating cookies that they pillaged from the deli.

Jonathan has been taking an adaptive sports class as his PT for the summer. This is him "playing" soccer. He's actually not a bad little goalie - as long as the goals are low to the ground. My kids have decided that when they are playing at home they put Jonathan in one goal and whoever is in the other goal has to sit on the ground too.

Michael's baseball team made it to the league championship game but lost by one run. It was a great game and the boys had a great time. Poor Sam (1st base and pitcher) broke his arm the week the playoffs began so he had to miss out, but he was there every game cheering his team on!

This isn't a great picture but the evidence on Jonathan's face makes me laugh - Smores! We have three large trees in our yard that drop sticks with each stiff wind. We throw these in the portable fireplace, get out the newspaper and lighter and have a grand 'ol time getting all chocolatey and marshmallowey.

Joseph had never encountered lightning bugs in real life. One night we were good parents and let them stay up until 10:00 (that's when it is finally dark at our house in June) so that they could catch some. Classic summer fun!

Another week, another VBS. The church down the road - which happens to be the church I went to as a kid and a large chunk of my extended family still attends - had their VBS the week after ours. It ran Sunday through Thursday evenings with the closing Program on Friday. Michael enjoyed being chosen to help share with the parents what they had learned that week at "Crocodile Dock". The kids had a great time and Eric and I enjoyed the 2 hours to ourselves for those 5 evenings. I wonder if there are any more that I could ship them off to....

My friend Beth says that Eric and I haven't raised kids - we've raised fish. My kids would live in the pool if we would let them and luckily Michael and Charity can swim very well. When the Ukrainian kids were being hosted this summer we attended a pool party/cookout where we got to visit with the families a little bit and most importantly let the kids be kids. Charity wasn't content to go down the water slide like you're supposed to. Head first is way more fun!

This is Grace. She came home from Ukraine about 3 weeks after our kids did. She really loves Jonathan and he can't get enough of her. Every time we see them those two pair up and pretty much ignore everyone else. My boy has good taste! She's beautiful - inside and out!

Charity attended church camp at the end of June. She was gone for 2 nights and had a great time. She didn't have to be there until 6pm and we only live an hour away so all day she was on pins and needles, antsy to get going.

Umm, aren't you supposed to fall asleep on the way HOME from camp? All that anticipating apparently got the best of her as she fell asleep about 30 minutes into our drive TO camp.

Bunking beside her buddy Mariah with Mom nowhere to be found - what could be better? Oh I know! She's a picky eater and so I asked her about the food at camp and her response was, "Great - we got dessert at every meal and it didn't matter if I ate my real food or not!" That's my girl!

The camp missionary for the summer was from Italy and he taught the kids a funked up version of "Jesus Loves Me" in Italian which the kids performed for us when we came to pick them up. As I walked up to the cabin to pick up my precious darling daughter she came running up to me and yelled, "What are YOU doing here?!" That's love ladies and gentleman!

Each kid was given a certificate at the end of camp by their group leader that expressed appreciation for an outstanding character trait that the child had exhibited over the week. It's awful to admit, but this kind of stuff always makes me cringe when it comes to Charity. We love her dearly but that girl keeps us on our toes. One day she is all sweetness and light and the next she is doing her best impression of the spawn of satan. (Not in a clinical sense - she isn't bipolar, just strong willed.) I never know which Charity is going to show up for me and so I cringe when someone else begins to talk about her. I have to say, they pegged her very well. She got an award for Leadership, which is accurate. We have always said she will either be in prison or president, she will lead the chain-gang or the country. Either way, watch out America!

My mom will not like that I put this one up but I just love it! She loves my kids so well and is a HUGE part of their lives. She has been up north with my grandmother for the past couple weeks and we are missing her terribly!

Jonathan loves playing with bubbles so I broke down and bought a bubble machine for him. The other kids love it as well of course so let the hours of bubbly fun commence.

This year our church held it's annual volunteer celebration/thank you day at an Indianapolis Indians game. Our family sat with several families from our small group and some of our long-time friends. We had a great time and the Indians won in the 10th inning. I was a good mom and got sunscreen put on all the kids - forgot to put it on myself. I paid for it as I sat in the shade and wore a hat at the pool the next day to keep from adding to the sunburn I had received. The above picture is a chunk of the kids from the aforementioned families - Charity is the odd man out as there was only one other girl in our little group. The story of her life.

Joseph and our buddy Jordan enjoying the game while listening to some tunes. We have been blessed with great friends who also have great kids. Jordan is the kind of teenager I hope my boys will emulate. He is kind and respectful and will carry on a real conversation with adults. At the same time he jumps right in there to wrestle around with the other boys. Love that kid!

So there you have it - the month of June. July will be coming in a few weeks with all the lovely fair pictures that have yet to be taken. Pray for my marriage as Eric and I duke it out again this year over the amount of time the kids and I spend at the fairgrounds - fair hater!! :) I love the man dearly. It's too bad he has that one BIG problem!

Hanging out on a beautiful day

2009-06-29T19:09:00.007-06:00

Today we spent the day with 3 other families from my "pledge class" (this is what I call the people who hosted at the same time as we did.) We've each brought home kids within the past six months and today was the first time we've been able to get together with all the kids (the last one just came home last week!) 3 of the kids are from the same orphanage and it was fun for them to get to see each other again and for the moms to just hang out by the pool and enjoy watching our kids play and reflecting back on the process that each of us took to bring home our children. The timeline, challenges, and process was different for everyone but our joys now are the same.

I love this picture - every kid on this bench is one or ours. Oh the fun we will have!

Jonathan and Lukas hanging out at their neighborhood pool. Lukas takes good care of him and Jonathan wants to live at their house so "my friend Lukas would be my brother."

Michael, Charity and Joseph refuel after swimming for awhile. Joseph has pretzels hanging out of his mouth. The kid can't hardly take a normal picture to save his life. He's a ham with very sensitive eyes so he's either being goofy or squinting!

This little cutie is Lucas - the last of the crew to arrive from Ukraine. He is such a joy and a little spitfire. God has placed him in the perfect family. It is amazing to see individual family traits coming out in these kids that were born several thousand miles away from their "forever families." God is so amazing!

One year ago....

2009-06-10T12:47:00.011-06:00

As I began looking forward to this summer I naturally started looking at pictures from last summer to see where we have been. I can’t believe what a difference a year has made in our family. First there was Michael – he was missing his top 2 teeth and looking cute as a button. He was also looking forward to his 1st time at church camp, and I was mourning the fact that he was going (some things don’t change!)

Charity had super long hair and was still spending a lot of time in that preschool mentality. She was dreading reading and we were worried how she would act for her 1st grade teacher. (Unfounded worries, thank goodness! It was a great school year and she loves to read now!)

Perhaps the biggest difference was that we were missing two yahoos – and didn’t even realize it. We decided in early July 2008 to host a little boy from Ukraine and he changed our lives.

There’s no way to fully explain how we feel about our Andriy (even though he probably has an Italian name now). We loved him dearly and I still miss him and think of him often. I’m sure I’ll always wonder how he is doing, if he is happy and most importantly – if he knows Jesus. I would love nothing more than to see this little guy in heaven with me. At the same time it breaks my heart to pieces to think of never meeting Joseph and Jonathan. I am their mom in name, function, and in my heart. It seems like they have been with us forever. (Just don’t ask where the accents come from and I can’t explain the lack of baby pictures: ) ) It is obvious that God had these little ones picked out for us from the get go and he used our wonderful hosting experience and the heartache that followed, to teach His fearful daughter (that would be me) to just hold on to him and let go of everything else. What a lesson and what a blessing. So, one year ago we began to think of our family this way:

And today it looks like this (only more tan and with shorter hair on the boys - and probably a ponytail on me. Apparently I need a more recent family photo!)

I’m scared to imagine what this year may hold even as the next group of Ukrainian kids comes over. We have 2 families from our church that have decided to host kids this summer. There is also another family from our town who will be having an orphan staying with them for the 3 weeks. Eric and I have agreed to act as mentors for 2 families as they enter the exciting, busy, terrifying and fun world of hosting. If any of these families decide to pursue adoption from Ukraine after their hosting experience then we will follow them through that process as well. Our experience is anything but typical - from hosting to the day the boys came home was 5 months! - but we learned a lot about the process in those 5 months and more importantly we learned a lot about trusting in the ultimate adoptive parent - God. (For a great book on this subject try Adopted For Life by Russell D. Moore.)

Summer is here!

2009-06-04T07:36:00.008-06:00

Jonathan, Joseph, Charity and our cousin Alida at Michael's game last night. It was a bit chilly for a June game in Indiana but they pulled off a win and a good time was had by all.

I love the summer! I hate the humidity and heat but I love having my kids at home and the freedom to just hang around and be “us”. The past few weeks have been busy ones but we’ve had some laughs and we’re ready for the slower pace that the summer brings.
Eric and I ended up going to the Indy 500 this year and had a great time. It is insane that we live as close to the track as we do and neither of us had been to the race – especially since we really enjoy the racing (me more as a tagalong fan. I’m blindly loyal to a team or driver and out of love for my husband have chosen all of his favorites for my own. I like Danica though and he really doesn’t – but she races for the right team and was the only Andretti-Green driver with a shot after the first half of the 500. Poor Marco and TK.) Eric was bummed because his favorite driver (Marco Andretti) was knocked into the wall on turn 2 of the first lap and after that it just seemed like every other driver he likes was having trouble. It’s hard to let it ruin the day though with all those fast cars zooming by. We sat behind the pits and were able to see turns 1 and 4 as well as the main straightaway and a lot of pit action. We had perfect weather and really enjoyed the day. Eric’s sister came and stayed with the kids for the day so they had a blast as well – thanks Aunt Laura.
This is my cousin Heather and I before the race. Fun times!

Jonathan had his preschool graduation on the last day of school. He was only in the class for 6 weeks but he had so much fun and loved his teachers. I know he’s going to miss them this summer. He was a complete and utter cheese-ball during the actual ceremony and I was about ready to throttle him but over all it was a fun afternoon. Jonathan cheesing it on graduation day.

We celebrated the last day of school with Charity’s “friend” birthday party. She invited her whole class plus some girls from her soccer team and her class last year over for a cookout and some capture the flag. The evening ended up being on the cool side with a threat of rain up until party time but the 21 kids had a great time and so did the birthday girl. Charity waits for her guests to arrive on her birthday.

On Sunday my crazy kids decided they should go swimming at my mom’s house. Apparently the fact that the water was a chilly 72 degrees at the top was not a big deal. I got cold just watching them but Charity and Joseph were in for at least 20 minutes. Jonathan got pulled out after half an hour and Michael swam for about an hour or more and got back in the next day too. They are nuts!

Michael on the inaugural swim in Grandma's pool.

Michael is still playing baseball and Jonathan will have OT/PT once a week but for the most part we have nothing on the calendar on a regular basis for the next few months. We have put the chore chart away for the summer and instead have instituted the 2nd annual Super Summer Challenge. I went to a workshop at the Hearts at Home conference on this topic in March of ’08 and decided to give it a try. I basically print out a list of chores/goals for each of the kids to accomplish. I set a point value for each task and give them a total goal to reach before school begins in the fall. If/when everyone reaches their goal before the first day of school, we then plan a trip for Labor Day weekend. (Last year we went to Mammoth Cave.) They also earn money as they reach milestones along the way. (During the school year they earn commission for completing their chore chart. This money replaces that “income” for them.) Michael and Charity had a blast with it last year and it motivates them to do some of the stuff that they would normally complain about. Yes, I know it’s shocking, my perfect angels occasionally have fits of whining! It also fights the “I’m bored” battle. Rule number 1 of the SSC is you can’t use the “b” word. Today is day one of the Super Summer Challenge and so far I have gotten the laundry folded (6 loads!) and hung up, the sticks picked up in the yard, and the two older boys have each spent 45 minutes weeding the garden. Charity has yet to join in the fun (she has to finish writing thank-you notes from her birthday party before she can begin) but I’m sure by this afternoon she will be earning points as well. Now before you all think I’m breaking child labor laws, I should point out that they can also earn points for going to church camp and VBS, reading, doing puzzles, running, working on 4-H projects, etc. Jonathan earned a point this morning for coloring for 15 minutes. I don’t expect motivation to stay this high but we’re off to a great start!

Soccer is over!!!

2009-05-22T19:01:00.005-06:00

The Sharks celebrate the end of a great season.

Joseph in goal. He is so incredibly intense when he is on the field.

Riding on the cart at the plant farm. This was always the favorite thing to do for my brothers, sister and I as well.

Joseph and Michael at 2nd grade field day. Joseph was an honorary second grader for a day and loved every minute of it!

Well, we are half-way done with spring sports. Soccer was finished on Tuesday. Joseph and Charity’s team went undefeated (not that anybody keeps score) but had a dismal showing in the jamboree. Their team only scored one goal. (The winning team scored 4 goals by 3 different players.) Both kids had great seasons though. Joseph is pretty competitive and very intense on the field. He is kind of like a cheetah – can run very fast for a little bit but tires quickly. We need to work on his stamina. He scored a handful of goals over the season so I think he was pleased. He says he’s playing “American football” in the fall and baseball next spring so we’ll see – this may have been his one and only foray onto the soccer field. He seemed to really enjoy it but that also seems to be the case with all other sports – except basketball. For some reason he has NO interest in playing basketball. That’s almost a crime in Indiana so we’ll see how long it takes him to cave to peer pressure. I personally don’t care if none of the kids play a winter sport. I like the peace and quiet of the winter months but as athletic and active as they are, I can’t imagine it will stay that way. Charity had a great soccer season. She scored 3 goals – the most ever for her and actually appeared to begin to understand the game a little bit. She has a tough time standing still and so soccer is a great sport for her. (It also means I don’t have any pictures of her – they are all blurry. Even when she is in the goal she is dancing around.) She also has very little fear and will get right in the mix no matter who she is up against. If we can get her a little more power and some control we may make a soccer player out of her yet. (This breaks my heart since soccer is pretty much my least favorite sport to watch – besides boxing – but I’ll suck it up for my darling daughter’s sake!) Towards the end of the season it started to look like soccer and not “magnet ball” which is pretty impressive for a U8 team.
With the end of soccer though comes the beginning of summer! We have planted the garden and are beginning to see some seedlings. The kids have had their last field trips and spent this week enjoying field day and kickball tournaments (Joseph even managed to finagle his way into the fun with Michael’s class for those 2 activities!). Just 3 more days of school. And Charity’s birthday is just around the corner (her mother’s too but I’m at an age where we can conveniently forget that – as long as I still get presents and a chocolate or DQ cake! Actually my friend Erin makes an awesome Kahlua cake that sounds pretty good right now too.)
Michael is still in the middle of baseball season. It’s been a good season so far and we’ve seen a lot of improvement in Michael’s skill level. It’s amazing what a difference one year makes. He’s such a good kid and I don’t brag on him enough. He is fairly athletic but more importantly he is a good sport and a good friend. I love to watch his heart as he plays. The season will be over the second week of June and I’m looking forward to the down time. Of course Jonathan starts soccer and baseball the first week of June so I guess I’m just dreaming. He is taking an adaptive sports class as his OT/PT for the summer. He is really excited and I’m hoping he has a great time. It has been tough for him to watch the others play this spring but his day is coming! As he gets better in his chair his options will expand as well. We’ll get there little man, we’ll get there!

We have not fallen off the face of the Earth...

2009-04-14T13:13:00.011-06:00

but it has been a whirlwind of a month. I can't lay my finger on what has kept me from my computer but I do know I haven't had more than a spare minute or two to check my email a couple of times a week, let alone spend time on my beloved blog. I've been trying to figure out the best way to tackle this post after being "away" for nearly a month and I think I'll just do a quick update on each of the kiddos and go from there.

Michael has started baseball practice and is surprisingly improved from last season. As discussed I’m sure in previous posts, football is his game of preference by far and every other sport he has played has suffered because of his devotion to tackling! The strange thing about this kid though is that he’s our cautious one and therefore, in past seasons has had a hard time getting over his fear of the baseball. Luckily, he is on a young team this year and has been expected to show some leadership and has stepped up to the plate like a champ – literally and figuratively. It will probably be a dismal season as far as our record goes but I’m just proud of the report I’m getting from his coach (aka dad) on the progress we are seeing on the bravery front. They’ve even had him pitching some which is a far cry from the outfield of the past 2 seasons.
I had a sad moment with him last week. We went to the birthday party of one of my cousin’s daughters. She was turning 7 and so our whole gang pitched in to help her celebrate (and pull off the party with 18 kids!) Michael and Alida decorated (see above) for the party but as the afternoon went on Michael got sulkier and sulkier. Apparently my 8 year old boy is too old for girl parties anymore. He’s such a sweet and sensitive boy that I’m surprised it came this quickly but there was no doubt that he wanted nothing to do with all those “little” kids. Eight doesn’t sound that old, but I’m seeing it more each day – my little boy is growing up. (sniff)

Joseph has had several “firsts” in the past month. Over spring break Jonathan had an appointment as Shriner’s hospital in Lexington (more on that later). Because nobody had school we decided we would all go and make a mini-vacation of it. Eric’s sister, Teri, had the week off as well so we suckered her into going with us as well. When we got to our hotel the kids immediately wanted to go swimming. Now we had a pretty good idea that Joseph had never been swimming in his life (even though he grew up on the Black Sea) but Mr. Modest was convinced that he could swim so we sat back and watched as he jumped in the pool – and promptly sank like a rock. (Eric was in the pool and it was only 4’6” – no worries.) The surprise on his face was priceless. He was completely SHOCKED that he couldn’t swim. He knew all the motions, it made perfect sense to him that he would jump in and be an Olympic swimmer in no time! He’s a determined little bugger so after some coaching from Aunt Teri the next day he was able to show us that he is no longer at risk for drowning at any given moment – he can at least get to the side of the pool. He also started playing organized soccer this month. Again, he was convinced he would be the best player on the field (his modesty is astounding) and this time met with a little more success. While he wasn’t the best player by any stretch of the imagination, he at least was able to handle the ball and was able to figure out how to get his body to do what he wants it to. We have our first game on Saturday so we’ll see how it goes. He is continuing to make progress with his English. He understands almost everything that is said to him and speaks almost entirely in English. He uses short 2-5 word sentences but is beginning to use more adjective, adverbs, and pronouns. He’s also started using the proper tenses and corrects himself if he hears himself say something wrong. His reading is coming along nicely and he should be ready for second grade in the fall. His goofiness comes out more and more each day. He loves to make us laugh and will try anything to get that reaction. He’s also figuring out what to avoid in order to get the opposite reaction! For all his silliness he is a good boy and enjoys being good so he really tries hard to avoid annoying us.

Charity continues on as normal. She loves school but has her fair share of “girl drama”. I didn’t realize just how early that stuff starts. Granted, she’s a little on the dramatic side anyway so we’ll attribute some of it to that. She is playing soccer again this spring. She and Joseph are on the same team and she loves having him there. She gets a kick out of dancing around on the field. It’s a very good sport for her because there is very little standing around. She has adjusted very well to having 3 brothers and holds her own amidst their chaos.

Jonathan has had quite a month. As stated earlier we went to Shriner’s at the beginning of the month. We were able to meet with the ortho doctor and see PT as well. After taking x-rays we had our talk with the orth doctor. He explained a lot to us and was extremely helpful. Unfortunately it is his opinion that Jonathan is not a good candidate for surgery. Apparently as these AMC kids grow, their joints want to return to their “natural state”. He had surgery a little over a year ago to straighten out his feet but they have already reverted enough that he can’t wear his braces anymore because his feet are no longer at a 90 degree angle. The doctor said he was willing to get aggressive if we wanted him to but there is not a high likelihood of success and any results would very likely be temporary. As we talked to him we came to the agreement that we didn’t want to put Jonathan through that ordeal at this time, so – he is now a wheel-chair kid. God provides in such amazing ways. Shriner’s pays for medical care at their hospitals but wheelchairs are not covered. Occasionally they get one donated that will fit one of their patients. The OT left us to go check “upstairs” for us on the off-chance that they had one. She came back about 5 minutes later wheeling this cute little black chair and we were off and rolling. What an answer to prayer. I haven’t done any research into custom chairs but I don’t even want to know how much we would have had to pay to get him what he needed. We will be returning to Lexington on May 8th to meet with the hand doctor. It is a wonderful hospital and we couldn’t have been happier with the way we were treated. They really took their time with us and made sure we had all our questions answered. We never felt rushed and they obviously love taking care of kids. It is a beautiful campus too which is a nice bonus.
Jonathan also started attending the developmental pre-school in our local elementary 2 afternoons a week. He really enjoys it and will be getting OT and PT through them as well. We registered him for kindergarten too. My house will be empty again (at least ½ day) in just a few short months. It’s amazing how quickly I’ve gotten used to the chaos.

Moving up in the world

2009-03-17T05:02:00.005-06:00

Charity and Jonathan - I tried to post one of MJ and Joseph too but it wouldn't load so...they'll have to wait until next time! Also, this picture has nothing to do with this post but it was too cute, I had to share it!

Well we’re moving up in the world. Joseph decided that he has had enough of training wheels. I had a feeling they were just a crutch for him anyway but yesterday I made time out of my busy schedule to take them off for him. (You know, it takes all of a minute and a half to complete the job, with the first minute spent figuring out what size socket I needed on the wrench.) I told him to go for it and then I went inside to do more stuff since I’m not really an outside kind of girl. He and Charity came inside to play about 5 minutes later. I wasn’t really paying too much attention to them because Michael was in the middle of homework. I kicked the kids back outside when Michael was done and told Joseph to go learn how to ride that bike. He looked at me like I had grown horns and told me he already knew how to ride it. I fully admit that I was skeptical so I followed him outside and sure enough – the kid rides like he’s been doing it all his life. He’s still a little shaky on stopping and he’s got what Eric refers to as the “orphan curse” – aka, no fear – so he rides really fast. Not necessarily a pretty combination, so I think we’ll avoid the road for a little while longer but it looks like we now have 3 real bike riders. Jonathan, it seems, can ride a tricycle too. This is the bribe that his OT and PT are both using to get him to work hard for them. He’s gained a lot of strength since he’s been home and he’s gaining more and more ability to steer. He needs about one more inch in his legs and he would have no problems with the tricycle at the hospital. His feet keep slipping off the pedals. We had gotten rid of all of our tricycles before moving back home after law school so now we have to add that to our arsenal of wheeled toys in the garage. What joy! In the winter they don’t bother me that much but this time of year becomes hazardous and mom gets rather annoyed. Every time I get ready to pull my van in or out of the garage I have to do a perimeter check to ensure I don’t run over anything. The kids are pretty good about putting their wheeled arsenal back in the garage when they are done playing but they don’t necessarily take the time to put them away safely and while theoretically I would like to let life teach them a lesson or two about what happens when cars and kid toys meet, I really don’t want to deal with the whining and imagined “trauma” that would ensue if I actually ran over one of the stupid things. (Don’t tell my kids that I just used the “s” word!) I can only imagine what it will look like when they are actually on the things every waking hour. I now know how people can have 4-car garages and all their cars sit in the driveway. It’s not because of adult stuff – it’s because of kid paraphernalia.

P.S. Sorry the pics don’t match the post but my camera had to be sent off for service. I’m going through serious withdraw and the fact that I didn’t get any pics of Joseph yesterday is messing with my “mommy guilt” gene.

Hanging in there

2009-03-06T13:30:00.006-06:00

Jonathan looking cool in the dentist's chair.

Charity enjoying spring weather. This time of year drives me bonkers. I'm so ready for spring and they just keep teasing me with warm days and then a week later we have snow!

Michael and Joseph paging through fishing magazines as we wait for - get this - a doctor's appointment! (Actually I think it was x-rays, but whatever - we were waiting!)

Okay, so life with 4 kids can certainly never be described as boring. As mentioned in a previous post, we are in the midst of many doctor’s appointments right now. Most of them are for Jonathan but we’ve had a few other one sprinkled in here and there as well. Charity failed her vision screening at school – 3 times – so we took her to the eye doctor fully expecting to walk out with a child in glasses. Yeah right – the girl has 20/15 vision so I don’t know what went on with her and the screenings at school. She also caught strep throat last week and this week developed some wheezing and coughing so we were at the pediatrician for her a couple of times and have added antibiotics and breathing treatments to our “to do” list. Jonathan continues with PT and OT once a week each and we have met with several other doctors/therapists to try to establish a base line and figure out what direction we need to head in with his care. We have an appointment with Shriner’s Hospital in Lexington on April 2nd. We’re hoping to get a majority of his care there. Several surgeries have been suggested by the specialists at Riley so we’ll see what we end up doing. Obviously we will still continue the PT and OT at our home hospital and school but if we are looking at any surgeries and new braces then it would be wonderful to get that taken care of through Shriners. We met with Special Services at our school last week and Jonathan was evaluated by the school’s OT and PT on Wednesday. There is a small chance that he will begin attending the developmental pre-school a day or two a week this year but my real goal at this point is to have his IEP in place so that we can hit the ground running with Kindergarten in the fall. Both new boys are picking up English rapidly. They understand a ton and speak quite a bit in English/Russian mixed sentences. Joseph and I have started reading lessons and they are going well. I’ve learned through this time that I am not cut out to be a home schooling mom. It’s so hard for me to get these 15 minute lessons in during the day. I don’t know how people do it long term and with more than one kid at a time. One of the biggest challenges with it is getting Jonathan involved in something else while we have our lesson. I really don’t want him learning to read yet (academic boredom in Kindergarten would not be a good thing) and I know he would pick it up very quickly if I would let him. I may just have to suck it up and let the kid read so that his older brother will learn it too. Michael and Charity continue to adjust well. Charity has moments when she feels like the odd-man out but that’s to be expected and she gets over it pretty quickly. The four of them tend to pair up by age but Michael and Joseph have started arguing once in a while and they don’t play with each other exclusively anymore. I know it is a little backwards to want the arguing but I really want them to act more like brothers and less like best friends. I’m a little concerned that Joseph will be upset when he realizes that he is a grade below Michael since he’s been SO attached to him. They are playing different sports this spring so that should help in the separation as well as help Joseph find his place in the family. I see the lost look on his face at times and I want to reassure him that with time everything will make sense. He’s a good kid and loves our family and living in America. Every day he tells me a little bit more about his life in Sevastopol and makes it clear how happy he is to be away from there. Being an orphan is no fun – even when you are adequately cared for. That’s not to say there haven’t been “moments.” A couple of weeks ago he was irritated at us because we had run errands and stuff all day and then had to come home and work too. At dinner that night he told us that his name wasn’t the name we had given him – it was the name on his birth certificate. For the rest of the night he insisted (when he remembered) on being called “Roma”. The next morning he thought it was hilarious and we were able to tease him about it so...life goes on as normal, one small event at a time.

International Adoption Clinic

2009-02-08T14:17:00.002-06:00

The boys both had their appointments at Riley on Wednesday. This children’s hospital in Indianapolis runs an international adoption clinic. The boys each met with a developmental pediatrician who is familiar with difficulties that these children may have faced as well as medical issues that may be common to their country of origin. They also provided a translator so the boys knew exactly what was going and could voice any concerns they had. It was a great appointment and one I am glad we took the time to attend. Joseph has gained about 5 lbs since he’s been with us and has grown ½ an inch. Jonathan has gained 2 lbs too. It is amazing what a stable environment can provide. I have to say that both boys were cared for in the orphanages. They were fed regular meals with fruits and vegetables every day. They had appropriate clothing and shoes and led very structured lives. Jonathan was truly loved as well, but apparently being “home” is all they needed to really thrive. Dr. Keck was pleased with their health and didn’t see any issues of concern. We received orders for blood work, got stuck for their TB tests and were on our merry little way. After discussing it with Dr. Keck we decided that both boys will just repeat all of their vaccinations. We have no records of what (if any) they have received and so we will just start over. We had their blood work done on Friday. (I had to collect stool samples for each of them as well. That is NOT an experience I want to repeat!) Joseph – as usual – was a trooper and hardly made a peep as they took the 5 vials of blood they needed. Jonathan on the other hand, threw a big enough tantrum for 8 kids! I understand it’s no fun being stuck and seeing all that blood leaving your body. I’m not a big fan of it myself. The thing is, he has had tons of surgeries and so you know this is not new to him. I think a majority of the issue was that it was at nap time and he was exhausted. I felt bad for the poor phlebotomists who had to stick him though. It took 4 of us to get the job done. What an ordeal. He’s only 33 pounds and his mobility is limited but he gave mom a workout that day!
After picking up Michael and Charity from school we then went to have the TB tests read. Unfortunately they came back positive so we had to have chest x-rays done and then read. That took a little over an hour and then we had to go back to our pediatrician to see what we needed to do next. Luckily the chest x-rays were clear and so neither of the boys had to be put in isolation (understatement of the year) but they are on an antibiotic for the next 6 months. The plus side is they should never have to be tested for TB again since they are already carriers and will have been treated for it. The antibiotics also turn their urine bright orange – which for an 8 and 5 year old boy is a pretty cool thing!
We go to Riley again on Monday to meet with the ortho doctor about Jonathan. I don’t know if this is a consultation appointment only or if they will actually be taking x-rays and stuff too. Hopefully after we have met with him we will have a clearer picture of what we are dealing with.

So much fun

2009-01-31T16:57:00.006-06:00

Michael, Joseph, and his friend Carl wrestle around on the big mat.Joseph, Andrew (came home Jan 18th) and Carl.
Jonathan and his "older woman", Grace (came home on Jan 18)
Family picture time - check out the matching Purdue hats!
The Sevastopol kids.

We were able to spend the afternoon with a bunch of kids from Ukraine (and their adopted families) today. What a great afternoon! Many of these families had never met us but had heard our story and vice-versa. Joseph was able to reconnect with some of his friends from the orphanage and Jonathan made a friend in a beautiful "older woman" who just came home about 3 weeks ago. I think one of the best parts of this adoption process (besides bringing the yahoos home of course) has been the wonderful people we've met. It's invaluable having people to talk to who have been through the things we have and who have insight and wisdom. I love that these families invited us to join them today and that they welcomed us with open arms. We were especially excited for Joseph to reconnect with one of his best friends from the orphanage. Carl came home to Ohio from Sevastopol about a year or so ago. Apparently he has been telling his mom and dad that they needed to go back to Ukraine to bring home Roma. Imagine his excitement when he found out that Roma DID get to come to America! They were reunited today and after an initial warm-up period on Joseph's part, they had a good time wrestling around and playing like 8-year old boys. I love that we were able to give the boys a taste of home today. Most of the time they do great but I know there are moments when they are sick to death of hearing English and long for someone who understands every word they say. Again, what a blessing these families are to us.

Snow Days

2009-01-29T14:08:00.010-06:00

He even has to look cool in the dentist's chair!
Yes, I really did wrap my son's hands and feet in Kroger bags and painters tape (we are out of duct tape). It kept the kid dry and for once he could be outside without Mom!
Dream on boys - we are NOT buying you a snowmobile!
Charity and Hannah wait for Uncle Brian to bring back Hannah's snowmobile (it rides smoother) so that Charity can take a turn.Jonathan and Uncle Brian. The goggles are as big as Jonathan's face but he LOVED that he got to ride too!
Michael and Joseph getting ready for rides on the snowmobile.

Well, we have had two snow days in a row. The kids are loving it but they are getting on their mom's last nerve. The three older ones can't get along for 5 minutes to save their lives. You would think with the amount of building materials (Knex, legos, lincoln logs, magnetix, etc) we have in this house that they could figure out some way to play peacefully for a while but apparently that is asking too much. There is never enough for each of them to have every piece they want. I'm tempted to toss them all out the door - kids included - and let them back in the house after the spring thaw! I also can't seem to keep up with the house when they are all home. I haven't been able to put my finger on the reason or the solution yet. I just know that Eric is going to be irritated when he gets home again tonight because the house will look like it has been ransacked by short people - oh wait, that is exactly what has happened. Maybe I'll just make them pick up one hour before he gets home and then I'll tie them to chairs. Of course I'll have to gag them because the whining and yelling will be more than this mom can take. Boy, I sound pretty violent! Please don't call CPS, I promise I would never harm one of these angels with the crooked halos. I think I just need a nap. The yahoos are so accustomed to their school schedule that even on snow days they are up before 6:30. That is NOT sleeping in.
In other news, we continue to check things off our list as far as the boys and their medical "stuff" goes. Joseph went to the dentist this week (thanks for seeing him John) and we were pleasantly surprised that he only had one cavity. There are some enamel issues to watch and we need to talk to an orthodontist about spacing but overall it is much better than we had feared. Jonathan had PT/OT this week as well. He did great but it was a long afternoon. He will be going back for each every week but we have scheduled them on different days in order to get the most out of him before he is too tired to cooperate. Thank goodness we aren't dealing with school for him yet. I can't imaging working that hard after being in school all day too. The first visit was mostly an evaluation. I can't tell you much about the PT part of it because we really need to talk to the ortho people before we have any kind of prognosis but the OT girl was thrilled and impressed with my little trooper. She said she see a lot of potential which did wonders for this mommy's heart. I just want this precious little one to accomplish everything he wants to do and be able to get in there on the same level as his brothers and sister. I'm going to be completely transparent here and tell you that having a "special needs" child has always been one of my biggest fears. There are so many things that fed this fear but ultimately they didn't matter. God began working in my heart from the moment we saw the pics of this little guy in the Ukrainian SDA office and he continues to shower us with blessing in the form of little Jonathan. Sometimes my heart catches when I think of what we would have been missing out on if we would have said "no" and left him there as other (Italian) families had done before us. I'm so glad that I actually listened to that still small voice and trusted God and His promises. The Bible tells us to care for widows and orphans in their distress and our Jonathan certainly fits the bill. I know God has had and will continue to have his hand on this child. I can't wait to see what He is going to do in his life.

Poor Jonathan

2009-01-23T10:22:00.002-06:00

I don't often pity our youngest child. Yes he has some disabilities, but he is such a happy child and can pretty much do what he wants to do so I kind of "forget" about his limitations. The weather the past couple of days has made me feel a little bad for the poor kid though. He hasn't been able to go out to play with the others and it makes him so sad it breaks my heart. I try to make it up to him by playing with him or putting in a movie but he just wants to be out with his big brothers and sister. Even the dog ditches him for the great outdoors. I'm dreading the first big snow (where it isn't in the -degrees). He's going to hate that he can only be out if I'm with him. The shape of his feet make it very hard to find shoes as well so when it is cold he can't be out long. I'm hoping that the doctors can point us in the right direction and keep that beautiful smile on my boy's face. (Speaking of smiles, the bottom tooth got knocked out in the orphanage a few days before Eric picked him up. Apparently it had been loose though because the new one is coming in already - surprise!)

Let the (medical) fun begin!

2009-01-21T15:23:00.002-06:00

So I took the kids to their pediatrician last week. Everything looks good on the surface. They are both small for their age - which we knew - but they appear very healthy. A Russian-speaking dentist is high on the list of priorities for Joseph and we will be starting OT and PT with Jonathan on Monday. Both boys go to Riley in a couple of weeks for their international adoption clinic and then Jonathan goes back on the 9th to see their ortho doctor. We will follow it all up with another visit to the pediatrician on the 11th to pull everything together and come up with a plan of attack for Jonathan. We are really hopeful that with therapy he will gain quite a bit more independence. He is only 31 pounds right now so lifting him is not a problem but in a year or two I'm going to have to start training to be a professional weight lifter in order keep up with him. And to be completely honest - if it is possible I would like to get out of having to be involved in the toilet process! : ) We have a child's toilet that he can use but he can't pull his own pants down or empty the potty so...yeah for me, I get toilet duty. For some reason the kid LOVES the bathroom and would go every 1/2 hour if I would let him - so I'm sure he is antsy to be able to go without mom's help as well - then he can go whenever he feels like it.
We still continue to adjust well. The boys are doing great and really starting to understand a lot of English. They aren't speaking as much of it but they pick up a word or two every day. Joseph and Michael continue to be the best of friends which is trying at times. They get very riled up and our house is so small that it just seems to be magnified. Joseph also tends to exclude Charity which goes over like a ton of bricks so we're working on it. Most of the time having 4 isn't much different than having 2. (Just don't ask me about that at dinner time or when I'm folding laundry - again!) I think it helps that they are old enough to do a lot of stuff on their own. They play really well together and are very helpful around the house. They keep us laughing too. I think we're going to have our hands full when this group becomes teenagers.
The other night we went to a chili supper for some friends of ours who are adopting from Ukraine and hoping to travel in May. It was a great evening of fellowship, worship and sharing. Their church has gathered them in and supported them like nothing I have ever seen. I love to see God's people acting like we are supposed to and these people are living it out! Many of the other families that we have met through this adoption journey were at this event as well. Most of the adopted kids (all but one of them are girls) were from Sevastopol and so Joseph recognized a few of them. One in particular had his attention and he had hers as well - I have the "love notes" to prove it! I am SO not ready for this!

Our new "normal"

2009-01-08T20:02:00.010-06:00

You don't have to speak English to love the antics of Bob, Larry and all the other Veggies!
One of Jonathan's many funny faces.
The two sick ones at Eric's dad's Christmas.
The two healthy ones in the same moment as above. Note the difference in energy levels!
Joseph's favorite birthday gift - cold hard cash!
Jonathan making sure he got his share of fudge on his birthday cake/ice-cream combo.
The happy couple - 10 years later!

Well the kids have been with us for 2 weeks as of yesterday, and what a 2 weeks it has been! We’ve survived 4 Christmases (not the movie!), New Years, 2 birthdays and our 10 year anniversary – which we celebrated early by taking a one month trip to Europe and dinner locally at a great little place in a nearby town. New Year’s Eve was spent hanging out with some of our best friends. We had a great time just playing cards, watching the kids run amok and trying to pick up new songs on Wii Rock Band. We’ve been incredibly blessed to land in two wonderful small groups over our tenure at our church. The friendships that I made in the first one and am making in the latest one are so important to me and I’m extremely blessed to count you guys as friends – and not just the facebook kind of friend! Okay, enough of the sentiment!

Joseph’s birthday is the same day as our anniversary. Poor kid didn’t get much of a birthday with it being just a week after they had come home. But, we had small group for church that night, so he got to play with all the kids, got lots of extra hugs and kisses, a few presents and a yummy banana cake. This also meant that we had to keep Jonathan’s birthday low key as well (which quite frankly is fine with me!) Next year they will have made friends and I’ll do the whole sha-bang for them. (What am I doing? I’ve just put that in writing and now I’ll have to follow through with it!)

We had Christmas with Eric’s side of the family on Saturday. Jonathan and Charity had both contracted fevers in the night but John (Eric’s dad) wanted us to come anyway and the kids were feeling great as long as the Motrin was working. John and Teri (Eric’s older sister) had been with us at the airport on the night the boys got home but Laura (Eric’s little sister) hadn’t met her new nephews yet. It was fun to watch her fall in love with them and overall it was a wonderful day. Joseph was his normal goofy self all day. I’m not kidding – that child is going to give Charity a run for her money for the nuttiest kid in our family. A month or so ago I would have told you that she had that title locked up but Joseph is a complete clown! Give him an audience and about 10 minutes to loosen up and stand back! Today’s theme was “monkey man” and he did everything in his power to prove that he belongs in a zoo. He got a card from my sister for his birthday with a monkey on it, they watched Curious George on PBS a couple of times this week and Jonathan got a stuffed George for his birthday plus it’s one of the few animal names Joseph knows in English. All of these circumstances combined made for a pretty entertaining day. We were standing in line for the citrus truck this afternoon and he kept telling me over and over “Ya monkey mama. Ya monkey mama. Papa panda, mama kangaroo, ya monkey!” (Ya = I) I’m not sure what makes Eric a panda or me a kangaroo but it doesn’t really matter because at dinner we all got assigned to new animals – except Eric who is still a panda, and Monkey Man of course!

Jonathan prefers to do most of his expressing with his eyes. He makes the most hilarious facial expressions! He’s also quite pathetic when he wants to be. He does this silent cry with these HUGE crocodile tears that would work their magic on anyone who didn’t know what he was up to. I asked him to put his blanket and monkey back in his bed this afternoon and you would have thought I told him the most heartbreaking news ever! Now granted, it is harder for him to put stuff away when he doesn’t have his braces on but he is perfectly capable of the task I asked him to perform, he just didn’t want to do it and so he played the pity card. Next time Mom might buy it but this time I won the battle. Go me!!

Michael and Charity are adjusting pretty well to having 2 new brothers. I really thought that it would be hardest on MJ since he was the one giving up his room, closet, toys, etc. but I think he’s had the easiest time of it. He and Joseph are the best of friends (for now) and Michael is such a mother hen that he has naturally gravitated toward Jonathan as well. Charity feels left out a little more often. Joseph prefers Michael’s company over anyone else and Jonathan wants to be just like his big brothers so they tend to exclude her. Today I kicked Joseph and Charity outside and made MJ stay in and work on homework. It was nice to see the two middle ones playing together. They will most likely be in the same grade in the fall and so I really want them to be friends as well as siblings.

I am adjusting to being the mother of four as well. Most of the time we have a pretty good time but the hour before dinner is the worst. I call this the “arsenic hour” – you either want to take it or give it to someone! Finishing up homework, getting the house picked up before Eric gets home, and getting dinner on the table while dealing with all the “Mommy, can I…, Mommy, I need…, Mommy, Michael did this and Mommy, Charity did that”, not to mention all the complaints and requests in Russian about drives me crazy every night! We’re working on getting a routine down and I’ve got my awesome chore chart going for the 3 oldest ones ( http://www.familytools.com) and my supper swap group has started again, which helps tremendously. On the plus side – I sleep really well at night!

In many ways the time has gone quickly but in others it feels like these boys have been with us forever. They experience new things every day and it’s so much fun to see our life through their eyes. Everything is new and exciting to them and so different from what they have lived up to this point. I’ve told you all before that the transition has been very easy and that continues to be true. Both boys pout when told no but they eventually obey and we haven’t seen any of the signs or symptoms of RAD, which is a relief. (For those of you who are not familiar with the world of adoption or foster care – this is basically when a child has difficulty “attaching” to their adoptive/foster family. Feel free to Google it if you want to know what we are NOT experiencing.) They are both affectionate and have been telling us they love us for a week or so now. Joseph cried with us for the first time today. He hit his leg on the door frame during one of his “ya monkey” escapades. I know that sounds like a ridiculous thing to be happy about but I’m pleased that he knew that his tears wouldn’t be ignored by me and he let me love on him without even thinking twice. It’s the little moments like this that reassure me that even when the “honeymoon” is over, we will still be alright. Both boys will be going to the doctor on Tuesday for a well-child visit. I believe this will also get the ball rolling for Jonathan and his PT and OT. I’m antsy to get that going so that I have some idea of what challenges we will be facing. I take comport in the fact that God’s promises are true and it has been abundantly clear that He has been in this process every step of the way. We are so, so blessed!

Settling in

2008-12-29T19:18:00.003-06:00

Ummm, they were supposed to be doing dishes....

This is the definition of brotherly love!

The Bears were playing (we won't go into the outcome - but the first quarter was GREAT!) We'll make a football lover out of Joseph yet. Football is with a brown oblong ball, soccer is the black and white one!

The sand box is fun even in December!

I know many of you are wondering how things are going now that everyone is home. I can only tell you that we must still be in the “honeymoon” phase because it has been absolutely wonderful. The boys both love playing with Michael and Charity. They are helpful and polite but not TOO polite. (We have our fair share of “bathroom humor” at the dinner table.) They make jokes and tease each other and all of us too. They basically are fitting in very smoothly. I’ve had lots of people ask me about their English skills. To begin with, they don’t speak any English. They are starting to pick up on what I call the politeness phrases: please, thank you, hello, goodbye and excuse me. Michael and Charity go back to school on the 5^th and we will begin working hardcore on English with Joseph and Jonathan after that. If anyone has any brilliant ideas or sources of info on how to make this happen feel free to let me know. I’m hoping to have Joseph ready for 2^nd grade by the fall and Jonathan should be ready for Kindergarten by then as well. I think it will be helpful to have both of them working on the same things at first. Nothing like a little healthy competition to move things along. We’re able to get around conversationally pretty well. Luckily we know the words and phrases for taking care of basic needs – eat, toilet and sleep. Everything else is taken care of by pointing and trial and error. Luckily we haven’t had any major issues or needs. If and when those come up we’ll just have to rely on our Russian phrase books and the online translating sites. Today we have stayed home and played, well the kids are playing, and I am doing laundry and dishes and all the other fun stuff that gets backed up whenever I’m not looking. I kicked the 3 oldest kids outside while Jonathan took his nap so that gave me some time to work on the blog and check up on some of the other ones I like to follow. I found a new one today of a couple that adopted 2 brothers about a year ago. I was reading about some of the attachment issues they were dealing with from day one and feeling very fortunate that we aren’t having any of those. Both boys have loved us from the near the beginning of this process and seem to be getting more and more comfortable and thinking of this as “home”. Joseph is fairly comfortable around strangers too which could be a sign that we are in for some rough waters in the future but Jonathan does not warm up immediately to strangers. He does very well when his brothers and sister are around but if they aren’t there he is VERY hesitant. We saw it come out in full force this weekend. He absolutely hated church on Sunday. Eric thinks it reminded him too much of the orphanage – all those kids and no parents, just teachers - and he was having NONE of it. Eric and I had planned to tag-team it that morning and each spend an hour in his room anyway so it really didn’t change our plan much but it will be interesting to see how much time it takes him to figure out that Mom and Dad always come back. Joseph didn’t have any trouble. He is in the same room as Michael and Charity so they showed him the ropes and made his morning down right fun. (Miss Lisa and all of her volunteers had a lot to do with that as well.) Time will tell us how this is all going to play out. The more time we spend as a family the more we are convinced that these little guys were meant to be in our family. They had a rough start in life but they are home now and we are absolutely thrilled. Keep praying for us and for their transition.

They are home!!!

2008-12-26T11:37:00.003-06:00

Waiting patiently for the luggage to arrive. (Michael, Joseph, Jonathan, Charity)
We begin the festivities with stockings.
Our first breakfast together.
Yes my boys are in matching/coordinating pj's.
The happy family!

I know you all have been anxiously waiting for this post – everyone is home!!!! Eric and the boys got in on Christmas Eve at around 7 pm. They were met at the airport by Michael, Charity and I, of course, but also my mom and step-dad (Roger) and Eric’s dad and older sister. The meeting was a long time coming but it was definitely worth it. Eric had taken an earlier flight from Chicago and so we had to wait for his luggage to arrive on the later flight. It gave Joseph and Jonathan some time on neutral ground to play with MJ and Charity and to warm up to everyone a little bit before heading home. Joseph was ready and willing to love us but it took Jonathan about 20 minutes to look anyone in the eye. Eric eventually took him away for a few minutes and then brought him back and played with him and that did the trick. He has been on “go” ever since. Coming at Christmas has really been great timing. They are completely overwhelmed anyway so we might as well pile it all on at once and get it over with! : ) Christmas morning was great! Michael and Charity were up at about 7:30. Joseph was up at 8:00 and we got Jonathan up about 15 minutes later. (Michael and Charity couldn’t stand the waiting anymore and we knew he would get a nap later anyway!) My mom and Roger and my brothers arrived shortly after everyone was up and we let the kids start the madness that is Christmas morning. We don’t do HUGE Christmas in our house (many of you know our theory on Christmas presents – if 3 presents was good enough for our Lord and Savior then it is certainly good enough for my little sinners) but by the time you get those 3 gifts plus stockings plus gifts from each other, times 4 kids it gets crazy nonetheless. But, it was the best kind of crazy I could ever wish for. Definitely a once in a lifetime kind of morning. We spent the day at home and then joined my dad’s side of the family for the evening festivities. The boys got to meet most of their new cousins and seemed to fit in quite seamlessly. They got their first taste of “dirty Santa” which is a traditional game in our family that involves cards, stealing of white-elephant style gifts and making small children cry – always good Christmas fun. Today we are taking it easy. Eric returned to work and the kids and I are lounging around, eating candy and watching movies. I’m such a good mom. But what else would you do the day after Christmas, especially when it’s raining outside. Tomorrow and Sunday will be filled with more Christmas fun, so the downtime is appreciated.

On their way!

2008-12-23T13:51:00.000-06:00

Eric and the boys will be starting their journey home in 5 short hours!!! I know I said I would post as soon as I knew something but when it came right down to it – I had to Christmas shop for a couple of extra kids and figure out how we are going to fit all their new stuff in “the dorm”. We’re also going to be sticking pretty close to home for the next few days so getting it picked up is a necessary evil. I talked to Eric yesterday morning and he had received the passports and was flying out to Kyiv. When we talked this afternoon, he had finished all the stuff at the Embassy (took about 4 hours) and was getting ready for bed. He and the boys will be picked up at 2:45 am (That’s 7:45 pm tonight local time) to take their 5:30 flight from Kyiv to Frankfurt. From Frankfurt he will go to Chicago and then to Indy. The weather is looking okay for tomorrow evening – not great, but definitely okay – and hopefully there will be no delays. We’re all so excited it’s hard to even think about anything else, let alone form coherent thoughts on my blog. Everyone have a merry Christmas. I can pretty much guarantee I won’t be posting for a few days but keep checking up on us. I’ll try to keep you posted as we transition to a family of 6!

Still Waiting

2008-12-22T04:37:00.001-06:00

Another day, another morning of facing jet lag. I’ve also figured out the downside of not having to share my bed with my husband – Charity! It’s been very windy at our house the last two nights and she has come in wanting to share my bed because “it’s scary and the tree might fall in my window and Olivia is licking me!” I have been too tired to argue but I warned her that this was the last night this was happening. It sounds like I just bought myself a rough night tonight. Maybe we’ll go stay at mom’s. On today’s agenda – Christmas shopping. I had everyone but the two new boys finished before we left so I don’t really have much to do but it’s so stinking cold out that I’m not really looking forward to it. On the plus side – my van has been parked right behind the house since we brought home the loft (too tired or too cold to move it back to the garage) so I don’t have to go far to warm it up. Eric will not be very happy when he reads that. I promise I'll put it back in the garage today, honey!

Talked to Eric yesterday. Things with the boys are still going well. Jonathan is singing instead of sleeping but I guess that’s better than screaming! (It also sounds hilarious. I can just imagine this little 4 year old singing away in Russian while his older brother tries to sleep and his father tries not to thump him!) Eric is also figuring out the leg braces. We knew Jonathan didn’t like wearing the new ones but thought it was just because they were new and not as comfortable as the leather ones. Not the case. Apparently there is a spot were the plastic rubs against the bone on one of his feet so the new ones are actually painful. Poor little guy. I’m ready to get him home so we can get started figuring out how best to proceed with his care. We will know this afternoon if they are going to make it home on Wed. I didn’t realize that Eric had already booked his return home flight. Apparently Angelina told him to, so he did. Then she started back tracking a little bit and has him really nervous that he’s going to have to pay transfer fees – again! I’ll let you all know what the latest is as soon as I know myself and have a chance to log on.

2008-12-21T05:09:00.002-06:00

Our little house in the country

So another day back in the good ol’ USA is complete. Eric’s sisters came over on Saturday to help me get Michael’s room ready for an additional two boys. For those of you who have never been to my house I should tell you – small is an understatement. We love living here though. The location is ideal and we have the best landlords ever. The layout of it is great and it doesn’t feel like any of the 950 sq. ft. is wasted, however – fitting 6 people in this house is going to take some maneuvering. MJ’s room - from here on out to be called the dorm ; ) – already had bunk beds so yesterday Teri (Eric’s older sister) and I braved the shopping crowds and ran into town to see if we could find a loft to finish off the sleeping arrangements. We lucked out and the one we found was not only the perfect size but it was on SALE. With the help of some of the boys at Meijer we were able to load it up. A stop at the mattress store – where again, SALE – and we were on our way home. (I’m just kidding about the sale thing; I would expect nothing less than for everything to be “on sale” 5 days before Christmas!) My brother and cousin were kind enough to come over later that evening and unload the van for me and hopefully today we will have it set up and ready to start figuring out how we are going to make this work. The highlight of my day today will be going to church. I always miss my own church when I’m away but the nature our adoption – being in a VERY foreign country with no real access to transportation – didn’t even allow us to attend someone else’s church while we were away. I’m excited to feel that connection again and see some of the many people who have been praying (and I hope will continue to pray) for us during this journey.

I talked to Eric again yesterday. He and the boys are settling in to each other. Joseph is a big help with Jonathan. He’s apparently a good translator too which makes me laugh. The boys don’t know any English so the fact that Joseph is able to communicate for Jonathan to Eric is hilarious. It sounds like they are sticking pretty close to home which I’m sure is driving Eric nuts but I know they have ventured out a couple of times and seem to be doing very well. Eric confessed that he will be ready to “thump” Jonathan before they come home so that’s a very good sign. Let me explain myself – first of all, we would never “thump” our children, it just sounds funny and we say it often around our house and secondly, I figure if he is attached to him enough to want to discipline him then we’re in a very good place. Jonathan is going to be high maintenance. He has been in the orphanage since birth and has been doted on by all the staff there so he’s very spoiled. He’s very smart and has elevated manipulation to an art-form. He also hasn’t had a lot of freedom. This first taste of it is thrilling for him and so he’s testing the limits. Bedtime is especially a struggle – Eric compared it to the issues we had with Andriy (the little boy we hosted this summer) and equates it to the same reason, newfound freedom. We’re very thankful that Joseph is setting a good example and is able to communicate with him. I don’t want to give you the wrong idea about Jonathan. He’s only 4 years old so all of this is normal and not overly concerning to us. A lot of the characteristics I see in him are also evident in Charity (feel free to laugh out loud) so we know what we’ve taken on and also hopefully have a little bit of wisdom dealing with the issues and blessings that arise with a strong-willed child. Being so determined will serve him well with the physical limitation he faces so as long as we can harness this quality for good instead of evil we will be in good shape.

I'm going to beg you all now to pray hard that everything works out and they are able to get home as planned. Not only are we anxious to have our family together again but we really need Eric to get back to work. Lawyers don't make money when lawyers don't work and stay-at-home moms are priceless but they don't bring home a paycheck! : )

I’m going to finish off today by sharing a short list of things I’ve missed or will miss, just random things I’ve noticed in the first 48 hours.

Things (not people – that goes without saying) I’ve missed in the States:

tucking my kids in to bed at night
fitted sheets
clothes dryers
being able to read labels on food packaging
cooking my own meals
hearing the words “merry Christmas”
driving
being smiled at by nearly everyone you come in contact with

Things I will miss about Ukraine:

my friends there
Jenia's ringback tone on her cell phone!
Joseph’s friends there
the market – more specifically the prices of the fruit and veggies IN the market. I had sticker shock in the produce department when I went Krogering on Friday.
high speed internet – even if I had to walk 10 minutes to get to it
eating out for much cheaper than I could cook a meal in the States
Greek salad and blinis
the Black Sea - it’s a shame Indiana is land-locked, I really love the view and the smell of the air
the time spent just hanging out with Eric – a month is way too long but a day or so here and there would be nice, heck an hour during daylight hours would be nice!

Things I won’t miss:

figuring out what things actually cost based on the exchange rate that day
the dog at Roma’s orphanage - she’s MEAN; I don’t care what any of the workers say!!

Sorry for the long silence

2008-12-20T03:20:00.006-06:00

I'm sorry that I haven't been posting for the last few days. Rest assured, we are all well and things are still moving along across the pond. I've been super busy since Monday evening and haven't been able to make it to an internet connection - mostly because I've been flying home!!! Eric and the boys aren't home yet but we decided that one of us really needed to get back to ensure that there was someone here with Michael and Charity on Christmas. I didn't tell anyone that I was coming home - except my friends in Ukraine who had to help me finish up the stuff I needed to do there in order to be able to leave and 3 people state-side (thank you LeAnne and Melissa for listening, praying and being supportive and Heather for being the means of pulling this off). So here's the play by play of the last few days. One week ago we found out we weren't going to be able to get the birth certificates for Joseph and Jonathan on the following Saturday, we were going to have to wait until Tuesday. Now I know this sounds like only a 2 or 3 day delay but what this meant was that we couldn’t start the passport paperwork over the weekend like we had planned to be able to submit the passports on Tuesday. It really set us back by about 6 or 7 days. With our return flight getting so close to Christmas anyway and now this week delay I completely lost it. This was the first time I cried the whole trip but let me tell you – I made up for lost tears. After a nap and a few hours of playing with Joseph I was able to get some perspective and we began to formulate a plan. We decided that one of us would go home. Since our main concern at this point was Michael and Charity (and because their mom was beginning to lose her sanity) we figured it would probably be best for me to be the one to come back. Our original flight home was scheduled for Dec. 18^th with arrival into Indy at 5:44 pm so we started making plans for me to just take that flight home so we wouldn’t have to pay any transfer fees. Shortly after coming to this decision I realized how much fun it would be to just show up at the airport and have Mom and Roger pick me up with the kids but just tell the kids they were there to check out the new airport and see where mom and dad and the brothers would be flying into. Good “Plan A” but then an even more fun plan popped into my head. We’ll call this one “Plan A+”. What if I didn’t tell anyone I was coming home (except the necessary few who were sworn to secrecy) and just showed up on Mom’s doorstep on Thursday evening with no warning. HAH! How much fun would THAT be!!! So that’s exactly what I did. I talked to my cousin Heather and she was commissioned to meet me at the airport and take me to my mom’s. I flew up to Kyiv on Tuesday night. Wednesday was spent going to the US embassy to sign some paperwork and a notary office to get a couple of power of attorney’s done for Eric to be able finish things up in Sevastopol. Thursday morning (or Wednesday night “home time”) I began my trip home. Before I tell you about that day let me just pause to let you know how much I was able to see God working to get me home. There were SO many instances on Thursday when I should have been delayed by MAJOR blocks of time but that did not happen. I am so grateful for His faithfulness in the small things. Okay, so my flight was scheduled to leave for Frankfurt from Kyiv at 5:35am. At 5:36 we had not boarded yet, hmmm. A minute later the flight board showed our flight leaving at 10:00 am instead. Since my connecting flight to Chicago was supposed to leave Frankfurt at 9:45 am, this was a problem. While I had been waiting to check in for my flight from Kyiv I had noticed a girl who looked like an American – the shoes gave her away – and so she and I started talking. She is a Peace Corp volunteer and was going home to Chicago for Christmas but on a later connecting flight out of Frankfurt. When our flight got delayed she and I and some of her other PC friends who were also on that flight started figuring out what to do. Eventually the airline made a list of who was going to be missing their connecting flights in Frankfurt and sent it ahead so that they could be working on it there. So, we board our original flight to Frankfurt which ended up leaving at about 9:30. When we got there I was one of the first one’s off the shuttle from the plane by some minor miracle and the first one to the gate personnel to see what my plan was. She told me I had been rescheduled but needed to get it finished up through the ticket desk. So – off I go to the desk – only about 4 people in front of me. I looked behind me 3 minutes later and the line was about 30 people deep – yikes! I got to the ticket desk and the lady had my flights completely rebooked. I just had to re-check in at the desk and I would be leaving for Chicago in less than an hour (this was PC girls original flight) and would arrive in Indy only 2 hours later than originally scheduled – AMAZING. Now if I could just make it to the gate on time. Frankfurt is a fairly large airport and I had to switch terminals on a tram and then go through security. You know how it is when you are in a hurry in the airport – everybody and their brother is setting off the beeper at airport security and they only have 2 stinking spots open one of which they keep sending the wheel-chair line cutters through (just so we're clear, I do not begrudge them that service at all, I'm just letting you all know how slow security was running). It was getting very close to take off time but I did make it through and got to my gate just as it was completing boarding. I cringed when I got on because it was a 2-5-2 seating arrangement and with my late booking I was sure I was in for a ride in the middle of the “5 row”. (I hadn’t taken time to study my boarding pass to check out seat assignment.) But – miracle upon miracles – I was a window!! When I got to my seat the girl on the aisle asked if by any chance I wanted the aisle because she preferred the window. Umm, let me think about this - 9.5 hrs with the aisle for extra leg room - DEAL! I also noticed that our seats had the personal TV screens which for a TV addict like me meant that I could pass most of the flight away in a headphone secluded bliss watching American made movies with NO Russian dub-overs!!! So off I fly. Turns out the girl next to me works for NATO somewhere in like Belgium or something and was going home for Christmas to meet her niece and baby nephew. She was very nice and I enjoyed talking to her between movies. (Side note – for those of you who know me, you realize what a nightmare it could be to sit next to me on a plane when I haven’t had anyone to talk to for a month except my husband. Luckily she didn’t mind the conversation either and had all kinds of questions about our adoption.) Anyway, uneventful flight. I talked to one of the flight attendants during the flight to see what I could do to make the process on the ground in Chicago go quicker because I only had a hour and 15 minutes to get through Passport Control, retrieve my luggage, go through customs, re-check my luggage, switch terminals, go through security and board my flight for Indy. He was incredibly helpful (read with sarcasm) and informed me that it probably wasn’t going to matter because the weather was awful in Chicago and Indy and my flight was probably cancelled anyway. NOOOOOO! So we approach Chicago and imagine my joy and surprise to find it sunny and beautiful, a little snowy but not too bad. So I start the process mentioned above. My luggage didn’t arrive so customs was no problem and by running through O’Hare I made it to my gate 5 minutes before the plane was scheduled to leave and found that it had just started to board. Apparently it was leaving about 15 minutes late. I also found out that my original flight out of Chicago (which I had missed because I had missed my original connection in Frankfurt) had been cancelled and I would have been put on stand-by for this flight anyway. So we take off and the captain informed us that we would be in the air for a little under 30 minutes and would be landing in Indy very close to on-time. Amazing! Heather met me at the airport. We filed my lost baggage claim – which had been sent ahead of me by Chicago so I only had to give the guy my phone number and get out of there! We then went to mom’s and it was priceless. Heather called mom from the car to let her know she was coming out and hoped the kids could stay up a few minutes extra because her girls had something they wanted to show Michael and Charity. I know it was a lie but it was for a good reason! It was icy so Mom and the kids met Heather to help her in as she was about to enter the garage. I was a little behind her and it took about 15 seconds for it to register with them who was with her. It was great! Homecoming is sweet anyway but the added surprise made it that much sweeter. Charity couldn’t stop talking and Michael was glad to see me too but the Colts were playing and so he was soon back in front of the TV. Welcome home mom! It took about an hour for Charity to calm down enough for her to be able to go to bed and the promise that I would share a bed with her that night did the trick. She went to sleep and MJ followed shortly - at the end of the 1^st quarter. You can imagine my gratitude yesterday morning when I saw on the news that Chicago airports had pretty much shut down not very long after I left it because of the nasty weather. (I'm sad for NATO girl who probably didn't make it out - she had a 5 hr layover before heading to Tennessee.) Yesterday the kids kept it a secret that I was home and I was able to go in to school and surprise their teachers as well. Mom and I spent the morning helping making gingerbread houses in Michael’s class. She ran me to the post office to pick up a months worth of mail and to the grocery store because obviously there was no food at my house. We went back to school for the afternoon to attend Michael’s Christmas party (I went to Charity’s Halloween party so it was MJ’s turn) and then mom took me to my house. The kids were riding the bus home because they wanted to give their bus driver her Christmas present and they had heard that she gives treats at Christmas time and wanted to make sure they got their Coke and candy cane! Mom hung out with us for the rest of the afternoon. Roger came later and my step-sister (Stephanie) joined us as well. We ate homemade pizza, looked at Steph’s wedding pictures and decorated the Christmas tree that my mom and Roger had set up and been watering. It was a wonderful first day back. Michael decided he wasn’t quite ready to leave Grandma’s house (I think/hope it’s because his Wii is there) so he went home with her and Charity and I quickly hopped into PJ’s, read a couple of Christmas books and went to bed. I am apparently a little jet-lagged because I woke up at 4am and my brain started composing this blog so I just decided to get up and dial-up and let you all in on the latest news. Still no luggage, but I'm sure it will get here and I'm just happy to be home!

On the status of the Eric and the boys – he picked them up from their respective orphanages yesterday. They appear to enjoy each other and Eric was in high spirits even after all the hard work of getting them back to the apartment. He and the boys and Angelina went out to lunch before going home. They went to our favorite place there. It serves good Ukrainian food and was close to Joseph’s orphanage so we ate there quite a bit (thanks Jenia for translating the menu for us). Apparently when they asked Joseph what he wanted to eat he told Eric he wanted french fries, ketchup and coke. I’m telling you, this kid is an American kid who just happened to be born in Ukraine! We’re hoping they will all fly home Christmas Eve. It all depends on passports now. If Eric can pick them up Monday then they will be able to leave on the 24^th. Pray with me that the passports come in and that Eric is able to get a return flight. I’ll keep you posted. Thanks for being faithful readers!

The countdown continues....

2008-12-14T04:09:00.003-06:00

Another uneventful weekend in Ukraine. Eric and I ventured out on our own to do a little shopping yesterday. There is this huge outdoor market called 5th km that Eric heard about from an American pastor who lives here in town. Eric called him to see if their church was close to us by any chance and while they were talking he asked him about second hand clothes stores in the city. We hadn't come across any yet and the kid's clothing is very expensive and not of very good quality in general. 5 km has all kinds of new clothing as well as hundreds of booths that are what I would call a perpetual garage sale. We took a bus out from near McDonald's and did our shopping very successfully. With the help of our few Russian phrases, my handy dandy notebook and a lot of patience on the part of the vendors we were able to get 2 pairs of NWT fleece lined pants, a NWT sweat suit, two sweatshirts, new undershirts, pajamas, and new socks for less than $40. I think we did pretty well. I'm sure we could have gotten better deals if we would have had a russian speaker with us but I'm happy with it and the fact that we made it there and back without incident and can now mark "buy clothes for Jonathan" off our list is a great feeling. We spent the afternoon at Joseph's and got to meet his godfather. This man - Andrey - became his godfather on 12/6/06 when he was baptized into the Russian Orthodox Church. Andrey is a doctor with three young children of his own. He speaks a little English and we were able to communicate pretty well with him. It was obvious he loves Joseph and we exchanged addresses and email so that we can keep in touch. We were a little nervous when we saw Joseph run up to this guy and give him a big hug and we are pretty sure we were a surprise to him as well. He handled it very well and seems genuinely pleased that Joseph has gotten a family. We also learned that his godmother was his nurse when he was in the "baby house" on the orphanage property. Today we will be doing some grocery shopping, visiting Joseph and working on paperwork. It looks like I will be going up to Kyiv on Tuesday to do some paperwork that needs to be done. We still aren't sure when the family will be coming home but every day that passes brings us one day closer!!!

Quick Update

2008-12-12T03:02:00.002-06:00

Not a lot of time today but I did want to let you know that one of the families I had asked you all to pray for had court yesterday. They were approved for the two girls they were hoping to take home. They are actually now leaving to go home and will come back mid-January to finish up and bring the girls home. The government here shuts down for the first couple weeks of January and so there is nothing they can really do to get the girls home before then. The other families were not able to have court yesterday - paperwork snafoo's - but hopefully they will have their day soon. I guess this is really taking a toll on the kids (they are all older and have a pretty good idea of what is going on) as well as the families. They haven't had as much freedom as we have and there isn't anything to do in the "city" they are in. Sitting around and waiting and worrying is the worst.
We are going to go get pictures taken for Joseph's passport this afternoon. Apparently the ones we had done are the wrong size or something. Hopefully we'll be able to communicate what we need to the people at Kodak. Angelina will be taking care of Jonathan's and trying to finish up stuff so that hopefully we can get the birth certificates tomorrow. We are going to get the boys now on Tuesday instead of Saturday. With the amount of running around we have to do for the passports between now and then it seemed silly to get them. They would just be spending all their time crunched in the car with us. NO FUN for anyone involved.

Playing Hookey

2008-12-11T08:27:00.007-06:00

I'm not sure what this guy was advertising but everybody on the street was in awe. We all looked like Asian tourists - snapping photos left and right!

On the boat

Eric and Joseph at Balaklava

The whole area was this pretty!

The submarine yard is in this hill. Entrance on lower right.

Tunnel leading into the submarine yard. Secret exit into the Black Sea.

Secret entrance into the yard.

So today we took Joseph out of school so that we could take him to Balaklava. This is the port right outside of Sevestopol that housed the "hidden submarine yard." Apparently Stalin had this place built in order to protect the submarines from Atomic threats. There is room for 8 submarines to be hidden and repaired inside of the hills surrounding Balaklava. In the summer of 1957 the town disappeared; Balaklava became secret. Its name was erased from every map. All entrances and exits to and from the town were closed and carefully protected by KGB officials. The only people allowed in were those with proper credentials. It took 4 years to get the place built and apparently it is just huge inside. We didn't actually get to take the tour inside the yard but we walked around the town, took a boat tour of the area and went out into the Black Sea a little ways and then took Joseph out to lunch. We basically got to spoil him rotten for the day. It was fun. Angelina was with us and so we were also able to ask him all kinds of questions about what he likes and doesn't like, who is friends are, how he does in school, etc. When we took him to the restaurant he was overwhelmed by the choices but Angelina helped him pick what he wanted (Fried Chicken, french fries - with LOTS of ketchup and Coke - are we sure this kid isn't an American?!) He happily ate everything in front of him including the tomatoes, cucumber, and peppers that he had just gotten through telling us he didn't like. He even ate the parsley and the lemon! I don't know if our food budget is ready for this kid! After we ate lunch we grabbed a few things at the market for Jonathan and then headed back to town. As we got close to our bus stop we saw these huge panda and brown bears - the blow up ones with people inside. We walked Joseph up the street to see them. He couldn't get enough of them. I'm not sure what they were advertising - since the flyer was in russian - but he was sold! All in all it was a great day. It was sunny and warm and we weren't on any time schedule so it was very nice.

2008-12-10T04:46:00.003-06:00

Eric wanted me to show you all this picture. On the left is your normal 20 oz bottle of Coke. On the right a big 'ol glass of beer. The coke cost's about $1.50. The beer - about $.90!! A bottle of water is more than either one of them. Hanging out with Joseph (he decided to use his "American" name). We are sitting on his bed. There are 8 beds in the room, 3 bunks and 2 singles. They are all full and yesterday they added another boy. The poor thing has to sleep on a cot until Joseph leaves.

We took Jonathan to get his passport photos taken. He talked the ENTIRE time we had him! We think he might be able to out-talk even my step-dad!

When we took Joseph to get his passport photos we made a quick stop at McDonald's. We asked him if he wanted ice-cream and he adamantly declared he wanted French Fries. Hey Michael - your brother loves ketchup as much as you do - maybe more!!

This is all the gang playing - what else - Legos!!

So yesterday was a crummy day weather wise. It rained and it was cold. When I'm at home I kind of look forward to those days but here where we walk everywhere we want to go, it made for a miserable day. Today is a little better. Eric is getting stir crazy and wants to try taking the public transportation somewhere. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Actually I'm sure I don't like the idea but I'm not sure if that is wisdom or being scared. We'll see if I'm able to keep him at home today or not. Tomorrow we are taking Joseph out of school and going to visit a local "hidden" submarine yard. We are also going to an open air market where we will hopefully be able to find some clothes for Jonathan. Right now the plan is to take the kids with us as soon as we get the birth certificate. Hopefully that will happen on Saturday but it all depends on the what the judge says. She doesn't want to give us the court order early so that we can have all the paperwork done and pick up the birth certificates on the 10th day. Angelina was going to speak with her again about that. If we aren't able to get the birth certificate on Saturday then it pushes us back another 3 or 4 days because we won't be able to do the passport paperwork over the weekend. We're praying that Angelina can convince the judge that we aren't going to USE the court order before the 10th day we are just going to show it to the birthcertificate people so they can have everything ready for us. It's all a little confusing and more than a little frustrating. We are past being ready to come home and every delay at this point is enough to make me lose it. I know the kids are ready for us to be back and I know my mom has been ready for us to be back for about 3 weeks now. There's really nothing we can complain about, the process has been exactly what we were told it would be, it's just living it is different than knowing it. Our friends here who came the same day we did and have been having so many problems have a tentative court date for tomorrow. There are still hurdles to cross to get their kids home and there is no way they are going to get them home in time for Christmas and the parents may not be able to make it home for Christmas themselves at this rate.(You can leave Ukraine and come back to get your "new" kids after the 10 day waiting period is up. For us this wasn't a very sound option because of the timing of things but the Ukrainian government shuts down for the first 10 days of January so if these families 10th day is during that time then it would be silly to wait around here for essentially another month.) Their kids at home are older but I know it's still very hard on them. Please continue to pray that God will work miracles and open doors all over Ukraine to get us and all these families home as quickly as possible.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHAEL!!!

2008-12-08T02:26:00.003-06:00

We got to talk to the Michael and Charity this weekend. Michael had his "friends" birthday party on Saturday. My cousin Heather was nice enough to host it for him and she called a couple of times to let me know how things were going. It sounds like they had a perfect day for it - snow, football, sleds a "1st years" roller coaster and 8 year old boys! Let your imagination run wild. Hopefully I will be able to show you pictures of that day soon. Today is actually his birthday. It's hard to believe my baby boy is that old! He's such a sweet kid and an excellent big brother. We hit the jackpot with this one!! Love you Michael!
We are at the internet cafe early today. Angelina called at about 8:45. She was already at the courthouse and was expecting to pick us up in an hour or so. No such luck. We were ready so we decided to come and check the news of the day. I check email, facebook and blogs. Eric checks Drudge, the Star, the Tribune and the county paper. We are so incredibly predictable. It works out well though. He can tell me all the latest headlines and I can fill him in on our friends and family! The plan today is for Angelina to pick up the court order (I believe it is post dated for our 10 days) so that she can begin the paperwork for the birth certificates. She is hoping to pick those up on Saturday morning. This is hard for my American mind to comprehend - government working on Saturday?!
We spent the weekend just hanging around and trying to find something to watch on TV. There are several shows that have the English still in the background but they tend to run in the morning. (I'm catching up on my CSI Miami.) Saturday night we watched our first Bond movie. I know it's criminal, we are 31 years old and never watched 007. Well Saturday night our choices were Golden Eye or Ghost Busters. To me this is an obvious choice but apparently I was wrong. While I would have rather laughed at the antics of Slimer and the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man, I was vetoed and we watched Pierce Brosnan subdue bad guys, avoid death at every turn and seduce every woman in sight. Sunday night our choices were very limited. Eric flipped for about an hour. He lucked out and got to see the Beastie Boys "Sabotage" video and then left it at Myth Busters on Discovery. It was the one where they were testing the claim that water heaters can basically turn into rockets when the pressure builds us too high. It was pretty cool. They blew up a "house" and the water heater took like 20 second to fall back to the ground.
We also spent time with Roma and his friends on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday Roma had to go to church so we were only there about 2 hours but on Sunday we got to spend about 3 hours with him. The boys at one point got so rowdy that one of the teachers came in and scolded them and everybody but Roma left the room. Lucky for us Roma was busy playing with the pirate ship and wasn't wrestling, jumping and yelling. It's a hard spot to be in because we can't really do a whole lot to stop them from rough-housing but when they get rowdy while we are there we look like the evil Americans who love anarchy and just want to cause trouble (which of course is really our goal!)

Pictures FINALLY

2008-12-07T05:14:00.003-06:00

Roma and 2 of his friends show off the pirate ship it took them 2 days to finish! More friends and more Legos!

Boys will be boys!

Roma and Dad take a break after working up a sweat playing "football" aka soccer!!

So apparently there is a certain computer you have to use in order to upload anything in this internet cafe. I tried using my disc yesterday and it didn't work but today we asked and she pointed me to the computer right by her counter. So - scroll down and see pics of our stay here. There aren't a lot of them but I will try to keep them coming. I've spent most of my time today updating and posting the pictures so I will be short today. I really want to request prayers for all the other families that are here right now from our agency. Each family has run into so many obstacles and road blocks. Yesterday we got a call from one of the families that we stayed with in Kyiv. They were supposed to have court on Monday but that has gotten postponed. Their translator is in the hospital and they are getting very discouraged and afraid that they won't be able to bring their kids home. Please pray that God would give them peace and that he would begin to open doors for them. We are certainly grateful for God's hand on us but it's hard for us to rejoice in our good fortune when all of these families are going through such hard times.

Dinner with Italians

2008-12-06T03:20:00.003-06:00

So last night Eric and I went to McDonald's after visiting with Roma. (We actually had ice cream there before going to see him too!) Don't ask me why we go there. The food is exactly the same as at home - except for the pies, those are actually pretty good. We don't eat there when we are at home if we can help it but every once in a while we just get the urge for a cheeseburger and that is our only option. We regret it everytime. Anyway, so we are sitting in McDonald's and the Italians walk in. This is a couple that is adopting a brother and sister from the same orphanage as Roma and we see them there quite a bit. Now all of you who traveled to Ukraine with me in October know how I feel about Italians adopting Ukrainians and why I feel that way, so the fact that I went up to them and said hello and basically invited them to sit with us should tell you how far I've come on the forgiveness front. : ) We figured out as we tried to talk to them that the easiest way to communicate was for both of us to use the little bit of Russian we know. It was absolutely ridiculous, an Italian couple and an American couple conversing in 1 to 2 word Russian phrases in McDonalds. We were able to find out though that they arrived in Kyiv on November 1st and plan to return to Kyiv about the same time we will. I can not even imagine being away from home that long. They have been in the country 18 days longer than us and only had court a day or two before us. I'm so glad Angelina worked so fast for us and God opened so many doors to get us a court date quickly. I know for our family at home this hasn't seemed like a quick process but we are being shown every day just how fortunate we have been. We are going to go to visit Roma in a little bit. We've figured out when the good times to visit during the week are but haven't spent much time there on the weekend so we'll see how today goes.

Day 2 of the 10 day waiting period - but who's counting!

2008-12-05T05:18:00.005-06:00

The harbor There are several of these cannons in a park on top of hill in the city. There has been a lot of fighting over this city and so there are a ton of monuments around.

We get to see this view every day!!!

Another of the many monuments. This one is along the sea. Look how huge the anchor is behind Eric.

Today Eric and I have spent the day wandering around the city. Now that we've gotten to know our surroundings a little bit we fell a little more confident about getting ourselves home. It's another beautiful day. A little overcast and windy but still in the 70's. I'm not missing snow and stuff. It's really nice to be able to leave home without the bulk of a coat : ) Yesterday' interview went well (for us). After discussing it a little more Eric and I decided that we would not be in the TV shots. The news people weren't very happy about that but since we are still in the 10 day waiting period we thought it would be a wiser course of action. (Eric's lawyer mind was thinking of all the ways an interview could go wrong : ) ) They still got our story and plenty of video or Jonathan and his classmates. We agreed to have our pictures taken from the back and they could use our first names and what country we were from. We also talked to the newspaper reporter who had done several articles on Jonathan and we got to see the articles she had done in the past. It's amazing how far he has come in 9 months. Jonathan has had 5 surgeries in the past few years. He was born with AMC and his legs and arms were crossed around his body. Before the latest round of surgeries we was unable to even feed or dress himself. Now he can do both those things. He can also walk and kick and throw a ball. He does all the things the other kids in his group are doing. It amazes me how he has managed to manipulate his body to accomplish the things he wants to do. He is so determined and very smart. There's no telling what he will be able to accomplish, especially once he builds up a little muscle. The director of his orphanage laughed when she found out Eric's occupation because apparently Jonathan has been saying that he wants to be a lawyer when he grows up - just what I need, another lawyer in the house!!! We are hoping to take Roma to meet Jonathan on Monday or Tuesday. It's hard because they are on opposite sides of the city and Roma is in school all day. (We haven't asked Roma if he wants to use his American or Ukrainian name yet so for now we'll still call him Roma.) I think Roma knows that we are adopting a second boy but sometimes the language barrier is more difficult than others. We spend most of our time with him and his friends so we don't want to say a whole lot around them. It's difficult because they are such great kids and they all want families. I don't want to say anything to make them more sad than they already are.
That's about it for today. Eric was hoping to attend the Rotary meeting here tonight but the language barrier was an issue so I don't think he's going to be able to do that. Looks like we'll spend the afternoon hanging out and waiting for Roma to get home from school so we can go visit. Exciting stuff. I'm working on a new plan to get pictures uploaded. Apparently USB ports do not exist in this city : ) but there is a Kodak place down the road from us. I'm going to see if I can get my pics put on CD and then add them that way (that doesn't help my poor dead batteries on my MP3 player though, it needs a USB port to charge it!) What I've learned from spending time here is that I am incredibly spoiled!!

Local Celebrities?

2008-12-04T03:00:00.003-06:00

Jonathan and Mom. Jonathan and Dad.

Here you can see the braces that he wears to walk. He has actually grown out of these but he doesn't like the new ones - he apparently has these all broken in.

Okay, so apparently it is BIG news that Jenya has been adopted. Our facilitator called last night to let us know that the local TV station was "requesting" an interview with us. Apparently he has been a news story for awhile because of all his surgeries. He has been the object of quite a bit of charity and so they want to let the people know the latest on this little boy they have been taking care of. We will be meeting at Jenya's orphanage this afternoon. The interview is supposed to take place at 3:00. What have we gotten ourselves into? We have tried to keep all of this fairly low key while we have been here - trying very hard not to draw attention to ourselves if we can help it (although I don't dress Ukrainian so it's pretty obvious I'm foreign. I don't wear thigh-high high-heeled boots and short skirts and I don't wear a stocking cap and fur coat when it is 68 degrees out like it is today!) Anyway, now we're going to be on TV. God certainly has a sense of humor!

The results are in

2008-12-03T10:41:00.004-06:00

Roma playing Legos outside his orphanage.Jonathan showing us what a star he really is!

We had court today. This morning when we talked to Angelina she said there was a possibility we wouldn't get to have court today because there was a snafoo with the paperwork. They had us scheduled with each kid in a different court on different days. Luckily we went today and they were willing to take care of both of them at one time. After 45 minutes of instructions and questioning by the judge and then 30 minutes waiting for her to come to her decision - we are now the proud parents of 2 more boys! Joseph Roma birthdate 1/2/01 and Jonathan Jenya born 1/7/04 (Ukraine Christmas!) Thanks to all for your prayers. I'll try to find a place to post pics tomorrow. I'm really excited to show them off.

Sunny and 55 degrees

2008-12-01T03:25:00.003-06:00

The view of the mountains and sea around Yalta. It was overcast but absolutely beautiful! Me and Angelina along the Black Sea in Yalta. Nothing makes you feel short and round like standing next to a 22 year old Ukrainian!!

Angelina and I outside of the Palace that hosted the Yalta conference in 1945 and was the home of Nicholas the second - Anastasia's dad.

Eric and I looking like the tourists we are!

It is a beautiful Monday morning here in Ukraine. I'm loving the this weather. I just looked at the forecast and it's supposed to be in the high 50's and low 60's through Saturday. Eric and I left our coats at home today! It's kind of nice to be in the warmer weather. I can usually forget that Christmas is approaching and I'm not at home to enjoy it! : ) Yesterday Eric and I went to Yalta for the day with Angelina (our translator). We walked along the sea and she told us about the history of Yalta. We then visited the palace where they held the Crimean Conference in 1945 with Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin. It was also the vacation home of Nicholas the II and so there were tons of pictures of his family. The palace is wonerful and the grounds are beautiful. We also visited a winery in the area before heading home. This winery is one of the biggest in Crimea. Today it is back to work. Angelina is running around finishing up paperwork for us and later we will go visit the boys. We spent several hours with the older one on Friday and Saturday. He seems to be excited about coming home with us. I assume he'll get a little more nervous about it as the time approaches. The 4 year old is still very shy around us. We haven't been able to spend a lot of time with him because his orphanage is on the other side of the city but the plan is to be there for longer today. Pray that he begins to get comfortable around us. His heart has been broken a few times before and even though he is young I think he's afraid to trust that we really want to take him home. It breaks my heart!

Moving Day!!!

2008-11-28T02:59:00.003-06:00

Old style water heater - notice the flame!Our lovely kitchen

The room we used as a living room

The scary bathroom - watch out for the water, there is no conisistent temperature. You will burn or freeze!

We got a call from our facilitator about 15 minutes ago telling us that we get to move today!! We have been staying in an old Soviet Style apartment and it has been less than stellar accomodations. I took some pictures but again - no USB port. Just use your imagination. High ceilings. Little to no bug control. Plaster walls. It's warm enough but very loud. To get hot water in the shower you have to turn on the kitchen sink as well as the tub and then turn the flame over the sink up so that there is enough pressure to send hot water to the shower. You have about 3 minutes before the hot water becomes scalding water. We have not figured out the trick to this yet so we just take very fast showers. Our new apartment is a renovated one. I'm interested to see what "renovated" entails. The price is right though. We are paying 150 greevna a night which today is about $22. (The exchage rate is about 7:1 today! Bad for Ukrainians, good for Americans.) After moving we will continue the paperwork process. Our court date is scheduled for Wed. Dec 3 at 2:30. We have a lot to get done before then and many medical documents to gather for the youngest boy. Keep praying for us. God is working so clearly in this situation. The early court date is a real blessing and we are pleased that so many doors are opening!!! We miss our family and friends. If you see my kids please hug on them for Mom and Dad!!!

Thanksgiving in Ukraine

2008-11-27T03:50:00.003-06:00

We are beginning to find our way around and found not one but 2 internet cafes. This one doesn't have a USB port for me to post pictures but the other one is closed today so... no pictures today. I'm not going to post any pictures of the kids until after our court appointment. That's right I said "kids". At our SDA appointment we were given a referral for a second little boy. He is almost 5 years old and has some special needs that we will be helping him with. Mentally he is above his age but he will need some physical therapy and such to help with his movement. After court I will be able to give more specifics. We haven't gotten to spend much time with him yet. Hopefully today we can play with him for awhile while our facilitator is finishing up some paperwork for us. We will spend today continuing the paperwork process. The past two days have been spent running from place to place getting the necessary documents together and shuttling them back and forth. Our translator appears to be very efficient and is hoping that we will know our court date by Friday. Yesterday was a beautiful day. It was in the mid-60's and sunny. A little windy but I wasn't complaining. We got to play outside with the 8 year old boy for over an hour. He LOVES soccer and enjoys scoring on Eric and I. He's hilarious and loves teasing us. I think he's going to be a great fit in our family. I'll post more as I have a chance. Enjoy Thanksgiving. Eat plenty of turkey for us!!

In the region

2008-11-24T08:50:00.003-06:00

Jenia (a friend and translator) had the exciting job of escorting Eric and I to the region and getting us started on this wacky journey. The train was SO hot!! This was our train compartment. 4 bunks and we bought all 4 so we wouldn't have to share with someone we didn't know. The luggage was stowed below the seats eventually.) We made Eric sleep on the lower bunk so that if someone broke in he could protect the defenseless women!

We traveled by train all night to arrive in Sevastopal. We got in at around 6:30 am, went to the apartment and then started the paperwork process. Got to meet the child and had fun for a few minutes with him. Hopefully there is an internet cafe that we will be able to find. I'm on a borrowed computer right now and really need to hurry but wanted to update you all on the latest. With luck I'll be able to let you know more details soon.

Down Day

2008-11-22T07:14:00.005-06:00

Sorry about the sideways pics. I can't get them to stay turned and I can't read the instructions - they are in Russian. Eric's suggestion is to just turn your head!

This is our apartment buildint in Kiev.

This is Eric's favorite feature of the apartment. He says he's installing one in our house!
This is the pull-out sofa that doesn't go back in.
Our teen tiny kitchen. Notice the laundry hanging behind the bar area.
Eric and Kathy in front of one of the many statues. This is Kiev's founding family. There were 3 brothers and a sister. The oldest brother was named Kyiv.

Today we have basically taken it easy. I didn't get out of bed until 11 am. and my early rising husband slept until nearly 9 am!!!! I guess traveling caught up with us. We will be leaving on the train for Sevistopal tomorrow evening so we re-packed this afternoon and got our fill of BBC. We have 4 stations in English - CNN, BBC, BBC Prime and VH1. I'm thankful we have even one. The quiet would drive me nuts. Plus it's just nice to hear our own language once in a while - even if it is the "queen's english". We were afraid last night was going to be a long night - when we got back to the apartment we realized the building had no power. It gets dark around 4:30 here so we had several hours to wait out until bed time. Luckily the power kicked on a little after 6:00 and we were able to enjoy the rest of the evening (watching BBC of course!) We're planning on grabbing some McDonald's and heading back to the apartment. It's snowing today and has been for awhile so everything is soggy. Sounds like a good day for a nap!!

Oh - if you want to hear an extreme adoption story check out this blog journeytokyiv.spaces.live.com We met this couple while we were waiting for our SDA appointment. Neat people!

What an adventure!

2008-11-21T06:45:00.004-06:00

Well, we are officially in Ukraine. We got here on Wednesday afternoon (about 7:30 am) at home. The flight itself was uneventful but awful. The international part of our flight flew us from Chicago to Dusseldorf. Eric and I were in the two middle seats in the middle section of the plane. The movies were boring and it was a choppy flight so it made for a very long night. We made it through Passport control and customs without incident and Jenia (one of our facilitators and an all around nice girl) was there to meet us shortly after we cleared all of that. She took us to the apartment that we would be staying in for our time in Kiev. It is a nice apartment. We were sharing it until today with another couple so that helped with expenses. It has all the ammenities that we were looking for after traveling - a bed, plenty of hot water, and heat! The fact that it is clean and pretty is a definite bonus. We are staying about a 15 minute walk from Kiev's version of the "magnificent mile" and they have a few restaurants here with english menus which is a definite plus. We had our appointment at the SDA today. They had all the paperwork ready for us and we will hopefully be headed down to Sevestopal to start the paperwork process on Sunday. It is an 18 hour train ride to get there. I was nervous about the appointment. I wasn't sure what to expect. The SDA official that we had was efficient and was ready to send us on our way about 15 minutes after we had entered her office. Normally they allow one hour for these appointments. Today however was a special day. They had scheduled the whole day with Americans seeking to adopt "known" children and so they had only allowed 30 minutes per family. It was nice to see some other Americans and be able to speak without translators. After our appointment we were taken back to our apartment. The other couple staying with us left this afternoon to visit some missionary friends so Eric and I are alone in Ukraine for the first time. Mr. Stir-Crazy (that would be Eric) lasted about 25 minutes in the apartment before we headed out in search of the internet cafe. (For those of you who will be here soon - go to TGI Fridays and take a left. At the corner go in that building and go upstairs. The person at the desk will give you a computer number and you pay when you leave. I'll let you know rates later - not sure what they are yet!!)
Emotionally we are doing okay. It's hard being away from the kids and it's hard not knowing what is going to happen next. We know in our hearts that God is in control of this situation but sometimes it's hard to keep that in my head. I'm trying my best to remember that all of this will be in His timing and that I can trust in Him to lead us all the way.
In other news, we talked to the kids last night and Michael says he is feeling great! Thank goodness! I think that's all I've got for now. If you have specific questions that I haven't answered feel free to email me and I'll try to reply at some point. I didn't bring my USB cord with me today so I can't post any pics but I don't really have any anyway so you're not missing anything.