Home One Year!!!!!!

Today marks the one year anniversary of when Rachel joined our family. Our family has been better off ever since she came to be a part of our family. We love her very much and can't wait till she has been our daughter for 10, 20, and even 30 years.


Isn't t this a great group photo of exactly half of the children? They enjoyed the brownies I made to celebrate this day.

Rachel made this happy face on her hamburger bun.

Just before bed. Here is Rachel sporting her new haircut that I gave her.

Did I tell you that Rachel has a wild side?

Here is the video I made of Rachel one year ago.

What a Day!

Today was what I call a full day!

It started with Jonny helping me clean out and straighten my plastic containers. There is no way I was going to fit down there.

He is one terrific helper! Look what he did all by himself.

I should have kept him busy, however, because minutes later he got his finger stuck in this ball.

It was swelling fast so I had to pull it out fast! Oops, maybe it was a little too fast. I made the poor guy cry.

At least I didn't have to cut the ball off with wire cutters or take him to the ER...... and after a minute of loving he was just fine.

After school I found out that Rachel's friend had given Rachel, Anna, and Annalyn some makeup. I asked Anna to let me hold on to it so that she wouldn't be putting it on without my permission and you would have thought that I asked her to let me chop off her finger. See, Anna is the baby girl of the family at nine years old and she tries to be like her much older sister Rachel who is twelve. This has caused some minor issues and so I have let Anna know that she can no longer expect to do everything her older sisters get to do. As you can see, she is being a firecracker about it. :)

When William knows that one of his teeth are loose, it pretty much becomes his whole focus. Julia finally tried to pull it out after William begged her. But no luck.

So I suggested that he chomp on a carrot. He was too much of a wimp. "Mom, please just pull out my tooth! Pretty please!"

Mom to the rescue. And who says I am not a dentist? The funny thing about this story is that when I pulled it out, the tooth flew out of my hands from the force and slid down the couch cushion. As I tried to find it, William was rinsing his mouth in the kitchen. Before I finally found the tooth, I found a popcorn kernel and decided to play a joke on him.

I walked into the kitchen. "William I am so sorry, but I couldn't find your tooth, but I found this instead," I said as I set down the popcorn kernel. "Maybe the tooth fairy won't notice."

William was devastated. He collapsed onto the floor in full blown defeat sobbing. I instantly felt horrible for being such a cruel mom.

"William, I am just kidding. Here it is."

He literally screamed at me, "Why did you do that Mom? It wasn't nice to trick me like that."

And you know what? He is right. I should have realized how important this tooth thing is to him. Even I still need to learn when not to bug.

Speaking of bugs, how do you like Jonny's bumble bee? Yeah you read right. This is supposed to be a bumble bee. (I'm still scratching my head on this one.)

Cereal for two

This is such a heartwarming picture for me. Not only is just plain sweet--- big brother with little brother, but the story behind it makes it even more special. For one, these two are not usually the first two that you would see hanging out having breakfast together. Caleb and Anna yes, Jonny and Adam yes, Caleb and Andrew yes, but not Caleb and Jonny. For this tear up at the drop of a dime, sentimental mom, this just touched my heart. Plus, Caleb helped pour Jonny's cereal and milk. Awww, what a nice guy.

Off to school today!

Last night Julia was still feeling pretty weak. We thought it would be a good idea to keep a watchful eye on her while keeping her company.

Anna washed her feet.

Then William rubbed them.

Then we entertained Julia by having her watch me put wart medicine on both Anna's and Jonny's elbows.

(this is the nightgown I was talking about here)
Then we entertained her some more. Don't I look buuuteeeeful? Jonny and Julia thought this was so funny.

Even Sveta tried to make Julia laugh. The point was to try to cheer her up and help her feel better.

And guess what? Julia is doing better. Much, much better! Thank you so much for your prayers. She woke up asking to go to school, so I let her. Don't say that you don't see present day miracles anymore.

Tag Teaming

Julia is so sick. One minute she was fine, the next she was throwing up all over the place. She couldn't even make it to the bathroom, it came on so suddenly. Then all night, every 25 minutes or so, she would throw up four or five times. This lasted all night. Like clock work. So John and I took turns getting up with her all night. John did the majority, bless his heart and hers. As I type this, she is running a high temp and has a very sore neck. She has not eaten anything and I have to wake her up just to get her to drink some fluids. Paranoid me is seriously thinking Meningitis, but hopefully it is just the Flu.

Please keep our daughter Julia in your prayers tonight.

Too late

I first want to say thanks to you know who for signing up for Revolution Money Exchange. She just earned us $10.00 that is already in our account. Thank you. Sadly though, she did not get the $25 because today they stopped that promo. What is really awesome is that she knew that she would not get the $25, yet she still signed up. What a friend. She was also nice enough to let me know so that I can in turn inform all of you just in case you were planning on signing up. It still is a great way to exchange money instead of Paypal if you are interested in signing up.

Please sign up for $25 free!

Hi Everyone! I am very excited to have found an awesome way for us to raise money for our adoption. And it is so easy and free! Can you believe it? I was quite skeptical at first, but after watching this on other people's blogs and finally signing up myself, I can say that it is legit. It is called Revolution Money Exchange.

It is a lot like Paypal, probably Paypal's up and coming rival, except that it is free. That means there are no fees. Plus you get $25 just for signing up and then $10 for everyone that clicks on your link and signs up under you. I have already earned $25 towards our adoption just for signing up, and I am asking that everyone who reads this to please consider signing up too. Remember, you will get $25 just for signing up and we will get an additional $10 because you signed up under us. Plus you will be able to exchange money without any fees with anybody else who uses Revolution Money Exchange.

The process takes only a couple of minutes and then about two days to verify the account that you want the free $25 deposited into.

Again, please consider this easy way to help us raise money for Dennis' adoption. I am also going to be starting a raffle in the next day or two that you may want to participate in and this will be an easy way to buy a ticket.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, ahead of time.


Just click here to sign up. :)

Lifting up in Prayer

All of you know Steven Curtis Chapman right? He is the wonderful Christian singer who has adopted three beautiful children from China. Last night, one of those precious children went home to be with the Lord because of a horrible accident. Chapman's teen son accidentally ran over Maria, his five year old sister.

How absolutely devastating for this family. I not only pray that this precious child did not suffer in pain, but I also pray that God will help heal and bring peace to this grieving family. I especially think of the son whose shoulders this tragedy lies on. Please God, bring him some peace.

Steven and his wife are huge supporters of adoption and have made such a difference in the lives of children all over this world . You can read more here. Please lift this family up in prayer.

Berry Season

It is berry/cherry season around here. And boy were these sweet!

Jonny and I must have eaten around a dozen strawberries right when we brought them home.
After the new shoes and strawberry pig out, I took Jonny to preschool but forgot that it was his last sharing day. How could I have forgotten? (I felt like a loser, frankly.) Thankfully he quickly forgave me.

Out with the Old and In with the New

Gutter Fun

Our neighbor decided to empty out his pool to the street yesterday. All day Jonny begged to go put his feet in the water. After preschool I gave in and let him. Soon Andrew, and Anna followed. Free entertainment....... and you all know that I can't pass up something that doesn't cost anything. :)

Jonny's donkey, carnita tacos, and some Ukraine news

"Mama, guess what animal this is?" Jonny asked.
"A donkey!"
"How did you know? It doesn't look like a donkey."
Huh?


William has started making his own sandwiches for lunch on the days that the other kids buy their lunch. This is huge for him. A year ago this would have been very challenging for him. Too much coordination and strength involved in holding up the jar like he is in the picture. Occupational therapy has sure paid off.

Rachel and Caleb laying together so nicely hardly ever happens. I think this is the first time. Of course, I had to forever capture it with my camera.

The kids are enthralled in watching Indiana Jones.

This was dinner last night and boy did you guys miss out!

I don't have a picture to go along with this little story but it is so cute that I had to share. When we were swimming at Grandpa and Grandma's house over the weekend Anna caught a baby grasshopper. Sveta was so excited she ran up to Grandpa and I and exclaimed, "Anna got a glassycrapper! Look!" We both did a double take. :)

On a final note, I have some exciting news to share! Please go check out http://theukrainetrain.blogspot.com/ to see what it is. This is a huge!!!!!!!

"My parents are weird"

I'm sure our kids think that from time to time. Just look at John and I!

Here is Dad following Julia's dance routine from Children's Church. Since he teaches one of the classes he participates every Sunday in the dance worship and has learned the routines.

And believe it or not, John is pretty good.

After a very hardworking week, the muscles in my legs were beyond sore. Every step has been unbearably painful since Friday and so I took matters into my own hands. My bright idea--a rolling pin to knead out the aches and pains in my legs.

Though it was incredibly painful, my legs felt better afterwards--- at least for a little while.

John thought I should title this post, "Kneading the Dough." What dough? Is that a fat joke?

Red Letters Campaign

A fellow blogger, Brandi shared with me all about Red Letters Campaign and what they stand for. If you are interested in living faith to end poverty then please check out the website. If you support what they are doing and have a blog, then please sign up to be a blog buddy. Thanks!

Five sisters actually acting like friends :)

I am a blessed mom today. All five of my girls are playing so nicely together and have done so pretty much all day. With so many close in age and with different personalities, this is a rarity. Kind of sad to admit, but honestly true. But today, they are getting along beautifully. Wait a second while I wipe my tear of joy.

Summer days at Grandpa's starting early

We have reached 100 degree weather in the valley. Ugh! Nothng like swimming to beat the heat!

Rachel can be such a drama queen.


Julia playing it cool.


Caleb playing ball.

Here is Sveta's frog jump.


Andrew can sure jump high!


Jonny was afraid that he had forgotten how to swim since last summer. Not a chance!

Anna is just so darn adorable and she knows it.




Poor Annalyn got her first bee sting! It is on the bottom of her left pinky toe. Ouch! I let her wear sandals to school. Thankfully she hardly reacted to it and her foot didn't swell up like I had anticipated. There I go again, expecting the worst.