Smiles and Trials

Remember Her?

2012-01-27T15:46:00.000-08:00

Well....

Wooo-hooo!

Now if only sweet little Owen's family would find him.

Met In Real Life!

2012-01-27T13:53:00.000-08:00

Today I met Debbie from Slava Bogu in real life! It is such a blessing to be able to meet her after reading her blog the last few years. We visited and drank coffee--- just like old friends.

Safe travels home my friend!

I Prefer the Mountain of Muffins

2012-01-25T22:01:00.000-08:00

When I saw this I just turned around and walked out of the room. Dennis dumped out all of the toys. Thankfully, William saw it as an opportunity to organize. :) William, Alex, and Dennis played all afternoon going through the toys.

Julia made her famous Banana Muffins the other day for snack. They are sooooo good!

Anastasia is so awesome with Dolly and Misty. She is an animal lover through and through. Just today when we were sitting in the dentist office and I was looking through a magazine and she was leaning on my shoulder, she pointed to all the dogs in the pictures. I saw a famous actress, too much make-up, an ad for dresses as I looked through the magazine. Anastasia saw all the animals and pointed them out to me.

Dolly and Misty love her very much.

Grandma and Grandpa are here visiting.

Paul is very excited to learn how to knit. Grandma is an excellent teacher.

While I was cooking dinner, Paul was watching me. "I love your face," he told me. He caught me off guard with the comment so I repeated what I thought I heard him say. Yup, he said he loves my face. :) Sweet.

Speaking of saying things, Dennis also said something very sweet to me. As I was putting him down for his nap he asked me if he could be homeschooled. In the sweetest voice he asked me,"Will you please teach me?" I feel bad that the answer is no for now. Teaching kindergarten is very challenging I have quickly come to realize, and honestly I don't think I would do a very good job. For anyone who can teach someone to read--- wow-- you have a special gift-- something I don't have. But I won't rule it out completely-- who knows what the Lord has planned between growing my ability to teach and growing Dennis' ability to read!

Window Decal Fundraiser

2012-01-22T20:37:00.001-08:00

Please check these out! Here's our newest fundraiser to help with costs in bringing home our boys!

Window decals for the back window of your car!

Aren't they cool?

I designed these with the help of my kids and couldn't decide on just one-- so I am going to be selling all four! With costs anticipated to be nearly 30k to pay the ransom to bring home our boys, every little bit that is fundraised brings us one step closer.

With just a week or so before our homestudy is in our hands, we will be able to soon send off for our immigration approval! We hope and pray that Rachel and I will be able to travel in June to adopt Doyle and Fischer.

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Do you want to dress up your back window? Do you want to help bring home two orphans? Do you want to make a statement? Do you want to share your faith with everyone you pass on the street?

Well you can do all four by purchasing a decal for $20.

With four different designs, there is something for everyone!

And they make excellent gifts too!

If you would like to purchase one of these window decals which are approximately 9 in X 6 in. please email me at thereed8@yahoo.com telling me which one you would like to order.

If we sell 100 of these decals, $1000 will be raised towards Doyle and Fischer's adoption after costs.

That would be amazing if we could reach our goal!

Other ways you can help-- repost or link this on your blog, Facebook, etc.

Thank you, thank you, thank!

Just in case you were wondering, this is what the decals will look like on your window. Of course, this is just an example and not the actual design, but I wanted to show you in case you wanted a visual.

Blessings!

The Princess Birthday

2012-01-20T21:40:00.000-08:00

Today we celebrated our daughter Annalyn's birthday. She turned 14!

But today seems just so much more special because of who she is and how much she has blossomed over this past year. The tremendous growth she has made, has been such a blessing to be a part of... I am just so thankful to be her Mom.

I surprised her with earrings to pierce her ears. Too bad, I am not very good at it.

Let's just say... third time is a charm.

Please don't ask. :)

Despite the big oops on my part, priceless memories were made for all of us girls! I think we will be laughing about it for years to come. Only because Annalyn is such a good sport... and brave.

Thankfully, in the end, I have a happy and excited daughter!

For dinner, we went to her favorite restaurant-- Hometown Buffet.

With coupons (totaling $45 off), it was very affordable!

We all had flavored waters and Coke-- a nice treat!

Happy Birthday Annalyn!

Annalyn was so excited to get this book- The Princess Bride! I'm not sure though if she was happier to get this book or to find Chris Sarandon's fan mail address online.
(Right now she is watching a Tale of Two Cities with him in it and John ordered Little Men for her to watch as a belated birthday present)

Isn't she beautiful?

Here is Annalyn reading a card from Jonny. He is so sweet.

Dear Annalyn,

I love you so much but I might not act like it. You are the most special sister to me. The most special thing about you is that you are always there for me. Also when ever I need you, you can come. Also when I want to play with you, you do. And that's what I love about you.

From Jonathan

Thank you Lord for blessing us with such an amazing daughter!

Dissecting Owl Pellets

2012-01-19T21:58:00.000-08:00

Earlier in the week, we dissected owl pellets.

Only Anna and Galina remember doing something similar when they were younger, so it was a new thing.

After separating the fur and feathers from the bones, the kids identified the different bones and then figured out which animal their owl had eaten.

Most of the owl pellets contained mouse bones. One of the girls' pellets had bird bones.

Annalyn and Anna want to dissect another pellet with Adam over the weekend.

"Have fun!" says William who absolutely could not stand the grossness of this project.

Personally, I wiped down and sanitized the counter four times.

I don't think we will be dissecting anything else.

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Tomorrow someone is turning 14! We are celebrating at HomeTown Buffet her favorite restaurant! Hey... at least I don't have to cook!

Yesterday

2012-01-17T09:38:00.000-08:00

Nachos are a crowd pleaser around here!

Regardless of our busy schedules, we try to make eating dinner together part of our everyday routine. Most nights it is noisy and just a tad bit crazy, but we love it just the same!

Yesterday for MLK day, I took Rachel for a physical. When the doctor saw how low her hemoglobin was she sent us over to the ER for a possible blood transfusion. Not fun.

Thankfully, this local ER was not only effecient seeing us in less than five minutes, but the doctor on staff was wise too... sending us home with a prescription for iron pills three times a day. Had Rachel looked really pale, was lethargic, lightheaded, and such that would have been one thing, but she looked and felt fine indicating that this was something that had slowly been happening over the last year. Her blood work indicated low iron.

We have to monitor her over the next few months, but I think she will be okay. I'm thankful because no matter how safe blood transfusions may be in this day and age, not having one is even safer.

If I look at this as a blessing in disguise, I could see now that she understands the significance of eating better, something she had previously let go in one ear and out the other.

Just as Rachel and I got home, John was on his way out with half of the kids to go up to the snow. You might be wondering, "Where is snow in SoCal right now?" Well I don't think it was "real" snow, but a place that you pay to play that has man made snow.

I look at this picture and my heart soars. Dennis looks amazing in every way!

Jonny looks ready for the snow! Poor guy though... chapped lips are a regular thing around here.

Alex couldn't wait to go! Here he is getting ready to hop up in his carseat next to Dennis'. Since the beginning of the year California has the new law that you have to be eight years old or 4'9" now.

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Lastly, in case you hadn't heard the news, we are adopting again. Please come check out our latest fundraiser-- a cute flower bag. Our adoption blog is http://becausehefirstadoptedus.blogspot.com/.

Thank you!

Love

2012-01-13T20:52:00.000-08:00

I'm reading a book from Craig Groeschel called "Chazown." A Hebrew word, it means vision. Define your vision. Pursue your passion. Live your life on purpose. At the beginning of the book, the author asks some very thought provoking questions. My homeschoolers have been journaling their own thoughts because I think they are good questions. At the end of your life whether it be tomorrow or in 40 years...

People will say I stood for...

I made a difference in the world by...

God was glorified because I...

People knew I loved them because I...

Life is so short. It is a gift. Life is a gift. While you're here-- love, love, love. Not because you expect something in return. Not because it makes you feel good. Not because it is easy. Not because the person you love is naturally lovable. Love, because He first loved you.

We're Finished For Today

2012-01-13T14:41:00.000-08:00

The kids ran a mile this morning. Okay, it was actually less than a mile, but half of it was uphill-- so I counted it as long enough. I jogged and walked half of what they did, which I am pleased with. The kids are reading Cheaper By the Dozen and as we went over the questions, it was nice to see that the Dad did some crazy things just like me!

We just got finished with homeschooling for today.... and it is the beginning of a 3 day weekend. I'm looking forward to it.

My Mom brought some lemons so the girls are making two lemon merigue pies. Yum!

On the Wall

2012-01-12T21:09:00.000-08:00

Today we returned to art class to see the kids' latest paintings framed and ready to go.

Of course they had to go up on the wall.

My Mom and I had fun hanging them together.

Here are the montages from our Disneyland trip. We all enjoy looking at them whenever we pass by them.

Since buying our very first home, I have always been one to hang lots of pictures up on the walls. But I know some people who don't like putting a nail in the wall. Me?? I always have putty and touch up paint so it is not a big deal.

So... are you a picture on the wall kind of gal too?

Awesome Boys!

2012-01-10T06:52:00.000-08:00

The kids only get one hour a day of computer time, so they often sit and watch each other play.

Isn't this picture sweet of Andrew and Paul?

Too bad they aren't always this nice to each other. ;)

Adam designed these shoes for his art class. As my kids would say, "They're pretty boss aren't they?"

Dennis is just a goof boy!

Check here for our first fundraising auction.

Just in case...

2012-01-08T20:30:00.000-08:00

you wanted to know. Click here. :)

To Galina, From Jonathan

2012-01-07T20:13:00.000-08:00

Dear Galina,

I know that I only been with you for one year but I still love you so much. I also know that your my sister and I love that. The number one favorit thing about you is that you don't bug as much and the second thing is that your sometimes willy nice and I like that. But the frist thing I hate about you is nothing and that is true willy. You are my second favorit sister but that is better then last. But just rerember that I will always love you.

Love,
Jonathan

This letter was written to Galina for her one year anniversary with us. It is written exactly how Jonathan wrote it. Isn't it sweet? This is just one example of why John and I enjoy parenting so much. :)

A Little of This and a Little of That

2012-01-07T14:01:00.000-08:00

Family is the most important thing you will have in this world, a special gift from God... cherish them... and invest in your relationships by spending time with them. It doesn't have to be anything fancy... even the simplest things will be more than enough.

Jonny and I made this poster together. I drew it, and he colored it.

He liked it so much, and was very proud that he wanted to take it to school the next day for show and tell.

Yesterday the kids did a talent show and we all watched it... and videotaped it. I want to turn it into a video... maybe I'll find some time this weekend. See, time together can be this simple.

Galina made pancakes the other day with the mix we got her for her birthday, They were pink!

... with a few accent colors. :)

I reminded her that practice makes perfect... and they still tasted good.

Remember all the stuff we got that was piled up in the garage? Well this electric skillet was in one of the boxes so I pulled it out, had Adam assemble it, and cooked mini burgers on it.

It worked perfect and it was nice looking out into the kitchen rather than with my back turned.

Rachel has finals next week so she has been studying hard.

Annalyn gave coupons for doing hair, foot massages, etc. I think Julia cashed in one of them. Julia finished this blanket that was made using up all of the leftover balls of yarn we have. Our neighbor is expecting their first baby so Julia gave it to her as an early baby gift.

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Today I went to Costco with four of the girls. We bought our first box of 15 dozen eggs, 50 pound sack of flour, and one pound of yeast!

I also picked up a bunch of pictures so the girls can scrapbook and I can update the pictures in some of the frames I found in the garage.

In a little while, Caleb is going with his girlfriend and her family up to the mountains to have dinner at a restaurant.

Rachel is skyping with Sasha.

John is karayokying with the girls... High School Musical songs.

Now that is a real man!

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I leave you with this because the message is powerful:

Ephesians 4:1-3

Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.

His New One

2012-01-06T07:26:00.000-08:00

Four appointments later and Dennis has his new prosthetic eye. I am amazed at how lifelike it looks. This picture does not do it justice... for it is rounded... and has depth. Each occularist makes their prosthetics a little differently. This one embedded the actual eye in the prosthetic and then built up clear all around it, but not before using actual red thread for the teeny-tiny red veins in the white. The process was amazing to watch.

As the prosthetic settles in, the placement will change just a bit, and as that is happening we are seeing more movement with it. This of course makes it appear more natural.

What an amazing transformation our little guy continues to go through.

Along this journey we have met some really incredible people... who have been a huge blessing in our lives. I am so thankful for that.

I am so thankful for Dennis too.

Adoption Announcement

2012-01-05T11:21:00.000-08:00

Galina is officially a Reed! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!

We left an hour and fifteen minutes early to allow for morning traffic-- what we didn't expect was an accident to slow things down even more.

We took two cars because John had to leave right after court while I stayed behind and finished up the paperwork. At the last minute, I lost him and parked on my own. Thankfully we met up at the entrance... only to be told we were at the wrong building. We rushed over to that building only to be told we needed to go back to the other building. We did that once more before finally going back to the original place... we were only about 20 minutes late by that time.

Thankfully, the judge hadn't began yet, so we signed in and sat down.

Talk about a whirlwind beginning of a morning. :)

But it was so worth it because before 10 am, a judge declared us the legal parents of:

Galina Marjorie Reed!

Even though Galina has been our daughter for one year in our hearts, it is nice to know that it is official now!

To top off the exciting morning... there was a parking ticket waiting for me (John and I switched cars so technically it's his ticket.) Makes my $8 parking seem like a real bargain!

Back in the Groove

2012-01-03T21:22:00.000-08:00

We are getting back into the groove of school. So far so good.

Here are a few things that have been happening with our family.

Sveta will begin testing for her triennial IEP meeting coming up in a few months.
Jonny learned how to tie his shoes... and double knot!
Adam was helping out in the kitchen and thought I said to place the broken up pieces of spaghetti in a bowl of cold water... the pasta was all stuck together and ended up in the trash.
Rachel and Sasha have been Skyping.
I made hamburger sliders for dinner tonight! Yum!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T14:52:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

I can't believe how productive we have been this year! And to think, it all began with a mouse.

Let me back up. See-- my Mom and Aunt have been downsizing over the last couple of months and everything has been trickling down to us because you know-- we can obviously use it. ;)

Don't get me wrong, it is much appreciated-- how else would I get a lifetime supply of bandages, hair tonic, paper clips, and Christmas wrapping? The slowly growing pile wasn't even bothering me much because I knew I'd go through it eventually-- and it was in the garage. After all, I only had to look at it when I got in and out of the van.

But things changed after Annalyn sited a huge lizard in our garage. Then Anna and Galina saw something scamper under the car. Then John and William thought they saw a big rat!

John's declaration to me last night-- "Christine, tomorrow we are going through the boxes and cleaning out the garage!"

As this was going on, our family (including myself) was going through Internet and TV detox.   They were not even allowed to have earphones on with their MP3 players. They were not happy campers and so when John offered computer time for whoever caught the mouse-- that became the kids' entertainment for the evening.

Let's just say the garage was a disaster this morning!

But as a family, we cleared it out!   Oh if we could be this productive all year, we will get lots accomplished.

In addition to the clean garage, we are limiting our computer, texting, music, and tv watching (actually DVDs). Hopefully, we can all get used to this and actually find ourselves with more time for building relationships with each other and God.

Galina and Anastasia gave John and I coupons so he cashed one in to have his car cleaned inside and out. What a wonderful gift!

Rachel is getting ready to take finals next week.   She is switching to a higher level of math, so please wish her well!

Caleb has a visitor over today-- his girlfriend. Let's just say, I can't believe how fast they are growing up.

P.S. When John and I were out for our anniversary, I was asked for ID. Seriously. :)

how r u?

2011-12-28T22:39:00.000-08:00

Our daughter Rachel got an Ipod for her birthday from Grandma and Grandpa. Now she texts with her Daddy-- all the time. I think it would be safe to say-- she now has a new favorite pastime. :) What I am afraid of is how it will hinder her writing and spelling.* How r u? I don't know about you-- but that bugs me! Oh well, I guess I just have to get over it!

Today was a good day for doctor appointments. I prepared to spend 3 plus hours at the neurosurgeons office today (like last time) but we were out in a half hour. Alex had his stitches removed and has the okay from the doctor to resume all normal activity! Later I took Dennis to the occularist. The previous eye mold was a great fit, so he went ahead and painted the eye. Now he will make the actual prosthetic eye that Dennis will wear by taking the previous eye mold and pouring a new one with the painted blue eye inside it to give it depth instead of just being painted on like his current prosthetic eye. That means one more appointment next week-- but then we should be done. I can't wait to see it!

*R U reading this Rachel? :)

Random Thoughts

2011-12-27T21:09:00.000-08:00

I can hardly believe it. Here I am... finally sitting with my very own laptop up in my bedroom that I got for Christmas... Alex and Dennis watching Connie the Cow... and I don't know what to write.

I am supposed to be working on writing my book, but I am still running a few things in my head. Besides, I thought I would warm up by doing a blog post. Ha, ha. And I have nothing.

Well actually, I have lots, but if I shared them all-- it would hardly make sense I bet. But I'll try.

First off, I am conflicted with feelings of sadness, guilt, and disappointment about my last post concerning the family looking for a new family for their son. I am sad because this is just one of many that I hear about weekly. I in no way encourage a family to disrupt-- in fact I have offended a handful of families for encouraging them to keep on parenting as if they haven't tried hard enough. I feel guilty for publishing the negative comments with the ounce of hope that the negativity might change the family's mind. I feel additional guilt for taking down the post before the adoptive family meant to be his new family may have had the chance to read it.  I am disappointed that so many people can be so harsh towards these parents without actually offering any sort of solution. If you feel so passionate about what they are doing, why don't you step up to adopt this child? Your passion could be channeled into something so much more productive besides saying such mean things about this family.

The house feels empty. Adam, Rachel, and Julia hitched a ride with Grandma and Grandpa up north to visit with some old friends and family. Annalyn and Anastasia went to Aunt Tanya's house for a few days because they have never gone before. With a total of five kids gone, the house just seems so much quieter.

Today I took Alex in for a check-up with our primary doctor. With her in agreement that his incision looks great, I came home and called the neurosurgeon to squeeze Alex in before the New Year.   Thankfully they got him in tomorrow. If not, he would not have been able to return to school next week without the doctor's okay.

Galina had her other three cavitites filled today (not as many shots this time) and then we ran over to Kohls to use the Kohl's bucks I earned two weeks ago. I was able to buy a couple pairs of jeans for one of the boys, a birthday present, and a couple of t-shirts.

Tomorrow I take Dennis back to the occularist.   This will be the third time in as many weeks-- I hope it is his last. As much as I like the occularist, I don't want to keep visiting him weekly! :)

The company John's works for was recently acquired by a another company. This means our insurance is about to change. Thankfully John and I sat down last night and filled out everything online. Here's to hoping the transition with insurance billing goes well!

In a few days John and I will be celebrating our 18th anniversary! I am looking forward to spending the evening with him. It is our tradition to discuss what we are going to do in the new year.

She's 16!

2011-12-26T14:58:00.000-08:00

Happy birthday Rachel!

You are growing up too fast! I thought I could put off this day for a bit longer, but no, you are 16 now!

It is a blessing to be a part of your life. You are growing into quite an amazing young woman!

We made mint cupcakes.

Just like always, Dennis positioned himself to help blow out the candles.

Even Alex made sure he was helpful blowing out the candle!

Over the summer, Sasha made Rachel a shelf (he is going to school to be a cabinet maker) for Rachel. He bought her this picture frame too. I brought them home in my suitcase and held onto them until now.

It was a nice present to Rachel which made her smile.

Happy 16th birthday Rachel!

WE LOVE YOU!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T11:34:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone! What a glorious day! Much to celebrate-- so be joyous!
Last night we attended a Christmas Eve service at church and then came home and had a simple dinner.

We played Rumikub, and Budget and watched a movie.

When the kids went to bed, I got to work making this video of our trip to Disneyland since it was our *big* Christmas present this year.

Then I worked on stockings. This is what the kids woke up to in the morning. What is really nice is that most of the presents were things that they bought each other!

Stockings filled with candy, gum, lotion, erasers, feather hairclips, flashlights, mechanical pencils, jerky, and socks were well received.

Rachel opening her stocking.

The boys opening theirs.

The first thing we did was put the Disneyland video on. Paul got very grumpy. "Awww, why we have to watch movie right now?" He was very happy to open his stocking!

The living room was orderly chaos if that makes any sense. It was fun taking turns watching everyone open their gifts. We went nice and slow-- to make the morning last.

Anna got a shirt that you can color!

Dennis is in heaven. His plan was to stay in these new pajamas all day. I bursted his bubble when I made him change back into his clothes. There was no way I was going to let him get chocolate pie on his brand new white jammies! If I know my son though, he will be changing right back into his jammies after he is done eating!

Aunt Tanya gave us some Christmas money. The boys really wanted a ramp so John and Grandpa went with them to buy some wood. They came home and got to work. Today they finished it. What a great gift! The boys think we have the coolest skateboard park in our neighborhood! I bet they are right! Even Caleb is outside skating.

Grandma and Julia working on Suduku.

For Christmas our kids got a group gift-- a heavy duty pencil sharpener (our last one broke) with a case of pencils! Okay, so it is more practical and useful than creative and fun. But do you expect from a gal who asked for cups for Christmas? :)

This machine rocks!

Thank you Lord for my awesome family! Thank you that we get to celebrate your son's birth and receive the greatest gift of all! Merry Christmas!

The Ring Pop Club

2011-12-23T09:32:00.000-08:00

Jonny bought ring pops at the dollar store. When the older kids went to church, he busted out the candy.

I love it!

Cookie Time

2011-12-22T21:42:00.000-08:00

It is sort of tradition around here. We bake cookies during Christmas break.

Then we decorate them.

I made the frosting because it just tastes better.

As soon as Alex was done decorating his cookie he asked if he could eat it!

Same with Dennis!

The older kids have a few friends over. I smiled when I saw the kids hanging out.
I quickly grabbed my camera.

I am enjoying the teen years despite the occasional lip I get from them.

Earlier in the day just Caleb and I went out to run a few errands. I had the pleasure of taking him Christmas shopping for a certain someone special. I enjoyed it very much.

It is moments like these that make parenting totally worth it. :)

Too Funny

2011-12-21T16:16:00.000-08:00

I was out grocery shopping with a few of the kids yesterday. I passed the egg nog and asked if any of the kids like it. Galina said she does. So I bought a small carton.
I already knew that Annalyn loves it!

Probably as much as I love her hair!

Isn't she quite the actress? Drunk on egg nog.

Hey, wait a minute. I don't think egg nog has alcohol. :)

Dennis was in a timeout next to me in the kitchen.

He wrapped himself in this rug.

That's as weird as calling egg nog, banana milk-- which he also does.

Dennis now begs, "Please pour banana milk in my cup!"

I made cinnamon french toast for dinner the other day.
It made me think back to my younger days when my Mom would make breakfast for dinner so I ran to get some rubber bands so I could put my hair in little girl braids.

Cute, huh?

The boys found these blocks in one of our homeschool bins. They have been keeping them busy...

when they are not fighting over computer time to play Wizards 101 or some car racing game.

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Last night there was some serious drama happening with the girls. I am so embarrassed and sad for them, that I won't even blog the details.

Thankfully, I think my words hit home and as I went around and checked on the kids one last time, a few of them had already made up. Because hearts are still tender I'm sure, I made sure to include it in our lunch prayer.

Speaking of prayer, I have been praying with the four middle boys. Last night I was going to just skip it because I had gifts to wrap, but Andrew came to my room.

"Mom... Paul was talking about praying and so I think it is a good idea if you come to our room and do it with us."

~~big smile~~

Oh how they blessed me right then and there.

Back on Monday I made up a chore list with dollar amounts like

clean outside fridge $3.50

wipe down both tea kettles $.50

clean out both eating utensil drawers $1.00

organize all boys' toys $3.50

The kids were excited to earn some extra spending money since we do not give an allowance. I was excited to not have bored children for a few hours and to have some extra things done around the house.

So of course, the kids wanted to spend it at the dollar store to buy Christmas gifts as soon as I handed out the money.

But who was going to take them?

I could, but the kids didn't necessarily want me seeing what they bought.

So they begged Adam. And he asked for a buck for his services. :) I obliged.

But poor guy ended up having to take the van because one extra kid wanted to go.

Though Adam can drive the van, he hates it.

So the great Mom that I am helped him back the van out of the garage by using arm motions and loud beeping noises. :)

Thanks Adam for being a great sport!

Can you Give One Month?

2011-12-21T09:42:00.000-08:00

**UPDATE** Silly me. I forgot to mention that he is 14 1/2 years old.

It always pains me to receive an email about a struggling adoptive family. It is hard to not want to try and fix it when I honestly don't know what is going on inside the four walls of their home. I can tell them to persevere... and trust me I do-- but there comes a point when all I can do is try to help.

Today, I am reaching out on the adoptive family's behalf to ask if you might be willing to open your heart and home this Christmas season. I know the timing could not be worse... trust me we were with respite child this time last year-- but God has an amazing way of working things out. He was originally born in Russia, here now for over 5 years (maybe 6 or 7). He has been with his current family for 3 years. Things were going well or so the parents thought... until they realized that their son had formed an unhealthy relationship towards the Mom. This child can and does behave very well around others... underneath he struggles with stealing and pornography.

Would you be willing to take this boy in immediately for one month of respite? After the one month, things will be evaluated to see if they can reunite as a family. He can be on home study for the few weeks following Christmas break. He is not violent. The family is willing to pay living expenses for that month.

I am not willing to go into further details here, so if you are interested, please email.

Thank you so much.

Our Christmas Tree

2011-12-19T15:52:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we decorated our Christmas tree. Though the kids only got a few ornaments each to hang up, they still had fun.

After the tree was finished we had fun taking family pictures.

This has been a tradition for the last two years and Rachel especially loves it.

John is pretending to bite Annalyn's ear to see if she could focus on the picture.
I'd say she did pretty well.

Jonny and Andrew making funny faces.

This Christmas is pretty special. It marks one year of Galina being with us, except this year it is as our daughter, not just a girl we were doing respite for. :)

John can be so goofy. As if they can actually dance. ;)

Merry Christmas!

Home!

2011-12-18T21:50:00.000-08:00

We are home!

Alex was finally released from the hospital around three this afternoon. He walked out. :)

Here is a picture from the first night after surgery.

Told you he was all smiles despite all that he had just went through.

The next night, John brought homemade cards that the kids had made. Dennis made five or six and John read them all to Alex phonetically which had him laughing uncontrollably.

"I sss mh pa y y y."

Try reading that.

Or this.

"D d bi ddd aa i ttt."

Alex enjoyed it so much that he asked John to read them over and over.

Alex is doing okay. He has heightened sensation in his legs that causes extreme sensitivity to pressure, touch, or gravity when he stands. This is the biggest thing that Alex is complaining about.

Not this.

What a trooper!

Hopefully Only One More Day

2011-12-17T21:31:00.000-08:00

Alex has had a much better day. John came mid morning so that I could come home to be with the other kids. He is spending the night and hopefully coming home with Alex tomorrow afternoon. Alex's fever is down, he hasn't vomited all day, and he seems to be in less pain. Now all he has to do is sit up and walk in the morning and he will be able to come home!

Easier said than done but if anyone can do it-- Alex can!

I was able to do a bit more Christmas shopping today. The girls helped me wrap a few of the gifts. We had soft tacos for dinner. The kids told me that the house had been quiet and boring with me gone. "You know Mom... without all your yelling," Julia teased me. I smiled. She said, "Just kidding. It's just that you are the woman of this house and when you are not here, it feels empty."

I feel the love. :)

An Alex update

2011-12-16T19:41:00.000-08:00

I'm typing from Alex's hospital room because John and Julia brought a laptop.

Going back to yesterday.
When Alex and I got to the hospital yesterday morning the first thing I was told was how our surgeon was never on time. Imagine my surprise when they took Alex back for surgery a half hour early. I had to smile when I got a page an hour later that they were starting the surgery. :)

The surgery went well, the incision looks good. Yesterday Alex seemed to be making excellent progress. John's work is only five minutes from the hospital so he has popped in a couple of times to see Alex and relieve me so that I could take a walk around the hospital.

Even when John and Rachel came last night, Alex seemed to be doing well. But that didn't last long. Before midnight he vomited up his oral meds-- so I asked for Tylenol suppositories. Too bad all his other meds can't be given this way as well. It was a restless night... Alex began a low grade fever, his whole body seems tense. I slept next to him just so I could keep rubbing his tummy for comfort. Didn't realize how hot it can actually be sleeping next to a little heater. :) In the morning he was complaining of a headache and a sore neck. He was put back on IV fluids because he throws up everything.

Funny thing is we can still make him laugh. He gets in a smile in between the pain. Still, I had the doctor paged because my Mama radar senses something is not quite right.

John and Julia are visiting now. The neurosurgeon just left. Alex has a squishy pocket on his back that is incredibly sensitive and causes great pain. It could be air or fluid. He could have aseptic meningitis, hydrocephalus, or absolutely nothing. The doctor will be back in the morning to check on him.

The earliest Alex can come home is Sunday afternoon, but now I am not so sure. One minute he cries to go home, the next he is happy snuggling and watching Spongebob.

The nurses have been very nice-- all I have been referred to as is Mom. :)

Thank you for the prayers. Alex is a trooper!

I want to leave with you one quote from the book "When the Game is Over It All Goes Back in the Box" by John Ortberg.

"Every time someone says yes to God, the world changes a little. But sometimes people say no. Every time you say no to God, you change a little. Your heart gets a little harder. Your spirit dies a little. Your addiction to comfort gets a little stronger."

Those Extra Disneyland Photos

2011-12-14T22:30:00.000-08:00

P.S. Alex goes in bright and early for surgery. Please keep him in your prayers. I am nervous and excited at the same time! The doctor says there is a 35% chance that Alex's walking, bladder and bowel control, and paralysis could improve with this surgery with 5% chance of him going the opposite direction. There is 60% chance that he'll stay the same. I take that as 95% that he will do great!

He Likes Him

2011-12-13T19:22:00.000-08:00

I stayed up late addressing Christmas cards. With a letter to go along only half finished, I wondered if I would find the words to sum up the rest of 2011. John to the rescue-- he added eight more sentences to make it complete. Now Dennis is busy writing his Christmas cards. He pays attention to detail like that. He made sure that I knew that I forgot to give him a gift for the class exchange on Friday and surprised him after his nap.
"Is that for me?"
"Yes, but you have to take it to your teacher tomorrow okay?"
"Yippee!"

We met with the occularist whom I adore. He is so awesome with Dennis that Dennis let me know how much he loves this doctor. :) The occularist wanted to get an eye mold so that the new prosthetic would be a better fit. I was somewhat skeptical since Dennis had always fought and screamed the previous occularist (who was also wonderful) who attempted the same thing. But I guess Dennis was ready. He was more trusting... brave... and overall a very big boy! He stayed perfectly still and in no time we were out of there! I rushed home so that John could head to BSF with the older kids.

Adam stayed home to do homework and as a treat we made really chocolatey hot chocolate with Sveta, Anastasia, Paul, Alex, and Dennis. It hit the spot!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Some random things that happened in the Reed household.

It didn't snow like John predicted.

That didn't stop me from waking up the girls by turning on their lights and yelling to come outside and look at all the snow! It was fun!

Dennis was running to get me something and he ran right into Anastasia's hand playing tennis on the Wii. He screamed ouch!, but he's okay.

I caught Anastasia "bugging" Alex by turning the light on and off quickly. This is the first time I have seen something like this. To me it is just another step in her feeling more like part of the family. She smiled and said okay when I told her to stop.

Alex had his seventh good behavior day at school. Ironic since Dennis brought home his first red card for talking and playing around on the carpet.

We took our expecting neighbor over a container of fresh borscht with extra veggies as a thank you for feeding our dogs when we were gone last week. Later Anna told me how this neighbor had told her that vegetables didn't taste good to her right now. Hmmm? Hope she meant raw veggies!

P.S. I got the address to write a letter (about the adopted comments) to the hospital and I even got the nurses name. I can even hand deliver the letter since I'll be there in 2 days. I'm not sure what to write though. Any suggestions?

I'm Glad The Day is Over

2011-12-12T22:23:00.000-08:00

Life is busy. I think I say that all the time. It started at 7:30 this morning with Alex's annual review IEP meeting at the school. The teacher thinks that mainstreaming him into a repeat 1st grade class next year is a good idea. Yes, it's early to be talking next year, but I appreciate her mentioning it.

After, Alex had his Pre-Op appointment where he needed to be blood typed and cross matched-- one of two blood draws. One nurse in particular wanted to keep referring to me as the adoptive mother-- to the point of me feeling harassed. "It is our policy to list adoptive in front of mother on all paperwork-- blah blah blah blah." "We need to see your adoption decree-- blah blah blah blah." "It should be known that you are not his biological parent because you know-- blah blah blah blah," said nurse #1.

"Really. You are the first one to make such a big deal out of it. Even though I produced this documentation the first time we came to this hospital-- just in case-- you are the first one to request it. Why didn't he need it for his MRI or CMG or all of his clinical appts? And how come I am not asked to write biological on my other children's paperwork? " I asked.

"Just put adoptive in front of the word mother when it lists your relationship," nurse #1 said.

At this point, even Rachel felt offended. In the hall we overheard nurse #1 tell nurse #2 who was to take Alex's vitals-- "She is his adoptive mother." Unbelievable. She just wouldn't let up. Nurse #2 starts with, "I understand you are his adoptive mother..." That was enough. I let her know that I wanted to be referred to as just Mom or I might have to talk with someone who could help me understand this need to be singled out and labeled his adoptive mother. all. the. time. Not another mention of Alex being adopted. :)

Now don't worry, I remained calm and nice even though you may hint sarcasm or rudeness in my post-- so don't go jumping on my case. This is my place to vent-- and trust me, this is worth venting about. For Rachel to hear over and over and over that the world considers there to be a difference in how a biological child is referred to verses an adopted child-- well they should have been more professional. Plain and simple.

We finally got out of that medical office by noon to head over to our primary doctor to get a new lab slip to go have more bloodwork done. I rushed to get the paperwork only to find the lab closed for lunch. We waited in the rain for twenty minutes. :(

Once that was done, we went shopping for ingredients to make a huge pot of borscht. Yum!

Tomorrow Dennis will see the Occularist to have a new prosthetic eye made.

Wednesday we meet with our homeschool teacher.

Thursday is surgery day for Alex. I am praying for many miracles here. I pray that Alex's mobility will improve. I pray that his bowel and bladder control will get better. I pray that this one on one time with him will help in our bonding. Personally, I feel that my being the only familiar face there while he is recovering from surgery will help him to feel a deeper connection-- that I am his mother, the one who cares for him, the one he should look to for comfort. I can use that deeper connection myself. My plan is to get cozy with him in his hospital bed if the nurses allow it. :)

At the end of the day, I must say my favorite thing to do is to sit down and have devotional time with our whole family. We are reading Kisses from Katie. Well... John is reading it to all of us. Her obedience to the Lord has been a blessing to read all about. I am in awe how God uses each of us to inspire to love like He loves. He is certainly using her story to inspire me. I never tire of hearing how with God-- all things are possible. I know that to be true in our family. I know that to be true for Katie in Uganda. If you read any book this coming year-- I encourage you to read this one. It will challenge you to go deeper in your relationship with God as you choose to serve Him-- through serving the lonely, the sick, the orphaned, the widowed... the least of these. With the New Year right around the corner, what do you want to do with the rest of your life to make a difference?

Annalyn in 50 Years

2011-12-10T19:10:00.000-08:00

"Where's my prune juice?"

"My back is killin' me."

"Now where did I put my teeth?"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILLIAM

2011-12-10T07:19:00.000-08:00

William's birthday began this morning with a gift from Grandpa and Grandma.

After having some of William's favorite foods for diner-- fried potatoes, pizza, and string cheese--we sang happy birthday.

I told William we would even sing it in his new language "the version" but he said that it was okay to sing it the regular way. (Wait till you see the boys speaking "the version" which is a cross between static and Donald Duck)

Happy 12th birthday!

William is so easy to please! He absolutely loves Butter Fingers so we got him four!
Plus twelve dollars!

William used to love Funyuns but I guess not anymore, so I traded him a can of Pringles!

William loves Star Wars Legos-- he's putting them together right now!

Annalyn took a lot of time to make William this card.
I told him, "It's a keeper."

Caleb served up cake.

William building his Lego ship.

William-- I don't know what we would do without you. We love you very much! Happy birthday son!

Tower of Terror!

2011-12-09T21:13:00.000-08:00

We had so much fun on the Tower of Terror-- well everyone except for maybe John.

Disneyland

2011-12-09T14:33:00.001-08:00

We had an amazing time at Disneyland this week. Good thing because the kids are only getting older (Adam is 16 1/2) and we may never have another "family" vacation quite like this. All the grandparents came along with my sister.

We checked in Monday evening.

We all enjoyed good ol' Subway sandwiches!

After dinner we went swimming in the indoor pool and hot tub.

We spent our first day in Disneyland.

The first thing we enjoyed was Tarzan's Tree House and then Pirate's of the Caribbean. Alex closed his eyes and covered his ears for most of the ride. He clapped when he thought the ride was over. Both Alex and Dennis were not too thrilled at this point.

Disneyland was beautifully decorated. We took a new picture of our family on the staircase.

We rode the raft over to the island and explored for awhile.

The Jungle Cruise was lots of fun!

Snack time!

Alex and Dennis loved "It's a Small World." However, I can't say that about everyone.

I'm so glad that I bought rain coats at the dollar store.

Grandma got soaked on this ride!

After Splash Mountain where I got very wet, I personally did not go on anymore water rides.

Alex of course could not take his crutches up here, so we helped him walk the nets.

I didn't anticipate there being net after net after net, so I had him try rolling down the last few. At the end we were very tired!

As time went on, Alex and Dennis began to enjoy themselves. We had so much fun as a group!

When Dennis saw Lightening McQueen and Mater he ran to them and cut in front of everyone! We explained that he had to wait in line. Before our turn was over, Dennis had examined McQueen front and back and in his teeth. It was quite funny.

At the end of each day, we were pooped out. As soon as our heads hit the pillow we were pretty much out!

We loved having park hoppers. On the third day we went to both parks!

Autopia was fun for the whole family. My driving partner was Anastasia. Once I held down the gas pedal, she was a fine driver. :)

By Thursday, it was very crowded-- Fast Passes sure came in handy. One day we rode "The Tower of Terror" three times! The first time, all 21 of us rode it. Yes, that included Alex and Dennis. They reacted better than I thought they would. :)

I really enjoyed this ride with all the miniature trees and houses. I forget the name though. Oh well.

We were all disappointed to find out that Indiana Jones was down for repairs. On Tuesday we were told it would be up and running the day after we left. Thankfully it was up and running on our last day there and we got to ride it afterall!

What a great picture we got in Toon Town!

Often times, our group took up the whole ride. :)

We stayed together 99% of the time making it a true family vacation.

Galina and Rachel

California Screamin' was the best! I am so glad that Anastasia decided to ride it on the last day. She was too! After Tower of Terror, poor Paul was just not ready so he sat this one out.

Dennis was not always a happy camper.

But he was most of the time!

Last night we splurged and went out for dinner to celebrate William's birthday. It was hard to find a restaurant in Downtown Disney able to accommodate our party of 19, but John found one. We enjoyed the best pizza at Naples Restorante!

Our Disneyland trip was awesome! I am so glad we went! The memories we made are priceless!

It's Nice to be Home

2011-12-09T12:09:00.000-08:00

Hi! We are back! What an amazing time we had! And no one got lost!

The icing on the cake-- the social worker for Galina's adoption was true to her word-- she has submitted a favorable report to the judge! Woo-hoo!

Now please excuse me while I tackle Mount Laundry!

Hopefully pictures will follow-- however John just took my computer to the shop since it wouldn't turn on. :(

Blogs Worth Noting

2011-12-05T10:43:00.000-08:00

While we are gone, I thought I would share a few things to read. They have either encouraged me, blessed me, and or made me think.

The Blessings of Verity-- What an amazing litle girl!

Project TLC-- a wonderful ministry doing fabulous things in Crimea!

Breastfeeding thoughts-- I always fed my babies in public.

Hope Haven-- the first school in Ukraine for kids with special needs.

Mumma of all Boys
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On a side note, Dennis woke up in a grumpy mood. I think he is nervous about going to Disneyland. The reality that we are going somewhere for a few days is evident by all the bags piled up in our entryway. Dennis wants to make sure that his Blanket Bear and Buzz are coming so they could ride all the rides with him.
"And who is going to carry Buzz (his baby) all day?"
"You can Mom!"
Awww, I should have guessed.

One More Sleep

2011-12-04T21:51:00.000-08:00

All is good-- I think. I just forgot how much detail goes into packing for all of us. Even though I think I have remembered everything-- I am counting on forgetting something. Oh, I hope not though. :)

The kids are not asleep yet though it has been nearly two hours since they went down. I guess they are excited about our vacation. Dennis and Alex have especially been talkative. When I went in to check on them Dennis informed me that Alex had hurt his feelings. "How?" I asked. "Well, he turned upside down in bed and put his feet on the wall like this," as Dennis showed me what Alex did. "And this hurt your feelings... how?" I asked. That little turkey. He hears a new word and pretends like he knows what it means. LOL.
Alex's remark? "I sorry I hurt his feelies."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Galina's social worker has called for yet more paperwork. Each time she does this she says that she is about to finish up the report but needs one more thing. This time it is the adoption decrees of all our adopted children. They are ready to go out in the mail tomorrow. I hope this is the last of the paperwork. She says it is,but for some reason I am not holding my breath.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Good night.

Pearls

2011-12-02T21:38:00.000-08:00

I'm working my way through the book "Too Small To Ignore" by the CEO of Compassion International, Wess Stafford. I have jotted down so many little nuggets of inspiration, and I wanted to share one with you. The author begins the tenth chapter describing a pearl. Unlike other fine jewels such as a diamond or ruby, the pearl comes originally from suffering. Once just a piece of sand embedded in an oyster-- the hurting and uncomfortable oyster protects itself by coating the sand with its secretion that layer upon layer becomes a shining treasure-- a pearl!

Amazing that a beautiful thing such as the pearl can be formed while living an uncomfortable and even painful life!

The author continues on to explain the Pearls of Poverty-- great and beautiful things formed as a result of suffering. I love this. And so I wanted to share with you.

The Pearl of Love-- There is nothing more powerful that belongs to the poor as much as it belongs to the rich. It most certainly cannot be taken away either. In the midst of poverty with no food, no medicine, and no money-- there is love to give. When there is nothing else to give-- you can still give love. When there is nothing else you can do but hold your dying friend in your arms as they slip into the loving arms of Jesus you are never the same.

Awwe, to be compelled by love.

The Pearl of Joy-- What a brave way to respond to the circumstances of life driven by poverty. When all else fails and good fortune never comes-- somehow the poor comprehend better than we do that joy is not dictated by the circumstances of life. To find reason to smile and laugh in the midst of poverty is the pearl of joy. It too cannot be taken away.

The Pearl of Hope-- A courageous decision when life's harshness and injustices pile up. Even when the poor are suffering endlessly they cling to hope. We tend to be hopeful only when we have more assets than liabilities and yet the poor who have it the other way around are amazingly strong in their hope-- always.

The Pearl of Time Perspective-- The poor understand that time is not their master. They manage to always have time for each other-- what's really important. To be constantly ruled by a time schedule is a fatal condition. It is horribly contagious too.

I feel this probably more than anything. I never have enough time. And only when my schedule permits do I find a moment to squeeze in time for relationships outside my home. I tend to hurry up and wait more than I make time for others in my life.

The Pearl of People Matter; Things Don't-- This is reality for the poor. They put value in people, not things. If we stop and put the values of eternity into perspective, we realize that we can't take it with us. True treasure is the relationships we build with people.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I must admit that I am envious that my treasure chest lacks an abundance of these jewels. How rich the poor are in so many ways! I pray for joy in all my circumstances. I hope to learn to smile and laugh no matter how uncomfortable I am at the moment. I pray that I can grasp the pearl of hope during the trials in our lives. And I know that I am rich when I can say no to running to the store because I choose to go visit a friend.

As I grow to understand that my life is like the oyster-- God takes the grains of sand of my life and turns them into a beautiful thing. I know He does the same thing with your life.

Only Four More Nights

2011-12-01T14:31:00.000-08:00

Alex and Dennis both make a lot of projects at school. Here are some of them. It would be quite a collection to keep them all-- so I take pictures instead.

Alex made this pumpkin.

He also made this place mat.

Dennis made this soccer man.

Dennis wrote about pumpkins.

Since it has been cold lately, I have been letting the dogs in to sit on the rug. Aren't they cute?

The kids have worked incredibly hard this week. I am amazed at how much of their work they have completed. I told them to be done by Monday, but it looks like they may be done by tomorrow! Rough drafts of their Ice Age Mammal essays were not due until tomorrow-- yet I have already corrected most of them! Galina is busy typing her essay up as I blog.

Poor Anastasia had her cavities filled yesterday. She couldn't help crying near the end-- she was so uncomfortable with the numbing. The one good thing about the experience-- she is now brushing after every meal and flossing! She hopes to never have another cavity.

Little by little we have been preparing for our trip. The kids were so excited to see our snack bags packed and ready to go!

Only four more nights till we leave for Disneyland-- the kids are counting!

So Many Sweet Faces

2011-11-30T22:48:00.000-08:00

Oh my, my, my. Look at all these little babies. Aren't they adorable? I don't know about you, but I'm in heaven looking at all of their precious, innocent faces. I know what I want for Christmas. Why? Because all of these children are in need of a Mama.

None of them have a loving family to surround them with smiles and giggles.

No snuggles.

No coziness.

Instead, they spend their time self soothing themselves to pass the time.

Rocking back and forth.

Because no one rocks them.

They often bang their heads just to feel something because it is better than nothing.

It reaches into my soul and screams out to me--

Do something Christine!

So I blog. I ask that you take a moment and stare back at their picture.

Tell me that you don't feel anything. Tell me that your heart is not stirred. Tell me that you can't afford to give five dollars to increase their chances of being adopted while us Americans will find billions of dollars this Christmas to spend on presents.

I don't think you can. I think you all have a soft spot for children in need-- even if you have never thought about it before.

Remember....

God first adopted us.

He is our example.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meet Colton!

Dorothy

Fischer

Justin

Keegan

Lilianna

Mara

Margaret

Melanie

Melody

Nadine

Sally

Savannah

Zoey

And Tamara!

Aren't they all just beautiful? Wonderfully made in God's image. They are waiting for their Mama and Daddy. Their brothers and sisters.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I know that adoption is a big thing. But I also know that it is a huge blessing.

You can be a part of caring for orphans in other ways besides adoption if you are not able to adopt at this time. You can pray for them by name. God hears our prayers. You can make a tax deductible donation to their adoption grant fund to help out with their adoption costs. This is a huge blessing for these kids whose chances of being adopted are greater if there is a grant to help with their adoption expenses.

You can go to Reece's Rainbow to read all about these children and to make a donation.

Thank you!

Digest 24

2011-11-29T19:17:00.000-08:00

Susan Hight said...
How's Dennis's eye? The skin seems really red around it in these pictures. Regardless, he's cute as a button as always. I just hope it isn't bothering him. :)
November 8, 2011 9:29 AM

Thanks for asking. The skin around the eye will be red for about a year after surgery. Thankfully it does fade over time. We use Mederma when I remember and he does not have eczema on his face.

You really need to get your kids to the dentist more often, every 6 months is recommended. There's no excuse for such yellow teeth. Also, do you want them all to have mouths full of cavities

By Anonymous on The Solution on 11/11/11

I feel sorry for you. I really do. I hope you can let go of the anger, bitterness, and downright nastiness that your comment exudes. Maybe you'd like to join me with three of my kids to the dentist tomorrow and pick up the bill too since you are so concerned about their teeth. I would really appreciate it.

Cody Lee said...
Happy Birthday, Galina. And good luck, Christine, with having another teenager in the house. ;-)
(I keep submitting my homestudy on 12yr old girls here in the States, and my mom thinks I'm crazy.)
Does River of Joy have a website? I've been reading your blog over the past week or so and now can't find where you posted the link if it has one.
November 14, 2011 6:04 PM

I think teenagers are awesome-- so what's another one? :) Yes, River of Joy has a website. You can check it out here.

Joy said...
I hope you all have fun at Disneyland!
I've been enjoying your blog for several months now, since earlier this summer. You have such a lovely family. I was wondering if Julia and Rachel ever post on their blogs? I know I checked a while back and there was nothing there.
~Joy Caroline
November 15, 2011 2:34 PM

Rachel and Julia will read this and maybe it will encourage them to post more to their blogs. We'll see. :)

Anonymous said...
I have not been at your blog for quite sometime. In just scrolling down I noticed how Galina has changed a LOT since we here in the blogosphere first met her. Her face is so pretty, much softer (and of course grown up).
Love does amazing things for the human body.
Jessica
November 16, 2011 1:01 P

You noticed it too? Galina has changed so much. Can you believe we are already approaching the one year mark? She has surprised us so much with how easy her transition has been. For the longest time I was waiting for the honeymoon period to end... and it has in a way... but nothing big. She has really made an amazing transformation with us. It just confirms to us that she was meant to be here.

Jamey and Catherine said...
I love this post! Somehow she seems like the quiet/ shy type but Im wrong arent I. :)
November 16, 2011 9:27 PM

You are so wrong. ;) She is actually my loudest daughter! I do wonder what it would be like if she was shy? Hmmm--- Anna shy?? LOL-- Nope, can't picture it!

gen2revztruth said...
This is completely unrelated to your girl Anna, sorry, but I really need your help!
You have teenage boys, boys who have gone through all the hormonal changes, please, please contact me about how to deal with them, what they were like age 8 onwards, what to expect, and how to survive this nonsense from them! If you have twitter my username is the same as this one, or can you reply on here and I'll give you my email or something in priv msg.
Thankyou, hope you have time to respond! I'm getting a little desperate with my eldest!
November 18, 2011 1:14 AM

Take a deep breath. You'll get through it. Teenage boys aren't that bad. By eight they usually smell all boy in every sense but mine have outgrown it by the time they are teenagers-- except for maybe the feet. :) Their voices will change, they will sleep more, but I honestly have not noticed that big of a change. Yes they are spreading their wings more and voicing their opinion but if you take the time to invest in your relationship with them rather than give them more space, you'll stay close. I talk to my boys, I still give them hugs and kisses on the cheek, and I try not to forget birthday spankings. :) None of my kids have FaceBook, cell phones, or tvs or computers in their rooms. They are allowed to Skype with friends but not when we are asleep. I give my kids an inch, they ask for a mile-- but what kid doesn't? I wish I could give you concrete answers-- all I know is that early on my husband and I were taught in a parenting class that our kids should be blessings to others including us. We don't ask them to do things that we don't do ourselves and I think they respect us for that-- at least I hope they do. Despite my very best effort, I blow it with my kids every. single. day. Knowing that, and seeing their forgiveness helps me to be graceful too. The best way to do this is to try and not keep a record of wrong. Sure that may come back and bite you now and then when they test you with, "When? When did I do that?" and all you can answer back is, "I don't know when, but I know you did!" LOL-- we would be an even bigger mess of a family if we kept track of every wrong we had done to us.

Melissa said...

This little girl has been on my mind often since you posted. I've been praying for her.
November 27, 2011 8:52 PM

Please keep her in your prayers. She is still available for adoption. Besides for one donation, her grant has
not moved up one penny. Tamara is at a wonderful baby home right now, but I don't know for how much longer. I think of her often. I'm certain she would be a cuddlebug. :) I have a sweet, adorable picture of her feet that comes to mind throughout the day. Ever since we first saw Sveta and Anna's pure white feet back in 2005 because they were never allowed to be outside without socks and shoes-- feet have represented to me a child's freedom. Freedom to run around barefoot and squish mud between their toes and get all wrinkly from a long bubblebath! I don't think Tamara has experienced any of that. Imagine what a delight it would be to experience all those firsts with such a sweetheart of a girl. The thought makes me smile.

Hevel said...

I really apreciate your honest blogging. There are so many entries I want to write, and there's one I'll eventually post (wrote it a while back) about raising sexually active teenagers and all that it involves... But I'm chicken to post it now.
November 28, 2011 12:28 PM

Hevel, thank you. Hopefully one day you will post what you have written so that others may learn from you.

Anonymous said...

I love your readers, they are so kind and helpful and positive, What a blessing! You would not get all these suggestions and experiences if you did not blog so honestly. My little sister liked the silky material on her blanket and used to go to sleep stroking it, my granddaughter rubs the edge of her pillow against her cheek, my nephew needed to have a clean cloth diaper near his face.
November 28, 2011 5:51 PM

I never thought of the underwear touching as a tactile issue. They are normal cotton-- nothing special. Still, it could be. Either way, he is back to just sleeping with his stuffed doggy.

Anonymous said...

Maybe he wants to be a girl. Let him dress that way if he wants too, or are you one of those Christians who thinks it is wrong for a guy to be transgender or gay? >.>
November 29, 2011 1:49 PM

Pa---leeze! I'm not even going there.

A Few Things

2011-11-29T08:12:00.000-08:00

Good morning. God is good all the time... amen? :)

A few things.

If you see any movies this year make sure you include The Grace Card, and The Ultimate Gift. Both are awesome... powerful... meaningful... with great lessons too. Don't miss out-- you'll be glad you didn't!

Last night I stayed up way too late ordering supplemental homeschool curriculum. Kids Discover is probably one of my favorite teaching tools. The kids love it! I use it for themed units. I usually read the magazine first and come up with about 40 questions, a few videos to watch, and often times a writing assignment followed by a test. It works great. This week we are learning about the Ice Age and the kids are doing reports on the Ice Mammal of their choice. As I browsed through the topics, I realized that their are teacher guides and vocab power to go with the magazine. Wooo-hooo! Another great homeschool find is Balance Benders. The puzzles are challenging even for Adam!

The following week after we get back from Disneyland Alex is having major surgery to untether his spinal cord. He will be in the hospital up to four days. Dennis will also have a new prosthetic eye designed since he will not undergo any more surgeries on his eye for awhile. It looks like we will be staying close to home this Christmas which is fine with me. :)

Here Goes

2011-11-28T11:22:00.000-08:00

What is the point of blogging honestly and truthfully? For me, I want to be an honest person even though that means I might look ugly to many people. I sin. I rarely get it right. And if I share, I know I open myself up to tons of criticism. Why not just keep everything to ourselves? It keeps people wondering at the very least. This is definitely a road I have contemplated going down-- just shutting down the blog or keeping it private-- or even worse-- painting this rosy perfect picture of our family-- it would certainly be easier.

But God didn't promise easy. In fact, He has proven to me more times than not that my screwed up life enables Him to turn it around for His glory.  Just like other people have touched me in a powerful way when they have shared their hard times, I believe that God continues to use me in this way too.

So I blog.

Here goes.

Last night Jonny came to our room in the middle of the night around 2 am. "Can I sleep in your room? I had a bad dream." "Sure, go lay down on the other bed," I said half asleep. Ten minutes later, "Can I come sleep with you? I can't go to sleep by myself," Jonny whispered as he climbed into bed between John and I. "Sure Jonny." Ten minutes later, "Will you pray with me? I had a bad dream, and I can't go to sleep." Why hadn't I thought of this earlier? Well actually I had, but I was too tired and figured that it would be okay to skip the praying. But now Jonny was asking so I prayed with him. He kept stirring so ten minutes later I prayed with him again. And then again. He just couldn't sleep. By this time at least an hour had passed. "Jonny what was your dream about? Did you watch something scary?"  Jonny told me that Rumpelstiltskin in Shrek 4 had scared him.  This sounded fishy but I didn't think it was the time to investigate. Finally after another hour or two he drifted off to sleep around 5am.

6:30 a.m. was here before we knew it, and I woke him up.  Over breakfast we talked about Jonny's bad dream and I found out it was from watching "The Mummy" a few nights ago when John and I went to serve Thanksgiving dinner. Andrew found it in an old stack of movies. Rachel thought it was okay for them to watch. I'm mad at myself for even having the movie in the house. As I lectured the kids about knowing better than to watch a scary movie, Andrew shifted blame to Dad who I then shifted my anger towards.

It was quickly resolved, with new lessons learned.  I am sorry that Jonny had bad dreams as a result.   I am sorry that my kids were exposed to something they shouldn't have. I'm sorry I was quick to deflect blame.

This is a time that I wish there was a do over button.

Onto other things.

It is expected that things will come up with kids as they grow and change. That's called life. We all have ups and downs and no matter what, we will get through them, work through them, and learn from them. I trust that each and every situation will be used for God's glory... if we let it. I believe that no mater how unpleasant they may be or how great the challenge, something can be learned. We can become more patient, practice self-control, learn to be content in the midst of a storm, or when you are stuck in a desert.

With that said, I share something quite personal.  The other day an adoptive parent and friend called me after I messaged her on Facebook. She shared with me how she found her underwear in her son's room-- more than once. She asked for advice which I had little, simply because I had not really experienced this in our home.... yet. I encouraged, touched on puberty, assured her that masturbation was quite normal, and told her what I did know. If kids have attachment issues they will hone in on what bothers you and do it more.   What I meant by bother is that-- I encouraged her not to make this issue a deal breaker.

Then it happened.
Earlier in the week I found one of the boys wearing girls underwear over their diaper at nap time.  A few pairs of girls undies were stashed in his pillow case. I didn't think much of it honestly. I told him to stop goofing around and go to sleep. I took the underwear. A day later, I found some girls underwear stashed in a drawer. I assumed that they were for Dennis' doll who he dresses up with diapers or underwear before putting on clothes. I didn't make a big deal of it other than telling him that he better stop taking things that don't belong to him without permission. Then at nap time a daughter caught him caressing girls underwear that were laid out on his pillow. I found more underwear hidden in his pillowcase. Within the course of a week, I figured it out.   For years nothing like this had happened, and then all of a sudden it does.

That's life. It happens. Yes, this made me uncomfortable. Yes, I wish it was somebody else.   But it's us. And we are working through it because it is not a deal breaker. Kids are curious. Kids like to explore. Things that make them feel good, they will naturally gravitate towards. Until they are taught, they don't really know right from wrong. It is not like I sat down day one with my kids and explained how having possession of someone else's underwear is wrong  My being uncomfortable about this is more my problem than it is his. He was hurting no one.   But we addressed it nonetheless because it is not okay to take someone else's underwear and we do not want things to escalate to a more serious offense.

It has been three days now and it seems as if he has moved on. I am more attentive. That is my job. I hope this is the end of this. Realistically I know that it may not be. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it even if it is tomorrow.

This week is a crazy one. As we prepare to go on vacation next week I go back and forth with feelings of excitement and guilt. On one hand I think this is a wonderful opportunity to bless our kids and bond with our newest additions that have never been to Disneyland. They are so ecstatic to be going- just hearing the details brings smiles from ear to ear. The homeschoolers are working incredibly hard this week and through the weekend to cram two weeks worth of work into one. John is taking off of work and this will be the first vacation as a family of 17-- which is really nice. On the other hand, it is so much money. Money that can be better spent I think. I struggle with this. I don't know the right answer. So I try to find balance. I got excellent group rates on tickets, and we will not be buying alot of food in the park or souvenirs. This trip is also serving as an early Christmas present. We will celebrate William's birthday too. Besides, we probably won't go for another five years.  As the time comes closer to us leaving, I am growing more excited. It is hard not to when I see the excitement in the kids' eyes.   I have come to accept that even though I try to justify us going, I don't have to.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I guess I have shared enough for now. Now it's your turn.. :)

All About Paul

2011-11-27T20:23:00.000-08:00

Paul is quite the character.

He is eleven years old.

Paul is quiet and shy.

But every once in a while he makes sure he is heard.
He can eat more than anyone in this family.

If I had to pick something that he doesn't like, it would have to be cheese.

Paul is pretty easy to get along with.

He goes with the flow easier than any other child of mine.

I've never heard him say, "I'm bored."

The littlest of things can make him happy.

A haircut, a new toothbrush, a bag of chips from the store, or a pad of paper.

It is refreshing to be around such a content child.

Paul doesn't talk much about his past.

Probably because he doesn't talk much around others accept for his brothers.

Imagine my surprise when a sibling came and told me that he was talking about his birth parents.

"I don't know why they don't want me. They throw me away like trash."

And he was serious. This was saddening to hear, but at the same time I was glad that he was finally opening up. I told him to never call himself trash as I explained that many times parents are unable to care for their children because they don't know how and they can't afford to buy food for them. The best place for them to go is to an orphanage until their new family comes for them just like we did.

Our talk didn't last long as we parted with a hug and he went off to play.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Paul tries hard.

In the last six months he has become interested in video and computer games.

Little by little, I see him improving.

Baboonya (my Mom) got him started on Bejeweled. :)

Paul enjoys skateboarding and basketball.

He loves to draw.

When Julia bakes he loves to lick the beaters.

Paul is patient.

He is kind.

He knows how to be funny.

He is a great brother and son.

Meet Tamara

2011-11-25T20:18:00.000-08:00

Tamara is a sweet, intelligent little girl who needs a forever family. She was born September 21, 2007 with Crouzon Syndrome. She is very physically able and is a favorite in the orphanage. She is described as an affectionate and helpful girl. She is facing transfer to the institution soon.

I had the pleasure of first laying eyes on Tamara when she was just a little baby back in June 2008. We were at her orphanage to adopt Dennis. She was so sweet and adorable bouncing in her little exersaucer. At that time I was told that she had not been on the database long enough to be eligible for adoption-- but that has since changed. Tamara looking cuter than ever, is able to be adopted. Up until now she has been in a wonderful baby house-- but that is all about to change.

If she is not adopted soon, she will be transferred to the institution, the same place Alex and Dennis would have gone. An orphanage is no place for a child to grow up, let alone the harsh conditions of an Eastern European Institution.

I'm sure she would be a sweet and precious addition to any family-- might that family be yours?

Little by little her grant is growing making her adoption more affordable for her future adoptive family.

Might you be able to donate a few dollars towards her adoption fund during this Christmas season as a show of support for this little girl?

You can donate through Reece's Rainbow-- and guess what? All contributions are tax deductible.

Imagine the Christmas blessing this little girl would have knowing that her future family is commited to bringing her home!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T16:48:00.000-08:00

Getting ready for Thanksgiving.

Part of that meant not watching tv, playing video games, or using Internet for a few days so that the kids could appreciate each other more.

We all helped make Thanksgiving dinner.

Julia and John soaking each other while peeling potatoes.

The boys love skateboarding.

Aunt Tanya came along with my Mom and their other sister Hanya.

John and Mom

Annalyn and Rachel

Anastasia

Preparing Thanksgiving dinner.

Andrew and William loved helping me carve the turkey. They helped by sampling the skin, the dark meat, and the white meat. I agree with Andrew-- dark meat is the best!

At dinner John had us go around the room and share what we are most thankful for.

After dinner "goofing around."

Thanksgiving was very nice this year.

It was simple and laid back-- nothing fancy.

But it's family times like these that I love the most.

Hope all of you had your own special time with family.

Lots To Be Thankful For

2011-11-23T23:36:00.000-08:00

Today we had hot chocolate with marshmallows and whipped cream. Yum!

It was a nice treat.

I am thankful for family.

I am thankful for awesome kids.

Today John came home early from work because he had to return at night to serve Thanksgiving dinner to employees. The middle schoolers and up went to church except for Rachel who was going to go with John to help serve. At the last minute she suggested that I go instead while she watch the younger kids so Dad and I could have a "date night." It was sweet of her to offer, so I went with John. It was nice to meet some of the people he works with.

When we got home, the other kids were back too and they were busy drawing these turkeys.

Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

If Only Love Could Make It All Better

2011-11-21T19:19:00.000-08:00

From the very beginning Dennis has shown us just how smart he is.

He is very inquisitive and pays attention to every little detail.
Now that he is getting older, he is asking more and more questions.

He continues to ask as he makes his feelings quite clear.

I have enjoyed seeing Dennis blossom in this way,but lately it has brought me much pain.

Despite our unconditional love and acceptance that we all show to him every single second of his life, he still sees a little boy that looks different when he looks in the mirror-- which is all the time now.

It began with questions like, "Why do I look like this?" or "What happened to my eye?"

I try to answer the best that I can, but he moves onto new questions.

"Why does my eye have to be ugly?"

He has told me,

"I don't like my face."

"I want 2 eyes the same."

"Can my other eye see?"

"I don't want to look like this."

It is so hard for me to look back at him and answer because all I see is perfect.

All I feel is perfect love.

Where Dennis sees a flaw, I see absolute beauty.

The way he wraps his arms around my neck.

His gorgeous hair.

The way he smells.

His adorable, chunky feet.

The way he trusts me.

The fat pocket in the wing of his arm. (Shhh, I didn't say that.)

The way he laughs.

His sense of humor.

He zeal for life.

His outgoing personality.

His determination.

His ability to discern a not so nice person.

His happiness over the smallest things.

Today we spent 4 hours at the Cranio-Facial Clinic with an hour and a half lunch.

To say I am disappointed would be a huge understatement.

Yes I am thankful for the antibiotic prescription for his ear and the hydrocortisone cream for his eczema that is currently all over the right side of his face.

But the rest of the visit was one big disappointment.

The doctor's didn't tell me anything new. In fact I almost feel as if I did Dennis wrong for allowing so many surgeries to happen before his big bone graft that they want to happen in a few years. It's almost as if they would have preferred that he had no surgery until he was 7 or 8. But Dennis is not their son. I bet if he was their son, they would have had the surgeries to improve his appearance. I have had years to see the huge improvement in Dennis' appearance and all they could tell me was that he still needed alot of work down the road. Dennis was not thrilled to hear that. He is so done with doctors. He has made it clear-- "No more surgery!" Of course I can't let him decide this alone, but I do need to take his feelings into consideration-- especially since I think that he does want a more normal appearance when he looks in the mirror.

I did mention to them that his ears are not even and finding glasses that fit is a challenge. They said they could do a little something to help,but then crtiticized the scar from a previous skin graft when they looked behind the ear. They couldn't promise a whole lot on this surgery and would not have even noticed the uneveness unless I mentioned it.

At this point, I am not sure what to do.

I guess that is good since the team doesn't want to do anything right now anyway (except maybe the cosmetic ear surgery that doesn't sound very promising.)

By the New Year we will be on a new insurance plan. One of the options is Kaiser Permanente. I know nothing about Kaiser. Please share your experiences. Might they be a better option?

All About ANdrew

2011-11-21T09:00:00.000-08:00

Andrew is my fifth child in order of when the kids joined our family.

He was excited about life from the very beginning being my only child to be born early.

Two weeks early. Thank you Andrew-- I owe you one. ;)

Anyway, he is an incredible boy.

For school he was asked to draw a Thanksgiving themed cartoon/comic.

This is what he came up with.

"Come on Andrew. Help me rake these leaves."

"Fine, but I get to jump in them after."

If I had to describe Andrew in one sentence-- it would be easy.

Andrew is Caleb's mini-me.

Andrew is a cutie.

He is honest, hardworking, playful, and smart.

Shhhh-- he is also a cuddlebug.

He likes to buy hot Takis from the ice-cream man even though he knows I think it is a rip off.

Ahhh, the joys of childhood I guess.

"It's still a rip-off Andrew." I say.

Andrew excels in school.

His teachers *usually* adore him. ;)

He loves to have fun.

He build forts.

He skateboards.

He draws.

Andrew is easy to get along with.

He has a heart of gold when it comes to doing what is right.

When we had a family meeting about adopting Galina, Andrew said he was on board 100 when the scale was only 1-10.

Andrew is all boy.

Often that means getting bumps and bruises.

Thankfully, he enjoys being loved on when that happens.

Don't ever change Andrew!

You are one of a kind!

Mostly Smiles

2011-11-20T19:16:00.000-08:00

This is a most unflattering picture of me, but Rachel was excited to take it. I *splurged* last week and bought this big griddle so that we can fry 8-10eggs, or 8 grilled cheese sandwiches or pancakes all at one time. She things I could be a cook at a restaurant!

Homemade bread continues to be a staple in our home.

And it doesn't get old!

Neither do Strawberry Glazed Fennel Ribs.

This picture was taken a few days back when we were working on Dennis' Soap Box Car.

Earlier this week, Jonny received an award at school.

Congrats! Keep reading Jonny!

After church today, Rachel wanted to make smoothies. I told her she would most likely have all the kids wanting smoothies before long.

Sure enough. Strawberry smoothies. Pineapple smoothies. Banana smoothies.

Paul and Dennis really enjoyed them!

John braided Julia's hair.

He asked me what I would rate it. I said about a 6. :)

Tonight is a concert. That is where John is with most of the kids. He also took four of the kids' friends from church including Caleb's girlfriend Taylor. (Wow, did I just say that?)

I stayed home with a handful of the kids.

The evening is going well. When some of the kids are gone, it changes the dynamics in the house. It is kinda nice.

As a treat for the ones that stayed home, I ran out and picked up McDonalds-- in the pouring rain which was not fun. I was bummed to find out they forgot Anna's McChicken.

She happily ate an extra cheeseburger. Which is good because I was not about to go back in the pouring rain. I did call though-- and they recorded our missing sandwich.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tomorrow Dennis goes to the Cranio-Facial Clinic to see a team of doctors associated with treating cranio-facial abnormalities. I'm interested to hear what they have to say.

Hopefully they will address the pus that started coming out of his ear yesterday so that I don't have to make an extra visit to our primary care physician too. Dennis has no pain, no fever-- just pus which has me a little puzzled. I bet it has something to do with the way he pulls and pokes his ear when he puts himself to sleep and the fact that he has tubes. We'll see.

One Less Adoption Dissolution

2011-11-20T14:55:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I have to step away from a situation when I am deeply involved. This is often true with my children when we are in the midst of conflict because when I am up close-- I often can't see the whole picture. So I step back. This has been a wonderful parenting tool-- when I remember.
It gives us both the opportunity to offer up peace through our silence, and gain patience when our frustration levels are high. It allows us the chance to humble ourselves-- if we so choose.
Stepping back to take a deep breath is a powerful parenting tool indeed.
I think it is a life skill worth carrying into adulthood-- and applying to all areas of your life.
I may know this, but often I forget it.

A few weeks ago, I was emailed about a teenage girl who was being disrupted yet again-- a total of four families-- one of the families twice. Before stepping back, my reaction was no way. So was my husband's.

We felt that the family had to keep her no matter what-- because of the circumstances. We most certainly would not, could not, be this girl's new family.

That is, until we stepped back.
After trying unsuccessfully to get the family to keep her, we realized that this child would be put into foster care if a family wasn't found.

After much prayer and consideration, John and I were ready to take her in through guardianship until she was ready to say yes to adoption. It is hard to explain the peace we had with this decision,but it was there. In no way was this going to be easy, we were sure to lose a few friends, but we knew it was right.

Tickets were booked by the disrupting family. I was nesting like crazy because she was set to come. Our hearts were prepared...

And then at the last minute, the family changed their mind... again.

It is hard to get anyone to understand-- that we grieved. We were kind of quiet-- keeping it inside-- but there was still a sense of loss. My girls felt it too. We had prepared our hearts to love another person and now that person wasn't coming.

From what we have been told-- the family is doing well. They are moving forward with the adoption-- for sure. That is what I hoped for initially, so I think it is a good thing. :) I think that once they had emotionally stepped away, they realized what they would be losing-- and they changed their minds.

I wasn't sure whether or not I would ever share this. As adoption dissolutions gain popularity amongst struggling adoptive families now more than ever, I myself struggle with the idea that making ourselves available to these families is in a way encouraging them. The last thing I want to do is break up a family.

I think that God knows this struggle that I have. He was able to use this situation to show me once again that struggling adoptive families need to be encouraged, supported, and that I need to make myself more available than I do. Being a support to these families isn't always enabling them to give up their children-- it is also enabling them to keep trying.

All About Adam

2011-11-18T23:10:00.000-08:00

It's amazing how time flies.

It seems like just yesterday that Adam was my big five year old-- my first child to go to school.

Now he is 16.

A teenager.

A driver.

A year and a half from graduating high school.

Adam is responsible, mature, intelligent, dependable, and very musically talented.

He has a passion for playing guitar. He uses this gift to serve the Lord by being a part of the worship band at church.

Adam loves pizza, tacos, Dr. Pepper, and Carl's JR.

He enjoys dessert- but can you believe that he will pass up mint cupcakes?

He loves to read.

He loves to be challenged.

Adam is content hanging out at home.

Today he had to take cupcakes for one of his classes-- probably for a potluck.

They were packed in my cupcake carrying case so that they would stay fresh.

First thing he did when he got home was wash and dry it.

I so appreciate that about my son.

Adam gives teenagers a good name. Adam blesses our family.

His Little Red Car

2011-11-17T20:18:00.000-08:00

Earlier in the week I had parent teacher conferences. Dennis' teacher insisted that we make him a soap box car so that he can walk around in the parade tomorrow. I am so glad that I took her advice.

It's nothing fancy-- but shhhhh-- don't tell Dennis that because he loves it!

Today I was reminded once again that ever little bit counts. I thought that because it was a busy week, I wasn't that creative, and I heard that other parents went all out making sure they get all the attention-- there was no point in making Dennis a car.

How wrong I was.

All the kids helped-- even Dennis, and like I said--

one little boy is very excited to go to school tomorrow in his little red car.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alex's cord is tethered. Not a big concern right now since it is not causing any problems, but the Neurologist said that in order for Alex to have bowel surgery, he needs to have his cord untethered first.

Tomorrow I take Alex for a consult. Most likely he will be having his first major surgery next month.

All About Anna

2011-11-16T20:45:00.000-08:00

Anna is a teenager now.

She has been home over six years.

In that time, I can't believe how much she has blossomed.

She is this pretty flower standing tall reaching for the sky.

She is vibrant and spunky and loves to laugh.

Anna loves to listen to music and learn the lyrics.

She likes to roller blade and talk on the phone.

Anna is a Hot Cheetos fanatic!

She always asks to lick the jello bowl and the empty can of condensed milk.

She prefers hot tea over hot chocolate.

Anna loves to cuddle. She is incredibly helpful-- often when you least expect it.

If you need to know something about someone- she is the go to person.

School is not her favorite thing, but she is incredibly smart-- I know it!

One of Anna's favorite things to do is hair. She is amazing whether it's a curling iron or hair straightener in her hand. She makes bows out of any ribbon she finds.

She is very creative like that!

There is something about Anna that is genuinely real.

If she is mad-- you know it.

If she is sorry about something-- you know that too.

Anna is not very neat by nature, but that's because she likes to keep boxes and boxes of treasures.

The other day while cleaning out her room, we came across a little book she got in first grade.

Like many things, she is not ready to part with it.

Anna is a treasure-- I am so glad to have her as my daughter.

Off To A Good Start

2011-11-14T21:03:00.000-08:00

The week has started out well. For that I am thankful.

First off, John and I are more in love than ever. Doesn't that sound corny? It seems like every high and low in our marriage only brings us closer together as we share in the good times and bad. God's love, grace, and patience with us is a constant living example how we are to be with each other. Next month we will celebrate 18 years of marriage.

We finally received word from the IRS stating that we sufficiently proved our adoption expenses dating back to 2005 (that was fun), and we can actually see a small refund pending in our account. Sure beats them saying we owe thousands of dollars. What a rollercoaster ride that was.
All the kids had a great day at school-- including all the homeschoolers. We met with our Education Facilitator who was very encouraging, and I met with Dennis and Alex's teachers for parent conferences. Paul impressed me with his math skills today.

We officially firmed up vacation plans today-- God willing we will be going to Disneyland in a few weeks. What's really nice is that we got awesome group rates and Grandma and Grandpa, my Mom and my Sister will be joining us. Should be fun!

If you are looking for an inspiring book that will challenge you to grow closer to God by asking the Holy Spirit to indwell in you, I encourage you to read Forgotten God by Francis Chan. I just finished reading it and I am actually going back to read it again so that I can highlight the parts I hope to share with my kids.

This month is National Adoption Month. There are many ways you can help. Please consider hosting a child this winter through God's Waiting Children. Or you can donate to Reece's Rainbow Angeltree 2011. The money donated to one of the children goes directly to the family who chooses to adopt to help cover the cost of adoption. Without these monetary gifts many of these children would never find homes because of the high cost of adoption.

A Pink Birthday!

2011-11-12T11:51:00.000-08:00

Galina's birthday was yesterday. It was a very special day since it was the first birthday that we have spent with her. We decided to keep it a family event.

The day began with us making the bestest cupcakes ever.

I stirred mint extract and red dye into the vanilla frosting and the girls frosted the cupcakes.

Then we topped them with crushed candy canes.

Oh my, were these the bomb!

For dinner we got Chinese food. I took the birthday girl along with Sveta, Annalyn, and Paul to pick it up.

We had some fun cruising in the parking lots waving to people and screaming "Hi!"

At first Paul did not think this was very much fun at all-- but near the end I saw some enjoyment.

Galina of course had lots of fun!

The kids got lots of chopsticks. It was fun to watch them eat with them.

Anastasia's way is quite original don't you think?

The girls used the extra chopsticks as hair accessories.

Happy birthday Galina! What a beautiful young lady you are!

Dennis made a homemade card. It made so much more sense when he read it.

Galina got her handmade treasure chest from Grandma and Grandpa filled with treasures.

Galina got pink pancake mix with chocolate chips to match her pink, fuzzy jammies.

After opening presents, John took Galina out to Starbucks for Daddy-Daughter time.

Later in the night, all the girls had a slumber party and watched movies.

This is them early this morning. A few of the girls went to their bed in the middle of the night-- I guess nothing beats their cozy bed.

Happy 13th birthday Galina!

We are so blessed to have you as our daughter!

A Small Break

2011-11-11T09:28:00.000-08:00

My Mom brought us this little radio-- just one of the things she found while downsizing.

It is the most perfect addition to our kitchen. We are continually singing... dancing...

Our station? Air1 of course!
We can't help but have our spirits lifted!

This morning Caleb has basketball tryouts. Adam, being the great big brother that he is, woke him up and drove him. Now he is hanging out with younger brothers playing Wii.

Paul is sick. He came home with a headache and sore throat. I asked him why he didn't go to the nurse.

"I do my math."

I am sad that he is sick, but at the same time, it is an opportunity to draw close to him. He has let me take care of him-- a sign of trust that I am thankful for.

Dennis thought it was okay to play "Slide the blocks across the kitchen table" at breakfast. He is in a timeout which evolved into playtime right near the end. This boy sure loves to play!

We have been busy, busy, busy.

Today is a birthday.

We had to flush one of our frogs down the toilet.

We have had a rough week of home school.

William had to have a tooth pulled.

I had to follow up with Paul's evaluation process. Who knew a few phone calls mentioning "staying within the timeline" would speed up the process?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please remember our Veteran's today. They are courageous!

Thankful...

2011-11-08T20:43:00.000-08:00

for family. My Mom and Sis are here for a few days.

The Solution

2011-11-07T20:57:00.000-08:00

Finally... a solution. :)

The other day I had to go shopping for shoes for four of the younger boys. All the girls wanted to come with me, which was fine as long as they knew this: "This shopping trip is for the boys' shoes. It is not about you and what you would like me to buy you. If you make this trip about telling me what you would like me to buy you I will interpret it as you telling me that you don't want to come shopping with me anymore.

Okay. Okay.

And you know what? The shopping trip was incredibly wonderful.

Guess who has a birthday this week?

Don't ask. Just kidding. The girls are forever wrestling and having fun.

This is where Sveta and Anastasia usually sit every morning for school. Notice that Sveta is not there. She got sent to her room until she was ready to be nice after getting mad at Anastasia for wanting to copy her calendar-- which I wrote out for her. When Sveta came back, I reminded her that I wrote in her calendar each week and that Anastasia copied it every week. If she all of a sudden had a big problem with that, I would be happy to write out Anastasia's calendar and have her copy it. I think Sveta is over it.

It has been very cold the past few days. I thought it was the perfect day to self clean the ovens. They get very hot and heat up the kitchen quite nicely. You can see Rachel and Galina staying warm during snack time. That consisted of fruit and cake. Yum.

Rachel stays quite busy with highschool. She is very responsible.

After school, I had to take Jonny to get his glasses fixed and then go grocery shopping. While I was gone, Rachel and Galina sweetly worked on Dennis and Alex's turkeys with them. They turned out great!

This was John and I after dinner. It just cracks the kids up to see us so goofy. :)

Digest 23

2011-11-05T22:18:00.000-07:00

Melissa said...

I have been reading your blog for over a year but don't usually comment. I currently have plenty of time and would love to help you input recipes! Email me at #### and we can work something out =)
October 31, 2011 4:20 PM

Melissa you are a doll for offering. Thank you so much. When I get my act together I will email you. I found out two days ago that the deadline for Christmas was a few weeks back-- so I am sort of unmotivated right now. If we wait until end of January there is great discount coupon that will apply-- and with it only being November, I feel like we have a little bit of time. Thanks again.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the digests--I enjoy seeing how you respond to and interact with your readers.
I just have a quick question--back in Sept.(I believe)--you started to have an individual post about one of the kids---So that we could get to know them a little better. Anyway I think you did about 7 or so of them and then there hasn't been anymore. --I was wondering if you are planning on doing a post on each of the others?
Debra
October 31, 2011 8:56 PM

Debra, thanks for the reminder. I completely forgot. :) I will work on doing a post for the rest of the kids.

Anonymous said...

Oh, I didn't know you were doing another one of these! If I had, I would have asked this question sooner: Caleb and Rachel are basically the same age, correct? I'm curious why you seem far more concerned about his relationship with the girl from church than Rachel's relationship with Sasha. You emphasize how important it is for Caleb to take things slow (which is true for any 15-year-old), but you seem content and even happy with Rachel's intention to marry Sasha.
Please don't take this the wrong way, I'm just curious what the difference is. If there are things about Caleb's situation that you don't want to share on the blog, that's totally understandable. I apologize in advance for asking about things that are none of my business.
November 3, 2011 12:35 PM

I didn't take this the wrong way. In fact, when I read this, I thought that perhaps if you felt this way then others must too-- so I am happy to clarify. For starters you are right in that I am a bit more concerned with Caleb's relationship than with Rachel's simply because an ocean separates Rachel and Sasha but not Caleb and his girlfriend. I don't have much to be concerned with if their only contact is by email--- which Rachel often invites me to read. Secondly, Rachel is older. Thirdly, Caleb and his girlfriend have already had their very first kiss-- so you better believe I am encouraging them to go more slowly!

Tiger & Kar said...

Hi Christine! I've followed your blog since Dennis joined your family but it's been a loooong time since I've commented. I'm curious about the curriculum from your charter school. I'd love to know how you're able to get the materials they discard. I, too, am considering homeschooling my 4 y.o. son (adopted from Russia!), and would love to hear more about this.
thanks and hugs!
Karyn
November 4, 2011 10:06 AM

The curriculum that they discard is in a giveaway pile that I sort through every week. By the way the pile continues to grow with the same stuff there week after week, I think I am one of just a very few that take advantage of this. If you have specific questions, feel free to ask.

Wendy said...

Galina,
Next time, get a big bag of candy to use as bets, then everyone gets to eat what they win and nobody loses anything really important! (that's what we used to do!)
November 4, 2011 8:02 PM

Wendy-- when the girls read this-- they loved the idea! Thanks!

Hevel said...

Funny thing with movie violence: we read the Bible, that has genocide, rape, incest, horroristic visions... yet we censor movies. I wonder why we work like that.
November 5, 2011 3:17 AM

Hevel, reading something where you can only visual things to a certain extent verses seeing a movie that allows you to see something acted out in its entirety is a big difference. I know this because before I ever saw The Passion of the Christ I had never fully envisioned the excruciating torture that Christ endured just by reading the Bible. I truly didn't get the suffering He endured on our behalf until I watched the movie and even then I had to stop watching before the movie finished because it was too much. Yet-- I could read all of the Four Gospels and be okay.  I work the way I work... parent the way I parent, as a direct result of my own life experiences.

Katya said...

I certainly don't blame you for not letting your kids watch The Color Purple. While it certainly has an impact, I don't think it is necessary for younger children. It is also an excellent book, but again, probably not appropriate for young kids.
I don't know of many movies, as an Australian, African American history is not my strong point. There are many points of reference with Aboriginal Australian history, for which I would recommend "Rabbit Proof Fence". That movie is shown in many classrooms here in Australia, usually to children around 12. It is not in any way overly explicit or violent, but it is fairly honest.
Have you or any of your children read Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson? I read it to Oksana and while I did have to explain a few things, she managed quite well. (She's almost 10)
On the oatmeal issue, I agree with your reaction, if the others were clearly waiting, however, perhaps like most young children she didn't pay attention and didn't join the dots? I'm still prone to doing that somethimes, despite my best efforts. Regardless I think you did a great job of reinforcing good behaviour (consideration of others).
November 5, 2011 6:37 AM

Thank you for the suggestions. As to the oatmeal incident, all of my girls are teens (Galina will be next week) not young children like Alex, Dennis, or even Paul.  It is routine to heat our water for instant oatmeal or hot cocoa in the kettle. This helps maintain order in the kitchen so that everyone isn't fighting over the microwaves. Thanks for the positive comment on the oatmeal incident-- you are one of the very few.

teamgile said...

Try Amazing Grace! Absolutely fantastic movie. It is about the slave trade in England. Not exactly USA, but shows a lot about what whites and blacks were thinking, the fight to stop it, and some great God moments. SOOOO good! All my kids have seen it.
November 5, 2011 6:59 AM

We have that movie and yes it is great! I was just hoping to find another movie to watch.

Anonymous said...

Juat curious at why you coudn't share with them that you had read a review that deemed it inappropriate for the family..i was jumping out of my seat when you. said you were going to let the kids watch it..i thought "wow that's suprising" I have never seen the whole thing. but know it is full of all sorts of awful inappropriate stuff that is not good to watch on the screen let alone be told about until certain ages.
My kids are super young, but they know if a G movie is on and I see or hear anything I will shut it off.My six yr old usually beats me to it yelling "inappropriate"..There was a pop up add for a diet pill and a lady was in a bikini and he sceamed "inappropriate..naked lady" I freiked thinking he got onto a site by accident...but it was just something that in out family would be considered "imodest"
November 5, 2011 7:14 AM

I guess I didn't clarify in my original post-- I did explain to them that after reading numerous reviews I felt it was inappropriate for them to watch. After watching "Courageous" tonight I can clearly see that not all PG-13 movies are alike and as parents we really bear the responsibility of pre-screening or doing our homework on all movies that our kids are going to watch.

Reggie said...

I don't understand what you found so offensive and wrong with one of your children using the microwave to prepare a snack.
If thd child in question had grabbed the kettle off the stove, or jumped the line or began to whine, then i can certainly see a problem.
However, your child saw that people were standing about, she was hungry. She saw that the microwave was free and so she used it to make her own snack.
Frankly, it shows initiative,intelligence and creativity.
It's not lack of patience or rudeness. She never pushed or denied anyone. She didn't cut a line or complain. She saw that she could make her snack. She did.
It's strange that you would feel it necessary for her to stand about and "wait" when she found a way to prepare her snack.
The others decided to stand about. They decided not to use both the microwave and the kettle.
If everyone had been using the microwave, and she grabbed the kettle...it would be the same.
Would you get angry at that too?
She didn't "wait" because their was a way for her to make her meal. She saw that opportunity and took it.
The fact that your other children didn't think to use the microwave too is not her fault.
She shouldn't be taken to task because she saw a way to have her food. That the others didn't think of the same thing. They got mad because they didn't think of it. She shouldn't be punished because your other children didn't think of the same thing.
You overreacted.
Perhaps she didn't see everyone waiting. Perhaps she did. That doesn't matter. Lying about it? That does matter...but i find it odd that you think you are always right.
November 5, 2011 11:52 AM

Reggie, to be honest at first I was defensive when I read your comment, but then I realized that you just don't understand the way we parent. As a large family we have our own ways to ensure that life runs smoothly and that our kids learn to be patient, kind, other oriented, helpful, and respectful of rules. That includes kitchen rules which all of my "teen" girls are aware of. You may use a microwave to heat up water in your home, but when ten or more kids are trying to do that-- it just doesn't work so hot water is heated in a big kettle on the stove. This ensures that no one pushes to get their cup in first, and that everyone can enjoy their cup of hot cocoa or bowl of oatmeal around the same time-- thus encouraging family togetherness. That is a priority for us-- more so than allowing a child to be rude or inconsiderate just in the name of hunger-- which by the way none of my kids have ever truly felt since being in our family. I don't expect you to get it, and I share what I share half expecting to be berated by people like you-- but I do it in hopes that someone might be encouraged by my sharing. As to showing initiative, I encourage that by suggesting that before they start eating they take the initiative to see that everyone has a napkin, or that everyone has something to drink. As to showing intelligence-- I can think of so many other ways to show that quality off! As to showing creativity-- I think it is sad to chalk up an incident like finding a way to get around a family rule as creative. Creative is stirring peanut butter into your oatmeal, or choosing to eat it with chop sticks, or drinking it in a mug. Now that's creative!

P.S. Sorry to the rest of you who didn't even get their mean ol' rude comments published.

It's Always Something

2011-11-04T21:17:00.000-07:00

Early, early this morning Dennis woke me up to tell me that he had to change his pull-up because it got really big. Hoping for at least one more hour of sleep, I tucked Dennis into the extra bed we have in our room. When it was time to get up, I went to wake Alex first by crawling into bed with him since Dennis was asleep in our room. Alex was so nice and cozy as I gently tickled him awake. First thing he asked was if I would make him some eggs for breakfast. That of course turned into almost every kid wanting fried eggs. The kids that had already eaten a bowl of cereal tried to hide their disappointment. Knowing that the way to a few of my kids' heart is through their stomach, I offered them fried eggs too.

You would have thought I made them banana cream pie, or gave them an extravagant gift by how thankful they were. "Mom, you are the best egg frier!"
Who knew fried eggs would be such a big hit?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The other day during snack time, one of the girls put on a big kettle of water for instant oatmeal packets. While most of the kids waited patiently for the hot water to finish boiling, in walks one of the girls who had just finished her schoolwork. She rips open a packet and goes over to the faucet to fill her bowl with water and then proceeds to stick it in the microwave as everyone who is patiently waiting for the kettle to finish boiling watches her in disbelief-- as if she is a princess and doesn't have to wait.

As she begins to microwave her oatmeal, I ask her why she isn't waiting for the hot water like everyone else.
Immediately she says that she didn't know that the hot water was being heated on the stove and that she hadn't really seen everyone else waiting. Obviously this was dishonest and I called her out on it. Why was it so hard for her to admit that she was impatient to the point of lying about it? I asked her to imagine everyone trying to heat their oatmeal one at a time in the two microwaves.

Sure this wasn't a huge deal, but it is times like these where you can teach big lessons and help instill values of patience and honesty. A few years ago, I probably wouldn't have said anything for fear of conflict but now I realize that these little moments make the biggest impact for building up a child's moral warehouse.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today was one of those days where I could have potentially been called a liar by my kids. After learning about slavery and prejudice against African-Americans over the last few weeks, I tried to think of a movie they could watch that would help them understand the oppression a little better. I thought "The Color Purple" would be an okay movie with its rating of PG-13. I had kept putting off watching the movie until today when the kids got their work done by lunch. We were all set to watch it when I felt that I should look up the parental ratings online. After reading the reviews, I realized that this was not something I wanted my kids watching no matter how realistic it portrayed the life of African-Americans in the 1930s. And so I broke the news, and I was asked why I changed my mind. I told them that parents are entitled to change their minds once in a while and this was one of those times. I told them that I had watched the tv version a long time ago and didn't remember all the violence it had. I apologized for changing my mind but quickly offered a substitute movie which they all enjoyed very much!

What a Pot!

2011-11-03T21:41:00.000-07:00

Anna just loves this scrubby brush.

Dennis thinks that Lightning McQueen should have wings.

Dennis enjoys doing this puzzle because the pieces are in groups of three.
Tonight he began to do it again and I interrupted him because it was bedtime. He was not too pleased, but as I set the box and pieces up for him to come down to in the morning, he forgave me.

Our charter school discards so much curriculum that I get to sort through it every week and take what I like.

I use it for Paul's homework and whoever else needs supplemental work. It especially comes in handy during the summer months.

Alex and I worked long and hard this week on his spelling words and reading. Today he took a pretest and got 8 out of 10 words right! Sveta is great at helping Alex get his other homework done. I am so appreciative of her hard work, and she feels so proud of her accomplishment as big sister helping with homework. It is a win-win situation!

After the little boys were put down to bed, and I gave a few quick haircuts, I checked in on the girls. This is what I found.

Here is what was in the pot.

I can't help but smile.

Yay, It's November!

2011-11-01T21:05:00.000-07:00

Halloween came and went... peacefully and fairly quietly. I am not a huge fan of the holiday and yet the kids love it. My husband is the best though. He came up with an awesome idea that pleased everyone. The kids were first set on going trick-or-treating until John found out there was a church carnival skating event celebrating "Happy Hallelujah!" The boys wanted to go, but the girls didn't.

"Fine," he told them, "but be back from trick-or-treating when the sun goes down."

What?? Trick-or-treating before dark?

"Yup."

That of course is a bit unreasonable, but John stuck to his guns ( he wanted them to go to a place he knew they would have a good time and give me a break) and the kids ended up going with him.

I stayed home with Adam who wasn't feeling well, Caleb who had a paper to type up, and Julia who opted to hand out candy. It was a much appreciated break.

I thought it would be fun to fill a bowl with a box of mac and cheese, and cans of tuna, green beans, kidney beans, bean sprouts. When the older kids came around, I would offer them the bowl to choose what they liked. Since we had very few trick-or-treaters, only one group of kids was old enough to play this joke on. One girl actually politely asked for the box of mac and cheese until I told them I was joking. Hey... I thought it was pretty funny!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The kids geting ready to go with John.

There was even a petting zoo!

Rachel won the contest for best skate trick for older teen girls. She was given a cool pair of sunglasses.

The kids came home very happy. Thanks honey for all that you do!

Digest 22

2011-10-31T14:07:00.000-07:00

Anonymous said...

Didn't you pick the Ukraine so you can marry off your daughter?
October 11, 2011 11:46 AM

My husband actually jumped in on this one wondering, "What in the world does this even mean?"

Liz said...

Since you didn't approve my last comment regarding sending kids too bed I am worried that you took it the wrong way. I in no way intended for it to be an insult to you or your parenting. It was an honest question and I apologize if I offended you in any way.
October 14, 2011 10:47 PM

Yes I do remember your comment about me putting Paul and myself to bed when things got frustrating with schoolwork. I must have taken it the wrong way. I also failed to mention that Paul has worked below his ability a time or two because he didn't want to be challenged. I wondered if this was one of those times. It takes time before a parent gets to know their child enough to realize when they are truly struggling or just pretending to be so that they are not challenged. Yes, I ended our unproductive evening by putting us both to bed. I chose to share this in hopes that it might encourage others who have felt frustrated during homework time-- especially when you think your child is capable of more then they are letting on.

Chenning said...

Christine, I found your blog just a couple of weeks ago and have stayed up many nights to "catch up" your family's adventures and journey! I am sure it must be right under my nose somewhere on this site, but I cannot find your e-mail address. I wanted to know if Dennis needed any clothes? I have some hand me downs if you are interested. I know you have boys, too, so maybe you are set.
October 14, 2011 5:32 PM

My email is thereed8 at yahoo dot com and yes we could always use clothes since he is so rough on them and is growing like a weed anyway. I noticed you are in L.A. Maybe we can meet up for coffee or dinner sometime.
Sarah said...

Happy Birthday Anastasia! To see such joy is so wonderful especially after just putting my two year old Russian diva to bed after she screamed at the other 4 of us all day! Whew! She has turned our household on it's ear and my two boys are non too pleased with her behavior.To see Anastasia so just makes me remember this is why I do this! To see your child look like Anastasia does! I also think Galina looks very different and very happy too....I see a huge change in her. Do you agree?
October 16, 2011 4:42 PM

Yes I see a definite change in Galina. It is a blessing to see her blossom before our eyes.

teamgile said...

Impressive. Can you tell me what curr. You used to do this? I would love to do it with my kids.
October 15, 2011 4:34 PM

Thank you. It must have been a one time talent, because I have tried numerous times to draw another picture just like the first cornucopia, and I have been unsuccessful. There isn't a set curriculum-- just a book that shows step by step drawing.

Claire said...

Is Alex taking cranberry capsules as well
? They are very helpful for preventing UTIs
October 17, 2011 1:43 AM

I should have thought of cranberries. No he isn't taking capsules, but I did buy some cranberry juice. I took Alex back to the doctor last Friday to have his urine tested again and the doctor called today to say that an infection is still present. He will begin his third round of antibiotics. Ugh. At least he doesn't have a fever.

Linda mc cowan said...

I wonder if you could give me any advice to pass on to a friend. She & her husband have no children, but just took in 2 orphan teenage boys. They (my friends) are missionaries in Central America. The boys have a tutor but don't go to school. My friends' challenges right now are keeping the boys occupied all day, plus the foster parents' loss of privacy and alone time. What could I tell them?
October 19, 2011 10:44 AM

I suggest paper and colored pencils. Or perhaps scrap wood, nails, and a hammer. Or let them cook.   As for private time, tell them to set their alarm for 3 am. Just kidding. Why don't they go on long walks along a lake or something. The boys can run around or fish while the parents talk.

Megan said...

Hi Christine,
I have two I'd like to share. They aren't the most eloquent, but they are two of my favorites from my mom and whenever I'm at her house, I always ask for one or the other. They are essentially one pot meals - except for the added noodles/rice.
1) Slop (no really...it tastes great)
1 lb. ground beef (or you can use ground turkey)
1/2 - 1 onion, sliced
1 can stewed tomatoes
Cooked noodles, any kind you'd like
Salt/pepper to taste
Brown the ground beef fully. Drain off excess liquid. Add onions and slightly sweat them. Add tomatoes; when doing so, crushed the stewed tomatoes through your fingers. Allow the mixture to cook for 15 - 30 minutes. While doing this, cook the noodles. Drain the noodles and combine with the beef mixture. Serve immediately and enjoy!
*You can add other things too - garlic, peppers, etc.
2) Beef Mexicana
1 lb. ground beef (or turkey)
1 can corn, drained
1 can tomato sauce (or you can used diced for a thinner, chunkier sauce)
Sprinkles of chili powder and cayenne pepper
Rice
Brown ground beef fully. Drain excess liquid. Add the tomato sauce, corn, chili powder, and cayenne. Let simmer for 20-30 minutes, or until rice is done (my rice cooker takes about 20 minutes). Cook rice. Put rice in bowl and layer with beef mixture. Enjoy!

Hope these help you out. Let me know if you have any questions. They're really easy and can also be used for large groups. Just up the amount of ingredients. Each of these, as written, serve about 4. My blog address is twopathsdivergeinawood.blogspot.com if you'd like to include it.
October 20, 2011 4:03 PM

Thank you so much and thanks to all of you who have submitted recipes. I have more than enough now and I must say the variety of recipes will make an incredible cookbook! However, I have run into another problem. There has been so much going on lately, that I can't seem to find the time to input the recipes. I am slowly working on it, but it is more time consuming than I thought.   It is humbling to ask, but does anyone have time to spare to help input recipes into the database? I completely understand if you are too busy, but I felt it was worth a shot to ask. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

If we ask pretty please with a cherry on top, will you kindly post the recipe for that delicious looking bread? :)
October 25, 2011 8:14 AM

Sure. You can find it here.

Anonymous said...

The bread looks really good but seriously Christine, what are you going to do when the girls go to real high school and you don't have anyone to cook or clean for you during the day???? California needs to watch home schoolers a little closer
October 26, 2011 3:27 PM

This comment made me chuckle since this person obviously doesn't know that teaching extends beyond the classroom and into the real world.    Cooking, cleaning, organizing, baking, shopping, sewing a button, paying bills, balancing checkbooks, learning how to fill out a job application-- why not teach your kids everything you possibly can? For example-- when my girls go and babysit-- they don't just go and babysit. They cook dinner, clean the kitchen afterwards, straighten up the house, and give the little kids baths. Is it wrong to teach a young adult to go above and beyond worldly expectations as if they are truly working for the Lord? I think not.

DaYaH JeLitA said...

kristine, i think i had left a comment here before about the nuffnang award..umm u didnt approve that comment right? why? hurmm its okay i might be a stranger but just wanna let u noe that im ur silent reader :)... just wanna inform u about the blogger award...its okay if u do not interested...btw im from malaysia...ur blog inspire me a lots..keep on writing! :)
October 27, 2011 5:20 AM

Hi. Yes, I got that comment and approved it too. How thoughtful of you. Thank you. We live in the U.S.

Anonymous said...

We were so happy to have you speak for us. I have been so blessed and inspired by your courage, humility, and faith. I've already shared some of your message with friends who aren't a part of that group. You also put my mind at ease somewhat. I'm expecting my second. :)
Would love to have another morning about homeschooling...
October 28, 2011 2:07 PM

Thank you so much. Since you didn't leave a name or a way to respond to your comment, I hope you read this. I would love to come back and share about homeschooling.

Lisa said...

Christine--
I've been enjoying your blog so much. I can definitely relate as I'm a homeschool mother of three, one bio child age 15, one aged 13 adopted when 8, and one aged 4 adopted when 1. It's hard with such a large age difference and my 13 yr old girl, especially, has several 'issues' we are working hard on.
I'm wondering if you could give me recommendations for books-- good books for girls ages, say, 12-16? I have trouble finding reading material for my two girls. When I do find something that looks good, Crystal (13 yr old) instantly rejects it, deciding it's no good because it's something I picked out.
Thank you so much.. your family is beautiful.
October 29, 2011 7:37 AM

Hmmm, book recommendations. My girls have enjoyed The Princess Academy by Shannon Hale and Absolutely Normal Chaos by Sharon Creech. They also like Little Women, Ann of Green Gables, and Little House Books.

Blogging Friend said...

I know you do not like to share many of your family recipes but would you be willing to tell how you made the pizza sauce and the dough.
I wish so much I lived near you for I would come to your house and watch your kids make things that look so good afterwards. My favorite is the cinnamon rolls, they look so awesome.
Every looks like they had having fun. Hope all is going as good as it looks.
Love,
Sheila
October 29, 2011 5:48 PM

Most of our family recipes will be in the cookbook-- whenever it gets finished. The sauce was simple-- a can of Italian diced tomatoes, a can of tomato sauce, red hot pepper flakes, a glove of minced garlic, a handful of dried onion flakes, a pinch of sugar, and a couple of teaspoons of Italian seasoning. After everything simmered for a while, I pureed the sauce. You can find the dough recipe here.

Anonymous said...

'Looks like fun. Would you share your recipe/method of roasting pumpkin seeds? I've tried it before but they were not so yummy. We are going to get our pumpkins and carve tomorrow.
MariaG (Canada)
October 29, 2011 10:20 PM

After washing the seeds, I drizzled some olive oil, salted them and then baked the seeds at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes or until golden brown. Once or twice I pulled the baking pan out and stirred the seeds to ensure even roasting.

Pizza and Pumpkins

2011-10-29T16:26:00.000-07:00

Last night was Friday Fun Family Night. We made homemade pizza. The dough was made the night before.

I even tried my hand at homemade pizza sauce which was delicious but spicy, so I had a can of sauce for those who preferred regular.

Making pizza here is so much easier. Not only do we have the counter space, but we have double ovens that can cook up to four pizzas at a time.

Julia and Rachel got a last minute babysitting job, so they made their pizzas first.

Dennis said, "This is the bestest dinner ever!"

This morning we carved pumpkins. Other than one of them being rotten-- it was a fun time for all!

I have learned over the years that less pumpkins is more. No one gets overwhelmed doing all the work, and yet everyone has a great time working together.

Dennis and Alex were much more involved this year.

At first, Paul was not interested in the pumpkin festivities. "That's yucky!" he exclaimed.
After a little while, he was loving it!

Don't look so serious girls. It's only a pumpkin.

Anna and Anastasia enjoyed working together.

Andrew and Paul watched dad carve out a cross.

After the mess was cleaned up, we enjoyed toasted pumpkin seeds!

A Dizio of a Day

2011-10-26T19:31:00.000-07:00

Now that it is over, I feel it is safe to share. I didn't want to stress myself out by talking about it before hand. A while back I had been invited to speak at a Mom's group. For the longest time it sat on the back burner and then all of a sudden it was time! It had been nearly a year and a half since my last speaking engagement-- so I was nervous!

But God is awesome! Julia, Galina, and Annalyn opened with "What Faith Can Do", and then I followed.

I must say that these women are absolutely amazing! They not only were easy and very fun to be with, but they made sharing such a special experience. It is a wonderful feeling to leave a place knowing that you've made some new friends. Thanks girls!

Oh, and the food was awesome too! Thanks for loading us up!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is the photo of our Moms' Night Out. Going clockwise, starting after me is Melissa, Pam, and then Erika with a K. :)

I have to say-- we had a blast! Melissa adopted three older girls from Ukraine after hosting the youngest for a total of six kids. Pam has three teens-- two adopted as newborns and one adopted from Ukraine after hosting him. Pam and Melissa not only hosted at the same time, but they met up in Ukraine too.
Erika lives pretty close to me, so I think we will be seeing more of each other-- I hope. She has three little ones adopted privately and through foster care.

Our family dynamics are all very different, but we do have adoption in common-- and we are all Moms!

Our hope is to get together again in a month or two-- please consider joining us.

P.S. Erika, did you get my email response?

Last night Dennis and Alex were being so goofy. They went around holding hands and a crutch. It was cute!

After speaking this morning, I took Alex to have an MRI. From prior experience we knew that he had to be sedated. This time that little turkey needed three different medicines before he went to sleep. Ever since, he has been like a floppy newborn, silly zombie.

Tomorrow he goes for his CMG (Cystometrogram)-- and then his testing will be over!

Did I mention that Alex does not have scoliosis? ~~smiling

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Caleb is doing great. He has been staying after school for basketball practice. Tomorrow are tryouts.

A week or two ago he was hit in the nose pretty hard. Now that it is healing, it appears crooked and the tip is numb. He was going to ignore it, but I think we should have it checked out. I researched broken noses online and it said that broken noses usually are not fixed until the swelling goes down anyway.

At least that is how I remember it when I had my nose broken. It was fixed a week or two later.

Anyway, I finally convinced him to go in and have it checked out when he comes home today telling me he was hit in the nose again during practice. Ugh!

What to do... what to do.

Paul is doing Spelling Workout A at home with me after school. After a few lessons, he is beginning to read and follow the directions by himself. It has been a huge confidence booster for him!

He is also working on simple addition and subtraction facts-- gaining speed everyday. I continue to introduce multiplication and division and other key math concepts.

This is working well for him. As his Mom, I am thankful that we found something that is challenging, but not overwhelming to him. It's all good.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lastly, I can't rave enough about the game Dizios. Not only is it a great puzzle activity that challenges your brain, but when you keep score it reinforces basic addition. It is addictive in the sense that you can't play just once! Anyone up for a game?

Willing Hands

2011-10-24T20:06:00.000-07:00

It's safe to say we are homemade bread fanatics. We were getting tired of making dough everyday though. Thankfully someone posted a recipe for artisan bread that doesn't need kneading and the dough can be refrigerated for days. We tripled our last batch requiring over 18 cups of flour and everyday we have fresh homemade baked bread. It is delicious.

Legos are "in" right now-- didn't you hear? They are at our house anyway.
Even Alex and Dennis enjoy building ships.

Our Mom's night out on Saturday was so wonderful. Four of us got together and the four hours flew by. As we parted, we agreed that we need to do this way more often. The encouragement, support and many laughs-- blessed my soul. Who knew such amazing women lived down in Southern Ca? ;)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunday afternoon, David the founder of ROJ came for a visit. The drive was a bit long so he stayed the night in the little boys' room. Dennis and Alex didn't mind though-- they slept in our room!

Please continue to pray for the future of ROJ! Willing hands and hearts need to come together to be the body of Christ down in Belogorsk, Crimea, Ukraine. So many amazing things are just waiting to happen.

A Full Weekend

2011-10-22T08:07:00.000-07:00

I don't know where the week went. Do you? It just flew by in a blur.
Oh well, today is a new day.

Caleb is going to the homecoming dance tonight with a girl he met at church. They have liked each other for some time-- but they are taking it real slow. I was hesitant at first about the relationship but I have tired to remain open minded. It's going at a pace that I think we can all be comfortable with. That is the one thing I think keeps our family going strong. We want to be willing to bend, hear each other out, keep lines of communication open, and most of all be willing to change. It is hard, but I can't deny that my kids are growing up.

Today we are making a big pot of borscht, after our devotional-- reading another chapter out of Katie's book. Her love for the Lord is so contagious! If you want a great read that you can share with your family-- I encourage you to get this book!

Tonight I get to meet up with other adoptive Moms for a night out! I am so looking forward to it! Not because I need a break or anything.... :)

And lastly, tomorrow we are having company. David, the founder of River of Joy is coming!

P.S. Thank you for all the recipes! As I read through them, I can see the variety the cookbook is going to have. I'm sure it going to be great. :)

Please Share

2011-10-20T14:36:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone!

I have began typing in recipes. I have included my favorites such as borscht and cinnamon popcorn. Thank you to all who have submitted recipes so far. Hope you don't mind, but I am including your blog so that people can go and check out who submitted what recipe.

Honestly, only about 20 people have submitted recipes and I need closer to 100 as long as they submit more than one recipe. If they only submit one, then I need closer to 150 people.

If you have a favorite recipe that you want to share, please do.

Thanks!

All Better!

2011-10-19T19:10:00.000-07:00

It finally came! The 2010 blog book I made using Blurb just came in the mail.

Thanks Kristin! You inspired us to make some Zwiebach. They turned out delicious-- just like I remember them.

Jonny just hanging out in the kitchen.

Andrew showing Anastasia a cool homemade notebook he just put together.

Here are the Zwiebach going into the oven.

We all enjoyed one lathered with butter and jam after dinner.

If Kristin doesn't mind, I will be adding her delicious recipe to the cookbook I have started.

I will also be including all of our family favorites.

Please let me know your favorite recipe or two so that I can add them to the book too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The last two mornings, Alex slept in till after nine o'clock. He had been waking up numerous times throughout the night for many nights so his body needed to play catch up. His fever finally broke and he went back to school today.

I have to share a funny story with you. The car that Adam drives wouldn't start so we had it towed to the nearest shop to be fixed. When the driver came to pick up the car, we all stood outside to watch. Dennis is in love with "his Maxima" and watched intently as it was hoisted onto the flatbed truck. The cruel and mean Mama that I am began to fake cry as the truck drove off with Dennis' beloved Maxima. Dennis angrily yelled to the driver who was long down the hill, "You ruined my life!" and began to cry with me. It was cute and funny all rolled up into one. I quickly chimed in with the girls, "Don't worry Dennis. The Maxima is broken and the man is taking it to get fixed. It will be back later today. I promise." To further explain we compared the car going to the shop as if it was sick and needed to go to the doctor so that it could be made well. Alex was all over this. "Yea Dennis. The Maxima go doctor like me. I get shot my bottom. Doctor me all better now. The car go doctor get shot in bottom like me. It be all better."

Dennis seemed very satisfied with this answer and that was that.

2011-10-17T21:07:00.000-07:00

Alex is still running a fever. :(

Dennis is student of the week.

The boys have been extra rambunctious the past few days.

Annalyn is beginning Aleks Math online.

The girls taught me an Impromptu acting game. All you do is go around in a circle carrying on a dramatic conversation where the first word you say begins with whatever letter you are on in the alphabet. If Julia starts she begins her sentence with an A. Then I respond to whatever she says as long as the first word I say begins with a B. It is actually pretty fun.

I am looking forward to this Saturday night when me and four other women will get together for fun, food, and fellowship. It's not to late to join. :)

Keep Getting Well

2011-10-16T21:16:00.000-07:00

I just love our family.

Yesterday Adam put on this shirt when he first got dressed. Julia saw it as a chance to bug her big brother. She put on the same shirt and got Sveta to do the same.

"Mom, I have a plan. At dinner time I'll make it so that we all sit next to each other and then you can take a picture... okay? Won't that be fun?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Poor Alex.

He has a urinary tract infection. This is the reason for his fever. I was surprised when I found this out since he is regularly taking a low dose antibiotic to avoid this very problem.

But hopefully he will be on the up and up now. He ended up getting an antibiotic shot to kick start the healing.

Though my little guy is not feeling completely well, there has been a blessing.

Many nights I have knelt by his bed after giving him medicine to bring down his fever and prayed for him.

It is amazing how your heart grows fonder for the person you pray for.

Taking care of Alex has brought the two of us closer too.

Dear Precious Jesus, I pray that my son continue to get well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here is what it looks like at dinnertime.

Homemade coconut pecan pie-- yum! One even had chocolate on top.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The social worker called. She says that her report will be written and turned into the court by mid-December. Finally we are getting to the end of Galina's adoption. :)

A Colorful Cornucopia

2011-10-15T12:36:00.000-07:00

The Birthday Girl

2011-10-14T20:40:00.000-07:00

This morning Adam and Julia had the fun task of putting together Anastasia's birthday present.

After lunch, we all went rollerskating.

Anastasia was so excited to be skating-- now that she actually knows how!

This roller skate rink was recommended by our homeschool teacher and she was right-- it was awesome!

Galina with Daddy!

It was so fun to watch Anastasia skate. She was so confident!

Even Paul learned to skate since our last trip to the rink.

I loved seeing how happy he was.

Anastasia requested strawberry cupcakes.
Isn't she glowing?

I explained to her that even though she has only been our daughter for one year, we have now known her for three years-- when she was 11, then 12, and now 13!

She smiled big!

Anastasia's big present was a Barbie dollhouse.

She was so excited when she saw it!

Up until she became our daughter, she did not have the opportunity to roll play with dolls.

Now she can play to her heart's content.

Anastasia wanted her ears pierced most of all. That was her other gift.

She was so brave.

Paul watched closely.

When I was done Paul saw how happy Anastasia was.

"You buy these for Anastasia for her birthday?" he asked.

"Yes," I answered.

"My sister's so happy," he said. "I love you so much Mom."

Without any other words, I could tell that he was deeply moved to see his sister with such a big smile on her face.

Anastasia and Sveta are very close. Sveta thought it was appropriate that I take this picture of the two of them since now they both have the same earrings.

Happy birthday Anastasia! You have blessed us beyond words.

It Feels Like Saturday

2011-10-14T12:17:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy week. The kids who go to school have today off so the homeschoolers worked really hard to take the day off too.

Rachel, Galina, and Julia like to goof around. It gets "boy" rough, but they do it anyway.

I picked up lots of drawing books last week. We are having family drawing sessions all the time.

I drew this completely freehand with the help of a step by step drawing book. I am so proud of myself! Now to water color it!

Today is Anastasia's birthday! She is a teenager!

We have a fun day planned! Thankfully, we don't have school!

Here are the kids' latest art projects.

Little tea lites fit inside.

Today feels like Saturday. It is so nice knowing that it's only Friday. :)

Over the Wednesday Hump

2011-10-12T21:17:00.000-07:00

I sat down with Paul a few nights ago. I had put together little homework packets to work on with him. I felt it was his level and was greatly discouraged when he ended up struggling with it all. It was things that we have been going over and over just presented in a slightly different way. As the evening wore on, I assumed that he would catch on. It was extremely frustrating when he didn't that I just sent him to bed. I put myself to bed too.  I think I cried on the inside at the challenges that lie ahead.  Even though the IEP process has begun, I know that Paul can't wait till then. I have to meet him where he is--not where I think he should be. I pulled together a whole new set of homework packets, one level lower than we had been working on. This time, things went so much better. Fabulous I might say. It's focus is vocabulary building with beginning sounds. The math part is a lot of simple math that is made challenging by its directions. For example: Color four flowers in the top box. He not only has to read this, but he has to comprehend it and do it. It is not as easy as it sounds when the picture is a scene complete with butterflies and bees. Then he has to be able to spell out the numbers on the next page. Paul accomplished nearly ten pages of homework... and we both felt very proud at the end.

He is also reading books at his level that teach a science concept.  It is so awesome when you can teach two subjects at the same time. Today he learned the word melt. Crayons melt, ice melts, candles melt, snow melts, and ice-cream melts. After he read the whole book he was able to recall three things that melted. I gave him a high five! His smile lit up the room!

*Newsflash*
Dennis interrupted my typing so that I could help him write a letter to his teacher.

Dear Mrs. Tax,
I love you so much. I hope you are better and that all your dreams come true. I wish you can give me a hug. Email me.
Love, Dennis

Tonight we had homemade black bean soup and bread with hard boiled eggs. Paul had just finished his third bowl but still surprised me when he said he didn't want cake.  Afterall, he is our eating machine! I told him that maybe he would want it later when his food had settled.
"What does it mean settle?"
Playing charades, I showed him that his food was in his chest right now but once his food was settled into his lower gut, he would have room for his cake. He nodded in agreement. About 1/2 hour later he came and asked me for cake. :)

During basketball practice today, Caleb was head butted in the nose really hard.   As his nose gushed with blood, he was checked for a concussion at the on campus sports medicine clinic. He had misheard one of the questions so his answer of course didn't match. "Yup, you have a concussion," they automatically assumed. Caleb chuckled as he shared the story with us because he didn't have a concussion. Once he explained why he had answered the way he did, they released him. Still he has a swollen, bruised nose.

Alex is running a fever so he stayed home today. He is feeling okay, but I wanted to keep him home just the same. However, tomorrow he has his CVUG (Cystoscopy and Voiding Urethrogram) scheduled along with two x-rays-- and he is going. When it takes two months to get an appointment and it may take another two months before the next one-- you take it. And praise the Lord-- at the end of the month he will finally have his CMG (cystometrogram) test and MRI. These tests were first scheduled for December but when I called to check for cancellations they got us in sooner! Once these tests are complete, the specialists will be able to tell us if Alex is a good candidate for certain "quality of life" surgeries. I am so hopeful!

Adam and Caleb took the PSATs today.

This weekend is Anastasia's birthday. She will join Annalyn, Julia, and Anna as our 4th thirteen year old!

Smiles and Trials

Remember Her?

Met In Real Life!

I Prefer the Mountain of Muffins

Window Decal Fundraiser

The Princess Birthday

Dissecting Owl Pellets

Yesterday

Love

We're Finished For Today

On the Wall

Awesome Boys!

Just in case...

To Galina, From Jonathan

A Little of This and a Little of That

His New One

Adoption Announcement

Back in the Groove

Happy New Year!

how r u?

Random Thoughts

She's 16!

Merry Christmas

The Ring Pop Club

Cookie Time

Too Funny

Can you Give One Month?

Our Christmas Tree

Home!

Hopefully Only One More Day

An Alex update

Those *Extra* Disneyland Photos

He Likes Him

I'm Glad The Day is Over

Annalyn in 50 Years

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILLIAM

Tower of Terror!

Disneyland

It's Nice to be Home

Blogs Worth Noting

One More Sleep

Pearls

Only Four More Nights

So Many Sweet Faces

Digest 24

A Few Things

Here Goes

All About Paul

Meet Tamara

Thanksgiving

Lots To Be Thankful For

If Only Love Could Make It All Better

All About ANdrew

Mostly Smiles

One Less Adoption Dissolution

All About Adam

His Little Red Car

All About Anna

Off To A Good Start

A Pink Birthday!

A Small Break

Thankful...

The Solution

Digest 23

It's Always Something

What a Pot!

Yay, It's November!

Digest 22

Pizza and Pumpkins

A Dizio of a Day

Willing Hands

A Full Weekend

Please Share

All Better!

Keep Getting Well

A Colorful Cornucopia

The Birthday Girl

It Feels Like Saturday

Over the Wednesday Hump

Those Extra Disneyland Photos