Baby Chicks

So, it's April now and time keeps marching on. Thank God it is spring time! The girls each got a new baby chick today, because Jordan's favorite chicken "Baukey" was snatched by some other animal. I wanted to surprise her today with a new baby chick, and then Marina whined at me for her own baby chick and then Hannah wanted one as well . . . we ended up with 4! Now we have a total of 9 chickens!! What is HAPPENING?!! On top of that, our trip to the farm store was a spur of the moment decision because, James had called me to come pick him up from the shop where they were putting new tires on his car . . . when we left there I realized we were close to the store . . . so why not go get the chick then, right? Well, when I pulled up to the store, I realized I had my swimsuit top on and no shirt, so I couldn't go in the store. I sent James in to buy the ONE chick, then Marina went in to tell him to get a total of 3 chicks . . . when they came out they had 3 chicks and one baby TURKEY!!! Of course we had already driven about 4 miles away when we realized we had bought a turkey, so there was some debate over whether or not we could house a turkey and if we could eat it for Thanksgiving. BUT Marina started whining that we would not eat the turkey because it was one of the ones she had picked out! Well, I decided there was no way we were keeping this turkey and so I had to return to the store and exchange the turkey for another chicken. Whew!!! (I think I could have raised it for Thanksgiving though:) Well, that was our excitement for today.

Well, the birthday parties went off without a hitch and everyone was happy with their special day. This was of course Marina's first party ever and Hannah was gracious and didn't mind sharing the spotlight with Marina. Marina didn't care either, because, heck . . . any party is better than NO party, so she was thrilled. I was so glad that most everyone was able to come and share the moment with them both. We did the usual little kid party games like pop the balloon and Simon Says, and for the older girls they did a "blind makeover" and a game where they guess who they are, by asking questions about the name on their back. This Friday I am fulfilling my promise to them to take them to Chuckee Cheese with a friend. This is where they wanted their party to be, but it wasn't practical for all the people who we wanted to invite to the party . . . so we will go now with one or two friends each.

The girls are glad spring has arrived and I am too - it gets them out of the house a bit more, but it would be really nice if it would rain a bit less and dry out some more so they can be out a LOT more. They were getting really restless and my fuse was getting short.

We are trying to finish up school for the year . . . . only to have Marina and Hannah both tell me they wanted to continue to work on some portion of school over the summer. . . .DARN!! I was looking forward to a break as well! I was thinking how great it would be to be able to only focus on MY schooling for a couple months. Marina wants to keep working on math and I'm not sure what exactly Hannah wants to study, but she said she wants to start back at it in July or the beginning of August. Go figure.

Well, James and I are planning to go to Mexico in about a month for a 4 day getaway!!! Yippeee! This was a surprise to me, but one that is much needed. The thought of a trip JUST FOR RELAXATION PURPOSES . . . WOW!! What an idea! Yes, we did go to Ukraine, but that was like camping for a month and being stressed while camping = NOT relaxing. And last year we went to Florida on a business trip for a couple days . . .on the coldest days of the year!!! It actually dipped into the freezing temps while we were there, and they were afraid for the citrus crops. So again, no R&R by the pool there either. Before that we went to Edisto Beach with the family, and that was nice, but we got 2nd degree burns the first trip to the beach and had to wear loose fitting clothing and stay in the shade the rest of the trip, PLUS Georgie didn't want to be at the beach - she was afraid of the ocean I guess. And now we are planning this trip to Mexico and the girls were CRYING tonight because they are NOT INVITED!!! IS THERE NO REST FOR THE WEARY? DO THEY HAVE TO RAIN ON OUR PARADE? GOOD GOD, give us some rest will ya?! Whew, I'm glad to get that off my chest :)

Well, enjoy the pictures from the party and maybe another month won't go by before I write again . . . it's therapeutic I think.

Party Fever!

March is here and the girls cannot wait for another week to go by, so they can have their birthday party. This year we are combining Hannah and Marina's birthdays so as to have one big party instead of two parties one week apart. They are very excited and I will be glad when it's all over :) Even Jordan is letting me know what she wants to do for her birthday party two months from now. She thinks we should have a party at Six Flags for her . . . we'll see about that.

Next week we are going to tour the public school in our area and decide if we should send Marina there next year. I believe we will, because she wants to go and we think it will be good for her to be around kids her age. It will also make things easier for me at home trying to homeschool Hannah and Jordan. Marina wants to play sports and do many extracurricular activities, but her motivation is lacking for doing school work. I hope that being at school will give her some motivation to do better at school work so she can participate in all the fun activities as well.

The other day we had a very warm day and what did the 3 girls do??? They put on their swimsuits and played in the sandbox and on the trampoline, roller skated, rode bikes and then the next day . . . it snowed. I think it was the next day - maybe two days later, but whatever the case it has been crazy weather lately to say the least! I wish we would have warm temps for the birthday party, but the extended forecast looks like it will be in the 50's. Last year it snowed on Hannah's birthday.

Sweet Nothings

Tomorrow is Valentines Day and the girls are excited to get a little gift of love from us. They are giving chocolate covered strawberries to James and Mom, but can't wait to find out what little sweets they will get. Actually only one of them is getting anything sweet, the other two are getting something little that they will enjoy. I can't say what they are getting, because Marina is sitting here reading the blog as I type it . . . . little beast!! I couldn't wait for her to understand English and now she understands and reads English so there is no hiding anything!! Shoot!

Next week we are taking the 3 girls to an agency for modeling. This is Marina's dream and I think any one of the girls could do some modeling. Hannah did some as a baby, but I never have pursued anymore jobs since then. So, if they can get a few jobs and save some money for college some day that would be great.

We also go to a check up for Hannah's ankle to see how she is healing. I think she's doing fine though. She has been going without the brace quite a bit and despite my fear of her twisting her ankle, she has done just fine . . . Thank God!! She has been doing some excersises that the PT people are having her do and that should help to strengthen it.

Last weekend we went to a brunch with other families who have adopted from UA, and some even used our same facilitator. It was really neat to be able to connect with others who have experienced the same things and have a similar heart and vision. It also gave Marina a chance to meet some other kids her age who have similar backgrounds, and that means a lot to her. I would say there were probably at least 10 families there with all their kids - each having an average of 4 kids each - some more and a couple less. It seems to us that most adoptive families are larger than the average 2.2 kids. Anyway, it was nice.

This weekend is James' birthday and his family is coming in from out of town. Plus it is the Daytona 500 which is a HUGE deal for all the Nascar fans out there. This time last year we were in FL and were at the qualifying race the day prior to the 500. That was fun to see it all LIVE.
I need to put on my thinking cap and figure out what to do for his birthday and what to get him!! Nothing like the last minute to figure things like that out.

We took Marina a couple weeks ago to get her eyes checked and she needs glassses for distance. She was not too happy to get the news, but when she discovered she could find a pair of PINK glasses, things were different - hahaha! Now she is eagerly waiting for them to come in. She's funny :)

Friday we go to the dentist and we'll find out about "brackets" as Marina calls braces. We asked last time about them, but they told her she would have to wait until her baby teeth all fell out and all her adult teeth came in. I'm not sure, but I think most of the baby teeth have come out now. So, we'll see.

Well, not too much else to say except . . . THE END for now.

3 weeks overdue

Well, it has been about 3 weeks or more since I last put a post on here.

The holidays went great and I think Marina really enjoyed everything . . . especially having 4 Christmas celebrations with extended family! However, she was a bit bummed that we don't give New Years gifts :) Apparently in UA, they do. Anyway, we have gotten back into the usual routine of things and everything is going fairly well. Things seem to be getting easier in regards to following rules and listening to us. So, that is a BIG plus! Of course there are still moments each day, but there are with any child. It's just become less frustrating and I'll take that any day:)

Marina is making some new friends and that is very important to her. Two of the girls were also adopted from UA, and the other two were born here. There are 3 other kids I would like her to meet and then as she gets plugged into some activities soon, I know she will meet more.

Marina keeps begging me for a dog of her own, and I keep telling her that we already have 2 and don't need any more right now. She whines and cries and it makes me feel terrible, but I know the brunt of the responsibility would fall on me and I already look after 2 horses, 6 chickens, a dog and a cat. I think that's enough. Plus, Georgie wants a cat and I have told her not until our other cat is gone. It's very difficult and I wish this phase would pass. I told her maybe some day, but not now.

She wanted a pair of roller skates for Christmas, but we had already bought all the gifts we were going to buy. So, she saved up her money from helping around the house and bought herself a pair . . . and the best part of it is . . . she got them for $6 at Goodwill!! Then she had extra money to buy herself some clothes:) That was so much fun for her . . . and me:) She LOVES the 2nd hand stores . . . ME TOO! I can take all 3 girls shopping and not break the bank.

School is going well, and I don't have to translate hardly anything anymore. She understands most everything. It's really amazing! The only thing I still translate for her is Bible, because it is so important that she understand that in it's entirety. Plus, some of the ideas or concepts are not so easy to explain with a limited vocabulary. We talk about the verses out loud after she reads them in Russian.

About 3 weeks ago Hannah and Marina and another girl were jumping on the trampoline and Hannah landed on the outside of her ankle!! She broke 4 chips off the end of the bone and is in a Velcro boot for another week. Then we will have it reevaluated and see if it is healed up. As of right now, it is still swollen and still has some bruising. I am not very optimistic that she will be free of the boot in another week. We'll see.

Merry 1st Christmas!

This morning at 5:58 a.m. I was woken up by Marina ready to wake everyone else up to open gifts! James was crabbing that it wasn't even day-break and that she should go back to bed, but by that time she had already woken up the girls and things were on their way. Then we had an issue of not being able to find a blank video tape to record the first Christmas, but eventually we got it all together and had a good time opening presents. Marina was so thrilled with everything and kept saying how much she liked everything. I think it was a good first Christmas!

Right now she is on the phone with her best friend Julia who was adopted two weeks before we adopted Marina and she is in Italy. We are trying to exchange email addresses, but trying to speak English to her father who speaks Italian and a little English, is not so easy to do. However, I do have their mailing address that the counselor at the orphanage gave me, so we will mail them our information so that the girls can continue corresponding even though they are miles apart. I still email and mail a friend of mine in England who I haven't seen since pre-school when we lived in Belgium! We have been pen pals all these years and I hope Marina and Julia can do the same.

Later this morning we will go to my brother Pete's house to have Christmas with the rest of my family and then on Friday we will head to So. IL to have Christmas with James side of the family. Marina just thinks this whole idea of multiple Christmases is the BEST!!!

Last night my sister and her family came over and brought our traditional Christmas Eve dinner of cheese fondue and raclettes for dinner. We all ate until we were totally stuffed and it was delicious!! I look forward to that meal every year. We first ate fondue and raclettes when we lived in Europe and our entire family loves it. I think the we ate raclettes in Switzerland and I'm not sure where we tried the cheese fondue the first time, but it is very good. We get the cheese at The Cheese Place in St. Louis, but there are other stores that carry it too. If you have never tried Raclettes, you can rent a raclette oven or grill at The Cheese Place as well as buy the cheese there. We have two raclette ovens that my sister bought in France last time she was there, because you can't buy them here, or at least we couldn't at the time - you can now.
http://www.jill.net/recipes/recipes/raclette.html or http://www.raclette-suisse.ch/home.html?l=en

This past weekend we went over to see some friends of ours who had never met Dillon or Marina and I have been friends with them since I was 15 years old. Anyway, they enjoyed meeting all 4 kids and then we went to Columbia IL to a Christmas party in honor of the 4 girls who just came over for a hosting program during the Christmas break. Marina is friends with one of the girls, Natasha, who we spent every day with while we were in Ukraine. The other girls she does not know, but we enjoyed seeing them all and talking with other families who either have already adopted or who are interested in doing so. Everyone was so amazed at how well Marina speaks English already.

After that, we went to Bellville IL to Our lady of the Snows to see The Way of Lights, which is a Christmas lights display that you drive through. There was also camel and donkey rides, a petting zoo, food to buy, a puppet show and Christmas tree display from around the world. We didn't see it all, but the kids did ride camels and enjoyed that. Hannah and Marina rode one camel and Dillon and Jordan rode another. I wish we had remembered our camera so that we would have a picture of it! They also saw the animals in the petting zoo - all of which were animals that may have been in the manger where Christ was born. The girls hung out the window of the car to see the lights - all 3 of them crammed out one window. Dillon was then complaining that he couldn't see out that window and I let him know that there was a HUGE long window right next to him in the 3rd seat of the car as well as ALL the windows on the other side of the car to look out of. Why they all thought they needed to look out one little window is beyond me??!! Crazy kids.

Anyway, Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Year too!

Looking Brighter

Okay, I think we are headed in the right direction. We are seeing improvement now with the way things are going at home, and are beginning to loosen the reigns some. She now knows I mean what I say and that if she doesn't listen up and DO what she needs to do, there will be a consequence that is less than favorable. Hallelujah!!! Anyway, she has improved her behavior and I am so thankful for that. The key words now are, "Your not listening to me" and then she snaps into shape :) Today I am taking her to spend the day with her new friend Piper while I go take the little girls to a class at our science center and go some other places as well. She'll get to spend a nice long day with her and I hope they form a wonderful friendship. Both girls are homeschooled, both are from Ukraine, they are 12 and 13 years old, and I think this could be a really good thing for her. It will help her to feel less homesick and more comfortable here.

I have contacted an international adoption clinic here in St. Louis out of Children's Hospital and we will probably set up an appointment to meet with them in January. What they offer is a host of professionals (doctors and social workers, counselors, etc) who specialize in dealing with kids adopted internationally and their families. What my hope is, is to be able to meet with a psychologist when needed to discuss her feelings and her actions, and to be able to better understand what she is going through and have another PROFESSIONAL opinion of how to best deal with her actions. However, I do believe we are on course now and things are improving. It's just nice to have a support system of people who "have been here and done this" before.

This is our last week of school now until January 7, when we will start back into things. I am ready for the break as I am sure the girls are too. Yesterday Marina was doing her math work and on the LAST problem she had a complete meltdown and couldn't finish. She was three steps away from being done and gave up all hope, started crying and couldn't pull it together. So, I told her that was fine and suggested she take a nap and rest and try to finish it later in the day. So, around 4pm she came back to it and finished her work without anymore problems. It's not that the work is too hard . . . she can do it, maybe it's just more than she was used to before, I don't know. I only gave her one worksheet to work on and it only had maybe 8 - 10 equations on it . . . not a lot at all. Anyway, I was glad to see her come back to it and finish. I just have to learn how to "deal" with these breakdowns the best I can. I think being sympathetic AND still requiring her to finish her work is the best thing I can do. I can remember getting very frustrated while doing schoolwork in certain subjects and so I can empathize with her. But, I don't want my little ones to see this either and decide, "Oh, if I cry and say I can't, I won't have to do my work" because then we'll never get anything accomplished. I hope Marina doesn't have many of these meltdowns. I have seen 4 or 5 of them thus far.

Well, everyone is waking up and I can hear their feet above me so they will be coming downstairs any minute. That is my cue to wrap this up for now.

Honeymoon Is Over

Well, the time has come that the blissful honeymoon stage is over and now we have to get down to business. There has been a great testing of the waters and now we have reached our limit and feel that the time has come to draw a line in the sand and get things straightened out a bit. There are no huge problems to report, but the constant testing and bending of the rules for her and not the other children needs to end. I now realize we gave too much too soon. Somehow she thinks the rules in our house do not FULLY apply to her. Every rule we have established is challenged on a daily basis and it becomes maddening. The bad part is, I don't feel like I have the energy at this point to be as consistent and strong as I need to be. I know this is what is needed, I just wish we didn't have to go down this road. What we are seeing is a 12 year old who acts like a 3 year old much of the time and yet thinks she should be treated as if she is 12. She is very bull-headed and so, we are in a place of taking away all privileges and when she earns them back one by one with obedience and respectful behavior, our hope is to have smooth waters most of the time. She still exhibits no respect for James in that she doesn't seem to think she needs to listen to him or even talk to him kindly. Most of the time she shrugs him off like a pest of some kind and he has been so patient with her. I need to talk with some other souls who have trotted down this path before and can help with suggestions and support. I need someone to say, "Your doing the right thing".