MIA

Yep it's been over a month. I think about posting often but, well, as you can see - I don't! So here's to catching up a bit. And see the other blog for beach pictures finally here!! They are fantastic - thanks Ash!



Well we all just regrouped back at home. This past week the three girls went to church camp, the boys went to their grandparents, and Zach and I... Well, we worked like crazy for a few days (it's incredible what can be accomplished when you have a quiet house) and then relaxed on a very last minute cruise vacation. That's right - I read it on your blog Pam last Saturday, googled cheap, last minute cruises, found one at a great price, booked Tues, and left Thursday. How's that for spontaneous?!? Don't ever tell me that I don't get good inspiration from you blog friends!!! We are truly thankful for a wonderful trip and wonderful grandparents to make it possible. We love you guys!!



So now we are home in a freshly organized house (minus a slowly decreasing mountain of laundry 7 people x 7 days) and are all oh so happy and refreshed. I think we have all said about a hundred times how happy we all are to be home together. And as far as timing it was perfect! The summer was getting long and hot and everyone was getting irritable before our little separate excursions. And we had time to work uninterrupted to plan homeschool for next year, purge lots of old school/craft stuff and other junk piles, discuss our childrens' hearts and needs as well as discuss a parenting book together, completely reorganize the boys' room (it was clean until they got home...), and still enjoy time together just relaxing, reading, and scuba diving in Cozumel. It was a lovely week indeed. Thank you Lord for giving us such a perfect time to and to bless our childrens' hearts with special grandparent time and great teaching at camp. I feel so unfairly blessed!!

Re-Adoption in Texas

At the end of June we readopted the girls. Although it was not a hugely significant day for us since they are our children forever regardless of whether we did this, it was great to complete this last legal issue. We decided to go ahead and readopt the girls now before time passed and we forgot all about it. It was actually a very fun day as we joined up with a group re-adoption in San Antonio. It was neat to see so many families with children from all over the world. And our lawyer does this regularly so it was quick and painless. Anyways, if you have adopted internationally and live in Texas I would be happy to recommend our lawyer - just let me know. The benefits that I understand from re-adoption is that it removes problems of inheritance (especially if you have bio kids too) and it gives your child a US birth certificate which makes school, sports, getting a marriage license, and many other similar things much easier.

Ukrainian Girls YEE HAW :)

It was a Happy 4th this year with our new Americans who celebrated our country for the first time!! And they were able to see a good ole rodeo for the first time. They may think our country is nuts to have people riding on the back of crazy bulls... But Nastya is sure that she will be barrel racing by next year :) Of course - our little horse loving, dare devil!!

And she even got to try out a little bull riding herself...

And they all got good and dirty in the calf scramble!!

Good times!!

Coming Full Circle...My Heart Overflows!

Well it's been a bit busy and more posts with beautiful pics (compliments of my talented photographer sister) from our beach trip will soon be coming on the other blog. But for now I just have to post about the hosting trip and about what it has meant to our family and to our girls.


Three weeks ago we stood in the airport and hugged and cried as we again saw the familiar faces of the precious children we had told goodbye just seven months ago. What an amazing way for God to answer our cries for them by bringing so many of them right here to Texas!!! We continue to pray for them as they walk through the joys and trials of hosting.


But what struck me the most was how incredibly far our girls had come. I didn't realize what had happened in our hearts and in theirs until I stood in the same place where we first met our daughters and watched other families joyfully but awkwardly welcome them for the summer. Spending time with these families and trying to encourage those who are struggling with varying issues has reminded me of the sometimes intense struggles that we faced during the early months. But oh how quickly I had forgotten and how quickly our sweet girls have grown in so many ways.


For one, here is a picture of Katya writing a welcome sign for one little boy who is here.


For another, my girls have repeatedly had the opportunity to translate for families both in person and on the phone. They have the privilege of helping others who are experiencing some of the same fears and struggles that they went through only a short time ago. And they delight to do so. I have had the privilege of seeing their compassionate hearts for their friends and classmates as they have desired to help those who are having a harder time and have initiated the most heartfelt prayers for them. Not to mention just the sheer joy of being in the company of their closest friend who is more like a sister. And would you believe that my very dear friend is pursuing this girl's adoption?!? Truly, who but God?!? And if you saw this child with this family you would wonder how it is that they have not always been together. Oh pray that God smooths the road to bring her to where she belongs incredibly fast. What joy to be a part of this.





I see also how Katya and Nastya also recognize how much they have grown. Tonight, I was talking late with all three of my daughters and somehow we were discussing things like stealing and lying and immodesty. All things that we had to teach them. I told them a story from my childhood about how I had lied and cheated on a grade to earn a reward and about how burdened I felt until I was finally caught and I repented. They both shared things that they had done wrong both in Ukraine and here. I asked them when they understood that it was wrong to steal or lie and Nastya shyly said, "Well kind of but not really until we started doing bible study with school here in America." Then Katya told me that she had to tell me something (very small) that she felt guilty about and asked me to forgive her. Oh so incredible that she is getting it. Praise the Lord for all He is doing in our hearts and in theirs. I pray that He will move in the hearts of each of these families who are hosting and in the hearts of the orphans that they have in their care for the summer. I pray that miracles will be done in their hearts.





This time is a clear reminder to me of how hard things were for awhile - and ironic that I had already forgotten so much of it - but how quickly it has passed :). Adoption is hard at times and it is scary, but the joy is immeasurably worth any of the trials.





God truly is creating beauty from ashes.

Amazing Events Occuring...

This picture was taken just before we left. It was the last time we took a walk with these kids to buy them icecream and just talk and show them as best we could that they are precious.

7 months ago we left the Zhytomyr Internot with our daughters and we all cried. We cried and mourned because despite the fact that this was such a joyous occasion to take our daughters as ours forever, we left behind sweet children whom we had come to care for deeply. And our daughters left friends who were really more like sisters. It was the hardest goodbye we have ever had. We prayed fervently for these children and we vowed that we would not forget as they tearfully asked as we left in the taxi that day. One of the girls whom we had come to know and love would not talk to us anymore because the sadness of more children leaving but it not being her, was too much to bear. My heart still aches more than I can bear when I dare to really go back there.

But today we rejoice!

Because on a plane right now are 13 children from Zhytomyr headed to America. And 10 of those are coming to Texas to families in our community, many of whom are our very good friends. It is quite the story how this hosting trip came together and the agony that it has taken our wonderful coordinator and my good friend, Becca, but in the end 13 children will be spending the entire summer with families. Only God knows where it will lead for each of these families and children, but we have seen Him at work to bring this trip together and to raise up these families for these children. So to Him be the glory!!

Vika, Tanya, Galina, Yulia, Leeza, Nikita, and all the others - we will see you tomorrow!!! And we will brush up on our Ukrainian and do a lot of swimming and Uno and playing!!

What a summer it will be :)

SCHOOL'S OUT!!!

Which means I get a temporary break - well sort of...

We celebrated our first year of homeschooling this past Thursday by talking and journaling about all that the girls have learned and about what this year has meant to them. It was pretty incredible to reflect on all that they had learned in six months!!! I am so proud of how hard they have worked. We have had fun too :) After our little end of year ceremony we headed to a swim party for the end of the year with our homeschool coop friends.

Here's the summary that I made for them.

What we have Accomplished in
6 months!!!!!


Ø Learned to speak and understand English
Ø Completed ALL of Math 2
Ø Completed almost ALL of Math 3
Ø Learned addition, subtraction, and multiplication facts very well and began practicing division facts
Ø Learned 70 phonograms
Ø Memorized The Swing, The Secret, Jeremiah 29:11-13, Psalm 119:9, 11
Ø Wrote many pages of sentences, journals, and stories
Ø Learned over 200 spelling words
Ø Finished 2 Levels of Rosetta Stone
Ø Finished 3 Explode the Code Books!!!
Ø Learned to read in English and completed many books
Ø Learned about 7 contintents and read books about countries all over the world
Ø Learned about the beginning of the United States, Christopher Columbus, Pilgrims & Indians, Thanksgiving, our United States Flag, The Pledge of Allegiance, 50 States
Ø Learned a lot more about who God is and how He loves you and read many parts of the Bible.
Ø Learned so much of life and love and family


…And I have learned what fun it is to be your teacher!!!! I love you girls and am so proud of your hard work. You are both so smart but more importantly you have sweet, kind hearts, you listen to us, you admit when you do something wrong, you work hard, and you ask God to help you by praying and seeking Him by reading the Bible. If you continue in this, then you will have learned the most important of lessons. I love being your teacher and I love being your mom!!

Let’s have a GREAT summer!!!!

We finished with me recording the girls reciting their memory work and presenting some certificates to them. They have truly done an outstanding job!!!

Here are two videos of the girls memory work - they are short but make sure you pause the music on the right.

We will completely break for a week and then do a little math, english, and lots of reading each day that nothing more exciting is going on :) Yea for summer!!!

Happy 13th Birthday Kateryna!!!

And 1st Birthday Home!!!

What a special, sweet day it was. Katya has been anticipating this day since she got home. This morning our birthday princess was awakened to a birthday cake with 13 candles and her entire family singing Happy Birthday. She smiled ear to ear and blew out her candles. She was then led into the living room which had been decorated with pink crepe paper, balloons, and princess plates for the cake. We ate breakfast and she was literally giddy :) Then she opened the presents from Zach and me. She received a Princess Belle dress (she just loves Disney princesses and wanted this even though most girls her age might have already tired of princess stuff, but for her this is the first time to have these type of things). Then for her big present - an IPOD loaded with all her favorite songs. She was beyond delighted and just couldn't stop hugging and kissing us and telling us thank you. Every new song that she discovered was a delight - 1000 Miles by Mark Shultz is her dance song for ballet and she was so happy to have it along with the Sound of Music soundtrack and lots of other favorite songs.

After she got dressed (as Princess Belle) for the day, she came out and gave me a tight hug and told me in a choked voice, "Momma thank you, for you and Daddy doing all this for me. In Ukraine, I never had birthday like this. It is soooo good day!! I LOVE you soooo much!" I tried to include her cute grammar for you - throw in a strong accent and you'll hear her too :)

Sweet girl, it is such a joy to see you feeling loved and cherished and to know how precious you are. You are truly wonderfully made and we are so very thankful that God made you our daughter... What a privilege to be able to celebrate the life of our daughter and to show her that she is precious and special and cherished. How I longed to be able to show her this in the year before we came home and how amazing to see how she really gets it now and readily accepts our love.

Okay so I did go ahead and make them do a fairly full school day with a little extra free time to listen to her music and just relax. I even took a nap because birthdays wear mothers out!!

Then I braved the cooking of BORSCHT!!! This was waaaay harder than I thought but only because you have to grate like a hundred vegetables. And I really hate to cut up veges. Had I realized this, I would have borrowed my mom's food processor but oh well - I now have beet stained hands and really had the borscht experience. The greatest part about it was that it turned out good!!! The girls gave it their official approval and ate two bowls a piece! Our other kids liked it too and I thought it was okay. (I loved Ukraine food but this was never my favorite.) Wow - big accomplishment to meet their borscht approval rating - I don't think they had a lot of confidence in my abilities going into it!! (If you want the recipe I used let me know - I borrowed it off another blog.)

Finally we ate and said a few of our favorite things about Katya. She is: Sharing, kind, sweet spirited, very helpful with a joyful spirit, energetic, loving, has a beautiful smile, is a great dancer, and a wonderful sister. The kids all had presents for her and she was so overwhelmed with all the love and gifts that I saw that she was holding back tears and clearly moved by such love towards her. What a wonderful sight to see.

We thank God for creating Katya just the way He has and for placing her in our family. He truly has protected and guarded her and brought her to us. We are blessed to be her parents.

We love you Kateryna!!

Last note....I am in complete denial that I am now the mother of a teenager. Goodness, wasn't I just a teenager not that long ago? Well that is another post, ha! :) But seriously, that does make me feel old!!!