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| Thursday, November 30, 2006 |
| The First Snow |
 The first snow of the year has fallen. We had a very strong winter storm move in yesterday. It sleeted all last night and this morning. The kids kept asking to go outside and play in it. I kept explaining that it was all ice, the snow was coming, Mama would let them know when it was time to go outside. By about 3:30 in the afternoon, the snow had just been light, nothing major like they were saying. Therefore, I decided that they better go on out before it started to get dark. We bundled all up, a very exciting event, and headed outside. They slid around and fell down more than anything, but they had a blast. They were making up ice dancing routines. Yes, I have video. Their favorite thing was teaching L and El to make snow angels. L kept wanting to eat it. (I made sure it wasn't yellow.)
About five minutes after we went outside, the snow started coming down more heavily. Approximately 30 minutes later, there was almost no visibility. For you seasoned northerners, this is no big deal. But for us Okies, we're glued to the weather reports and locked in our houses. No, it really is bad here. We are not equipped for big storms. We got about an inch of ice and about 5 inches of snow on top of that. All schools, business, and even government offices have shut down.
The snow has pretty much stopped, but it is bitter cold. Wind chills will dip below zero overnight and temps are in the single digits, almost unheard of in these parts. Now that we do have snow, I guess we'll bundle back up tomorrow and play in the snow again. It's not going to get above freezing so I doubt much will melt.
Above: The crew is demonstrating proper snow angel technique to their new brothers and L is giving it a try for himself. The other picture is of my 6 personal "Snow Angels". |
posted by 6blessings @ 9:26 PM  |
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| Monday, November 27, 2006 |
| Quick funny post |
| I was just looking through some blogs and went to check on a court date that some people have for this week. I couldn't remember when it was. Anyway, they had posted a picture of the Russian president beside their court date post. L was on my lap and I asked him if he knew who he was. He said, "Who is it?" (All in very plain English, I might add.) I told him his name and he said, "Ewww!" I said, "What?" He repeated his name and laughed. (Only a boy would think like this! If you don't get it, ask a little boy.) |
| posted by 6blessings @ 1:30 PM |
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| Saturday, November 25, 2006 |
| First Thanksgiving- YUMMY!! |
We are back from our Thanksgiving travel and I wanted to do a post about the boys' first Thanksgiving. On Wednesday, we made "turkey" cookies (cookies that looked like turkeys). The boys had a blast. We went to my parents' house Wednesday night after gym practice. On Thursday, we had an easy-going morning and then had our dinner at about 2 p.m. I gave the boys some of everything(and I mean everything) and they completely cleared their plates. They asked for seconds of some things and then were delighted with a new treat- pumpkin pie with whipped cream. They are totally fascinated with their bellies when they get done eating a good meal. They are not just skin and bones. They are starting to fill in a little. They came in and raised their shirts to show me that they were growing. They kept saying, "Yummy, yummy!" They spent the rest of the day and all day Friday playing with cousins and getting car rides from dedushka. They also got to ride a real bike just their size, not a trike, and absolutely loved it (Christmas foreshadowing).
I woke up early Thursday morning and made a "What I am Thankful for" list. Here it is:
1. My husband, who works hard at his work and takes care of his family.
2. My 6 beautiful children, who are each so precious in their own unique ways.
3. That I was raised in a Christian home where I was taught about Jesus and what He did for me.
4. My church which is truly genuine, who challenges me to grow and who gives us a place to serve.
5. Igor and Bogdan (our first Russian "sons") who are home with their grandma and who taught us so much about trust and faith.
6. That our adoption is final and that our 2 sons are home with their forever family.
7. God's provision and faithfulness- He promised provision and has recently done just as He said He would do if we would just trust Him.
8. Friends and family who care for us and love us and who we care for and love also.
.......The list goes on and on.
Later that day, we watched a video called "Indescribable" about how God made the entire universe and yet He sent His only Son to die for us. As I looked around that room, I saw one of my new sons snuggled up with his aunt and the other one snuggled up with his dedushka and my eyes flooded with tears. They were so happy and so immersed in love. I have so much to be thankful to God for, more than I could ever list.
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| posted by 6blessings @ 6:59 PM |
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| Monday, November 20, 2006 |
| 4 months |
Well, today marks four months since our plane touched down in the U.S. The boys are making amazing progress. To us, it's just like they've always been here. However, I don't think it feels like that to them always.
Progress Report:
1. Medical: They had more blood tests run and all came out okay. We even had to turn in urine and other similar samples which all came back just fine. L's doctor has been incredibly slow, but after five weeks of bugging them, they finally called me back and said those words we just love to hear..."We're sending him for more tests." Ugh!! He goes back December 6 for the next test. He had three choking episodes last week.
2. Dental: We are now "regulars" at the dentist. We have a set weekly appointment time. A dear friend watches the other kids while they do their schoolwork and I take the boys to the dentist. El is almost done. He has one more visit next week in which he will get 2 crowns and then he is finished. L still has a long way to go. He is so quick-tempered and doesn't like it when someone starts messing with his mouth, makes him hold it open for long, or starts squirting anything into it. He gets very upset which slows down the amount of work they are able to do each time. Each visit gets better. El never even fusses now. He can get shots, get drilled on, and have crowns put on without a peep. The office staff is incredible and swarm around them and love them so much. The dentist is also very kind and is now in the process of pursuing his own Russian adoption. The pic above is of the dental office pumpkin which was awarded to the boys for being special patients. Isn't it cute?
3. Night Terrors: L hasn't had one in months. El still has 1-3 per week. Once I tried to keep him up and ask what it was about. He finally said, "Hurt Stasik". I asked who hurt Stasik, but never got a response. He was too tired. I don't know if he was delirious or if he really meant it.
4. Language: They are speaking English like crazy. Not much Russian comes out anymore. That is sad to me. I wish we knew enough to keep it going, but we don't. When anyone speaks Russian to them, they look at them like they're a nut and laugh. Everyone is amazed at their English progress.
5. Academics: I've posted about this before, but must do it again: They can write their names! Can you tell I'm just a little proud of this? They also have just about mastered most of the colors. We are about to take our schooling to the next level.
6. Discipline: It is totally amazing to me what a few months of consistency will do. They are doing amazingly well. Time outs still happen on occassion, but they are few and far between. Most conflicts are now handled on the spot with little or no tears. Lying is the biggest battle we are now facing. Trying to teach them to distinguish between truth and a lie and bridging the language barrier to explain it is tricky. We are also battling a little meanness about receiving kisses and I love yous from siblings. They, especially El, will wipe them off and then say, "Ni I love you." This, of course, hurts their sibling's feelings. We've explained that this isn't kind and have about got this habit finished off also.
7. Love: L comes and tells me, "Vitaly loves Mamka," about a thousand times per day and nearly chokes me with his hugs. El has not offered these words on his own yet, but is very clingy and loving in his own way. As I mentioned above, we feel like we've loved them forever, but they are still adjusting to being secure in love. About a week ago, L was having an extremely bad morning. After a while, D and I picked him up and hugged him between us and kept saying, "Mama u Papa loves L". All of the other kids were at the table eating breakfast. All of a sudden, we noticed El crying. He was so upset. We had to put L down and put El in between us and tell him the same thing over and over to calm him down. The insecurity in our love really shocked me because they usually seem so secure. I realized then that this was a long process.
We have contact with their grandmother in Russia. We wrote to her, and to our surprise, she wrote back. We responded and I thought it would be nice to include something from the boys. Therefore, I asked them to color a picture for her and write their name on it. El looked scared and I realized that maybe he thought he was going back. I told him, "No. Stasik stoy Mama u Papa dom forever." A little later, I heard L talking to himself saying that Stas was staying and he was teary-eyed. I then had to tell him that he was staying with us forever too. Hopefully security will come with time.
All in all, I am totally amazed with their progress. They are absolutely amazing little guys. I feel so blessed that God chose me to be their mother. |
| posted by 6blessings @ 11:53 AM |
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| Thursday, November 16, 2006 |
| What's in My Purse? |
I've been tagged by Jessy to detail the contents of my purse. I do own a purse, but I hate carrying one. If I need to go somewhere, I usually just grab my billfold. Therefore, this could be an interesting list. Here it goes.
Inside my purse:
a pink comb
3 opened packages of Trident
Dum Dum sucker
CPR Face Shield
Wendy's Frosty Halloween coupon books for every child
Restaurant gift card to give to the sweet lady that watches my other four while I take L and El to their dentist appointments every week.
Target gift cards that we received for the boys at their shower
2 Energizer batteries
1/2 roll of Rolaids
1 empty purse-sized lotion bottle
1 Almond Glaze Lip Gloss- all but completely empty
1-1/2 tubes of Raisinberry Lipstick
1/2 roll of Tums EX
1/2 of another purse-sized lotion
Coupon for $5 off a $50 grocery purchase at our new Super Target
Poison Control Hotline Number sticker
McD's coupon for a free drink
Business card for the boys' dentist
2 pens
my billfold with $15 and some change, numerous doctor's cards, coupons, and receipts
There seems to be a common thread- coupons/gift cards, business/doctor cards, empty makeup containers.
If they want to participate, I will tag: Kay, Debbie, and Melissa. |
| posted by 6blessings @ 8:07 PM |
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| Wednesday, November 15, 2006 |
| Write Your Name |
In school, we have been focusing on three things every day with the boys.
1. Colors.
2. Shapes.
3. Writing their names, which they call "Write Your Name" time.
We do these over and over and over. They get stamps on their hands, stickers on their pages, and yummy treats for success.
Today we hit a first and I just have to brag about it. Today, I handed them both a blank piece of paper and told them to write their names. To my amazement, they both came back with their names written completely correctly in capital letters. I about fell over. After over three months of intensive daily practice, we have arrived!!! |
| posted by 6blessings @ 10:35 AM |
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| Monday, November 13, 2006 |
| "You Get a Line, I'll Get a Pole" |
 Well, obviously, we went fishing. We were invited by my boss to his house which borders a pond. The kids had a blast. I hadn't fished in ages, neither had the kids. As far as I know, El and L had never fished. They were amazed at the process.
E and H caught the biggest two fish, pretty good sized for their kind. Z and her teammate, my boss' daughter, caught the most, 8 fish. The boys just had fun learning how to cast the line and watching for the bobber to go under. Everyone caught at least two or three fish.
It was a perfect day, mid 50s, little or no breeze, lots of sunshine. It was an absolutely wonderful way to spend a Saturday afternoon. |
| posted by 6blessings @ 11:42 AM |
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| Thursday, November 09, 2006 |
| National Adoption Awareness Month/Radio Broadcasts |
As many of you are aware, November is National Adoption Awareness Month. A guy from my church and I started an adoption/foster care ministry a few months ago. It is called Hope Ministry. Our goal is to promote awareness of the need for adoption and good foster care families. We are heavily placing an emphasis on adoption this month.
Our church has been incredibly supportive. Every Sunday in November, we are being given service time to promote this cause. Last week, my husband made a video that played. It was set to the "Orphans of God" song by Avalon. It included statistics for each continent, amongst other statistics like the Russian orphan prostitution and suicide rates. At the end, it showed referral pics of kids who had been adopted in our church and then pics of them with their forever families. It was so powerful. We have had several phone calls wanting to know more about adoption and one family has decided to foster.
For the next few weeks, personal interviews with families who have adopted will be played on the screen. In addition, on the 19th, we are having our first adoptive child dedication day. Just like one would dedicate a baby, we are dedicating adopted children who have been added to our families.
We are also having an Adoption Symposium this Sunday. We've invited all of the local area churches to come join us. We have speakers coming to speak about foster care, mentoring, domestic adoption, and international adoption. Our keynote speaker has fostered for 14 years and has adopted 6 of those children.
Anyway, as I was looking for more adoption information and resources to add to our pile, I came across some radio broadcasts that will be aired next week and thought everyone might be interested. There are two different sets of broadcasts, but they do have some of the same guest speakers. You can go to the sites and find out what radio station near you will carry these broadcasts. If you click on their broadcast schedules, you can get more information about the speakers and their topic.
http://www.voiceoftheorphan.org/display.asp?page=Broadcast
If you think about it, please pray for Hope Ministry that it will touch many lives. It is already much larger than I ever dreamed and is moving so quickly and growing so much that I can hardly keep up. God's hand is truly in it and we just need His guidance and help so much. Thanks. |
| posted by 6blessings @ 5:41 AM |
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| Wednesday, November 08, 2006 |
| There's No Place Like Home |
Yesterday, the boys were drawing. El loves to draw and is pretty good at it for his age and background. He had been gone for a while and then came in and presented the picture below to me. I asked him what it was. He said, "Etta Stasik's house." He went on to explain that it was his home. The person on the right is him and the creature on the left is a spider. (They are into Spiderman. Their favorite song is "The Itsy Bitsy Spider".) The thing that sticks out from the right side of the house is the carport where Mamka's van and Papka's truck go.
Shortly after oohing and ahhing at El's picture, L came in with one of his own. He said, "Etta for Mamka. It's Vitaly's home." The word home rang in my ears. They have again taken ownership for the first time. Up until yesterday, they always called it Mama and Papa's doma. Yesterday, it was THEIR home.
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| posted by 6blessings @ 6:13 AM |
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| Monday, November 06, 2006 |
| The Other Family Sport |
As many of you know, our family is made up of small people. We are short and small, except for the two older members of the family who are remaining short, but not so small in their older age. Anyway, when choosing sports to fit our family, we don't go out for basketball or other sports which usually involve taller people. We stick with sports that are geared toward our stature. As mentioned several times previously, the girls have all taken to gymnastics. They are naturally flexible and have the small frames to flip upside down. However, the boys of the family follow their dad's family tradition of wrestling, another sport for small people. One of D's claims to fame is that he once took down a guy who wrestled in the last Olympics for the United States. His dad's whole side of the family were wrestlers. So, the tradition continues in our home. I can't say as I took to the sport very well at first. The stands are filled with crazy lunatic parents demanding their child put the other child in tortuous positions and hold them there. In the beginning I didn't see the sport in it at all. J wrestled for the first time last year and I was appalled at my first tournament and just wanted to release my "baby" from the grips of the very aggressive child that was twisting him in knots. After going to more and understanding it better, I am beginning to see the point behind it all, somewhat. Anyway, J really enjoys it. It brings out his "manliness" and it is a family thing that he and his dad do together. D coaches J, just like I coach the girls. Last year was J's first year and he took a beating several times. He always came up grinning and smiling. He is such a laid back child and nothing bothers him too much. For this reason, he didn't seem very aggressive at first. Last Saturday was his first competition of the season. D had told me that he had gotten better, but I didn't know if it was really true until Saturday. His personality is not one to aggressively pursue anything. Sure enough, he pinned his first two competitors on Saturday in less than 10 seconds. He was so excited. The second child actually growled at him afterwards, so frustrated that it was already over. Of course, the coach got onto him. D had entered J in two different age divisions. He only had five competitors in the second division(8 and under, J is 6) and he ended up taking second place in that one and winning the medal on his neck in the picture. He had fourteen in the first division(6 and under) and ended up fifth. He did so well and had such a great time. I guess I better get used to the sport, like it or not. I think my future contains a lot more tournaments. L told his dad last night that he wanted to wrestle and get what J had around his neck. The lowest weight class in wrestling is 37 pounds. The boys only have to gain about 10 more pounds. :-)  Wrestling Champ
 Future Wrestlers (if we could just fit into our singlets) |
| posted by 6blessings @ 12:05 PM |
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| Friday, November 03, 2006 |
| First Gymnastics Meet |
I had posted that last weekend was the first gymnastics meet of the year. It was good and long. I figured out that I worked about 21 hours in a 30 hour period over the weekend. I was exhausted, but I truly loved it. Star Gymnastics had several top five placers and made a good first-showing. All three of my daughters are gymnasts, but H and E were still out with injuries so only Z competed this past weekend.
On Friday afternoon before the first session of the meet, D brought Z and I 3 roses a piece. Now for some of you, this is no big deal, but for us it is huge. It was so sweet. He said it was for good luck at the first meet of the year. It worked. Little Z did great! She got her highest vault score she has ever received, connected her full bar routine, and even received a special award on floor. She placed in every event, taking 3rd on floor and 4th all around. The theme of the meet was "The Zoo Review". It is put on by the judges. Each judge had one stuffed animal to give out at each session. Z won a bear on floor from our highest judge in the state, our state judging director, for being the first child to do a certain skill correctly.
Z is a very special child. She is a very hard worker, training 20 hours per week at her gymnastics. She loves to go. Her favorite thing is conditioning. Most kids run from it, she loves it. At school, she is also very smart. She makes all As and always completes her work to the best of her ability. She likes to read. Around the house, she is known as the peacemaker. She is the one who won't fight over something. She realizes it isn't worth it and just gives in. She is super tiny for her age, weighing in at about 43 pounds at almost 9 years old. She can still wear toddler shorts and is just into a size 6/6x in pants with adjustable waists, belts, or elastic. She loves to fix hair. From the time she was 3 or 4, she could pull her hair into a neat ponytail. She is all about style and wants a hairstyle book for Christmas. She is constantly coming up with some type of new hairdo, and it always looks good. She is a blessing to us, as are all of our children. |
| posted by 6blessings @ 6:28 AM |
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| Thursday, November 02, 2006 |
| Three Beautiful Words |
| This morning we had another first. Both boys are very loving, almost extreme at times. They will squeeze tight and not let go. They love to stroke my face and hair over and over, sometimes roughly. Until now, L would stroke my face and keep repeating, "Vitaly's Mamka." Today, he climbed up on me, stroked my face, looked me straight in the eye and said, "I love you." He then followed with, "Ya love Mamka." This is the first time that either of the boys has said this on his own and not just repeated it after me. Usually I am the first to say it, and then they follow. L usually follows goofily with, "I love you ky love you." This is his own silliness and fascination he has with rhyming. However, today was all serious. I can't tell you what that means to me. It is the greatest!! What a way to start a day! Let's hope the rest of today follows suit! |
| posted by 6blessings @ 7:10 AM |
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