MERRY CHRISTMAS 2010

It amazes me that Christmas is already over! The past week was just a blurr for me. I actually collapsed into bed at 10pm Christmas Eve (the earliest I've ever been to bed on Christmas Eve) and announced to Wayne that I never felt this exhausted with our newborns! Of course I must have been but that was at least a decade and a half ago. I'm a bit older now with a larger family and all the added work of the Christmas season has really worn me out. Everything was accomplished on time though. We enjoyed a nice Christmas Eve day with my parents and my precious son and daughter-in-law. They arrived with a very large bundle of silver boxes all tied together with ribbon which turned out to be a gift for ME from all my big kids. I had no idea what it could be, but each box contained a ton of fluffy new bath towels. It was a great idea because we were in desperate need of towels around here. With 9 people showering all the time towels are a precious resource and now we have a beautiful abundance. After our time together we all packed up and headed to the Flach Family Christmas Eve celebration. This includes dinner with Wayne's whole family, his mom reading the Christmas story, prayer, and gifts. It was a wonderful time, but Wayne and I were fried by the end because Slava was over-stimulated and over-tired by the end of it all. His behaviour is improving at home, but new places are whole new worlds to explore for him and he does not sit still for a moment. Therefore, we do not take him to very many new places yet. But Christmas Eve was an exception and we did enjoy our time with our family.

Gram & Pop Flach gave Slava a piano for Christmas. Once he was in bed Papa put it together and set it by the Christmas tree. When Slava got up (and he was the 1st one up) he found that piano and it kept him busy all morning! He loved it and kept saying, "Slava's music-ah". I was able to get my turkey into the oven, enjoy my coffee, and wait for all the other kids to stagger into the living room all while Slava played his little piano.

We enjoyed opening gifts as a family and then around 11am my parents came. Slava received another favorite gift - a little red tricycle. Though he does not peddle it he does ride the thing all over the house. That night he even rode it into his bedroom and parked it next to his bed so it could go "spot" too! Grandmas are priceless!

Each day Slava does make baby-steps of progress in his behaviour. He is bonding with and attaching to us. Mostly he presents as a 2 year old going through the "terrible-twos" only much smarter then a 2 year old. When we have him engaged in playing with us he's great, but left to wander and he's into everything. We make sure one of us is with him at all times and all the doors to all the rooms are locked or gated off. Today while playing a toy bowling game he accidentally dropped the ball on Jordan's head. Jordan took it a little too hard and started crying. While I was trying to comfort him, Slava came over and said, "Jordan, Slava sorry." He kept repeating it, genuinely meaning it though Jordan wasn't too accepting of his apology. Jordan seems to be under some stress with the whole adjustment phase; he could really use some prayer. The other day he'd had it with Slava and stomped off declaring, "I hate kids!"

We've been home a whole month now and thankfully the past 2 weeks have been much better than the first 2. We are confident that God will continue this good work. It still is very challenging though. Today I announced to Sierra that I wished January was over. She pointed out that January had not yet started. I guess I'm just dreading starting up school and juggling Slava. And on Jan 11th Jordan has surgery. I posted before that we won't know until Dr. Carl gets in there if it'll be a routine adjustment which is one over-night or an actual rod replacement which would lead to several nights in the hospital. Usually I stay the night with Jordy, and if it turns out to be just one night we can make due. But we must have a plan in place incase it's more then that. I've been praying about it and we are thinking that if it's more then one night then Wayne will spend the nights in the hospital so I can be home with Slava in the morning when he gets up (at 6am) and then once someone is at the house I will go to the hospital so Wayne can go to work. I'm really hoping the surgery will be just an adjustment. It's just too soon for all that disruption for Slava.

The Lord reminded me today that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13). It is not me for I am not able to do this task set before me, it is Christ in me. I give Him all the glory.

Wow, this has been quite the long post. I guess I better post more often instead throwing it all at you at once. Thank you for faithfully following this blog and for your prayers, we do still need them. Have a blessed New Year and we'll keep you posted on our crazy life as we go throughout it.

Rocky-Rocky

This is not a good picture, but this is Jordan (left) & Slava (right) doing Rocky-Rocky.

I tried uploading a video of them, but it wouldn't post, sorry.

Sorry for not posting for a few days. With all the Christmas busy-ness, Slava, and the kids' colds, I've not had the energy to post at night. Slava was not feeling well for a few days with a fever and chills, I figured maybe it was from his shots. It actually helped with the bonding process since he wanted to be cuddled and cared for. Friday night I actually got out for a few hours and took Sierra, Andrii, and Anna to see the new Narnia movie with the Andersons. Slava stayed home with Papa and Jordan. He cried when I left, and I felt so bad...I missed him too which is a good sign that we're all getting attached to each other! Saturday night was special for me because my son and daughter-in-law came for dinner. It's been quite a while since we've had a nice family dinner with all our kids home at the same time. Slava was very tired and actually asked to go spot at 7pm, so we had a couple hours of nice quiet visiting with Wayne Jr. and Kerri.

Slava's English vocabulary continues to grow. He now says: eggs, cheese, carrots, and cookie. He also knows "behave", church, stop, sorry, and school-room. These are all words that he understands and uses correctly. He also repeats everything you ask him to say! And now when I sing Itsy Bitsy Spider, he actually sings it with me...not that he pronounces all the words correctly but it's pretty impressive if you ask me.

Yesterday I started with a cold, so last night I went to bed right after Slava because I knew 6am would come all to soon. The rest was good and today with the kids' help we are managing. Slava continues to make baby steps of improvement each day. We are very thankful that he is bonding with and attaching to us. We pray that He who began this good work in Slava will continue it. I keep reminding myself that just as God placed the stars in the sky exactly where He wanted them, and He knows them by name, He also placed Andrii, Anna, Jordan...and now Slava, in our home exactly where He wants them. He will also give us the grace, strength, and peace to continue in this good work.

"Ko-pot-ee" & "Vacuum"

Slava & his vacuum

Tub Time!

We are rejoicing over the progress Slava is making. Though it's in baby-steps, he does seem to be settling in and bonding with us. He is currently obsessed with taking baths and our vacuum cleaner! Since our first day home he asks to take a "ko-pot-ee" like 100x a day! Of course we limit it to 2x a day mainly because we're desperately trying to keep him busy. We figure that if it was summer-time, he'd be in the pool all day long. Today while I was out with him he asked to take a bath while we were at the doctor's office and at Walmart. Needless to say, he took one as soon as we got home. He is also relentless with our vacuum cleaner. He asks for it (yes, he now says "vacuum") first thing in the morning...at 6am! I just tell him that the vacuum is "spot" (sleep), and so are all the other kids. It wouldn't be so bad if he just vacuumed the floors, but he's really more interested in plugging it in and unplugging it 100x and turning it on and off 100x by pushing the button. I thought I had another brilliant idea by buying him a kid's Dirt Devil battery operated vacuum. He likes to play with that now too, but since it doesn't plug into the wall it's just not as exciting to him. Maybe for Christmas I'll get him a power strip and some lead cords...just kidding! But he'd really rather play with something like that than toys.

Today I took him to see the doctor for his first check up here. He did very well considering he had 3 shots! He only weighs 28 pounds, so the doc wants to see him again in a month to make sure he starts gaining weight. I'm sure he will because he asks to eat constantly. He does not have scoliosis, but of course we will need to see the eye specialist. After his shots he kept holding his arm and saying "boolah" which is his term for boo boo. I kept saying, "I know, I'm sorry." Eventually when he held his arm saying "boolah" he'd also say "Mama, sorry".

He loves riding in the car and behaves rather well when we're out. So today I took a leap and brought him to Walmart! There were some things I needed to get especially this time of year. And he was very good...so good that I added another store to the outing before we headed home. I am so thankful that he loves to go "paka" in Mama's machine-a!

We do still have some issues at home though. He just can't help himself to whacking the dog, or pulling the cat's tail whenever they're in his reach. The dog is about fed up and has started showing her teeth whenever he raises his hand. Slava acts scared for about a second, then laughs and reaches for the dog again. Our most effective discipline is time out on the kitchen stool in the middle of the kitchen floor. This is a spot where Slava can be found quite often during the day. We must also lock all the doors heading down our hallway (the girls rooms, the bathroom, and the laundry room. We have skewers tucked in the wood trim of each door so that we can easily pop the door open when one of us needs to access a room. Slava loves to flush the toilet, the laundry room contains many interesting things including the vacuum, and the girls' rooms are full of trouble that he can get into. We also gate off the end of the hall which leads to the rest of the house. Slava is more like a 2 year old (going through the terrible 2 phase) except he's pretty savvy for a 5yr old in a tiny little body. But I must say for all his naughtiness, our love for him grows each day. And he seems to be more comfortable and trusting with us too.

Yesterday I mailed out our Registration Form for Slava and the Annual Adoption Reports on the other 3 kids. Within 30 days of arriving home with your child you must register them with the Consulate General of Ukraine in NYC. This is just a form with his picture on it which I filled out and sent along with his Ukrainian passport and a copy of the Adoption Decree in the Ukrainian language. From this point on every year until he is 18yrs old, I will have to complete an annual report of his progress and send it to the Consulate as well. And since it will be 4 years ago in January that we brought Andrii, Anna, and Jordan home, I completed their annual reports and sent them as well. I'm thrilled all that paperwork is completed, but then again I just remembered that I still need to do my Quarterly Reports for homeschooling (1st & 2nd quarters)!!!!! So maybe I won't be sending out Christmas cards this year afterall.

Thank you for taking the time to read all this as I babble on about life with Slava. I'm not sure if anyone is still reading this blog, but at least it's theraputic for me to journal this special time in our lives. If you do read it, please leave me a comment because I'd love to hear from you. Good night for now, and may the Lord bless you and keep you.

Slava Went to Church!

It was the first time in 8 weeks that I'd been to church which seems so strange to me. I thought I'd have my emotions under control since I'm not one to cry, however since Ukraine I find my emotions creeping up on me often. I was fine until the worship team began "O Holy Night" that song gets me every time since we were in Ukraine 4 years ago. We sang that song in church on Christmas Eve when my kids were all back home without us. Now whenever I hear it the tears come. Then we did the song "How Great is Our God" and that was it, I was done. Everyone loved meeting Slava and thought he was another Jordan. Since he loves music he did very well during worship, then I took him into the nursery and stayed with him there. He did very well I think because it was a small confined room and he prob felt save. Our house is pretty big with wide open spaces which he is not used to. Also, my pastor's daughter, Laura, was in there and she's been a missionary to Ukraine for over 15 years. She chatted with Slava and he liked talking with her. And he was fine around the little children. I didn't start him in Sunday School yet, I figured the nursery was a good place to start with him until he settles in. There are mostly toddlers in there right now anyway.

Slava's latest obsession is the vacuum cleaner. He can now say "vacuum" and wants to use it all the time. He seems more interested in things that are not toys then in real toys. My mom has an old school dust buster and she just brought it for him to have for a while. At first I though it was a brilliant idea, however now he's got to learn how to wait while it charges. He lets it run so long that it dies out and he gets upset and doesn't understand the wait. It's turning out to be more of a headache than a brilliant idea.

Over all we are seeing mild improvement as he settles in. As I've been reading up on attachment and bonding I can tell he is not suffering from attachment disorder issues, just typical adoption adjustment issues. We are very thankful. We're confident that as the days, weeks, and months wear on that he will bond, adjust, and settle in as well as the other kids have. Andrii (now almost 14), Anna (11), and Jordan (7) all have adjusted amazingly well. It seems as if they've always been part of our family and they've only been here 4 years as of January! When we arrived home with them our house was even under construction as we'd been in the middle of putting an addition on our house prior to going to Ukraine. I seem to have forgotten how difficult it really was in those early days! So this gives us hope that "this too shall pass" and our little guy will be going with the flow in time.

Wednesday Slava will see our pediatrician. I was going to wait until after the holidays since he'd had a physical and blood work prior to coming home. But along with that naughty "peeskah" word he's been indicating that his "Peeskah boo-lah" which means boo boo. I'm not sure what's going on, so we'll see the doc on Wed.

That's it for now. My big kids are baking Christmas cookies and Slava is busy vacuuming. This is shaping up to be a pretty good day!

Slava's Starting to Settle In

Slava playing with his new cube. It was supposed to be a Christmas gift, but we were desperate for something new for him to do.

Yesterday and today have been the best 2 days so far with our Slava. I dusted off a few books from my shelf on attachment and bonding issues. Thankfully he's actually not exhibiting major signs of attachment disorder. But it was good to be reminded of some important aspects of encouraging bonding and attachment. Mainly touch/caresses and making the child feel special. Children in healthy home environments naturally get this as infants and babies from their mother and it contributes to the healthy development of the child in all other areas. But sadly, children who are abandoned as infants, as Slava was, don't get that nurturing love that comes from a mother. Reflecting back on Jordan's early days with us, he was showered with special attention especially since at 3yrs he was very babyish. Also he thrived on caresses, in fact, when we read he still requests Anna to rub his feet! I'd remembered the importance of touch and I've been mindful to lovingly touch and caress him at every opportunity. Initially he wasn't too thrilled, but now he's beginning to come to me for hugs. We had a great experience with a game he actually started last night. He was acting like he was going away and waved "paka" so I acted all sad. After he took a few steps away, he turned, raised his hands in the air (as if to say I'm back) and then I acted all excited and happy. He laughed hysterically. We then continued this game for an hour! He'd wave goodbye and I'd say "paka, bye bye, dosvidanya, see ya later, good bye," he'd even come to me so I could kiss him on the cheek. Then he'd walk away, come back with raised hands and I'd declare "you're back" and get all excited! He loved it. And at one point he had us switch roles and I had to leave and he'd get excited when I jumped back into the room. It was sort of like the ultimate peek-a-boo game. Now he can say "I'm back" and "see ya later" (which actually sounds like see ya lame-o). We've had to play it several times today, but I can tell it's done wonders for bonding.



Slava has also added the words "coffee", "come", "soup" and "Ezra" to his vocabulary. The naughty word has been spoken a few times today, but he seems to be using it less. I just ignore it and distract him with an English word. Our Christmas tree is up and he's not really attacked it like I thought he would. I'm hoping that if he continues to do well we will actually bring him to church this Sunday.



This morning I was reading my Bible and he crawled up onto my lap. He kept pointing to the pages, so I started reading it out loud to him. I was in Ephesians 2, so I read it inserting his name: I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources, He will give Slava mighty inner strength through His Holy Spirit. And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your heart as you trust in Him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love. And may Slava have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high and how deep His love really is. May you (slava) experience the love of Christ....Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now glory be to God! By His mighty power at work within Slava, He is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare ask or hope....

When I finished he said, "Da" which means "yes"! I agree, Amen!



So thank you all for your continued prayers. As you can see, they are working. So please, keep them coming! We love you all! God's blessings to you!

God Is So Good To Me

Sunday morning while the rest of the family went to church Anna, Slava & I stayed home. We were visited by our dear friends EJ, Sue, & Carrie who came to bless us before they headed to church themselves. Susan brought her guitar and played some songs for Slava who was enthralled by them. She also brought her wooden nativity set and she and EJ did "Sunday School" with Slava by acting out the Christmas story with the pieces. They also blessed me by bringing Communion so we could share it together. I haven't been to church since mid October, so their whole visit tremendously blessed me. One of the best parts was that Carrie got to meet Slava in person finally. She has been a faithful prayer warrior for him, us, and the whole adoption process for many years now. Often she is up in the night praying for him which worked out great while we were in Ukraine. With the time difference when she was up in the night praying here, we were up in the day walking through the process there! We see Carrie as part of our adoption team and we're very blessed by her friendship and faithfulness. Thank you, Carrie!

Upon their leaving my Mom arrived to help me with Slava and birthday party preparations for Sierra's 14th birthday celebration. It was wonderful seeing family that we haven't seen in many weeks. My mother-in-law also blessed us with a meal to put in the fridge for today which was wonderful because I had to take Slava back to the dentist and I didn't get home until 5pm. He was still complaining about that tooth, so the dentist wanted to finish it today rather than wait. She had to give him a novocain block which made the entire left side of his face numb. But he still screamed so she then had to put him in a papoose in order to actually work on him. I felt so bad for the poor little thing. He slept all the way home in the car which was good because I needed to run into the store for a few things. Thankfully Anna was with me and could stay with the sleeping Slava in the car. When we got home I realized his mouth was full of blood because he'd bit his numb lip. He looked pretty pitiful. I'm so happy his tooth is fixed and now we won't need to go back to the dentist unil February.

Wayne brought our Christmas tree home from work. Typically we make a big family production out of it and all go together out to eat and then either cut it down or buy one already cut. This year, however, we're trying to keep things simple. Andrii helped Wayne set it up and put the star and lights on. Slava was in the mix wanting the "lampas" lights. I had the kids wait until I put him to bed so we could finish putting the decorations on. So now the tree is up and decorated, our nativity is set up, and some other decorations are up too. Maybe, just maybe I'm feeling like I'm in the same month as everybody else. Slava slept until 6:30am so I felt pretty well rested today. And here it is almost 11pm! I'd better get to bed! Good night for now. And please continue praying. Slava is still a busy bundle of energy. Sometimes he listens, but most of the time he doesn't. Training him consumes all of my time and energy. But God is good and Slava is making tiny baby steps of progress.

Home One Week

It's hard to believe that we've been home for 1 week. Thankfully we are seeing some mild improvement in Slava's behavior. We contribute that to answered prayer. Many people are praying for us and for Slava and when he finally falls to sleep at night we pray over him. Our God is faithful. I'd like to share yet another miracle demonstrating God's mercy toward us in this process. The last day we were in Ukraine, Wednesday, we had to go to the American Embassy to finish the paperwork process and have Slava's visa printed into his passport. When we arrived there was another family also waiting for the same thing. They adopted 2 girls, sisters ages 13 & 14. Their process was quite difficult and had been in Ukraine for 8 weeks. We shared stories and were exicted to learn that they were Christians and this adoption brought their family to a total of 8 kids also. They would also be flying home the next day on the same flight from Kiev to Frankfort, so when we left the Embassy with our visa we told them we'd see them at 5am at the airport. Sadly we did not see them and did not know why until I read their blog yesterday. Apparently while they were waiting there was some kind of world-wide computer problem which prevented the Embassy from printing their visas...this must have happened just after we left the Embassy with our visa! The next day being Thanksgiving the Embassy was closed and Friday was the last Friday of the month and the Embassy is always closed on the last Friday of the month. Thankfully someone was working at the Embassy anyway and this family was able to finally pick up their girls' visas and fly home on Saturday. I don't understand why this family had to endure 3 more days after already being

there for 8 weeks. They handled the difficult situation with much grace and left the country with their faith still strong. I am amazed yet again how God moved mightily on our behalf. We left the embassy just before the computer system went down or we would have had to wait 3 more days also. Who would have thought something like that would have happened? But our all knowing God knew and for some reason guided us through so we could come home for Thanksgiving. Thank you, Lord!

Slava has added another word to his English vocabulary: Gram-Ma! This thrills my mom of course. Tomorrow we will have a family birthday party for Sierra which will include some extended family who have not yet met Slava. We've been laying low, except for trips to the dentist, so not many people have met him yet. I will stay home from church with him again tomorrow partly because we don't think he's quite ready for it yet and partly because we don't want to over-stimulate him since the birthday party will be enough.

Well, it's past my bed time now at 9:20pm! I'm really wanting to go curl up with my new book. It's a biography on Aimee Semple McPhearson a turn-of-the century pentecostal revivalist...very interesting! Thank you for your interest in our story and for your continued prayers. Good night!

Back To The Dentist With Slava

Poor little Slava was holding the side of his face this morning which indicated he's still having pain in that tooth. I called the dentist and she had me bring him in at 1pm. We actually had a good, albeit busy, morning with him. My heart broke for him at the dentist though. He cooperated with the x-ray which revealed a very deep cavity right down to the root. He also had some swelling already starting indicating an infection in it. He submitted to the novocain and when he was good and numb the dentist began to drill out the decay. It was packed with food and she tried to pick it out, but that part didn't go so well. He cried so hard and I felt so bad for him. She packed it with a very tiny piece of medicated cotton and put a temporary filling in it. We also got a prescription for an antibiotic to take care of the infection. If we have trouble with it she will finish with a permanent filling on Mon/Tues. But if he does well and the temp filling holds, then we won't go back until the 14th. He slept on the way home from the dentist which was good because Anna watched him in the car while I ran in to the pharmacy for the meds.

He's been very good since we've been home. I'm wondering if the pain from his teeth might have been contributing to some of his poor behavior. Also it seems that in some way the cavity issue may be helping with the bonding process. He wants me and asks for me all the time. He's always saying "peeshly" which I think means "come with me" because he wants me to go with him to some part of the house, usually my bedroom where he likes to sit on my bed and listen to music...and rocky-rocky. Rocky-rocky is the term we fondly use to refer to the rhythmic rocking back and forth that orphanage kids learn to comfort themselves. Last night we had Jordan, Slava, and even Anna in there doing rocky-rocky! Sierra even attempted it this morning! When we first adopted Jordan his rocking sort of disturbed me. Now it's just a part of who he is. He can be found at certain times of the day, in my room rocking to Christian music. And now Slava is right there too. I've come to appreciate and understand rocky-rocky.

So, it seems we are yet again experiencing answer to prayer. But please don't let up on those prayers. We, and especially Slava, still need all the help we can get. God is faithful and we cannot do this without Him.

A Better Day

This morning the pitter patter of Slava's little feet heading into my room didn't happen until 5:58am. Close enough to 6am for me. We actually had a very good morning. He didn't need a single spanking, just a couple of warnings. The battle didn't begun until Mama declared it nap time. We only had an hour until we had to leave for the dentist and most of it was wasted just trying to get him to settle down and be still. He is sooooo smart. He cried to go to the bathroom, so I brought him. He sat for 30 seconds only to declare that he didn't need to go. Then I carried him back to bed and practically sat on top of him to get him to lay still. Then he proclaimed he had to go to the bathroom again. Finally I announced to him "Paka, Mama's machine-a" which means basically bye-bye in Mama's car. This thrilled him and he joyfully got dressed to go. We were 5 minutes down the road when he declared he had to go potty. I did not want to risk a disaster, so I stopped at Dunkin Donuts and took him. He did not go. All the way to the dentist he was insisting he needed to poop. We told him oh well, no toilet. He did not poop at the dentist office either. After Jordan's check up the dentist had me put Slava on my lap in the chair so she could look into his mouth. He was very compliant. The good news is all those black spots I thought were cavities are actually stains. Slava sat still long enough for her to remove some of the stains from his front teeth. The bad news is he has one really bad cavity in one if his bottom back teeth. The dentist couldn't believe he hasn't been complaining of pain because he jumped when she touched that tooth. I find that children who have lived in orphanages tend to have a very high pain tolerance. However, at dinner time he started crying, holding his check on that side, and saying something which we new meant it hurt. I gave him some tylenol and will call the dentist in the morning to see what she wants to do about it.

Dinner time was crazy because he really wanted me (a good sign of bonding), but I didn't want him in the kitchen while I was cooking. He's way too fast and is an accident waiting to happen in the kitchen. Children in the orphanage have their food brought to them in their little room, they never see food prepared or even see the kitchen. He was pretty whiny and needed a spanking for saying the naughty word a few times. He also used the bad word in the car on the way to the dentist. I believe he knew I couldn't do anything about it while I was driving. Like I said, smart kid. Around 7:30 he was chilling out in the laundry basket (he loves to be pulled around in it) and looking pretty sleepy. I put him to bed and he did not put up much of a fuss.

These are the words he knows so far: bye-bye, outside, eat, yogurt, poop, good, and good boy. I sneezed today and he said, "God bless you" in Ukrainian. And with every morsel of food we give him he says "Spa-see-bah" which means thank you. I've been saying "your welcome" instead of "pla-jow-stah". He eats constantly, always asking for kasha & banana. So far he's liked everything I've fed him except pbj. This pleases Anna & Andrii because they do not like it either. He also asks several times a day for a "ko-pot-ee" bath. We try to save bath time for after dinner to pass the time until bed. But with all the rain yesterday he actually took 2 baths, one in the morning and one in the evening. We had to do something to occupy him. It seems like by 10am we've done everything there is to do for constructive play. Yesterday I even brought home some very large lego type blocks in a dump truck. He likes to dump out blocks and then put them in the laundry basket or some kind of container. I try to have the kids take him outside a couple times each day so I can get some things done inside (like Christmas shopping online!).

I'm hoping that Slava will have another good day tomorrow, or at least a good part of the day. He's so much fun and very cute...when he's being good! He's such a tiny peanut too. He's wearing a size 2T-3T. We had fun today pulling out some of Jordan's "baby" clothes. Now Slava has a closet full of clothes to wear!

Thank you for your continued prayers. I was really rejoicing today when we didn't have to chase him as much or correct him as much the first half of the day. It appears he's settling in and God is answering our prayers. We appreciate those of you who will continue to pray for us all as we continue through this process. It's almost 9pm, time for bed! Good Night & God Bless!

An Exhausting Day

Today Mr. Slava was up at 5am and would not go back to sleep. It's a good thing I collapsed into bed at 9pm last night so at least I felt I'd had a good sleep. The day started off pretty well and Jordan and I headed out just after 9am for his dr. appt. He is scheduled for his next surgery mid-January. While I was out I hit up Walmart & the grocery store for much needed supplies. I was so exhausted I felt like I was dragging myself (and Jordy) thru the stores. Melissa had the day off from work so she and the other kids were on Slava duty. My mom came around 1pm to put him in for a nap. She has a good connection with him and got him to sleep for the 2nd day in a row. I got home while he was sleeping and left the groceries to the kids and dropped onto the couch for a 30 minute rest. Grandma had brought him a toy phone that plays music and this kept him occupied for quite a while after he woke up. But then he started in...slamming the phone, dog food went flying and so did his naughty word! The 2 days of ignoring him when he said it only made him say it more! Today I reverted back to soap in his mouth but that led to much spitting as he tried to get it out of his mouth. So I went back to the language he's been responding to best...spanking. I hate doing it and I always follow it up with hugs and love which he seems to receive, but it's the only thing that seems to work. The whole thing is so draining. There are good little moments that do occur during the day. Slava can say "outside" and "eat" and unfortunately "spank". Now I use it as a warning. I can ask him if he wants one and he tells me, "ne-yet, ne-nada" which basically means "no, I don't need one." He is smart and understands. He does a lot of testing of his boundaries therefore we must be consistant. He is very cute and lets me tickle him and play the "slava-lala" game. So we do appear to be bonding which is a good sign.

I do remember being very tired with Jordan but for different reasons. He was busy, but not really naughty. He did however suck his fingers so loudly all night long that it was worse than sleeping in the same room with a snoring husband. So I know that this too shall pass. Please keep praying for us. Today while we were out Jordan actually announced that he missed Slava. I figure that's a pretty good sign, at least he's not asking to send him back! Along with all the work there is much love growing in our hearts for him. And we know that love covers a multitude of sin. God is love.

Well look at the time, it's 9:17pm...past my bedtime! Good Night for now!