Meet Wayne Jr. and more...

As promised in my last post I am going to feature one of each of our kids in the next several posts. Slava seems to be getting all the attention, but he's not an only child! Our parenting adventure began with Wayne Jr. 21 years ago. I snapped this picture of him when he dropped by Friday night to do some measuring for some replacement windows we are in need of. Our house is as old as he is since we built it and moved in just months before his birth. He has grown into a fine young man of God. He's been married for 7 months now to our precious daughter-in-law, Kerri. He is just 2 courses (6 credits) away from completing his Associates degree in Religion from Liberty University. He's considering continuing with Liberty for a Bachelor's in Business. He's working full time in the family business and doing his courses online part-time while Kerri is taking a full course load with Liberty for a degree in Christian counseling. They are both co-leaders for our church youth group. They have a love for the Lord, for each other, and want to serve Him together. We love them both so much!

Wayne Jr.

Anna

Here is Anna multi-tasking! She takes Slava for 30 minutes each morning right after our Bible lesson. His favorite activity during this time is a bath, so Anna scooted her big, cozy chair into the bathroom, put Slava in the tub, turned on some Casting Crowns music, and curled up to work on her grammar lesson!

Jordan & Mama

Taking some lessons from Anna, I decided to do some unconventional schooling too. Here Jordan and I are cuddled up in my bed with coffee and a phonics lesson!

Papa & Slava

Here Papa and Slava play ice hockey, literally! They were using my spatulas and ice cubes! Slava loved it, but the down side is it leaves lots of wet puddles on the floor...and under the couch!

Slava Season

Slava and his "new" new glasses. Yup, he broke the first pair. When I brought them in to have them fixed I did order a 2nd pair, but this time I selected different frames to accommodate bigger lenses. I'm hoping this will help Slava look through the lenses instead of under them or over them. It's sort of comical how he wanders through the house with his nose in the air while he looks under the lenses to see where he's going. Speaking of noses, I taught him how to "nose kiss" and now he loves to rub noses with me!
Here we're reading books before bed. I've always read to all the kids, but lately the only one getting read to is Slava. He loves to look at books and remembers the pictures and what's happening on each page. He's such a smart boy. He knows how to turn on the microwave and the washing machine too...not that we want him to know this! One thing he's not good at...obeying, especially the word "no"! Mr. Slava is still a lot of work. His English vocabulary grows daily and he's no longer using the bad word these days. We've been home exactly 2 months today. God is so faithful because some of the issues we dealt with those first few weeks are now just a bad memory. Every day he makes progress in all areas and we just love him tons.

Last night Wayne and I had to leave to go to a home school meeting. We are chapter leaders for Coxsackie Area Leah (Loving Education At Home). Slava didn't want me to leave. I had to promise to "come back". He was asleep when I got home, but when he saw me this morning he acted pleased to see me and said, "Ah, Mama. Good." It was nice to get out to the meeting even if we had to endure the frigid freeze to get there. I'm always encouraged by spending time with other home school moms.

I've noticed that Slava gets all the attention in my blog posts these days. I guess it's obvious that we're in the "Slava Season"! In future posts I plan to give updates on all the kids.

Learning Lessons

Anna sporting her new doo.

Aunt Bree giving Slava his new doo too.

We've had some very busy days, so I've not had a chance to update until now. Jordan is recovering nicely from surgery. I'm always amazed at his courage and perseverance. The next surgery will be in 6 months and the doctor said one rod will need to be replaced at that time. But Jordy's back in the swing of things and even went to archery on Saturday.

Slava continues to bond and attach to us. Last week he had his first hair cut (in America anyway). He did very well while Aunt Bree spiffed up his hair. Yesterday we braved the snow and freezing rain to visit the pediatrician again. Our doc wanted to see him again to make sure he is gaining weight. He only gained a few ounces which surprised me because he eats constantly. His new favorite is "chocolateka cereal" - chocolate cheerios. Other favs are: yogurt, cooked carrots, cucumbers, and spaghetti. He did grow 1/4 of an inch though. The doc was pleased that he didn't lose weight and wants to see him in 3 months. Slava was pleased that the "doctick" didn't give him a "boolah" (boo boo) - he remembered getting 3 shots last time!

Slava broke his eye glasses already...which isn't really that surprising to me. But it is frustrating. I'm considering ordering a 2nd pair, so when that happens (and with a busy body like Slava it will happen again) we'll have a spare. But, at $180 a pair I'm not too sure I want to do it. Glasses are not covered by our health insurance.

Our school days are longer than ever lately. With everyone taking a 30 minute turn playing with Slava school is stretching into the 4pm area...ouch. I'm finally starting to adjust to the new season we're in...the Slava season! This has caused me to reevaluate our priorities. Mostly our priorities have always been faith and family first. This is still the case, however I needed to remember that I'm not wonder woman (nor do I want to be) and the priorities help keep me in line. Bible is our top priority each morning. Studying the Word of God, guiding our kids to build their lives on the solid rock foundation of Jesus Christ, and establishing a biblical worldview are the most important "subjects" we cover in our home school. Our #1 goal for our kids: that they walk in a personal relationship with Jesus. But seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Matthew 6:33. Whatever academics we cover after that is enough. Trust me, we cover the 3 R's and then some...and meet the State Regs, but What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Matthew 16:26. When our kids become adults we want them to walk with God and not strive for the things of the world. Our other priority is family. And since Slava is family, we are all taking part in his transition into our family's life. And we are all making the transition with him! My friend, Lauri, reminded me the other day that I am a mom with young kids. With all the teenagers floating around, and with a married son, I forget that I have little ones still. Slava, though 5 years old, is really like a 2 year old (going thru the terrible two's) and Jordan, though 7 years old, is really like a 5 year old...when he's not acting like 35! Add the other kids at 13, 14, 18, & 20 all under our roof... the reason why I'm still in my pj's at 7pm comes into focus!

Slava's English vocabulary continues to grow daily. He says so much that I cannot begin to list it all. One new word is "again". He says it all the time. If I say, do you want milk? He'll say, "Milk, again!" However he's learned another word "cleaning" which he doesn't quite get the meaning of yet. If you hand him a towel he will wipe up a spill and say, "Slava cleaning." But he also loudly corrects us with it. For example, Curtis picked him up and twirled him around which he loved, but when Curtis set him back down Slava exclaimed (with hand motions), "Curtis, Stop Cleaning!" He just cracks us up. We are all growing in our love for this little guy.

The Lord Is Good To Us

It's been an exhausting couple days, but the Lord has been good to us. Tuesday morning Jordan had his 4th adjustment surgery since having growing rods placed in his back for his severe scoliosis a year and a half ago. Our surgeon prepared us that he will have to replace a rod whether it be this surgery or the next one 6 months from now. We've been really praying that Tuesday's surgery would just be an adjustment requiring one overnight in the hospital. One night is difficult enough, but adding Slava to the equation brought us to a whole new level of difficult. We know that the Lord knows exactly what we need and how much we can bare. He is faithful and the surgery was only an adjustment...thank you, Lord!

Jordy Wednesday morning ready to go home!

Jordan in recovery Tuesday morning after surgery.

Wayne & I traveled separately to the hospital Tuesday morning. Once Jordan was in recovery Wayne headed to work. Jordan was in his hospital room around 2pm and Papa returned after work so I could run home to spend some time with Slava and the other kids. Slava was happy to see me and asked where Jordan was. When I told him that Jordan was "spot" at the doctor with a big boolah, Slava said, "Again?" It was cute. What wasn't cute was the fact that it took me an hour to get him to go to sleep, then I took a shower, and headed back up to the hospital by 9:30pm. Missy rode along with me and rode back with Wayne so she could see Jordan for a bit. While I was gone Curtis and Beth visited Jordan and Wayne had the opportunity to sneak out to visit a friend of his who is hospitalized with cancer. Jordan mostly slept the day away so really it was kind of nice to just sit and read and not have to chase anyone. I was so tired that I crashed in the reclining chair in Jordan's room around 11pm only to dream that my alarm was going off and I couldn't manage to stop it. I woke up and realized it was Jordan's I.V thingy beeping. I was awake again at 4am to Jordan telling me he was hungry and ready to go home. Oh well, the joys of "sleeping" in the hospital. We were discharged at 10am and arrived home safely despite the snowstorm blanketing our area...thanks to the good Lord and 4 wheel drive!

We spent a cozy afternoon with our blankies and pillows in the living room. This was partly made possible because Slava was down for the count too with a possible ear infection. By bedtime he had a fever of 101. I felt bad for him, especially when he held is left ear and sadly said, "Slava, boolah, Mama car, doctor." Translated this means: Slava has a boo boo and wants to go in Mama's car to the doctor. Mama does not want to go to the doctor, Mama just got home from the hospital. But it's not about what Mama wants or doesn't want, it's about what Mama must do. I gave him some children's ibuprofin and we'll see what tomorrow brings. We will go to the doctor in Mama's car if necessary. All in all it was good for the bonding process because he wanted me to hold him and cuddle him...and so did Jordan...is this what it's like to have twins???

Thankfully my precious sister-in-law, Bree, delivered to our door a delicious meal for dinner. Oh what perfect timing. She is an excellent cook and my kids always declare her recipes as favorites, and tonight was no different. Andrii is already requesting Aunt Bree's burger pockets for his birthday dinner in April! Thank you so much, Bree. And thank you to all of you who have been praying for us. God is faithful. Through this season of Slava, this wilderness time, the Lord is showing me things and teaching me things. And I am thankful for I know the Lord refines us through the fire.

Die To Self...easier said than done.

Friday we "did school" until 3:30pm! Things take much longer with Slava in the mix, but we did have a good day. Wayne took Sierra, Andrii, Anna, and Jordan to the archery shop to get their bows set up for the archery program that begins on Saturday. This left me...alone...with Slava...for almost 3 hours. He was a good boy, and we had fun, but for those 3 hours the only thing I was able to accomplish was playing with Slava. He loves to play "boolah" where he pretends he has a belly ache and I'm the doctor. He takes deep breaths like I'm listening to his lungs, then I extract a series of play food from his belly, much to his delight. Then he says, "again!" and we must repeat the process. I even added playdough boolahs to mix things up a bit which he also loved. We ended the playtime with some bowling down the hallway and then finally it was bedtime. By the end of the evening I was struggling with thinking about all the things I needed to do but couldn't do with Slava needing my undivided attention. It's certainly much easier when the other kids are home. When I put him to bed (I always lay down with him until he falls asleep) instead of falling asleep within 10 minutes like he usually does, it took him an hour to fall asleep! This added to my frustration which was then multiplied when I realized that Saturday morning Wayne and all the kids would be out for another 3 hours for the archery program! This all equaled me getting nothing done...again. In my frustration came the tears, then I remembered to cry out to the Lord. The answer bounced back, almost like an echo, "Slava is all you need to do." Funny how the flesh gets in the way and clouds up the truth that you already know. My flesh, my selfishness, and probably some hormones too, so easily flare up and I forget what my priority is.

Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have don it unto me. Matthew 25:40 Sitting on the floor with Slava and playing with him for hours is ministering to him and when I minister to him I am ministering to Jesus.

Slava must have seen my tears because he sat up and looked at me. I told him to lay down. He held out his arms and said, "hug." He offered several hugs which I gratefully accepted. He is making much progress...maybe his Mommy will too.

We woke up to a winter wonderland. When Wayne left for archery with the kids Missy and I took Slava out to play. Missy had the day off of work which was a nice surprise. For over an hour we walked around in the snow, pulled Slava in the sled, and watched the dogs bounce around. I felt at peace knowing that I was doing exactly what the Lord had for me to do. Nothing else was more important. Plus I actually got some much needed exercise!
Missy hugs Jake our very old Husky. Missy has a gift with elderly people and animals...and Jake is an elderly-animal!

Slava, Missy, & an arthritic Jake.

Even after 2 hours Slava did not want to go inside (little does he know that Mama doesn't usually go outside) so we headed up the road for a walk. We stopped at our neighbor's who are also our very good friends. I went in and had coffee with my friend, Lauri, and Slava vacuumed her living-room. We were all very happy. Slava and I walked back home and Papa and all the kids were back. My load was lightened a bit when Papa took over with Slava and I could go back inside to tend to bill-paying, cleaning, and starting dinner...all those things that seemed so important last night.

Here I caught Curtis playing in the snow with Anna while Bethany tends to Jordan who's laying on the ground for some reason. All while our Boarder Collie, Kashi, chases the snow.

Tonight Wayne Jr. and Kerri came for dinner and to take Sierra, Andrii, Anna, and Jordan home with them for a sleep-over...very brave newlyweds! They even offered to take Slava, but I felt that it's too soon. I did suggest, however, that if they'd like to spend more time with him they can come anytime and Papa and I would gladly go out for dinner! Hint Hint. It seems so strange that right now Slava is asleep, all the other kids are out, Wayne's watching football, and I find myself with free time. What will I do now after I publish this post???

BACK TO NORMAL???

So, Monday Jordan & Slava had eye doctor appointments. Tuesday I figured we could try to have a normal, routine school day...however, Sierra presented with symptoms of a migraine headache so she was down for the count all morning. I had to rely on Andrii & Anna taking turns with Slava in order to do school with Jordan and check their school work among other things. Sierra was better by the afternoon, but she'd missed the new Bible lesson we'd started and I had to skip history & science with the other kids. The good news is that Slava cooperated nicely with hanging out in the school room and playing with the other kids. Wednesday I had to take Jordan to the spinal surgeon to have his cast off prior to next week's surgery. So, needless to say he didn't get any school work done by the time we were back from that appointment and a trip to the grocery store. The other kids got their work done, but we missed history & science...again. While I was beating myself up for failing to get it in again, the Lord reminded me that He is in control and the solar system will be there when we finally get to it. It's funny to worry about cramming in something that never changes: the names of the planets, the facts about them, the distance the sun is from the earth, etc. that stuff never changes, so whether we cover it today, next week or next year...it won't really matter. Phew, I'm off the hook, for now! Today was a good day, no we didn't get science in, but I did manage to cover some New York state history with the younger kids. And Slava is really doing well during the school time. He seems to be settling in to our routine finally. His English is still growing. Tonight he saw Papa with some tools and announced, "Slava man, fix it!" He likes to pretend he's a worker man, and Andrii taught him the "fix it" phrase while he was fixing something for him.

Sierra, Andrii, and Anna all go to Karate For Christ on Thursday nights. Here's Andrii with his yellow belt. Sierra is not pictured (shockingly) because the "social butterfly" wasn't home.

Anna with her white belt with a blue stripe.

Jordan got his cast off yesterday. This is a pic of his back which is actually much straighter then ever before! You can sort of see his scar which runs from his neck to his buns (or lack there-of). He's so skinny, but he's actually grown more this past year then in the other 3 years combined. It amazes me that exactly 4 years ago, on 1/7/07, we arrived home from Ukraine with Andrii, Anna, and Jordan. It seems that they've just always been here. I cannot imagine life without them. The Lord is so good to us for He's given us the privilege of raising them for Him. But of course, we cannot do this task without Him and it helps us to keep our eyes on Him.
Here's our "bespectacled" Slava! He loves his new glasses. He keeps them on, but I keep catching him looking under the lenses instead of through them!

I'm hoping Friday will bring a productive school day. Thankfully, I don't need to leave the house until Sunday for church. These days church for me is just the worship service which Slava loves, but once things quiet down I have to duck out with him into the nursery. He doesn't yet get the "shhhh, be quiet" concept, especially when he sees someone he recognizes. Then he yells out their name! Usually it's my daughter-in-law. When he spots her he starts yelling, "Kerri, Kerri"! Good thing he's cute! Since I don't get much spiritual nourishment at church, I've taken to listening to my father-in-law's adult Sunday school messages which I've downloaded from his church's website. These messages are excellent and make me wish I could actually attend the class in person! My mother-in-law has promised to get me the notes he hands out in class, so I don't feel so left out :) Thanks, Rita!

If you could remember us in prayer, please pray that Jordan's surgery will only be an adjustment and not a replacement. An adjustment would mean just one over-night in the hospital, but a rod replacement would mean up to 5 days. Also pray that the surgery and recovery go well too. Thank you so much for your prayers and for faithfully following this blog.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Sandra & Wayne

Beth & Curtis

Kerri (winning at Scrabble) & Anna

Sierra & Andrii (not winning at Scrabble)

Missy all dressed up for a party!

Check out some of the updated pics along the right side of the screen too.

Happy New Year, blog followers! We spent a quiet New Year's Eve at home with our kids and my parents, well it was sort of quiet! We had lots of yummy snack-food and the kids played games. Big Wayne was in bed by 10pm; he's never seen the ball drop unless you count seeing it on the news the next day. I would have turned in that early too, but Wayne Jr. & Kerri were visiting and they stayed to ring in the new year with us. Slava of course was in bed at 7:30pm and Jordan turned in with Wayne. New Year's Day we had our good friends (and next-door-neighbor's) over for dinner. Sunday we declared a low-key day after church since Monday things would go back to normal...or some kind of new-normal for us!

The Lord is so good to me. Today I had to leave by 7:15am to have both Jordan and Slava to the eye doctor. Andrii is my hero! He helped me have both boys dressed and out the door to an already warmed up car. He went with me to help with Slava since this doctor's office always takes forever. I had been dreading this appointment, but it went very well. Both boys even had their eyes dilated and both did a great job. Slava was very compliant with the exam and the eye drops. He will eventually need surgery like Jordan did, but he also needs glasses because he has vision issues. On the way home from the doctor we stopped and picked out some spiffy frames. His glasses should be ready on Thursday, so the next pics will be of a bespectacled-Slava!

The Lord is so faithful to us. Slava is bonding with and attaching to us. He is settling down, his English vocabulary is expanding every day, and he's playing more with toys. His new favorite food is "chocolatka cereal" which is chocolate Cheerios. He eats his cereal the American way - with milk and in a bowl with a spoon (so there, Andrii!). He loves pretend play and tonight we had to pretend we were at the eye doctor. Slava actually initiates the pretend play games which I think is a sign of good intelligence.

We also started school today, sort of. Tomorrow will be our first full day of doing school with Slava bouncing around. I've set up a schedule similar to the way we did things when we first brought the other 3 kids home. Everyone will be on a rotating schedule of 30 minute time slots with Slava right after we do our Bible lesson. We will rotate through so that I can work with Jordan one on one and be able to do history & science with Andrii and Anna as well as check everyone's work. This is my ministry, it is what the Lord has called us to, so I am trusting Him to work it all out.

Wednesday Jordan gets his cast off at 10am (so much for back to a normal school schedule)! Next Tuesday is his surgery. I am praying that it will only be an adjustment and not a major surgery. Please pray about this. The major surgery is in the near future, but 6 months from now would be much better than next week. Slava needs more time to settle in and major surgery has a huge affect on family life.

Jordan has been enduring much change as well. For the past few nights he's now been sleeping in his own top-bunk bed above Slava. He's been promoted from "baby" of the family to big boy, and he's not always thrilled about it. Sharing with Slava is not his new favorite activity either. I'm praying that he and Slava will bond and become best buddies once Slava matures a bit.

Over all things are going pretty well. Missy and Andrii have colds. Big Wayne is just getting over a cold and he and Curtis are working late tonight on a water-main break. Anna is not happy that school has resumed while Sierra has decided to become a neurologist thanks to today's Biology lesson about REM sleeping/dreaming. I've tried to at least mention everyone in this post since Slava and Jordan have been getting most of the attention!

Thank you for reading all the way to the end. And thank you for your continued prayers. God is faithful to answer. Last night I even snuck out to prayer and worship at our church. The cry in my heart during prayer was, "Lord, I want YOU and whatever YOU are going to do."