A Very Full Week - Full of Blessings!

This is the first I've sat at the computer in 3 days. We've had a very busy week to say the least. Last Monday, after our Bible lesson, we headed off to the mall to spend a rainy day shopping for some much needed summer clothes and bathing suits. Tuesday was a family birthday party and Bible study. Wednesday was my birthday and my eldest son pulled the troops together. They blessed me by delivering pizza for dinner and going in on a gift certificate to have family portraits taken. I had a dentist appointment on Thursday which ruled out a dental issue and ruled in the allergy/sinus infection as the cause of my discomfort. Thursday through Friday was a whirlwind of activity as we had our last home school co-op meeting Friday morning and the closing program/art contest Friday evening. Actually, Friday morning at 6am Slava strolled into my room with a 102 degree fever. I gave him some liquid medicine and some water and cuddled him in my bed where he proceeded to throw up the medicine and water all over my sheets! Poor little guy. The medicine did not sit well on his empty stomach. He declared, "Slava all the time sick. No good." Thankfully my precious neighbor, Bethany, was able to come and stay with him while we all went to co-op. This was an answer to prayer since I didn't know what I was going to do with a sick Slava and a day full of things I had to do. Our last day of classes flew by with the added activity of a local fire company bringing a fire truck by for a short fire safety lesson.

That's Sierra all suited up as a fireman shooting off the hose. Andrii is far left with the plaid shirt and Jordan is in the middle with the striped shirt.
Here are some of our kids with the firemen on the right. "Thank You" Coxsackie Hose Company #3!

We were back at the church at 5pm to set up for our closing program and art show. Sierra and Andrii both submitted photos for the contest; He won 3rd place and she got honorable mention. In another post I'll try to put up their photos. The top 5 winning pieces will be sent to Rochester to be displayed at our annual home school convention and they will be judged by the art department from Roberts Wesleyan College.

Sierra and Andrii had also planned a bonfire for a bunch of their friends from youth group. About 50 kids showed up at our house on Saturday night! All went well though because the kids were kept busy playing football, basketball, man hunt, jumping on the trampoline, toasting marshmellows etc.
Victoria kept Slava busy...or should I say Slava kept Victoria busy the whole time!
Quite a few of the kids played touch football, including that big kid in the middle with the black t-shirt on. My husband couldn't resist getting into the game.

The Lord has been good to me all week bringing me through all the craziness. I've been especially blessed by Slava's growth. It has been 6 months since we first brought this busy little guy home, and he's made such progress. Just the other day I heard him "singing" in my room while rocking to some worship music. His favorite song lately is Kim Walker's version of "How He Loves Us". I peeked in on him and not only was he rocking and singing, but he also had his hand raised in the air. I asked him what he was doing and he said, "Slava church." Then he stopped, folded his hands, closed his eyes, and prayed for a moment, and then continued rocking with his hand raised. Also the only book he wants me to read to him at night is his story Bible. And he really only wants the stories with Jesus in them. He's especially interested in Jesus ascending up into heaven...he keeps asking "adika Jesus?" "Where's Jesus?" I keep telling him Jesus is in heaven but he's coming back. So now when we're worshiping in church he asks me if Jesus is coming...of course I tell him YES! I believe I'm seeing the fruit of all the praying I've done over Slava as he's going to sleep at night. And of course all the praying others have been doing as well these past months. God is faithful. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us. Unto Him be the glory...Ephesians 3:20-21

May Madness

Happy belated Mother's Day to all you wonderful moms reading this. My day was wonderful even though it included a morning trip to urgent care for myself. May means dandelions and dandelions mean allergies for me, and I ended up with a sinus infection. The day started off lovely with my precious daughter, Sierra, delivering to my bedside, a plateful of chocolate crepes filled with strawberries that she whipped up at 6am along with a steaming hot cup of coffee. Missy delivered 6 beautiful hanging flower baskets to my porch from herself and the younger kids. After church we went to brunch with all of our kids and my parents. Wayne & Kerri also gave me a cozy blanket which I curled up in for the evening. I am a very blessed mother!

Slava at Subway!

This week Jordan had an appointment with his ortho surgeon. We took Slava along since the doctor's office is at the same hospital where Slava will be having his eye-muscle surgery next month. We wanted him to be at least a little familiar with the place. These appointments for Jordan are quite long with the x-ray and exam, but Slava was very good throughout it all. As it turns out Jordan will have a pretty big surgery on July 11th. This time instead of just a rod adjustment, the doctor has to actually replace the bottom half of one rod because there is no more length left to extend it. It's a lot more involved than just a rod adjustment. He will be in the hospital for at least one overnight. Other than that everything looks good. And both boys were so well behaved that I took them to Subway for lunch. Slava's method of eating his sub just cracks me up. He lifts the top of the roll and then eats the layer of pickles (yes, pickles, after all he is Ukrainian), then he eats the cucumbers, then the tomatoes, then some of the meat and cheese. He never quite eats the bread though.
Here Wayne (left) and his friend Lenny (right) rev up their motorcycles for a ride to men's Bible study at our church.
About 6am Thursday morning Wayne took Andrii striper fishing on the Hudson River. Andrii caught a 24 inch striped bass. He was a pretty happy boy! He also went to karate Thursday night. We've asked him to commit to going for 3 months, with a good attitude, and then after that if he still wants to quit he can. In the mean time we're working on the heart issue of pride with him.
Friday Missy stopped by for a visit and the little kids talked her into jumping on the trampoline for a bit. She seems to be doing well and has even applied for a part-time summer job.

Overall it's been a good week, especially if we don't count the allergies!

Hard Work, His Strength

Life with a large family is very busy. When you factor in the issues that adopted children can bring with them life can be especially busy. Often I post only the good times and not so much the challenges we face, but that can be misleading. I regularly follow a blog entitled "Smiles and Trials" authored by a Christian mom whose family is made up of 16 kids, some biological and the rest adopted (several kids are from adoptions that did not work out, some are from Ukraine, etc.). I find much encouragement in the truthful smiles and especially the honest trials posted in that blog. So now and in the future I will include some of our challenges along with our joys in this crazy, busy life we live for the Lord.

Here Anna was helping me do "school" with Slava. When he sees us doing school he comes to me and asks, "Slava school?" So I pull out something schoolish for him to do. We've been working on number recognition and he's getting pretty good with numbers 1-7. He can count to 14 or 15 but doesn't recognize all of the digits. He's getting pretty good with colors too. It's amazing that he's been home 5 months now. Last week Slava had an appt with our pediatrician. It was a follow-up to a visit a couple of months ago. The doctor wanted to make sure he's gaining weight. Spending the first 5 years of life in an orphanage results in an under-weight kid. He's been eating very well and appears to us to be filling out and growing, but according to the doctor's scale Slava only gained 6 ounces in the past 2 months! The doc ordered blood work to make sure his levels are all up to par and recommended a nutritionist. The blood work I'm trying to arrange to have drawn in the hospital in June when he goes for his eye muscle surgery. The nutritionist part I'm not sure is necessary. The doctor never ordered up all this stuff for Jordan and he's always been tiny. In fact, Jordan's grown more in the past year than in the first 3 years combined! I think Slava has the metabolism of a race horse. The kid goes non-stop from 6:30am to 8pm. Like Jordan, one of his favorite daily activities is rocking. Slava will go into my room during the day, turn on the I-Pod, hop on my bed, and rock. The other day he invited me to rocky also. I gave it a shot and cannot believe how much of a work-out it is! It takes every muscle in the body to rock. I think Slava burns off every calorie he eats! (I might start rocking daily too!) The pediatrician wants to see him again on June 1st prior to his surgery. My plan is to pump him full of healthy calories so he'll tip the scales...at least another few ounces!

Sierra on the left.

Last weekend Sierra & Andrii traveled to Canada for a semi-knockdown karate tournament. Sierra placed 2nd (out of 2)! It was her first competition and the adrenaline was really pumping. She took a few too many penalty shots (punches) to her opponent's face. Apparently punching in the face is not allowed only kicking!

Andrii on the left.

Andrii placed 2nd. The guy in first knocked Andrii out with a kick to the head, but he rallied and got 2nd after facing the guy in 3rd. It might sound a bit rough but we signed the kids up for Karate For Christ over a year ago. The Sensei is Pastor Calvin Ortiz and not only does he train them in karate, but he also focuses on biblical principals as well. Pride is something he really zeros in on and it seems Andrii has been struggling with it. He's asked to quit (a few weeks before the tournament), but we told him that quitting isn't something we do. Sensei talked with him on the way home from Canada, but the excuses Andrii gives aren't legitimate. Tonight he was conveniently missing when their ride came to pick him and Sierra up. When he finally did emerge from the woods we told him he was grounded for a week. He said that was ok and that he wasn't going to karate next week either. We informed him that he is going next week and that we will be meeting with Pastor Calvin, and we sent him to his room for the night. Andrii is a great kid, but he does not like to be corrected. He's very talented and athletic and basically good at everything. But he does not like to be corrected. I see it when he gets a few math problems wrong and I require him to re-do them. Sensei was really putting the pressure on the kids who were training for the tournament (which he volunteered to go on). However, Andrii never bothered to attend the additional practices like the other kids. He got knocked on his butt which looks to me like God humbling the proud. He's always been a pretty compliant kid the past 4 years, but recently we've been detecting a bit of an attitude. Ahhhh teenagers!

I came across this verse the other day: I work very hard at this, as I depend on Christ's mighty power that works within me. Colossians 1:29. This has become my morning prayer - asking the Lord for His strength to do what he's called me to do. It is not easy raising kids, especially kids who arrive at your door with baggage...the emotional kind. Missy arrived at or door 12 years ago. Actually the Lord picked her up and placed her in our family. It was a very miraculous placement. She's actually a 3rd cousin to me. My grandmother and her grandmother were sisters. Missy's mom died when she was 6, her father had abandoned the family when she was an infant, and she was raised for about 3 years by her grandmother who emotionally and verbally abused her (something I actually witnessed). We put her in Christian counseling as soon as she was placed with us. Her grandmother never allowed Missy to grieve the loss of her mother because she couldn't see beyond her own loss. Missy packed down these wounds which only festered because she didn't deal with them. We formally adopted her after her grandmother passed away, but from day 1 we treated her as one of our own. She did everything and had everything just like all the other kids. Something was different though. Because of the festering wounds, because of the lies she believed about herself, because of her past she behaved differently. Almost daily she was either not doing what she was supposed to be doing or doing what she wasn't supposed to be doing. She's always been passive-rebellious. And when she was corrected, grounded, or issued consequences, instead of learning from her poor choices she retreated into her self as the victim believing that if she only had her mother these things wouldn't be happening to her. This victim-mentality effected everything she did, said, and believed. But what happens when one grows up and still operates bound by the chains of the past? The trouble they find themselves in by their own poor choices is bigger then the consequences of not brushing their teeth, not doing their homework, not doing their chores, not telling truth, etc. Missy landed herself in big trouble last spring and again last fall. This caused us to insist on her going to counseling again which she submitted to for a time. The past few months have been very difficult with her behavior worsening. Finding her biological father not long ago and experiencing his rejection again didn't help. She put a plan together a few months ago to move out and has been working toward that goal. This week she did move out. She's almost 21 and maybe it's time, but we're very concerned for her. Unless she gets help, unless she wants help, she will continue in the same pattern. We don't want to see her hurt or in trouble. She is our daughter and we want only the very best for her. We want her to be free of the past, free of the lies of the enemy, free to be all God created her to be. And that freedom is possible only one way for Jesus said,

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for He has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the down trodden will be freed from their oppressors, and that the time of the Lord's favor has come." Luke 4:18-19

I have really been pressing into prayer for Missy (and many others are as well). Every time I ask Him what I should do I keep getting the same answer: Speak Truth & Pray. This is what I am doing. If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed.

Happy Easter & Happy Anniversary

As I write this Easter is over. Our day was filled with church and family and food. I always take the opportunity to really focus on the Cross. We usually watch the Passion of the Christ, but this year the days flew by and we never took the time. I did find myself searching You Tube and found an awesome video that sums the meaning of the Cross up very well. Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dooif2-yAoI&feature=fvsr

Here Jordan, Anna, and Andrii with Slava on his lap all plant some seeds. They were doing it just for fun, but I can count it as science class!

This "Easter basket" is filled with Ukrainian goodies. On Friday I went to a local Ukrainian market to pick up some of the kids' favorites. They love "cemeshky" which is sunflower seeds while my favorite is the chocolate.
Here's Jordan pictured with "kulich" a traditional Ukrainian Easter bread. It's a sweet-yeast dough baked in a coffee can. The babushkas would bring it to church so the priest could bless it. We didn't bring ours to church. We just sliced it, toasted it, smeared it with butter, and enjoyed it for our Easter breakfast. Apparently I'm more Ukrainian than Andrii because he wouldn't touch it.

Sierra, Jordan, & Slava on Easter morning.

Wayne & I at Wayne Jr.'s wedding last summer.

Today is our 24th wedding anniversary. We hope to go out to dinner one night this week, just the 2 of us. Tonight Wayne's at Bible study (our favorite restaurant isn't open on Monday anyway). It amazes me that 24 years have gone by. They've been wonderful years filled with love, kids, more love, and more kids! The Lord has been so good to us. All I can say is that when you build your marriage on the Solid Rock foundation of Jesus Christ it lasts. It also doesn't hurt when you're married to your best friend and the love of your life!

Whirlwind Week

We've had another crazy week since my last post. On Tuesday Wayne had a routine colonoscopy, Sierra had piano lesson, and I had Bible Study. Wednesday started with Sierra's orthodontist appt, Anna's horseback riding lesson, and evening church. Thursday was a dentist appt for Andrii and karate. We had coop classes Friday morning & youth group. Saturday the kids had an archery party in the morning, Andrii had an air-soft (gun shooting) party with about 15 buddies in our woods, and Wayne & I went to an archery banquet in the evening while Aunt Becky &Uncle Aaron took some of the kids to the movies. Somewhere in there my beloved I-Mac computer caught the flu, so I had to rush it to the Apple store on Saturday too. Thankfully they fixed it in 20 minutes. It needed a new RAM, but it was still under Applecare so it didn't cost anything to fix! We also had a couple of meetings with Melissa this week and we're praying for a breakthrough - spiritual warfare is exhausting!

Sierra is an avid reader. She manages to read several books at once (something my little brain cannot handle). Currently she's reading Alice In Wonderland, Screw Tape Letters, Watership Down, Bless the Beasts and the Children, East of Eden, and Kidnapped.
Here Curtis is holding a soils class in the sand pile. The little kids love it when he plays with them.
Anna caught the first fish of the season in our pond on Monday. She loves to catch them but isn't too keen on taking them off the hook!

Slava has become quite good at driving Jordan's gator around. He has come so far in the last 5 months. He is speaking all English and never stops talking! The "why" question is still asked 100 times a day, but it's amazing how he's picked up the language so fast. The other day Missy was speaking to him in Russian. He wasn't too crazy about it and just kept saying "I don't know."
Last weekend Wayne set up the pop-up camper and Slava just loves it. He wants to play in it all the time. Sunday morning (while I was down with the flu), he escaped from the house even with all 3 doors dead-bolted! In under 3 minutes he'd wandered out of the living room, into the school room where he proceeded to stack 2 chairs on top of each other so he could unlock the door. He got outside, tried to get into the pop-up only to find the door locked. So he climbed into my Expedition, grabbed the car keys, and attempted to unlock the camper with the car keys! He earned a timeout for this and a warning that a spanking would happen if he went outside alone again and a warning to stay out of the cars. Just a little while ago he earned that spanking (don't worry it was just a little swat and more time in time-out). We were all in the kitchen with Grandma & Grandpa Roberts visiting when one second he was here and the other second he was gone. Andrii discovered him in my car again...with it turned on! We've always left our keys in our vehicles since we live in a pretty secluded area, but that practice has now stopped! Other than not letting him out of our sight and keeping all the doors dead-bolted to keep him in the house, Slava is really doing well. He's been sleeping to about 7am which makes me very happy. The best part is when he wanders into the kitchen calling "Mommy" and curls up on my lap for some morning cuddling. He's becoming affectionate and often says, "I love you." We are so thankful to the Lord for all the good He's done in Slava, and all He will continue to do in him. God is so faithful, we see the transformation daily. Thank YOU, Lord!

Two Birthdays, A Shower, and the Flu!

I've been intending to update this blog all week, but the time to sit down to do it always seems to elude me. On April 2nd we had a family birthday party for Curtis who turned 19 on the 2nd and for Andrii who turned 14 on the 10th. The whole week was busy with school and a lot of running around. The running really stretches me. Wednesday I had to finally make a trip to BJ's where I stock up on household necessities for the month. $754 later, I guess we're stocked up! But I also had to make a trip to Price Chopper on Friday to finish the stock up process with stuff I don't really need in bulk and stuff that BJ's doesn't carry, that added another $200. Food prices are skyrocketing! Before I make these trips I make a list of 3 weeks worth of dinner meals so I can purchase everything needed. So for the most part I'll just need to pick up milk, produce, and the occasional needed item. In the end it does save me time and money, and I've been adding in meatless meals each week too.

This week I also made a trip to the DMV to obtain a non-driver ID for Andrii. He and Sierra will be competing in a semi-knockdown karate tournament in Canada at the end of the month. She has a passport, but he needed the ID since he doesn't yet have a US passport.

Me, Tara, & Sierra

On Saturday Sierra and I attended a bridal shower for our friend Tara. Tara grew up around the corner from us and was our babysitter from the time Sierra was born until Tara went away to college when CC was around 5. It was a very relaxing day on Plum Point overlooking the Hudson River in Newburg, NY.

I'm glad Saturday started off relaxing because by the end of it I came down with what I thought was a cold. By Sunday morning I had to face the fact that I had the flu! I'm so thankful that it was Sunday because Wayne took all the kids to church and I slept. After church he took all the kids to Care Group, and I slept more. Today I'm feeling mildly better, thankfully.

Happy Birthday Curtis & Andrii!

I've got quite a bit to post on Slava's progress, but I'll save that for the next one. At some point I'd like to post more than once each week. For now though I've got to get back to school!

He Restoreth My Soul

What a week. The 23rd Psalm kept coming to mind, but I kept brushing it aside (mostly because I didn't want to think about the "walking through the valley of the shadow of death" part). But as the week wore on I finally revisited this Psalm that I'd memorized long ago. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul... Stop right there. Boy do I need green pastures and still waters. And oh how I need my soul restored and my strength renewed. But the key is in the first part, the Shepherd part. The only way to the green pastures and still waters is by following the Shepherd. He is my Renewer and my Restorer. I need to remember that when I find myself overwhelmed. Overwhelmed. That's a word I used too many times this week.

Wayne Jr. replacing our cabinet doors.

Probably the construction that was going on here was a huge contributing factor this week. We had 3 windows replaced along with all of our cabinet doors. We'd remodeled our kitchen 5 years ago and over the past year we noticed the finish starting to peel off. The manufacturer actually made good on it and sent us all new doors and drawer fronts. Our son, Wayne Jr., came and did the work (what a blessing having a family business is). Construction is a disruption in itself, then add Slava to the mix and it's chaos. We've been having a hard time keeping Slava in the house, so we keep all the doors dead bolted. However, with the construction and the guys needing to come in and out we had to keep the doors unlocked and most of the time one was open. Slava, of course, wanted to be where the action was which is usually where little boys shouldn't be. All of it made it very difficult to have productive school days. I am so thankful that Kerri comes 2 days each week. Staying on top of Slava is very exhausting.

Curtis with his pinewood derby car.

Thursday was especially draining, and it was the only day we didn't have the construction going on! While I was making dinner and dealing with a big kid with major issues, Jordan came inside crying with blood spurting from his forehead. His foot got caught in his bike when he got off of it and he landed forehead first on the rock wall that boarders our sidewalk. So off to urgent care we went. We returned home with a glued up forehead and 3 half-gallons of ice cream. After getting the little kids to bed and making some preparations for Friday mornings coop classes, I finally crashed in bed to work on my Bible study. Before long the sound of the "big kid with major issues" sobbing wafted into my room. Reluctantly, prayerfully, I checked on big kid. Big kid is not doing good. After almost 2 hours I collapsed back into bed exhausted, drained, and unable to sleep. Lord, I don't know what to do. Tell me what to do...

Anna with her pinewood derby car.

Andrii with his"guitar car" which won best-in-show & 3rd place.

Sierra with her "Honest John" car.

Friday was a full day of coop classes and construction which is now thankfully completed. We shuffled kids around to youth group and Curtis offered to watch the little kids so Wayne & I could have dinner at our favorite restaurant. I think the quiet hour together just might count as beside still waters. Even in all the craziness and difficulties I wouldn't trade what we're doing for anything. I know we are walking in God's will. I know He will equip us for what He's called us to. I know we must not run out ahead but must follow His lead. And our Good Shepherd will provide the green pastures, cool waters, strength, and restoration that we need. Thank you, Lord.

Thankfully tomorrow is Saturday which is a slower paced day with Papa usually home all day. The only thing we have going on is a birthday party for Curtis (who turns 19 on the 2nd) and Andrii (who turns 14 on the 10th). We're having our usual family party with only about 40 people...easy day!