Winter Wonders & Wanderings

Winter Fun

 Our kids love winter sports and activities.  A few weeks back Wayne brought (l-r) Anna, Sierra, Andrii, and our neighbor, Ezra, snow boarding at Windham Mt.  Jordan (front) kept Wayne company in the lodge since Dr. Carl said 'no' to him skiing with rods in his back.  Jordy wasn't too happy with that!

Andrii the Ginger

 Andrii has gorgeous red, wavy hair.  He's decided to grow it out until his birthday in April.  We'll see if he makes it that long!  He's also counting down the days until he can get his drivers' permit.  He's only got 2 months, 7 days, 23 hours, and 44 minutes until he can drive!  Not that he's counting or anything!

Slava working on fine-motor skills.

 Slava is really doing great in homeschooling.  He's beginning to read and loves learning phonics.  We're focusing on developing his fine-motor skills, so I thought I'd get him to paint some numbers here.  He did a really good job with this.  He also found a pen with a light on the end of it on Daddy's dresser.  He proceeded to fill several pages of paper with tiny circles that he was drawing.  It's really the first time that he initiated drawing/writing on his own.

"I love you back and front"

 Slava loves playing with these radios.  He started this game where he would radio me and say, "I love you back." Then I would answer, "I love you front."  This went on quite a while covering every opposite I could think of.  Notice he's wearing glasses again.  Sometime before Christmas he lost the spare pair he had.  Last week we saw the eye specialist and she changed his prescription a little bit (amazingly his sight actually improved slightly).  We ordered up 2 pairs of glasses - because one pair is always either lost or broken.  Actually he's being really responsible with these so far.

Ice Hockey anyone?  

 The kids were thrilled when our pond finally froze enough for skating.  Last weekend they had a bunch of kids from church over to play hockey.  And as I type this, they will all be back again in a few hours!  Anna is seated closest to the camera.

Miss Melissa

 We abducted Missy again after the little boys' karate class and took her to Subway for dinner.  We had a nice visit with her before she headed off to work.

Sierra loves taking pics of herself.

More skating fun.  

 Curtis is far left in brown - without skates!

Annnnnnaaaaaaa!

Anna loves hamming it up for the camera!

The last 2 weeks have been packed full of appointments, activities, and issues which kept me very busy and very stretched.  Having a large family is challenging, and having a family of kids from hard places is especially so.  I can't always post the challenges out of respect for my kids' privacy, but have no doubt that we're dealing with much more than I post here.  But God is faithful, and when He calls - He equips.  He has never let us down.  We experience much joy each day, and some heartache along the way.  But it is worth it.  Each and every one of our kids is worth it.  God calls us to love and to live out the Gospel.  He never said it would be easy.  He guarantees that He will be with us and that in Him we have victory.