A Good Week

And here it is!  Our official, very own, original, logo for our orphan ministry:

I love it!  It wasn't as easy as Mary and I thought it would be.  We hired a professional to design our logo and website.  The website is almost finished and we hope to have it up and running by May 1st.  Another thing that was more difficult than we thought.  Mainly because Mary and I really aren't all that computer savvy.  But thankfully, Peter, Mary's adult son is.  He works in computers as a profession, and he was adopted by the Slagers from the foster care system when he was a kid.  We brought Peter on board at our first meeting with the web design girl.  It was clear that they spoke the same "language"!  A computer language that neither Mary nor I speak or understand!  I can't wait to reveal the website in the next couple of weeks.  It will be just in time too.  Mary and I will be leaving on May 1st for Nashville for CAFO's annual Orphan Summit, then we will be attending a conference right in Albany on May 10th presented by NYSCCC (NYS Citizens' Coalition for Children).  It's a foster care & adoption conference right in our own back yard.  We'd never heard of NYSCCC until Suzanne d'Aversa (Slava's social worker) told me about this event and that Dr. Karyn Purvis (The Connected Child author and instructor we traveled to Nashville to hear back in September) will be the key note speaker.  We want JFO to have a presence at this conference in the future.  On May 9th we will be sharing with a group of pastors at an FCA meeting our church will be hosting.  Then we have John Moritz of Hearts of the Father Outreach coming on May 19th to speak at 7pm at Gospel Community Church in Coxsackie.  John and his wife Libby founded their ministry after experiencing personal tragedy.  In 1992 they lost their 3 biological children in a horrific car accident.  As the Lord was walking with them through this devastating loss, He gave them a vision for their future:  As parents without children, they would ease the pain of children without parents.  They went on to establish Hearts of the Father Outreach which ministers in India, Ghana, and Uganda.  The Lord has been opening the doors for us, and we are excited to step through them with Him!  

On the home front it's been a pretty good week.  It was my "no appointment week" which I love.  And the weather was warmer so we were all outside for some much needed fresh air and exercise.  Saturday Sierra had a Karate tournament which Wayne took her to along with the little boys.  I was blessed to go to a women's conference at a local church.  It was an excellent meeting with a gifted speaker and a great Word.  I especially enjoyed reconnecting with my friend Jay (hi Jay!).  We used to attend the same church many years ago, and now only see each other on occasion in the grocery store!  I was blessed to be able to catch up with her.  

 Slava Banana

Me & Slava riding bikes!

 Yes, that's me on a bike!  Now that Slava rides a 2-wheeler without training wheels, he is on that bike constantly.  He even got on Jordan's bigger bike and now refuses to ride his smaller one.  It's been an excellent way for him to burn off energy and work on balance and coordination.  Win, win, win!  I hopped on my (very old) bike and the kids got the biggest kick out of mom on a bike.  Now Slava asks me to ride with him all the time.  Finally I'm getting in some exercise!

Anna beating me at Yahtzee!

Anna is the luckiest Yahtzee player I know.  We love to play games, especially this one.  When I got home from the conference on Saturday, Anna was the only one home.  We enjoyed the quiet and spent some time together playing games.  I suppose I should have cleaned something, but opted to play games instead.  Recently I had this amazing revelation........I need an "Alice"!  You remember the tv show the Brady Bunch?  They had an Alice.  She was always there.  Cleaning, cooking, running errands for Mrs. B.  Well, if I can't have another me then I'll settle for an Alice.  Or even a Rosy from the Jetsons!  I shared my dream with my husband.  He said, "What are you saying?"  Oh never mind, I'm just dreaming.  A girl has got to have a dream!  Back to reality.  Character training is going well.  This week I taught Jordan and Slava "Initiative":  See something that needs to be done and doing it without being asked.  They really caught on to it and even Slava was informing me when he showed initiative.  Ahhhh progress!