Summer Fades

As summer fades and August draws to a close we are gearing up to celebrate Jordan's 10th birthday!  It amazes me that the little "lala" that we brought home from Ukraine 7 years ago is now 10!  

Slava Taking Out the Trash!

 Don't worry, there is no mower blade on this ancient tractor. The boys just love riding around on it, and they even figured out how to hook a trailer up to it!

Surfer Dude Jordan

 As the summer days wind down our pool water has cooled off.  The pool was barely getting used until Wayne turned on the water heater.  Finally a few hot days last week got the kids back into the water.  We'll be closing it soon since school is starting up next week.  Ssshhhhh....don't tell Anna!

Slava & Daddy Chillaxing!

 We spent another weekend up at our camp in the Adirondacks.  It's really cooled off up there!  The days were sunny and warm but the lake water was cold.  Andrii flew around on the jet ski and the rest of us lounged around on the pontoon boat.  It was a nice relaxing weekend.

Mommy & Jordan

Happy 10th Birthday, Jordan!

Jordan seemed to have taken over this blog post!  Probably because today is his special day.  We'll be celebrating with a big family party tonight.  Jordan is sitting on his birthday present.  Of course now Slava wants one!  We keep telling him he has to wait until he turns 10 too.  Since he'll only be turning 8 this October we figure it's a safe promise.  Except he keeps saying he will be turning 10 in 2 weeks. I guess I'll have to start teaching him days/weeks/months/years when school starts up again!

Blessings Abound

So many blessings to be thankful for today!  First of all I'd like to announce that I'm expecting------  to be a Grandmother that is!  Wayne Jr. & Kerri are pregnant with their first child due in early February! Our family is grateful and blessed!  And this past week Anna (and my dad) were baptized!  Add in another weekend trip to camp and the fair and we are feeling extremely blessed!

Pastor Bart, Anna, and Pastor Stan

 Anna's testimony brought tears to many eyes, especially when she said she was grateful that Mom & Dad came to Ukraine to adopt her so she could know God!

Gram & Slava playing horse-shoes!

 We are thankful that our kids have both sets of grandparents to pour into their lives.  Did I mention I am so excited to join the Grand Parent Club?!

Officer Jordan

 The kids enjoyed going to the fair last night.  Between the rides, games, and food, I think Jordan's favorite part was the Local Heroes building which was filled with police cars and fire trucks.  He got to question a few policemen too.  He really wants to be a policeman when he grows up.

Captain Slava

 Last weekend we spent up at our camp in the Adirondacks.  We learned that "Adirondack" is an Indian word for "bark eater" - interesting.  This time we took a boat cruise that ventured up the Fulton Chain of Lakes.  Slava got a turn at piloting the boat.  Wayne & I drooled over all the beautiful camps and breathtaking scenery along the lakes.

Anna on the look-out!

We often enjoy walking around the little town of Old Forge.  This summer we stumbled upon this new playground the little boys (and big girls) can't resist romping around.

In other news:  our Justice For Orphans' radio show "Orphans No More" officially launched with it's first show on August 9th.  The show airs every Friday at 1:30pm on The New Light WDCD 96.7.  If you can't get the station, you can stream it via the web:
http://www.streamingthe.net/WDCD-The-New-Light-96.7-FM-Albany-New-York/p/29575

Eventually the recorded shows will be available in pod-cast form on our JFO website:
http://justicefororphansny.org/

If you check it out, let us know what you think!

August is winding down and were looking forward to celebrating Jordan's birthday, Labor Day up at our camp, and the beginning of the new school year.  Where did summer go????

Blessed Chaos

Our summer so far has been a time of blessed chaos!  I can't believe it's August already.  That means homeschooling, at least in the formal since with text books and all, will begin again soon.  I've been cleaning and organizing our school room here and there so it's coming along.  But let's not go there too soon.  I still want to savor the summer!

Anna on horseback!

 Like so many girls her age, Anna is a horse lover.  She recently started weekly lessons at a horse farm close by.  Her dream is to have her own horse...like right now.

Happy Campers!

 We spent another weekend at our camp in the Adirondacks.  This lovely couple is enjoying their morning coffee by the lake.

Pirate Slava

 Slava recently saw the eye specialist again.  Now that he is able to read, he can take the more thorough eye examination which includes letters.  The more thorough exam revealed how poor the vision in his left eye really is. So now we have to patch 4 hours each day. That's not going over so well.  I started him off at 1 hour and will add an hour here and there.  The whole idea is to strengthen the sight in the left eye by forcing it to work while the right eye is patched.  We'll see.

Bubble Blowing on the Boat

 Sierra enjoyed making big bubbles using the wind generated by the boat.  The bubbles traveled pretty far and took a long time to pop on the water.

Andrii Wakeboarding

 This is a great shot of Andrii just before he crashed - on purpose.  He's so athletic and can do jumps and spins too.

Watermelon Twins

 We go through a lot of watermelon in the summer.  My kids love it.  And these two, Slava and Anna, eat most of it!

Lego Maniacs!  

 Funny how reorganizing the school room and putting 5 trillion Legos into new plastic bins that will fit under the little boys' beds can reignite one's passion for playing!  Curtis is my original Lego maniac.  He got Lego sets every Christmas Eve from his grandmother and would build them late into the night.  He passed that legacy on to Andrii, and now Jordan is able to follow the directions and assemble sets too.  I'm always so blessed when I see Curtis playing with the little boys.

Me recording our Orphans No More radio show.

 The Lord is opening so many doors for Justice For Orphans using radio.  Our weekly show will begin airing on Friday, August 9 at 1:30pm on The New Light WDCD 96.7fm.  If you don't pick up the station on the radio you can stream it live from the internet.  Eventually the shows will be in MP3 form on the JFO website.

Partnering With The Sound of Life!

Wayne, me, Tom Michaels Zahradnik, Mary, and Aaron.

We are so thrilled to announce our family and ministry partnerships with The Sound of Life radio network.  The Flach family businesses have underwritten the Albany transmitter project.  By October 1st the Sound of Life Albany station will be loud and clear throughout the Capital District on 94.9fm!  And to go along with that, Justice For Orphans will be heard daily on the air in 1 minute feature segments each week.  We are also kicking off a November campaign on SOL to celebrate Orphan Sunday and National Adoption Awareness Month.  Sound of Life can also be streamed over the internet.

Check out more about our ministry at:  http://justicefororphansny.org/

God is good!

Busy Family Blessings

We are enjoying a busy summer full of blessings.  Everyone is busy going somewhere and doing something all the time it seems.  With teenagers working, radio shows recording, graduation parties, birthday parties, and other social gatherings which our teens just cannot miss, I'm wondering if the lazy-hazy-days-of summer really exist!  Good thing I have 2 little boys who need to be supervised in the pool so I can sit and catch my breath!  

Curtis, Andrii, Jordan & Wayne Jr.

 I walked into church last Sunday just before worship started and discovered the Flach boys in a jam session.  This always blesses me.

Happy Birthday, Missy!

 We had a birthday dinner for Missy last week.  Of course she picked out her favorite meal:  steak and rigatoni tomato salad.  We added baked beans, potato salad, and water melon.  It was delish!

Mother/daughter date!

 Friday night Wayne took Andrii, Anna, Jordan, and Slava up to our camp in the Adirondacks.  Sierra and I stayed behind until Saturday night because we were working a fund raiser for Justice For Orphans on Saturday.  We took the opportunity for a date to our favorite seafood restaurant! for dinner Friday night!

Mary & I with NY Senator Cecilia Tkaczyk

 We had a fund raiser at our church during the Coxsackie Yard Sale Day.  The Senator was visiting our booth so we took this photo-op.  She purchased a hand bag and an "orange julius" in support of JFO.  We were thrilled to have raised $800 for our orphan ministry that day!

After the yard sale event, Sierra and I hit the road for camp.  We enjoyed a beautiful lake day on Sunday.  Sunday night Wayne and Andrii left for home so they could go to work Monday morning.  I remained at camp with Sierra, Anna, and the little boys.  We went to the movies in Old Forge on Sunday night and enjoyed the lake on Monday morning.  We got home early Monday evening.

Jordan & Slava on the pontoon boat with Andrii & Anna getting ready for water sports.

Our camp is in the background.

Silly Slava & Wayne relaxing.  

My husband's favorite place in the world is the Adirondacks.

 Andrii & Sierra on the jet ski.

Anna getting set to wake board.

Wayne & Slava on the jet ski.

 We enjoy our time on Otter Lake.  It's just a small lake in comparison to others in the Adirondack park, but it's perfect for family recreation time!

My view on our Monday morning kayak adventure.

 Slava and I manned the big green kayak and Jordan went solo in the gray one.  I can't believe he is now big enough to maneuver his own kayak!

Now we're home getting caught up on laundry and paperwork that seemed to multiply the 2 days I was away.  Looking at the calendar I see Anna has a horseback riding lesson at 11am, Slava has an appointment with his social worker at 1pm.  Back to reality I guess!

Jumping Into July

Now that we're home from our vacation we've officially jumped into July.  We've been enjoying the hot summer days in our pool which got a new liner this year.  

Jordan (in the cast) and Slava (aka - The Fish)

 Jordan got his cast off so he could enjoy the beach for vacation, but Dr. Carl wanted it right back on when we got home.  His next surgery is scheduled for Sept. 23rd for a rod lengthening.  Thankfully they use a fiberglass cast so he can swim...and bathe.  Slava loves the water and is in the pool much of the day.  He jumps off the diving board and can do a pretty good hand stand too.

Anna Perfecting Her Back-Flip

 I honestly believe Anna could have been a gold medal olympian had she had the opportunity.  She is built like a Ukrainian gymnast and can do back flips, splits, and is so flexible.

Other family stuff:  Sierra got her drivers' license and some summer jobs.  Anna started horseback riding lessons again, the big kids (Wayne Jr., Kerri, Curtis, Sierra, & Andrii) all took Missy to a Reliant K concert for her birthday last night.  It was great seeing the kids reaching out to their sister.

Justice For Orphans has jumped into the studio at The New Light WDCD 96.7fm to begin recording for our "Orphans No More" radio show.  The shows will begin airing every Friday at 1:30pm on 8/9 and run through November.

Mary with the Bethany Ladies (Cindi in the middle/Dianna on the right)

This week we recorded a show with Dianna McGreevy and Cindi Fabozzi, Adoption Specialists with the local office for Bethany Christian Services.  Bethany is one of the oldest and is the largest Christian adoption agency in the U.S.  The topic of this show was the climate of international adoption and will air on 9/6.

Cher Joseph, Mary, and Sandra in the WDCD studio.

We also recorded a show with the dynamic Cher Joseph of Albany County Dept. of Children, Youth, and Families. Cher is a Home Finder and Adoption Case Worker for Albany County.  For this show we discussed foster care in the Capital District area which will air on 9/13.  We are so excited for the doors the Lord is opening for JFO to work with Albany County on behalf of kids in foster care.  Our ministry has a mission to rally the Church for the cause of the fatherless and we advocate for Christian families to adopt and/or do foster care.

Virginia Beach 2013

My apologies for the delay in posting, but we were on our first family vacation in many years!  Our Ukrainian born kids had never seen the ocean, and every summer I say we should take them but never manage to make it happen.  This year, however, I recruited my daughter-in-lawKerri to help me with the arrangements and we made it happen!  We don't take a yearly vacation, in fact, not counting 2 trips to Ukraine for our adoptions, we had not had a vacation in years.  We do frequent weekend visits to our camp in the Adirondacks, but I can never get Wayne to stay longer than a weekend.  And since it's our camp, he spends most of the time working, not relaxing.  So Kerri and I made all the plans and just told Wayne the dates to plan on being away.  Sadly neither Curtis nor Missy could join us due to college and/or work reasons.  Wayne Jr. and Kerri joined Wayne and I and Sierra, Andrii, Anna, Jordan, and Slava.  Yup, 9 of us packed into 2 vehicles (we rented a mini-van, or according to Slava a "vini-van") and fled NY at 4am Saturday morning.  By 3:30pm we arrived at our destination - Virginia Beach!  Since the whole point of this trip was for the kids to experience the ocean for the first time, we rented a house right on the beach.  Sandswept (name of the house) is in a residential neighborhood but was just minutes by car from the boardwalk.  It was an excellent choice!

Sierra, Wayne Jr., & Dad

 Wayne loves to fish and made sure that he got in a deep-sea charter trip.  I opted out of this voyage and stayed back at the house and took the little boys to the beach.  The 6 of them went and all caught a dozen Spanish mackerel which they had filleted and prepared for lunch right at the marina.

Slava aka Sand Man

 The beach is a sensory rich environment.  Slava was in his glory covered in sand, laying on the sand, digging in the sand, jumping in the waves, and he even was pretty good with a boogie board.

The Little Patriots

 We took a few day trips here and there during the week.  One day we went to the Virginia Aquarium, another to Busch Gardens, and finally Colonial Williamsburg.  In between we just enjoyed the beach and ate lots of sea food.

Anna & Wayne Jr. digging the beach.

We had perfect weather.  The days were hot, in the 90s and only a few rain showers at night.  The ocean was warm enough for us to play in.  I actually went into the water farther then I'd ever been.

Jordan, Wayne, Sierra & Andrii taking a break in the shade.

 Andrii dug a hole and stuck Anna in it.  

 She willingly complied.  Afterward he had to dig her out because she couldn't get out herself.  

The Flachs at Sandswept

Slava & Jordan with Gayle

 The house we rented was Gayle's family home.  Her parents built it in 1955.  She's had many upgrades done and it sleeps 14.  We were very comfortable, Gayle was extremely hospitable, and the house had ocean views from practically every room.  We couldn't have picked a better place to stay.

First time at the ocean!

 This pic was from our first day in Virginia Beach.  We romped around in the waves and tasted the saltiness of the water.  Then we went to Bubba's Crab Shack for some delicious seafood!

Anna enjoying crab legs!

 For the most part we ate breakfast and lunch at the house and enjoyed seafood dinners in the evening.  Of course we ordered pizza in once and on Friday Wayne made a trip to Chick-Fil-A to bring us beach bums some lunch.

Wayne and the little boys chatting with a fishermen.

 The ocean sunrise had me up at 6am each morning.  I savor quiet mornings so I'd sneak into the kitchen, make the coffee, and curl up in a cozy spot for my morning devotions.  But ocean sunrises also wake up sleepy Slavas.  He'd make his appearance around 6:30am.  Almost every morning by 7am Wayne and I would take the little boys down to the beach for a morning walk and some sea shell collecting.  Jordan loved chasing scampering sand crabs and Slava just loved running around.  Every day we were treated to our own dolphin show.  A pod of dolphins frequented the area right in front of our beach house.  They came so close to the shore that it seemed we'd bump into them while we were swimming.  I warned Anna not to ride on one!

Anna & Andrii on the boogie boards!

Wayne Jr. & Kerri relaxing & reading.

Andrii & Dad

 We ventured down by the boardwalk one evening and had dinner and ice cream.  We had planned to go back, but with all the other day trips and the heat, it just never happened.  Wayne is not a big fan of tourist areas (another reason why we rented a house outside of the tourist spots).  Sandswept is in a residential area so we had the beach practically to ourselves.

Sierra & Kerri on the roof-top deck.

 On the night of the full moon we hung out up on the roof top deck.  Wayne Jr. played some guitar, and Sierra & Kerri played Banana-grams.  Check out the moonlight reflecting on the ocean.  It was a breath-taking view.

Jordan & Slava at the aquarium.  

It was an excellent vacation.  We arrived home on Saturday evening and spent the rest of the weekend recovering.  I am so thankful that the Lord blessed us with this incredible time together.  Back to reality this week:  Jordan gets a new cast on on Tuesday.  He had a doctor's appt right before we left and I had Dr. Carl remove his old cast.  He'd had it on since January so it was a bit nasty, plus I didn't want him to have to deal with it full of sand from the beach.  The Dr. took it off but wants to put one right back on this week.  I guess he's figured out that Jordan is a busy little boy!  And it looks like the next surgery will be late August or early Sept.  Like I said, back to reality!  God is good!

Endings & Beginnings

Well, it's June;  Half way through June actually.  We are finished with school, sort of.  Wayne Jr. and Curtis are both taking summer college courses.  As for the homeschooled kids, Sierra too is finishing up 2 online courses with Liberty University, Andrii is finished and working his summer job, Anna is finished except for a grammar test, and Jordan & Slava are in summer schedule mode.  With the little guys I just can't stop doing "school" over the summer.  They really need to retain what they've learned and both benefit from a structured day.  Our summer "structure" is a bit loose, but we still do reading, calendar, and hands on activities.  I've been in the throws of year end home school reports to the school district.  NY has some of the heaviest requirements for homeschoolers.  I've just finished our quarterly reports and officially promoted everyone to the next grade level.  Then I typed up the Letter of Intent letting the school know we intend to home school again next year.  That leads to Individual Home Instruction Plans (IHIPs as we veteran home school moms call them).  IHIPs are basically a list of curriculum for each subject that I plan on using for the coming school year.  I have to do one for each of the 5 kids.  Once that's done I end up in the throw out the old, reorganize, and start setting up for fall mode.  I'm trying to hold myself back - I really need to enjoy the summer before it's gone!  

A Bit of Home School History!

 This is the grade book that I've used every year for the past 11 years since we began homeschooling.  It has all the kids in it starting with Wayne Jr. and going to Slava!  I've kept attendance, yes go figure homeschoolers must take attendance.  My kids have perfect attendance since we pretty much live here everyday!  The book also contains everyone's grades too.  I think I'll display it in the Flach Academy Museum.

Last week Slava had a speech/language evaluation at the local public school.  His scores indicate that he qualifies for therapy 3x weekly next school year.  So starting in the fall, in addition to homeschooling, I will bring him to school for PT once weekly, OT 2x weekly, and now speech/language 2x weekly.  They will try to combine the days so I don't have to be there every day.  I am thankful that the school is working with us and they are not being difficult because we homeschool.
In fact, so far the therapists all seem to agree that what we are doing is working best for Slava.

A Quiet Morning Pool-side.

 Friday afternoon Wayne took Jordan and Slava up to our camp in the Adirondacks overnight to check on things and clean up.  A tree had fallen in the yard, thankfully no damage was done, so he wanted to get it cleaned up.  In addition to the 3 of them being away, Sierra, Andrii, and Anna all had a youth group sleep-over at our church.  I pretty much had a mini-vacation for 24 hours!  I was able to complete so much paperwork on Friday, then went out to breakfast with Curtis on Saturday.  After breakfast, I went for a walk with my friend Lauri, then spent the day by our pool doing paperwork in the sun!

We are going on a "real" family vacation for the first time in years.  Aside from traveling to  Ukraine for our adoptions (not very relaxing) and weekend visits to our camp, we have not been away as a family for any length of time.  Every summer I lament that the Ukrainian kids have never been to the ocean, but I never seem to be able to put a plan together.  This year I enlisted Kerri's help and we booked a house right on the beach in Virginia Beach!  The kids are so excited and counting down the days!

Curtis & I at breakfast!  

On Thursday, Mary and I recorded our very first radio show entitled "Orphans No More"!  It was so exciting!  The show will air on WDCD 96.7fm (Christian Talk Radio) on Friday, August 9th at 1:30pm.  We basically shared about ourselves and Justice For Orphans.  We have the studio on Thursday mornings to record our shows over the summer.  They will air from Aug. 9th through November on Fridays.  We are considering doing the November shows live.  This week we will record 3 shows!  I am so excited about this door that the Lord has been opening.  We would have never had the idea to try and get on the radio, not to mention have our own show!  We give God the glory.  He gave us a heart like His for the orphan, and now He has given us a way to share it with the Church!