We survived Christmas!

One more day!!

I know, I know - no updates at the most exciting time of year. How rude! Who has time for updating the blog? Between shopping, wrapping, baking, decorating, singing, working, school, dinner, parties.....who has time for anything? Not me! I need about 2 more weeks in December and MAYBE I would be ready for Christmas. But, whether I am ready or not - it's coming. I am trying not to get too stressed out thinking that it's DANIEL'S FIRST CHRISTMAS and has to be perfect. He has no expectations, so whatever happens will be great.

We both had strep throat right after Thanksgiving. Did I mention that? It really put me behind. But, we are having such a fun December. We had our first snow a few weeks back and Daniel was so excited. I woke him up for school saying, 'Look Daniel, it snowed!' He jumps out of bed and runs to the window. 'Mom, where's Santa?' (I guess he thought snow and santa went together) He insisted on wearing his mittens to eat breakfast. He was really excited - too bad we only had a dusting!

We have been telling Daniel the Christmas story. I got a kid's nativity at the book store and we look at the figures and talk through the basics. He definitely knows it's Jesus' birthday. I don't really know what he thinks is going to happen on Christmas. We don't talk about it much because I don't want to focus on the presents but it's everywhere. My eyes have really been opened to how much our culture focuses on presents - from the commercials on TV to the fact that everyone he sees asks him, 'What's Santa going to bring you for Christmas?'. I have been telling him that the reason we give presents on Christmas is because the Wise Men brought presents to Jesus. I don't know if he is making the connection.

We decided that we would tell him Santa fills his stocking, but all of the presents on Christmas morning are going to be from mom and pop. We are still a bit uncomfortable with encouraging the whole Santa thing but he already knew about Santa when he came to us, you see Santa everywhere, and we don't want him to feel left out. But, we want the presents to be from us. We felt that it would be hard to explain why Santa never brought him a present before and now all of a sudden he gets presents. So, Santa will fill the stocking with mostly candy and small items (that's what he got from Santa at the orphanage - candy) and the gifts (not too many, but enough) will be from mom and pop. I am so excited to see his reaction on Christmas! It is going to be such fun! I have really tried not to over do it in the gift department. It's so hard! I just want to get him everything and totally spoil him. Yeah, he is due a little spoiling but we don't want to ruin him! It's a fine line!

One Sunday Pop was sick and didn't go to church so I thought it was a good opportunity to introduce him to the joy of giving so I told him we were going to get a Christmas present for Pop and it would be a surprise! We went to the mall after church and picked out something great. I really talked it up that it was going to be a surprise so we can't tell pop. It's a secret until Christmas. We came home and found a great hiding place. A few hours after we were home, I popped my head into the bedroom to see how pop was feeling. He said, 'Apparently you got me a watch and it's a secret.' WHAT?? That little stinker marched right in there and told him immediately! I went to him and asked, 'what happened? I thought we were going to surprise pop?' He laughed and said, 'Mom, I'm silly!' OK - lesson learned for mom. Apparently 5 years old is too young for a secret. Oh well!

We wish you - all of our blog friends - a very Merry Christmas! As we work with Daniel on focusing on the true meaning of Christmas we hope that you can experience Christ in a fresh new way this year. I am reminded of a line in a song:

"His ways are higher, His ways are better - though sometimes strange. What could be stranger than God in a manger?"

We praise you Lord for your strange to us, but oh so brilliant ways! Thank you for sending your Son in a way that would make him approachable to anyone, from all walks of life. Thank you for sending Him in such a strange way that we would know it can only be a miracle from you. Thank you for moving in our lives and building our family in such a strange and beautiful way. I can't imagine a child that could be more perfect for us than Daniel Anatoly. It's been a strange, painful and surprising road. We are so humbled and blessed!

Merry Christmas!

Moving Day

I talked to Daniel's teacher when I dropped him off at school yesterday. She told me they were in their reading group and she read a story called 'Moving Day'. She asked the kids, 'Has anyone ever moved?' Daniel raised his hand and said that he had moved so she asked him to tell them about it. He said, 'Mama and Papa came to get me. They took me to the park. I called her Mom. And then we got on a plane and came to America.'

As he gets more English we are hearing more about what he remembers. I'm sure he remembers more, he just can't articulate it yet. It's nice to hear the bits and pieces as they come out.

We are still having some behavior issues, but it's mostly just due to the fact that he is settling in, learning the rules and testing his boundaries. We couldn't be prouder about his accomplishments in school. Academically he is doing amazingly well. He'll be reading in no time. They did some testing the 2nd week of school and we just got the results in the mail. On the letter recognition part of the test they would expect a child his age to get 8 right (remember, it was only the 2nd week of school). Daniel got 31. WOW!!

We are looking forward to Christmas and we are focusing on the reason for the holiday. He knows what a birthday is, so we are really talking up the celebration for Jesus' birthday. It gives us such a thrill to hear him singing Christmas carols. Sure, he hmmms over a lot of the words but it's so sweet and he loves to sing!

Hello Santa!

Today at school they had a wedding!! The kids are learning their letter sounds and they are up to Q. In order to reinforce the point that Q is followed by U - the Kindergarteners had a wedding today for Q and U. They are were all supposed to dress up and they had a ceremony. Now U is moving on up the alphabet train to be next to Q. How cute is that?

Since he was already all dressed up, I took Daniel to the mall to see Santa. I still think he has no idea what's coming. While we were waiting in line I told him, 'Santa is going to ask you what you want for Christmas. What are you going to tell him?' 'Um, Candy?', he says. 'Anything else?', I ask. 'I don't know', he says. I don't think he knows he's going to get presents. He is excited about Christmas, just because we are - it's fun. He doesn't know yet about all the loot he's going to get. We're going to try to keep it low key but I am really excited to see his reaction. Here is our happy boy with Santa. He was saying, 'Merry Christmas Santa!'

Oh Christmas tree

Daniel has his very own little Christmas tree in his room. It's pretty cool! I got some ornaments for him from the vendors in Ukraine. (you adoptees know those vendors - outside the SDA) Now that we put them on his tree, I wish I had gotten more! We also have some great handmade ornaments from when I was a little girl and a cool new 'I'm 5 years old' ornament from Babushka and Dadushka - Thanks! It looks pretty great....

Happy Thanksgiving!

I think Dad's Thanksgiving prayer sums it up perfectly, 'What last year was just a hope and prayer this year is our sweet little Daniel and we are so thankful.'

Here are some other photos to catch you up on our beautiful day......

Daniel was so amazed at our 4 turkeys. Here he is helping Pop prep them the night before:

And then getting ready to fry them up on the next day. That's right - we have a totally redneck (and really yummy) Thanksgiving of fried turkey:

It's been a crazy, busy, happy, stressful, surprising, and completely blessed 7 months. We are so thankful for our many blessings and for our favorite little boy.

Busy Days

We are busy just getting through the routine of our week. Daniel is still doing really great. He has grown almost 3 inches since he has been here and such a big boy. He zoomed right through 4T and are on to 5Ts. So tall - the 4s are too short!

School is going well. His English is improving in leaps and bounds and we have had such fun seeing his sweet personality blossom! We have been working on obedience, which doesn't come naturally so we've been standing in the corner a bit, but that's to be expected. We are finding that some of the things we let go in the beginning (when we were focused on NOT hitting!), now we are starting to focus on. We don't want to be those parents that tell their child 8 times to pick up toys before they actually do it. We're working on - Mom and Pop say it and Daniel does it. He's been getting in trouble a bit for not listening at school, so it's a lesson that will be good for him to learn. He is pretty strong willed and some days we stand in the corner several times but we're seeing progress. We know he's not going to be perfect so we're happy with improvement and I was proud today to see him doing a great job sharing at the playground.

Here are some pictures to catch you up:

Helping mom All dressed up for church

Riding a pony at a friends birthday party

With Curious GeorgeHaving a bad hair day

Playing at the park

Halloween 2009

Our little pirate had a great Halloween! Since this is his first year, I decided that the grandparents all needed to see him. So, we did a little bit a trick or treating on our street with the neighbor kids and then we loaded up and headed over to Mammaw and Pappaw's and then on to Omah and Foffee's. Whew! By the end of the night he was tired, mom was whipped, and we had a huge bowl of candy to show for our efforts. We'll be eating all this candy until next Halloween!

In the car on the way over, I opened the sun roof so he could see the moon. He's never really out late enough to see it - so it's amazing! He says to me, 'Mom, the moon is far away.' 'Yes, it is!', I reply. 'Ukraine is far away', he says. 'Yes it is - Ukraine is far away', I reply. 'Ukraine is on the moon', he said. That's pretty good logic! I told him that even though we can see the moon and we can't see Ukraine - Ukraine is closer. How cute!

The other night, putting him to bed I was telling him how God brought us all together. God brought Daniel to Mama and Papa and God brought Mama and Papa to Daniel. He said, 'God fixed it.' That's right big boy. God fixed a great family for us all.

Annual Gun Shoot In Missouri

About once every year, Jason gets together with his buddies from St Louis Rich, Jake, Bernie, and Brett for a full day of shooting guns. Unfortunately Bernie wasn't able to attend this year's edition due to a prior commitment but that didn't stop the rest of us from blazing away.

The Shooting Gallery

A well-armed tree

One can never have enough ammunition....

This year Rich and Jake fabricated some fairly elaborate target stands and several different sizes of 3/4" steel plate affectionately known as "gongs". Every year we try to see how much damage we can do the gongs and this time Jason brought along 200 rounds of 30.06 armor piercing to show them who's boss. While nothing else would fully penetrate the plates, these rounds went through them like a hot knife through butter. One of our victims...

Also we tried our hand at "bumpfiring" some of our weapons which is a method of simulating full-auto with a semiautomatic. Here's one of the results:

Anyhow, it was another successful day of shooting. Hopefully Bernie will be there next year to lend us a hand.

Santa Claus

After our fun time at the zoo, we stopped by a friend's house to show off our cute little pirate. While we were visiting with her in her home, Daniel saw a picture on the end table. The picture is of her grandkids sitting on Santa's lap. That night, when I was putting him to bed he asks, 'Mom - will Santa come here?' I didn't know what he meant at first. I said, 'It's not Christmas, it's Halloween. We are going to go trick or treating.' In a very confused voice he says, 'Mom, teacher in Ukraine say Santa no come here.'

Let me pause for a moment while that sinks in.

How sad. We have heard stories from other adoptive parents about their kids being told strange things to try to make them not want to leave Ukraine. How sad is that? That an adult would tell him that Santa doesn't come to America? So, he wanted a family so bad - even thinking that Santa wouldn't come here, he came home with us anyway.

It totally put me on the spot. We hadn't really decided yet if we were going to tell him about Santa or not. (you can visit Jason on Facebook to join the rollicking debate on if you should tell your kid the truth about Santa. If they find out you lied about Santa, the Easter Bunny and the tooth fairy - what will they think about Jesus?) That's a whole other debate.

I told him yes - we will have Christmas, just not yet. In a few months it will be time for Christmas. We will put up a big huge tree, and we'll celebrate Jesus' birthday, and we'll have presents. I love you. Good Night! I totally evaded and avoided answering the actual question. The bottom line is - Christmas here is going to blow his mind. (just like everything else up to this point) It is going to be so fun and magical and we can't wait to share it with him!

Halloween party at the Zoo!

We took Daniel to the Zoo for the biggest Halloween party in town. He was the cutest little pirate you ever did see. I explained to him what Halloween was all about - you're going to dress up like a pirate, and we'll go to the neighbors and knock on the door, and the lady will come to the door, and you will say, 'Trick or Treat'. I had his rapt attention. He says, 'And then, Mom??' And then she's going to give you candy!! His eyes got as big as saucers. Let's Go!! He said.

So our first round of trick or treating was at the zoo. He's not scared. He walked right up to the lady and said 'Trick or Treat' and held out his bag. When she put something in, he was rooted to that spot. He didn't move. He pulled out the candy and gave it to me and said, 'Mom, open?' We ate it right there. It was yummy! He had such fun seeing all of the characters and getting candy. We've been enjoying it all week. We are looking forward to this weekend and seeing our cute little pirate again....

Pumpking carving

Saturday was a slow day for us. We laid around and tried to get over our colds, watched the Cards lose at football and then went out and got a pumpkin. Daniel had no idea what was to come next.
When I cut off the top and told him to stick his hand in he goes, 'Mom, I'm scared!'. After a bit of coaxing, he finally went in and pulled a few seeds out.

I carved and let him poke out the pieces from the inside. Then he said, 'That's Cool!'

We put it out on the porch and admired our handiwork.

He had to give it a BIG HUG before going off to bed....

Field Trip!

Friday was Daniel's first field trip. All of the places around town that he's never been, and we went to the farm. He's been there twice! (for strawberry picking and peach picking) That's OK. The farm in the fall is great fun. We were really looking forward to it. It rained several days this week and turned cool. They sent home a note saying the trip would happen - rain or shine! So, we bundled off to school in the drizzling rain.

By the time they sorted us into groups and bussed everyone over there, the rain had stopped. It was still chilly and overcast, but I was thankful for no rain! We loaded up on the wagon and rode out to the Cartoon corn maze. The farmer met us out there and told all about the history of the farm, which was great unless you were five. Then it was totally boring and long. After the farmer's chat - we headed into the Cartoon Corn Maze. There were cartoon characters hiding and we were supposed to find them.

After 3 days of rain - the cartoon corn maze was a solid mud pit. I can't believe they actually sent us in there. It was unbelievable! They didn't even put down straw and try to minimize the mess. There were big huge puddles of mud that there was no hope of going around. Can you imagine 5 year old boys in all that mud? They were stomping. They were jumping. And by the time we emerged at the other end - they had mud everywhere. It was crazy! We picked out pumpkins, took a wagon ride and had a great big farmhouse lunch. They all had fun - and fell sound asleep on the bus on the way back to school.

Finally - an update!!

I know - it's been forever, right? I have been sick, so that's my excuse. I feel like I have been sick on and off (mostly on) ever since Daniel started Kindergarten. My immune system is a big wimp apparently. A gal at work told me it takes the first 6 months to build up immunity to all of those little kid germs. If I have to be sick for 6 months - I don't know if I can stand it.

The good news is - Daniel is healthy!! If one of us has to be sick, I am glad it's me! He is doing really great in school. He got his first report card. I am proud to report that he got all A's, with the exception of a C in PE. We expected that. He is behind the other kids in his strength and abilities. We are seeing leaps and bounds in progress though. He is able to do things now (like climbing etc. on the monkey bars) that he couldn't do when he first came home. We are so very proud of him. He knows all of his letters and numbers and the teacher said that they are very impressed with how great he is doing! She actually told me that he is a 'gifted' little boy and they expect big things from him. WOW! I mean, we thought he was smart but we don't have a point of comparison. For her to confirm it, is amazing!

God has blessed us with such a sweet boy. Tonight when he was saying prayers he said, 'Thank you for Mama and Papa and Daniel. I love all this.' We love you too sweet one. Life has changed completely since he has joined us and we're so happy with our new family.

We're so amazed at what a good sleeper he is. We put him to bed - and that's it, we don't hear from him again for 10 hours. A few times he has gotten up to go to the bathroom or to ask for a bandaid, but that's very rare. Usually he sleeps all the way through.

Jason had a surprise last week. I had set out Daniel's warm coat for a cold day and when they came down and saw it sitting there, Daniel said, 'That's not my coat. Daniel's coat is purple.' Who remembers the pictures from the orphanage? His famous purple coat? He never says anything about it, so we didn't know if he remembered it or not. Jason told him, 'No, this is your coat. You don't have the purple coat any more.' Daniel says, 'Oh - the purple coat is in my far away home.' That's the first time he's said anything about the orphanage. Once he gets more English, then more may come out. It was good to hear him speak about it.

I can't find the cord to upload pics from my camera so I will have to do that later. Tomorrow is Daniel's first field trip. I am taking a vacation day for the grand event and going with his class as a chaperone. I should have some good pics from that!

Gooooooooo CARDS!

We took Daniel to his first U of L football game this past weekend. It was big excitement - not just for Daniel but for Mom and Pop too! He has lots of U of L sports in his future. We had a great time, but it was a late night. The game didn't start until 8:00 and he's usually in bed by 8:30. He hung in there for quite awhile, but then he crawled up in mom's lap and fell dead asleep in the third quarter. I couldn't believe in the midst of all that cheering, whistling, jeering and whooping - he was sleeping! It was time to head home. Even though the Cards lost in a big way, we had a great time. See for yourself....

Ready for Halloween!

He was hoping that the kids at school would be scared of his creepy shirt!

Treasure Train

This weekend we went on a geocaching train ride. It was really great! Daniel was so excited about it - he kept talking all week about the Choo Choo Train. Usually we don't like caching in a herd, but it was well planned out. They let people off in groups so it wasn't too crowded. We decided we were enjoying the train so much that we didn't get off at all of the stops, we stayed on and enjoyed the ride. It was a beautiful day in Versailles!

ABC

Sorry this is so dark - it was early in the morning. I am still learning how to use my new camera, but I thought this was just precious!

Chase and Daniel - best buddies

Pop got a real treat this weekend - 2 nearly full days of male bonding time with the boy. Mom had euchre with the girls Friday night, so the men of the house went to Daniel's first-ever football game. They met Uncle Ken and Chase at Vietnam Kitchen (one of Pop's favorite places) and then headed over to Holy Cross to watch the home team take on Christian Academy. After a little while, Daniel got fairly bored with the game since football is hard to follow and it's difficult to see where the ball is from the sidelines. Fortunately, though, Chase was there to rescue the evening and kept him entertained.

I must say that I marvel at how those two kids have bonded. Chase is truly one of Daniel's favorite people - he LOVES him dearly and is always excited to see him. Chase is so good to him - he really watches out for our little guy and goes out of his way to spend real quality time with him. It's thrilling for me to see those two boys being such good buddies and it truly warms my heart.

On Saturday night, we met Omah, Foffee, and Chase at Salem Speedway for the ARCA races. This was Daniel's first "real" race (I'm not counting the Jeffersonville Sportsdrome). I was quite surprised that Daniel remembered meeting Frank Kimmel and going to his race shop (see the post from 5 months ago). His memory is uncanny. He said, "Pop - look race car! Daniel sit in race car!" as we passed Mr Kimmel's hauler. Amazing.

Anyhow, overall Daniel enjoyed the races, but the best parts were seeing Chase (again) and eating all of the snacks and popcorn. I asked him afterward if he liked the races and he emphatically said, "YES POP!" I asked him if he wanted to go again sometime and he said, "Yes, tomorrow!" If he only knew how many races were in his future....

Still Here!

I know, I know, long time no post! We are doing fine, just BUSY!!! Jason and I collapsed on top of our bed on Sunday afternoon and he commented, 'Remember when we could just lay down and take a nap on Sunday afternoon?' At least I think that's what he said. I was trying to hear him in between, 'Mom, what about play? What about Daniel play blocks? You could play with me. Mom? What about play? I want to play. What about Daniel play blocks?' No problem with English - he can get his point across, that's for sure! He may be missing some of the filler words but he is totally speaking in full sentences and very well. He has started saying, 'Cool!' (he picked that up at school for sure!)

We think back to BD (before Daniel), when we were preparing to go to Ukraine. I thought I wanted 2 kids. I prayed, 'Lord, whoever you have for us will be great but Oh, by the way, I would really like 2 kids - 1 boy and 1 girl.' Well, He sure knows what He is doing! I can't imagine if he blessed us with 2! 1 Daniel keeps us hopping. He is so full of energy! We are constantly on the go, on the move, playing, playing, playing. Of course, if we had another - he would have a playmate. It wouldn't have to be mom or pop! Although, surprisingly enough - I am pretty fierce with a light saber!

Last week, when I was taking Daniel to school we were talking about our week. (it is a constant discussion! That's all I hear, 'Mom - what tomorrow? And then? And then?) So I was telling him - 3 more days of school and then 2 days of no school.

He says, 'And then mom, all done school?'

'No!', I say. 'This is what we do - 5 days of school and then 2 days of no school, 5 days of school and then 2 days of no school - over and over.'

He goes, 'Awwwww man! Why mom, why?'

:) It's going to be a long 13 years!! He likes school - he would just rather play all day! (yeah - me too!)

Happy Birthday Aunt Carleen!!

I am so glad we could be there to help you celebrate 74! We love you!!!

Grandparents Day!

Today was grandparents day at Daniel's school. I think he was the only one in his class with all 4 grandparents there. Thanks for your love and support! We love you Daniel Fan Club!!!

Goofy and Elmo

Yesterday Daniel got up, came into the living room, looked out the window and said, 'Look mom, it's goofy'. 'Do you see Goofy out there?' I ask. 'No - not see Goofy, it's goofy.' So of course, I had to go look. Goofy, Foggy - he had the letters right!

Every day when I drop him off we go over the rules for school. He says, 'No hitting, No throwing, No touch kids, No screaming, listen Mrs. Parr, and No touch kids with Elmo.' Well, Elmo, Elbow - he has the right idea!

We visited with relatives over the holiday weekend and they hadn't seen Daniel since the wedding in July. They were marveling at how much he has grown and how much his English has improved. We are with him every day and don't notice as much, but they were amazed. He's come a long way! I will have pictures as soon as I can upload from my camera!

We had a follow up home study appointment last night. Is it wrong to feel resentful of this? I know, I know - they have a huge responsibility authorizing people for adoptions. But we can't help but feel like, if we were his birth parents - no one would look in on us, count our smoke detectors, and peer into my medicine cabinets. It just seems like an insult. The appointment went fine. The lady was really nice. Of course, I felt compelled to clean the house from top to bottom, chase away all the dust bunnies, make the beds (you know, all that stuff I do EVERY day, yeah right!). It was really just to check in with us and make sure everyone is doing OK. It was fine, but we have another one in 2 months! Geez! When do they stop peering over our shoulders?

I just need to count my blessings. If this is what it takes to be his mom and dad - then we will do it. I just can't imagine life without our sweet Daniel!

New Camera!!!!

Jason got me a new camera for my birthday and I am having a great time learning all about it. I just figured out how to download photos tonight so here are some cute ones....

Behavior update - we got all smiley faces today!! Things are improving! We still get frowney faces sometimes, but the report changes each day. We don't have repeat infractions. Every day is something new. When I drop him off in the morning we go over the rules for school - no hitting, no throwing, don't touch the other kids, no screaming, no elbows, listen to the teacher. Each day we have a new issue. Sometimes I think they are being too strict - talking in the bathroom? dancing in the lunch room? I mean, he is 5 after all. I can't jump on his case for everything! I want school to be a good experience. So, we focus on the positive and as long as he isn't choking or hitting - I am happy!

He is a typical kid. He is constantly asking Why? Why? Why? Last night when I put him to bed he was asking Why? Because it's time to sleep. Why? Because it's late. Why? So I explained to him that while you are sleeping you are growing. You need to sleep so you can grow big and strong. I never realize what things fly over his head and what will actually stick. This morning, as soon as he got up he was telling me, 'Mom, I'm growing!' I said, 'Oh! Did you grow while you slept?' He says, 'Yes, I'm growing. Look at me! I'm BIG! And.........roller coaster!' He really can't wait to be tall enough to ride the big coasters! What a crack up!

You say the sweetest things!

This morning on the way to school, Daniel says to me, 'Mom, I like friends.' I say, 'Do you have friends at school?' He says, 'Yes, I like friends. And I have Mom and Pop.' I say, 'Yes, we're your friends.' He said, 'Yes and I have Mammaw and Pappaw, and Omah and Foffee, and Babushka and Diadushka.....' And he proceeded to list out all of the members of our family and our friends. He said, 'Yes, I like all this.' It was so sweet. I think in his own, limited English sort of way, he was saying, 'I love this new family and this new life.' We love you too big boy! We are still praising God for His wonderful blessings. We can't imagine our world without this sweet little boy!

State Fair

Challenges

Things are going OK at school, well, sort of. I have been debating about this post for awhile. When we were preparing to adopt, we were told that we need to expect to have 'issues' with the children. But I could never really find much solid information about these actual issues. I would read blogs of folks that adopted and everything seemed just peachy. Well, now that I have adopted - I understand. You blog about the good things, the fun things. Someone said to us, 'Daniel is always so happy!' Well yes, he is happy a lot but we also don't whip out the camera when he is standing in the corner and screaming. I guess it's natural to focus on the good. My intent here is full disclosure, for any readers out there that want to know what kind of problems we're having.

Daniel is struggling in school with his behavior. The school sends home a daily report on their behavior. They either get a smiley face, a straight line face, or a frowney face. The first day of school he got a straight line face and the note said that he had to be 're-directed' a lot today. That doesn't really help me a lot. I told the teacher I need specifics. He still doesn't have a lot of English so I can't speak in generals. I need to know what we can work on specifically. The second day of school, we got a note from the teacher that he hit 3 different kids and actually choked one kid with both hands around their neck. I was horrified!! We didn't have any issues like this at day care.

But then I thought about it. When we first brought him home, he used to hit me and Jason. We worked on that a lot over the summer and every time he hit, he stood in the corner. He seems to have learned that this is not acceptable and he hasn't hit me in a long time. But obviously, this was his coping technique at the orphanage. It was allowed (that we saw) and how he survived there. So in a new situation where he feels threatened - that's the behavior that comes out. I should have expected it. So we talked all weekend about not hitting the kids and on Monday we got a smiley face! But of course, things don't get resolved that easily. That's an ingrained behavior and his knee jerk reaction. It's going to take awhile to program in a new reaction to a tough situation. Yesterday we got a frowny face for jumping on another kid. We are still working on it....

Holiday World

Last weekend we took Daniel to Holiday World. It was his first time at an amusement park and he totally loved it! This kid can't wait until he is tall enough for the BIG roller coasters. Until then, we had great fun on the little ones and he loved the spinning turkeys. We rode them 3 times! In the afternoon we hit the water park. First time at a big pool! I don't have any pictures because I was too paranoid about keeping him above water. He really enjoyed the wave pool. We will definitely have to get him in swimming lessons next summer. Here are some pics....

Peach Picking

Another fun day at Huber's farm! It was hot, but that didn't stop us....

First Day of Kindergarten

Today was the BIG day for our BIG boy! Let me tell you, he did way better than mom. I had no idea it would be so emotional. I was all ready and excited. A bit stressed about pulling all of the pieces together and getting him ready, but excited. Not sad at all! This morning reading I came across this verse:

'...whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he.' Proverbs 16:20

I decided that was going to be my verse for today. I trust in the Lord. I know He is going to watch over our big boy, so I am going to be happy about our exciting milestone. That was all good, until I was standing in his classroom watching him sit at that little bitty table and I was just flooded with emotion. He's only been our little boy for all of 4 months, and now I have to let him go. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. His teacher was so sweet. She actually gave me a hug and promised me that they would take good care of him.

What if, what if, what if - the devil is whispering in my ear. And so, I pry my fingers off of the controls and I walked out of the classroom - leaving him in the Lord's hands. And of course, it was great! You should have seen him jumping and smiling and waving when I showed up to get him. He had fun, ate most of his lunch and actually wrote his teacher's name and drew her picture. He is ready to go back tomorrow. I am hoping it gets easier!

An apple for his teacher:

All ready to learn:

Kindergarten Camp

Last Thursday was Kindergarten Camp! This is like orientation. We went to school and Daniel got to meet his teacher, Mrs. Parr. We met in the cafeteria and then the kids went off to see their new rooms with their teacher. I came back 2 hours later and then it was my turn to see the room. It was very exciting and kind of scary at the same time. He's just so little. I can't imagine him at school! Who is going to make sure he eats his sandwich at lunch, and not just the cookie? What if he can't button his pants after the bathroom? What if he gets separated from his class? What if, What if, What if? I needed a firm reminder this week (which came from a friend) that God is in control! Not me! He loves Daniel even more than I do and will be watching over him - all the way at Kindergarten. The same God who knows the number of hairs on his head, will be with him even when we are not. Thank you Lord! I don't know if I could ever let him out of the house without that assurrance!


Look at this sweet boy:



Thursday is D day. I am sure it will be harder on me than on him!