Another great week!

We are praising God every day for his continued blessings. We're having such fun with Daniel. Sure, he is pushing our buttons, we run out of patience at times (he heard Jason's alarm and got up at 4:30am the other day - yikes!), we have plenty of things to work on (throwing toys! throwing anything!), he does wear us out but as I type this I really have to stop and think about what tough things to list. For the most part, 99.9% of the time, we are counting our blessings. He is such a joy to us - so happy and fun! We feel so honored that God has chosen us to be the parents of this special child. He is very loving. We give (and receive) hugs and kisses all the time. Now that he has learned 'I Love you!' we get to hear it all of the time. What a treasure!

We went to Indy this weekend to visit friends. We attended church with them this morning and the pastor was talking about praying the same prayer every day for his little girl. Not that she would make good grades, or be healthy, or find the right mate, but that the love of Jesus would capture her heart. That really spoke to me. That just sums it all up. I have so many prayers for Daniel but that really covers it all. If he would be completely captured with love for Christ and all of his energy and excitement would be focused on God - what an amazing boy, kid, teenager, man he would be. He could accomplish so much for God. I am really excited to see what the Lord will do in Daniel's life. He has brought all of us together in such an amazing way and I know He has big plans for this little boy.

Hearing that pastor talk about his Godly mother also challenged me. I need to be that kind of mom for Daniel. We have been solely focused on surviving this transition and helping him learn English - he has so much to learn. But first and foremost - above his colors and numbers and his name - he needs to learn of Christ and how much He loves us. That is so much a part of Jason and me but it's a whole new concept for him. He knows we hold hands and pray, but I am sure he doesn't know what we're doing. It blows my mind to think about the big responsibility we have - not to be good parents but to introduce him to Christ. There is nothing more important. WOW! He has no idea! Lord, please help us! Give us the right words, the right moments, to help him understand and point him to you!

OK - let me step back from my BIG picture, overwhelming moment and share some cute photos...

More Father's Day pics:

First Boat Ride (Belle of Louisville):

Petting a shark! (Whoa! He was so brave!)

First Roller Coaster ride:

And - more singing......

Happy Fathers Day

Look at my boys! Aren't they the cutest? We had a very happy First Father's Day! Daniel is picking up English in leaps and bounds. We even got him to say, 'Hoppy Fozzer Day'! And do you remember that little boy that didn't want to have a birthday (didn't know what it was!), well - look at me now........

Routine

With Kelly returning to work, we have finally really settled into our routine. Daniel is at daycare Monday and Tuesday, at Omah and Foffee's Wednesday, Mamah and Papaw come over to Daniel's house Thursday, and the weekends are a free-for-all. It's obvious that Daniel really likes a consistent schedule and we try really hard to keep him on it. Every night we do the same thing - dinner, bath, half-hour or so of television, and then bed. Kelly made a poster with Daniel's activities so he can always know what's going on in the next days. It should also help him to learn the days of the week.

Kelly and I truly marvel at Daniel's communication skills. Just this week, he's started speaking regularly in complete sentences. Before it was just a collection of words to get his point across. For example, last week he would say, "Daniel hungry." Last night he said, "I am really hungry too." It is truly amazing. He still has a way to go, of course, with vocabulary but everyday brings new words. Having him in daycare has really accelerated things. We have a feeling he is going to breeze through his English-as-a-second-language classes this fall.

10000 hits!

When Kelly and I started this blog, we never really thought anyone would actually read the thing besides some family wanting to know what we were doing in Ukraine. Fast forward about a year and we are nearing 10000 hits! We know that number is representative of the overwhelming support, love, and prayers we have received during and after our adoption journey. God not only blessed us with an awesome little boy, but with fantastic friendships and family. Thanks to every one of you who offered support, gave gifts, and most of all prayed on our behalf. We know that, because of you and the love you've shown, this experience has not only been easy, but a delight.

We have learned (or re-learned) many lessons throughout the last year. Some of them are:

• God is ABSOLUTELY faithful when you follow His guidance
• When folks pray in earnest, great things can happen
• You are loved by many more people than you realize
• Even in tough times, people are amazingly considerate and generous
• When you misbehaved as a kid, it actually hurt your parents' feelings (that one was a shocker to both Kelly and me). Sorry mom and dad!
• You develop a strong bond with folks who have gone through the same experience - even if you haven't actually met. How weird is that? We still read the Czeropski, Turner, and Tucci blogs everyday and pray for them all of the time.
• Being a parent forces the father into a spiritual leadership role which isn't a bad thing

I'm sure Kelly would add several more things to the list.

Anyhow, we still love to get comments on our posts and truly appreciate all of your support! Now - I wonder who will be the 10000th visitor....

A great weekend!

What a special weekend with our little boy. Every weekend is fun, every weekend is special. We are just counting our blessings that the Lord brought us such a great kid. He contantly overwhelms us with how sweet he is, how perfect for us, how much we love him. Here is the rundown of another fun weekend in the life of Daniel.....

Saturday took us to Huber's Orchard for strawberry picking, or should I say strawberry eating? We picked for about 2 minutes and then he realized eating (and throwing the stems) was much more fun. I don't think I have ever seen him eat so many strawberries. We had a grand time!

Sunday morning was his very first school bus ride. We parked across the street from church and rode over on the bus. He didn't want to get on at first, but once he saw that mama and papa were coming too - he climbed right up. He kept smiling at me the entire time!

Then on Sunday afternoon we went out to Uncle Jon's place to visit the horses and do some fishing. It was his first time fishing. I got him a little Shrek fishing pole on clearance and he has been dying to try it out. It was the perfect spot for a 5 year old with a short attention span to fish. As soon as your line dropped in the water, you got a bite. They were small fish, but we pulled them out one right after the other. He kept yelling, 'Hooray!'

It feels like we are finally settling in to a routine with our weekly schedule. He always asks me what we are doing tomorrow - over and over. He will say, 'Mom - tomorrow?' and I will tell him and he'll say, 'and then? and then?' We go over the entire week. I don't know if that's just a little kid thing, or if he is wondering how long this will last. I forgot to learn how to say, 'You're here forever!' in Russian. Over time we are seeing that he is becoming more and more secure. He is able to play in his room by himself for short stretches, and go to the bathroom by himself. Not that I think he should be independent at 5, but it is good to see that he feels comfortable and not constantly looking for us to make sure we are still here.

We feel so fortunate that he has had such an easy transition. Preparing for an adoption, I did a lot of reading about possible 'issues' - behavior issues, attachment, etc. It's good to be informed and we certainly could have things come up in the future, but for now he seems like a well adjusted kid. He sleeps great at night - no fear of being by himself. He eats well, but we don't have any food issues. We feel like any issues we have had are just normal parenting things. He is pushing his boundaries to see what he can get away with. We have spent some time standing in the corner for hitting or not obeying, but that is just normal kid stuff. He seems to be attaching to us well. He is a lovable little guy and loves to give us hugs. He seeks us out when we are in public and comes to us for comfort. Whatever they did in the orphanage, they certainly brought up a well adjusted little boy. What a delight! Thank you Lord for giving us abundantly more than we could ask or imagine!!

I love you

Three simple words, but what an impact!

As is usual for us on Tuesdays, Kelly and Daniel met Pop for dinner before he headed off to his Discipleship Curriculum class at church. As we were going our separate ways, Daniel gave Pop a HUGE hug and said, "I love you, Pop". Honestly I was quite moved as that's the first time we've ever heard him use those words - in English or Ukrainian. It was a very touching moment and really overshadowed all of the other (not so good) moments of the day. Needless to say, I've had an extra spring in my step since then. Whoo-hoo!

To Catch you up!

OK - I know it's been awhile since I posted. I am getting used to being back to work and juggling my time. I am still taking lots of photos, but they are all stuck in my camera!

Today was Daniel's first day of day care. As with most other things, he did just great. We were so proud. I actually met a lady over the weekend that speaks Russian, so I had her tell me how to say school in his language. Once he heard he was going to school, he was pretty excited! He woke up and said to me first thing, 'Mama work, Daniel school'. They said he did really well, and even interacted with some of the other kids. He was very polite at lunch and kept saying, 'Thank you!' What a relief! Hopefully tomorrow will be an equal success.

Here are some other posts to catch you up.......

Indy Visit

We went to visit our friends in Indianapolis for the weekend. They have a little boy too and we had a great time visiting, catching up and enjoying their company. Here are some photos......

Daniel really enjoyed Robert's train:
Bonnie and I took the boys to the Children's Museum and they had a great time:

We played so hard, we wore those little boys out! After a quick nap, we saw 'Up!' in 3D:

He is settling right in to our lives just great! We didn't know how he would do, spending the night in a new place. This was the first time he hasn't slept in his own bed since he has been here and he was just perfect. He slept the night through. Of course, we were right across the hall so that helped. We were so proud of our little guy!

First Formal Photo

Isn't he just the cutest thing? JC Penney's did a pretty good job. Here is our big five year old:

A Daniel Shower

This post has been a long time coming, as I have been collecting pictures from others. Our Bible study group was so sweet and put on a wonderful shower for Daniel. It was so awesome and over the top. Marion's house was decorated perfectly to celebrate a little boy (as you can see from the photos) and the spread they had was amazing. A BIG THANK YOU to everyone that came, and everyone that sent us good wishes. Jason brought Daniel over and he had a BIG time! He is set up with toys and goodies for a long time to come. Your generosity was overwhelming and we just can't thank you enough!

Car Races

The First Car Race!!! What a big event for Daniel and Papa! We decided to start him out small, to see if he had the patience for an entire evening. We went to the Sportsdrome in Jeffersonville. He did pretty good. He was antsy between races and during the cautions, but while they were racing he was pretty enthralled. He kept asking about Mark Mark (this is what he calls Mark Martin) - any yellow car is Mark Mark. Then we had the ultimate redneck experience - they actually did figure 8 bus racing! I couldn't believe we were there, but I have to admit that Daniel seemed to enjoy that the most. Watch the video to see how excited he was:

Standing for the National Anthem. Look at our little American: