Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas is almost here!!

We've been busy getting ready.....

Decorating Daniel's tree: Having a Christmas party at school:

Celebrating Pop's and Uncle Chuck's birthday:


Eating Christmas cookies:

Daniel is really excited about Christmas this year. We've been talking about how it's not just about presents but about Jesus coming to earth to be our Savior. It's tough - you don't really know what's sinking in and what's going in one ear and out the other. The other night, 10 minutes before a bunch of people show up to our home for a party - mom is running around like crazy, doing all of those last minute things - and Daniel goes and gets his Bible off the shelf. He brings it into the kitchen and proceeds to read:

'For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.' John 3:16

'What does that mean mom?'

Wow - I couldn't believe it. Just out of the blue, he is asking me that. What a moment! So, in the midst of all the busyness - I explanied how God loved us soooooo much, He sent His only son Jesus, and that's what we celebrate at Christmas. But God didn't send Jesus just to be a baby, He sent Jesus to grow up and die on the cross to pay for our sins. And He did that as a gift for us - the greatest gift ever.

I hope you can celebrate this great gift in your home this Christmas.

Much love to you all! Thanks for sharing our lives and our love of sweet Daniel.

Merry, Merry, Merry Christmas!

The tree is up!!

With his 2 minute attention span, Daniel helped us as much as he could with getting the tree up and decorated. Daniel keeps asking me how many days until Christmas. He is pretty excited! I asked him, 'What's your favorite thing about Christmas?' Well of course he said presents. 'What else?', I asked. 'Being with your family and having joy' he said. What a great answer!!

School Christmas Program

Daniel's Christmas program at school was last week. It was mandatory for his music grade, but we wouldn't have missed it for the world! He was so excited. All the kids got to pick their instrument and he was playing the bell tree. He told me, 'Mom, you can't just pick what you like - you have to think about what you're good at.' And then they sang also. Their music teacher is very dedicated. The entire program was with music provided by the kids - no CD. She says they will be more invested in it if they do it all. We were really impressed with the performances. Daniel was so proud. You could see him trying to hide his big smile.

Water park

Last weekend we went to the Big Splash indoor water park in French Lick, IN. (thank you Groupon) We met our friends the Parkers there and we all had a great time. Daniel had such fun swimming, enjoying their basketball hoops, Karlen family Wipeout on their obstacle course, the lazy river and shooting down those BIG slides!!! On the weekend before Thanksgiving when I should have been home cleaning house and preparing to have 21 people over for the big day, we were off splish splashing around. It was a nice get away....

Happy Thanksgiving!

Another new belt

Daniel is now a blue belt. It's impressive. We are so proud of all he has learned and his accomplishments!!

This is before the test - he is showing off his blue 'character stripes'. He works hard each week to add to this row of stripes...

Howdy Partner!

The rodeo came to town last week, so Daniel and I had to go check it out. The redneck in me has been trying to convince Jason to go to see PBR for a long time now (that's the Professional Bull Riders, for you Yanks out there) so this was my big chance. The rodeo was fun because they had not just bull riding, but steer wrestling, roping, bare back riding, rodeo clowns and cowboys galore. But I was with the cutest cowboy there!

Daniel spent most of his time there doing this:

We love that caramel corn!! I have to tell you about a conversation we had the other night when I was putting Daniel to bed. We were talking about all of his mosquito bites and he said, 'Mom, I think the mosquitos bite me because I look Chinese.' What? That doesn't make any sense?? then he said, 'Mom, somtimes when I come into a room with lots of big kids, I hear them say - that kid looks Chinese.' Hmmmm...I am totally unprepared for this (what else is new!).

'Well, you could tell them that you weren't born in China but you were born in Ukraine. I bet they never met anyone born in Ukraine - it's pretty special you know. Then you could ask them where they were born.'

'Yeah,' he says, 'but they might say something mean to me.' (very true - why are kids like that?)

'You could try it once and see what happens.' I tell him. 'How does it make you feel when they say that?'

'It make me feel bad. I just wish you could change your face mom. I really do.' (whoa - my heart cracked a little when he said this)

'There is nothing wrong with the way you look. You are perfect. But I know exactly how you feel' I told him. 'When I was little, the kids made fun of me for having all these freckles. They would call me 'polka dot' and I hated it. I wished I could change my face too. But my face is exactly how God made it, so that means it's just right for me. And your face is just right for you.'

I was totally not ready to deal with this. I look at him and don't even see it any more. He's just my sweet, perfect little miracle. I hate to think that the kids are saying things and making him feel bad but if it wasn't this, it would just be something else, right? He is a mixed race child and it's my job to help him navigate this predominantly white world and still be secure with who he is. To us, it doesn't matter in the least what he looks like but I know kids pounce on anything different. [and there are other internationally adopted kids at his school - not dominant, but they are there]

That's part of the reason I love having him in karate. It's a great atmosphere, they promote a positive attitude and character building AND it's a chance for him to be around people that look like him and see that they are leaders.

With today's melting pot of our culture I really didn't think this would be an issue. How naive is that! Any suggestions??

Shopping

Any guesses as to where I do a lot of my shopping?

Goodbye Mickey

One of my favorite cousins passed away today. Goodbye Mickey! We love you and you will be missed!!

(this picture is from 2009, it's the only one I have of Daniel and Mickey. He has grown so much!)

Adventures

Sorry for the long pause - we're still here. I have been soooo busy! In the evenings I have been working instead of finding time to update my blog. We have been having fun and Daniel is doing really great. I will try to update you on our good times through pictures....

We had a great time at the mother/son social at Camp Hi Ho:

Finished up another great soccer season:

And of course a fabulously fun Halloween....

Is this the cutest spiderman you've ever seen or what? Check out that face tattoo - I was so excited about it. This is such a fun age!

Verse this week

It's just a little rain

Today we played soccer in the pouring down rain. For a kid that sometimes complains about getting dirty, he faired it well. We had a pep talk beforehand about how it was ok to get all muddy and we'll wash up later. I think that was the release he needed to just get out there and enjoy it. He was even asking me why I had my umbrella, 'It's just rain Mom!'

Daniel also tested for his next belt in Karate. Oh, pardon me - Tae Kwon Doe. He keeps correcting me! He is now a proud blue tip belt...

Ukraine picnic

Let me tell you about the lady at our church who helped us with our adoption. Her name is Kathy and she went to Ukraine and adopted a little girl. But that one adoption wasn't enough for her. She was moved by the plight of orphans and wanted to do more. So she helps other couples in our church that want to adopt, facilitating their paperwork process here in the states (at no charge) and then assigning facilitators to work with you in Ukraine. She also started Hopeful Hearts (check out the link on the sidebar), to raise money and assist the orphanages for those kids who will never get adopted but still need help and love and hope. The Lord has blessed their efforts so much that they've been able to extend their benevolence to orphanages in India and Afghanistan as well.

Every year they have a picnic for the families that they have helped to adopt. Not everyone can come each year, but it's a good time to catch up on the kid's progress and meet the new kids that have found their forever families this year. What a legacy - look at all these kids (and this is just a fraction of them):

Kathy - we are so thankful for you....for your willingness to follow the Lord's leading, to step out in faith where many would have thought they couldn't have an impact, for your love of the kids and passion for building families. In knowing you, our lives are forever changed.

Wedding Fun!

We went to a wedding over Labor Day weekend and they had a photo booth at the reception. We had such fun dressing up and making goofy faces. Is it slightly sad that we're so good at being dorky?

On a side note - second grade is going great! (which you can probably tell since I haven't been moaning about troubles) I was all geared up for a rough start to the school year, like First grade. But Daniel is really doing great. We've had a few minor hiccups, but I have to say - he's really great at being a second grader. Thank you Lord for your special blessings on our sweet boy!