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!

Big Muscles!

When I dropped Daniel off at Day Care this morning one of the teachers told me what she overheard him saying. All of the kids were standing in line and she heard Daniel telling the girls in his class that green beans make BIG muscles. (can you tell how we get him to eat his vegetables?) Then he was demonstrating his big muscles for them. How cute! And so it begins - we are already trying to impress the girls. Oh no!

Weekend in Cincy

We had a BIG time this weekend with Babushka and Diyadushka! We really enjoyed visiting with them and enjoyed the fun around Cincy. They have a great toy store there with a HUGE play area for kids. It is like the Kid's Zone at the Louisville Science Center - except to the extreme. They had a ball pit, slides, a water table, a puppet show area, legos, face painting, a kids mail room, kids grocery store, construction zone, miniatures area, library, dinosaur dig with sand, fishing pond, a train, a maze, and a water fight area. With all of those places to play - we had no idea what Daniel would do first. He headed straight to the ball pit - and stayed there for almost an hour. No ADD here! He had never been in a ball pit before and he had a blast!!

When we finally pulled him out of the pit, we enjoyed some of the other fun areas. The train was fun:

But nothing lived up to the fun of the water fight. I know these pictures don't do it justice. We laughed and screamed and sprayed and laughed some more. He left there soaked!!

And this was just the morning - we still had a baseball game to go to! We had lunch at our favorite spot the 'Greyhound Tavern' and the headed home for a much needed nap. After a bit of sleep, we headed downtown to see the Reds. They lost, but we had a great time at Daniel's first baseball game. I not sure what he enjoyed more - eating, the fireworks for the homerun, or staying out late. The pictures say it all.....

He really wanted to catch a ball in his hat:

As summer comes to a close....

I can't believe it's almost over. Daniel starts Kindergarten in 2 weeks!! We have really had a great summer. We've seen this little boy just blossom before our very eyes. His English is picking up in leaps and bounds. His confidence is increasing and we can see that he feels more and more secure in his new home. And what just really thrills my soul is when I can see that he is just overcome with happiness and he throws out his arms and says, 'Mom, Big Hug!' and then he says, 'I love you!' What a sweetie! God is so good and we just can't stop praising Him for blessing us so richly.

Last week we went with the neighbors and their 2 little boys to the zoo after work. They have late hours for members and free carousel rides! Check out this big boy:

Did I mention he has grown at least 2 inches in just 4 months? He is still a skinny little thing, but is shooting right up. We look back and those pictures that we have of him while we were in Ukraine and it doesn't even look like the same little boy. I guess the Love of a family, lots of playing outside and french fries will do that to you! (when we are trying to decide what to have for dinner, he will say, 'Mom - me like it cheeseburger, french fries and tea.')

This past Sunday was my Birthday and we rented a paddle boat and took him out on the lake. He had already been on the Belle of Louisville, but now we told him we were going on a mylinkey (little) boat. It was great because he sat in the middle and was the captain in charge of the steering wheel. It was cute seeing him learn how to steer. We would tell him to head towards the bridge and after awhile he would say, 'Oh no, me go that way!' (totally the wrong way) and we would show him again how to correct it. I think he was getting the hang of it by the end of 2 hours. And he also got his first 5 star terrain geocaches!! Congratulations Sergeant Squash!

Look at this cutie!

They are re-painting the children's department at our church. I found this great spot where the blue and yellow came together and it totally looks like the Ukraine flag. Isn't this a great shot?




It was another weekend of blown expectations. We had planned to take Daniel to a BIG swimming pool for the first time. He was finally going to graduate from the baby pool in our backyard. Wouldn't you know it? It's July in Kentucky and the high temp on Saturday was 69. Isn't that crazy? It just wasn't meant to be. I hate to complain about the beautiful weather. I know we will be dying for it in August but I was so looking forward to a pool day. I was so excited to see his reaction! Well, there is always next weekend!

Only 4 more weeks left and then school starts. What happened to summer? We had all of these big plans and have run out of time! It has really been a great summer though. Daniel's English is picking up so fast. He rarely ever speaks in Ukrainian anymore. It's only been 3 months - it's so hard to believe. He can really communicate and get his point across. His teacher at day care said that he knows all of the kids names in his class and is interacting well.

We are past the honeymoon period and he is really pushing his boundaries. We seem to be standing in the corner more and more lately. Our biggest issues are hitting, throwing toys and obeying. Even though he doesn't have a ton of English, he knows when he is doing wrong. He will throw something and then take off running because he knows it's wrong. Or, when he hears the stern, 'Daniel!' he will take off running. When we go after him, he laughs like it's a game. Of course, when he finds himself in the corner he really has a fit - crying and screaming. We know consistency is the most important thing, so we try to always have the same consequence every time. Every time he hits mom or pop - he goes in the corner, no matter where we are. We have done our share of standing in the corner in public restrooms. We are hopeful that once he realizes where the lines are, he will choose not to cross them. We keep praying for wisdom and discernment.

Becoming a parent has really opened my eyes to my relationship with my Heavenly Father. When we tell Daniel, No, it's to keep him from getting hurt. He can't see the big picture and just thinks we are trying to keep him from having fun when really we are trying to keep him from running into the street or grabbing something that's hot. It's the same with God. We just have our own small perspective whereas He sees the big picture and He loves us so much, he's just trying to keep us safe. His ways are higher, His ways are better. I need to get my ideas out of the way and trust Him. Thank you God, for loving me so much!

Indy Cache Run 2009

Once again, Jason and his good friend Robert planned to find 100 caches in one day in the Indianapolis area. Robert actually was pushing for 125, but Jason wasn't so sure they could get that done. After working for months on solving puzzle caches, the map was pretty well filled in. At about 5:15am on 27 Jun, they started on their quest in the Greenwood area and worked north to downtown then east with an arc going north, northwest, and southwest along the I465 corridor.

The day was going very well until they hit Fort Benjamin Harrison. Jason was stationed there with the army in 1993 so it was nice to revisit the area, but the caching went poorly - 3 DNF's and no finds in an hour.

They got back on track, though, with cleaning up the caches in the Crown Hill Cemetery (akin to Cave Hill in Louisville). By about 8:15p they found their 100th cache at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

There was still about 75 minutes of daylight left so they continued hunting until they reached 114 finds - the last several in the pitch dark. On the way back to Robert's home (where the wives and kids were fast asleep), they found one more cache that was directly on the route. Exhausted, the boys arrived at nearly 11pm with 115 yellow smilies for the books.

They are now giving some consideration to another run in the fall. The amount of daylight will be a lot less, but so will the underbrush and foilage. Who knows? Perhaps another 100 caches can be grabbed.

Congratulations Uncle Chuck and Aunt Brandi!!

For those long time readers of this blog, you will remember that right after we announced our adoption plans we also announced that Kelly's brother got engaged. Well, the main event was finally this weekend. Daniel's first wedding! I was worried about how he would do, but as always he wowed us. He was so well behaved and had a great time at the wedding. He didn't like wearing a tie, but looked adorable in his fancy duds.

Congratulations Uncle Chuck and Aunt Brandi - we love you!!

Happy 4th of July!

I was hoping to have a great post with cute pictures of our new American celebrating with his first fireworks. Well, things don't always go as planned. We had a RAINY Saturday and the fireworks in town are just too late for our little guy. He goes to bed at 8:00! 10:30 is just too late, maybe next year. He was also running a fever on and off last week. Poor thing. He is fine now, but he just wasn't himself. We went to see Ice Age - that's about all I have to report. He loved it! His coloring has really improved too. That's a recent development. He used to NEVER want to color. I guess he didn't think he could do it very good, so he didn't want to do it at all. Now all of a sudden he is coloring. I think maybe it's seeing the other kids at day care do it - he realizes he doesn't have to be perfect. Of course, he is still very careful and takes his time. He does a very good job and is proud to display his work. Between coloring, working with scissors, and working on our letters - our refrigerator is absolutely covered with masterpieces.

A friend from church read my last post and sent me this scripture reference:
Deuteronomy 11:18-19 NIV
18 Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

Thanks Ima! It is a 24/7 job to teach Daniel about God. Even though we are amazed at how quickly he is learning English, his vocabulary is still somewhat limited. I think I have been letting that hold me back. I need to talk to him about God MORE, read him MORE Bible stories - even if he doesn't understand now, it will come. There is no better time!

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!