Anniversary, Memorial Day, Mama's birthday, and Summer fun

Rob and I celebrated our 13th year of marriage on the 26th! Boy this anniversary was a lot different than the last one. No advanced reservations for a non English speaking restaurant; no taxi fare; no "steak" that turned out to be a pork chop. Very low key but requiring much less energy. Good thing because we don't have as much energy these days by the end of the day.I got wonderful card from my best friend and love of my life and a digital picture frame to admire all the ones I love. We enjoyed a warm bath with the jacuzzi bubbles that now work and an evening with no child responsibilities thanks to Mayra.

Memorial Day we had a barbecue on our street complete with Fireworks! It was nice to have Mayra's mom still with us as she had come from Mexico for the graduation. The kids all enjoyed themselves and Rob smoked a brisket and made some sausages and hot dogs in appreciation of all the kindness our neighbors have shown us over the past year. As a matter of fact WE were the topic of conversation at last years barbecue because they were all discussing our blog entries as were in Ukraine this time last year having just met the boys and making the decision to bring them all home! All the neighbors have been so gracious in donating clothes and toys and backyard equipment and such. They have also endured the learning curve that the boys have had to go through (mail taken out of their mailbox, toys brought back to our house because they thought they were "fair game", door bell rings at the wee hours of the morning before school so they could honk the horn of their car, frequent requests for everything from candy to flashlights to money, poop in their backyard (yep, sorry for the graphic image that one left, but we did have an outside pooper), wearing out their animals with extra "love", chasing after their cars on foot and bicycles, throwing their yard reflectors down into the drainage well, and the list goes on) and they still speak to us and continue to bless us all the time. We were glad we were able to at least thanks them properly even though it did take us a year to actually get back to a point where we had rational thoughts and time to process things. Well...everyone was conked out after a long day in the sun and a few great fireworks ad a game of hide and go seek with flashlights, so bed time was not an issue.

Well Mama turned a year older on the 29th as well. When asked if I felt older the answer this year was a definite YES! I have never been happier and more tired in all my life as I am this year. My new sons have certainly been a tremendous blessing and awesome privilege to have but the day to day care taking is not only physically draining but mentally draining as well. trying to figure out whether the things they do are "normal" and age appropriate or something that exists due to their earlier experiences or prenatal abuse. So most of my time is really not my own but staying in pursuit of what God has called me to do and blessed me with makes every late night and every whinny phrase and every stuck out bottom lip still fill me with great joy knowing I can make a difference. Rob isn't always like that but ..... NO, just kidding, he only accounts for a portion of the above. Each card from the boys was absolutely perfect and fitting of their personalities so papa did a great job of making laugh and cry all at the same time. The funniest thing Rob got me was a frame with spots for 3 hanging pictures. He then got a picture of each of the boys doing their part of "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil". What a hoot! All in all a great birthday.

Well the baseball season is coming to a close and the pool is now open, so summer is almost in full swing. With the boys being as active as they are I am so thankful winter is over and they can enjoy playing outside and going to the pool. They all tan so well they already look brown and we have only been to the pool a handful of times. They all love to come home from school and go straight to the pool until dinner time. Great exercise and they sleep well too. They can all swim now so I don't worry as much. Vanya still wears his little suit and Victor still puts his water wings on occasionally when he feels lazy but neither of them really need to. Once school is out we will go and enjoy babushka's pool in Florida for a week and then the boys start summer school. They don't really know how long school lasts or that not everyone goes to summer school so we haven't gotten any complaints so far. Yuri and Victor will both to ESL summer school M-Th from 9-12 until July 25th. That way they can catch up a little bit and not loose what they have learned. Victor will repeat Kindergarten and Yuri will go on to 1st grade.

In August we will all be going on a missions trip back to Ukraine. Yep, crazy as it sounds, we will all be going back to Zapporyzhzhia to do some work at the children's home #3 and be able to minister to some of the kids we met. We are going with a group called Heart for Orphans in conjunction with our church. We couldn't leave the kids here without us for that long so they are coming along. Since it is Yuri's orphanage we are going to, he is excited about being able to go. The other 2 just want to go wherever we are going. We will be visiting the baby house where Vanya came from but I don't think he will come with us for that part of the day. I'm just not sure what kind of memories he has and I don't want to rekindle anything that would hinder his development. It will be interesting to see their reactions but I know my mother hen instincts will be in full swing so I'm not too worried. We will hopefully do some fundraising for the trip as this time we don't get the big tax credit. We are also going to try to help raise money for the orphanages playground. Currently the kids play in a field full of broken glass and empty beer bottles and cigarette containers. The playground plans that had been drawn up by the director total $30K US dollars so obviously we will only be making a donation towards it; unless someone comes forward with a burning desire to give us $30K. The Lord is good all the time so we are believing that if it is meant to be then it will happen. Our main goal is to share God's love with all the kids and give them an opportunity to receive Christ as their personal saviour. For them just to have some hope for a positive future knowing that their heavenly father adores them will be a success. So all those readers out in cyberland pray pray pray that the trip will be successful and we will be able to make a difference in the lives of the kids we interact with and that our own boys would see what it means to pick up your cross and follow Jesus.

Mama mama mama