Made it to Ukraine

Well we finally made it to Zaporyzhzhia. Leading a team of 14 is soooo different than going with your own family and a couple of others. I'm finding my leadership skills may need to be honed. We only lost one bag that has now been found and the whole team was just on the spot with everything being asked of them. They have been real troopers.
The children got back form camp today nad we got to greet them. We saw many of the friends we made last year and have made a few new ones. The director made us all very welcome and even made tea for the whole group! She had a smile on her face and was open to all the plans we have. The group got a tour while I was meeting with the director. They probably got to see more than I ever have! They said it was a great tour and htey got to see lots of things.
My phone finally started working and it was a pleasant surpirse to get a call from my husband on our interpretors phone before mine was working. He does a good job of making me feel important and I got to talk to the boys and hear their voices. That was nice too. Didn't have a chance to get organized so I didn't take any pictures yet to load.
Now I will have to go justify all the money and keep track of everyone's whereabout for tomorrow.
The church we partner with (Christ if the only Hope) had lunch for us today that was awesome. It was chicken noodle soup and then the second coarse was mashed potatoes and breaded chicken. We were stuffed!
That's the update for now.

Beaches, Baseball and Birthdays

Alright already! I never knew how many people actually waited to read this blog until I didn't post anything for a while. I really started it to keep a record for myself of what our family has been up to so I wouldn't forget. Things get so busy around here I hardly have time to think, much less record the goings on. Sooooo for all those waiting on an update here it is!

Beaches - We are very fortunate that Babushka lives in a great place to visit, Florida! Rob and I took the boys down to see babushka over spring break and Laura took them again after school let out in June. She lives right on the beach and has a pool with a hot tub too. Of course in this lovely paradise are also lots of "wise" "young at heart" individuals who don't believe children should jump into the pool or have floats or toys or food or have anything else remotely fun in that area. Oftentimes we spent lots of time out on the beach part where there weren't quite so many rules. Even though the boys are getting much better about their behavior, they are still kids and all kids make noise and splash and jump and want to play with toys. We found that we did a pretty good job of trying to appease our "wiser" friends and also found the others got a big kick out of watching the boys and didn't mind a bit that they had buckets on their heads, noodles being slapped on the water in an attempt to hit a splash ball across the pool, and an occasional dive stick being thrown in the direction of thier nearest sibling by accident of course. Babushka always has their very favorite foods on hand and every kids dream; a porch full of so much stuff that they can rifle through and find goodies to play with, make thigns out of, dress up in, etc.. It is the porch of all porches with a year long christmas tree that doubles as the porch lighting at times. Babushka makes sure we go to the aquarium to pet the sting rays on each visit and this time we also went to park with a water spot where the kids could get wet ad enjoy the shooting spouts of water. All the boys progressed with their swimming and Victor swam the length of the pool the correct way! It as Yuri turn last year so I suspect Vanyas turn will be next year although if it is like every thing else he will probably catch his big brothers as fast as possible and ahead of course. All in all it is one of our favorite places and being able to share it with extended family makes it all the more attractive. The boys are still trying to figure out where all the relatives keep coming from. Little do they know they haven't even met them all! My grandmother was the youngest of 8 children so we have lots and lots of cousins most of whom also live on Florida.

Baseball - All the boys played baseball this year and what a whirlwind that was. I think it is the forshadowing of much more time mama is going to spend running from one field to the next to be there for the big hit or catch of the season. Yuri played machine pitch in the 9 year old league and had a great time this year with papa being one of the assistant coaches. He really progressed and earned the positions this year. His hitting is still good and he even got one out into the outfield in the air! He hasn't yet fiured out that if he actually put some effort into running to the bases that he would never get out! He is really fast and hasn't had to put forth much effort to stay safe but as the kids get older and their catching gets better then he is going to have step it up. He made some new friends and had a great time which is the point anyway, right?
Victor had a banner season in Tball this year. Things really clicked for him this year and he even got the MVP ball the very first game! His favorite thing was to go and get the ball wherever it was hit and then take over that position. He was a marvelous 1st base backup but when he felt as though the firstbasemen wasn't in the right spot he would just go and take over. We'll have to work on that but he knew exactly where to stand and where to throw and was just amazingly better than last. He hit some good balls and wanted so much to hit one into the outfield like Yuri but it just wasn't to be. He did pay very good attention and was always very proud of himself. He even kept up with his things and put them where they were supposed to go. That is a victory in itself!
Vanya had a great time playing in the dirt, throwing his hat up in the air, laying on the bench, racing his team mates to the ball. We probably should have waited to put him on a team but he is so talented we thought he would be excited about it. He lasted about 1-2 innings and then he was ready to go home. No excitement for the game this year but the same was true of Victor last year so we have hope that next year will be his year. He hit the ball fairly well and those little tiny legs looked like they were going so fast but it took him forever to get to first base and his little helmet was bouncing up and down the whole way. His head is so small that even with his ball cap on underneath, the batting helmets were way too big. He and Victor were on the same team so Victor helped Vanya get to the right position on the field. It was a little frustrating for papa to watch since he had been used to the older boys who actually knew which way to run when they hit the ball. The fidgety, butterfly chasing, hat throwing, grass pulling ways of the tball players were not quite as humourous to papa as they were to mama. I just enjoyed watching him have fun but do hope his attention span will increase for the sake of the team next year. Too much down time in tball. Anytime one of us were not right there present watching him he ended up in time out by the time we returned. Can you beleive it, time out in tball?! That should give you an idea of what his season was like. It was abslolutely precious to watch him when he was playing the game but the waiting around part was a little stressful for everyone involved.

Birthdays - Well the majority of the family have had birthdays now and we have had the first wedding of one of our kids. Vanyas birthday was covered in the previous post so next came Mayra's in May. I can't believe she is 23 now! Wow how time flies. She still has a great job and has a boyfriend who is good to her and we like him a lot. The two of them always do special things with and for the boys which is such a blessing. Because it was also Mothers day on Mayra's birthday we didn't get to spend it with her since papa took me right from church on a funfilled day of miniture golf, ice cream eating, arcade laying and dinner out. So her boyfriend has taken over the birthday specials. I did get to go to lunch with her after that and we celebrated her birthday then. She now shares an apartmnt with some girlfriends and I miss her very much and so do her brothers. It's hard to let go and not want to know all the day to day activities but she is happy and doing very well which is all we could ask for. I think there might even be some marriage plans in the future!
Speaking of wedding plans our other daughter, Crystal, got married in May! Travis was one of the groomsmen, Victor was the ring bearer and the other 2 boys pulled the runner. It was not our traditional type wedding but it was vey nice and we all enjoyed seeing her look so beautiful and happy. Really made us feel old though to have a child who is married and to also have a 5 year old still at home. We made her promise not to have children for a while becasue being grandparents would just be too weird right now.
Will continue later, ran out of time for tonight. Papa calls:)

Major events

We have had several major events that I am just now getting a chance to write about. I made it back form Ukraine on a fact finding missions to lay the ground work for our missions trip at the end of May as well as check on some of the project we have going with Heart for Orphans. Other than it being really cold it was very productive and very enlightening on many levels. Go God!!!

We had Valentines Day, Vanya's Birthday, first day of Tball/baseball etc etc.. First is Valentines Day. We had a family picture taken but are missing our older kids as they all had to work or were away wen we could go for the JC Penny special but I'm hoping they will all go so I can add them to the frame that hasn't been put up yet since it isn't complete.Here are a few pics of the day. I made them all a Valentines snow man with bananas and heart shaped pancakes but I did not repeat the chocolate chip pancake part this year. No "running through the yard in my bathrobe because someone threw up on the bus" for this mama! Oh no, not this year. I CAN be taught.

Vanya's turned 5! It is really hard to believe that he is 5. He is still very tiny and I call him my little peanut. It is still OK with him that I call him that so I want to savor every moment of time while he is still small enough for me to cradle and hold. He still weighs in at a mere 33lbs and stands 41 inches tall. This was a milestone birthday for him as he had decided that all kinds of things would change when he turned 5. He was convinced that when he woke up the morning of his birthday that he had grown tremendously because he was now 5. Other things included being able to eat and like big grapes (before he would only eat the very tiny ones), being able to pour his own salad dressing just the right amount as well as get just the right amount of toothpaste on his toothbrush. He had also decided that eh could not become 5 until he blew out the candles on his cake so that is what he asked for as soon as he got out of bed. I didn't give in to the cake for breakfast but did let him look at his cake that we would have later in his class for his party. He was very excited to get some birthday presents and I think the biggest hit was the whack -a-mole game. Finally a game that it is OK to take a hammer and whack it all you want! Suits him perfectly. We had his party in his class at school and so far that has sufficed for all the boys but I think we will probably let Yuri have a pool party this year since you don't get as much time in the classroom as you can have in kindergarten and preschool to do one at school. All the kids had a ball with the pin the tail on the donkey game and the balloon pop race. Since it was a half day at school it was very quick to get all that in and then have lunch and cake before the kids were released to go home. After we got home mama and Vanya went to the park with his new racket catch game that babushka got for him. She has one just like it that we play on her beach and he was thrilled to have one at home now too. We played at the park until the others boys got out of school and then we all went to the rec center pool as this was the birthday's request for what he wanted to do. We had a ball playing in the water and having races and such and got home in time to hook up with papa and take Vanya out for his special dinner with just mama and papa. We went to the Japanese steak house and it was a hoot. He got such a kick out of watching the food be prepared on the tepanyaki grill. Our chef was really funny and made Vanya laugh. They had quite a conversation going and the other people at the table enjoyed watching Vanya's excitement as well. He was a king for a day. It was pretty funny when they brought out a scoop of ice cream with a candle in it and sang happy birthday to him. His immediate reaction was, "Am I 6 now, mama?" After we had to burst his bubble and inform him that he would turn the next year older with or without blowing out candles then he just sat quietly and ate his ice cream as he looked as though he was just pondering life. What a trip this one is! He managed to finish his ice cream before he got so sleepy he conked out in the car on the way home. I still brought him upstairs and cradled him after putting on his new birthday PJ's and sang him his favorite songs and retold the story of how we met him and fell in love with him; after which he was totally out and I just watched him sleep in my arms and felt extremely grateful that God has blessed us so abundantly with these amazing little boys.

The next big event was the start of tball and baseball. This will be Vanya's first season to be old enough to play and he was sooooo excited to be on a team. They did put Victor and Vanya on the same team but I think they will do OK together. Their team is the Marlins and Yuri's team is the Mariners. Yuri will continue with machine pitch and the other 2 will play tball. It actually worked out well for us since we now only have 2 schedules to keep up with instead of 3. They were all decked out and ready to go. Papa went over with each one of them all the rules and bases and such before the practice. It was quite precious. Papa takes sports way more seriously than mama but the boys love all the attention and activity.

Yuri had been evaluated for speech therapy but the school system denied him services because his problem wasn't severe enough. It absolutely baffled me that they didn't think that only being able to be understood 80% of the time was severe. It effects his reading and spelling and basically everything else but fortunately the speech teacher is a believer and has a real heart for my boys. She is volunteering her time on Saturday mornings to work with Yuri the same way he would have gotten in school. What a tremendous blessing!!!!! We have noticed a difference already and it has only been 4 weeks. I didn't ask have Victor evaluated since his speech isn't quite as bad as Yuri's so he probably wouldn't have qualified either so we do the same exercises with him too but on our own for now.

Other big news is that Victor is now riding a 2 wheeler as of today March 22, 2009. The training wheels have been removed and he has only fallen once and run into one stationary car. Pretty good for his day! He was soo proud of himself for this accomplishment and Yuri even got on board and encouraged him which was great to see. Perhaps I am getting through just a little bit about how it is much more fun to treat each other nicely and get along than it is to fuss with each other all the time. Of course Vanya had to get in on the action and wanted his training wheel removed as well but he is still so small that he wouldn't be able to do it yet. Hopefully he will grow some more soon. Still being in a 3T (only as of January) is pretty small for a five year old. They don't even make tball pants small enough for him to wear. I am going to have to take them to be altered which will probable cost more than the pants themselves. Sewing isn't my thing so unfortunately it costs a lot more to have things fit right.
So far no more loose teeth but I'm expecting some in the near future from Yuri. Victor keeps telling me that he has lost a REALLY TINY tooth just so he can be in on the tooth fairy deal. I told him that the tooth fairy already knows which teeth you are supposed to loose and when you loose them so it would be fruitless to try and write her a letter about this tiny tooth. How funny their perception of things is.
We all continue to be busier than we want, dirtier than we like and eat more than we need but aside from those small things life is good and God is great!

Mama mama mama

In Ukraine it is freezing!

We I am in Ukraine and am very cold. I traveled with Nancy Hathaway and we are coming representing Heart for Orphans. I'll be here until March 7 and so far we are very pleased with what we have accomplished. Even though our apartment looses power often, it is very nice. If you have too many things plugged in then it blows a fuse so you can dry your hair in teh dark if you want to be cold or you can be be warm and not be able to turn the lights on. Go figure! Will have to post picture when we get back since we can't get online very much and I forgot teh cable to download my pics. I can't send any email either because Cox doesn't work here for some reason. I can get email but I can't send any. :(
Overall we are fine and we are looking forward to all the things we might be able to accoplish on the balance of the trip.

The Joy of Christmas

Christmas was certainly a whirlwind of activity here at the Passanita Nut House. We had relatives from both sides of the family as well as boyfriends of our older girls and miscellaneous friends and neighbors over at different times. Our youngest boys were very much acclimated to what they THOUGHT Christmas was about. Yep, they have been Americanized and thought Santa had become boss of Jesus! Well we corrected that little misconception pretty quickly and now they know the reason for the season and were much less confused about how Santa fits in to the picture. The excitement level was still just as big but they enjoyed doing the secret Santa with their older siblings. Since the older kids were spending their own money they decided that it would better if they only bought for one person. We thought that would be a good idea as well since it is more about giving than receiving so we didn't mind having them give lots of little things (notes, pictures etc.)to each other all month as they prepared for celebrating Jesus's birthday.

So many little art projects came home with the boys that I had hard time "disbursing" them all. Yuri class did a month of giving where each child was to bring in something they had made for each child in the class. Mama was pretty smart about this little endeavor. We went to Target and I let him make his own Christmas card with the picture he liked best (one with his tongue sticking out of course) and then he put the words on it. I thought that was better than sending some additional art projects home with all the other kids. Great idea to get the giving part of the season but getting that much stuff all month was a little too much. Mama has now built 3 gingerbread houses with 2 classes of 5-7 year olds as well as iced cookies with the preschooler. What a site that was! I enjoy every minute of it though. I'm glad this is the second time around because I wasn't as concerned about how things turned out and had more fun watching and helping them do it any way they wanted it. One house had a canon in the front and only one side of the roof done and the other had a couple of blobs of icing with pretzels sticking out of it but it did have a door and a chimney. There were kids who did make patterns and put things on just so but mine were not among that group but mine had alot of fun in the process so that was all that mattered to me. We don't take too many things very seriously anymore and have discovered that simply enjoying all the little quirks that the kids have is much more fun that trying to make them fit into a mold. I think that would be an exhausting adventure with these guys who are very set on how they are going to do things. Some things we do insist on but we have to pick our battles or we would be having battles every day. Not doing that! They are healthy and happy and learning so I'm thrilled.

The Christmas Eve Service was very nice and and everyone had on their best outfits to sing to the Lord. We all loved the traditional songs and the solemn ones that remind us of what a great gift that baby in the manger was to all of us.

Christmas morning arrived quite early with Yuri coming in with big wide eyes to let us know that Santa had indeed come and had brought gifts. They had left some Reindeer food (dry oatmeal with glitter in it) outside and were pleased to see that the reindeer had left some candy for them. Once Yuri had woken up the house there was a flurry of squealing from all the little boys and a flurry of "Can we get up a little later" from the older kids and grandparents. The squeals won out and we were down stairs before we knew it. Yuri was the ring leader and went about segregating everyones presents and then the paper frenzy started and all the squealing continued for the next 45 minutes as they opened up their treasures. We intended to only get them 2-3 things per child but we forgot that the grandparents and uncles would be getting them things as well. Everyone had a ball and enjoyed being together. Rob made a great meal of turkey and the trimmings as well as homemade ravioli and meatballs. Everyone wanted to take a nap after the meal but the boys were ready to have us put things together and add batteries to things so they could play so we did that first. Needless to say, after a day of excitement, candy, and lots of stimulation, the boys were wired for sound and then melted at about 6pm. After a hot bath and some sit down time they each had reached their limit and bed time came early that night. The adults then proceeded to play cards and games and enjoyed grazing on the leftovers until about midnight when we all just dropped in to bed as well. Whew! what a day.