A Gaggle of Kids!

Ballerina

When I first brought Lilya to my apartment in Ukraine, she was fascinated with the mirrored doors on the closets. She loved watching herself - how she looked when standing, squatting, bending her knees. Fascinated! I figured she hadn't seen herself in a mirror before, so it was all new and exciting (and so adorable!)

Now that she's home, she will often stop & watch herself in the mirror or reflections of the appliances or glass door.

Her latest, though, is this: She holds onto the handle of the oven, and watches her reflection as she moves around, and kicks her legs. It's very careful, very precise, and she pays very close attention to what she's doing.

Like a ballerina at the barre.

I caught a few action shots the other day.

I think this girl needs a dance class!

Anyone have any suggestions for a local place that is special-needs-friendly?

Popcorn

Braden's just started his first year as a Cub Scout and the annual Boy Scout Popcorn Sale started this weekend!


The more he sells, the lower our yearly dues are, so if you want to order, please let me know.  Also, over 70% of the proceeds from the popcorn sales go directly to Braden's local Boy Scouts pack.

They changed around their products this year --  all microwave products are made with canola oil and all caramel products are naturally sweetened, so there are plenty of healthy, flavorful snacks to choose from.  

Let us know if you want to order anything -- here's a rundown of what's available:

Caramel Corn: $10

Popping Corn: $10

Unbelievable Butter Microwave Popcorn: $18

Butter Light Microwave Popcorn: $18

Butter Toffee Light: $20

Chocolatey Caramel Crunch Popcorn: $25

Caramel Corn with Almonds, Cashews and Pecans: $25

There's also a bunch of higher-priced bundles that you could order online -- if you click the below link, Braden will get credit for your order:  http://www.trails-end.com/estore/scouts/email_referral.jsp?id=8380890 

My handsome Scout!

31 for 21

October is almost here, and along with that comes the 31 for 21 - blogging every day, in honor of Down syndrome awareness.  Or at least a good way to get back into the habit of blogging regularly!

Click below to go sign up if you'd like to participate, too - or to read the list of bloggers who are also participating!

Grab This Button

and, PLEASE - if you have a question or suggestion for a blogging topic for me, by all means - let me know!

More Adoption Thoughts

I was with a group of ladies two weekends ago, scrapbooking.  While we were eating lunch we were talking about babies - I love the newborn stage, my friend prefers when kid turn about 3.  I was going on about how cuddly & sweet babies are, and then said, "So, it's a little weird I adopted a 6 year old, isn't it!?"

One of the ladies I'd just met asked about our adoption - why did we adopt Lilya?

And I told her, "Because she's our daughter.  We saw her picture, read her bio, and thought 'this is our daughter.'"

Crazy, right?  I know!  But it's true.

Truly, Brian & I had always talked about maybe adopting a baby someday ... and well, look where we are.  And I can't imagine anything better!

* * * * * * * * * *

When I was in Ukraine, living with Sherry White for a while, we talked a lot about this quote Traci had shared with us. (And while religion is the one subject I won't touch on my blog, this isn't about religion ... it's about something more than that.)

We lose out on the great life that God has planned for us when we hold on so tightly to the good life that we have.


-Lysa TerKeurst


I love that openness, that implied willingness for adventure. And I love my great life! I wonder, will it get even better?? I bet it's possible!

Lil Tidbit

Lil loves playing in water - when I use the kitchen sink, she sticks her hands into the sink as far as she can, so I can spray them.

I was just washing up a couple dishes and she came over & signed, "Share, water"


Love that girl!  Can you believe she didn't know English OR signs a few months ago?

Another Piece of the Paperwork Puzzle

Today in the mail, I received Lilya's Ukrainian passport!

That darn passport that was almost a major holdup for us in country, that same one!  When we got home, I mailed it to the Ukrainian Consulate, and they put a stamp for a permanent Visa into it.  At least, I assume that's what they did - the stamp is in Ukrainian :)

It's still unreal that this little girl is ours, FOREVER!  What a gift she is!

Lucky Numbers

Monday, Lil's social security card came in the mail!  We had gone the week before, to apply for it - since we now have her Certificate of Citizenship.

I really was so excited - and thinking of it as Lily's "Lucky Number" ... and then that led to the Lottery Fantasies.

You know the one, right?  Where you plan how to spend your million dollars when you win the lottery?  Too bad I've never bought a lottery ticket, but it's still fun to daydream.

First, is always figure half for taxes.  Then boring stuff - pay off mortgage, get a new car to replace our gas guzzler, money for the kids into savings, blah blah blah.

Then?  A new adoption fund - money for us to adopt, and donate like crazy to other families who are adopting.  (Wouldn't that be fun!?)

Then I thought, what if I didn't win a million, but instead half that?   Then half of that?  No matter how small I went with my imaginary winnings, the main thing was saving that adoption money.

I really wish we could go back for little Lesia or another little dolly in Eastern Europe.  There's definitely no shortage of children who need families!  But the reality is we're not independently wealthy people, and money is a major obstacle that keeps people from adopting.  We just don't have the resources to pull it all together again, or we'd likely be updating our homestudy right now.


Please pay attention - starting November 1st, Reece's Rainbow will be having their Angel Tree fundraiser, and every little bit counts.  Lilya had $2000 in her grant account when we committed to her, and I was so grateful we had that seed money to start with.

Sisters

watching Signing Time

In case you haven't noticed,

My wonderful friend, Melissa, made me a new header.  It's fantastic!  She's fantastic!

Thanks, Mel :)

EWWWW!

The girls were playing on the floor this morning, and Ruby started whining a little, holding her finger out to me.

"What's on your finger, Ru?" As I got closer, I could see it was ... an EARWIG!

EWWWWWWWWW!

I flicked it off and it didn't fall off! It was holding onto her fingers with its little pincers and like, standing upright! OHMYGOSH, GROSS! I had to grab it & pull to throw it on the floor, then catch it with some kleenex.

Ruby started crying, but I think that was mostly because my "EEWWWW" reaction scared her. She showed me her finger, and there wasn't even a mark where the earwig had been holding on.  But, poor little Ru, she must've been poking the bug and it grabbed on, and then she couldn't get it to leave her alone.

Little One

I think of this little girl every day since I've been home from Ukraine. I wonder, who will be her family??  Someone HAS to go get her ... she's bright and silly and clever and such a little firecracker.

after her hot weather haircut

Also, there are three absolutely adorable little boys who are around 2 years old at Lil's orphanage, too.  Just saying...

Update

The vote on the moratorium (to stop international adoptions out of Ukraine) has been postponed, indefinitely for now.

YAY!

Makes me want to update my homestudy & go get another little one while I can!  Just kidding, honey ... sort of :)

Ukraine Adoptions

Last summer, we were fortunately oblivious for a long time to the political climate of adoptions in Ukraine. There was a vote proposed - and postponed - which would put a complete moratorium on all international adoptions in Ukraine.

Now, to my knowledge, the only international adoptions Ukraine allows at this time are children with special needs. Adoption was not very prevalent in the past within Ukraine, but that's changing. We met some Ukrainian families adopting from Lil's orphanage, and they were adopting typical children (to our knowledge).

Typical children go through Ukraine's orphanage system and have a chance to be adopted domestically, while the vast majority of children with special needs wait to be adopted by a family in another country. So to disallow all adoptions out of the country is to condemn thousands of children with special needs - children who are lovable and deserving a family like our Lil! - to an institution.

One thing that dismayed me about this, was that the vote to put the stop to adoptions is allegedly being funded by UNICEF. UNICEF's position is that children should be raised in their country, with their culture.

But what if that culture doesn't yet include those with disabilities or special needs or health care issues? What about those children? Shouldn't the change start with making it acceptable for a mother to keep her child with Down syndrome, and help her find therapy services for her child? Or teach the public about how to raise a child with HIV to have a long, fulfilling life?

There are very minimal services for people with special needs, in many countries. Had Lil stayed in Ukraine, she'd never have gone to school, she would've been moved to an institution when she turned 6 (which is generous - many transfer at age 4).

Recently, a little girl was transfered at age 4 and passed away a couple weeks later. That's not unusual. Many children - I've heard up to 75% in some countries - don't survive their first year in an institution.

Can you imagine, taking a child like Lilya who was taken out to play every day and well fed and known by all the staff and treated affectionately to a place with no stimulation and minimal food and care? I can't think about it. It breaks my heart to think of how scary that must be, how the children must be so confused.


In June, there was no vote. The vote was rescheduled - and is now apparently set for tomorrow. Here's hoping it's defeated and more children can find families ... and hopefully, with ongoing education and support, someday all children will be able to stay with their birth families, and find their loving homes in their country of birth.

Lil loves the wind

If you take Lil outside and it's windy - or lightly raining - she gets this crazy happy expression on her face. I can't wait to see what she thinks of snow! (Well, yes, I can wait for snow, actually ... but that first snow is always pretty delightful.)

She also still loves to swing, and is getting more comfortable in the park swings.

Lil loves our cat

Not really sure how Lilo feels about Lilya...

2 More

2 boys from Lil's orphanage officially have parents!  Court was today, and I'm so excited for them!

Little Levi was in Lil's groupa, and Charlie recently turned 6 and would've been transferred ... somewhere.

This makes 8 children who've found families in the US this summer/fall from this one orphanage!  Isn't that amazing?

Congratulations, Harpers!

Borsch

I made borsch - which I LOVED when we were in Ukraine. I ate it at every restaurant we went to! (Well, not the Indian restaurant ... or the place with the good kebabs...) It turned out really, really well! I was very happy with it!

Brian & I really enjoyed it, Karly tried it but didn't care for it - and Lil liked it, too!

My Ukrainian princess, eating homemade borsch

It was a double win for me, because almost the produce for the soup came from our CSA box - beets, turnips, onion, cabbage. It's not like I had any other plans for the beets & turnips.

Signing up for a CSA was a last minute decision for us this year, and it was definitely a win. Our favorite foods from the summer have been mashed cauliflower and kale chips. My favorite game has been "name that herb" and thank goodness for google - where else can you figure out "What looks like dill, and tastes like licorice?" (The answer is fennel!)

Join us!

Please join us at the 1st Annual Down Syndrome Awareness Walk on October 2nd in Neenah!

You can create a team of your own, or join ours - it's only $5 per person to register!  Register by September 20 to get your free t-shirt!

More info on the walk can be found HERE!

Brades

My handsome boy turned 7 yesterday ...

I miss the sweet baby he was, but absolutely love the wild, creative, funny, smart, boy he is now.

Happy birthday, Brades!
Love you, we do!

Mail Time!

Today, Lil received a wonderful gift from some Internet friends in Canada. This pillow doll is a huge hit - I'll post the rest of what is in the package once I put them in the girls' bedroom.

Well, that looks cozy, doesn't it?
Lil's a human pretzel.

Hmmm.  I guess I was so busy taking pics of Lil's face, I didn't get a great pic of the pillow doll.  She's so cute - she's a matryoshka doll (a Russian stacking doll)!


Then, Mom & Dad got a great gift in the mail - we received Lilya's Certificate of Citizenship in the mail today!!  She became an American on July 17 when we landed in Chicago, but this is the official documentation!

Hooray!!!  Lilya's an American!
(and she promptly tried to get yogurt on her picture, oops!)

Elijah

Grab This!

Elijah's soon-to-be Papa is going to run in our local marathon in his honor. If you'd like to pledge, please read this for details.

If you'd like to donate to their adoption, tax-deductible donations can be made HERE. They are working as fast as they can, hoping to bring Elijah home by the end of the year, so any little bit helps.

I'm so looking forward to having him in our community!

Exhibit A

Lil v. glasses


It's not super convenient that we bought Lil's glasses 1/2 an hour from home - but we made it yesterday and they are no longer in the shape of a seven.

And contrary to what it LOOKS like, she's actually been getting used to them, and wearing them for short periods of time throughout the day.

A Treasure

I used to wonder, years ago, if I could adopt a child and love them as my own ... when we began Lil's adoption I had no doubt it was possible. I didn't, however, expect it to happen so quickly or easily! Maybe we're just lucky, maybe she's just extra easy to love - or maybe it was simply meant to be, that she'd join our family.

I used to wonder how I would feel about missing so much of her life, her baby days and early years. Truthfully, I don't have time to think about it, now that I have her home! I'm grateful she was in the baby orphanage where she was - I know they took good care of her and were kind to her.

But that doesn't mean that little treasures like this don't send me over the moon ... Sherry sent me an email the other day with this picture (she took a picture of a picture on the bulletin board in Mimi's baby room).

Ruby went to school today!

Ruby went to school!

She was gone for about 2 hours total - including the bus ride - and she'll go 2 mornings a week.

Waiting for the bus (which was 10 minutes EARLY! Yikes! Good thing she was mostly ready)

All set!

Bye, Mom!

She seemed a little nervous, but not scared when I put her on the bus.  I buckle her in, and then unbuckle her when she gets home.  There's not an aide on the bus, just the driver.  On the way home, she's the only student on the bus - she has her own chauffeur!

It sounds like she had a good day, she brought home a note about all the fun stuff they did at school. She was happy to see me when I got her off the bus - when I picked her up, she pointed to her backpack and said, "Backpack!" so I wouldn't forget it.


After Ruby got on the bus, Lil & I brought Braden to school & ran to Walgreens, Aldi's, the credit union & the library. AMAZING how much I can get done with just 1 kid!

After lunch, Ru was dressing up & making me & Lily laugh! She's such a character!
Lil looks so big to me lately! She is growing - her 3T pants didn't fit her this morning, so she's wearing 4T pants with the legs cuffed. She looks so much bigger to me than that little dolly we met in Ukraine.

My little girls are growing up!

Ruby's Apple

This is my new favorite picture of Ruby:

Brian says it looks like she's trying to unhinge her jaw to swallow it like a snake!

She also was walking around licking the apples that were still on the tree that were within her reach.   Too funny!

Visiting

Sunday we went up to Brian's parents.  Grandma & Grandpa had a little gathering so some more of the family could meet Lily.


Lily loves balloons, so she was thrilled to see the decorations!

Lily loves when people lift her up to touch the ceiling - so she was just completely tickled to find that she could reach the ceiling on her own, in Grandma's toy closet!!

I think she liked that better than the toys!

Ru ran & ran & ran outside ... she'd make a good farm girl.   She chased butterflies, and her shadow.

Braden gave himself the job of "Can Crusher" - he was constantly patrolling for empty cans.

Braden surprised me and did NOT get hit in the head with a bocce ball, while his cousins were playing.

The girls loved this rocking swing - here they are with Grandpa.

Ru took a turn around the driveway with Uncle John.  She was waving like a queen & so pleased with herself!

Braden in an apple tree - the kids picked a bag of apples to bring home

Karly & Hope

The kids, playing on the swingset

Lil, exploring Grandma's flower garden

It was a great day!

1st Day of School Tradition

I know the kids started school last week, but I wanted to post these pictures:

Kids eating M&M cookies!!


My first grader & freshman

Ru & Lil - Lil's first M&M cookie!
And wearing her glasses! Which she does for small stretches of time.

I know I've blogged this before, but it's a tradition since I was a kid ... on the first day of school, I make M&M cookies for the kids! My mom used to make them for us - she'd even mail them to Mike & I when we were in college.

Car Seat Help?

I can't keep Ruby in her car seat.  I strap her in and tighten it, and by the time I get in the van & buckled up - she's loosened it.

She pushes down the cross piece (that snaps closed & sits over her chest) and once that is down, she wiggles her arms out.  Then she can lean waaaaaay over.  She's still strapped in with her legs, but her entire top half is then unprotected.

We have a very nice Britax seat for her ... any suggestions??!


update:  The big safety pins are working well so far!!  Thanks for the suggestions!

September is ...

Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month as well as Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

Our daughter, Karly, is a cancer survivor.  She was diagnosed just after her 13th birthday with small cell ovarian carcinoma - and this November she'll turn 16.

If you'd like to read about her battle with cancer, click here.


* * * * * * * * * *

Cancer remains the number one disease killer of children; more than genetic anomalies, cystic fibrosis, and AIDS combined

1 out of 5 children with cancer dies. 3 out of 5 children suffer from long-term side effects.


Learn more:  www.curesearch.org

Meet the Teacher

Not to be left out, Ru will start school next week. She'll go 2 mornings a week for about 70 minutes.

Yesterday, we were able to go visit her classroom - Ru was very excited & had fun exploring.

Ru was on the go from the moment we arrived!

Ru loves play food - she set herself up with a fake meal ASAP.


On the way back to the van, I asked Ru if she liked her school, and she giggled like crazy. I took that as a YES! Just wait until she finds out she gets to ride the bus! I hope she loves it ...

Lil really enjoyed visiting school, too ... not too much longer & we'll be getting her ready for school, too! Right now, the plan is to keep her home until 2nd semester.