Happy 4th of July!

I love this pic of our little Ukrainian/American boy and the American Flag! It was taken at church at the AWANA awards ceremony.

Speaking of...the kids had awards night for AWANA (the program the kids are in on Wednesday nights at church). They all have LOVED being apart of this during the school year and could not wait until Wednesdays for AWANA night:

Inna actually became a christian as a result of going through her AWANA curriculum and then asking us questions at home! She made it through the first starter part and one section of the book. It may not sound like much, but there are many scriptures and activities in just the starter part and for someone who had never even heard the name Jesus (that we know of) it was a lot for her to meditate on.

Vitali loved "Alana" as he calls it! He was very proud of all the scriptures he repeated after his teachers and proud of having his own book to work through and proud of the badges he earned! He asked every day if today is "ALANA".

Grant also loved this program and was so excited about it that he studied on his own all the time and actually finished the first years book in about half the time and wanted the 2nd years book to start on it early, but they did not have it yet! He has a tremendous gift to remember scripture! He was also so excited at the awards ceremony that he was presented with a special gift for raising the most money out of all the kids for the missions project for children in Brazil. He did not even know that there was going to be a gift for the one that raised the most, so he was pumped! He also had a little help from his Grandmother, Muh, who sent him some money to add to his when she found out he was collecting!
Now, they are in a VBS type program that last all summer long at our church and then AWANA will start back again when school starts.
Here are pics from the ceremony:


Vitali just couldnt get over his award...he was trying so hard to see what everyone else had in their hand until he finally got his!

Grant walking back from getting his award:

Inna before she recieved hers (when it was time for her class, she didnt like being called out and certainly didnt want to walk on the stage, so they had to bring it to her :)

To see how close our church is from our house....this is the kids standing in our front yard and that is our church in the background:

Kids getting ready to walk across the street to church:


Like always...so much has happened since last post...one of those things being Grant's B-day, so I will post those pics when I get em uploaded :)

Hope you have a wonderful 4th! We are going to go see fireworks on the River and we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of my brother, Caleb who is just hours away from arriving home from Texas and is coming home from the Army to spend time with us before he leaves for Iraq for 2 years. We will be sad to see him go, but thankful for this time to spend with him this weekend.....and on Independence Day...seems kind of fitting huh?

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

Hope in Desperate Conditions

http://www.worldnextdoor.org/2009/04/romaniv-boys-orphanage/comment-page-1/

sorry...you'll have to copy and paste (I dont know how to get it where you can just click on it)

The link above is from a missionary group that is ministering to an orphanage in the same region that Inna and Vitali are from. Jason found the site and we are so moved as it brought back so many thoughts and memories! As you know if you have been reading our blog, Vitali was in a special needs orphanage in this region, except that it was a baby orphanage. Jason and I have often wondered once these special needs children, like Vitali are too old for the baby orphanage where do they go? We did not know of or see an older kids (ages 6-16) orphanage for disabled children while we were in there area and out of 300 kids at Inna's orphanage, we did not see any as disabled as what was at Vitali's orphanage. So, we have often wondered where Vitali and his friends would have gone? When we saw the website above, we couldnt help but wonder if this boy's special needs orphanage would have been where Vitali would have gone since it is in the same region. Thank God, we never know what could have happened and that Vitali does have a family now, but as I read this I couldnt help but think of all the kids in Vitali's group that we played with while there who will be transferring to places like this, if not this exact place and I thank God for the missionaries that go into such conditions and are offering these children hope! The conditions they explain are very similar in some ways to Vitali's orphanage. The smells in both Inna's and Vitali's orphanages were so repulsive that we had to begin wearing deodorant on the bottom of our nose to try to endure being there. We too experienced the constant screaming, crying of kids with no one to hold them. I specifically remember looking through a door and seeing disabled children from Vitali's group walking very slowly with head leaning on the wall with such an obvious fever(bright red cheeks) that they could barely keep their eyes open and yet there is no one to help them! The weirdest thing to us was that the whole time we were visiting Vitali's orphanage, we thought his group of about 14 children were the only ones who lived there, but one of the last days that Jason was there, the director of the orphanage for some reason took Jason into a back room of a seperate building and there was a small room where the most severely handicapped babies 0-5 lived....he witnessed children with no arms or legs propped up on a couch and many other type disabilities.....it sounded just like the setting at the orphanage above. Inna's orphanage did not have children with such disabilities that we saw, but we witnessed some very hard things there too (the same teenagers crying alone in the hallways every single day we were there, kids freely roaming the premises outside, smoking, etc..., the children were only allowed to have a "shower" on Thursdays and 300 kids had to be herded through 3 shower stalls, and forget about ever have their teeth brushed and such. Inna tells us a lot about her orphanage (most of what I could not put on here), but some of the more minor things like she was on the 3rd floor of this HUGE building and at night, they turn off all the lights and there is no adult anywhere nearby. She explained how you couldnt even make it to the bathroom stalls at night because they were on the first floor and it was too scary. In fact, I just spoke to someone the other day who took a missions trip and stayed in a Ukraine orphanage the whole day and evening to see what all goes on and while he was there he even witnessed that now the pimps hang outside of the orphanages waiting to approach the new girls that will be released from the orphanage on that day (meaning they became 17 and "graduated" from the system and are put out with no skills to function well in life.) I know all of this is blunt, but it is truth and it is happening. As Americans, I think it is very hard for us to really understand what these places are like, unless you have been there. Even for Jason and I, I do not believe that there is anyway that we could have remotely "Got it" just having it explained to us if we had never been in a place like this. Basically, once you have been there, those images stay with you (how could they not), but while you are there, you can only rest in the knowledge of that these children are not forgotten by God and He knows each one by name! We don't understand God's ways sometimes, but we know that He explains in the Bible that He cares deeply for the orphans and I truly believe that He does! Because He loves them, he calls missionaries like in the link above to go to them and show them love...it is so encouraging for us to read about missionary groups like the ones above who are sharing God's love with these children and giving them hope and bringing joy into their lives and especially the one above as it very well could have been the place Vitali would have lived if not adopted. May God bless this missionary group and double their efforts!

More Ukraine Adoption Info

We are off to a great summer! We actually had a great 1st week already! We are so past ready to swim in our pool too, but waiting on a new liner next week as our other one bit the dust over the winter.

This week Inna and Vitali had their one yr check up with UAB adoption clinic and my mind is trying to process all the info at this point :) There are always so helpful! I truly cannot express to you all the changes that Inna and Vitali have made in one year! It is just mind-blowing at times. Of course we got all their stats on ht, wt, head circ. and it is no secret that Inna has grown significantly in every way :) She has gone from a size 2 shoe to a size 7 in this one year. Vitali has definitely changed from very baby-like to a little boy in one short year. He just continues to make huge changes, especially cognitively. It is really hard for me to express exactly some of his changes, but even in the last month, I have noticed a real difference in the way he is able to connect to conversation and being more aware of his surroundings. He has begun to show empathy for the first time recently and has started to care a little when he is hurt or someone else is hurt. There was no ability to feel these things before. My jaw just dropped last week when we were on a bike ride and Inna fell off her bike and he looked up at me sadly and out of the blue said (with lots of stuttering in between), "Mommy, I care when Inna gets hurt." Before, he would have been so in his own world that he would have been oblivious that she had even fallen off the bike. He has even been responding to some discipline with genuine crying or genuinely seeming to have some remorse when before he was too hyperactive and impulsive to know or care he was being disciplined. There is still a long way to go, but I am so thankful for these improvements as we did not know for sure if there would ever be the ability for these things. There are so many things that they have come through in a year and I began to type a list and ended up erasing it with the realization that the list is so enormous that I had a hard time choosing what to add to the list :) There is also a long list of things we are still working on :)

We wanted to give more info on Ukraine and adoption and we have really found a particular family's blog to have info that would be helpful if you are in the adoption process. The blog link is....
http://pretreadoptionblog.blogspot.com/
This family seems to be keeping tabs on many things happening in Ukraine, especially the latest news concerning the voting of whether to stop international adoptions from Ukraine. Many families have been praying this week over this and thank God it fell through on Tues for now....you can read more about it on blog link above. If you go back to further posts there is quest/answers for those about to travel. Also, if you go back to their April 8th post, they post the total amount that was spent in their Ukraine adoption of 2 children recently. We have found that their amount matches our total amount almost exactly and probably could help you plan better if you are planning on adopting 2 from Ukraine at this time.
Also, if you are in the adoption process, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND going to their April
1st post for some very important information from the director of the SDA.

No matter what information you find, I would just encourage you not to be discouraged. The financial alone can almost take your breath away, but God is always faithful to provide and if He has called you, He will see you to the end! If you have any specific questions, please feel free to comment or email us.

Just for fun:
Things that we are glad we packed in our suitcase for Ukraine:

- (Especially if you are taking kids) Snacks, lemonade packets (or any juice powder packet to go), coffee...we packed as many snacks as would fit in out suitcases and they lasted maybe the first week. This was especially important when traveling with Grant because you a lot of times are just getting used to everything that 1st week and are at the mercy of others and you may not get to stop and eat or get snacks anywhere...one of our days...we were on the road all day from 5 in the morning and never got to stop anywhere...Jason and I literally didnt get to eat or drink until 8:00 that night because we held all of our snacks for Grant so that at least he could be sure to get something to eat...THANK GOD we packed those snacks and then we had the same situation the next day...we were sad when we ran out of our familiar snacks from home- Mel

- DVD movies to play on computer (All TV was in Ukrainian)- Jason

Things we wish we had NOT packed to take to Ukraine:

- Long Johns- It was cold OUTSIDE, but the heat is government controlled INSIDE Kiev and if you wear long johns outside and you are hot natured at all, you are going to burn up inside the buildings. Put it this way...It was snowing hard outside when we were staying in Kiev and we were sleeping with our windows and balcony doors wide open in our flat because we were sweating so bad inside with no way to control the heat. We were so thankful when April 15th arrived and the government turned off the heat- Mel.

- Power converter because all we needed was the standard adapter for a 110 plug to European 240 volt plug (Check your electronics to see if they can accept 240 volts, because most of ours did)- Jason

Gotcha Day Celebration

We had a such a wonderful Gotcha Day! God did such a cool thing...
I was trying to decide the best way to honor this day...it didnt seem that a party type celebration or gifts and such seemed like the right thing for our crew (especially since those type occasions where all attention is on them can send them into some setbacks for a few days) and as I was brainstorming...we were contacted by the pastor of Grace Fellowship in Anniston AL (A church that supported our adoption while in Ukraine...more on that later)who explained that they were having an adoption service on May 17th. He explained that the adoption agency we used, Lifeline, would be speaking on adoption and that they would be playing an adoption slideshow and would like pics of our family and then if we were able to attend, he asked that one of us speak a little on what God has taught us in our adoption. We were very excited about getting to meet this church in person, but got off the phone and it never occured to Jason or I until the next day that May 17th was exactly the day that Inna and Vitali arrived in America to join our family forever. This Sunday Service was not planned for our Gotcha Day, but that is just how our awesome God works!

Before I go any further, I want to explain a little more about how this church that had never met us before came to support our adoption....
From what I have been told and the best I can remember the story...
It all started when a family at Grace Fellowship gave birth to a child named Micah who was born with a disease that caused many hi medical bills. Financial support was raised for Micah during this time and he went to be with Jesus before he turned one years old. This is a precious family that we had the joy of meeting this past Sunday and my heart was moved when I found out their full story. Micah's parents and the elders of the church decided that they would take the money that was raised and use it to help adoptive families....the fund was named Micah's Hope.
Shortly after, there was an adoptive family in Ukraine who realized their process was going to be longer than expected and they were running out of money quickly and if God did not intervene they possibly would have to leave without the children they believed God had for them. This family of course was ours and we came to a hard time while were in Ukraine of realizing that we would have to release to God any efforts to make this adoption financially happen as we did not see a solution in site. It was a true test of faith! We added up that we would need $7,600 to pay for all that was needed in the country and we had no idea where it was going to come from. We released it completely to God in prayer and like I said, washed our hands of any efforts to make it happen at this point. The next day, we got a call from our social worker who back in America had made a phone call to Grace Fellowship and explained our need and they said, "Well, it is funny you have called because we actually have made an adoption fund and can donate the the full $7,600 that is needed. Obviously, this was a huge faith builder and encouragement to us while in Ukraine and we are very grateful!

Back to Gotcha Day...one of the families in the church offered for us to come stay with them Sat night and we had a great time getting to meet them and the kids loved their beautiful backyard with decorative fish pond. Grant liked it so much that we couldnt find him at 5:00 Sunday morning and he was out watching the fish. We had a great service Sunday and Jason nominated me to speak for our family and the sermon from Pastor Carlton was awesome. Afterwards, the church planned a meal for us adoptive families there and we got to meet so many wonderful people!
Then, when we were passing back through B-ham, we got to spend some time The Hood family (remember the friends that we met while in Ukraine) and all of our kids hit it off right away! They were all excited to meet their new friends that also had Russian names! Overall, I just felt EXTREMELY blessed and in the car on the way home as the kids were resting, I was just thanking God for how he had placed so many awesome, Godly, encouraging people in our paths and how we felt so loved on for Gotcha Day! Then Jason and I agreed that we had the answer for celebrating Gotcha Day in our family would be a day to celebrate adoption in general...to visit those that supported our adoption, to support someone who has adopted or in the process, to find ways to remember the orphans that do not yet have a family on this day...maybe writing a letter, maybe a missions trip...the possiblities are endless, but I pray that every year will be as meaningful for our family as this one!

Well, now that we have reached one year, I will be ending regular posts on our blog soon, but there are a few posts that I want to get in before I do.

Comments:
Kathy C~ Yes, we were in Destin- one of our favorites to visit :) I checked out your blog on the twins...hope you are able to get them soon...they need a momma and daddy :)!

Stephanee~ Oh my goodness...wouldnt my kids be beside themselves if they thought we were going to see Katya & Nastya at the beach :) I would be there in a heartbeat! I am sure your girls are going to be blown away with the beach like Inna and Vitali.

Denise~ Thanks for leaving the comment...Yes, Amy and I have emailed off and on and I am following along...I have no doubt they are going to see amazing changes! Please feel free to email me again anytime!

Rachel~ we are waiting anxiously for the wedding bells to ring :)

Alan~ Thanks for continuing to follow along...I wish I had time to posts their reaction to every first :)

Tammy~ You are exactly right...it is not for the weak at heart or anyone living without the strength of Christ...I have to tap into it daily :)!

Deb~ Thank you for your sweet comments...hope your family is doing well and still excelling in Karate!

Beach Trip

Over Spring Break, I decided to take the kids to the Beach for what was going to be a day trip until my sweet grandmother (Meme) decided that she wanted to pay for us to stay overnight and we had a great time! This was the first time that Inna and Vitali had ever seen the beach and they LOVED it! I drove the 3 kids, Tiff, and we asked my mom (Gigi) to hop in with us last minute and she joined the party! Jason decided that the best way he could enjoy this time was to have the house all to himself since it doesnt happen much :) and so he opted to enjoy the quiet at home and join us on our next beach trip. On the way there, the kids just kept getting more excited the closer we got to being there. Inna kept saying..."I feel like I have been to the beach before because I have imagined it in my mind". Then, we past over the bridge over the bay and it almost took her breath away...she thought it was so beautiful. Vitali kept saying, "I have never been to the beach". (By the way, this is his new thing to say I have never..."I have never had a b-day party" "I have never...the list goes on and on to the point of even stuff like driving down the road and he will say "Mama, mama, mama, mama...I have never ridden in that car (meaning the car beside us on the road)...see what I mean, this list could go on forever. Ok, back to the beach...Inna was so excited when we finally arrived at Destin that she ran through the sand and plunged straight in the water even though it was FREEZING cold! She laughed and splashed and splashed like Vitali did when he first had a bath. She swam for hours and never seemed to realize that it was freezing water. She was having so much fun that the other kids all decided to join her...even Tiff. I asked Grant later if he thinks he would have ever got in the water if Inna didnt that day and he said, "No"...that he would have thought it was too cold, but instead he had a blast that day! The best part was that I just realized how therapeutic being there at the beach was for Inna and Vitali and really all of us, but I really could tell how enjoying one of God's most beautiful creations was such a healing experience for Inna. Later that night, we went out to eat and had more fun as there was a band playing some Jimmy Buffet type songs and the dance floor was completely empty and they had hoola hoops spread out, so we all danced and hoola hooped for probably an hour or more and had so much fun! Tiff, Grant, and Inna had some awesome hoola hoop tricks going on. The guys on the stage when they paused between songs even said, "Man, that is so cool" and started requesting tricks, haha! We wanted to take pics of this, but our camera wouldnt work with the lighting. We did get some beach pics though...

Easter & Birthday Update

We sure did have a wonderful time of celebrating during Easter! We have joyfully reflected on our salvation through Jesus and joyfully reflected on his resurrection! We placed the cross with the different color cloths...purple, then black, and then white for different days! Grant requested this cross when he was 4 yrs old (He wanted one so badly) and our friends Raymond and Claudia surprised him with one they had made for him back then. I cannot tell you how much he has always loved this cross. When it got pulled down from the attic this year...he made sure it was kept in his room and not being touched until it went in the ground.Then, Vitali developed a love for the cross in the yard the next day...when everyone else was at school...he told me that he wanted to sit in the driveway and watch the cross. So, I sat with him and I couldnt believe all the questions he asked me about Jesus that were prompted by him...he really was making a connection and telling me things that I did not know there was a capacity for him to understand yet. I really know that Grant and Vitali's love for this cross is not because of the piece of wood that it is, but because of the love of Jesus that it represents to them and they are drawn to that love...this was so obvious to me through all of the things they shared with me! We had a fun-filled day starting with celebration at church, eating a great lunch, and Easter egg hunt at home.

Well, I guess I will end in a moment with the good birthday update, but before I do I guess this is a good section to post about the hard lesson Jason and I learned after having 2 occasions back to back with the Birthday and Easter. We are aware of Vitali's struggles with hyperactivity and impulse control, etc... and we try to watch for triggers that we know will send him completely out of control physically and mentally...sometimes it can be social situations that overwhelm him, any setting that looks institutional like doctors offices does it EVERY TIME, and some other things. We have SOMEWHAT limited his sweets as we know that can be a trigger, but we had no idea to what level that could have an effect until Birthday/Easter weekend and after having some sweets for 2 days in a row. We paid dearly! (also, having 2 days of overstimulation that he is not used to I am sure contributed some also) By the evening of the 2nd day, he became completely out of control, very destructive, trying to injure himself (running his head full force into a brick wall and laughing..... among many other ways of trying to hurt himself), destroying his favorite toys on purpose when normally he loves these favorite toys and carries them around with him all day...I really cannot even touch the surface of all that happened constantly for about 24-48 hrs. I was even very close to calling his doctor and seeing if there needed to be sedation (Normally, I wouldnt even think of doing something like this, except that it was this severe) to keep him from really hurting himself until he could Detox as nothing I tried was helping, but I was able to get him to sleep right before I was going to call and so I opted against it. He has had some of these behaviors now and then on a smaller scale, but nothing like this extreme in a while now~ I know there are medications also for these type things, but he has had a severe reaction to even the medicine to where I had to rush him to the doctor after only taking 2 tsps of it when we tried what the doctors had prescribed for his needs. Needless to say, we have been trying to get all sweets, dyes, etc... out of his system and it got a little better after a few days until he found a way to get to Grant's chocolate bunny while I was at the grocery store and daddy was home doing taxes and Vitali ate the whole thing and started back up again. (It has been so bad, that even when out in public and at places like getting our haircut and they would offer him a lollipop and Me, Grant, and Inna would all run toward the candy before it hit his hand and almost scream at the same time, "NOOOOOOOOOOOO" like in a slow motion echoing scream :) (Since it wasnt a huge issue before, I had never really noticed before I had Vitali how many times in public people offer children sweets...haircuts, banks, restaurants, church, school, people that just think he is cute, ha!!....AAAAHHHH!!! When I came home from the store, Grant and Inna ran up to me in a panic and told me he ate the chocolate bunny, my first thought was, "Melanie, drop the groceries and run" haha! But, I put on my big girl pants and dealt with another out of control day! Not only is it hard for us, but a doctor told me one time when we first came home to imagine how bad it must feel to him also being so out of control at these times (And they werent even thinking about what it would be like after sweets). Now that we know his reaction to this too, I guess I better get some creative ideas for sweet alternatives, huh?

Now, on a better note....He did have a great time at his 1st ever birthday party...he was definitely quiet as he knew all the attention was on him that day, but at the same time, I know he loved it because he told me so several times and he kept telling me after we got home, "I love mommy and daddy". It was a small party with family at Pratt Park and it was a beautiful day! He rode his bike most of the day, but also loved swinging and feeding the ducks. I did take some cupcakes and juice boxses on his actual birthday to his school (obviously, this was before the sweet attack) and I threw in those pics too...I think I will let the pics tell the rest of the story....
School party:
When I arrived to his class, the teacher was reading a story, but he was so excited he couldnt stand it...he wanted to run and give me a hug and was trying his hardest to wait until the story was over...

His teachers gave him this "Happy Birthday" tag to wear all day at school and he got to be line leader for the day

Blowing out candle...I dont think he had noticed anyone blowing out a candle before on a cake since he had been here...so when we first asked him to blow it out, he said, " I can't" and then we showed him and he did it


Birthday Party at Park with fam:


Family: Jordan, Dan, Josh:


Inna with Nanny and one of Inna's favorite cousins, Charlotte:


Niki, Inna, and Patsy:


Aunt Theresa, Inna, and Grant:


Big brother pushing little brother on swing:


The ducks trying to eat Jason's shoe when we ran out of bread:



Cousins pic:
Vitali in his new fireman outfit from his b-day:

Happy Birthday Vitali/Happy Easter

Vitali is 5 yrs old as of yesterday. We had a small party in the park today and I am going to blog about that with pics hopefully in the next couple of days. I will share quickly his prayer last night before bed as we had told him his party was today....He was praying and said in his own little words, "Kamp Ku (Thank you) Lord for mommy coming to my parlee (party)". "I toe lighted" (I am so excited). "I never had a parlee". Amen Grant got sick in the middle of night and we woke up going what are going to do about Vitali's party being at our house with a sick child, but how could you not have a party that day after a prayer like that:) So, we moved the party to the park and had a great time!
Also, Happy Easter...It has been a great weekend to celebrate the resurrection of our Savior! In rained and thundered and lightened on Good Friday, which I thought was so fitting to remember the crucifixion time and tomorrow is the day we celebrate Jesus's resurrection and it is absolutely beatiful outside....I love it! There is so much I wish I had time to share with you of even things the kids have shared with us about Easter and maybe I will get the chance on next blog, but for now...I am posting this post below since I had already finished it a few days ago and it was just waiting to be published on blog :) Have a GREAT EASTER!

Hitting a few highlights since last the last post....Let's see...Grant and Inna are playing soccer now. It is Inna's first time, so she is learning, but I think mostly is enjoying being on a team. She did decide this week that she officially didnt want to play soccer anymore, but since we are halfway into it...we talked to her about finishing the season out, even if she just considers it as getting a little exercise. She did go to practice yesterday and kept a good attitude and seemed to enjoy herself. We have pics of her as she has already had her team pics. She is 3rd from bottom right in group pic below...I will have to post Grant's later when he has his. Inna is doing better in school behavior-wise as far as fights go (it has been a big adjustment for her as she tries to come out of the orphanage aggressive survival mode)...but there hasnt been anymore fights at school lately...YEA!!! Her GiGi(grandmother) gave her a bracelet to wear after her 4th fight at school and told her that when she gets angry and feels that she is about to fight someone to look at her bracelet as a reminder to ask Jesus to help her..well...I guess this has helped as she hasnt been in a fight at school since then that I know of. We are still working on other behavior issues at school and the academic situation and just trying to finish out this year, so that we can get her in something more appropriate for her needs next year. We have met with school staff often for this year and everyone is working on the best plan for her. All in all when I look back over her going to public school this year...it may have not been the best academic learning environment for her in a regular classroom, but we never know until we try and truly I am also thankful that she was able to see a classroom environment in America and be with other children that have goals for doing well in school and see what that looks like. I became more aware throughout the year of how there is no motivation for doing well in school. I began talking to her about if she was expelled from school what that would be like and it hit me while I was speaking that before now, she has probably only seen people "graduate" from the orphanage with no education, skills for functioning in life and the unfortunate truth is that most of them become homeless, drug addicts and prostitutes, etc..so when this is all she has ever known why would being expelled even matter to her. So ever since then, I have been trying to encourage her about different motivations for learning in school and we have talked about different careers and many other things. The light came on and the other day she said, "I want to be a designer one day" and I tell ya, she is so creative and designs clothes on paper all the time, so it wouldnt surprise me at all! I just try to keep encouraging her!
Grant is loving soccer...I am not sure if he loves it as much as football, but he sure seems to be just as excited when he plays. We are praying and deciding about his school situation too and we are going to visit the gifted program before school is out to see if that seems like it will be enough for him next year to keep him challenged. We have heard that it is only a 1 day a week thing, so we are not sure yet, but I think it will help make the decision for what to do for next year. He has a little stomach virus this weekend, so please pray that he will feel better. He is collecting quarters for children in Brazil right now through the AWANA program at church and had until May to collect a card full of quarters and has asked us non stop if he could do chores for money to fill up his quarter card and he gets SOOOO much joy out of earning the money himself and he turned the 1st card in 4 days after he got and they couldnt believe it, so now he is working on his second card of quarters. They had no idea what they were doing at church when they started this missions project with the kids...but missions is his heart...It wouldnt surprise me if he was a missionary one day!

Vitali~ Is still developing by leaps and bounds. His teachers at school and church constantly tell me how much he is improving. Remember my posts about when we were in Ukraine and my friends called him "Vitality" on accident a few times and I really felt the Lord was speaking to my heart that this was what we would see in him one day (Vitality...full of life) instead of what we were seeing at the orphanage....well, one of his teachers came up to me at church the other day and said, "We just love Vitali....HE IS SO FULL OF LIFE". She went on to say...every activity we do...it is like he just lights up with so much excitement. She does not even know his adoption story and hasnt known him very long, but I thought it was cool that those were the words she chose. God is good, huh? We just registered Vitali for Kindergarten next year although he is in a 3 yr old class now with Special Ed services. The main reason is that Special Ed home base is at the Kindergarten and they really recommended he be right where they are and they will be able to meet his needs better there. So, although it feels really weird to think of him going to Kindergarten...it will really be with Special Ed and they said he can stay as many years as needed, so we agreed! I trust the Special Ed group there as they have been wonderful to us so far and they seem to really love Vitali.

We are coming closer to the kids being home for one year. I have some posts that I would like to get in before then, so I guess I better get on the ball :)