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 :)