One Month Home!!

One month ago today, Alona officially started her new life with our family. A friend of mine recently posted a quote by Jon Bergeron, Ph.D..." Adoption Day is not the first day of Happily Ever After, it is the first day of Rehab". Another friend of mine who has walked this road before me, sent me an encouraging email on a pretty difficult day. She made an excellent point, " i am also thankful that the kids god called us to adopt truly were capable of being "rehabilitated" or "habilitated" since there was no real RE to it! " These statements sum up this first month home perfectly.

Our transition into our new family life has gone extremely well. We are very lucky that Alona is so open to receiving and giving love. She has been willing to try lots of new things, and has done *most* of the things that we have asked her to do. We do recognize that we are blessed to be one of the relatively few families who are able to adopt a teenager and "habilitate" them successfully ( I'm not sure if that is a real word, but you understand what I'm saying, right??). 

As smooth as it has gone, the waters have definitely not been smooth each and every day. For me, my biggest source of frustration has been juggling the demands of home schooling Alona, along with meeting the needs of my other 4 daughters. To give you a snapshot into what a typical day is like:

One day last week, I was trying to go over some math problems with Alona. My 5 year old had the day off of kindergarten due to parent/teacher conference prep, and she was sitting at the kitchen table wanting me to spell tic tac toe and play the game with her. Meanwhile, I had my 15 month old on my hip because she refused to be put down. Any attempt to put her down to play with toys was met with ear piercing screams. I had one child on in a bathroom just off the kitchen who somehow got something on her hands while sitting on the toilet that totally should not have been on her hands, and she was freaking out wanting me to come clean her up. At this moment, by 2 year old runs in saying that she was all wet (she is STILL not fully potty trained and waited too long to tell me she needed to go potty, and therefore peed in her big girl panties...in my room...in my computer chair while playing a Daniel Tigers neighborhood computer game). ALL of this craziness going on at the EXACT.SAME.MOMENT!!!! Needless to say, finding time to devote to each and every one of my precious little ones has been quite challenging.

Another source of frustration for me has been the lack of motivation in the school department. I was told by many people to expect this, as being challenged academically is something that Alona has simply never experienced. So, I knew that we might have some problems here going into the whole schooling thing. Knowing this, and experiencing this are 2 totally different things. We have had a couple of "stand offs" where she would not even  attempt what I had assigned, and then there have been times where an assignment has taken 4 hours instead of the 20 minutes it should have. Dealing with these times with love and patience have proved to be difficult. In these moments, I have resorted to the only thing I know to do...prayer. How do you lovingly explain that school work is important to a near adult who has never been taught that learning is important? How do explain that their best effort is expected  for their own well being and future? There are SO many concepts that are foreign to her.

Apart from schooling, we have been able to get out and do some fun things. We are trying to balance school with fun family bonding. Ryan and I put together a rough schedule for Alona so that she will know what to expect each day. Of course, this is loosely followed, and most days we do not get to all things listed due to the challenges listed above. Last week, Alona started meeting with a friend of mine for tutoring as well as with our speech therapist friend. I think both of these sessions went really well, and along with her ESL classes on Thursdays, will now be weekly meetings. Included on her schedule are 2 nights a week where Ryan and I sit down with Alona after the little ones go to sleep, and we do something fun with just her. We play cards, listen to music, work a puzzle...whatever! We felt it was important to spend time with her...both of us, together....doing something fun. 

Last week-end, we went to my in-laws lake house which is an hour from here. Our girls love going over there, and we were excited for Alona to experience it for the first time. We didn't make it out on the lake for a boat ride, but we did enjoy just getting away together for the week-end. We took the girls to a math and science museum, and they all had a great time checking out the exhibits and exploring. One of the fun attractions at the museum, is the worlds largest Tesla Coil. If you don't know what a tesla coil is, check out the information here. Alona, Aislynn, and Avalea had the chance to go up and touch the Tesla Coil. They all thought it was pretty cool:) 

Aislynn has had a lot of fun  things going on these past couple of weeks at her school including boosterthon, a Math and Literacy Carnival, Red Ribbon Week where the kids got to dress up in a different theme each day, and a Sock Hop party to celebrate the upcoming 50th day of school. Tomorrow we will go on a field trip to the Pumpkin Patch with her kindergarten class. Avalea has a Halloween party in her pre-k class tomorrow as well. Alona has been a trooper going to most of these different events with me. 

Other things we have been up to include a trip to the dentist for my middle 3 girls, flu vaccines for my 4 little ones, "boo'ing" our neighbors, making cookies for our new neighbors who moved in recently ( who just so happen to speak Russian!!), a trip to the children's library for story time ( Alona found a DVD she wanted to check out...HSM 3:)), and professional family pictures.

For the few rough moments we have had, there have been countless other wonderful moments. I am reminded often of how blessed we are. To think of the life that our sweet daughter came from, and to see her now immersed into a loving, safe, secure family is truly awe inspiring. I have been beyond blessed by the encouragement and prayers of friends and family. These kind words seem to come at just the right moments. When I am in the midst of those hard spots, and start to get overwhelmed by the seemingly endless task of teaching, guiding, and nurturing that lies ahead, I have learned that I must simply focus on the task at hand. Take each day, even each moment, one step at a time, and remember that the Lord is orchestrating this whole game of life that He created for me. As crazy as life seems to be, I am humbled beyond words that He found Ryan and us capable and worthy of entrusting these 5 precious girls to us.

When our family crosses your mind, please pray that Alona continues to adjust well to her new life. Pray that she understands the importance of school work and trying her best. Pray for patience for me!! Pray that we are able to spend fun, quality time as family in the midst of our crazy busy schedules. Thank you friends!!

As always, I will share a few pictures with you of what we have been up to:

My hippy girl for Halloween

80's baby!!

50's girl

Face painting at the Math and Literacy Carnival

Making bracelets

My little ones with Aislynn's precious teacher, Mrs. Geurin!! (Decorations in the background were done in part my Alona and me!)

Our 5 girls at the carnival!

Aislynn and the Roberts Eagle

Heading into the math and science museum

Hello Mr. Dinosaur bones!!

watching the Tesla Coil show

Tesla coil in action

Girls trying out the tesla coil

Digging for dinosaur bones

Playing with circuits 

Boosterthon!! (It was also crazy hair day)

Alona trying her first purple milk shake...she liked it!

Boo'ing our neighbors!!

Cowgirl day for Red Ribbon Week!

Yummy Root Bear floats for the sock hop!

Sugar cookies ready to be iced and sprinkled

Aislynn and her friends enjoying cookies and floats at the Sock Hop!

I had so much fun getting to dress up too:)

Aislynn and Mrs. Geurin at the Sock Hop with Elvis!

Enjoying the first fire of the season!!

"The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged." Deutronomy 31:8

"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love". John 15:9

Fun few days with lots of firsts!

We have been busy, busy, busy as you can imagine! I will catch you up on what we have been up to:) This past Friday, we had no plans (yay!), so I took my 4 girls that are home with me most days to a beautiful spot not far from our house. It has nature trails, a beautiful lake, and tons of pretty things to look at. We took paper bags for my little ones to fill with treasures from nature. As they would pick things up and put them in their bags, I would tell Alona the items names in English, and she would repeat then tell me the Russian name. I also had Alona bring the camera so that she could practice her photography skills. As I have said, I know that I am biased, but it amazes me how creative her eye already is in her photography. She took some fabulous shots, and I have to share a few with you, of course!

I took this one (obviously)....the rest are A's

Saturday was homecoming at Ouachita Baptist University, which is one hour from our hometown. My father just so happens to be the president of this university, and so I go down for the homecoming football game and Tiger Tunes each year. Tiger Tunes is a performance put on by the social clubs on campus in which they dress in themed costumes and dance and sing. They make up their own lyrics to popular songs, and compete against each other. It is quite entertaining and raises money for their student foundation. This year, I was excited to get to take Alona. She was not just over the moon excited about the football game, but she endured it with a Dr. Pepper and popcorn.  If you ask her if she enjoyed Tiger Tunes, she will tell you that it was "ok". I'm sure when she understands our language better, she will enjoy it much more. This year, it was just kinda weird to her...which I totally get:)

Go Tigers!

Sunday morning we went to church, and that evening had dinner with Ryan's family. We took Alona to a local frozen yogurt place for dessert, and she enjoyed a big bowl of birthday cake frozen yogurt topped with just about every form of chocolate topping they offered. 

Today, my little ones had MDO, and Alona and I spent the day at Aislynn's school decorating the kindergarten common area for their Math and Literacy Carnival on Thursday. I think it turned out really cute, and have to thank my sister for coming to help as well as 3 other fabulous kindergarten room moms. Oh...and thank you pinterest for the cute idea and to all of the kindergarten kids who made the adorable corn husks!! I am beyond thankful that Aislynn goes to such an amazing school that makes learning fun. I feel blessed to be able to volunteer in several different capacities at her school..not the least of which is room mom for her precious teacher Mrs. Geurin! Alona was a trooper and dove right in to the decorating. She did a GREAT job!!

As for her schooling today, Ryan drilled Alona on her multiplication. She did awesome and even worked up to answering his questions in English...yay Alona!! I printed off a lapbook about Halloween for her to work on this week.  Halloween is not a "thing" in Ukraine, and so I thought now would be a great time to teach her about this strange holiday that we love so much in America. Today, I had her read several pumpkin facts in English. I wanted her to flex those English reading muscles. She did a really great job. I do not expect her reading comprehension to be great at this point, but I do want her to practice reading so that she becomes more comfortable with it. We then translated the facts into Russian and she wrote them on the back of the facts sheets. Tomorrow I am going to quiz her about the facts we talked about today. Do I really care if she knows the history of pumpkins? No!! But, I do want her to practice memorizing facts, which is my main reasoning behind quizzing. 

Trying to make multiplication fun:)

For Bible, she is starting to read the gospel of Luke. I decided to start on the gospels since they give so much insight into Jesus' life, and with Christmas right around the corner, what better time than to read about him! 

Coming up this week, Alona will start working with a speech pathologist, attend ESL classes, learning the states that comprise our country and their capitals, and learn where they are on a map, continue to work on English, Bible, and Math at home, as well as her nutrition. We will also dive into spelling...starting with the English names and spellings of numbers. 

If it sounds like we have it all together, let me assure you...we don't! I still feel like I am floating around with no clear direction with home schooling, but at the end of each day, I can honestly say that we have at least accomplished "something". 

Had to throw this pic in...the jar is full of Arabella's treasures from the nature walk. I just love how she arranged her finds!

I have to brag on my other babies for a second. They have each dealt with the change in our family dynamic superbly. They adore Alona, and she loves them right back! They are all doing so well in the stages of life that they are in. Aislynn is excelling in all areas of kindergarten. She came home today and told me all about Christopher Columbus and his 3 boats:) She is such a sponge, and loves to learn! She is ALL about her school, and I love hearing every little detail each day. Avalea is in pre-k and is doing awesome! She is our little problem solver and can play any game, solve any problem, build any fort better than most adults! Her pre-k class is learning John 3:16 this year, and she came home today and recited the whole verse to me without any prompting. I am one proud Mama!! My little Arabella will be 3 next month and I just adore her sweet, goofy self. She is in her first year of dance, and we got to go in at the end of class today to see a routine they have been working on. She is quite the little ballerina! She did a fantastic job in the routine. So sweet! My little Adalaise is 15 months already...how can that be!?!?! She is yet to be fully walking, but will take a few steps for Alona:) Her big ole toothy grin will light a room. She is my little doll baby, and I just don't know what I'm gonna do when she doesn't want me to rock her to sleep anymore!! ( Don't worry...we plan for her to be the baby of our family forever;)). 

At the end of each utterly exhausting day, I fall into bed with gratitude for the gift of my family. I cannot imagine my crazy life being any other way, and I wouldn't change a thing....well other than having to battle ants every once in a while or having to clean up after our dog that likes to throw up on our carpet on a regular basis..but hey...life isn't perfect!!