The Farrells Full House

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Diving into Home Schooling

I must start this post by stating that I was a nervous wreck about starting to home school Alona. I kept thinking, " I am SO not a teacher!! I need someone to tell me EXACTLY what to do. I have NO clue what I am doing". And I must say, all the above are true. However, after getting some wonderful advice from other Mama's who have walked in my shoes before me, and having dipped my little toes into the home schooling pond this week, I feel like I can actually handle this.

My biggest pieces of advice from my dear friends were to a) not stress out and b) go slow. There are SO many things that Alona needs to learn, and the wonderful thing is, we don't have to do it all in a day! We can build in activities and learning experiences for her in just about everything we do. Pretty much every single thing about her life now is new, which allows for plenty of hands on learning.

Our main 4 areas of learning for now are English, Math, Bible, and Health/Nutrition (not necessarily in that order). We have spent the most amount of time this week on English. Alona is doing a phenomenal job, and she is doing really well with her lessons. One of her biggest frustrations at the moment is pronunciation. Just as I can't roll my r's and say things correctly in Russian, she has a hard time with some sounds in the English language that are unfamiliar to her...such as the "wuh" sound and the "th" sounds. A sweet, sweet church friend who is a speech pathologist has offered to spend time with Alona in practicing some of these skills. Starting next week, Alona will also attend ESL classes at our church, as part of an international outreach group. There is a native russian speaker that attends these classes, and I am excited for Alona to get started there.

Getting a little help in her English studies from Avalea.....

and Adalaise:)

Ryan is our math man, and he printed off a TON of worksheets for Alona, so that he can assess where they need to begin their studies. After about 20 minutes of evaluation last night, Ryan decided that the place they needed to start was memorizing the times tables. Alona is able to answer most simple multiplication problems correctly, but the way she arrives at the answer is by counting, not multiplying. He is having her write out the tables up to 13, and then will have her memorize them. He plans to do some timed trials with her to keep track of her problem solving improvement. I am thankful that Ryan has taken charge of math because a mathematician, I certainly am not!

Alona is continuing with her bible lessons as well. As I mentioned in my prior post, I am having her read 2 chapters a day, underlining 3 verses that stand out to her in each chapter, and then having her write them down in her journal in both English and Russian. Eventually, I plan to have her memorize one verse in English a week.

Health/Nutrition is a whole new concept for Alona. At her school in Ukraine, she did have PE, but she readily admits that she hated to do the exercises. She said that the only way the teacher could get her to participate, was to reward her with sweets:) Last night, Ryan printed off an old school food pyramid to show Alona in general terms what you should eat each day. Our biggest issues at the moment are getting her to eat vegetables and drinking water. I really don't think she drank much of anything at the orphanage, and it wasn't uncommon for her to not order a drink when we ate out in Ukraine. She was totally blown away (and less than pleased) when we told her she was supposed to drink 8 glasses of water a day. We compromised and told her to start out with drinking 4 glasses of water a day, and we would work up to 8. I am pleased to say that she did achieve this goal today...hooray!! Baby steps, right?!?

Translating the servings into Russian

I would consider many things we do around here as home economics, and yesterday the girls and I baked White Chocolate Chip Brownies together. It was so fun to do this as a group activity with all of my little ones...not to mention that I am obsessed with pumpkin goodies in the fall! We also ventured to a little pumpkin patch not far from our house so that my 2 babies could pick out a pumpkin. We came home and arranged them (and some ginormous mums) on the front porch. I think decorating can count towards Home Ec, don't you?

Pumpkins!

Making our delicious pumpkin brownies

Alona has been a trooper, and tags along to just about anything Ryan and I do. It has been so cool to see her in social settings, and within this short 1 1/2 weeks, she has picked up on a ton of social cues. When someone introduces themselves, she will now respond with , "Alona. Nice to meet you". She seems more at ease every day in public, and everyone comments on how happy she seems. What a truly remarkable testament to the spirit and tenacity of our daughter. Ryan and I are truly humbled to have been given such an amazing gift of being able to parent Alona. We are just in awe of God's goodness in giving her to us, along with our precious 4 biological daughters.

Couldn't resist sharing this picture of my 3 middles:)

Shopping for scarecrows!

We have a busy few days up ahead (as always!), but I plan to post in the next couple of days or so about 3 extraordinary girls that captured my heart while in Ukraine, who are longing for a family of their own. Please check back for that soon!

Monday, October 7, 2013

The First Week Home

Alona's first week home flew by. In some ways, it seems like it hardly even happened, and then in other ways, it seems like she has been here forever! Having 4 little girls at home that I had been away from for 4 weeks left us little time to relax and get over our jet lag. We had to dive right in to all of the weekly activities that having 4 little girls bring!

Our first day home, we hung around the house for most of the day. We went on a little drive to show her around our side of town, and the main places we frequent. During the girls nap time/quiet time, Alona and I snuck out, and headed to 2 of my favorite stores...Target and Hobby Lobby:) We stocked Alona up on exercise clothes and pajamas. The rest of the day was spent at home, working on puzzles, and just hanging out.

Alona getting the grand tour of her new home

Aislynn reading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom to her big sister our first night home

Showing Alona all of the things in her room

Room full of sisters!!

Working a puzzle...with a few helpers:)

The next few days we introduced Alona to something new each day. Sunday, we went to church. She was a bit overwhelmed because we attend a large church, and so many wonderful people have been praying for her for so long that they feel like they already know her. Conversely, Alona doesn't know any of them!! So, you can imagine how that would feel overwhelming to a teenager. She seemed to enjoy the service though, and was able to talk to our sweet friend Natalya in Ukraine that afternoon for a long while.

Monday brought a fun day of shopping for clothes and eating lunch with Aislynn at school. Tuesday, we spent a quiet day at home after taking Ryan to work (his car was in the shop). Wednesday we ventured to storytime at the Children's Library....a favorite of my girls. Thursday, we spent the day with Avalea's preschool class at the pumpkin patch. That was a cultural experience for Alona. She had never visited a pumpkin patch, much less gone on a hayride. Friday, we went to the zoo. This past week-end brought 3 birthday parties, church, and a fabulous fundraiser dinner for the adoption agency that conducted our home study.

Alona and Avalea on the hay ride

My girls get measured at the pumpkin patch each year, so I made Alona do it as well:)

Photographer in action!

Sweet sisters at the zoo

Taking pictures at the zoo

Love my girls!!

Avalea and Alona snuggled up watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory during quiet time

Special group of friends and family at the Bethany fundraiser dinner

Working hard on her English lessons!

Daddy teaching her about chores

Many people are interested in hearing about how Alona and the girls are adjusting to our new family dynamic. I can honestly say that it is going wonderfully! My little ones ADORE their big sister, and the only issue we are having, is teaching them about privacy:) We are having to teach them that when a bedroom or bathroom door are closed, you can't just barge in....like they do with me!! Alona is wonderful with the girls as well, and has jumped right in with helping me tuck them in and give them good night hugs and kisses. She helps me load them in the car, and buckles their seat belts for me.

Alona has been extremely willing and eager to tag along with Ryan and me on all of our errands. She has enjoyed grocery shopping with Ryan and helping him pick out some of the items on our list. She is picking up English at a very quick pace, and is even taking a few bites of vegetables...here and there:) Ryan taught her how to vacuum her room yesterday, and she even went on a walk with him last night. Now that is HUGE because my girl does not like exercise!! Alona is really making this house her home, and has re-arranged some things in her room to her liking. I love that she feels comfortable enough to do that.

Alona expressed interest in photography while we were in Ukraine, so we have given our camera to her to explore an take pictures as she likes. She enjoyed taking pictures on the pumpkin patch field trip, and when I told her we were going to the zoo, she grabbed the camera without any prompting. I know I am biased, but she really has a great eye! For someone who has never used a camera before, she has captured some truly great shots. I can't wait to see how her talent develops and grows as she is able to learn more. Here are a few pics that she has snapped this past week:

Aren't they awesome?!?

We officially started school today. We have not set a rigid schedule or routine, because we are just at that stage where the girls are not all on the same schedule. They are in MDO 2 days a week (other than my kindergartner, who is in a fabulous public school 5 days a week) which are my days to actually get things done. Monday is a MDO day, so today I had a doctors appointment scheduled. Alona spent some time with my mom while I was at the doctor, and went to a local boutique to have her make up done and to do a little shopping. I wanted her to have her make up done by a professional so that she would know what to do with certain products. She is 16 after all, and most teenage girls like to play around with make up. Alona left with some neutral eye shadow and good face moisturizer....age appropriate I think;)

Trying on some shades

How pretty is our girl??

After shopping and lunch,we came home for Alona to do her bible study while the house was quiet. I decided last week that I wanted to start out her bible studies by learning about some of the strong women of the Bible. I thought Ruth would be an excellent place to start. Ruth left her home country and everything she knew to start a new life with her mother in law in a foreign land. She knew no one other than her mother in law and yet went because she felt as though that was what the Lord wanted her to do. I can't help but think of the similarities of Ruth and Alona. Alona left her home country and all that she knew to live in a foreign land with her new family.

After reading the assigned chapters in her Bible each day, I am having Alona underline 3 verses that stood out to her in each chapter. I am then having her look those verse up in my English language Bible, and having her write them down in her journal. After completing her assignment, I went back to look at the verses she has chosen. Here are a couple from each chapter, " But Ruth replied, Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go, I will go, where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people. Your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me" Ruth 1:16-17. "Boaz replied, "I've been told all about what you have done for your mother in law since the death of your husband-how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge"' Ruth 2:11-12.

How truly wonderful are those verses, for Alona to have read and written down? I have to pray and hope that those verses are comforting to her as she continues to adjust to her new family, life, and country.

After her Bible lesson, Alona sat down at the computer for her English lessons. We chose to go with the Rosetta Stone English home school curriculum for her, and so far, we are very pleased. She has already done one week's worth, and is doing a fantastic job! We are about to go over the food pyramid with her for health/nutrition, and our math guru Ryan has printed off a ton of math worksheets for her to start to assess where she is on her math skills.

Each and every day is presenting a ton of learning experiences for her, and we are trying to go with the flow and find that balance of not overwhelming her, but challenging her to learn and grow.

We cannot express enough how grateful we are to be home under one roof and finally embarking on this leg of our journey. I will continue to blog as much as time allows, and plan to post sometime this week about 3 special young ladies that are weighing heavily on my heart as they wait for their forever families.

Thank you to each of you who continue to shower us with support, love, and prayers. It is our hope that we can be an encouragement to at least one other family that thinks that adoption might just be in their future:) Thank you for being a part of this adventure, and please continue to follow along and lift our not so little family up in prayer!

Friday, October 4, 2013

Welcome Home Alona Reece Farrell!

We arrived home one week ago today. This past week has been a huge whirlwind. I will write another post in the next day or so about our first week home. First, I want to share with you our homecoming!

Alona and I were scheduled to arrive at the airport at 6:30 pm last Friday. She had requested that there not be a big "to do" because she felt that she would be overwhelmed if a ton of people were there to greet her. I completely understood her wishes, and so we made plans to have just our little family and my parents to greet us at the airport. (Ryan's parents were all out of town or else that would have been there as well:)).

Unfortunately, we missed our connecting flight in Chicago. We had slightly less than a 2 hour layover. Turns out, that is not enough time to clear customs and get your visa processed. There were, oh...about 1,000 new immigrants needing to be processed and ONE agent processing the visas....seriously?!? So, by the time we got through with all of that, our plane was long gone. We re-booked on an 8 pm flight, and landed in Little Rock at 10 pm.

Sweet little Adalaise could not stay up for the sweet homecoming, but Ryan made an exception and let our other 3 "littles" stay up well past their bedtime to greet their new big sister. They had made banners and bought balloons and flowers, so they would have been devastated had they not been able to come to the airport.

As soon as our pilot told us that we were making our descent into Little Rock, I had to have a really nice talking to with myself so that I would not completely melt into hysterics. I wanted to ball my eyes out, I was so thrilled to FINALLY be home! BUT...I did not want to lose it in front of Alona and my other girls. I wanted them to know I was ecstatic to be home, not sad. And if you know me, you know that when I get started crying...I can't stop. SO, I bucked up and somehow, someway..with the Lord's help...kept it together!

I arranged for a dear photographer Kerry Guice, to be at the airport to capture the meeting of Alona with her new family. I knew that we would cherish these pictures forever...and our family was obviously in now way prepared to take pictures ourselves. So, a HUGE thanks to Kerry for being there. If you need a fabulous photographer in the LR area...check her out here.

And without further ado, I will let the pictures speak for themselves on how Alona Reece Farrell's homecoming went:) We love you sweet girl and are so beyond blessed to call you ours!