garden

Our family project has really turned out to be a great activity for all of us. Things are actually growing!! I had hoped they would, but I worried about the deer and other wildlife. So far the lettuce,onions, potatoes, carrots, asparagus, wild onions, green peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, and basil are all doing well.

bye for now,

Vickie

lost

Seems like there is usually something missing around our house (a shoe, the car keys, etc.). One item will be found, but then another goes missing.

Yesterday was a unique situation. After getting home from church, I got called outside by 2 of the children. They were standing under one of our big trees looking up. Jack was throwing a rock up into the tree. What could he be doing?
Jack: "Mom, when I was walking under the tree; I heard a jingling. I looked up and there they were. I remember where the lost car keys are. They are caught in the tree."

Mom: "What!! How did they get in the tree?"

Jack: "After I opened the door, I heard a bird up in the tree. So I threw the car keys at it. The keys got stuck on the branch."

After a couple of minutes, the lost keys were recovered. As a mother, there are things you never thought you would have to tell your children. Don't throw keys into the tree or at birds--would fall into that category.

Always something interesting going on. Have a great week.
Vickie

I am a Grandma!!

I wanted to share a photo of my new grandbabies.

Yes, there are 8 new baby pet mice at our house. :) The children were quite excited about their new family members. We did our google search on how to properly care for them and their parents. Always something exciting going on around here. Have a great day.

Vickie

a mother's thoughts

a glimpse into our daily events

Why does a mother ask her children to do certain things? Let's see. Here are a few recent occurences.
1. You guys go pick up the back yard, especially that snow shovel behind the play house. hhhhmmmmm...... fast forward to the next day when the snow storm moves through and buries the snow shovel in the back yard. Now, friend husband is upset because he can't find the snow shovel to get the sidewalk and driveway ready for church tomorrow. aaahhh, yes. I suppose 3 family members with regular shovels will work, but not as efficiently as the snow shovel would have.

2. Please go put your big fats and plastics on correctly before bed. ....a few hours later... mom takes a certain night time potty trainer to the restroom before she retires, to find that he has once again put his plastics on inside out. This means all the absorbant material is on the outside and the plastic repellant part has done a lovely job of repelling the urine onto his sweats and bedding towel. uugghh!
.....the next night after the same bedtime request ..... mom goes in a few hours after he goes to sleep to find a certain someone with NO training pants on at all. This, of course, does not keep one dry either. aaahhh yes.

3.You guys do not throw things in the house. One would think that cement would be quite difficult to dent or make holes in. Contrary to popular belief, a 4 yr. old boy can put a 1 inch hole in their home's wall by throwing a squirt bottle lid. Go figure.

4. I know you all are excited when the family gets new things, but you must be calm.
---After less than 24 hours, the CD machine is jammed in the new to us van by a certain 9 yr. old boy who shoved a CD into the slot when there was already a CD in there. Yes, this did lead to one mother and 2 butter knives probing/fishing to get the 2 lodged CD's out of the machine, while friend husband was at work. Some motivation might have been involved in my speedy CD recovery. hhmm, perhaps wanting to decrease the amount of complaining coming from one head of the household member.
---let's try the new zip cord extravaganza. This fun adventure requires that either 1 adult or 2 older children be strategically placed to stop the participants at the end of the cord trip. Now, it has been demonstrated that if the stopees do not stop the cord traveler; the traveler( if they do not have a strong grip and good coordination) will be propelled onto the ground face first at a rapid speed. Yikes!!! Thank you Father for good lip blood supply(which results in fast healing)and the invention of super glue for the outside of the lip area. I seriously doubt that info. would have qualified us for the family of the year award.
O.K., I could go on; but you get the point. The Hannah's live in a fun-filled type atmosphere and we love every minute of it.
Hope you all have a great week.
blessings,
Vickie

An egg hunt

We decided to attend a church sponsored easter egg event this year. Typically we just do a private family affair. All I can say is wow. They had a large turn out. Lots of work and money went into making the day a success. I was as impressed as the children were. There was a helicopter that flew over 3 times to dump candy onto the fields in addition to the eggs. My master plan was a bit challenged. I always match my older children with a younger partner. Well, the egg hunt was divided up into 3 age groups. Good thinking, but I had to come up with a new plan B real quick. After shuffling children around, we were all ready to go. The little children's group was pretty tame. Dan and Truman caught on pretty quickly to what they were supposed to do. Now, the big children's group was another story. They got pretty aggressive. Over all a good time was had by everyone. Baylie had a few complaints about her partener (Daniella). Of course, Daniella had no idea what she was supposed to be doing, so she decided to say hi to everyone, run into people accidently, and not move along as quickly as her sister wanted her to. That's o.k., even though the event was pretty overwhelming for D and D. They both did great. Neither of them paniced with the loud helicopter noise. That is an improvement.

March

2009 has been full of computer problems. We took the computer in to have the photo port fixed. The man ruined our entire computer. That added stress. I needed the computer and photo port for our 1 yr. post adoption report. Thankfully we have great neighbors (more like adopted grandparents). I used their computer to get the job done. Whew.
Let's see if I can sum up what has happend over the last month.
-- Major computer withdrawal for me.
--our 1 yr. social worker visit went well. I can't believe our Serbian blessings have been home for a yr. now. Wow. What wonderful children, so many improvements. They truly bless our family.
--Our 9 yr. old and 4 yr. old boys had a birthday. Time flies.
--I love tax return time. We were able to purchase a bigger vehicle (yeah, now everyone is not squeezed into the mini van) and a new computer.
--My husband has been doing a weight challenge through work. He has lost 20 lbs. Way to go. He now is talking about continuing the healthier eating pattern. Today he even mentioned eating more raw foods. I have talked about this for a couple of yrs. now, but he never showed interest until now. All in God's time, I guess.
--we are working on a garden. So far we have taken the top layer off with all the weeds/grass. Now we are digging out all the rocks/boulders (whatever you want to call them). Let's just say my assistants (children) are not real happy about all the work required. Some of the garden conversations have been about "we would rather do........than garden" and many other complaints. Dan and Daniella seem to be enjoying the work though. I think it is helping them some with their sensory issues. All the handling of rocks/dirt clumps. Added benefits, I guess. We'll see if anything grows this yr. One day we will be able to plant, but for now just rock digging. Patience.
--My husband put up the zip cord for the children. It's a cord that goes from 1 tree to another. Then you have a thing you hang onto with your hands and ride down the cord. Everyone except Dan and Charlie, love the cord. I was quite surprised that Daniella does. She typically hates(is scared of) anything new. Not this. She loves it. She had one accident on it, so now only daddy can be the one to stop her at the end. That's o.k.
--The children have 2 new pets (mice). One they named Jasmina :) Some of you know who that was named after. I asked them why they chose that name. They said, " because the mouse and woman both have the same beautiful reddish hair and they are very special to them." I thought that was so nice.
--baby Charlie is getting his first 4 teeth all at the same time. Ouch.

Here's the video I said I would post of the talent show.

That's about all the update. Hope you all are doing well.

blessings,

Vickie

Please help V

V (also known as Alexis) is a very kind-hearted girl in an orphanage in Russia. She is 10 years old. She is known for being very obedient, smart, and always helping or standing up for the younger children in her home.

For awhile, Alexis had 2 best friends(more of a sister type relationship) to live with. Over the last 2 years, those 2 friends have found their forever family and been adopted. After the first friend left, V began sneaking over to the 2nd friend's bed to sleep together each night. To avoid getting into trouble, this was done after the caretaker left the room The day the 2nd friend left, V cried on the shoulder of the new adoptive mother and begged her to, "take me too, please take me too". Over the last year, she has pretty much given up hope on getting a family. Her one big disadvantage to being adopted is that she is older. Being special needs, whether physical or mental, puts you at a disadvantage. If you are older, that is another strike against you.

V is getting ready to enter a new phase in her life. She has gotten to the age where they will transfer her soon to the institution. Once you enter the institution, you will never get the opportunity to be adopted again. Here is a statistic: 90% of the children that are put in the institution die within the first year. It is not a place any of us would want to be.

There is a very kind, generous family in New Mexico willing to adopt V. They happen to be the proud parents of one of her best friends from the orphanage (Katie Aunna). Over the years they have adopted several children. Some are grown and living on their own. They have been blessed with children from the U.S., Ukraine, Russia, and Serbia. They so desire to bring V home forever. They are willing to make all the sacrifices required for adoption and raising a special needs child and have lots of experience in this area. With Russia there are many grueling requirements. Tons of paperwork, expenses, and 2 trips of being away from your family . Lots of unexpected problems and delays along the way. Duane and Trisha Gartner (journey2rfamily.blogspot.com/ )are able to come up with most of the required money to bring V home. They just need help raising $5000. Any amount can help, and it is tax-deductible. If you are able to spare any extra, please consider helping V. This little girl has really touched my heart, and I so want her to be with her family.