Truman's solution

Here is a video of one of Jack's boxing rounds that he fought in last Saturday. He is in blue.

Also, our newest addition Addie is 6 weeks old now. While riding in the van to drop off her sibling at his activity, she begins crying. I ask Truman, one of our 5 year olds, to help Addie with her binky/pacifier. He says she doesn't want it. She cries for a few seconds; then stops crying. There is another episode of her crying for a few seconds; then she stops. Next I hear Truman say, "don't worry Mom; I can fix her". To which I reply, "she's taking her binky now, huh?" pause.........Truman "no mom, I think she likes my banana better." YIKES !!! Not a good thing.

Have a great day,

Vickie

She's here!!

Early Sunday morning our newest addition arrived. She had some fluid left in her lungs after delivery, so that had to be dealt with at the hospital. We are all so very thankful that Addie is well, and we are all home together again.

August

Well, I am a bit late for August. Let me sum up the month. It was hot!! Family swim nights were fun.

Matt and I each had a grandfather pass away. It was a sad time, but we are thankful we had all those years with them. Also, happy that our children were allowed to get to know them. Two great men who will be missed.

Dan turned 5. Yeah!! He is looking older these days. I look back at pictures from when he came home; and he looks like such a baby, in many ways he was. Not now, he is talking so much. It is great. Today he even came up to me and threw his arms around my neck giving me a big hug. That always makes a mom's day.

Baylie tried out for her first musical. We will find out tonight if she made it. I hope she did. There were a lot of really experienced children who tried out; makes me a bit nervous for her. We'll see.

Can't believe we are only two weeks away from the arrival of the new little baby girl Hannah. Is everything ready .........no. Does she have a name yet......no. Am I starting to stress a bit about everything getting done on my list of to do's.......yes. Could I be labeled .....difficult, grumpy, picky, grouchy.......probably. You get the idea.

O.K., there's August.
Talk to you next month,
Vickie

swimming, birthday, and storms

The summer seems to be flying by. Zarah turned 8. If you look real close you can see the horse inside the strawberries on her cake.

Then the storm came through and knocked down about 1000 trees in 2 of our neighborhoods. Thankfully we were only without power (air conditioning) for 2 days in the heat. This doesn't usually happen in the summer time; more likely in the winter. Luckily we only had 1 big tree fall on the trampoline. It didn't take too long for Matt to cut the tree and the rest of us to haul it to the road. (a plus to having several little helpers)

Speaking of helping, one of our "helpers" decided to dump some dog shampoo into the backyard pool/stock tank. I guess the swimmers got extra clean that week.

The local YMCA's are offering free facilities when the temperature or heat index is over 100 degrees. That means free swimming!! Yeah!!

'

As for the rest of the time, we are just relaxing .....

and playing around......

Take care until next time,

Vickie

the happenings of June

Well, I'm about to miss my post for June. The month is nearly over. Lots of firsts for this month.

1. Our oldest child went to church camp by herself this year, and loved it. We all missed her, and were glad to be reunited. Baylie comforted me with these words, " I didn't miss you nearly as much as I thought I was going to mom." Uugghh!

2. A few weeks later we sent our 2nd born off to boxing camp. He had a good time, but was faced with many difficult and mean situations from some of the other boys actions and conversations. Seems as though Jack stood up for what he believes in and tried to do the right thing each time. We are very proud of him for that. I think most of the trouble at camp could have been easily remedied if there was more coach/adult supervision and following through with consequences. Jack only suffered one injury though, thankfully---fish hook in the leg. We're glad he's home. Glad he got the opportunity to go, but he probably will not be going back next year.

3. Truman continues to keep us on our toes and laughing with his new antics. This month it involved him running through the parking lot of Jack's boxing center without anything on his bottom half . Yikes!! Not a proud parent moment, but quite humorous non the less. Of course, we did not let him know we thought it was funny. He only got scolded and told to stay in the van until mom got through sewing the large rip in his shorts.

4.Now, for the exciting part. We have 2 family members that are now talking. Charlie is quite dramatic with his statements and a bit bossy at times. Dan has the cutest, deep, raspy voice. It is great! We have been waiting for this moment with Dan and now it has arrived.
When we were in Serbia,there were a few things that really stood out to me. Many of the men and women were very tall (well over 6 feet). The other thing was how many of the men had extremely deep voices and very large hands. Kind of the hands we used to see with some of our old time farmers. Since then, I have said that if I could choose; I wanted Dan to be really tall with the big hands and deep voice. This may just come true. Of course, we will love him however he turns out. He has grown again this summer. He is probably a good 3 inches or so taller than Truman now. He has always had these bigger chunky hands, and now he is talking with this deep little man voice. Yeah!! It is so neat to watch them grow and change.
I guess that's it for June. Hope you all are having a great summer.
Vickie

May post

Yes, I know I need to post but have been having a hard time deciding what to write about. May has thus far been focused a lot on adoption related things.

All of us U.S. adoptive families had the privilege of trying to help out our wonderful Serbian doctor/adoption facilitator. She has done and continues to do so much for the orphans of Serbia. It was nice to have the opportinity to show our support for her and Serbia's adoption program in general. Many children would not get a chance to find their forever families without Dr. J's advocating for them. I am so thankful for people world wide who help the children.

On a much more emotional front, one of the little girls who got adopted from Serbia last fall passed away this week. Little Chrissie (almost 5 yrs. old) fought a hard 31 day battle following her very complicated heart surgery. There seems to be a sort of bond between those of who have had the pleasure of bringing one or more of these Serbian angels into our families. Chrissie's death really has been difficult for the rest of us. I guess it once again brings to the fore front that we ultimately are not in charge, and that none of us are guaranteed a tomorrow. I think each of us realized just how fortunate we are that God has allowed us this time to be parents and how special each of our children are to us.

What else? School is out here for the summer. All are glad about that. Daniella has her next neurodevelopmental evaluation coming up this next week. We attended our annual bigger family retreat weekend. There were about 19 families this year. It was a great time. I am so thankful Matt (my husband) was able to get off work and go with us. Nice treat.

Can't think of much else going on here. Other than children getting in trouble off and on for tearing something up, clogging the toilet AGAIN!!!, or not behaving nicely. Mom feeling the pressure of "we must get all the children's character in tip top shape before the new baby arrives this fall" and daily forgetting whatever it is she needs to remember for that day. Dad just wishing the noise level in our home could be dialed down several notches and still trying to convince Charlie (2 y/o) that he needs to snuggle( i.e. push you to the very edge of the bed with his little self right up against you) in the wee hours of the morning with mama instead of daddy. It is amazing how many little male bodies can fit themselves into one parental bed in a night time. Unlike the knocked out little people, the adults do not always sleep well all smashed up against tiny children. I could go on but......anyway, wouldn't change any of it for the world. These are great times and we are thankful that the Lord has richly blessed us.
until next time,
have a good one,
Vickie

April Birthday

Today Daniella turned "9" years old. She really enjoyed her special day this year. She has been talking about it for a few days now, and she knew she was turning 9. Wow, she really seems to understand the whole birthday thing this year. She was telling people at church this morning that it was her birthday. Cupcakes were the chosen dessert. Her sisters tried to talk her into brownies, but she would have no part of that. It is so neat to see her have an opinion and not waver from that. Yeah, she's getting there.

I'm so proud of her for all of her hard work. Such a neat little girl. At times I catch myself wanting her to hurry up and get caught up, but I have to take a step back and see how far she has come in just 2 years of being home. She is doing a great job. We are so glad God brought her and Dan into our lives. She came up to me before bed tonight and said, "I had fun at my birthday party today. Thanks Mom." Of course, that brought tears to my eyes. She's so thankful for every little thing. You can see why God loves the little children.