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.

catching up

Hi,
Daniella went for her 2nd evaluation with her neurodevelopmentalist. She gets reevaluated every 4 months, and her program gets updated. She has changed so much, since she started the program. The doctor told us she feels Daniella will be caught up to her age level in 2-3 years. Now, that is exciting!! God is amazing. We will see how it goes. Patience and consistency with completing the program 5 days a week, every week, is the key . I can see her changing each week. The possibilities for her future are opening up. One day she may be able to choose to do whatever she desires/God has chosen for her. That is amazing considering how she was when we met her almost a yr. ago. Maybe I am being too optamistic ,but we have to give her the best chance possible. Then if she is still unable to be at a normal age level as others, that is o.k. We will, of course, love her the same. We will at least know we/she gave it our all. She is so compliant with whatever we ask her to do; even though most of her program causes her to do things she does not like or is difficult. Each day she does her program with such a positive, happy attitude. What a girl!
Dan has started increasing his amount/frequency of program he does. He has always been our resistant one, but he's coming along. Thankfully for him and us, he learns quicker and easier. That is good; since he is not as self-motivated. He is doing a great job. It is so neat to see them change and grow.
All the children performed in a talent show (except for Dan and Charlie). B, Z,D, and T sang a song together with pictures they held up. J did a magic act. They all did super. As soon as I can get my computer to work right, I'll post the video of the singers. We wondered how Daniella and Truman would do with being up in front of a crowd, but they did great!! Both loved it.
guess I better go for now,
hope you have a great day,
Vickie

enjoy the little things

Hi,
I just wanted to share some of the accomplishments going on around our home. Let's start with Dan (3 ).
1. I was thrilled when he ate his first hot dog today. Yeah Dan!!!! He has some sensory issues, so this is big with him. He has always had issues with any type of firm roundish food in his mouth (peas, hot dogs, green beans, etc.) He mastered the vegetables several months ago --although he does save them for last, out of protest. Too funny. That's o.k. As long as he eats them, we don't mind. Now he has conquered the hot dog. Yeah!!! I know typically hot dogs are not the most healthy food, but we buy the all beef ones without any hormones/nitrites/nitrates in them. The importance of this issue is that he is overcoming some of his sensory issues. That is great!!
2. He has started to try to mimic a few sounds correctly. He started his sound therapy last week, and it seems to be helping. Yeah, getting closer to talking.!!
3. He now is using his spoon and fork to eat with and drinking out of a straw. Super!!!!
4. He is running( sort of a mid-speed lope, but hey that is great.)
Hoping he has more success with the toilet training this yr, we'll see. I would even be thrilled if "#2" could at least be done solely in the toilet.

Now for Daniella(7):
1.She is very close to being at a 4 y/o level with her memory work. Yeah, that is almost a 2 yr. growth in just 4 mths. Super!!!
2. getting joy out of life-- Last week we had a warm day. We all went out and flew kites. Daniella took off running down the sidewalk with the kite following close behind. After a few seconds, I yelled to her. "Daniella, it is flying." She turned her head to see with a big smile on her face and kept running. Then a couple of seconds later, she yells, "Wow!!!". We all got a good laugh out of it. We all need to find the joy in the little things like her. Children are such a blessing. They help remind us to enjoy life. Thank you Lord for allowing Matt and I to have such blessings (children) in our lives.
til next time,
have a great day,
Vickie