9 months home

Today marks nine months since we returned from Ukraine with our daughter. 

I praise the Lord that the boys were able to safely come along with us to get Irina. 

I praise the Lord we are home safe and sound. 

I can't resist taking a trip down memory lane. 

Below: On the left is when we hosted Irina, December 2012. She was 9 years 8 months old.

On the right is the day after we returned home. December 2013. 

Below: Again on the left is during Irina's hosting visit, December 2012.

On the right, is the day we were reunited with Irina in Ukraine, October 2013. 

Below, is on February 8, 2014 - home 2 months. 

 Below: Left - Hosting trip, December 2012; Right - In Ukraine, September 2013

Below: Left - Home 4 months, April 2014; Right - Home 7 months, July 2014

 Below: December 3, 2013 - Home 30 minutes!

Below: September 3, 2014 - Home 9 months

She knew today represented 9 months home and asked, 

"Please you make picture of me nine months and mail to Ukraine." 

Do you think this camera loving Momma turned her down?

(Not sure about sending these happy photos to war torn Eastern Ukraine. Seems unfair...)

Peek-a-boo!

She is one happy and energetic 11 year old.

Flowers in the Desert

The kids have 28 more minutes left of room time and I can't wait another minute to sort through my thoughts. The laundry will have to remain unfolded for now. The timer is sitting right beside me so there is no time to reread or rewrite.

A short time ago, I shared about being "in the pit." The sadness can feel overwhelming at times. Most days, I fight it with every breath I take. I don't want to be there. I want to be bursting with JOY. I can't seem to concoct that in my own strength and so I pray. Other days, often in the evenings, my mind gets the best of me. My thoughts chew me up and keep my stomach rolling.

And yet, God keeps reminding me I'm not alone. In the midst of my pit, God is providing for me in many ways. Our pastor at church is doing a sermon series on "lament." There are probably people sitting there rolling there eyes, wishing for something lighter and fluffier. As for me, I am captivated. Maybe I'm not alone?  A quote from Sunday, "Lament has a potential to change a heart. It compels a search, strips the heart of pretense, and forces us to wrestle with God." ~ Dan Allender  Yes, I have been stripped and forced to wrestle with what I place my hope in. It is SO hard and it is SO, so, good.

We were reminded on Sunday the value of suffering in community and not suffering alone. How can I not be thankful for the friends who have walked alongside me? They're not shouting at me, "Come on. Snap out of it. If you love God, then you're supposed to be happy." Instead, they are pointing me to Jesus. They're listening to the nonsense and foolish things I say when in despair, and pointing me to truth. I'm so reminded that this is a blessing from God that He has provided these friends to care for me. It is a hug from God. He says, "I'm with you. Do not be afraid. You are not alone."

"As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul thirsts for God, for the living God. " Psalm 42:1-2

"My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon - from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me. By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me - a prayer to the God of my life." Psalm 42:6-8

In the midst of this "pit," I'm realizing that I sometimes long for relief from the circumstances that make me sad. However, what I long for most is more closeness with God. I'm learning that that is the only sure thing.  Or at least, I do for a time until I forget again. ;)

There is hope!

"Circumstances do not get the final word. All of those things happen as a part of what God has for me. If this is what God has for me and He is good, then what God ultimately has for me is EVEN BETTER. We are trapped by the love of God" ~ Steve Shelby

What could be better then being trapped by God's amazing love, NO matter what our circumstances. (And my circumstances are not even bad compared to so many much worse situations!!!!)

And just when I think God can't bless me more, I receive an unexpected email about how God is at work in a dear friends life. The scripture and story she shares with me blesses me yet again. "The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy." Isaiah 35:1-2

If God can bring flowers into bloom in the dessert, then he can surely bring joy into bloom in my dry heart!

And the timer just beeped! Rest time is over.

Helpful Obsession

There is a boy who lives in my house that is quite happy building rainbow loom bracelets. 

A few of these were gifts, the rest he made. Perhaps you would call it his latest obsession?

Well, sometimes obsessions can be rather helpful.

I discourage the kids from taking a new glass every time they are thirsty. Too many dishes!

We usually line them up on the counter in order: Luke, Ethan, Aaron and Irina.

Sometimes though, we forget whose is whose. 

 Thanks to Luke's clever idea, each glass now has an identifying bracelet. Awesome!

Now we don't have to wash multiple glasses per day x 4!

Don't worry, they get a new glass if it's especially grubby. ;)

Irina's Journal Entry

This picture says it all. I didn't coach her on how to answer this in any way. 

She asked me how to spell "Ukraine" and "adopt," but the rest was independent.

Yes, I know her drawing is primitive, but she has come a long way. 

I can't express how thankful I am that she recognizes feeling special because we CHOSE her.

New School Strategies

This post is for all the homeschoolers out there reading. 
Others will likely want to disregard this post because it is VERY long! 
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For me personally, the addition of an older adopted child last winter was a big adjustment to our school day. There are now FOUR kids in our house who have important content to learn. We are past the stage of keeping toddlers busy while I teach the big kids (which has its own challenges I will admit whole heartedly!) As a result, I have been forced to think through ways to improve our home schooling experience. You may already use these strategies or have a great system in your home. If so, that's awesome. Each homeschooling family is unique and develops their own style. Here is what is working for us. If this post helps at least ONE person, then it was worth the time spent putting it together.

STRATEGIES THAT ALREADY WORK:

1) Workboxes - You can read more about the use of them HERE. We use a relaxed form of this and it has been SO helpful for organizing our work and keeping us on track. (Luke has moved on from the workboxes and does really well with a spreadsheet of his daily/weekly assignments. He crosses them out as he completes them.)

2) Daily walks after breakfast - We call them prayer walks and yes, most days we pray together and recite our bible memory verses. Sometimes though, they are too distracted by worms or running sprinklers. Last year, there were also days they moaned and complained about our walk, so I agreed to let them ride their scooters. Either way, it was/is a really helpful way to get some extra energy expended before our school day began and helped them focus better during school.

CHALLENGES AND NEW STRATEGIES:

1)  Challenge: There is a desperate need for my attention all the time, but particularly during school. I don't think I can accurately count the number of times I was repeatedly beckoned for help during the school day last year. Understandably so, our little butterfly needed and wanted non-stop affirmation and help. How quickly the others caught on to this technique of capturing my attention! "Mommy!" "Mommy!" "Mommy!" I should have stopped the constant interruptions long before I did. Instead, I became exasperated and impatient. I was like a sweaty ping pong ball bouncing all over the room every time my name was called.

New Strategy: 

So far, it is working really well for the kids to signal that they need help by using a clothes pin. It is a really simple idea. They walk quietly up to me without saying a word and attach the clothes pin to my clothes. Of course I notice them, but it is not distracting if I'm working with someone else. When the time is right, I'm able to slip away and answer their question. While they are waiting for me, they are instructed to move on to their other work and/or read books quietly from the book basket. Sometimes, they even answer their own question before I'm able to help them and come back to take the clothes pin off. yeah!

2) Challenge: Four kids who are growing made our tiny school room very crowded, and smelly! Not to mention, it was a struggle to work with one student and not be a distraction to the other students who were working independently. Even just the sight of me tempted some students to beg for my help the instant things were challenging rather then thinking independently.

New Strategy: 

Rather then only using the school room, this year I have three zones.

Zone 1: Luke's room. He is a very motivated kid and works very well in his room. I don't have to worry that he's playing. He's our first born rule follower. He will always choose to work first so he can play second. This is the second year that he has done the majority of his independent work in his bedroom and I know it works for him. (It would not work for any of the other three kids!) When I need him downstairs, I use a walky-talky to call him down. He loves this and it's awesome!

Zone 2: Kitchen Table. New this year, I made a schedule of who is working with mom at the kitchen table. Aaron and Irina are often grouped together because she is on the same level language arts and reading as he is. While they are working with me, Ethan is alone in the school room and Luke is in his bedroom. We then rotate through the kitchen and every kid is getting uninterrupted time (yeah clothes pins!) with mom to go over their lessons or check their completed work.

Zone 3: School room. The school room is where they work independently on crafts, hands on activities, or other independent work in workbooks. There are never more then two kids working in there at the same time. Irina and Aaron usually overlap in the school room. Since she is very motivated to complete her work, I don't worry about her staying on task. Aaron is adjusting to not having me with him for his other work. This may be our challenge, but I'm brainstorming ways to help him stay on task.

3) Challenge: It was very clear to us from the beginning that Irina had lots of energy and difficulty being still. Her attention span was very short for every activity and she had trouble sticking with one task for very long. She has made amazing progress, but this is still a big consideration in how we plan our day. The reality is that she is in good company with the three other wigglers I teach. 

Two New Strategies:

REGULAR BREAKS! I am always so tempted to push through with their work and not take breaks. However, THEY NEED BREAKS. This year, every 30-45 minutes we are taking a 5-10 minute break. It lengthens our day, but I can clearly see that they are refreshed after their short break. (They are hopping backwards in the photo above and below.)

We do relays across the yard, swing on the swings, have a snack or just soak in the fresh air. I have some plans for when the weather is bad: trampoline, jumping jacks, push ups, etc.. It's great!

Also, we're trying out these new "seats" to help with their wiggly bodies.

 I bought some "Balance Stability Fitness Cushion Discs" and a kid size exercise ball. Do some reading on this and you will see why I decided to try it out. It's only been 7 school days, but so far I see great value in these purchases. I prefer the stability discs because they offer more versatility and are less likely to be thrown or bounced. ;)  You can sit on it, stand on it, or rest your feet on the bumps for a sensory experience. 

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Ultimately, these strategies are not going to make for "perfect" school days. I know that and will continue to remind myself of that as hard days are bound to pop up. (and they have!) However, it has been helpful to be willing to admit what is not working and make some changes. So far these new strategies have added a positive boost to our year.  (We've made a few more changes that I'm not willing to share until I know for sure they are working. )

Heart for Ukraine

Do you remember this little town we spent time in while in Ukraine? 

It's called Horlivka, but also known by it's Russian name Gorlovka. 

You can read more about the history of the town HERE. 

The two times we visited Gorlovka, we quickly realized that it is full of contrasts. 

It is a mixture of deteriorating old and 

spectacular NEW!

Remember this awesome playground we spent hours enjoying with the boys?

We stayed in this very nice (and inexpensive) hotel for both our visits. 

We met lovely and friendly people all around town as we wandered about quite safely. 

 This was the morning our whole family was reunited with Irina back on November 22, 2013. 

I'm not sure if you're following the news, but this city (as well as many others in Ukraine) is in the midst of war. We are so thankful to receive email yesterday from friends who are living in Gorlovka as I type. They are alive and safe. Praise the Lord! For the past six weeks, they have been living underground trapped in their basement. They just got power and water restored last weekend after living without it for quite a while. They have had spotty cell phone coverage. Thank the Lord for technology! They are running out of food, but it is not safe to leave their house. Before the Ukrainian army came into their area, they tried to flee to family in Kiev but the railway lines had been bombed. It is not safe to travel by car. They hear steady bombing as they wait in their basement. There have been bombings in residential areas. According to our friends, the city has been destroyed, many have been killed, and many people are still suffering.

We also heard that Irina's orphanage has been evacuated because of its proximity to the conflict. I am SO thankful that we are home and safe with our daughter. However, my heart is broken for the people of Ukraine; for the children, the families, and the babushka's we saw on the streets. My heart is broken for the other children at Irina's orphanage that do not have the comfort of family.

So while I'm tempted to moan and complain in my comfortable house about all the perceived hardships I am facing, perhaps it's time to get a little perspective? The only loud sounds I hear are from my happy children pretending to be zoo animals. There are no bombs outside my house. Clean, fresh and delicious water flows from my faucet in my bright and cheery kitchen.

There will come a day when there will be no more pain and no more suffering around the world. Are you burdened like me to pray for the pain many endure here and now? Please pray for the people of Ukraine. I will forever be linked with this beautiful country.

** Irina does NOT know anything about what is going on in Ukraine right now. It's far too much for her immature brain to take in. It would upset her greatly to know her friends at school have been displaced. Please do not mention it in her presence or ask her about it. **

Favorite Granola

Granola and smoothies have become a breakfast tradition on Tuesday mornings. 

I haven't quite found a smoothie recipe I love yet, but I've experimented a bit 

and settled on this delicious granola. (I started with the Bread Beckers recipe 

and fiddled until I found what we liked best.)

We don't have time for a hot breakfast every morning, so this is a good filling alternative. 

Appetites are enormous around here first thing in the morning. Will our grocery 

budget survive the teenage years? They already eat so much. 

Ingredients:

5 cups old fashioned oats

2-3 tbsp flax seed

1/2 cup roughly chopped almonds

1/2 cup roughly chopped pecans

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup butter or coconut oil

1 tsp cinammon

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup dried fruit (raisins, cranberries or cherries)

Directions:

1) Mix together oats, flax seed, almonds, and pecans. 

2) In small saucepan on medium-low heat, melt together honey and butter (or coconut oil.) 

3) Add cinnamon and vanilla to the melted honey mixture. 

4) Stir the honey mixture into the oats and mix well. 

5) Spread mixture in a 10x15 stoneware bar pan. (I've never tried this on a regular baking sheet. 

I suspect you would have more trouble with burning and sticking.)

6) Bake at 400 degrees for 8 minutes. Stir mixture and bake 5 more minutes. 

7) Cool and add dried fruit. 

We like to serve this with milk like a cold cereal. Enjoy!