Merry Christmas

Well where should we start.

Jaryd: Tonsilectomy went perfectly and he is well on his way to being well most of the time. He also, had a little boy surgery done today. He is feeling fine and he will be better in a few days. School is going well. He does still have some concentration problems, but that is improving all the time. He really likes his teacher so that makes things a lot easier. He wants a bicycle for his birthday on Monday. I am sure that is what he is getting. He can't wait. We have been counting the days for weeks. He would like a remote control car for Christmas. I don't think they really understand what Christmas will be. His English is remarkable. He is taking on the role of big brother beautifully. He helped me last night when I took all four kids to Taco Cabana by myself. Kevin had aboard meeting and I tackled this alone. I wasn't sure, but Jaryd was a life saver. He loves responsibility.

Jacob: Our prefectly wonderful healthy child. He also had a little minor boy surgery today. Glad those are over with. He is a little aggressive at times. He is so quiet you would not expect it from him. We have to be careful not to overlook him sometimes because he is so quiet. He will start to school after the Christmas holidays. He is excited. He will go in the afternoons. Jacob is quite a charmer. Jacob and Alyssa are big buddies. Jacob is maturing quickly, but has a long way to go. Jacob is really into "Cars"

Alyssa: She loves being a sister. I think God had already prepared her to have these siblings in the house. She hasn't missed a beat. She is so unselfish with all the toys. She doesn't like any of the kids to be gone. She likes to have them all home with her at all times. She is into princesses at this time. All we have to do for her for Christmas is buy something with princesses on it.

Kailyn: Our little bundle of movement. She is never still. She can't concentrate on anything for very long. She seems to move constantly from one thing to another. Kailyn will start school after Christmas break also. We finished all the paperwork and got them enrolled yesterday. She is very interested in babies. She loves to play house. Her health seems to be perfectly normal. We are still doing some testing on her digestive system, but other than that she is doing great. She is still not gaining a lot of weight, but hopefully that will change soon. We are going to get some orthodics for her feet to help her fallen arches. The orthopaedists says nothing is wrong with her physically. Only her fallen arches.

We are going to do some traveling to see the grandparents at Christmas in the motorhome. We have made one trip without Jaryd in the motorhome, so he is anxious to go this time. It is the only way to travel with kids if you aren't flying.

Merry Christmas to all and hope that you all have such a wonderful time with all of your new children. What a different place our house will be this year. PRAISE GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sasha and Ben, Thanks so much and Merry Christmas to your families also.

God Bless You All
Kevin, Tammy, Jaryd, Jacob, Alyssa, Kailyn, Breanne, Shohn, and Randi

HELP

Okay all you bloggers I need your help. We have some friends who are trying to adopt domestically. They already have the children chosen. These children are in foster care. The state has told them that they will try to have them in their home by Christmas for the last four months. The new twist is that they are deciding that they need a background check from Colorado. Colorado is telling them it could take 8 weeks. That is unacceptable. This will dash their chances for having these children by Christmas. If there is anyone out there who lives in Colorado or has had a background check from there and can help us pull any strings to get this done sooner, I would appreciate you e-mailing me or just leave a comment so that we can get these two kids with their family for Christmas. I will say THANK YOU in advance because I know God already has the person that is going to help us with this problem.

Let me know.
Tammy

New Pictures

Thought you might like to see some new pictures of the kids. We took these outside this morning. Man have they changed.

Jaryd is still doing beautifully with his tonsil surgery.

I will try to post again soon. Thanksgiving was very special this year. Lots of new faces at our table. Praise the Lord!

The Huckabee's

Jaryd's surgery

Jaryd came through his tonsilectomy beautifully this morning. The doctor did not take out his adenoids only the tonsils. He is feeling pretty good and has not had any pain medicine since he got home. Just thought all you would like to know his status. So glad that is behind us. He did better at school this week. God is definately working in his life. He has made some wonderful progress this week.

Thanks for all the prayers.

All the other kids are doing great. Mom has had the flu this week and is a little worn out. Hope this is gone soon.

We go back to school for more testing on Monday for Jacob and Kailyn to go to Pre-k. Hopefully this will get settled in the next couple of weeks. Alyssa will sure miss them while their at school. She is so used to having someone around all the time now.

Kevin got a epidural on his back this week and he seems to be feeling better. He is really having a hard time keeping up. God definately has given him strength.

Love to all
Tammy

Finally a new update

It is has been busy since I last blogged. Let's see where to start.

Halloween. What a great experience. Our church has trunk or treat and this year a cake walk. That was so much fun. I don't think the kids knew exactly what to expect. They all got lots of candy. We are still working on eating all of it. Jaryd won three cakes at the cake walk. Alyssa won one. Jacob walked forever and never won a cake. He tried hard though. He never got discouraged just had a good time. Kailyn walked too, but didn't win one either. She mainly stayed in the strolled and just watched the people. She is hard to keep up with if you don't have her in the stroller. She just takes off. There are some pictures of them at the event. Alyssa and Jaryd went with Nana to her church a little later in the evening and played games and had their faces painted. Jacob and Kailyn stayed with mom and dad. It can be overwhelming to take all four of them at once.

Then my dad found out that he had to go to Lubbock for an angioplasty. He received two stints. One of them was in the artery they call the widowmaker. He had a 90% blockage in that one. The other one was in the RCA. He had a 99% blockage in that one. The doctor said he was just about a month away from a fatal heart attack. God really blessed us in catching this before anything major happened. Thanks for all the prayers.

Next we took Kailyn to the doctor for another evaluation. They are going to do some more blood work to see why she is still not gaining. She eats all the time and more than anyone else. I have to take her for fasting blood work. I haven't done that yet. I hope to do that on Monday. Kailyn is coming along on her language. She doesn't speak well in any language. I know that Early Childhood will help her in this area. Hopefully she and Jacob will start school in the next couple of weeks.

Jacob had his birthday yesterday. He wanted a bicycle. So that is what he got. He was so excited. He didn't take his helmet off all day yesterday. We had his party at Chuck-E-Cheese. That was a new adventure. His eyes were as big as saucers. But, he was ready to come home and play with his new toys. Jacob is still trying to connect better with the English language, but has come leaps and bounds since Jaryd went to school. He is having a few problems with aggression. We are working on that. He is doing much better in the past few days.

Jaryd is doing great at school. We are having some discipline issues, but that is to be expected. He is a boy, right. I say with him this morining on Starfall.com and he read a book to me and sounded out all the words. Wow!!!! I was amazed. We are going to use this website more and more for Alyssa and Jacob and Kailyn. Jaryd tried to tell something to Jacob last night in Ukraninan and he had a hard time trying to speak the words to him. He was amazed that he couldn't remember.

Alyssa is still doing wonderfully becoming a big and little sister to more siblings. I am just amazed at how well she has adjusted. She is doing lots of homework with Jaryd. School is fun for her. We do extra work with her because she likes learning so much.

Mom and Dad are still learning to have more children in the house. It has seemed to calm down a little. I did get to sit down yesterday for a little while. Dad even got a nap two days this week. That is a blessing.

Love to all. Keep us in your prayers.

The Huckabee clan

This was a busy weekend. Saturday morning we had our 6 week home Home Study update. That went really well. The Social Worker was very impressed with how well they have adapted. Glad that is behind us. Now we will be ready for the next one in six months. Saturday afternoon we had a pumpkin carving at the church. Here are some pictures of the kids participating in that. We then on Sunday had a party that a group from Keystone Heritage Park planned for the children. They got to see butterflies in the butterfly house, play in a maze, play in a wigwam, and have cake and ice cream. The party attendees also brought gifts for all the children. It was a wonderful celebration.

Oh, we did receive our citizenship papers this last week. So about 4 weeks was the norm.

Pictures

1. Opening gifts

2. Eating Cake and Ice Cream

3. Playing in the wigwam

4. Watching the butterflies

5. Carving Pumpkins

6. Carving Pumpkins

Enjoy. Have a great week.

Kevin, Tammy, Breanne, Shohn, Randi, Jaryd, Jacob, Alyssa, and Kailyn

First Day of School

Jaryd absolutely loved going to school today. We decided to put him in first grade because there was a class with only 15 students. All the second grade classes had 20+ students. He will get more one on one this way. He did great. Mom and Dad bought school supplies while he was in at school and got him ready for tomorrow. He can't wait. Jaryd's first words to Jacob after he got in the car today was "English Jacob, English." I think he now understand the importance of learning English. Thank you God for you eye opening experiences.

Alyssa was mad that she wasn't going to school. Jacob didn't seem fazed. We had to submit paperwork for Jacob to be approved for PRE-K. We hope that he will be able to go in the next couple of weeks. Here are a few pictures from this morning. Alyssa wouldn't let me take her picture. Enjoy.

School is from 7:30 to 2:25. That is a long day. Jaryd is not used to going quite that early. But, he will adjust.

There are also two pictures of Jacob getting his first haircut.

Love to all

Kevin, Tammy, Breanne, Shohn, Randi, Jaryd, Jacob, Alyssa, and Kailyn

All is Well

We will be doing our post placement Home Study next Saturday the 25th. Just one more step to completing all the paperwork since we are home. Jaryd will finally start to school on Monday. We did some school work at home this week and he seems more eager to learn than he was in Ukraine. Jacob worked with me on one of Alyssa's computers last night and he is going to pick it up quickly also. Our biggest problem with Kailyn is potty training. We are going to just wait a little while and she if she comes around. We don't seem to be making a lot of progress. We will give her a little time.

Shohn and Randi came home from their honeymoon last night. We haven't visited much, but I was sure glad to see them home. Breanne is busy working and we don't see much of her these days.

This was our first week of just us at the house. It was a good week and everyone seemed to settle in to a routine. We just keep praying for patience. I know that once the language barrier is eased it will make our life completely routine. Nana took all four kids by herself to McDonald's yesterday. She let me go and get my nails done in peace. That was wonderful. I treasured those couple of hours. She had a great trip with the four of them. Of course, there were a few issues but nothing out of the normal for kids. Thanks Nana.

Love to all. And, Thanks again for the hundreth time for all of your bloggers who have followed our journey. Just keep us in your prayers.

Kevin, Tammy, Breanne, Shohn, Randi, Jaryd, Jacob, Alyssa, and Kailyn

PS Here are a few pictures from Kailyn's birthday party.

Reports

Well I know you have all been waiting to hear how the doctor's visits came out. Everything is normal. Even Kailyn. She does have her ovaries. That is not the reason she is so small. We did start all of us on the medicine to kill the parasites in our systems. Everyone is already better and we have only been on them for about four days. Hopefully this will help Kailyn to begin to gain some more weight.

We had a great weekend with everyone here for the wedding. It was beautiful and we shed a lot of tears. The kids are on their honeymoon and we are finally settling in to a routine. The boys were to start school today, but their school in on fall break. So next week for sure. That will truly be when we start getting into a routine.

All is well and we will try to post some pictures from the wedding soon. Thanks for all of your prayers and support.

Love to all
Tammy and the clan

So sorry that I haven't posted in a while. We have been busy visiting the doctors and labs. All is well so far. Kailyn seems to not have any ovaries. All the other female organs and good except no ovaries. That would explain the no growth. We are waiting to hear the final news this next week from the doctor. This is very controlable and we can work with the doctors to get her back on track.
The boys are both TB positive and we are beginning treatment this week. We will be able to get them in school as soon as that is under treatment. We visited the school yesterday and they both really like it. Jacob will qualify for the Pre-k program because he is speech delayed. That is what the medical records say so that qualifies him. Not sure that he is, but that is okay too.
We are working deligently to get ready for the wedding. We are going to get flowers this morning. Kevin's mom will be here tomorrow and that will be a great help.
We learned of a picnic this afternoon for adoptive children. We are going. There are supposed to be some families who have adopted internationally. Can't wait to meet them.
Hope to post again soon.

Love to all
Tammy and the clan

Doctor's appt.

Here is the news. Kailyn has bronchitis. Not pnuemonia. That's good. She got some antibiotic and she will have quite a few blood test to be done to see why she isn't growing very quickly. She is healthy otherwise and she got two immunizations. She got a TB Test also.
Jacob had two ear infections and he failed his hearing test. They gave him five immunizations and he got a TB test. He is healthy otherwise. He will also undergo some blood work.
Jaryd got two immunizations and confirmed that he should have his tonsils out. They all did pretty well.
We are having a birthday party tomorrow for Kailyn. It will be at 4:00 p.m. All you who are able are invited to come by. Just a little cake and ice cream. Tomorrow is Saturday. Just give me a call if you are coming.
Hope to see you all soon.
The Huckabee clan.

Our kids

Aren't they beautiful.


We are going to the doctor today. So I will let you know what the verdict is on each child. I think Kailyn has pnuemonia and I am not sure that Jacob might not have a sinus infection.
Alyssa is going to spend some time with her Nana today so that I only have three at the doctor's office. Kevin had to go to Dallas for depositions today. Breanne went with him. They will be home tonight. So I am being inducted quickly to having all four of them by myself.
Randi and I went shopping yesterday and got the boys some new clothes. Shohn and Randi had dinner with us last night and helped me entertain them and get them to bed. They were a great help.
Love to all
Tammy

Thanks for all the comments. We are going to pursue this at great length today. We WILL get this done. Thanks again.

The sleeping routine is finally settling in. None of them are up yet and it is 7:00 a.m. We have been up at about 5 for the last two days. So I like the 7 much better.

Our wonderful church is bringing meals for the first two weeks. What a great help. We did go out to eat for lunch yesterday and it was perfect. Great mexican food. The kids loved the Mexican food by the way. Nothing spicy though. I went to Praise Band practice yesterday and the big kids kept all the little ones while I was gone. Kevin also had a Deacon/Elder meeting. They did beautifully. They didn't miss us a minute. They have really bonded with Breanne, Shohn and Randi already.

Thanks for the prayers. Keep them going. We can definately feel their prescence. Here are a few pictures for your enjoyment. I couldn't make up my mind which ones, so I will just give them all to you.

The trampoline was short lived. The sun finally decayed it and we had to take it down shortly after you see these pictures. I am not a real trampoline fan anyway. So it was fun for the minute but no injuries. That's good news. The swing set is the one that Shohn bought and put together for the kids. They loved it. Breanne did their room in Cowboy. This red hat is one of the decorations.

Love

The Huckabee Clan

Thanks so much for the comments on the COC. The problem we have is the insurance won't cover them until we have a SS#. The oldest needs some immediate surgery on his tonsils and we don't want to embark on that without some insurance. They will only retroactive for 30 days. So if the COC takes longer than 30 days we would be out of pocket all the money. This is so frustrating. There should be some way to get past this with United Healthcare. I think we are going to try to get something done with them. Thanks for all the help. I knew you guys would have the answers.

We are doing great. Things are settling in. All the kids are behaving much better and seem to really enjoy being home. They are all playing so well together. We will try to post some pictures by tomorrow.

Love to all
The Huckabee clan

Question Please

I would like to know how long it takes you to get your proof of Citizenship on the children. We need this as you know to get their Social Security Cards. We can't go to the doctor until we can get some Social Security Cards. I am sure you all know all of this information, but I wondered how long it was taking right now to get the proof of Citizenship. Thanks for the help bloggers.
Tammy

HOME AT LAST

We are home. God is so good. All the kids had a great reunion this afternoon. They are played outside on the new swingset that their brother put together for them on Saturday. They jumped on the trampoline and rode on the wiggle cars. We had dinner that Trish from the church fixed us.
We had a great group meeting us at the airport. Thanks for all of you that came. We also appreciate the gifts for the children. And Amy, thanks for the chips and salsa. We sure missed our chips and salsa.
They are all in bed and I used this time to go through all the mail. We will see how tomorrow goes.
Jaryd had a pretty good day once we got home. Jacob threw up as we touched down in El Paso. He couldn't let us miss that one. Kailyn took to her new siblings immediately. She was very tired tonight and we got her into bed early.
Alyssa was really glad to be back at her farm. As she calls it. I will close now and get some rest. I will try to post some more pictures tomorrow. I need to start unpacking some more things in the morning. I did get two loads of laundry done.
Love to all
Kevin, Tammy, Breanne, Shohn, Randi, Jaryd, Jacob, Alyssa, and Kailyn

We're in Dallas

We made it to Dallas on Saturday September 20. Kailyn's birthday. She and her brother became American citizens. The plane rides were pretty uneventful. They all slept about two hours each the whole ride. We kept them awake and laid them to sleep in Dallas about 10:00 pm. They are all still sleeping as I write this post. It is around 6:30 in the morning. Our flight leaves Dallas at 1:10 and then we will be home at 1:50. So any one that wants to meet us at the airport, we will be there then.

Sorry for not posting. We did not have any internet access.

We almost missed the plane to Dallas. We arrived in Detroit at 6:00 pm and our flight left at 7:11. We went through customs and immigration and then rechecked the bags and then back through security. We ran all the way to our gate and they were announcing that they were closing the door just as we are coming down the moving sidewalk. I was waving and luckily the lady saw me and we just got on. We got a shuttle to the hotel and we were all in bed in about 40 minutes.

We are all a little tired. Kailyn was wonderful on the plane and Jacob did not get sick. Jaryd was a little apprehensive, but he had a pretty good day. He lost parts of a tooth on the plane from Amsterdam. I guess we will see the dentist soon.

That's all for now. Hope to see you all soon or talk to you real soon.

The first picture is of all the kids waiting for the plane in Kiev. The second is on the elevator as we touched down in Detroit.

Love you all

Kevin, Tammy, Jaryd, Jacob, Alyssa, and Kailyn