We bought this swimming blaster at Sam's this weekend. I think it is going to be a great hit for the summer. Maybe next year we will get a real pool.

Please be in prayer for the Ukrainian Parliament on Tuesday. They are voting to ban all international adoptions for one year. Those kids need our prayers. Couples who are there will have to come home childless if this passes. Pray without ceasing.

Tammy

The new video camera was my mother's day present.

Summer has begun

A little update on the Social Security Number. Kailyn is finished. On the other hand, the agent was supposed to do Jacob's the day after I was there for Jaryd. So that their numbers wouldn't be so close, and mail me the paper work the next day. I haven't seen his number yet. Kailyn's was only done last week and I already have her number and Jaryd's. Guess I will have to make another trip.

The kids got out of school on Wednesday and we left to go to my dad's to take him to the heart doctor. It was just a check up and all is good. We came home this morning (Friday). Now we will begin to plan for our vacation. We leave on the 30th of May to go to Williamsburg Virginia, Virginia Beach and Washington DC for two weeks. It will be interesting to get ready to travel for two weeks with six people.

The kids did a few projects this afternoon at the bar. They love to sit at the bar and cut and tape and color. We have had some rain today so they had to be inside this afternoon. We are not complaining about the rain because we need it.

We hope to leave the kids with a babysitter tomorrow or Sunday and go to the wine festival. It is just fun. Not big drinkers, but we love to go with some friends. It will be a good get away for Kevin and I without the kids. We haven't had much time for just us. The break will be good before vacation.

Tammy

Social Security Numbers

I know that it is a little late applying for social security cards, but we filed an extension on our taxes and so we haven't needed them yet.
Yesterday, I went to the SS Office to apply for the cards. After waiting for my turn, I was told that I would need their Ukrainian passports before they would process. The lady at window 5 took Kailyn's Citizenship paper with her picture attached to the back and brought it back to say that they would need the passports. Okay, I will go home and get them. I put the papers in my purse so that I could return again.
Second trip, I wait my turn once again. I am finally called hand the papers to the agent and she says the picture is not on Kailyn's citizenship paper. Oh NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I look through my purse and there it is. Sorry we cannot accept this document, it is altered. Can't you see that the seal matches and that it just came unglued in my purse. Looks like it but you will have to return to immigration. GREAT!!!!!!! I need to speak to a supervisor. Okay no problem maam. Supervisor gives me the same story. Can't you just give me some glue and I will put the picture back on. NO ma'am we cannot do that. You could take it home glue it on and take it to our other office, because they don't know that it was altered. But this office will not take it. You will need to talk to immigration. By the way, Kailyn is with me, she has her passport, and I am her mother testifying to who she is. The same picture that is on her Citizenship paper is on the Visa that is in her Ukrainian passport.
So I place a call to my trusty Immigration Agent. He is not there. So I leave a message. He calls me later in the day to say just glue the picture back on yourself. We don't have an official stamp that says we glued the picture back on. He was very upset with the Social Security Agent for causing us so much trouble.
Oh remember me saying the the first agent at SS saw the picture attached and took it to the back to show a supervisor, well she conveniently forgot that she saw the picture attached. She would not confirm that she had seen it earlier that morning.
Thankfully, the agent that I dealt with on the second trip that processed Jacob and Jaryd's numbers told me that when I had the picture reattached, that she would process the applicaiton without a wait. She told me just to look her up and she would do it as quickly as possible.
In case you wondered, I am filing a complaint against the supervisor. I am going to send all the information and copies of everything with the complaint. Their words were that since 911 they have to be carful of terrorist. She is three. She has been in the country 8 months. No terrorist actions to this point.
Never a dull moment when you deal with government agencies. By the way, I have glued the picture back on. I will be making another trip to the SS office.
I will let you know the outcome of this trip.
Tammy

Rules

Why is it that rules still after 7 months don't seem to mean a thing to my newbees? Jaryd just seems to think that the rules still apply to everyone else but him. We have repeatedly told him he cannot put things in his backpack from home to take to school. No toys, no food, no nothing. But, like any other 9 year old boy he still pushes that limit. This morning his backpack was filled with food and colored pencils that he knew he was not allowed to take to school. He sneaked them in there this morning while I was finishing getting ready. I noticed that his backpack was making a funny noise. I checked and sure enough there it was. I know this does not necessarily have any thing to do with being adopted or maybe it does. I know this is just 9 year old boy behavior. But, it is so frustrating. Of course, I was the bad guy because he got caught. I tried to explain to him once again that it was his behavior that caused him to loose privileges not just the fact that I caught him. I am only the enforcer of the rules. I explained to him also that parents have rules to follow too. If we didn't follow the rules of the God and of the world, what a terrible mixed up place this world would be.

I just pray daily that God will give me wisdom in my discipline. I do hope that in the next few months life will begin to settle in. I keep thinking it will but so far no such luck. Well, with four kids in the house it is a little hard to have complete quietness.

Jacob seems to be an arguer. He always has a come back for everything that you say. We are working very hard on talking back. He thinks he should have the last word. This is definitely a challenge.

I will say that yesterday afternoon was my dream time of being a mother of four small children. Jaryd and Jacob were in their room playing cars so quietly you would barely know they were there. Alyssa was sitting at the play desk coloring and cuting and pasting. She enjoys making projects so much. Kailyn was playing in the play area in the den. I am not sure what she was playing, but all was quiet. It allowed me to get dinner ready. So see there are some good times. They are not all bad. I sound a little negative in the beginning, but just to let you know things are not always bad.

Nana is going to start having school with Alyssa one day a week until school is out for the others. She is missing a little of her alone time with Nana. So Nana decided to have one morning a week with her just for her special time.

I have become another mini-van mom. We had a Tahoe with three seats that sat everyone comfortably, but it did not allow for groceries, stroller or lawn chairs for soccer games. I could have one on the list but not two. We looked and looked for a new vehicle and the only thing that I could find that would fit everything in was a Town and Country mini-van. So I have joined the ranks for the mini-van moms again. I swore I would never own another, but I guess God has a wonderful sense of humor. Never say never right. Don't get me wrong there is nothing wrong with owning a mini-van, I just thought I had moved on to the SUV land. Wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have a great week in the Lord.
Tammy

Easter Picture

Here is our Easter Picture. What a great looking bunch. Sure does make a mom proud.

Tammy

Six months home a little late.

Lots to talk about. I haven't posted in a while so I will try to catch up a few things. The first picture is of Alyssa, Jacob, and Kailyn. Jacob was in timeout for talking back and Alyssa decided that she and Kailyn were in trouble and decided to join him in time-out. Of course, they had done nothing to warrant time out. What sibling love we have.

The next four pictures are four apple trees that we planted this spring. We had some trees that we had planted last year that died. We returned those to Lowe's and purchased these apple trees. We are going to even have fruit this year. Each one of the kids has claimed a tree. We will follow their progress over the next few years to see how the kids and the trees grow. Hopefully these trees will stay alive.

We have some pictures of the Easter Egg Hunt at church. This was a lot of fun for all the kids. The new kids all got a taste of it at school the day before. The Early Childhood class had a hunt for all the kids in Kailyn and Jacob's class.

Here is a picture of the kids in their Easter finery. The camera got moved to a setting that made horrible pictures. This is the best that I have. Sorry. One of the ladies at church took all our picture and I will try to post that one when we get it.

The second picture is the night before Easter. We were cutting fingernails and putting rollers in Alyssa's hair so she could have "curlies."

Update on all the kiddos:

Jaryd

Jaryd is our lover of responsiblity. He functions best when given responsiblity. He is doing very well in school. The medication has changed his life. He has not had anything but a green face since we started the medicine. We have moved up to a few more milligrams. He seems to be handling the medication beautifully. He is speaking English beautifully. He still has some problems, but has a great command of his new language. His teacher tested his reading level last week and he is only one level away from where he should be by the end of the school year. We expect that he will be right on target for the end of the year. Why is it that a child from Ukraine can come to this country and learn the language in just six short months and we have students here who have lived here all their life and still do not speak the English. He is excelling far beyond his age in Math and Science. There is a school year in El Paso that is for the gifted and talented in Math and Science. We are going to look in to this for him when he is ready to go into Junior High. He is playing soccer. He is a natural. There are two boys on his team named Jaryd. What is the chances? Jaryd still has his moments where he wants to be rebellious. But, most of the time with a little discussion and explanation he comes to understand why we are enforcing rules. He and Kevin built a kite on Easter afternoon that was five foot tall. It was broken, after just a little while, but they are trying to rebuilt it and put it back together. I will try to get some pictures for you to see. It was pretty impressive.

Jacob

Jacob is our thinker and quiet schemer. Jacob has also been on meds. He is about the same. The meds have seemed to help with some of his day dreaming. He is not doing as well in school as I would like for him to. They are going to meet on the 12th of May to discuss him going to summer school. They want him to be really prepared to go to Kindergarten. We will see what their recommendation is. He is learning English well and still has a little hesitation when speaking. We have to make him speak up. Jacob went to a birthday party for one of his classmates this weekend. He played by himself instead of with the group. That seems to be his biggest problem. He has a hard time playing with a group of other children. He is such a loner. He is also playing soccer. We are in hopes that this will help him mature. He is still very immature for his age. He has made great progress, but we have a long way to go.

Alyssa

Just our little ball of sunshine. Alyssa is going to go to a Pre-k program next year. She really wants to get to go to school. I hope she is as excited when it truly happens. Alyssa is playing indoor soccer. Her league plays on the basketball court. She is a little shy, but is getting more aggressive. She loves to play. It is very comical to watch them play.

Kailyn

Still our little ball of energy. Kailyn has also moved up on her new medication. She takes it in the morning before school and again at 3 in the afternoon. She doesn't seem to have any side effects from taking the meds. Kailyn's biggest problem is learning to control her tongue. She chews her food with her tongue and not her teeth. She has the strongest tongue I have ever seen. When talking with the social worker she says this is common in children when they miss being fed with a spoon. She also has a bad lisp. I spoke with her Speech Therapist this morning and we are going to work together to get this tongue under control. If anyone has any suggestions, all comments would be appreciated. Kailyn still has a hard time accepting parental control. She still wants to be in control. We are working on that also. Kailyn is doing well in school and moving right up towards her age level. She has not gained any weight just inches. She has grown almost three inches now. Here is a picture of her swining on the swing. Actually it is picture of her sleeping on the swing. She swings for hours. Sometimes she swings herself to sleep. We have to watch her closely, because we don't want her to fall off. You can barely see the Great Dane's nose in the picture. She was watching over her to make sure she didn't fall.

That's about all for now. Let's call this the six month home post. Even though it is a little late. It is almost 7 months now.

Back to School

We are settling back in to our routine with school and all that we do. I have practice two nights a week for our easter presentation at church. Dad has been helping cook on those nights. Or, usually Tuesday night is Taco Cabana night.

Friday we went to the doctor for the recheck on the kids medicine. The doctor felt that Jaryd needed to be moved up to 10mg. He seems to have become comfortable with the 5mg. So we changed the dosage and he is doing beautifully. No side effects at all. There was also a new medicine available for Kailyn. We were having a hard time with the dosage of Kailyn's med. The new one started today and we will see how it works. It is liquid and I can control the dosage a lot easier. The only bad thing is that it is not time released. So I will have to give her a dose at noon each day. For now that is not a problem because she is with me at that time every day. And as she grows we can go back to a time released medicine. Jacob stayed the same on his dosage. The med seems to help him to focus better.

Here are a few pictures of the kids cleaning up grass in the yard on Saturday. We had a nice day on Saturday.

We heated the pool at our other house last week and went swimming on Sunday. The kids had a great time. Hopefully we will get to swim in it a few more times before it is rented.

Enjoy the pictures and have a great week.

God Bless

Tammy