A few pictures ...

Well friends, I am still on a major learning curve with this blogging stuff ... and one of my major issues of "clue-less-ness" is how to tell you what these pictures are ... like right next to the picture. Sorry ... these descriptions will have to do.

#1 - Kostya and Chris (with backpack) walking down the road from Nataliya's orphanage. This was a dirt path between other apartment buildings. You can tell Chris is the American ... b/c Ukrainians don't carry big backpacks! :o) You can tell the other guy is Kostya ... b/c he is on the phone ... he was always on the phone ... plotting our next move!!

#2 This is the "road" to/from Juliya's orphanage. This had bits and pieces of asphault on it and was much more like a walk way ... but cars did drive on it. The building at the front of the picture is a shop that sells candy, cigarettes, phone cards, etc.




#3 - this is a picture of "waiting" ... we did lots of "hurry up and wait!" This picture was taken in the play room of Nataliya's orphanage ... we were waiting for the orphanage director to see us. The guys weren't really sleeping ... but they did look this bored!

#4 - This is the playground at Juliya's orphanage. Basically lots of bars painted bright colors ... makes me want to cry just looking at it. Our kids here in the states have it soooooooo good!!




#5 - (brown steps/doors, blue bricks) This is the outside of Juliya's orphanage. We entered through the door on the left whenever we came to see her. Her groupa lived on the second floor ... in the area of the first three windows on the left. When she sees this picture ... she says "Juliya cry!" :o(

#6 - a happy Juliya. Finding me in a photo album and pointing to me in person ... love this picture!!

#7 - kids in strollers - Nataliya is the little darling all bundled up in navy blue standing in the front - far right. The building behind her is the outside of the "baby house" orphanage.

#8 - Chris laughing at Nataliya ... I see this expression on his face ALL THE TIME. She is a funny girl and she keeps us all laughing around here!

#9 - we couldn't resist getting some good photos of these bows (yes, they are bows and not shower scrubbies) in her hair. I think the caregivers were trying to make her look more like a girl by dressing her up for us!! :o)

Well speaking of the little honey ... she just got up from her nap ... so I'm off to play and laugh some more. Oh, and make dinner and do laundry and clean up and all that good mommy/family stuff too!!

Our first weekend in Ukraine

I'm a bit challenged when it comes to putting pictures on here the way I want them to be ... sorry! But better this than nothing!

These pictures are 1) Nataliya Joy, the afternoon we met her, 2) Juliya Grace, the afternoon we met her (the man kneeling down is Kostya, our friend, facilitator & translator), 3) Nataliya's referral picture , 4) Juliya's referral picture (these are the pictures we saw at our initial appointment in Kiev on Nov. 8, 2006). The referral pictures are about the size of a passport photo ... and they had staples through them. They are also the only photos we have of our girls prior to adopting them ... so they are very cherished "baby" picutures!

Back to reminicing ... two years ago we were in Ukraine ... just beginning the local, in-country process of our adoption. November 11th was a Saturday and we went to see Nataliya (Joy) in the morning and the afternoon. She was such a delight ... it's amazing how in love we were with these girls when we had missed out on being present in their lives for the first 2 1/2 and 4 years ... but knowing God had been knitting your hearts together since before that time was really an amazing experience!!

We were not "allowed" to visit Juliya (Grace) over the weekend ... so we just prayed for her, planned for our next visits and looked at the pictures we had taken of her during Friday's initial visit.

Our original blog "ate" the entries from our first several days in Ukraine ... but here is something Chris had written as a recap ...

November 10

3. Upon arrival (Friday morning) we immediately headed to meet with Joy’s social worker. (As you now know, although Grace and Joy are sisters, because of their two year age difference, they live in two separate orphanages. As it turns out, they are also in two different counties, this means much of the work in this process is doubled). Adoptive parents are not allowed to visit their children until first receiving the approval of the child’s social worker. The social worker interviewed us (this is #2 interview), asking general questions about why we were adopting in general and why from Ukraine in particular. After leaving Joy’s social worker, we immediately drove to Grace’s social worker’s office. We found her walking on the sidewalk heading to lunch. She graciously agreed to sign our paper work and said she would interview us later. Armed with the signatures of both girls’ social workers, we could then go visit the orphanage director at each orphanage. The appointment with the orphanage director is yet another interview process (because we have two orphanage directors to deal with, this was #3 & #4).

After passing their version of the “interview test” we were then allowed to meet Joy and Grace. Grace was brought into an office of one of the orphanage workers for our initial meeting. Joy was brought into the director’s office.

November 11-15.

Once we had met the girls and decided we wanted to continue the process (something we knew from the instant we met them), we then have to start getting the necessary permission to proceed. This permission must be granted by both social workers and both orphanage directors. Typically, this only happens once they are convinced the children are going to accept you as their parents, which they can (and sometimes do) take their sweet time to decide. Because the federal agency (SDA) has already approved you as adoptive parents, it is very rare that these individuals can actually stop the process, but they can certainly slow it down and make it very difficult. So, care must be taken with each step. By Wednesday, November 15 after interview (#5) with Grace’s social worker, we had everyone’s signature to proceed.

Two Amazing Years!!

For the rest of my life I will reminisce during the days of November/December about our journey to Ukraine in 2006. Those will always prove to be some of the most God-ordained days of our lives. We were relying on Him so heavily and He was soooooooooooo unbelievably faithful ... wow!!! (great lessons learned there to be applied to our everyday, ongoing life!!)
Two years ago at this hour ... we were boarding an overnight train that would take us from Kiev to Kherson, Ukraine ... hoping we would be meeting our daughters the next day! The anticipation was overwhelming ... in a really wonderful way!
Fast-forward two years ... and we're living a very blessed life with our little family.
Last week we were enjoying some beautiful fall weather ... so the girls and I headed out for a walk around the block ... here are some fun photos from our outing!

Fun at Cool Creek Nature Park!

Sweet little sisters enjoying a beautiful day at Cool Creek Nature Park near our house!

These pictures really capture their personalities. :o)


So much has been going on in our lives ... which leads to little time for updating our blog.
Please know we love you and love hearing from you when you post a comment or drop us an e-mail.
We are once again "reliving" our experience from 2 years ago ... feels like the girls have always been a part of our lives ... and yet our time in Ukraine was such an amazing experience in our lives and we love reminiscing about how we were preparing to leave for Ukraine two years ago this week.
Can't imagine my life without them ... they really are precious little miracles!!

Nataliya, my precious little "Peanut" as she is affectionately known at home!!
We have been BLESSED to have Sissy Kaysha with us for two months. It has been absolutely wonderful. She leaves next week for her new job (read great career opportunity) in Los Angeles. We will all miss her more than I can put into words.
This first picture shows Nataliya snuggling Kaysha while watching "Letter Factory" ... one of her favorite DVDs (Nataliya's favorite ... not Kaysha's ... although Kaysha is getting familiar with all of her letter sounds again!).





Nataliya also got to help me babysit my friend's little girl Claire. She was quite proud of herself that Claire went to sleep in her arms!!

Juliya loves tomatoes! So, Grampy helped her plant a tomato plant this year. It finally has one red tomato on it (it is October!!) ... but here she is watering the plant with her spray bottle-mister that Auntie Icki brought her from Florida.

Before school started each of the girls were surprised with a new backpack, lunch box and matching thermos ... Juliya wasn't excited at all. :o)

Finally they got to fill up their backpacks and head for school. While the girls loved their backpacks, lunch boxes and thermoses ... the school was not a good fit for them. So after MUCH searching ... we have made a change to a new school that is much more suited to our unique needs (ie: speech therapy, smaller student/teacher ratio, etc.). We just started there this week and so far the girls (and Mommy) love it!

I found this verse the other day while reading through Psalms ... it expresses my heart well:
You thrill me, Lord, with all You have done for me! I sing for joy because of what You have done. Psalm 92:4

Fix your eyes on Him ...

September's Half Over!!

Hi Friends,

Well ... here I am ... at Starbucks ... enjoying a hot cup of coffee on a "cool" September morning. I'm glad for the cooler weather ... so I can sit outside and enjoy hot coffee again! (those of you who know me well know that "hot" and "Mary" DO NOT go together well.)

Where are the little ones? Well, they are at preschool. We started at a new school this year (2 weeks ago) ... where they are both in the Pre-Kinder class (ages 4 & 5) ... but they offer two classes ... so each of the girls have their own classroom, teacher, activities, etc. They do share their "Bible time" and recess together. And they tell me each school day how they miss each other ... and how they hugged each other in Bible class and on the playground. I think it's good they have an opportunity to miss each other ... as the saying goes ... absence makes the heart grow fonder! I know that's true for me and my precious "sisters" (friends) whom I miss.

The girls are in school three mornings a week and it seems to be just the right amount. Still lots of time at home with Mommy ... but they are being challenged at school to learn new things and also connect with other kids and other adults.

One of the greatest blessings over the past 5 weeks has been having our other "daughter" ... Kaysha with us. She was waiting for her big career break and we invited her to come stay with us and help me out while Chris is traveling (which is a TON!!!!!). So she has been here since the middle of August ... but I'm sad to say our days with her are numbered ... b/c she has been offered an amazing job in LA (Los Angeles) ... so we're going to be saying good-bye rather soon (well I'll actually say "see you later" b/c I'll cry too much saying good-bye). The little girls LOVE their Sissy Kaysha and I'm not looking forward to leading them through letting her go.

A few weeks ago we started speech therapy for Juliya with a private therapist. She really does seem to be wonderful and so far it's going really well. We had been offered services through our local elementary school and we tried it last spring ... but it was a 25 minute appointment, 1x week, with two other children. That just wasn't going to be enough to help Juliya bridge the gap. One of the misconceptions people have is that children adopted from another country are learning English as a second language (ESL) ... but that's actually not the case. As in Juliya's case ... she has completely lost her first language (Russian) and is replacing it with English. That's much more difficult ... b/c she doesn't have a "known" language to rely on in her brain ... while she's learning the new language. We feel like some of the difficulties Juliya struggles with stem from the fact that she's not communicating well with others (ie: she's difficult to understand ... if Mommy doesn't interpret ... and God save the moment when I don't "get it" either!!). She usually resorts to just being shy or pretending to be a puppy or horse or something that will keep her from engaging with others ... children and adults. So, we felt that we needed to be much more intentional and even aggressive with her speech therapy. God has led us to a very qualified therapist and Juliya is enjoying her time with her and working really hard on the things she has her working on.

Nataliya is back in gymnastics ... with Mrs. Cheryl ... her beloved coach. She is a wonderful lady ... loves Jesus, loves my girls, great gymnastics coach and ... the reason we're there! Nataliya had taken the summer off from gymnastics and Cheryl called to see if she was coming back b/c she hadn't seen us around. I said "only if you'll be her coach!" So, she was convinced to come in an hour early on Tuesday's and coach a class for Nataliya's level. Cheryl doesn't teach "little" kids anymore ... b/c she was promoted to coaching the competitive teams at this gymnastics club. So I'm really glad we have her during this time. I love having her influence in Nataliya's life!

In my world ... I'm involved in a women's Bible Study on Wednesday mornings at a local church. In addition to learning more about the book of James ... it has been nice to connect with a few friends there and enjoy going for lunch together ... without the little girls.

One of my happiest moments recently happened when our friend Paul V. from Madison was able to recover all of our pictures off of the hard-drive that was toast! Now I need to upload the summer pictures onto the computer and post some new pics for you ... but I'm at Starbucks and the camera is at home ... so that will have to be another day. The picture I did post is from March at our niece Chelsea's wedding. This picture is being blown up to a 16x20 and will grace our family room wall.

Ok, I must go ... there is much more to do before picking the girls up from school. Drop me a note ... I love to hear how you're doing too! (thanks Kathie for reminding me to post a new entry!)

Lots of love and hugs!!!
Mary :o)

Quick Update

Hey everyone out there!!
It is a beautiful day here in Indiana (never thought I'd say that ... "beautiful" and "Indiana" in the same sentence) ... but it is ... so I can't lie!
Last night a dear friend drove down from Wisconsin to spend the long weekend with us ... and I always love to have company (especially her) ... so it's a treat to have Janelle here.
Well ... just as soon as I started writing ... little Miss Juliya popped awake from her nap ... so this is going to be short! :o)
Sorry! Gotta go ... I'll hope to be back before another 17 days flies by!
In closing ... my current Mommy Mantra ... "obey the FIRST time and ALL the way!!" (or there will be consequences! ... reality parenting!!)

Wide Awake!

Greetings ... from the middle of the night!
Here are my observations:
1) the windows are open ...
2) nice cool evening (love that!!)
3) there is a mad skunk in the neighborhood (don't love that)
4) why does there have to be a mad skunk in the neighborhood on the night we turn off the A/C and open the windows ... ugh!
5) the water softener and sump pump are loud at 2:30 am ...
6) the computer screen is really bright at 2:30 am ... guess that's why they give you the option to "adjust contrast"
7) the skunk is getting closer ... i think the mad skunk is not only in the neighborhood ... i think they are in my yard ... yucky!! (i'm not going to check)
8) the rice krispies i just ate (with fresh strawberries) were yummy
9) i'll regret this in the morning! (not the rice krispies ... but the lack of sleep)
10) what will i do in the morning to get the skunk smell out of my house
11) i'm too tired (or just plain lazy) ... so i'm not using the shift button (oops ... just did to make the parenthesis) ...
12) that's an interesting word!
13) i know what you're thinking ... shut up and tell us something about the kids!! :o)
14) ok, i will ... but i won't tell you what we've been eating ... b/c i've been told my blog makes people hungry! :o)
15) oops ... i already told you i was eating rice krispies ... sorry. but hey, they're all gone now ... so we can move on to bigger and better (or actually little and cute) subjects.

we had a great weekend with the girls ... here are the highlights!
1) daddy cancelled his trip for the weekend :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)
2) that made us all VERY happy to have daddy (husband) home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
3) on saturday we took daddy to conner prairie (an outdoor history museum nearby). we bought a membership earlier this summer and the girls and i have had lots of fun going there with friends ... but daddy had been yet.
4) on sunday we went to the state fair ... that was super fun (more about that on a future post)

**** i was just interrupted by miss nataliya standing in the hallway upstairs screaming :( :( :(
i ran upstairs, sat in the rocking chair with her, calmed her down and asked her "what's wrong honey?" her response "the chicken!!!" followed by more crying! so i asked her, "a real chicken or a big chicken?" "big chicken!!!!" ... "the big chicken from mcdonald's?" ... "yes!" (more crying)
so i assured her there was no big chicken here, etc. then of course she asked to sleep in our bed ... but i met her half way and offered to make her a little bed on the floor next to our bed. she said yes to that and then said "take sheepies. sheepies have tea party!!" so off she headed to our room with about 8 sheep, 2 blankets, a pillow and a mommy shirt. i told her the sheep would need to wait until morning for the tea party ... she said "ok mommy!"

so i'm off to bed now ... b/c i'm sure she's wondering where i went. oh, and yes, there was a big chicken at mcdonald's ... about 4 months ago (when they introduced their southern style chicken sandwich ... which i haven't tried ... it can't possibly be as yummy as chick-fil-a). ok, enough about food and chickens!

ni-night!

Twice in one week ...

Ok ... I'm on a role!! :o) I just wrote on Wednesday and here I am again!!

Here's a recap of the past few days (we've had french toast everyday ... just to give you a sneak peak!!).

Let's see ... Wednesday after naps we went to the airplane port (that's what the girls call it) to pick up Daddy ... b/c he came home from New York City. We went out for a really special dinner ... to Taco Bell. It was cheap and we had fun ... so it was really special. :o) After Taco Bell we had to stop by Daddy's office and drop some things off ... then Daddy told the girls that b/c they had been such good girls we were going to get an ice cream at Dairy Queen. They were sooooooo excited ... then to make things even better ... I called John & Danielle (DD) (she is Juliya's "favorite" person in the world) to see if they wanted to join us. They were free ... so they popped over to meet us and we had LOTS more fun!! It was a great evening!!

On Thursday the girls and I had a fun little "shopping" date to the Border's bookstore. We didn't really buy anything ... but they love to go there and sit in big, comfy chairs and read books ... too cute!! When Daddy was done at work we all drove down to Nashville, Indiana to the cabin where Auntie Icki (Vicki) and Timmy (her husband) were staying (they are visiting from Florida). We had a yummy dinner, hiked in the woods, played some MadGab and then drove back home. It was a total of about 3 hours in the car ... but the girls traveled really well. Napped on the way down and fell asleep on the way home. The only bummer of the evening was that Nataliya got her first bee sting. :o( She screamed loud enough for just about everyone (except possibly the hearing impaired) in Brown County to know there was a problem in our little corner of the world. The girl has some lungs ... let's just say!!! She was pretty much convinced that she'd never go outside again ... but after dinner we talked her into it ... and she got right over it!!

On Friday the girls and I played at home. We went for bike rides in the morning, played a lot with the baby dolls, painted, had left over french toast for breakfast (just thought I'd throw that in) and watched a little of Franklin to escape the heat. In the evening the girls got to go to a new babysitter ... she was really sweet and has three roommates ... so there were lots of cool girls to play with and they had a grand time!! We went to dinner with Tim & Vicki ... since this was their last night here.

This morning the girls helped me make breakfast for everyone. You already know what we made ... but we actually took it up another notch ... Almond French Toast ... YUMMALICIOUS! We also had delicious maple bacon, fresh strawberries with whipped cream & country potatoes. It was such a yummy meal. Of course baby girl Natalie (new nick name she's trying out) was excused from the table for the first 1/2 of the meal b/c she would sit in her chair as she was asked to. I'm glad Daddy was home to deal with her this morning. After her lengthy time out and chat with Daddy ... she came back to the table a very pleasant little darling! :o) There's hope!! How can one soooooooooooo very cute also be soooooooooooooooooo very trying at times! She sounds just like her Mommy did as a little girl ... ok, maybe still. :o)

The girls had a fun trip to the pool with Daddy and Uncle Timmy this afternoon ... followed by great-big naps!! I took Timmy & Icki to the airplane port and then tonight we hung out with Chris' parents and celebrated my birthday. It was a great evening.

So there you have it ... all you ever wanted to know about the past few days in our lives. I'm fading fast ... so I'd better call it a day!

French toast anyone?!?!

I was just taking a moment to read a blog of a family who adopted two little boys from Ukraine this past December. After reading up on all of their family adventures ... I realized what a great job she does keeping hers updated (thanks Courtney!) so here goes ... I'm breaking all my rules and writing a little something this morning.



This morning it dawned on me that I don't usually update the blog until ... the kitchen is clean, the laundry is folded, the girls are sleeping, I've answered my e-mails, spent time with Chris (when he is in town) and on and on and on the list goes.



So ... I'm breaking all the rules this morning. The kitchen is a disaster ... but here's why:



This morning the girls helped me make french toast ... their "help" in the kitchen always makes a bigger mess ... but it's also fun (when I have the time to do it). They each get their own bowl ... to which I add 2 eggs, a splash of milk, some sugar, cinnamon and vanilla ... they stir and stir and stir. While they're stirring I warm up the griddle and get the bread ready. This morning I also cut up some fresh strawberries ... which were quite yummy!!



After it was all mixed up ... we put them together in mommy's shallow bowl and I did the dipping and putting on the griddle. Juliya was sure the bread was crying "no griddle ... too hot!!" she said the strawberries were crying when I cut them up too. :o)



The girls helped whip up some butter and sprinkled powdered sugar on their french toast. Then we sat down at the table and enjoyed a yummy breakfast. Oh, I almost forgot the not so cute part of Nataliya "losing it" b/c Juliya set the table and chose the wrong fork for her. She gave her a blue one ... she apparently wanted the purple one ... so she threw herself on the floor, burst into tears ... kicking, screaming ... such tragedy. I sent her to the couch for a time out ... when she was done she came back to the table. Then we enjoyed a yummy breakfast!!



After breakfast the girls played with their BIG puppies ... these are huge puppies their Poppie and Grammie gave them. The dogs are much bigger than the girls ... but they have lots of fun with them. Poppie and Grammie are my second parents ... they live near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina now ... but I met them in the early 90's when Chris and I lived in South Dakota. They are precious and love the girls so very much!!



When I sat down to write this ... the girls were in their play room teaching motions to their kid's church class. :o) Not a song I know ... but something about Jesus - Power - Jesus loves you ... that's a good start! Now they have moved over to the piano room ... someone is "playing" and they are both singing ... "Hallelujah ... amazing ... mountain ... ever ... amazing ... changing ... mountain ... love you ... mountain ... sing ... ever ... love you ... love you ever ... Hallelujah!" On and on it goes ... now Nataliya is going to get a microphone!!! :o) (not that she needs one, since they are singing at the top of their lungs!!) I'm pretty sure they are singing the song "Hallelujah, Your Love Is Amazing" ... I would LOVE for them to grow up and become worship leaders!!!!



Oh and the laundry is not even started ... although I have many nice piles adding to the landscape around here! We all had clean underwear this morning ... so what's the rush!?!?!



Well the little ladies need some attention. They just helped me clean the kitchen (they dry the dishes ... well you know, about 1/4 of each dish!!). Time to go have some more fun or prevent meltdowns ... probably some of both!!

Still No Pictures

Well ... we still don't have any pictures to post ... they are all stuck on the camera at this point. But I thought I'd at least share a cute moment with Nataliya tonight.

During "talk time" (when she's in bed and has a few minutes to "talk" to Mommy before we pray and go to sleep) ... I asked her if there was anyone special she would like to pray for.

So she starts strumming her fingers on her cheek and says "Taliya thinking ...." Then she responds "Minnie!" So I asked her "you'd like to pray for Minnie?" "yep ... Minnie and Mickey too. Mickey no say "gosh" no more on movie." Interpretation: she wants to pray for Mickey and Minnie b/c they apparently say "gosh" on the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I've tried telling them I actually think Mickey is saying "garsh" ... but they still don't think he should say that either ... and he needs prayer!!!

So she prayed first and prayed for the whole cast ... Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald Duck (which is what she was calling my brother Don last weekend when we saw him ... too funny!), and she prayed for Donna Duck! I guess she doesn't know Daisy's name ... so she calls her Donna Duck. I was laughing while she was praying ... but it was dark and I was quiet ... so she didn't know!

Those little darlings are sleeping now ... and Mommy needs to do the same ...

Blessings on you and yours!

Sweet Sleepy Thoughts

Yesterday we had a fun filled, long day.

After the girls had their jammies on ... we were having story time. At bedtime we read one Bible story and one other book.

Last night our Bible story was about Andrew following Jesus and asking if he could see where Jesus lived. So, Jesus said ... come on over to my house!!

After telling the girls the story I asked them each: "what would you want to talk to Jesus about if you were invited to His house for the afternoon?"

Juliya's answer: "Juliya tell Jesus 'wuv ooh Jesus' (translation: love you Jesus!!)

Nataliya's answer: "ask Jesus why Ganpa heaven ..."

Needless to say ... both of their answers deeply touched Mommy's heart. (Nataliya is talking about her Grandpa ... my Daddy ... who passed away just weeks after we adopted the girls ... but they've heard lots about how much Grandpa loved them and how much fun they would have had with him teasing and tickling them!)

I told Juliya ... "you know what Jesus would tell you? Jesus loves Juliya!!!!!" (He loves you too precious friends!!)

So ... those are some sweet moments from yesterday ...

I'm going to try blogging more short and sweet entries. Sorry no pictures ... computer is still broken ... bummer!

Hi Marty!

Hello friends out there. (I wrote this last week ... very late in the evening and apparently didn't post it ... UGH!) Here goes ...

You may wonder ... why "Hi Marty!" ... well, we were recently in South Dakota for a family vacation (and a few meetings for Chris) ... and while there we saw soooooooooooooo many of our precious friends from the 10 years we lived out there.

While there I was visiting with a gal at church who told me checks the blog almost daily to see if I've added anything ... wow, she's faithful. Well, her name is Marty ... so I told her I would think of her and do a much better job of posting stuff.

So ... since I can't post any pictures (my computer crashed and has been sent in to be fixed ... so I can't upload any new pictures) ... I'll give you link to check out.

While in Spearfish, South Dakota ... Chris and I had the awesome privilege of being part of the service at Countryside Community Church ... a church we will always love deeply ... as we had the really awesome opportunity to lead a hand full of people to "plant" that church back in 1993.

Here is a link to Countryside's website http://www.teamcountryside.com/

If you would like to see video of the week we were there ... here's what you do:

click on: Live Video

click on: On Demand (bottom center)

click on: Sunday, June 29, 2008

You can choose either the first or second service ... at the bottom of the video screen you can "drag" it to fast forward. I think Chris' message is great and about 2/3 way through his message he introduces the girls ... which is very sweet.

So ... enjoy that if you'd like to.

Tinker Bell Turns Ten!! Not Really!!

Wow ... it has taken me several weeks to get back here. Tinker Bell is actually still four ... although as her Daddy put it yesterday she seems to be going through a "Terrible Twos" stage! :o) I guess she's just spreading her wings! HA!HA!

A few weekends ago we went to Louisville, Kentucky to cheer Daddy on as he ran the Kentucky Derby Marathon. The girls waited very anxiously to have a chance at running with Daddy ... here they go ...


After the marathon (that's 26.2 miles!) ... we drove back from Kentucky to Marion, Indiana where Chris graduated with his Master's Degree in Ministerial Leadership from Indiana Wesleyan University.

We dropped the girls off with friends (thank you Brad & Heidi) and picked up Chris' parents. We had a great evening with them ... celebrating Chris' accomplishment!



The past few weeks we have been quite busy! wrapping up our first year of preschool with lots of special events. Here is a picture of us at Mommy Night!

Last weekend we went with Daddy to Port Huron, Michigan to a church plant there. Chris and I had the privilege of speaking at the church on Mother's Day morning. We have fun traveling together and I'm always honored when Chris invites me to "share the stage" with him when he's speaking.

Well the little darlings need Mommy's attention now ... until next time ...

Tinker Bell Turns Four!!

Fun, energetic, happy (when she's not hungry or tired) Nataliya turned 4 this week! She also turned into Tinker Bell ... after receiving a darling Tinker Bell dress-up dress from her little friend Olivia (Livie).

We all had fun celebrating Nataliya's special day ... with her choice of fun activities! She chose bowling with Livie and out for pizza with the family ... oh and of course CAKE!!

The last picture is from Easter. Being the practical (and may I add frugal) person I am ... they wore their dresses from the wedding with a sweater added. This picture so captures their personalities. Nataliya with her bunny "hop bunny hop!!!!!" and Juliya holding and loving on her bunny like it is a baby.

Right now they are outside with Daddy ... using his power tools. Too cute! They love Saturday's when Daddy is here (and so do I!!!).

I'm gonna run and get in on the fun ...

Nataliya flying high!

Juliya ... what form!!

Zach and Nataliya ... so sweet!!

The swimming pool gang. Chris looks exhausted! :o)

Pictures from Friday night

1) Elsa & Nataliya ... I think maybe they are texting!

2) Baby Emma ... isn't she adorable!!

3) Juliya putting shoes on baby Emma ... she loves this little baby! She is usually "Emma" whenever she pretends to be a baby herself.

4) The whole gang heading out of the hotel.

Our Three Daughters!

This weekend we had the fun privilege of having our eldest "daughter" Kaysha with us. It is hard to believe ... but she is a senior in college this year ... so she is on the interview circuit. She has an interview in Chicago on Monday morning ... so we were able to work it out and have her here for the weekend! What fun ... the little girls LOVE their Sissy Kaysha!!!

We drove to Chicago on Friday afternoon and spent the evening with some of our dearest, best friends in all the world ... Paul & Chris (and their daughters Elsa & Emma) and Janelle. They all drove down from Madison, Wisconsin to spend the evening together. We had a great time! The Dads took all the little girls (except the baby) swimming ... then we ordered in Chicago-style pizza ... we talked, the kids played ... it was great!

They headed for home around 9:30 pm and we went to get Sissy Kaysha at the airplane port.

On Saturday morning ... more of our dearest/best friends came to visit. Jeff & Janna with their boys Zach & Seth. They are the family that came for Christmas ... and Nataliya has been asking "where's Zach?" almost daily since then!! They also know Kaysha from all of our days in South Dakota ... so it was an all around great visit. Here's a little side note about Nataliya and her Zach! When we were flying to San Diego for our niece's wedding a couple of weeks ago ... we flew through Chicago-Midway airport. Near the end of the flight, the flight attendant said "as we make our final approach into Chicago ..." at which point Nataliya (in her not so quiet voice) screams "CAGO!!! SEE ZACH!!!!! ZACH IN CAGO MAMA!!!" She was sooooooooooooooo excited at the thought of seeing her friend Zach. I had to break it to her that Zach was at school and we wouldn't be seeing him in Chicago!

So, on Saturday morning we met Zach and his family at Krispy Kreme ... the girls were fascinated with the making of the donuts and quite delighted at the free donut they each received! Then we headed back to the hotel and Chris took all of the kids swimming. Which actually translates "Chris went into the pool/jacuzzi and the girls jumped to him ... or he tossed them in the air for 90 plus minutes!" He is a GREAT Daddy!!!

We cleaned up ... went to Ikea for an hour or so then headed for home. Our drive back was mostly uneventful ... I drove and Kaysha rode up front with me. The little girls slept about half of the way and Chris sat in the "back back" working on our taxes!

Today we had a good morning at church then hung around the house as a family this afternoon. Kaysha leaves really early in the morning for Chicago ... so our visit was short and sweet ... but it's ALWAYS good to have our eldest daughter around!!! If the two little ones grow up to be anything close to what Kaysha is ... well that will be sweet!!!

Sadly ... we didn't take any pictures with Sissy Kaysha this time! DUH!! But here is a sweet photo from last year at this time.

Fun, Family and Flu

Well I've been way out of the loop ... but I can't leave my faithful readers hanging for too long ... so I'd better at least pop in here!

We had the privilege of going to California two weeks ago ... where Chris officiated our niece Chelsea's wedding and the girls were (darling) flower girls!

The day after the wedding I got sick with the flu ... and remained sick for about 10 days. Our sweet Juliya also got sick ... so things have been a little slow going around here!

We had a quick visit with our dear friends ... the Earl girls :o) ... who came down to visit. We also went to the beach for at least a little bit each day. Is this not the coolest park ... let's just swing and take in the ocean view at the same time!!! Oh ... I (we) LOVE San Diego!!!

Here are a few pictures to enjoy ...

Enjoy!!