Kari:
We all enjoyed our first weekend. The kids are doing remarkably well, I really couldn't have dreamed it any better. Saturday night we had Tatum's 2nd birthday party. Josh and Ashley both brought gifts from Ukraine. 
On Sunday we went to church. Ashley and Josh met a lot of our friends, and some more recent adoptees, Anya and Mari. I love listening to them all talk in Russian together. Josh didn't want to join the girls, though, so he hung back asking when we were going dom. After lunch we told Josh we were going swimming, and he about bounced through the roof. He tore downstairs and got his swimsuit and goggles on. The Roges joined us at the rec center, and it was a lot of fun. Ashley and Nadia got some more bonding time, not that they needed it. Afterwards we went to the supermarket for some Super Bowl snacks-crab salad for Ashley, red vines for Tatum, smoked sausage for Joshua, hot wings for Jim and shrimp for Austin and I-yum! Our grocery buying has changed, juice, sausage and crab are new staples for our family. Then the Roges came over, and we enjoyed the Super Bowl, trampoline and air hockey.
On Sunday we went to church. Ashley and Josh met a lot of our friends, and some more recent adoptees, Anya and Mari. I love listening to them all talk in Russian together. Josh didn't want to join the girls, though, so he hung back asking when we were going dom. After lunch we told Josh we were going swimming, and he about bounced through the roof. He tore downstairs and got his swimsuit and goggles on. The Roges joined us at the rec center, and it was a lot of fun. Ashley and Nadia got some more bonding time, not that they needed it. Afterwards we went to the supermarket for some Super Bowl snacks-crab salad for Ashley, red vines for Tatum, smoked sausage for Joshua, hot wings for Jim and shrimp for Austin and I-yum! Our grocery buying has changed, juice, sausage and crab are new staples for our family. Then the Roges came over, and we enjoyed the Super Bowl, trampoline and air hockey. 
Last night Tatum woke up with a bad case of the stomach flu, and Austin had it this morning. Not so fun for them, but made our first day of getting everyone out the door a little easier since they were both laying on the couch. The plan was to divide and conquer.
I drove Ashley to school. She said "Noooo" a couple times on the way there, when we parked, getting out of the car, in the office, but then we turned the corner and saw Nadia waiting for her, and life was good. I called Jim on my way home to see if he and Joshua had left yet because I had time to meet them to see him off also.
Joshua was also protesting. Once at his school, he wouldn't get out of the back of the van, not for us, the school counselor, ELL teacher, his classroom teacher, or Tic Tac, the classroom guinea pig. So Jim and I had to pull him out of the van and into class. He wasn't happy about it, but he wasn't putting up an all out battle. Once in the classroom, we exited quickly. About an hour later I got the phone call saying everything was going well. They had a fire drill first thing this morning at school. Then he went off to ELL, came back to the classroom and was participating-whew! I'm anticipating a couple repeats of the van scene this week, but hopefully they will lessen. When I picked him up all of his classmates had something to tell me about him. "It was fun playing with Joshua today, He learned a lot of English today, He is really good at soccer." I high-fived him and hugged him as soon as we rounded the corner of the building, and he gave me a big smile. We decided to ride bikes when we got home to celebrate. Jim picked up Ashley from school, and she had a nice day also. She walked in the house and said, "Hi, Mom!" She calls us mom and dad all the time now and is becoming a lot more affectionate and vibrant. She is so full of life and energetic and a big talker-just what our family of four introverts needs! Her English is rapidly picking up each day, and with a little explaining she can understand most of what I say to her. Tonight her and I went and did a little more shopping and then went to the library to get some books for Josh. I found her a High School Musical chapter book, and she was ecstatic. She brought it home, grabbed the Russian-English dictionary and her notebook and started translating it into Russian sentence by sentence-Vow!
New pictures have been uploaded!
I drove Ashley to school. She said "Noooo" a couple times on the way there, when we parked, getting out of the car, in the office, but then we turned the corner and saw Nadia waiting for her, and life was good. I called Jim on my way home to see if he and Joshua had left yet because I had time to meet them to see him off also.
Joshua was also protesting. Once at his school, he wouldn't get out of the back of the van, not for us, the school counselor, ELL teacher, his classroom teacher, or Tic Tac, the classroom guinea pig. So Jim and I had to pull him out of the van and into class. He wasn't happy about it, but he wasn't putting up an all out battle. Once in the classroom, we exited quickly. About an hour later I got the phone call saying everything was going well. They had a fire drill first thing this morning at school. Then he went off to ELL, came back to the classroom and was participating-whew! I'm anticipating a couple repeats of the van scene this week, but hopefully they will lessen. When I picked him up all of his classmates had something to tell me about him. "It was fun playing with Joshua today, He learned a lot of English today, He is really good at soccer." I high-fived him and hugged him as soon as we rounded the corner of the building, and he gave me a big smile. We decided to ride bikes when we got home to celebrate. Jim picked up Ashley from school, and she had a nice day also. She walked in the house and said, "Hi, Mom!" She calls us mom and dad all the time now and is becoming a lot more affectionate and vibrant. She is so full of life and energetic and a big talker-just what our family of four introverts needs! Her English is rapidly picking up each day, and with a little explaining she can understand most of what I say to her. Tonight her and I went and did a little more shopping and then went to the library to get some books for Josh. I found her a High School Musical chapter book, and she was ecstatic. She brought it home, grabbed the Russian-English dictionary and her notebook and started translating it into Russian sentence by sentence-Vow!
New pictures have been uploaded!
5 comments:
Thanks for the update! You have a great family. Wish we lived closer to Ukraine in Northern Colorado!
That's so awesome! You were able to get them into schools really fast - that's great!
You know, I remember translating songs from English to Russian, as I wanted to know what I was singing at church about... It helped me learn the language faster. Then I did the same thing with Chronicals of Narnia. :)
Great seeing you all are doing well. Hope Tatum and Austin get better - we went through that a couple of weeks ago. :(
Blessings,
Natasha
Wish I would have said "yes" to joining you guys for the day at the pool and the game-sounds like a lot of fun, too bad we already had plans. Glad it's going good.
Dear Volf Family -
Hope the stomach flu leaves your house as quickly as it hit! We've had several weeks as it has hit different family members!
Loved seeing the first day of school in America and swimming at the Rec. Center!
Get well soon!
The Barretts
UPDATE...... IN WITHDRAWAL>>>>>>>NEED ASHLEY AND JOSH INFORMATION!!!!!
URGENT!!!!
:-)
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