Everyday David and I get asked what are we doing today?
Since a year ago today, was the day we went to court for the kids, we thought that we should celebrate. So last night we were asking the kids what they wanted to do. We talked about what we should do tonight and what was going on Saturday, Sunday, Christmas day, Dec. 27, which is our nephew's homecoming, and soccer and dance for next year.
So what questions do I get as soon as we get in the car this morning? What are we doing today? What are we doing tomorrow? When do we go to Grandma and Grandpa's?
I think I need to get both of them a calendar and so they can write down everything that we have planned. Then I can tell them to refer to their calendars.
By the way, I really didn't intend for our first anniversary with the kids to be undercut by the "what are we doing today?". We are glad that they are with us.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Rita
Last spring Tania had been talking to Rita since the Straders were in Ukraine adopting Sveta and Dosha. Rita convinced Tania that she wanted to be adopted here in Utah. So we went to Nannette's and convinced her to bring Rita over during the hosting program.
It was wonderful to have Rita visiting during the hosting program. Sveta, Dosha, Rita and Tania were best friends back in Ukraine. We spent many nights driving kids all over the valley so that the girls could be together. There were many long phone calls made to Rita. When Rita went to stay with the Lawrence's, Tania was able to get their phone number and calls were made to Rita at the Lawrence residence. When it was time for Rita to leave, Tania knew that the Lawrence's wanted to adopt Rita and that they were leaving in November. Rita should be back by the end of December, maybe first part of January. Excitement filled the air knowing that the four girls would be together again.
Yesterday when I got home, Tania asked me to log her onto the computer. I told her I would and that she needed to read something on the Internet. I brought up the Lawrence's blog and had her read about Rita. I decided that was the best way to tell her about what was going on. She read their post and I stood by to answer questions about things she didn't understand. By the time she finished there were tears in her eyes, which of course made me cry. I suggested to her that she stay up late that night and call Rita. She said that she would like that. She then had a very solemn call to Sveta and Dosha.
Later, she was asking what was for dinner and I reminded her that she had volunteered to make dinner the day before. Matthew had made dinner Monday night and Tania was kind of complaining that she didn't like what Matthew had fixed. Why didn't Matthew fix something that she liked? So I suggested to her that she should make dinner so that she could have something that she liked. So she said "OK I'll make dinner tomorrow and it will be eggs." So Tania made eggs for dinner Tuesday night. I think that was kind of therapeutic for her to cook dinner and get her mind off of Rita. I had to leave for while to help with the PTSA fundraiser but when I got back home things were still rather solemn and more phone calls were made to Sveta and Dosha.
Tania stayed up late and called Rita. David said they talked in very even tones. She didn't sound sad or mad. I think Tania was very concerned. This morning Tania told me that she didn't talk to Rita for very long. Rita needed to get to school. Rita wasn't able to tell Tania why she didn't want to be adopted but Rita did say that she didn't want to travel any more. Tania also talked to Antonina, who was Tania's caretaker in Ukraine. Antonina was very disappointed that Rita had decided not to be adopted. I'm sure that Antonina expressed her opinion to Rita very strongly.
We are all very sad that Rita has decided to stay in Ukraine.
On a different note, our fundraiser has not gone very well. The PTSA president decided to sell TAG 10's this year. The kids have had a very difficult time understanding the concept of the TAG10's which has made it hard for them to sell anything.
TAG10's are sheets of 10 tags. You register the sheet on a website so that you can follow the progress of the tags. The goal is to encourage acts of service. When you perform an act of service you give the person you have given the service a tag. That person hopefully would then write about their experience on the same website. They should then do an act of service and pass the tag along. The website keeps track of five acts of service per tag. It is rather fun to go on the website to see what has happened with the tags. If anyone is interested in purchasing a sheet they are $10.00 a sheet.
Also if anyone knows of a school organization that might need a fundraiser, we would be willing to sell our extra sheets to them at our cost.
And on another note, Sasha doesn't understand why I help out at school. Remembering back to last September when I helped with Reality Town, Sasha asked if I was getting paid to help. I said "no, I am just volunteering." He thinks I am crazy to help at school and not get paid.
It was wonderful to have Rita visiting during the hosting program. Sveta, Dosha, Rita and Tania were best friends back in Ukraine. We spent many nights driving kids all over the valley so that the girls could be together. There were many long phone calls made to Rita. When Rita went to stay with the Lawrence's, Tania was able to get their phone number and calls were made to Rita at the Lawrence residence. When it was time for Rita to leave, Tania knew that the Lawrence's wanted to adopt Rita and that they were leaving in November. Rita should be back by the end of December, maybe first part of January. Excitement filled the air knowing that the four girls would be together again.
Yesterday when I got home, Tania asked me to log her onto the computer. I told her I would and that she needed to read something on the Internet. I brought up the Lawrence's blog and had her read about Rita. I decided that was the best way to tell her about what was going on. She read their post and I stood by to answer questions about things she didn't understand. By the time she finished there were tears in her eyes, which of course made me cry. I suggested to her that she stay up late that night and call Rita. She said that she would like that. She then had a very solemn call to Sveta and Dosha.
Later, she was asking what was for dinner and I reminded her that she had volunteered to make dinner the day before. Matthew had made dinner Monday night and Tania was kind of complaining that she didn't like what Matthew had fixed. Why didn't Matthew fix something that she liked? So I suggested to her that she should make dinner so that she could have something that she liked. So she said "OK I'll make dinner tomorrow and it will be eggs." So Tania made eggs for dinner Tuesday night. I think that was kind of therapeutic for her to cook dinner and get her mind off of Rita. I had to leave for while to help with the PTSA fundraiser but when I got back home things were still rather solemn and more phone calls were made to Sveta and Dosha.
Tania stayed up late and called Rita. David said they talked in very even tones. She didn't sound sad or mad. I think Tania was very concerned. This morning Tania told me that she didn't talk to Rita for very long. Rita needed to get to school. Rita wasn't able to tell Tania why she didn't want to be adopted but Rita did say that she didn't want to travel any more. Tania also talked to Antonina, who was Tania's caretaker in Ukraine. Antonina was very disappointed that Rita had decided not to be adopted. I'm sure that Antonina expressed her opinion to Rita very strongly.
We are all very sad that Rita has decided to stay in Ukraine.
On a different note, our fundraiser has not gone very well. The PTSA president decided to sell TAG 10's this year. The kids have had a very difficult time understanding the concept of the TAG10's which has made it hard for them to sell anything.
TAG10's are sheets of 10 tags. You register the sheet on a website so that you can follow the progress of the tags. The goal is to encourage acts of service. When you perform an act of service you give the person you have given the service a tag. That person hopefully would then write about their experience on the same website. They should then do an act of service and pass the tag along. The website keeps track of five acts of service per tag. It is rather fun to go on the website to see what has happened with the tags. If anyone is interested in purchasing a sheet they are $10.00 a sheet.
Also if anyone knows of a school organization that might need a fundraiser, we would be willing to sell our extra sheets to them at our cost.
And on another note, Sasha doesn't understand why I help out at school. Remembering back to last September when I helped with Reality Town, Sasha asked if I was getting paid to help. I said "no, I am just volunteering." He thinks I am crazy to help at school and not get paid.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Boo
I had to add this picture of Katelyn and Boo sleeping. Boo loves to be touched and really doesn't mind people putting their heads on him.Jean-Marc and Monique
Jean-Marc and Monique came to visit us for two weeks. A great time was had by all. We took them to Temple Square, Park City, Moab, Las Vegas, Festival of Trees, our Ward Christmas dinner, Gardner Village, Quilted Bear and the Gateway Mall. We also had some of Sasha's friend over for dinner so that Jean-Marc and Monique could meet them. The boys didn't stick around Jean-Marc and Monique very much but we really didn't expect them to hang out with the adults.
We went to dinner on our last Tuesday night together. We had a great time laughing at Sasha.
Monique cooked us a French meal.
The trip to Park City.
Park City again.
Jean-Marc and Monique brought a map of France so we spent an evening talking about different places in France. P.S. Katelyn thinks I am a slow typer.
Thanksgiving
We had Thanksgiving at our house this year. David's brother, sister and I take turns hosting Thanksgiving. I was supposed to host Thanksgiving last year. Going to Ukraine became more important than having Thanksgiving, so last year we didn't host Thanksgiving. To make up missing last year I hosted year. Also, we decided that it was an important year to have Thanksgiving since we had Jean-Marc and Monique visiting from France and this will probably be my father-in-law's last Thanksgiving.
This is Jean-Marc holding a great nephew, Sam. His mother, Tricia (our neice) is sitting in the chair talking to her sister-in-law, Jaime. (Jean-Marc and Monique loved all of the little kids. I wish we would have taken more pictures of the little ones.)
Monique is playing with with Jaime and Michael's youngest daughter, Cambry.
This is Jean-Marc, Monique, my mother and father -in -law, sister-in-law (Delores), Tricia with her husband Jared and our brother-in-law (Earl). David's sister, Earl's wife, Mary had surgery the Monday before Thanksgiving so she was unable to come to dinner. Also, David's brother, Delores's husband, had to work so he wasn't there.
This is us just talking before dinner. Jean-Marc is handing off Sam to Sam's father, Jared. Monique and I are talking. Helen and Grant are having a great time watching everybody.David - Draper's policeman of the year
David received Drapers Policeman of the Year award. Of course, he doesn't like to smile for the camera.
I had to add this picture. We love our dog, Boo. One of the many things that make us laugh at him on a regular basis is when we give him an object to hold in his mouth. He will proudly display his prize. He will come close to you to show you his prize but not close enough so that you can take his prize away from him. He will not chew on it. He will prance around the house with whatever it is he has. Now this is an almost 100 lb. dog prancing with his head held high. This can last for as long as 20 minutes. I hope you can visualize this and understand why we laugh.Ukrainian hosting program
I have decided that if you need more of a social life, just be a part ot the Ukrainian hosting program and your whole life will change. Now I'm not saying that our social life is boring (and we still haven't hosted) but we were sure busy driving kids to see their friends. It was a lot of fun to see all of the kids together.
While the hosting program was going on, we were able to get several of the kids together. All of the kids were thrilled to see each other. It was amazing that our house is still standing though. The noise level was probabaly at the highest level it has ever been.
This is a rare picture of Pasha. He did not like to have his picture taken.
Rita and Tania
Rita and Sveta
Dasha, Lena and Tania
Rita, Dasha, Lena, Sveta and Tania
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