Hello,
It has been nearly 5 months since our last post and we have since passed our one year anniversary marking the in-country portion of our adoption journey.
I am happy to say that the boys have endured their first New England winter and even though it was a long one they came through it with nothing more than a case of cabin fever!! The winter season brought a lot of snow to Vermont. We had several feet (yes feet) of snow on the ground come early April. The boys enjoyed several outdoor activities including snowmobiling, sledding and simply plodding around in the white stuff.
The boys were baptized into the Protestant faith in mid-January. They were the only children/people baptized that day so the pastor made it a very personalized service on their behalf. Lucas nearly brought the congregation to tears (of laughter) after saying a very pronounced “AMEN” upon completion of a prayer for them. It was hilarious.
It has been a long five months for several reasons. Mommy dealt with a herniated disc in her lower back. Her problems began around Christmas-time and worsened throughout January and February. She finally got in front of the “right” doctor after an MRI was called for. The image displayed a huge herniation of the L5-S1 disk. This was successfully operated on in mid-April and we are all happy that Mommy is on the mend.
Daddy dealt with his own surgery albeit on a lesser scale. Early April brought an appointment with the oral surgeon for wisdom teeth extraction. The boys made a big deal about Daddy’s teeth which he brought home after the procedure. Lucas kept looking in my mouth and saying – “tooth, boo-boo – why?” He is fixated on boo-boos these days – he gets a very concerned look whenever he sees a boo-boo on Mommy or Daddy.
The boys escaped the winter sickness months with thankfully a little more than a common cold to show for it. They avoided a lot of the bugs that ran ram shod through their pre-school.
The boys have been progressing with their speech, motor skills and are beginning to grow into little boys. They are really losing their toddler look now – they have grown at least a couple inches since we brought them home and are now starting to catch up to their age group.
Their teachers have recognized growth in all of these areas as well. Andrea and I are very happy with the Montessori School – there is no doubt that it has been very beneficial for them this past year. Lucas’ teacher (Kristen) is a very close friend of ours and she has been wonderful with him. It has been comforting for us to know that we are not dropping our kids off at a day care that simply plops the kids in front of a TV. Brady and Lucas have really flourished in the Montessori environment this past year.
We are gearing up for summer now. The boys love being outside so much so that Andrea and I cringe every time we hear of a rainy day forecast. The boys love to ride their bikes, push their wheelbarrows, kick the soccer balls around and most of all ride on Daddy’s tractor. They are avid helpers and love to assist Mommy by weeding and watering her flower gardens. Now Daddy is waiting for them to grow up a little bit so he can have some help cutting, splitting and stacking firewood!!
The second Sunday of May brought Mother’s Day. The boys and Daddy treated Mommy very well! She had several special gifts, a cake and nice dinner as well. They were a little confused by the celebration in that they were thinking it was Mommy’s birthday again – we think the cake might have thrown them off a bit!!
Brady and Lucas are going to spend the summer at home with Mommy. As luck would have it Andrea is going to stay home with them while she fully recoups her back. She is actively working on agendas and curriculums – we are contemplating a day camp for them – perhaps gymnastics or soccer – in addition to day trips to friend’s who have pools ponds and other neat stuff. Daddy is going to take a week off around the 4th of July to spend with the family – with the price of gas (and everything else for that matter) we are going to lay low by pitching a tent in our woods and camping out. If this ‘test’ run works out then we might try camping away either later this summer or next year for sure.
That is about it for now – we’ll check back in a little later this summer. Take care.
It has been nearly 5 months since our last post and we have since passed our one year anniversary marking the in-country portion of our adoption journey.
I am happy to say that the boys have endured their first New England winter and even though it was a long one they came through it with nothing more than a case of cabin fever!! The winter season brought a lot of snow to Vermont. We had several feet (yes feet) of snow on the ground come early April. The boys enjoyed several outdoor activities including snowmobiling, sledding and simply plodding around in the white stuff.
The boys were baptized into the Protestant faith in mid-January. They were the only children/people baptized that day so the pastor made it a very personalized service on their behalf. Lucas nearly brought the congregation to tears (of laughter) after saying a very pronounced “AMEN” upon completion of a prayer for them. It was hilarious.
It has been a long five months for several reasons. Mommy dealt with a herniated disc in her lower back. Her problems began around Christmas-time and worsened throughout January and February. She finally got in front of the “right” doctor after an MRI was called for. The image displayed a huge herniation of the L5-S1 disk. This was successfully operated on in mid-April and we are all happy that Mommy is on the mend.
Daddy dealt with his own surgery albeit on a lesser scale. Early April brought an appointment with the oral surgeon for wisdom teeth extraction. The boys made a big deal about Daddy’s teeth which he brought home after the procedure. Lucas kept looking in my mouth and saying – “tooth, boo-boo – why?” He is fixated on boo-boos these days – he gets a very concerned look whenever he sees a boo-boo on Mommy or Daddy.
The boys escaped the winter sickness months with thankfully a little more than a common cold to show for it. They avoided a lot of the bugs that ran ram shod through their pre-school.
The boys have been progressing with their speech, motor skills and are beginning to grow into little boys. They are really losing their toddler look now – they have grown at least a couple inches since we brought them home and are now starting to catch up to their age group.
Their teachers have recognized growth in all of these areas as well. Andrea and I are very happy with the Montessori School – there is no doubt that it has been very beneficial for them this past year. Lucas’ teacher (Kristen) is a very close friend of ours and she has been wonderful with him. It has been comforting for us to know that we are not dropping our kids off at a day care that simply plops the kids in front of a TV. Brady and Lucas have really flourished in the Montessori environment this past year.
We are gearing up for summer now. The boys love being outside so much so that Andrea and I cringe every time we hear of a rainy day forecast. The boys love to ride their bikes, push their wheelbarrows, kick the soccer balls around and most of all ride on Daddy’s tractor. They are avid helpers and love to assist Mommy by weeding and watering her flower gardens. Now Daddy is waiting for them to grow up a little bit so he can have some help cutting, splitting and stacking firewood!!
The second Sunday of May brought Mother’s Day. The boys and Daddy treated Mommy very well! She had several special gifts, a cake and nice dinner as well. They were a little confused by the celebration in that they were thinking it was Mommy’s birthday again – we think the cake might have thrown them off a bit!!
Brady and Lucas are going to spend the summer at home with Mommy. As luck would have it Andrea is going to stay home with them while she fully recoups her back. She is actively working on agendas and curriculums – we are contemplating a day camp for them – perhaps gymnastics or soccer – in addition to day trips to friend’s who have pools ponds and other neat stuff. Daddy is going to take a week off around the 4th of July to spend with the family – with the price of gas (and everything else for that matter) we are going to lay low by pitching a tent in our woods and camping out. If this ‘test’ run works out then we might try camping away either later this summer or next year for sure.
That is about it for now – we’ll check back in a little later this summer. Take care.
4 comments:
Chris and Andrea,
Congratulations on your lovely boys...they are adorable. Thank you for sharing your experiences.
My husband and I have a wonderful 9 year old little girl who has been with us for 4 1/2 years. We are now in the process of trying to adopt her. Svitlana was originally adopted from Ukraine in 2001 by another American family. We have no information about her prior to 2001 and very limited documentation from Ukraine. We believe that she lived at the Nikopol Baby Orphanage from some time in 1999-2001.
I am hoping that you might be willing to share some of your experiences with us and possibly help us to connect with someone from Dnipropetrovsk that might be able to help us gather more information about our daughter.
Jill and Tom List
Hello, Chris and Andrea, my name is Constantino and I am in this very moment at Dniprodzherzhinsk in the middle of the process of adopting a child. Mapi (my wife) and I have last week met 3-year old Nicolai and we are so happy and emotional, perhaps you wanted to share some thoughts with us. We are also building our own blog:
http://mapiconstantinitoconsty.blogspot.com
Sorry for doing this but surely you will understand.
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I believe you’ll be interested in the blog telling about the life in Shpola orphanage, Ukraine. Subscribe to getting latest blog posts and news here https://hopenowusa.org/pages/donate
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