March 30th.., a special day

What a special day March 30th was and is.  We have been home 9 months today and one year ago today our adoption paperwork was submitted to the SDA.  

March 30, 2011 we were sitting on pins and needles all day waiting to hear from our facilitator.  We didn't get a text until 3p.m. our time -- 11p.m. Ukraine time.  It was short and sweet..., everything went fine, dossier accepted.

The funny thing is looking back I had the SDA pictured as this big building full of very stern looking government officials.  It was almost the exact opposite.  We went in a side door, up a narrow staircase and met with a casually dressed very young woman (maybe mid 20's).  She was very stern looking but our appointment was short and sweet.

Fast forward, March 30, 2012..., as I look back over the last nine months it has sort of been the same scenario.  I had it pictured one way and it has been the almost total opposite.., short and mostly sweet:)

Eyes open

Grace is going to freak out when she comes home today and sees the puppies eyes open.  She has been asking about 5 times a day "when are the eyes going to open?"  It is about the first question she asks when she wakes up and again when she gets into the car after school. 

I don't know what we would have done if Grace had not been a dog person.  She is about a nuts as I am over our puppies:)

How to explain..,Deer, Texas, Guns

I grew up and live in an area of Texas where deer and hunting is very common.   My family did not hunt but most people I knew did.  Nothing about it seemed abnormal.  Fast forward..,
For the past ten years, we have lived in a small subdivision close to town but still in the country. Hunting, of course, is not allowed in our subdivision; so we have a rather large population of deer around our house.  We do not feed them but they still have a lot to eat with all the natural foliage and landscape plants.  Grace's normal is to see 5 to 10 deer sleeping in our front yard.  We can ride bikes or walk our dogs within 10 feet of them and they just look at us.  So she thinks of them as pets and I have to admit sometimes I do too.  She does know people hunt them though because we live in an area of deer leases, deer processing plants, deer horns mounted in homes, etc.,  (Please don't write me and tell me we live in a state full of murders and/or barbarians)

Well, we had a very traumatic incident on the way to school this morning.  We drive on farm to market roads to get to her school.  We came over a hill and there was a police officer's car and a game warden's vehicle in the middle of the road with their lights flashing.  On the shoulder of the road was a deer that had evidently been hit by a car.  It was flailing around and trying to get up.  I saw right away that the officer had his gun out.  I drove quickly by, put my hand over Grace's face and said don't look back.  Of course, she pushes my hand away and looks just as the gun fires.  She totally loses it.  "Why did the police man shoot the deer"  "you lied to me and said police in America good", etc.  I tried explaining that the deer was hurt and suffering.  "Why didn't they take it to the hospital like we do Berkley & Sophie (our dogs)?"  The more I tried to explain, the angrier she got at me.  This is her typical behavior whenever she is fearful, angry, etc.  It is always my fault.  I finally quit trying to explain and said can we talk about something else.  "What?"  "Obedience!!"  If you would have listened and obeyed you wouldn't have seen that happen.  Granted I probably shouldn't have said don't look because human nature is to then look.  But I pointed out several times that I have told her to not do something or look at something and she does anyway and then is upset.  I told her my job as a parent is to protect her and I can not do it if she disobeys.  I reminded her that is why she is not allowed to watch the news or movies with certain ratings.  That is the reason I am constantly talking about strangers (because she doesn't know a person she considers a stranger).  I know I got a little away from the incident she witnessed; but hopefully a lesson was learned.  She told me she was sorry for disobeying and wish she had not looked; but she still thought the policeman was not a good person for shooting the deer. 

So happy it is March 2012

March 3, 2011...,we had a package delivered to Alona at her orphanage in Ukraine.  Our friend sent us some pictures of her, and although we were happy to have them, they broke our heart.  She had been waiting for us for almost 20 months and hadn't seen us in 14 months.  The best we could do is call her once a week, send her a package every few months, reassure her that we would try to adopt her as soon as they would let us, and pray, pray, pray!!  The funny thing is we had a conversation with her a few months after we were home and ask her if she ever doubted that we would come and adopt her.  She told us that she had been scared at first when they moved her to the big orphanage; but then God told her one night "not to worry, that we would come".  She said she never worried again.  I wish I had that child-like faith, instead of letting my adult analytical thinking (worrying) get in the way

Here is our Alona Grace March 2012..., almost always smiling except when we are having one of our moments.  I call them "moments" instead of "meltdowns" because she rebounds much quicker and also realizes that she is acting inappropriate.  Not to say we have an angel baby because we are still working on her need to have the last word and raising her voice.  She talks loud anyway, but when she acts up it goes up a decibel.  I have tried to always keep my voice calm and almost monotone; but one day I had enough and answered her just like she was talking.  She jumped about 6 inches off the ground and then started laughing..., "mom what are you doing?"  I honestly don't think she realizes how she sounds sometimes.  But as I said before "I am so happy it is March 2012".

We're back..,

We're back..,

I always said that I would not stop writing on this blog after we got home with our daughter.  I always disliked it when I would be following a blog and after they got home they would stop writing.  I always wondered what happened to them.  I am here to say I now understand.  My time is limited and when I have time sometimes I can not even put two somewhat sane thoughts together.  Having said all of that, here is an update of what is going on in our lives.

After homeschooling Grace for 6 months, she started school on January 2nd.  She is in 6th grade and is loving it.  I have to admit that she has totally surprised us.  She is really trying hard and seems to enjoy learning.  She is still behind in her education but the school has been very nice to work on adapting her work.  It helps that she is one of only 17 kids in her class.  I will write more on school another day. 

Grace is still swimming 3 times a week with her swim team.  She participated in two swim meets and really enjoyed them.  She did well in her first meet and not so well in her 2nd meet.  She said "she had no muscle and ran out of gas".  Her words not ours.  She is very competitive and doesn't like to lose.  This probably has a lot to do with her going from just dog paddling in August to being able to practice an hour at a time with her team.

The last update for today is that our dog had puppies last Friday.  Sophie (our dog) was pregnant when Grace was here for the first hosting trip, but she had to return to Ukraine before the babies were born.  She was sooo sad.  We promised her that if we were ever able to adopt her that we would let Sophie have another litter and she could keep ONE puppy for her very own.  Well Sophie had 7 puppies and Grace has been trying to figure out a way that we could keep them all or at least 2..., not happening.