Friday, September 21, 2012

How to Train Your Dragon

Today our school OT informed me that we can get Dragon Speak Naturally
on our IPad.

I went to the App store and downloaded Dragon Dictation.
Super simple- super fast

Now How do I train it?

I found this 


but I am super overwhelmed.

Anyone else out there with simple start up instructions or ideas?

I am excited about this program for Gavin and Olya.  
Please share if you know info. about this program, if you use it with your children etc.




Sunday, September 16, 2012

Summer Fun Round Up!

 Just some quick glimpses of our summer and early fall.  A bit out of order but I am done fighting with the computer ;) 
Hope your summer was filled with many blessings and memories to cherish. If it weren't for pictures I probably would never remember I lived through the summer of 2012- I think my brain has been on overload.

MAN, WE ARE STARTING TO LOOK LIKE A CRAZY BIG FAMILY 


ELI'S NEW MEDICATION/FEEDING CENTER- THANK YOU JEROMY I LOVE IT!
JAY SETTING GAVIN UP FOR HIS BIG LAWNMOWER RACE! FIRST PLACE - THANKS JAY

OF COURSE WE HAVE HAD MANY NAIL PARTIES

OLYA'S SURPRISE TO MOM AND DAD ON HER 4 MONTHS ANNIVERSARY HOME 

AYLA AND GAVIN'S FIRST DAY IN 6TH AND 1ST GRADES

SAYING GOODBYE TO TYVEK!!!!!!!

GAVIN IS 7!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUDDY-WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

PICKIN' APPLES OFF OUR OWN TREE-74 OF THEM :)


THANKS OLYA FOR BEING A GREAT BIG SISTER
THANK YOU MARK AND JAY FOR YOUR HELP ON THE SIDING AND THANK YOU BECKY FOR THE FUN HANG OUT TIMES AND ALL YOUR HELP IN THE KITCHEN


ANOTHER SURPRISE FROM THE KIDS - HOMEMADE CARROT CAKE - ALL DONE ON THEIR OWN
SOME OF GAVIN'S CHEERING TEAM AT THE LAWNMOWER RACES

ELI AND LUCY - THAT GIRL DOES NOT LEAVE HIS SIDE




The Quilt

Quilt by Misty R ~ an orphan lovin' woman and a super great friend.
Olya's quilt is beautiful and absolutely could not be more perfect for her.

We truly want to thank everyone that participated in helping us financially, 
emotionally and spiritually in our journey.

Honestly it was one of the hardest things we have ever done, yet one of the most exciting.
We are still recovering on all levels and we still have a long journey ahead.  

Olya is amazing and doing very well.  She is so sweet and loving and is obviously God's gift to us.
She says having a family is a dream come true. 

 Olya has had many doctor appointments and has many more to go.
We have had some major decisions to make concerning her health and education and she has 16 years of life with no family that she needs to process. 
 We are home but our journey still continues. 

We thank you so much for your prayers, for the gifts, for the welcome home parties.
We thank you for the space to bond with our daughter.
We thank you for your willingness to help her feel welcome and part of the gang.

Thank You ~Thank You ~Thank You
For helping us become a family!






Friday, July 20, 2012

SWEET 17




Happy Sweet Seventeen!

Since we missed Olya's first 16 birthdays we decided to celebrate them a little bit as well.
We did a Happy 1st Birthday!




A Minnie Mouse ~ Happy 5th Birthday!


A Happy 10th Birthday to our Princess!






And a Happy 17th!



We had more cake than even 2 families could eat.
Thank you Sadie and Jamie for making #1 and #5



We had a special family come stay the weekend to make this an extra special day.
This family was Olya's Host family last summer and they are the family that connected us with all the right people to make bringing Olya home possible. 

Two of their children were adopted from the same home Olya was in.
Olya is a great big sister to Gavin. 
Grandma Diane and Grandpa Mike stopped in for a quick visit and dropped off Olya's Birthday Card.




 A few days later we were able to finish the celebration off with Grandma Becky and Grandpa Mark.
Dinner out and a walk on the boardwalk.

 More wonderful presents

 And we topped it off with a bit of ice cream.


We love you Olya!
We pray 17 brings you tons of joy and many amazingly wonderful memories.

Thursday, June 7, 2012

We have been busy

 Kaly, Olya, Ayla, and Sadie spent ALL DAY on Saturday making this masterpiece.
Not one drop of adult help and they endured till the end.


 Olya's masterpiece done in her spare time.  The only help was cutting out the green circle. 

 Gavin's new riding lawnmower.  I think we have found the perfect summer chore for him. 


Serious dedication even in the rain.


Friday, May 25, 2012

Ukraine

 
Less than a year ago I could not have told you where in the world Ukraine was,
I would have/did call it The Ukraine, and I had never even considered going there.

Now less than a year later I feel like it is part of who I am.
It is forever part of our family, our story, our life.

Falling in love with our newest daughter opened a whole new world to us.
Last night Kali, Olya, Gavin and their friend McKenna were able to present Ukraine.

 Our church does a World's Fair each year and we had the privileged to set up a table with many of our  treasures and the kids shared some of what they have learned.


Gavin even taught everyone a little Russian.

Watching Kali and Olya put this project together was so wonderful.
Two sisters doing school together.
One learning about a place she's never been and one sharing about a place where she's always lived.
Olya would get so excited to pull out her treasures and show them to Kali. 
They searched the internet together for the real Ukrainian Anthem.

Olya found us the perfect recipe for Borscht and while I was gone to therapy with the boys the two of them stayed home and chopped all of the ingredients.

picture by Kali

Picture by Kali











They chopped purple cabbage and then some onion.  They were really worried that the onion must have gone bad because it was purple.   Thankfully before tossing it all out they realized their hands were turning the onion purple. 

Their friend McKenna taught the girls how to make a slideshow and they spent a lot free time finding the perfect pictures to represent Ukraine. 

I really wish we could have made another trip to the Kiev Supermarket about an hour away.
We are sad we were not able to take some of our favorite Ukrainian tastes.
Papa and Olya's favorite ~ KVAS
All of the kids favorite ~ "confietta" ~ aka Candy
Mama's favorite cookies.
Nor a sampling of Ukraine's wonderful juice.
We didn't have time to make the Cherry dumplings or the "Olivia" Salad.
But I would say the Borscht was a hit and we doctored up some store bought rolls with a Ukrainian flare.

We had a wonderful time at the fair and the night ended with an unexpected surprise.

One of our favorite music groups is Hillsong Kiev. 
Last year when Olya was in Seattle, her Host Family gave her an MP3 loaded with their music.
What a blessing to her that has been!
 They also gifted us with a Hillsong Kiev CD.
We have listened to it so many times I think we might be wearing it out.

Anyway, their music is uplifting and energetic, we all love it and it has ministered to our hearts through so many of the hardest times during this adoption process. 

The last weekend in Ukraine we were blessed to be able to attend Hillsong Kiev church.
It felt like a full fledged concert.  It was truly a wonderful way to say goodby to Ukraine. 

So back to the surprise.
As we were wrapping up the fair Olya heard our music team practicing upstairs.
They were practicing songs for the upcoming teen camp. 
The song they were practicing was one we listen to by Hillsong Kiev.
Her face lit up and she said "Ukraine".
She bolted up the stairs as fast as possible and the second I set her wheelchair up for her she headed straight to the stage to watch.
The joy on her face to experience a piece of home and familiar was priceless.


Leaving everything I knew for less than a month was HARD for me.
Leaving everything she knew for a lifetime is HARD.
Olya is amazing and has a wonderful spirit.
She is positive and cheerful, silly and funny.  
She is adjusting very well, and seems to be very happy.  
She is learning English very quickly. 
But she gets sad, she misses those she knew and loved.
She misses the familiar, her favorite foods, people that speak her language.

She misses Ukraine.