Tomorrow is the 6 month anniversary of our becoming Anastasia's legal parents. Our "Gotcha Day" is not until the 22nd, that is the day we took her from the orphanage it is a common adoption term. Man, I wouldn't take them back for the world, but that was one long 6 months!! The progess she has made is phenomenal, the work we have yet ahead of us is great also, but it is unbelievable to look at her and think 6 months ago she did not know English, couldn't write her name, etc...
We will be in Disney World by the end of this week, she has no idea what to expect but she knows it's exciting! Can you just imagine her face when she sees Magic Kingdom, I don't think she probably has ever dreamt of so much fun in her life.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
Cats out of the Bag
We went ahead and told the kids about Gary's deployment. Although he's never deployed they have seen some of their close friends' Dads deploy and come back, so I think this helped greatly. These kids don't even like Daddy not being here when they go to bed at night, so this is going to be one long deployment, but we will keep busy, and we'll make it through just fine.
Anastasia didn't react the way I expected, I can usually predict her reactions. But this was an odd one. She found the whole thing kind of amusing I think, then she said, "when I get big, I'm going to break my life" I asked her what that meant, and she replied, "when I'm big and married, I'm going to take my baby and go to another house away from the Daddy" Not sure why this discussion came up, maybe she thinks Daddy is leaving us kind of??? I assured her that was not the case, and that it's really not a good idea to "break your life", that Daddy and I are never going to leave each other, we will be together forever, as long as both of us are alive, and that I will never take my children away from him, it's wrong, it would hurt a lot of people, etc...
Anastasia didn't react the way I expected, I can usually predict her reactions. But this was an odd one. She found the whole thing kind of amusing I think, then she said, "when I get big, I'm going to break my life" I asked her what that meant, and she replied, "when I'm big and married, I'm going to take my baby and go to another house away from the Daddy" Not sure why this discussion came up, maybe she thinks Daddy is leaving us kind of??? I assured her that was not the case, and that it's really not a good idea to "break your life", that Daddy and I are never going to leave each other, we will be together forever, as long as both of us are alive, and that I will never take my children away from him, it's wrong, it would hurt a lot of people, etc...
Sunday, November 8, 2009
I guess after 2 weeks I owe you something
Well, not really. So what has been going on lately. Well, first our renters moved out of the property we own, not something we expected, so we had to make some very quick decisions, after some prayer we both decided to list the house for sale. Easy enough right, except, the house was left with about 10 lbs of dog hair and a horrible dog odor. Not like dog urine, they didn't mistreat the house, but it stinks. 2 professional cleanings, about 7 hours of cleaning the carpets myself, many many carpet sniffings, we are still not resolved on the issue. The odor has clung to some rooms, and in the mean time, this makes the house unshowable. So 8 days into our double mortgage payment (well technically rent and mortgage) we have still not been able to show the house.
We made the decision to ask our renters to move out a month early becuase we realized the house was not showable with them in it. This was a good decision, because the lease was up DEc1 and Gary is due to deploy shortly after that, and I would have hated for his last days here to have been us dealing with this.
Speaking of his last days here, I was kind of keeping it hush hush, but really, I need to whine, he is due to leave very, VERY, soon after Christmas, so soon that we pray it does not turn into before Christmas. And he will be gone 6 months, it just really hit me several days ago. We haven't told the kids yet, we want to wait till after our Disney trip, the Disney trip that we don't have the heart to cancel even though we can't afford it since our house no longer has tenants in it. Our Wii is broken, we tried everything online that it said to do, to no avail. I got $168.00 speeding ticket, yes the officer said I was going 53 in a 35, Cooper was in the back seat screaming that he has to go to the bathroom, I guess that is why I did not notice how fast I was going. And by the time the leisurely officer wrote my ticket the child had pooped his pants, so in addition to a speeding ticket I had a poopy 5 year old. My boys behavior has been way out of sorts, not listening, hitting each other, just being mean. Obviously I'm doing something wrong, and my husband is about to deploy, so somehow I've got to think of a way to be a better parent, despite the fact that we are about to be down 50% on the parentage in this house. The kids are going to really stress out when they find out Gary is deploying. Anastasia and Cooper had a conversation out of nowhere the other morning, in which he said people who go to war to fight and die, and Anastasia said the people in Russia told her that the Mommies stay home while the Daddies go to fight. Great!!! We are blessed that my husband couldn't be in much more of a "safer" position over there, but really.
I'm sorry, that was a whine fest, but I got it out. The monetary stuff, is just that, only money, and I am grateful on a day that my biggest worry is a speeding ticket and not a sick loved one or something of that sort. But really sometimes a girl just needs to whine. I promise by the next time I post I will have gathered my senses and I will have something more useful to you than some whining.
We made the decision to ask our renters to move out a month early becuase we realized the house was not showable with them in it. This was a good decision, because the lease was up DEc1 and Gary is due to deploy shortly after that, and I would have hated for his last days here to have been us dealing with this.
Speaking of his last days here, I was kind of keeping it hush hush, but really, I need to whine, he is due to leave very, VERY, soon after Christmas, so soon that we pray it does not turn into before Christmas. And he will be gone 6 months, it just really hit me several days ago. We haven't told the kids yet, we want to wait till after our Disney trip, the Disney trip that we don't have the heart to cancel even though we can't afford it since our house no longer has tenants in it. Our Wii is broken, we tried everything online that it said to do, to no avail. I got $168.00 speeding ticket, yes the officer said I was going 53 in a 35, Cooper was in the back seat screaming that he has to go to the bathroom, I guess that is why I did not notice how fast I was going. And by the time the leisurely officer wrote my ticket the child had pooped his pants, so in addition to a speeding ticket I had a poopy 5 year old. My boys behavior has been way out of sorts, not listening, hitting each other, just being mean. Obviously I'm doing something wrong, and my husband is about to deploy, so somehow I've got to think of a way to be a better parent, despite the fact that we are about to be down 50% on the parentage in this house. The kids are going to really stress out when they find out Gary is deploying. Anastasia and Cooper had a conversation out of nowhere the other morning, in which he said people who go to war to fight and die, and Anastasia said the people in Russia told her that the Mommies stay home while the Daddies go to fight. Great!!! We are blessed that my husband couldn't be in much more of a "safer" position over there, but really.
I'm sorry, that was a whine fest, but I got it out. The monetary stuff, is just that, only money, and I am grateful on a day that my biggest worry is a speeding ticket and not a sick loved one or something of that sort. But really sometimes a girl just needs to whine. I promise by the next time I post I will have gathered my senses and I will have something more useful to you than some whining.
Monday, October 26, 2009
My Commenter Wendy
Even though I don't know her, Wendy is my #1 commenter, never afraid to say what her thoughts on the situation are. And I love her for it. I love other people's perceptive on things. She had commented that maybe Anastasia acted out at the PP report because we had told her the report was going to Russia, and maybe if she acted out we would send her back. It's funny that she suggested that, because that's exactly what I suggested to my husband. I don't think her actions were thought through, and I don't think she really wants to go back, I had forgot about the appointment until 2 hours beforehand, so she didn't have much forwarning.
We got the video of the interview with Anastasia's grandparents interview, but it is not translated yet. That costs more money-that we don't have right now. So there are possibilities of friends who know people who speak Russian helping us out with that. But I did show her the video,some of it. When she saw her grandparents looking at her pictures, she blurted out, "But I can't go back There" I think it was odd to her that her grandparents see her new life, I think she thought for a minute they were going to ask for her back. I assured her that was not the case. That they missed her, but that they were very happy that she had a family.
I only let her see a small part of the video. Her grandfather was weeping, and just repeatedly picked up the pictures from us and kept looking at them over and over. I didn't feel she was ready to see all that. Although we don't know what was said in the video we do know that her grandparents were so thankful that we contacted them, and they were eager to speak with us. I used a translator to call on Friday, I spoke with the grandmother. I kept the converstion basic, once I watch the video I can ask questions. She just thanked me over and over. She said how loving me and my husband looked and that they were so happy that she got a family. That was the just of the conversation. There are several things that we know, that were disappointing. They have no pictures of Anastasia when she young-none. They were all given to her biograndmother after her mother died. And the one picture they sent me of her biomother is the only one the grandparents have.
We got the video of the interview with Anastasia's grandparents interview, but it is not translated yet. That costs more money-that we don't have right now. So there are possibilities of friends who know people who speak Russian helping us out with that. But I did show her the video,some of it. When she saw her grandparents looking at her pictures, she blurted out, "But I can't go back There" I think it was odd to her that her grandparents see her new life, I think she thought for a minute they were going to ask for her back. I assured her that was not the case. That they missed her, but that they were very happy that she had a family.
I only let her see a small part of the video. Her grandfather was weeping, and just repeatedly picked up the pictures from us and kept looking at them over and over. I didn't feel she was ready to see all that. Although we don't know what was said in the video we do know that her grandparents were so thankful that we contacted them, and they were eager to speak with us. I used a translator to call on Friday, I spoke with the grandmother. I kept the converstion basic, once I watch the video I can ask questions. She just thanked me over and over. She said how loving me and my husband looked and that they were so happy that she got a family. That was the just of the conversation. There are several things that we know, that were disappointing. They have no pictures of Anastasia when she young-none. They were all given to her biograndmother after her mother died. And the one picture they sent me of her biomother is the only one the grandparents have.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Same day, still no cute titles
For those of you waiting on the edge of your seat. We did get the "results" back from her family search, and will have contact with her grandfather. Both he and his second wife seem like wonderful people. They wanted to adopt Anastasia but could not for very legit reasons. They truly care for her and care how she is doing.
We did get some pictures, although none of Anastasia as a baby like I had yearned for. Mostly of her grandparents. One of her mother. When I showed it to her, she said, "who is that" It broke my heart. That is not how she remembered her, she looked very young in the picture, maybe even a teenager.
We did get some pictures, although none of Anastasia as a baby like I had yearned for. Mostly of her grandparents. One of her mother. When I showed it to her, she said, "who is that" It broke my heart. That is not how she remembered her, she looked very young in the picture, maybe even a teenager.
No cute title
I'm too tired to think of a cute title. Today we had our first post placement report, ....that I forgot about until 3:30pm. This is for her 6 month mark, except it needs to be in Russia by 6 months, so we have to do it right after her 5 month mark. It seems like it has been longer than 5 months doesn't it??
So, the meeting went great, our social worker is a joy. Anastasia decided to show out while she was here. Whining and complaining that her brothers didn't want to play with her, that she had nothing to do, that she was bored, that she wanted dessert, on and on. I think the meeting took 30 minutes-if that. She asked for dessert about 6 times, even though we told her not until we were done. She knows better, she was testing us. Then when I told her to come sit by me, she looked right at me and refused, both Gary and I. Not once, but 3 or 4 times. I held my ground, and she came and sat by me, and continued to pout, whine, etc... Not usually what she acts like in front of others. I told her the meeting was so that Russia would know how she was doing. Not sure why she acted that way. I didn't dole out a punishment but I talked to her about how she thought she looked to the social worker. That I had told the social worker what a good girl she was, and then she acted like that. We talked about the meaning of the word rude.
So, the meeting went great, our social worker is a joy. Anastasia decided to show out while she was here. Whining and complaining that her brothers didn't want to play with her, that she had nothing to do, that she was bored, that she wanted dessert, on and on. I think the meeting took 30 minutes-if that. She asked for dessert about 6 times, even though we told her not until we were done. She knows better, she was testing us. Then when I told her to come sit by me, she looked right at me and refused, both Gary and I. Not once, but 3 or 4 times. I held my ground, and she came and sat by me, and continued to pout, whine, etc... Not usually what she acts like in front of others. I told her the meeting was so that Russia would know how she was doing. Not sure why she acted that way. I didn't dole out a punishment but I talked to her about how she thought she looked to the social worker. That I had told the social worker what a good girl she was, and then she acted like that. We talked about the meaning of the word rude.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Wheez??
You know as in, "Anastasia go tell your brother it's time to eat." And in response she says, "wheez?" or "Anastasia go get your white and black bow for your hair." "OK Mommy, wheez?"
Wheez has been her abbreviation for "where is it" or "where is he" really any thing that has to do with where? There are many things she says that only make sense to us, you know kind of like when you have a toddler. We don't correct her grammar hardly at all becuase I feel like we are constantly correcting other things, school work, the way she walks, the way she sits, blah blah blah. But I told Gary we really need to choose several things to work on when it comes to language. And as cute as it is, wheez has got to go. And it is just like having a toddler, you correct them, then you miss them saying it. There are several things she used to say that we miss so much, but others cannot understand her.
For several weeks she was adding part onto all sorts of sentences. Like, "Mommy, can I have that part" Except there is no part, she just picks up a phrase and uses it. I let it go for a while, I explained what the word part meant. Finally I said, "OK, you may never ever use the word part EVER again!"
Now I have noticed that instead of just saying "there" she says "right there". This morning she wanted a bowl for her snack. When she went to get one, she came back and said, "right there doesn't have any bowls."
Too stinkin cute
Wheez has been her abbreviation for "where is it" or "where is he" really any thing that has to do with where? There are many things she says that only make sense to us, you know kind of like when you have a toddler. We don't correct her grammar hardly at all becuase I feel like we are constantly correcting other things, school work, the way she walks, the way she sits, blah blah blah. But I told Gary we really need to choose several things to work on when it comes to language. And as cute as it is, wheez has got to go. And it is just like having a toddler, you correct them, then you miss them saying it. There are several things she used to say that we miss so much, but others cannot understand her.
For several weeks she was adding part onto all sorts of sentences. Like, "Mommy, can I have that part" Except there is no part, she just picks up a phrase and uses it. I let it go for a while, I explained what the word part meant. Finally I said, "OK, you may never ever use the word part EVER again!"
Now I have noticed that instead of just saying "there" she says "right there". This morning she wanted a bowl for her snack. When she went to get one, she came back and said, "right there doesn't have any bowls."
Too stinkin cute
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