We are making a little trip out of her surgery. We will stop in MS to stay with our very dear friends for several days. We were stationed with them in FL and we are so excited to get to spend some time with them, they just happen to be exactly half way to Galveston where A will have her surgery!! Then we will head to Galveston on Monday where we will introduce her to the beach and enjoy some family time before the start of school. I have had many long conversations with her about what is coming, and she seems very well prepared and ready.
This has been a very emotional week. The search for Anastasia's grandfather has opened up some very long conversations with Anastasia. She has shared with me the details of her mother's death. It is tragic and she witnessed it. I can't even type that without tears coming to my eyes for my daughter. She shared with me many other things over the past couple days, things about her life in Russia. Things that are not pretty.
The fact that she is sharing so much so soon is a good sign of her attachment and bonding with me. I feel privilaged that she trusts me so much. And today after we talked she asked if we could pray together, so that "the bad things would go out of her head" (so she would forget them)
We are sparing nothing to find her grandfather, she wants a picture of her "Natasha Mommy" (that's what we call her) She should have that and if she doesn't get it it will be hard for her, not just now but in the future. She crys saying that there were 2 boxes of pictures but they would not let her have them. She is so grown for her age. I do pray so hard for the healing of her mind and heart from these things she has been through and seen.
I had planned to homeschool her for several months, but she insists on going to school. Even though she knows she will have casts on her legs and that she will be put in a classroom with children younger than herself. She still insists on going. So she will probably miss the first week, then if she is walking alright she can go the following week. They did some testing at the school and we don't know yet if she will be in a kindergarten or first grade classroom. They said they know she will catch up so fast, based on what she has learned already, but without the "tests" to prove it they may not be able to place her in first. So we will see.
She has learned so much, she is very smart. And the girl who screamed 2 months ago when I was holding her in the pool can now swim across the pool by herself and even float on her back!! Watching her everyday is amazing.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Official Surgery Plans!
So up until now I have been going back and forth on the surgery. It is a lot making decisions for your child, I want what will be best for her, the VERY best. So after tons of prayer, research, talking with Gary, etc... We have decided to go ahead.
She will have her consultation on the 30th and surgery on the 31st, then we will spend one night there, and head home on the 1st.
I was concerned about our insurance covering the surgery, but the approval came through this morning, and we think they will have to pay travel expenses also. What a blessing to say the least.
If you are a prayer warrior, first of all we pray for her safety, we pray for her understanding that she knows we are doing what is best for her, we pray for her to be motivitated to help herself, she does not like to do her stretches and exercises. I try to explain to her that it is her body, I can stretch it for her, but I cannot build up her muscles for her. She has no self motivation. We are seeing slow improvement in this as she sees that she can accomplish things, such as swimming, standing up on her own, etc...
I have not been able to explain to her that she will not start school with the boys. I think she will be happy to have me to herself during the day. I mean I had Cody for 3 years by himself, and Cooper has had the 3 also while Cody was in school, I think it will help our bonding to have that time together.
She is learning so quickly, we see no signs that she is behind cognitivly. She has a great attention span, and loves to do the work. Her occupational therapist is helping me with a "method" of teaching her to write her letters that I think will help us along.
I'm going to post a lot of pictures in the next couple days, so stay tuned for those!!
She will have her consultation on the 30th and surgery on the 31st, then we will spend one night there, and head home on the 1st.
I was concerned about our insurance covering the surgery, but the approval came through this morning, and we think they will have to pay travel expenses also. What a blessing to say the least.
If you are a prayer warrior, first of all we pray for her safety, we pray for her understanding that she knows we are doing what is best for her, we pray for her to be motivitated to help herself, she does not like to do her stretches and exercises. I try to explain to her that it is her body, I can stretch it for her, but I cannot build up her muscles for her. She has no self motivation. We are seeing slow improvement in this as she sees that she can accomplish things, such as swimming, standing up on her own, etc...
I have not been able to explain to her that she will not start school with the boys. I think she will be happy to have me to herself during the day. I mean I had Cody for 3 years by himself, and Cooper has had the 3 also while Cody was in school, I think it will help our bonding to have that time together.
She is learning so quickly, we see no signs that she is behind cognitivly. She has a great attention span, and loves to do the work. Her occupational therapist is helping me with a "method" of teaching her to write her letters that I think will help us along.
I'm going to post a lot of pictures in the next couple days, so stay tuned for those!!
Saturday, July 11, 2009
My Friend
Today we are traveling north of Atlanta to visit with one of the other little girls from Anastasia's orphanage. She was adopted just months before Anastasia and they are good friends. This will be their first visit since being home. She is so excited. I'll post and let you know how it goes, I am super excited for her.
I'm Here
So after my last post we realized it was not a kidney stone, it was the flu, I was sick for 4 days, then Anastasia was sick for 2 hours, then Gary was sick for 2 days.
Ya, notice that Anastasia was sick for 2 hours, tough cookie, then she was mad that right after she vomited I wouldn't give her chicken nuggets. LOL
At the last minute Gary was able to take off work so we packed up, and drove overnight to Ohio to visit my family. The kids were marvelous in the car, both on the way there and on the way back.
Our visit was great, too short, and crazy busy, but great. Anastasia took to meeting everyone better than we thought she would. She told my Grandma that she was Hannah Montana and proceeded to sing and put on a performance! As always she more to the women, especially my sister and Aunt. On our last day there she turned to my sister and said, "Me, I love you" How precious! Some of her favorite things from the trip: tickles from Aunt Kelly and Uncle Dave, Feeding the fish with Grandma Alice and Papa Joe, Wrestling with Cousin Bryan, Flicking people with my Grandma, Going shopping with Nana Lyn and Aunt Jamie, and the sparklers and fireworks.
Some of my favorite things from the trip:
Her telling my sister she loved her,
Her running into the house exclaiming, "Look Mommy and Daddy at THIS, me found!" It was a pinecone!!
Her declaring she is Supermam, the female version of Superman.
She fell in love with one of my Grandma's dogs, she said the dog has "eyes like babydoll"
It was just a great trip, watching my family fall in love with our wonderful daughter just as quickly as we did. And it was some nice respite for me to have her attention off of me for a bit, I think it refreshed us both.
Oh, and I got to see the "book" my Grandma Alice made of my blog. Oh my goodness, it's huge, I would have never guessed it would be that big all printed out, I should have taken a picture. It was very sweet of her to do that, and everytime I post she prints it out and adds it to the book so my Papa can read it.
Ya, notice that Anastasia was sick for 2 hours, tough cookie, then she was mad that right after she vomited I wouldn't give her chicken nuggets. LOL
At the last minute Gary was able to take off work so we packed up, and drove overnight to Ohio to visit my family. The kids were marvelous in the car, both on the way there and on the way back.
Our visit was great, too short, and crazy busy, but great. Anastasia took to meeting everyone better than we thought she would. She told my Grandma that she was Hannah Montana and proceeded to sing and put on a performance! As always she more to the women, especially my sister and Aunt. On our last day there she turned to my sister and said, "Me, I love you" How precious! Some of her favorite things from the trip: tickles from Aunt Kelly and Uncle Dave, Feeding the fish with Grandma Alice and Papa Joe, Wrestling with Cousin Bryan, Flicking people with my Grandma, Going shopping with Nana Lyn and Aunt Jamie, and the sparklers and fireworks.
Some of my favorite things from the trip:
Her telling my sister she loved her,
Her running into the house exclaiming, "Look Mommy and Daddy at THIS, me found!" It was a pinecone!!
Her declaring she is Supermam, the female version of Superman.
She fell in love with one of my Grandma's dogs, she said the dog has "eyes like babydoll"
It was just a great trip, watching my family fall in love with our wonderful daughter just as quickly as we did. And it was some nice respite for me to have her attention off of me for a bit, I think it refreshed us both.
Oh, and I got to see the "book" my Grandma Alice made of my blog. Oh my goodness, it's huge, I would have never guessed it would be that big all printed out, I should have taken a picture. It was very sweet of her to do that, and everytime I post she prints it out and adds it to the book so my Papa can read it.
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