Friends, Beach, and Surgery, here we come!

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.