Happy 12th Birthday, Matthew!

Matthew had a great 1st American Birthday!  The weekend before his birthday he had one of his friends, JT, spend the night.  They swam, played dodge ball together, hit baseballs at the park, rode bikes, played the Wii and had a great time just doing guy stuff.  It was good for Matthew to spend time with another 12-year-old boy!  He enjoyed it very much and it meant a lot that his friend could come to his house.

On his actual birthday, June 10th, we took him to his favorite restaurant for some "Shushleeks" or Steak Kabobs.  He loves those along with mashed potatoes.  We got him a soccer ball M&M Blizzard ice cream cake.  It was funny because it had "Happy Birthday Matthew" written in blue, but the lid of the cake smeared the words, so I had to carefully take a knife and discretely scrape off the blob of blue everywhere.  He had no idea it was supposed to be any different.  He loved his cake.

Speaking of his cake, this guy is getting too smart for his own good.  The day before his birthday, I called up Dairy Queen to order his cake.  When I hung up the phone he was laughing hysterically.  I asked, "What's so funny?"  He said, "I understand, you telephone.  My birthday cake, soccer ball, blue, ice cream and M&M's."  (Laughter).  I guess he's understanding more English than I give him credit for!  I'll have to be more careful talking around him now.  :-)

 My parents, sister & kids came over that evening for cake and gifts.  He was so thankful for all that he received and loved his iPod, bike, water guns, and money that everyone sent to him.

It was so much fun to see his excitement and to be able to celebrate his birth for the first year with him.  What a great kid, I'm so glad we have the opportunity of parenting! 

Matthew--4 Months Home!!

Matthew's 4th month home has definitely been the best month, by far.  Academically he finally has finished his first English textbook.  He's now reading at a 1st grade level.  He knows the 0's, 1's, 2's and 3's times tables.  Sometimes I wish he would work harder and learn faster, but I have to remember he is a boy who just wants to play all day.  I have also been told that it is a lot harder to re-learn to read than it is for a child to learn to read in their original language.  I'm at least glad he's moving in the right direction.  I will likely continue him with the reading all summer.  He has a long ways to go to catch up to even being at his own grade level.  Reading is what is most important to me because once he can read, he can work independently and won't require as much one-on-one time.  It is tiresome to be at his side all day teaching one-on-one.  The girls need help as well, but without me there, he does nothing.  Patience is key! 

Matthew finished up his first Indoor Soccer season.  He did very well and enjoyed it a lot.  The other parents knew he was adopted and couldn't believe how well he adapted to playing with kids he doesn't even understand.  They said they'd never know he didn't speak English if we hadn't told them.  That was neat to hear.

We were able to take our very first family vacation with Matthew this month.  It was actually in celebration of our 15 year wedding anniversary.  We took our anniversary trip the weekend after our anniversary over Memorial Day weekend.  We hiked many, many miles (uphill both ways...haha) and we all had an absolute blast.  Over and over Matthew said, "I'm so very very happy!  I very very like mountains!!!!!"  I don't think he was expecting so much fun.  We'd hike all morning, then head for some ice cream and then back to "relax" at the cabin.  We usually grilled something for dinner, soaked our sore muscles in the hot tub, then relaxed down by the fire pit for evening marshmallows.  The kids are all pretty obsessed with fire starting....especially Matthew.  He searched the woods for brush and small sticks to snap with his knees and burn in the evening fires.

We had so much fun we ended up staying an extra day up there.  Tim and Matthew got up early Monday morning for a harder, longer hike while the girls and I slept in and then relaxed back at the cabin.  It was SO much fun and such a treat to stay an extra day longer than we originally expected.  It has been a very long time since our family has had a trip like this and it's been a while since we've all been SO happy!  God has been so good to us. 

It really was so good to finally get away and find such joy and refreshment in God's awesome creation.  He did not spare one detail in His masterpiece.  Everything as far as our eyes could see was spectacular!  I say it every time I go to the mountains that I can't even imagine Heaven being more beautiful than the Blue Ridge Mountains!
"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him." I Corinthians 2:9

Blue Ridge Parkway overlook

Getting ready to hike Grandfather Mountain

Lots of climbing!

More climbing!

Me with the gorgeous view during our hike

Matthew and Haley found a cave!

More high climbing

He kept saying "Wow!  It's so purty beautiful!" 

Climbing to the highest peak of Grandfather Mountain

We all made it to the top!  It was breathtaking up there!

The next morning at Linville Falls.

I liked this picture of Kylie, Matthew and Tim

Silly happy boy

Linville Falls in the background

My husband of 15 years and I.....with sweet Kylie photo bombing our picture.

Matthew's Been Home 3 Months!

With all the craziness of our schedule this time of year, I almost forgot to post that Matthew has been home already three months!  He is doing really well and we are so thankful for a smooth transition.

Matthew is a super neat freak.  He cannot stand clutter or dirt anywhere.  He also does not like to wear dirty clothing.  Well, he’s a boy and he gets dirty, so I find that he changes his clothing 165 times a day.  We are learning that we will have to make him suck it up and just wear dirty clothing.  I can’t afford to do his laundry every 5 seconds!   We joke that he might have a little bit of cleaning OCD.  Many mornings he will wake up and have the whole downstairs organized and cleaned.  His bed is always made each morning without being told and no one better get anything out of order in “his” bathroom!

He is obsessed with mowing the grass.  He likes even the outside of our home neat and tidy.  He’s been begging to clean out our garage.  I know that it is probably giving him a twitch because it is VERY, VERY filthy.  I just don’t want him going to town on cleaning the garage because he is unaware of black widow spiders and the danger of them.  I need to be out there with him while he cleans, but I just have not had the time.  It really is a blessing to have such a tidy boy…..If only his tidiness would rub off on Haley. ;)

He really loves to work with his hands to fix things.  Last weekend Tim’s parents were in town and he had to be right beside BeBe and Tim helping fix the gate on our privacy fence.  The other day he asked for a picture for his wall where he could put photos of his family and he loved using the level and the power tools to hang the picture on the wall.

His reading and English is coming along slowly but surely.  I think he is taking a little longer simply because he is homeschooled and not exposed to as much English as he would be in a typical school.  He is still working on his vowel sounds with reading.  He can pronounce them really well, but he just mixes up what vowel sound goes with what letter.  I will probably continue to work with him all through the summer on it and hopefully one day he will wake up and it will just click!  One thing he struggles with (as most boys do) is sitting still long enough to learn.  I really do need a seat belt for the child!  Katie joked that she has a huge supply of duct tape upstairs that could assist him in STAYING PUT.  He didn’t think that was very funny.  In fact he said, “That’s not funny.” 

In the last few weeks especially he has begun to really open up.  He hugs us all a bit more.  He writes out and says “I love you” a lot.  The other day he took my hair into his hands and he said, "Dis hair. Me, I  like it.  Dis hair beautiful."  (He said he thinks my hair is beautiful. Melt). He smiles and laughs a lot more.  He talks about Ukraine and his former family there and his friends there.  He chatters on and on.  He finally uses mostly English this month whereas former months he would speak Ukrainian inside an English sentence and we’d be all confused.  The other night at a softball game he was listening to music on an ipod and he was chattering on, and he was chattering LOUDLY because he couldn’t hear himself speaking due to the music.  Everyone in the stands just looked back at him and smiled.  He draws attention to himself because of his accent and vocabulary, but he doesn’t really seem to notice or care.  He really is a joy to our family!

I was flipping through pictures of him this week and I really couldn’t believe how quickly he’s changed.  He is growing leaps and bounds.  He is so full of life and energy!  He seems to become more handsome as he grows!  We are so thankful that God brought him into our family.  “Matthew” is truly “a gift of God!”

His blue eyes!!!

Acidic water or not, the boy loves to be in the pool!



He found a scarf in the closet he thought he'd try on

Photo by Katie: Hanging his picture in his bedroom

Mama and Dad I love you

BeBe, Tim and Matthew fixing the gate

The picture on the left was taken less than 6 months ago when we first met him and the one on the right is one I took this week. He looks SO different!

Family Camp: Because the Kids Must Stay Busy

I haven't figured out if it is an effective strategy to keep the children super busy while Dad is away so the time flies by, or if it just does nothing but exhaust Mom.  I only know that I have fallen asleep all week before my head even hit the pillow and I have not woken up in the middle of the night at all!  Praise the Lord for good rest!  I sure have needed it to keep up with this crew!


Early this week I took the hyper crazies to a free family camp.  They enjoyed a tree top obstacle course, archery, and a lot of other camp activities.  The two youngest girlies found a toad and a tree frog, of course.  It was a beautiful campus and it was an absolutely gorgeous day outside.  It sure was a lot of fun and it was great that it was all free.  We stopped by the lake for ice cream and slushies on our way home.


I also have been working in the back yard with Kylie with her softball.   She is gaining more confidence in her hitting and catching.  It is hard to believe she's only been playing softball a little over a month.  When she gains full confidence in herself she really has the potential to go far with softball.  I think her natural athletic build with long arms and legs really help her with softball a lot.


The kids decided it'd be fun to climb on top of the shed out back and jump from the roof off on to the trampoline (Matthew's brilliant idea).  Thankfully, they all had a great time and no one was injured.


 I've been working on getting the PH levels regulated in the pool.  The pool people said the neighbor's Bradford Pears are making our water levels highly acidic. The bottom of our liner is almost shot because that is where the leaves and debris sit overnight until we can vacuum them out.  Matthew got a bad rash from the PH levels being off and the water being highly acidic.  We dump a lot of money in chemicals into the pool trying to get the acid out.  It stinks we cannot have anyone over to swim in our pool any time soon, but I don't want to risk other people getting acidic rashes because of our pool.  Patience is a virtue for sure! 
We are all getting anxious for home schooling to finish up for the summer.  The more that it is sunny outside, the less the three youngest kids want to stay focused on their work.  If they had the motivation, they would have been finished already for the summer.   Tim and I are still determining what we will do in the Fall with the kids' schooling.  Tim wants them in school.  I would also like them in private school, but I don't see a way without a job.  Most of the time I love homeschooling, but some days it's terrible trying to stretch myself to meet the needs of 4 very different kids when I feel teaching is not my gift.  Matthew especially NEEDS school due to his energy level and he needs to learn English through immersion into American school.  We are continually praying for God to open and close doors where they are needed.  In the meantime, I must keep the kids busy!!!!