Home 7 weeks
Sorry for the long break in posts, I got sick on Christmas Eve and the boys have been been on Christmas break. I caught a bad cold or maybe it was the flu-I don’t know but it has been a week and I still don’t feel back to normal.
We had a nice Christmas-no major issues. Holidays tend to cause some emotional set backs for some adopted children but we got through without anything major. We went to church on Christmas Eve-Matthew was a handful. It was longer than usual and I imagine the excitement of Christmas was too much for him. After church we went to my Aunt and Uncles house, we had lots of nice food and each person got to open one present.
On Christmas day we slept until about 8:30. Jack was the first one up. We opened stockings and presents and had cinnamon rolls. We watched Home Alone 3 and 4-they aren’t near the quality of the first two. Around 4 we headed to my parents new house-they now live about three miles from us. We opened some presents and had lasagna. My entire family was there but most of us were under the weather. We watched the kids play the Wii.
We haven’t been doing much since then. Jack has had wrestling practice every morning this week and we are going to some friend’s for New Year’s Eve.
The last 7 weeks haven’t been easy, we are all adjusting. Our biggest issue has been fighting between the boys-especially between Jack and Alex. At first there was some between Alex and Matthew but they have gotten better. Another issue we have had is that Jack can’t be left alone, he is almost 15 but behaves more like 6. He starts fights when left in the room with just the other boys. He is getting better but it is frustrating for us to find someone to babysit a almost 15 year old just so I can go to work during Christmas break. We also think he is relying on Alex for his English-so we have asked Alex to speak English to Jack when he know the words. But Jack gets a bit hostile and hits Alex. It has been hard to adjust our thinking to deal with Jack, but this is a very common problem. Older adopted kids tend to be very immature. Any suggestions from other adoptive families on how to deal with this?
Jeff took Jack and Alex sledding, they had a lot of fun even though most of the snow had melted and was refrozen as ice. I stayed home with Matthew who had a fever.
I will post some pictures when I get to a different computer. (sorry I am to tired to proofread)

This is my kitchen window. I have a small statue of Joseph and one of Mary and baby Jesus sitting on the window sil. This appeared last night during the blizzard, the frost is on the outside of my window. I thought it was beautiful! It reminds me of Jesus carrying his cross up Calvary. If he can do that I can bear my cross and get through some of the more difficult things with the boys.

Our Christmas photo

Jack and Jeff's snowman (like the shorts?)
Jack wrestling. Jack is in the blue.

Right Before the pin!

Grandpa Melvin and Alex scooping snow.

Jack, Alex and a crazy smiling b-day boy Caleb!

Grandma Eileen and baby Cody
Matthew, Jeff and Alex trying to fix Grandma's vacuum.

Watching tv

Alex at his Christmas Concert

Jack getting ready to wrestle his first match.

Jack wrestling.

The Results are in.............
from the stool samples, I know that is what you are waiting for.
Alex has two parasites and apparently they tell you on a scale how many of each kind because he has a moderate amount of them. Jack has one parasite but not the same kind as Alex, and he only has a few. So more prescriptions for them, it is a good thing that they can both swallow pills.
Matthew and Alex went to wrestling last night. Alex seemed to enjoy it and Matthew did his own thing. When everyone sat and listened to the coach Matthew ran around, when everyone was running Matthew was laying on the floor-hopefully he will get the hang of it. After it was over Matthew said I need a shower I am all sweaty! What a ham!

FOUR WEEKS HOME: Smoke Alarms, Socks and Snow
It doesn’t seem that we have been home four weeks already. In some ways it seems like we have been home longer and in other ways it seems that we have only been home for a couple of days.
Last Friday we took Jack and Alex to the doctor for initial exams. It was quite an ordeal. I had a list of things that the International Adoption Clinic at Boys Town e-mailed me. The list is what needs to be done for older children from Eastern Europe, if anyone wants me to e-mail the list to them let me know. Each boy was weighed and measured. Jack is 5’1/2” and 113 pounds. Alex is 4’7” and 89 pounds. They had to read the eye chart, Alex has one eye that doesn’t see all that well. We knew he had trouble with it, it is the same condition that Matthew has in one eye. We have an appointment at the eye Dr next Tuesday. They had four vials of blood drawn, flu and hepatitis A shots. Jack had a TB test, and Alex had a chest x-ray (because he previously tested TB positive) and a back x-ray for scoliosis. Both x-rays were fine, no TB and very minimal scoliosis that he will probably outgrow. Jack’s TB test came back positive so he needed a chest x-ray on Monday, but it was fine too. Most kids from Slavic countries (Ukraine, Russia etc) test positive for TB with the skin test, I think it had to do with a vaccination they receive when younger. We also had to do stool samples over the weekend to check for parasites which are very common. I was really dreading it but Jeff took care of it. Jack has an infection in his ankle from a cut he got last summer, so the doctor gave him an antibiotic that should take care of it.
Alex pulled the fire alarm at school last week as well. He is fascinated with all buttons, switches and anything electronic or mechanical, so I am sure the fascination to see what the fire alarm did was too much for him.
Alex has started Social studies, Science and Math in the fourth grade classroom instead of the ESL room. I am not sure he gets the concepts but the exposure to the English is good for him. He had his Christmas concert last Thursday, he doesn’t like vocal. He sang the first couple lines of Jingle bells and then just stood there. Oh well at least he didn’t cause trouble.
Jack wrestled JV on Tuesday night. He got his first pin! He was pretty excited and it was the perfect time to do it, he has a full crowd of family members there to watch him.
They aren’t fighting as much and their English is growing. Jack is a teenager so he doesn’t speak much to me, but he talks a lot to Jeff on their way home from wrestling. Alex talks my ear off and he doesn’t care if it makes sense or not.
At school on Tuesday, someone took Alex’s socks during PE. My guess is someone got their socks mixed up with Alex’s because there was a pair left there. He refused to put on someone else’s socks (I don’t blame him) and went the rest of the day without socks. We both thought it was pretty funny and Alex called several people to tell the story.
We had a snow and ice on Monday night so Alex and Matthew’s pee-wee wrestling was postponed until tonight. Alex is very excited-I don’t think Matthew is.
Last night at supper Matthew took a bite of something and said very seriously "very tastey." He is a funny little guy. He still hasn't adjusted to not getting a nap because his preschool is in the afternoon. He is very hard to deal with at night, I hope he gets used to it soon.
Keep the prayers coming for our adjustment and bonding as a family. This is the hard part of adoption-learning to live and love like a family. It takes lots of patience, prayers and time.

Home Three weeks

We have been home three weeks now. Things are going just like we expected: some great days, some rough days.
Alex’s English has exploded, he has been placed back in the fourth grade classroom for Math, Science and Social Studies (instead of working on English all day). He likes PE but hates music. He has had fewer and fewer temper tantrums and has learned to play nicely with Matthew. He has gotten in trouble for hitting and pulling hair a couple times-but he understands he can’t do it here-that is how they lived in Ukraine-lots of rough play and the toughest gets the best.
Jack is a teenager-a good mood one day, grouchy the next. He seems to really like school and wrestling. He wrestled JV on Tuesday night, he was pinned but took it well and had fun. He is still with one teacher most of the day learning English. He tends to cause fights and screaming with Matthew and Alex but we are working on that. He is understanding a lot more English and when he is in a good mood even tries tell us things in English.
We went ice skating last weekend-all three boys had a lot of fun. Matthew had never been ice skating before, he used a little walker thing and was all over the rink. We also went swimming at a hotel for my sisters’ birthdays. They all three swam until exhaustion. We have been to church twice, Alex doesn’t like all the standing up and sitting down-just wait until he has to start kneeling.
We have also have the normal things to deal with that come with international adoption of older children. Jack doesn’t understand the concept of changing your clothes or dressing up-not wearing sweats to church. Alex thinks the girls at school are crazy because they talk nonstop. He also isn’t sure about teachers- he doesn’t understand why they are nice instead of yelling nonstop.
They aren’t picky eaters, they will eat just about anything. They really like summer sausage, potatoes, fruit and milk. It is amazing how much they go through.
Sorry for the long gap in posts, our laptop quit working. I have lots of pictures to post soon also.