Getting on a Routine. . . With Guinea Pigs!

Finally . . . after 2 months in America, we are finally beginning to get into a regular routine. Going to school helps a lot. The girls must get up at 6:00am (they are not morning people, so this time is a little painful). They must be in bed with lights out no later than 10:00 (this is also hard because they are bouncing every evening and finding every excuse possible to get out of bed and delay the process - much like preschoolers). But, thankfully, it's happening!!

The girls showed noticeable improvement in attitude and helpfulness this past week, as well as strong determination to do well in their schoolwork. So, they earned a very big reward. They had been asking us all summer if they could get a guinea pig. We told them we would wait and see how things went, and see if they earned the privilege of having this kind of pet. Well, after the demonstration of great attitude, work ethic and helpfulness, the time was right this weekend. On Saturday we bought 2 guinea pigs, a large cage, bedding, a guinea pig house, food, water bottle, and food dish. That all set us back a pretty penny, but the response and reaction of the girls has been priceless.

Zhanna named her guinea pig "Poopsik." That means something like "baby" in Russian. Ella named hers "Bob." Just plain, old "Bob." They love their babies, and worry and fuss over them. They enjoy nothing better than to watch a movie in the living room and hold their babies all wrapped up on their laps. Ella frets over Bob because she says he sneezes and acts sick (we have never heard him sneeze). She asked her dad if guinea pigs get headaches. She doesn't want her baby to suffer in any way. They are both very loving and attentive "mommies." They love animals, anyway, and to have the responsibility for the total care and feeding of their own pet is a good lesson in empathy. They are developing a gentleness through caring for these guinea pigs. We're enjoying watching their loving natures come forth.

School continues to go well. It is quite challenging, but the girls are "hanging tough" and rising to all that is expected of them. There is a lot to do, but they seem determined to do their best and to make good grades. Last week they were to have a health test on Thursday. I studied with them until about 9:30 on Wednesday night, when Ella hit the wall. She put her head down on her arms and wouldn't even talk to us. We told her to go on to bed. She went into the bedroom, got in her bed with her clothes on and covered her head with the blankets. She wouldn't budge or even respond to us. Zhanna got her pajamas on and went to bed, as well. We tried to reassure them that they were working hard, and not to worry. Just do their best. Their teacher and everyone else would understand. We kissed them both goodnight, and turned out the lights.

After about 10 minutes Mark and I noticed the light was on again in their bedroom. We went in to find the girls quizzing each other on the health test material. Bless their hearts! The material was challenging for them - all about the circulatory sytem. Words like "plasma", "capillaries", "varicose veins", "ventical", "atrium", "aorta", etc., etc. In addition, they had to label the parts of the heart, and be able to match the description of the parts of the heart with its function. It would be a challenging test if you had known English your entire life, but to have to learn how to say many new and extremely difficult words, as well as understanding their meanings is like an extreme sport or competition. But both girls persevered.

Mark and I worked with them about another hour. They finally felt satisfied and were able to sleep. They next morning they woke up early and got ready and wanted us to quiz them again. They took the test at school that day and both got an "A." We were so proud of them!

Yes, we are all working hard through the week, but thankfully, the weekends have been restful. We were able to sleep in on Saturday and rest on Sunday. The girls actually spent the afternoon with some of the young people from church, eating pizza, and playing "guitar hero" on the Wii. They had a good time, and Mark and I got a little break. It was good for all of us.

God is so good, and we are well aware that He is at work in the hearts and minds of our beautiful daughters. He is at work in our hearts and minds, too. We are learning and stretching and growing. We praise Him for all things . . . especially sleep!

God's blessings,
Dawn and Mark

We Survived the First Week of School!

Today marks the 2 month anniversary of our homecoming. It's hard to believe so much has happened in the last two months. Zhanna and Ella have learned so much English in that time frame. They now understand nearly everything that people are saying. It is a little harder for them to always find the English words to describe things to other people, but they are growing more confident in that, as well. It is exciting to witness their progress!

We all started school last Monday. The girls were very nervous about it. Zhanna was extremely nervous about how the other kids would view her. She understands full well that she is quite a bit older than all the other kids in the 5th grade. She worries so much about what people think about her. It doesn't seem to matter so much to Ella. She's just a kid at heart, and she doesn't really care what other people think.

But Monday came, and we all jumped in. The first few days were very difficult for all of us. The girls were exhausted by the end of the day. I'm sure the mental and emotional effort they expended was incredible. It takes tremendous amounts of energy to listen carefully to everything in a foreign language and then try to absorb much new information, while at the same time, meeting many new people and tryig to remember names, especially when you feel as if everyone is watching you! Whew! It makes me tired just thinking about it! They worked hard every day, and then we had about 2 hours of homework to do each night, even with a modified schedule for them. For them to do their homework, it requires someone to sit with them through it all and help them with all the comprehension in every subject, even math word problems. We also have to have them read aloud to us and work on multiplication flash cards every night. We also practice a Bible memory verse with them each night for an oral quiz they have on Friday. Needless to say, Mark and I are feeling as tired and overwhelmed as the girls are!

However, by the end of the week, things were getting better. Zhanna and Ella were learning that if they work faster we can get through it better and have more time for fun stuff. They were also relaxing more and understanding that everyone wants to help them, and no one is judging them. By the end of the week they both said, "We like school. It's good school. Better than at Internat (Orphanage). People are nice."

So, it's good. We're feeling like we are on the fastrack, but life is good. We tell the girls daily that we love them and we chose them to be our daughters because God put us together. We tell them that we are so happy they are ours, and that we will love them forever. We feel that our reassurances are beginning to sink in. The girls seem happy and comfortable with us. They seem to feel that they can trust us now.

In the adoption world there is a saying, "Adopting one child won't change the world, but for that child, the world will change." Zhanna and Ella's world has changed, and will continue to change as time goes on. Mark and I feel humbled to know that God put this responsibility into our hands. It is a challenging, but awesome idea to feel that we are the tools God is using to bring these girls to know Him and to enjoy life eternally in His kingdom. We see more and more each day that the girls' hearts are soft toward God and they are open to receive His word. We can't wait to see what God will do with them!

Until next time,
Blessings and Peace,
Dawn and Mark

Daddy Daycare, Food Choices, and Education

I've added some pics from the summer of Zhanna and Ella and Nathan and Annie. It has been a fun one. We see Zhanna and Ella transforming before our eyes. They seem to be learning new things everyday. Each day brings new awakenings and greater understanding of this new world into which they have entered. They were asked yesterday if they missed Ukraine, and they said, "No." I think they are finally settling and feeling like this is home and they now have a forever family. The extreme emotional responses we had a few weeks ago have lessened. They seem more able to cope and to peacefully take each day as it comes.

We celebrated an anniversary this weekend. One year ago, on August 1, we left Camp Yestrebok in the Ukrainian area of Svetagorsk. We had to say good-bye to Zhanna and Ella with tears streaming down our faces. We made a promise to them that we would do everything we could to come back and adopt them. I'm not sure they believed it, and Mark and I wondered about what the future would hold. It felt as if we were stepping into a black hole of an unknown destination. But God is a big God, and a year later, here we are! A family! We all remembered and spent time praising God this weekend for what He has done to bring us together.

A huge breakthrough came this week between Mark and the girls. He determined that he just needed to spend one-on-one time with them alone, apart from me and Annie. On Friday the girls and Mark went to Babushka's house to make and decorate cupcakes. They had a blast, and came home with the fanciest cupcakes ever - decorated like flowers, and dogs, and bears, etc. Beautiful and delicious! On Saturday, Annie and I attended a wedding in the morning, so Mark stayed with the girls. When we arrived home, we found Dad and Zhanna and Ella sitting on the living room floor having a "Teddy Bear Tea Party". It was the sweetest thing! Mark had pulled out some of Annie's old doll accessories and toys that I had put away for sentimental reasons. The girls were amazed that we had so much! They kept saying, "Wow!" They loved the doll cradle and the big Fisher Price doll house, etc. They were playing as if they were little girls - about half their age. But they never had toys like this before. They are experiencing things they were never able to enjoy as little children. It is precious. They have also come to see Mark as a pretty good playmate, rather than an extra appendage in our home. They have turned the corner and are beginning to call him "Dad." Praise God for all these blessings.

There are many things the girls are catching up on. Sleep is one of those things. I'm sure the energy they are expending everyday to learn English and take in all the new experiences is exhausting. They want to sleep a lot in the mornings, and when we wake them up they have a hard time thinking in English. They seem to think in Russian in the morning, but adjust to English as the day wears on. They are slow to warm up in the mornings, but have a hard time settling down and going to sleep at night. At night we have to push to get them in the shower and to gather for prayers and Bible reading. Then they want me to read them a book, and sometimes they have many questions and want to talk. It is rare when we get to bed before 11:00. We'll have to work hard next week to have an earlier bedtime and earlier wake-up time so they'll be ready for school when it begins on August 17.

They have also been eating a lot! They seem to want a lot of protein. I'm sure their bodies need to catch up a lot. But some of their food choices make us cringe. They seem to adjust to one new food at a time, and then they want to eat that food over and over and over. For the past few days it has been hard boiled eggs. At first they wouldn't eat one, because it was cold. But then they decided they liked them, and now want them all the time. On Saturday, Zhanna had two hard-boiled eggs for breakfast, then four more for lunch, along with 4 hot dogs! She wanted to eat a raw onion with that! Blech! One day Ella ate 4 bananas at one time, after macaroni and cheese and watermelon. I keep thinking they will have stomachaches from the excesses of their food choices, but so far, so good. I guess they must need what they are craving. They are filling out a little, but they could stand to put on a little more weight. They are both thin. So, for now, whatever they want to eat is usually okay. We are trying to introduce them to more salad and vegetables. They love cucumbers and tomatoes, but are slow to warm up to lettuce and other food with texture and flavor that is unfamiliar to them. They won't eat any kind of cereal yet, although we have tried waffles, and they like those. Their tastes seem to run to simple "kid foods" right now. It's all a process.

We're preparing for the girls to attend Albuquerque Christian School where I teach. I'm so incredibly grateful to the school board and administration for their willingness to take this on. We have been a school focused on an advanced curriculum and a college prep focus - even though we only go through grade 8. We have never had an other ESL students attending the school. But because I work there, and because of the commitment to share Christ with those who don't know Him, the school has agreed the girls should attend ACS. I'm so excited and pleased. I had a hard time thinking about putting the girls in a public middle school, even with an ESL program. Throwing them into public school at ages 12 and 13, and having them exposed to all the attitudes and junk that is out there did not feel right at all to me or to Mark. They will both be in the 5th grade this first year, as they work on English and catch up in math and other areas. They will have a specialized program catered just to them. They will be with the middle school kids part of the time for devotionals, enrichment classes, etc., and will have individualized help in English and math. We're also looking for a Russian speaking person to serve as a translator a couple of hours a day to help with the harder comprehension issues needed in reading textbooks, etc. At the Christian School Zhanna and Ella will participate in a Bible class everyday, which they need more than anything. They will be surrounded by people who care about them and are kind to them and are demonstrating the love of God. They will hopefully make friends with kids who can show them that the latest and greatest toys and games and clothes and activities aren't nearly as important as the kind of person you are on the inside and how you treat others. They will hopefully see that God has created them to be a uniquely special person in His kingdom, and that they are valuable and loved. These ideas are all so foreign to the girls - as foreign as the new language. The Soviet mentality is all about obedience to the State, and that the individual is not important - the collective is what is important. They have been basically taught that they are not important. They have been taught to fear authority rather than to respond to loving direction and understand that obedience is done out of love, not out of fear. I'm excited to see how God will use all this in their lives and what changes are ahead for the girls.

Right now we're still working on getting them to feel comfortable enough around new people to be able to talk and not feel embarrassed or unsure of themselves. They have not learned the art of simple conversation around people they don't know well. The language issue is a part of that, but yesterday we were invited to a birthday party for the son of a friend of mine who is from Russia. There was also another woman there from Ukraine who spoke to the girls. They would hardly speak to either of the women, so that helped me to understand that it is not all about the language. It is simply a skill they have not been taught. We will have to keep working on it. I think they will begin to feel much more connected to people when they have a voice and can share.

Aren't we blessed to have a loving Heavenly Father who cares so much about us that He created us to be creative individuals with a voice? He has given us equality and freedom! He has offered us love and grace. He is not the condemning rule-oriented god that so many think of Him as. He only longs for relationship with us. He wants us to come to Him with open arms and open hearts, knowing that we were created as unique individuals and He has equipped each one of us uniquely. I know when Zhanna and Ella come to understand that better they will have a greater sense of confidence and self-worth. I long to remember these ideas every day of my own life, too. But I often forget. When I remember that my worth is found in Jesus and because of Jesus, and not in anything I do, and that God made me who I am to freely live for Him, it takes a lot of pressure off of me. I don't worry so much about what others think. I'm free to live and breathe and create and laugh and serve, without all the baggage that comes with fear and insecurity. Praise God for freedom! I pray that Zhanna and Ella come to know freedom in Christ!

Thank you all for your continued prayers and encouragement in this faith journey. God is good and equips us everyday for what that day brings.
Much love,
Dawn and Mark