1/31/2012

Paid in full...

When we set out on our crazy adoption adventure we knew there was no way we could afford to complete the project without God's help. $35,000 plus travel expenses was unattainable at best. We also knew that God wasn't going to command us to do something, and not give us the resources to do it. So early on, with a lot of prayer, we laid down a financial plan that looked something like this:

- No borrowing money
- Elissa continues to put the children's needs before the family's finances (aka no part time job)
- we'll just pinch pennies and fundraise and the money (and clothing and furniture required for a new child) will come.

Then the floor fell out of our fundraising campaign when our church instituted a no fundraising plan.
So we were left with scraping pennies from Jory's modest income.
Sounds like a fantastic financial strategy, right?

We've talked before about the generous donation miracles that have occurred, and all the random people that have been touched by our story that have stepped up to the plate. You know who you are, thank you again.

As of this post we have not borrowed money. Elissa has done nothing more than a little freelance work, a little babysitting, and a whole lot of penny pinching. And our adoption debt has been paid in full.

Barring an unexpected agency fee (or homeowners emergency) we don't owe anything to anyone. We are debt free.

We did have to pinch pennies for a while after we returned home to rebuild our financial safety net. But as we begin February, our accounts are all settled up. Our savings, retirement, and nest egg accounts are all paid back, and we're good to go.

Can I get an Amen?

Now comes the fun part. By our best estimates we have $28,000 to pay forward. That's right, we're going to match every penny of what was donated to us to someone else who's neck deep in one of God's crazy schemes. And we can't wait to get started. Project "pay it forward" is a go.

1/30/2012

On becoming an American.

So our little Max is losing his Russian, and we're having mixed emotions about it. On one hand we love his Russian. Jory loves being called "Papa" and doesn't particularly want to transition to having all 4 kids call him "daddy". There are a handful of Russian terms that we all use that we are  hoping to continue using as a part of our Russian/American heritage - gouchet for eating, plavitz-ing for swimming etc.
On the other hand its a relief to think that I won't always have to introduce him as "my son who doesn't speak English". While it is a fun an interesting conversation piece, it sort of casts a faint shadow over our relationship. Instead of just being one of us, he's the outsider. One of these things is not like the others. And that's not ok. We look forward to a day when the casual observer will see a unified family of six instead of 5 Americans and a Russian.
So as we move forward with our "Russian-American" heritage we strive for a balance between letting Max let go of his heritage and making a bigger deal of it than he wants us to make.

1/27/2012

Origami Yoda


Yoda made from origami did you make? 


Why yes we did.


Ours happens to like cheese.


And has a great meanie face. Don't mess with him when he has his angry eyes on. 


Why yes, he does have a light saber. 


I'll bet you didn't realize that Yoda's travel in packs, did you?

We found directions on how to make Origami Yoda in a funny little book titled The Strange case of Origami Yoda 

1/26/2012

How to make a snowflake

Last fall we played a little game called how to make a pumpkin today we're going to play how to make a snowflake. My kids have made most of these, but there are a few new ones I just made up that we'll get around to making one of these days.

With beads: younger kids can use pipe cleaners, older ones can use craft wire. Take 3 pipe cleaners or wire pieces about 4 inches in length and twist them together in the middle. Keep twisting until the pieces don't wiggle anymore. String white, clear or silvery beads (pony beads work well for pipe cleaners) onto the spokes of your snowflake, when each spoke is full bend the end over so that the beads stay put.

With buttons: glue 3 popsicle sticks together in the shape of a snowflake. When snowflake is dry, glue on white buttons.

With salt / glitter: give your child a snowflake print out and have them draw on the lines with glue. Shake salt or glitter over the glue, and let dry.

Snowy scene (ok, not technically a snowflake but my kids loved this): cut a landscape scene from a magazine. Using white paint and a q-tip for a brush, have your youngster paint "snow" all over the scene.

With pretzel sticks: take a few pretzel sticks, and use melted chocolate as glue to get them to stick together at the middle. Drizzle melted chocolate over the finished product

With toothpicks: Use a mini marshmallow as your center point and stick toothpicks in randomly. Use more mini marshmallows and half toothpicks to make your spokes branch.

With q-tips: Use a bit of clay (or homemade salt dough) as your center point, cut your q-tips in half (or cut the soft tips off of one end to add length variety)  and poke your q-tip into the clay/dough ball

Have fun! and show us what you made!

1/25/2012

(nearly) Wordless Wednesday

Kazan Cathedral, Red Square
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got a great photo for (nearly) wordless Wednesday to to share with us? Post a link so we can all see it!

1/24/2012

2 month-aversary

Yesterday marked the 2 month point of being together as a family of 6.
Whoa.
Max's English is really developing, he's using new words every day, sometimes in 2-3 word combinations. All 4 kids are using their own version of "Ruglish" (a mixture of Russian and English) to comunicate, and it's interesting to know that the older 3 kids know more Russian than I do.
The meltdowns and manipulative behaviors we were seeing around the 1 month mark have all but disappeared, thanks to consistent and predictable parenting. We have a totally different kid over here. He still has ups and downs. He still has "orphan moments". But he's going to make it. We're going to make it.
Hallelujah.
I wanted to share a video, but  he wouldn't cooperate. So you get a photo instead.



1/23/2012

Celebrating both of you

So my daughters are twins, which means that there is 1 birthday for 2 girls.  Obviously.
Normally it's not that big of a deal, but around their birthday I sort of put up a stink. For one week out of the year they are two people. Annie and Louisa. Not "Annieweeza #1" and "Annieweeza #2".  And during birthday week I bend over backwards to make sure they know - that I know - that they are 2 separate individuals. Celebrating their individuality sounds all fantastic and noble until you realize they're essentially the same person in two bodies. They look alike, like all the same foods, have the same best friends, do the same extra curricular activities, gravitate towards the same toys, and read the same books. Not to mention that they've been sharing a twin bed for nearly 5 years now, simply because they want to.
So yeah, celebrating their individuality isn't the easiest thing on the planet. But we make do by letting the girls both plan their own day of fun. As Annie adequately put it last year, she has her birthday and her other birthday. Nice.
So this year, for Annie's birthday she decided to have her (and Louisa's) good friend Livie come over to play, make brownies and have dinner. Louisa decided that we should all have a trip to the pool and dinner with Grandma to celebrate her special day.


In the beginning, I wasn't so psyched about this twin thing. But it's working out pretty well I'd say.

1/20/2012

Letter to Louisa

My sweet Louisa
Louie, Louisa - bean, Weeza. But never Lulu.
You are such a spunky little girl. I know I've told you this before, but I'll tell you again - you always have a tinkle in your eye, and a song in your heart. You keep the mood light around here, and we love you for it. There have been many hard moments in our lives in the last year, and time and time again, you were the one who ushered joy back into the house. You, with your dancing stuffed animals, your quirky artwork and stories and your ever present giggles. I love your giggle, and I love it when you and your sister start in on your giggle fits.
This year you and Annie started ballet dancing. While your sister has been the more athletic twin, you my dear have just a tidge more grace to your steps. I"m pleased with how quickly you two picked up the style, you can both keep up with the other girls in your class who have been dancing much longer than you have. Plus it's just fun to watch you twirl around the living room, humming your little tunes.I love it when you put on your fancy ballet stuff, turn on fancy classical music and pretend that you are a very fancy girl.
This year has been the year of the American dolls. While I can't help but think they are a little creepy (sorry!) I love how much you are learning about American history through the books. I love that they are inspiration for your stories and artwork. And I'm really really glad that you chose them over Sponge Bob (barf).
I've also had a keen eye on you this fall to watch how you adjust to being a big sister to little Max, and you're also doing just fine. You were the one we worried about the most, but there was no need for our worries. You're good at rolling with the punches, and not freaking out too much when he's being a super-pest.
You my dear are turning out to be quite a lovely little lady, and I'm so glad to have you around.
I love you,
Mommy

1/19/2012

Letter to Annie


My sweet Annabel,
Tomorrow you turn 8. How can that be? You are such a delightful kid, and are truly a joy to have around. I know you don't think so, but you and your sister are so very similar that it's difficult to define your personality in a way so that it doesn't just mimic your sisters. You and your sister continue to have such a uniquely intertwined relationship, it's almost as if you are two halves of a whole.  I'll bet you're the only set of 8 year olds I know that share a twin bed, because you want to.
And I love that about you two.
As for you my dear, you've become quite the domestic diva this year. You cook, you clean, and when our little friend Elizabeth comes over, you are quick to take responsibility for her. Not only are you sweet and gentle with her, but when the time comes for authority, you stand your ground and don't give in. No matter what. I love that. It takes guts to stand up to a whiney toddler (or an obnoxious little brother), and I know a roomful of adults who aren't nearly as good at it as you are. You're a tough one with a heart of gold.
This year as we welcomed your new brother into the family I was concerned about how you would adjust. I was warned about how you might act out or regress. I haven't seen either from you. If anything you've stepped up to the plate to be extra helpful and sweet. I love that you're constantly offering to help with the chores, and don't give me grief when I ask for help.
You my dear make my crazy life possible. I think I would have jumped ship long ago if you weren't so reliable.
So happy birthday my little smunch-kin.
I love you,
Mommy

1/18/2012

(nearly) wordless wednesday

Gum Department Store, Red Square
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1/17/2012

Hello old friend...

Guess what.
I have a sewing machine.
It's a little dusty, but I do have one. I can't remember the last time I used it.
Oh wait, yes I do it was last September. 

As I was wrapping gifts for Christmas last month I realized my stash of fabric bags and embellishments was woefully inadequate. When I went to make myself some more (on Christmas eve, no less) my sewing machine just laughed at me as it messed up stitch after stitch. Of course. So now that my life is a little calmer, and I have no real use for red and green striped bags, I dug the half made bags and other projects out from the bottom of the pile and got down to business. Wouldn't you know my machine worked just fine? Typical.You can check out my little tutorial for making fabric gift bags and reusable embellishments from the beginning of my stash I started last year.

I gotta tell you, last  year I started the whole wrapping with fabric kick because I thought it would look pretty and be more earth friendly than wrapping with paper. This year in the days before Christmas when things were just a little too insane to think about "pretty" I was so glad to have those fabric sacks to shove gifts into.

While I was plopped in front of my sewing machine, I also happened to make myself some little girl goodness, for some little girlies who may or may not be turning 8 on Friday. Eek.

1/16/2012

And the winner is...


It's the day we've all been looking forward to! Thanks to all the people who showed an interest in the giveaway! I was a little worried I'd only have 2-3 people enter. That wouldn't have been very fun, would it?

Enough chatting, I know. Get to the winner.

Our random number generator (courtesy of random.org) says: comment 13

Which is Amy O'Vell! I couldn't be happier! Send me a quick email Amy and I'll get you your coupon code.

If you didn't win (so sorry!) you can find information about a $10 discount and a $10 product coupon in my sidebar. What a steal!!

1/13/2012

Author interview

Hey remember our old buddy Brock Eastman? We met him a few times before to talk about his other books. Well he's back to answer some questions from my son Alex about Taken, the book we reviewed here
Before we get started though, I just gotta say how much I've enjoyed working with this author. He's been great to work with, and frankly I feel like I should invite him and his family out for pizza after church on Sunday.
That said, here's how he humored us by answering my son's questions:

AJP: What made you want to write this book?

BE: I wanted to write The Quest for Truth after having a conversation with a friend in regards to violence and death in the media. Such events took place commonly not only on television, but in books and magazine articles as well. I set out to write a book that kids could read and find an adventure that didn’t portray violence and death as entertainment. Neither of those things when they occur in reality are fun or something we smile at, or even get excited about, so why should it be that way in a book. On the flip side, there are battles and fighting in Sages of Darkness, but then again it’s against demons, which are evil at the core.

AJP: Are you going to put my mom in the  next Sage of Darkness book? (Elissa interrupts - I had nothing to do with this question!!!)

BE: Hmmm. Quite intriguing, if not BlizzardSage, I am sure an Elissa find her way into one of my next books, The Quest for Truth: Unleash, Tangle, Hope, or Sages of Darkness: CrimsonSage.

(Elissa interrupts again - sweet. Make me a prayer warrior for the team of Sages.)

AJP: Which series do you enjoy writing more? The Sages books or the Quest for Truth books.

BE: This is really hard, because they are both unique stories and written in totally different styles. I’d say I have always been in love with the Wikks and their adventure, but Taylor and Ike are quickly growing on me. Being with them when I write is non-stop adventure. So I’d say I like both, but I’ve been with Oliver, Tiffany, Mason, and Austin for far longer, having started writing them in 2005.

Thanks boys! It's been fun talking. We can't wait to talk again soon.

1/12/2012

First road trip...

We weren't planning on doing much traveling with Max until spring. With all our traveling back and forth to Russia last fall we felt like it was time to sit still for a while. We needed to be aware of the possibility of travel anxiety. We knew that some friends had issues with their little guy being away from home too long, and just not feeling secure that they would indeed return home eventually.
But a close friend of the family passed away, and so we bit the bullet and traveled down to the funeral, which was 6 hours away. We did our best to explain to him what was happening through google translate, and we thought he understood pretty well what was happening when we left.
Our trip was pretty uneventful. He enjoyed meeting new friends, staying in a hotel (with a pool!) and the extra time with my parents. He also did fine sitting in the car for hours listening to books on cd with the rest of us.
I did find it amusing when we arrived in Columbus to visit some friends he asked if we were in Moscow. Nope, sorry kid. What part of central Ohio looks like Moscow? I'll give you a hint, none of it.
All in all, he was a champ through the entire trip, but the morning after we arrived home started out like a war zone. It was pretty ugly. I can't help but think the two events are related.

1/11/2012

(nearly) Wordless Wednesday

So very Russian... 
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got a great photo for (nearly) wordless Wednesday to to share with us? Post a link so we can all see it!

1/10/2012

Max art...

Max got to meet the computer graphic software last week. Wanna see the cute pic he made?


He calls it "Annie, Mama - foo" (translation - Annie and Mama are yuck!) 

If you look hard enough there are two large black circles under all the green, one is me and the other is Annie. Yes, I believe we are pretty foo with all that green paint all over us, aren't we. 
Wanna make your own digital graphic? We're giving away a software package from My Memories this week, leave a comment to be entered in the drawing.



1/09/2012

A year of firsts...

They say there's a first time for everything. Which is particularly true if you've spent most of your life with a parent who didn't invest in you, or an orphanage with very limited resources. One of my goals for the next year is to intentionally provide a new experience for little Max every day (if possible). Some experiences are better than others, but all are equally valuable.
It's been a joy to bring out some of my oldhat activities that my kids have done a million times and see a brand new reaction to them. Sorting buttons, stringing beads, rubber stamping, and basic cause and effect science experiments have all been such a delight to bring back. A small part of me mourns over the fact that no one ever handed my child a fist full of pipe cleaners and said "have fun!" but a bigger part of me rejoices that there are still firsts that God saved for me to witness.
One thing that has become rather apparent over the few weeks is that Max has had very few opportunities to create original artwork (as opposed to copying something someone else has made), nor has he had many opportunities to play with simple manipulatives like popsicle sticks. Neither of which are horribly critical, but a problem to be rectified none the less. I'm sort of a dork when it comes to exploratory play and discovering new ways to use old resources.

1/06/2012

Digi scrapbook give away

Our first sponsor that I'm rather excited to tell you about is a scrapbook software called My Memories. My Memories is easy to use digital scrapbooking software, that comes with thousands of papers and embellishments to use on your pages. I found the software easy to use, and was impressed by the variety of options (patterned paper, page embellishments etc) already available for use.

What I liked:
Access to an active online community / blog for tech support and access to others who are using the same software. I spent a few minutes skimming the articles and really learned a lot about taking the software to the next level. Impressive.
The program is a simpler version of adobe, (which is what I use for my graphic elements). You can do almost everything that you can do with adobe, but it's more user friendly.
In addition to the millions of preprogrammed page options that the software comes with, the My Memories website ofters a large variety of free page elements that you can download. I was also able to use page elements from other sources, which I really liked.
I've also had a chance to chat with the people in tech support. They were very prompt at returning my emails, and very helpful with answering my questions. 

What I didn't like:
I'm an adobe girl, and I like creating my own and importing paint brushes. This software doesn't let you do that. Not a crisis, especially if you don't need to make your own brushes.
I also had difficulty saving my work as anything other than an .mms file, while it is possible to save it as a .jpg, it takes a little figuring to get it to work. But again, there is an online community to help dunce's like me to figure these things out.

So now that I've told you what I think, I am busting at the seams to give away a copy of the software to one lucky reader, so they can see what I'm talking about. Software is valued at $40 (which is a steal in my opinion), and can be downloaded directly from the site, so you can start playing in moments. Sooo... if you want to win, leave me a comment before midnight (eastern time) next Friday (Jan 13) and I'll enter you in the drawing. Winner announced on Monday January 16, 9:30 AM Eastern...

1/05/2012

New! Blog sponsors

You may (or may not) have noticed that we now have a sponsor section in our left hand sidebar. These sponsors have either purchased an ad spot or offered us a rather generous commission (between 50-70%) on their product. A few have even offered free product for give aways through out the year (who doesn't love free stuff?) We wanted to assure you that these sponsors have been carefully selected, AFTER we have personally seen the product they sell. We didn't open our blog to random ads, and won't promote a product we wouldn't use ourselves.
Now that we are clear on our position on sponsorships, go check out our sponsors! and if you know of someone who'd like information about sponsorship opportunities you can find it in the contact information tab at the top of the page.
Woo-hoo!

1/04/2012

(nearly) Wordless Wednesday

The backside of the Kremlin, Moscow
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got a great photo for (nearly) wordless Wednesday to to share with us? Post a link so we can all see it!

1/03/2012

10 about Max

1. Max met the climbing wall at the YMCA recently. Dude basically just used his upper body strength to pull himself to the top of the wall. Footholds were optional.
2. He has several new phrases this week, my two favorites were "McQueen" (as in Lightning McQueen) and "No, thank you".
3. The emotional breakdowns have all but disappeared, we're down from 3-4 a day, to 1-2 a week. He's also stopped taking out his aggression out on us and our possessions. The crashing, bashing, slamming, kicking, smashing rages have mostly disappeared.
4. Sadly he's still testing the limits of unconditional love. It's not so physical anymore, but more relational. He's started lieing, whining about chores, and picking on me mercilessly. His favorite trick is to ask me the same question ten times in a minute until I break down. One day last week he started asking me mercilessly about bathtime, and I managed to ignore his constant barrage for a good 5 hours before I finally lost it. No, he didn't get the bath.
5. The kid who used to eat everything we offered him now only wants Ramen noodles and hot dogs. He threw a fit the other day when I wouldn't fix them for both lunch and dinner.
6. Another one of his favorite activities is to wait until I'm working on the computer and come right up under my nose to play. As in driving his cars over my hands while I type. It sounds much cuter than it really is.
7. We're trying really hard to not use positive reinforcements with him. As in "if you behave we'll give you a treat". I didn't really use it with the other kids and they turned out just fine. It just seems counter productive to out ultimate goal of teaching him self discipline. Instead we're trying to use natural consequences. Which, yes is significantly more difficult than holding a carrot in front of his nose. 
8. Max met the Chinese buffet last week. Sushi was not his friend.
9. We had some gusty wind over the weekend when we were on our way to church. When a smallish gust hit him he ran to grab hold of the porch railings. I totally had to laugh. This is Ohio wind, not Arctic Circle wind. It won't knock you down, I promise.
10. Little dude is totally in to our Thomas Trains right now. Right now, he and the others are taking over my living room with train track. The best part, he has this little song he sings when he plays "A B C Choo-Choo" No idea where it came from but it is so. stinking. cute.

1/02/2012

New year, new direction

At the beginning of this year, I can't help but look back at my resolutions from last year. Some were so clever they're worth recycling; such as to see the world as Christ sees it, and to act accordingly. Some make me chuckle - to listen and follow God's plan even when it sounds stupid and crazy... yeah, we were there too many times to count during the last 12 months. While others hit a raw spot that makes me wince, like this one - to invest in people, not possessions. We got a little (ok a lot) of help with this one, as last year was sort of a brutal assault on our possessions.
This last year we've been pulled back to our knees more times than we can count so this year I'd like to take a different track. This year, I'm claiming Isaiah 40:31 as my personal verse -

But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
This year I'm going to soar like an eagle, and run but not grow weary. Not exactly sure what that means on a practical day to day application, but I guess I can just wing it. (So punny, I know.) 
So who's up for a flying lesson... it's your turn to fly too.

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