Musings From the Nut House

I must start by begging for apologies. Please, please, please forgive me for taking so long to update the blog. You guys were so faithful to pray for us and support us on our long journey to bring Katya and Andrei home, you deserve better!

Life with 5 kiddos is exciting to say the least! There is never a dull moment, nor a chance to sit and journal/blog. It is taking some adjusting, but it’s good.

I’ll try to recap what’s happened since the last blog. We listed our house and it sold in about 6 weeks!! The closing was obviously orchestrated by God’s own hands, the timing was PERFECT! We got moved into our new house the end of July. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHAD!!!

About that same time we had a chance to by a horse that was perfect for Olivia. He is a 9 year old Morgan. We are very happy with him. They do great together! She swept her last show and was told she had to move up a level in competition. She has a show on Nov 1. It is her first show with the US Pony Club. It is at MTSU. We are all excited and a little nervous. I’m sure she will do great!

The curriculum went fair went great. (in hind-sight) I knew exactly what to buy for Katie and Olivia. I couldn’t decide on what to do with the other 3 kiddos. At the time I was frustrated. Shortly after that, God made it clear that He wanted Katya, Andrei and Andy at Franklin Christian School. It has been a HUGE blessing for our family. They have bent over backwards to meet the needs of our ESL kiddos. All of the kids have made friends are doing fabulously!

Andrei is in 11th grade and doing better than a lot of the kids who are from here. He hasn’t had to have much help at all. His English is amazing. He can read his chemistry book and understand it with no problem! Writing is still a challenge, but that will come. Andrei joined the football team even though the first came he saw was one he played in. He turned out to be a really good kicker! He had a blast! Yesterday was the last game. He is sad to see it end.

Katya Elizabeth is in 8th grade. She is doing better than she ever did in Ukraine. Practically all of her work is modified due to lack of a good foundation as well as the language barrier. She is doing really well, though, and LOVES to go to school. She is a social butterfly like I’ve never seen! Elizabeth played volleyball and is a star in the making! She is a great athlete. The school is begging her to play basketball but she isn’t interested in it. (She is only 4’11" and about 95 lbs, but is possibly the best basketball player in the school!)

Andy is in 9th grade and doing GREAT! He made straight A’s! He is working really hard, hoping to get a scholarship for college. Andy also was on the football team. Finally, after begging all of his life to play, I let him b/c he’d had a growth spurt and wasn’t so little any more. He worked hard during the summer heat and was doing really well for a first timer. He got to play 2 plays in the jamboree and then broke his arm the next week in practice and was out for the season. He was so bummed! We are really proud of him though. He hung in there and supported the team and helped on the sidelines during each game. He is already trying to build strength back up in his arm so he can start weight training in anticipation for next season.

Katie is doing well. She started her first job and really likes it. She is working in a store akin to an old-fashioned corner market. It has gas pumps, groceries, a wonderful restaurant, a coffee bar and a new gift shop. She is learning to cook some pretty yummy things as well as make a mean cup of espresso! She is a great kid and I don’t know what I’d do without her! She helps me so much with just about everything. She is going to be an awesome wife and mom one day!

Spiritually, both Elizabeth (we call her both names) and Andrei seem really close to making a decision to make Christ the Lord of their lives, but haven’t as of yet. Please pray that it will happen quickly.

They are doing well with all of our extended family. There are several little ones and Katya loves to be with them. They have been accepted and treated like our other children. It’s been great! We just got back from Disney World. We spent a week with my dad, step-mom, sister and her family. My mom’s mom also came up and spent a couple of days with us. It was the first time she had met the kiddos. We had a great time! (Of course it is one of those vacations where you need another vacation to recover from all of the fun!)

It’s not all been a bed of roses, but it has been much easier than most stories that I’ve heard. We have been so busy with moving and then sports that we haven’t had a lot of family time. I’m looking forward to some serious bonding time now that both sports are over!

Maybe life will slow down some now and I will be able to finish unpacking our boxes and also find some time to blog every now and then.

Until next time…

Love & Blessings, Wendy

Hello All,

I am so sorry we haven’t done an update lately. We have been swamped! We are building a bigger house here in Franklin and are working like crazy to get our current house on the market. We were told to plan on having our appointment in Ukraine in April, instead it was Jan. We had no time to work on the house. Our plan was to have it ready to list before we left the country. Since that didn’t happen, we have been adjusting to life with 5 kiddos and working on the house. (Not to mention dentist & eye doctor appointments for most of us; or the homeschooling for that matter.)

The kids are adjusting very well. They get along really well, though at times they are getting on each others nerves just like bio sibs. Elizabeth and Andrei are doing really well with their English, MUCH better than we are with our Russian. We are trying, but it is SO hard.

They have enjoyed getting to know their grandparents and cousins (at least a few of the many.) It is amazing that they can keep them all straight, but they seem to with no problem.

They love to be outside and seem to be outside more than they are indoors. They ride bikes every day and play with the neighborhood kids.

They both love to go to church! PTL!!!! That is a huge answer to prayer. Please pray that their hearts will be open to God and they will receive Christ as their savior. We had the radio on in the car yesterday and Andrei was singing along to "Blessed Be the Name" by Tree 63. It was a sweet, sweet sound for this mama to hear! (this coming out of the same mouth that told me 3 months ago he wasn’t sure there was a God.) He prayed with a friend whose dad is dying from colon cancer. He was so excited when he got home from church Wed night and told us. We are thrilled at his progress! I’ve said all along that God has big plans for him. I can’t wait to see what they are! Elizabeth has always showed an intrest in God and loves to listen to praise and worship music.

Andy got his braces off last week. He is so excited! His teeth look great!

Katie had a blast a the prom! I didn’t see the other girls there, but I’m sure she was the belle of the ball!

Olivia is doing great in horses and will have first real show soon, after doing 2 practice ones last summer. She is so excited about that. She has decided that she wants to show professionally when she grows up. (She’s just 11, though.)

We have carpet guys coming Tuesday so we have to finish pulling everything out of the rooms tomorrow. (And take 3 kids back to the dentist and Chad has to go to NY.) Please pray for us as we try to take care of so many different things. We are planning on having an open house on Sunday as our big sha-bang that our house is new on the market. Pray that it goes well and we get a buyer quickly. The housing market here is moving pretty slowly, like every where else. I know that God will take care of it though.

One more prayer request…our big curriculum fair is this coming weekend. Pray for clarity of thought and guidence in deciding what to use for our schooling next year. The choices are vast and varied. Pray that I will be sensitive to God’s leading and choose what will be right for all of us.

I know everyone wants pics, but I can’t remember how to do it just now and it’s really late. I’ll try to get Chad to do it this week.

Thanks for all the prayers! Keep ‘em coming!

Love,

Wendy, Chad and the gang

We arrived home safe and sound, and on time! Possibly a first for Delta!! We had a wonderful homecoming of friends and family with posters and balloons and lots of happy tears!! To see our 3 other children running to us was indescribable.

We are all home under one roof and that is the BEST feeling; finally having our whole family together. The kids are doing well together. They have ridden bikes, played volleyball, and all kinds of things. I realize this is probably the honeymoon stage, but it’s such a blessing to watch them together and hear them laughing.

The kids have had no problem with the time change. We are doing pretty good with it as well. It’s really hard to keep going when night falls in Ukraine, but we’ve been able to stay up until 9:00 or 10:00 and get up around 7:00. That’s a schedule I hope to stay on. I’ve always been a night owl in the past and it drives Chad crazy. I have WAY to much to do sleep in at all, anyway!

Please, keep us in your prayers as we adjust to our new family and as we all bond with the new kiddos. I’ll keep you posted as we go along.

Blessings,

Wendy

Have tickets, will travel!!!! Tomorrow to be exact. We are all counting the minutes until we get on that big ol’ jet airliner!!!

We spent the day tooling around Kiev. We saw St Michael’s Cathederal and walked in a snow shower. It was beautiful, but freezing!! It snowed yesterday, too. It was probably the fattest snowflakes that I have ever seen! It was wet and stuck to all the trees. It was breath-taking!

Our meetings yesterday and today at the US Embassy went extremely well. It was so nice to hear Americans again! It was also really cool to hold up our passports and go straight to the front of the line. We were able to walk right in, no waiting, in front of at least 100 people who were standing outside in the snow. It’s good to be from the good ol’ US of A!!!!!! Can I hear an "AMEN!"? I have been so homesick that I actually teared up when I walk in the door of the embassy. There were pics of the country side and signs written in English. It was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know that sounds weird, but we have been in a country where even the alphabet is totally different so we have basically been illiterate for 2 months. (It gives us sense of understanding of what it will be like for the kids for a while.)

Off to finish packing! Our ride will be here at 6:45 AM!!!! I think this is one morning where I won’t have a hard time waking up!

Have a peaceful and blessed Easter,

Love, Wendy 

I’ll make this quick. Its late and our wi-fi is down. I’m across the street at internet cafe. We have flights booked with Delta. Kiev to JFK to Atlanta to Nashville. We should arrive in Nashville at 10:43 pm Saturday night.

Got to Skype with Katie, Andy, Mimi, and Stacy and Gang today. Woohoo!

We got the kids medical evaluations from the US Embassy designated doctor today. We’ll get all Embassy paperwork in tomorrow and Andrei’s police arrest background check is supposed to be in tomorrow (thursday afternoon). That leaves Friday to finish up with US Embassy and pick up their US Passports…looks like its gonna happen!