Happy New Year!
Every year right before we pack and leave for Tennessee in December, I end up scrambling to do Christmas cards in time for Christmas! This year, I decided to wait and do it the week after Christmas when I “had more time.” Clearly, that didn’t work. I guess I don’t do so well without a definite deadline! We had some changes in our family this year. Viktor came home in March, and each of our sisters became Moms. In July, we said goodbye to Granny. We miss her so much. It’s strange to gather with family without her there, but we know that we will see her again.
Brian continues work on his Masters (planning to graduate in May 2014). Viktor is enjoying all sorts of new things. He played baseball this spring, joined the band (percussion) at school, is in Boy Scouts, and has joined the high school basketball team - Go Rockets! He is in 9th grade and doing extremely well. Anden plays basketball, baseball, and fall soccer. He also still does Awanas. He has now moved up to the middle school in 4th grade, so that has been a big change for him. Brylar is in her second year of preschool at church. She likes school, is a little bit (sometimes a lot) of a drama queen, has TONS of energy, loves playing with Chella, and is getting pretty good at writing her letters. She played spring and fall soccer, did gymnastics this summer, and goes to Awana Cubbies. Chella is very smart. If she sees her clothes laid out (or sometimes finds them in her drawers) she will dress herself - sometimes the arms are through the neckhole or shirts are upside down, but she‘s actually pretty good! She likes to color or do anything that big sister is doing. Chella doesn’t like to talk a lot, yet (strange in this family, I know). Mom says she’s a little spoiled, and she’s probably right J
I stay busy with the kids, helping with VBS and Christmas program, and I am now writing freelance for the local weekly newspaper. I love it!
We had another very full year. We found out the last week of 2012 that we would leave for Ukraine on January 26th. Our January was filled with Anden’s basketball games (Brian and Daryl coached) and some Rockets games, too. One weekend, we took a family trip to CocoKeys (indoor water park hotel). Anden and Brylar had agreed to forego birthday parties for a whole weekend there, and it was a great time! The whole month was also spent preparing for our trip to Ukraine. Mom came up a few days before we left so she could stay with Anden and Brylar for 2 weeks. Brian’s parents and Mom took us up to the airport so they could see us off. At that point, we had no idea how long we would be gone. I can’t even tell you how hard it was to leave them. Knowing it was the only way to bring home our other son was the thing that got us through it.
We are very blessed that Brian has a job that can be done remotely. He was able to work most of the time he was there, so it minimized the amount of vacation he had to use. Since he needed to keep the same hours, though, he worked until 1 or 2 in the morning. That was fine; we had lots of down time just waiting for the next court date or paperwork. The kids were with Mom for 2 weeks, then she went home. They stayed with Dennis and Janelle for the next 2 weeks. Brian finally got to go home 1 day shy of 4 weeks. From the time Mom left until I got back, my wonderful friend Ashley watched Brylar during the day while Brian worked. There were so many people who helped us along the way and took care of things at home as they were needed. God really provided everything we needed. After Brian left, Chella and I stayed in Ukraine another 4 weeks before we were finally able to bring Viktor HOME for good! There were so many experiences and stories to tell that it took about 40 blog entries. From 15 hour train rides to food-ordering mishaps to wild charades trying to communicate to Ukrainian wedding crashing-They are ALL on my blog. If you have a chance, check it out! www.OfCourseIHaveDuctTape.blogspot.com
While we were gone, the kids had the Awana Grand Prix, Anden had some Cub Scout events, and his basketball games continued.
Finally, on March 21st, Viktor, Chella, and I arrived in Lincoln to be greeted by Brian, the kids, Dennis, Janelle, and several friends. I could have hugged them all for hours! It was so good to be home. I unintentionally reset my jetlag within just 2 days. I just slept a little Thursday night, a little Friday night, and by Saturday night I could go to sleep at a decent time again! Viktor took a little longer, but that’s okay.
Brian’s company gives some adoption-related time off, but you can only use it after it’s final. So, we decided to use that time for a trip to Tennessee the next week for Easter! While there, we met my cousin’s newest additions, Sasha and Sonja, from Latvia! What fun for Viktor to be able to chat with cousins in Russian his first week in America. It was a busy trip including lots of eating with family and friends, a day at Playside (huge indoor playground) with the cousins, some spoiling by Meme, getting new ball gloves for both boys from Uncle David, playing lots of catch, and train dominoes, of course. On our road trip home, we stopped for lunch and to meet my friend Becca in Nashville. Becca and her husband are adopting one of Viktor‘s roommates from the orphanage, but it is taking longer due to the Ukrainian paperwork for him. They were down visiting her parents, so it was a perfect time for us to meet! We had a great time getting to visit on our way to the hotel for the night. The next day, we stopped at the St. Louis Arch and rode up in it - something we hadn’t done since Anden was 3.
About a week after our return, Viktor started working through Rosetta Stone at home. We had decided that the best solution was to home-school the remainder of the year and have him start school in the fall. We also worked on some math, but we knew the English was the most important! Viktor and Anden started baseball practices. Brylar played soccer. I use that term loosely because she’s not quite yet “into” sports. So, she mainly looked cute and ran around the field. Viktor, Chella, and I joined in on her preschool trip to the zoo, and that was a lot of fun! Also, Katie and Luke became parents when our niece, Audriella was born!
In May, baseball games started, and we were running all directions watching the boys play. They both loved it, though, so it was worth it! We went to Brylar’s preschool program, soccer picnic, and Awana awards. We also enjoyed a graduation party for Brian’s cousin, Aubree (who was a flower girl in our wedding if that tells you how old we’re getting). It was so great to see all Janelle’s family - had a blast! Memorial Day weekend, Brian and the boys helped out with demolition and remodeling Daryl and Rachel’s kitchen. Then, the next week was Vacation Bible School. Viktor jumped right in with the other youth and helped out with games. It was lots of fun!
Our first camping trip didn’t happen until the first weekend in June! We went out with Grotrians to a place down in Kansas. It’s called Sycamore Springs, and it was beautiful! I have FOUND my favorite place to camp. Everyone had a great time. Grotrians left after breakfast Sunday, and we hung around for the onsite church service. As luck (aka God) would have it, the pastor had spent time in Russia and was able to converse pretty easily with Viktor! The rest of June was fast and busy. After staying relatively cool during May, it got REALLY hot! We continued going to baseball games all month long. Anden had Bright Lights Camp (where he did chess) and also Cub Scout Camp. This year, after checking out all the garage sales during Unadilla Days (our town’s fun weekend in June) and running to a baseball game, we went down to do the festivities at the park. There was a GIANT waterslide on the hill. We went down thinking we’d be there for about an hour. It was so much fun that we were there the rest of the afternoon and stuck around for the dinner and tractor pull. Brian even did the tractor pull and was joined by his uncle Randy - lol! After kids all were settled in jammies, I got to go hang out with girlfriends for awhile.
We headed to Tennessee again for July 4th. We had family picnics, played lots of dominoes, went to Playside, and just enjoyed time with family. Granny was in the nursing home, and we went over to visit her several times that week. Back home, Brylar had a lot of fun taking swim lessons with her friends for a week. The weekend of Germanfest, we hosted a chaperone from Ukraine. She was visiting with the New Horizons summer hosting program. I think we wore her out! Germanfest is always a great time - wiener dog races, pancake feed, kids’ fun downtown, parade, German dancing, etc. That’s just the stuff in the afternoon! I made borscht for supper, and the chaperone went to bed after that. Brian and I took the kids over to Dennis and Janelle’s to watch fireworks. Then, my awesome husband took the kids home and I went to the street dance with friends. Sunday, we went to the Omaha zoo! It’s exhausting walking around all over the place, but there is so much to see! We really enjoyed ourselves.
On Friday the 19th, Mom called to say that Granny had passed away. Brian was at the store with Viktor at the time. I took Chella upstairs to wait for him to get home and figure out our plan. Chella picked up a snow globe and handed it to me. Dad had given me years ago. It made me laugh and cry thinking about the scene in heaven that day - Dad playing his guitar singing some crazy song to make Granny laugh. It actually gave me a lot of peace. I spent the next few hours getting everyone packed so we could leave the next day for Tennessee. On the way down, we made a special pitstop in Kentucky about 4 hours from Mom’s house. Viktor’s best friend from Ukraine was in America being hosted. His host family was on vacation there. Viktor got to sit and have ice-cream with Misha for about 20-30 minutes. It was short, but we’re thankful they got the chance to see each other. We spent the next week with family. Monday, I was standing at my Mom's kitchen sink watching my kids running around the yard playing. I thought how my Mom stood at that same sink watching us play as kids and smiled. Then, I thought of how, just 2 houses down, my Granny had done the same thing when my Mom and her siblings were kids. It really is a circle, and we all live on in the ones who come after us. Granny will live on for a very long time in all of us who came from her and continue to pass on her humor and love of family. Her funeral was on Viktor’s birthday (which is shared with my cousin‘s twin boys, and his girls‘ birthday is 2 days later). We had a big party for all 5 kids that Wednesday at their house. Thursday, Mom and Meg kept Chella and sent Brian and I with the other kids to Lake Winnie (amusement park). It was tiring, but definitely a good time. We headed home Saturday.
August was a blur. Anden got a part in “The Princess and the Pea.” He had a lot of fun going to rehearsals every day with his friend, Hannah. They did a fantastic job! We had our usual fun at the fair, and then, before I knew it, school started! We went camping our final 2 weekends - once with church friends (that included 13 kids in all) at Sycamore Springs, and once with other friends at Indian Caves. Brian is ready to chuck the camper over a cliff, though, because the cables are not working right. It’s a good thing we’re in Nebraska with no cliffs because he was so frustrated I think he actually might have done it! It was an “RV” moment when people from neighboring campers came over to offer their help in getting the thing popped up using screw drivers, hammers, WD40, or whatever else they needed.
The girls and I went to Tennessee the first weekend in September for Meghan’s baby shower. It was a great girlie weekend! The girls were awesome travelers, and (most of) the other passengers were helpful. We returned just in time for Brylar and Anden to start fall soccer. Brylar started preschool, went to preschool library time, kids started back to Awanas, we had a progressive dinner at church, Brian went on Anden’s field trip with him, and we saw lots of Rockets volleyball and football. Viktor was nominated as freshman representative to the Homecoming Court and won! He went to the dance the next night-talk about weird for me to be dropping off a kid at a high school dance!
In October, I started writing freelance for the local weekly newspaper. I really love writing, and I am at tons of community events anyway. It’s actually quite perfect for me! I feel very blessed to have the opportunity. More football, volleyball, and soccer games filled up lots of time. On the 10th, Viktor was sworn in officially as a citizen! Because he was over 13 at the time of adoption, he had to go swear in. Younger kids are not required to do this. We all went up to Omaha for the day and had lunch at our friend Mary’s house afterwards. Of COURSE we had our annual Halloween Party. This year, we were Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf. It was a super-fun night! Unfortunately, on Halloween the football team had a playoff game, so Viktor didn’t get to do much trick-or-treating since he‘s in band.
Meghan and Joe welcomed our niece, Greenleigh, into the world a week early on November 3rd. I had to wait almost 2 months until I got to see her! Chella turned 2 the next week, and, just like Anden and Brylar, she is in LOVE with Elmo! Of course I made another Elmo cake J
I directed the church children’s Christmas program again this year, so we had weekly practices all month. Brylar also did a 6 week gymnastics class in Lincoln with cousin Haleigh. We celebrated Thanksgiving Day at Grandpa Werner’s house with all the family. I went all night shopping with friends. Well, not all night, but close enough. Friday, we went to the tree farm where Viktor picked out our tree that we put up that evening. Saturday, we had Thanksgiving with Janelle’s family. The kids started a game of spoons - a very loud, semi-violent, filled-with-laughter game of spoons. It was great!
With December came basketball! Viktor is on the basketball team, and he really likes it. He didn’t play, yet, but for now he’s mainly learning basics. Tannenbaum was the first weekend, and we went downtown for all the festivities - crafts, Santa, tree-lighting. Viktor and Anden both got to go hunting with Uncle D. They didn’t get anything, but I think froze and saw a few other animals besides deer! We had the church Christmas program, Brylar’s preschool program, and Viktor’s band concert all the week before we packed up to leave. Our Christmas week in Tennessee was great! Meghan and Joe were up, so we had a full house at Mom’s. We spent lots of time with family, did some shopping, and just enjoyed our time together. We ended the year at Gameapalooza! It was another full, amazing, blessed year. We hope that it was wonderful for you as well.
Brian, Laramie, Anden, Brylar, Chella, and Viktor
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