Finding Bio parents...trip to Ukraine Part 2

On the August 8th, we came to the airport, got on the plane, left our gate...and there was a mechanical problem!

We got back to the gate, and were advised to wait in the line to see if they can change our flight for later.

Fast forward...8 hours later, we are driving home, and have a flight scheduled for next morning, August 9th :)

Kids were super happy to have me back the same day :)

Anyway, we finally were able to fly out of Sacramento on August 9th.
Our flight was, Sacramento-San Francisco, San Francisco - Frankfurt, Frankfurt- Kiev!

We had longer layovers in San Francisco and Frankfurt, and I slept through most of them :)
Danilka was himself, didn't show any signs of nervousness, barely slept, and only got more tired on the last plane...

Around 5 pm (Kiev Time), we landed in Kiev...

The food was good... no complains :) I was too sleepy, ate just tiny bits, and the rest was eaten by my son :) 

Landing in Kiev! 

To be continue...

Finding Bio parents...trip to Ukraine Part 1

Sometime in May 2018, our oldest son Danilka decided to go back to Ukraine to see his Bio dad.
We fully supported his dream! Don't get us wrong, it was not easy...we are people and we have our own insecurities!  We had many what ifs? We didn't show any of it to our son, and told him that we will support him in anything we can! We knew that financially we would not be able to support his dream, with only on person working and feeding 13 of us, it was just not possible. Danilka told us that he will provide, and cover all the expenses for this trip! It was very mature and thoughtful of him!

The plan was to go sometime in August, so we would be back before school starts.
We knew that if he would get any fast food place job, it would not be enough money by the time we travel. Danilk
He decided to try out a farm. A year ago, him and one of the sisters tried, but they were still 15, and not strong enough and it didn't really work. This time he was sure that physically he will be able to do it.

First week of June he started working on the farm! It was  hard work! Every day me or my husband (mostly him) would take him at 5:50 am, and I would pick him up at 2 pm or 4 pm.  He worked 6 days a week, most weeks, until August 7th.

Danilka asked me to go with him...

The tickets were purchased, most things were done, and we were getting closer to our trip. We had tickets for August 8th, Sacramento to Washington DC, Washington DC to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Kiev.

Danilka was so tired... He was falling asleep everywhere... As a mom, I felt so bad... I knew that it was a good life lesson, and experience for him, but still I wished to not see him struggle, and being so exhausted!

To be continue...

Surgery #2 (ear)

On Wednesday our oldest had another surgery, 6/20/18.

She already had one surgery back in February on her right ear, eardrum reconstructive surgery, and it didn't work. Last time doctor used premade material for an eardrums This time doctor used a different material, a muscle from her jaw, and doctor tried to fix her left ear.

We are praying it will work, and she will get a normal hearing.

She been half deaf since she was a small child, and she doesn't even know what is like to have a normal hearing.

Our beautiful daughter deserves to be happy, and be healthy!

We are praying that her hearing will be normal, and she can enjoy her life more!

One week in May 2018

Today is Sunday...tomorrow is a new week...

This week will be almost like any other weeks, except... we will complete one more adoption, adoption of our sweet daughter! RG will be officially Mironyuk :)

Anyway, this post is not about her adoption, it is about a week ahead of us!


Monday-

8:30 am we all have to go to court, to finally adopt our girl :) (details later)

11:30 am- school counselor meeting about IG

1:00 pm-meeting with school specialist about AG

2pm Lunch together as a family in one of the buffets, celebrating adoption day of our daughter!

Tuesday

 our last, official day of school! We will still have our regular school day, which includes:


9:00 am Speech Dimcho
9:00 am speech Denny
9:00  am piano lesson Elliana
9:45 am piano lesson Rose


11:00 am Ilianna special ed tutoring/class at the library
11:15 am I have a meeting with Educational Specialist
12 :00 pm Denny special ed tutoring/class at the library
1:00 pm Ilianna special ed tutoring/class at the library

2:00 pm Dimcho special ed tutoring/class at the library
3:00 pm Daniel J special ed tutoring/class at the library
4:00 pm Dimcho special ed tutoring/class at the library

Wednesday

9:30 am Piano
10:15 Piano
9:00- 9:50 am -school counselor meeting about AG
10:00- 10:50 am -school counselor meeting about RA
11:00- 12:30 pm -school counselor meeting about DJ and DA

1:00 pm-2:00 pm- AG, DJ , RA, DA, EE, SN, DN, DD, EE have Gymnastics

3:00 SN doctor appointment
3:15  DA doctor appointment
3:30  EE doctor appointment


6:40 pm Awana for youngest 5, and the rest of the kids would go to church for other things.


Thursday

9 am Speech DD
8:30 pm-Guitar lesson DA

Friday

12 pm Phone appointment RA (specialist)

Plus, homeschooling, helping each child, and cooking :)

IG is working, and not driving yet. I do take her to work most days (she works 4-5-6 days a week). Some of her coworkers will bring her back, which is a huge blessing, only sometimes we have to go to get her.

This is what I have on my calendar... Most of our weeks looks the same :) We also had tutoring for each child, one hour each week, so if I would post this schedule few weeks back, you would see 10 hours of tutoring :)

RG is driving now, and I use to take her to school each morning, and would pick her up after school. It is a huge relief that she is driving, and taking her everywhere (school, job and activities). Also, when she is home, she will take IG to work, or older kids to church.

Older kids have to be in church few times a week for practices, and etc. and this is my job to take them :)


*** I am posting this just to remember....I know that some day our kids will be out of the house and I will have no one to drive, take care of  and cook for! I am trying to enjoy this time, and actually do get very emotional thinking that someday all of this will be GONE!

Surgery #1

One of the girls, our oldest,  came to us with missing eardrums(big holes in her eardrums), plus a little bone behind an eardrum was partially gone.

It took us sometime to get things settled, and get her an insurance.

We saw two different doctors. First doctor said that it cannot be repaired do to how bad it was damaged. The doctor told us that this surgery needed to be done long, long time ago, and that we lost a lot of time by waiting. :( I asked him to refer us to a different doctor, for a second opinion.

About a week later we saw a different doctor, and this doctor told us that there is a chance, and he was willing to try it...  He said that they will try to use all the materials they have, but he might need to get a piece of her jaw bone to repair missing, little bone in her ear, and might need to use a muscle from her jaw to repair her eardrum.

We were excited to finally schedule her a surgery!  She had her first surgery on February 7, 2018, on her right ear.
Surgery went well, it took them about 1 hour and a half from start to finish. We will see a doctor in first week of March, and will know more how it went and whats in the future. She still can't hear well, hoping for some improvement.

Recovery was hard, but she is so strong, she was in pain but tried hard to be in a positive mood.

She couldn't eat, was dizzy, in pain and didn't really leave her bed for at least 4 days.
I am so happy that it's over, and now is is back to her normal, happy self.

February 2018 Update

I don't even know where to start...It's been a long time since I did any updates or shared any news here or on our blog!

*Most of us were down with a horrible flu for few weeks, at the end we all survived :)

*We are still homeschooling 10 out of 11

*Kids are in grades: 2nd, 4th, 4th, 7th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th

* four kids still taking piano lessons

*two kids are in speech

*ten kids taking gymnastics

*one child takes guitar lessons

*one of the girls just had a surgery, and still recovering

*we have a court scheduled to obtain a legal guardianship for one of the girls

*we started an adoption of our oldest, she is 19, and hopefully will adopt her by summer

*house is almost done, just few little touch-ups and hopefully I will have time to make a video or take a lot of pictures to share it with you

*two oldest girls are working

*Sergey teaching and preparing our oldest for a driving test, and hopefully she will get her Drivers Licence by this summer

Plus there are birthdays, doctor appointments, work, and a lot more going on....Our life is not boring!

***Recent trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium

RG-6 months home

This beautiful young lady joined our family almost 6 month ago! She was 18 when she came to us.

To be honest with you, we thought that we will not make it, and her stay with us will be very short. She came with a lot of trauma, hurt and trust issues!

We are blessed to know God and to believe in HIM, we are thankful that He gave us His eyes! We saw a beautiful, happy, honest, respectful child under all those layers of hate, hurt, and pain! She was like a wild animal when she came to us! She was in survival mode, and her goal was to survive no matter what! She could rely only on herself! She didn’t trust anyone, and we were no one to her!

There are two reasons why I am not sharing everything we went through:

 #1-This is her story to tell, and if someday she wants to share it, it is up to her!

#2-If I share how hard it was for us to love her, and accept her, and how we survived… I will have to share everything what she went through in her life, everything that is still a mystery to us, everything that made her the way she was 6 months ago and today!
The way she was or is, it is not her fault! Life, trauma, not caring adults, made her!She learned to not trust anyone, and hurt everyone who love her! She learned to not attach and to not show emotions!

If it was a hard time for us to accept her, and learn to love her, can you imagine how hard it was for her to trust us, and love us after what she went through?
After her traumatized life as an abandoned child, after spending years, years in the orphanage?!
After all those years, and everything that had happen to her, today she is making progress! She is trying! She is healing!

We are still having issues! We are still working on things, but with God, and His help, with love we can make a difference!

We are thankful to you my dear daughter, thankful for not giving up!

 For not giving up on adults!

For not giving up on family!

For not giving up on your life!

Today, you are still fighting “monsters” from your past, but you are strong, and I and dad know that you can do this! We will do our best to help you with anything you need and we will be there for you! 

Just remember, you are loved!
You are a daughter!
You are a sister!
You have a whole "gang" behind you! Yes, it is not easy to learn to live as a family, and it is not always easy to learn to love, get along with your siblings, but believe me, it is a blessing to have a family! All of us learning to something everyday, and we all have issues to work on! 

We believe in this beautiful lady! 

Please stay the way you are while you dance through this life! We love you!