Kimball's Coming Home

Yesterday yet another family arrived home from Ukraine after having adopted 2 boys.  This cute family had a very long trip, with many twists and turns.  They arrived in Ukraine just a few weeks after we did.  They had hosted a brother/sister and wanted to adopt them.  Things didn't work out quite as planned, however, when they found out they were just a little too old for the younger of the siblings.  Despite traveling across the world to try and get the two of them, they were not allowed by the government.  Disappointed, but not giving up, they decided to travel about as far away from Kiev as you can get to meet a boy that had been recommended to them.  They decided to adopt him and then also decided to adopt a younger boy from the same orphanage.  A happy ending after all! :)  Welcome home, Kimball's!

Us waiting.  Kim, Nan, Andreas, Anne and I were all there.

This cute girl (Anastasia) was just adopted last August.  She was from the same orphanage as these two boys and her mom is the one to suggest them to Christy.

Little One and Heather (Anne's) had fun together while we waited.

Finally they come out!

Happy faces all around.

More hugs

She was saying he's gotten taller since she saw him in August!

Christy and Nan

Kimball's

My traditional picture. :)

Friends

Checking out the camera

More friends. :)

Playing on the escalator

Improvements and Poker Chips

So far so good on things still being better.  I was afraid after my last post that it was going to be more along the lines of, "famous last words."  Not so.  At least yet.  LOL

I still get attitude now and again.  It's usually short lived though.  There was a green bean incident a few days ago.  She doesn't like them and said they'd make her throw up.  Now, I know there are some things I just don't like to eat.  If she would confine comments about throwing up to a select few things I probably wouldn't make her eat those things.  When it's anything she doesn't feel like eating though....  She was very dramatic about putting a bean in her mouth and then grabbing her drink with both hands (very quickly, mind you) in order to wash the bean down in one piece.  Good grief.  I just ignored her, for the most part, until I couldn't stand it.  I offered to show her what she looked like.  I did and then asked her if it was cute.  She still complained about eating the rest of them (she'd only been given a few) but at least the drama was gone.

The glasses have gotten slightly better.  She's been taking them off at school, I've found out.  Now that I've been on her again, she's been better.  At least the last couple of days, she has.  She's also having trouble teasing the boys still.  I've talked to her about it again so hopefully that will diminish as well.

We're a couple of weeks into our new poker chip system.  There are 4 colors and each is a certain time.  Red = 15min, blue = 30 min, Green = 45 min, and black = 1 hour.  On Sunday both girls get 2 hours worth of chips.  These are to be used for anything electronic.  Movies, computer time, iPod time, Skype, Wii, etc....  If we watch a movie together it doesn't cost them time, but if they want to do it on their own (or even the two girls) then it does cost them.  Every once in awhile I will give "free" time as well, but never when asked for.  It's actually been working out quite well.  At first I thought 2 hours wouldn't be enough for a week, but considering that Grandma's house is free and the limited time they really have to use them anyway...it's worked out well.  It's also good incentive to be good.  Like Ira got 30 minutes taken away the other day for not having been wearing her glasses at school.  Little One gets time taken away when she keeps refusing to speak English.  It's more like Engski.

Ira is doing quite well on her English.  She still has interesting words for things though.  Root beer was "blueberry." LOL  She also called her toes, "fingers."  Makes me wonder if they have the same word for both fingers and toes in Russian.  Speaking of toes, she showed me last night that she can play cats cradle (remember that string game??) with herself.  She uses her toes as well.  Quite the talent. :)

We've had lots of rain lately which has made for an adaptation on my running schedule.  Now that I'm far enough into the program that it's a straight run I can go up to Mom and Dad's and run on the elliptical machine.  I've been really enjoying the difference.  It works my thighs a lot more than street running.  Street running works my lungs more though, so both are good.  I like switching it up during the week.  The nice thing about the elliptical machine too is that I'm still plugged into my iPod but I can set it down and watch something instead of just listening to music.  Yesterday I watched a Star Trek: Next Generation episode and it was awesome. :)

Things have been steadily improving over the last few days.  We've had our bumps and such, but not quite the major tantrums we'd been having.  The funny thing is that when one is good, the other tends to make up for it, but I suppose that's normal.  The last couple of days though they've even both been good, for the most part.

Last Wednesday there was no fight about going to YW's.  That was nice.  Winter picked her up and had other girls in the car, which was good.  I did insist she wear her glasses, which she wasn't happy about, but she went without complaint.  I'm of the opinion right now that if she wants to go (and I will encourage that) then she can go.  If not, she doesn't have to.  If she decides to get baptized in the future then it might be more of a "you need to go" (at least to most activities) but for now, that's where I'm at.

Friday night I finally got to see our DVD of Tangled.  Everyone else had seen it, but I'd been busy doing other things and hadn't yet.  That was nice.  I still liked it. :)

Saturday was a nice day.  I started it out by running.  This time my schedule said that I was on a 25 minute straight run.  It wasn't too bad.  This week though, I'm on 3 days of 28 minute runs and then next week it's 3 days of 30 minute runs.  That will finish up the Couch to 5K program and then I'm not sure what I'll do.  I've been missing my Wii Active game so maybe I'll start doing that along with running.  Who knows.

That evening we were invited up to our friend's house in Layton.  Our other friends from Utah County were also invited.  It was a very nice night.  We all visited while the kids played.  Ira is from a different orphanage than these other 5 kids were from so it took a bit for her to warm up to them.  She was mad about her glasses (these are the first Ukrainian kids that have seen her in them) and took them off whenever she thought we weren't looking.  Still, by the end she was visiting with the other girls.  Little One had a hard time at first as well.  She was pretty cuddly, which was awesome for me.  It didn't take too long though and she was out with the other kids as well.  It was nice to visit.  Another friend that's leaving for Ukraine next week also stopped by for a minute.  That was awesome too. :)

Sacrament meeting wasn't great.  She had a major attitude the whole meeting.  She kept asking me over and over if we could go home.  She was tired.  I told her she could take a nap after church.  She kept getting louder too and when I told her to "sh" she told me no.  I asked if she really wanted everyone to hear her argue with me and that made her quiet for a least a minute.  The funny thing is that once she got into Sunday School she was just fine.  Everyone said they loved her glasses (even the boys) and that really helped.

All in all though, things have been going much better.  I'm still worried about what we're going to do for the summer, but I suppose we'll figure that out.  I can tell you that I'm super excited for girl's camp. LOL

The Saga Continues

I knew yesterday was going to be rough.  Monday when I picked her up from school we went up to Mom and Dad's for a little bit.  She complained because she wanted to do contact.  I'm ready to throw that out the window, but I won't.  Yet, at least.  She cried when I told her she had to wear her glasses to school the next day and then wouldn't even wear them inside Mom and Dad's.  Big fight getting her to even get out of the car.  Again, I love Little One more than her, Little One gets to do all these things that she doesn't, she doesn't want to live. *rolls eyes*

So, I was quite surprised when I didn't get a fight Tuesday morning until we were in the car at the school.  She didn't want to put them on and wasn't going to get out of the car.  I told her I'd send her teacher out for her.  She followed us in.  (The one nice thing is that when Ira is being especially delightful, Little One is much better behaved.)  She wanted to stay outside with her friends, but I was mean and made her come inside with me.  She laughed when the door was locked, but wasn't laughing when we went in another way instead.  She still refused to put them on while the teacher told me some of what she's been doing in class.  She is really good at math, but teases the boys a lot.  She is much more aggressive with them than any of the other girls, even though it's only in fun.  Anyway, we agreed that she was to have no recess if she took her glasses off during the day.  Otherwise, she could take them off FOR recess.  It was after the bell rang when I left and I had to put her glasses on her myself.  I even had to ask if she really wanted all these kids (as they were filtering in by then) to see her have a tantrum.

When I went to pick her up, the teacher said she'd refused to wear them all day.  First recess was inside so that wasn't much of a punishment, but the other two she'd been inside.  I guess she decided it was better to not play than to have to wear her glasses.  Little stinker.  I told her she was in trouble and of course I started to hear all about how I love Little One more than her.  She lost every privilege that night.  Even though she'd had to go to the dr. to get some immunizations, poor girl.  DTP was one of them and I know how much that one hurts.

Today I took her inside as well.  This time I'd told her she had until lunch time to prove she'd wear them.  I left my cell number with the teacher and asked her to call me if she wasn't wearing them.  I'd come down and sit by her to make sure she'd wear them.  I guess the threat of having her mother sit by her for even half a day was enough because she'd actually done it.  She'd gotten to take them off for PE, lunch and recess, but had worn them the rest of the time.  Hallelujah!  She wanted to take them off once we were home, but I haven't let her.  She was especially mad when I made her wear them to mutual (and since she's still there and I'm not, I hope she's actually still got them on.)  It's an all day, every day thing now.  Her eyes are bad enough that she needs them all the time.

We've got major attitude almost all the time though and I'm really getting tired of the constant contention.

In other news, I forgot to mention that I got to go to BYU with Little One and Mom and Dad last week.  It was the last week of the Carl Bloch exhibit at the art museum.  It was amazing and I loved it. :)  The paintings of Christ (and other biblical stories) were wonderful and the iPad tour really made it much more interesting.  The alter paintings were huge and beautiful.  As Mom said, his stuff is beautiful up close as well as far away.  When you look at a lot of paintings up close by other artists all you see are globs of paint and such.  His are different.  It was very good and I'm glad I got the chance to go see it.  Ira decided to stay at school instead of come with us.

Faber's Coming Home

After such a trying week last week it was so nice to go to the airport on Friday night to see my friend Anne come home from Ukraine with her 3 new kids.  Anne and I live quite close to each other and she was actually who got me into this in the first place.  I didn't know her at the time.  She was just a name on a Yahoo group that posted about a hosting program they were planning on participating in, but it has been such a privilege to get to know her.  I can't believe I forgot to get one of my traditional pictures of someone's digital camera though!  Bummer!

Ira was quite excited to see these three.  Every other time we've gone she wants to go, but then just stands there and won't talk to any of them.  Anne and Tony also hosted another girl that was from Ira's orphanage so she got to know these three kids a little last fall.  Then, as Anne went back to finish up all the paperwork for them, we all Skyped a few times.  She was much more chatty with them and, as you can tell from the pictures, was following them around everywhere!

Ira giving Heather a hug

Jonathon, Anne, Hyrum and Ira.  Heather is behind Hyrum

Shaking Grandpa's hand

More Grandpa handshakes

Jonathon

Hyrum

Heather

Anne and Tony

Faber family (minus 3 of their boys)

There were some better smiles in this one. :)

With Grandma and Grandpa

Again, with the smile thing.

Visiting

Everyone there!

Hyrum was pulling the funniest faces so I had to put all of these on here.

Not sure why the "sad" face. LOL

As we were waiting for them to come out I happened to look over at some families waiting for missionaries to come home and see my friend, Eleena.  That was very cool!  She was there waiting to meet her brother-in-law that was already on his mission when she got married last summer.  Guess where he was coming from?  Russia.  Talk about a small world!  Eleena and I took turns taking pictures of "the group" so I actually got to be in the group pictures this time. :)

Actually, come to think of it, the group pictures didn't have everyone there because a couple of people showed up not too long after we took this.  Including my friend, Nan.  The funny thing is that neither Nan, Kerry or I wanted to go home at all.  We've all been struggling with our girls and were quite enjoying the time away.  We stood there talking for awhile, even after everyone else had left.  Nan offered to take me home since I live on the way for her and so Husband took the girls home to get them to bed and the three of us kept chatting away.  Before we knew it, it was 2:30 am!  It was a good thing I was with Nan because we had a bit of trouble on the way home with the back of her van being open, but we couldn't get it to open ALL the way so we could shut it.  With the two of us it was fine, but being on the side of the freeway at 2:30 in the morning by herself wouldn't have been so good. LOL  It was a wonderful night/morning though and I really enjoyed it!

Welcome home, Faber's!

What a Week...New Glasses

This week was...well.  It was.  Somehow I survived it though and we are all still alive to tell about it.  I wasn't sure I was going to make it.  Either that, or Ira.

I've known since the hosting program that Ira needed glasses.  Little One also needed some (though I suspected not as bad) so they both had eye dr. appointments on Tuesday.  First, I took Little One and she was super nervous.  I tried to explain to her what it's like and that's it's actually really kinda cool.  She was super clingy, but did awesome.  The dr. let me sit on the chair with her on my lap and that helped a ton.  Pretty soon she was doing great and VERY excited to pick out frames.  She got some cute pinky purple ones with hearts on them.  She should get them tomorrow.

Then I went to pick Ira up from school and take her to the dr. as well.  That didn't go over so well.  She was mad the whole way there.  I told her that even the dr. in Ukraine had said she needed glasses.  She said, "Ukraine dr." and then did a gun to her head thing.  I told her I'm sorry she thought the dr. there was stupid, but she needed glasses and that's where we were going.

We got there and I'd already filled out the paperwork for her when I was there for Little One.  She was taken back to do the preliminary stuff and she tried hard to refuse to do what she needed to.  Including the "I don't understand" thing when I knew she could.  We were then taken into the actual exam room and she sat there and sobbed (yeah, not just cried) while she played on my iPod as we waited for the dr.  He walked in and said we weren't doing well with  either girl today. LOL  She was a little more cooperative with him than she'd been with the lady that did the other stuff, but she was still had a very bad attitude.  Sure enough, her eyes are really bad.  Like almost as bad as mine already.

Then came the fun of picking out frames.  I had her sit down and the lady asked what her favorite colors were.  She said, "Nothing."  The lady said she'd pick out something that she thought would fit her and we'd go from there.  As soon as she turned around Ira pushed all her hair in front of her face like Cousin It.  She refused to try any frames on, so I put them on her myself.  As soon as I'd get one on she'd rip them off and make gagging sounds.  Seriously??  Are we 12 or are we 2?  She was arguing with me the whole time too.  Sometimes in English, sometimes in Russian.  It's probably good I didn't understand her or I imagine we'd have been headed home to wash her mouth out. LOL  It came down to 3 different frames and she REFUSED to pick.  I told her I would if she didn't, and after MANY attempts to get her to pick she still wouldn't.  I picked some cute blue ones.  They go really well with her eyes and look really nice on her.

I heard all kinds of fun things.  She doesn't like blue.  (Well, she had plenty of chances to pick different ones.) She isn't going to wear them.  If I like blue, I can wear them.  Why won't I let her get contacts? (We're not dealing with a super responsible child here.  I'm not going to do contacts unless she shows me she can take care of glasses first.)  She doesn't want to live.  Everyone is going to laugh at her.  She's going to lock herself in her room and never come out.  She won't ever eat.  I don't love her, I only love Karissa.  She wants Ukraine. *sigh*  No, I don't take it personally, but it's still very frustrating.

You can imagine how things went on Thursday when I got a call saying her glasses were ready.  Pretty much the same as trying on frames.  I had to haul her little hide outside and tell her to knock it off.  She is 12, not 2.  Getting her to keep the stupid things on was fun too.  I told her she had to wear them.  It wasn't a choice.  If she didn't (or if she lost/broke them) then there would be no discussion of contacts at all.  There would be no Wii, no TV, no contact (Russian FB), no friends, nothing.  And, I only made her wear them for an hour that first day.  I remember I'd get a headache whenever I'd get a new prescription so I didn't want to do that to her.

Having her wear them on Friday after school was fun too.  She doesn't want anyone to see her in them so I was mean and made her wear them to my parent's house.  I had to pull over 3 times because she kept taking them off.  Then she wouldn't put them on when she walked into the house.  She finally did though and kept them on for the 2 hours that day.  Yesterday she did fine with it was 3 hours so hopefully we're pretty must past that now.  Tuesday will be hard because that's the first day I told her she'd have to wear them to school. I'm going to walk her in that day and talk with her teacher.  I don't care if she leaves them with her teacher for recess, but she needs to wear them the rest of the time.

I'm getting really sick of all the tantrums.  Holy cow.  Today has actually been nice though.  There was only a small fight to go to church and she's been fairly pleasant since then.  Maybe we're on a little bit of an uphill climb now?  I hope?  I'm not sure how much farther down this roller coaster can go so hopefully we're going up. :)  I hope to get pictures when she's up to the thought of that.

Advanced Photography Class

I mentioned that I took an advanced photography class last week and promised pictures.  Here are some of my favorites.