Yesterday marks being home one week! Our week has gone by very fast. We are so thankful that Angelica has been adjusting well and our children are loving every minute with her! On Sunday Jason said that he heard Angelica say “I love you” to Zoey when she walked into the kitchen. Less than two days at home and she was ready to show affection and say I love you on her own. Praise the Lord that she feels comfortable and is so happy to be a part of our family! She gives hugs to each of the children, says “I love you” to everyone at night and other times during the day, tries to make Caleb (age 5) laugh when he gets upset, plays with all of the children as a group or individually, calls me Mommy and Jason Daddy, prays in Russian at night, and is learning habits and routines quickly. Angelica loves to help set the table, prepare meals, help clean up after meals, and she is willing to help with other chores the other children are doing. She has already gotten practice doing dishes with Zoey, folding laundry and is learning how to put away her clothes neatly in her drawers. She is an eager learner which has made it easier to teach these things!

On Monday the children played so well together and stayed super busy. They played the games we brought from Ukraine, made a short film on the Ipad, and played Barbies. When Zoey had to leave for basketball practice, Angelica and Mekenzie went to Grandma’s house to play dolls and have some sister bonding time. They both had a lot of fun and they played so well together.

On Tuesday the children had Options, the one day a week when they go to homeschool enrichment classes. Jason has taken this week and next off from work to enjoy time as a family and help with adjustments so he took the children to Options and I stayed home while Angelica slept in until 9:40. (It is taking our bodies some time to adjust to the different time zones.) We had told her the day before that they would be going to school but she was still disappointed when she got up and none of her siblings/ playmates were home. Angelica and I used the time to go through some of her clothes and take out ones that were too big or too small. (It was hard to know exact size when we started getting clothes for her awhile back. When I came home for the week before Christmas, Zoey generously went through her shirts and gave many to Angelica and those have fit her the best.) We got down the bike and helmet we had for Angelica and adjusted it to her size and then we went to have lunch with the kids at Options. The children had wanted to stay home on Tuesday because they did not want to be apart from their sister, so they really liked getting to spend time with her at lunch. Zoey introduced her friends to Angelica which was a little overwhelming to Angelica but she seems to be very adaptable. After lunch we went to the grocery store and Angelica pushed the cart while we quickly got the things on my list. Angelica saw many things she liked but did a great job of understanding we were only buying the things on my list! When we got home Jason and Angelica went on a nice bike ride together while I put away groceries. When they returned, I took her to pick up the children at Options and then took her to drop off Zoey and her friend at basketball practice. When we got home Angelica wanted to ride her bike again so the children went with Jason to the church parking lot near our house to ride around on bikes and scooters.

On Wednesday we started school, not a full 4-5 hour day, but we got in 2 hours of school with all 5 children! Grandma planned out the school for the 4 she has been teaching in my absence and I gathered materials for Angelica. With 3 adults working with 5 children it went smoothly. Angelica worked on addition and subtraction and practicing the alphabet and letter sounds. After 2 hours of school we had lunch and started getting ready to go ice skating. We had to run a few errands to make copies of documents to add Angelica to our health insurance and then we needed to bring the paperwork to Jason’s work. It was a free night at the outdoor ice skating rink in Loveland so we all enjoyed skating, watching the zamboni smooth out the ice, and then skate some more.

On Thursday we did another 2 hours of school in the morning, then we had lunch and went swimming at the Fun Plex. Angelica and the other children went down the big slides many times, they practiced jumping in the deep end, and played tag in the river pool. We took showers at the pool and then went to Grandma’s house for dinner and another Christmas celebration. Grandma had gifts for Angelica and she had saved two gifts for each of the other children. Angelica had so much fun opening her gifts and had even more fun brining them home and putting them away in her room and bathroom. Grandma gave her an Elsa (from the movie “Frozen”) bath towel and bathroom set with a cup and holder for her toothbrush and toothpaste. The other children each have their own bathroom sets so Angelica was thrilled to have one like her siblings. She was also thrilled to get a Rapunzel baby doll and Rapunzel Barbie doll. It is so neat how Grandma had gotten these gifts for her even before we knew one of her favorite princesses is Rapunzel. We continue to see God in so many small details that show His great love for Angelica!

Friday morning Angelica got up earlier than she has since being in America. Maybe her body is adjusting! We did school again in the morning, this time with just me and Jason. I missed Grandma’s help since most of the work with Angelica is one on one. Thankfully everyone was patient with me as we did our best. I have concerns about Angelica’s eye sight so I am thankful I scheduled an appointment back when I was home before Christmas. Early in February Zoey and Angelica will have their eye exams. We should have Angelica’s health insurance card by February 1st so we can get her in to see the doctor soon as well. After school it was lunch time and then we all enjoyed the nice sunshine weather by going to the church parking lot to ride bikes and scooters. Back at home Mekenzie told Angelica that I was leaving in the evening to go to a women’s church event with Grandma. Earlier in the week Jason and I talked about whether it was too soon for me to leave and we both decided Angelica was doing well with adjustment and that it would be healthy for her to see that I leave sometimes but that I come back. When Mekenzie told Angelica, she came running out of her room and hugged me. She knew we were having pizza for dinner so she said, “Mom, pizza dinner?” I explained that she would have pizza with Dad, Zoey, Mekenzie, Levi and Caleb and that I would leave with Grandma and come back after pizza and a movie. She said okay and went back to playing Barbies with Mekenzie. When it was time for me to leave, she hugged me and said, “no mommy,” but then she helped Zoey with the pizza and was fine with me leaving. When I got home the children were in bed but the girls were not asleep yet. Angelica told me she liked the pizza and that they watched Rapunzel. The evening without mom had gone well!

Today the children played Ipad and games before lunch and then we went swimming at the “aqua park” (Family Fun Plex) that everyone loves so much. Thank the Lord for the 3 month membership He gave us!

Praise the Lord for how He has helped our family adjust this week! Praise the Lord that I am finally feeling better! Thursday was the first day I could eat normally since getting sick last Saturday night. Praise the Lord that He has helped me get things done at home and have quality time with the family! As I typed this update, that is serving as my journal as our first days together, I was amazed at all we did and how I managed to fit in laundry, insurance paperwork, post adoption paperwork, unpacking, etc. I give all the credit to God because I have not even felt well this week yet He helped us have fun and get things accomplished! Praise the Lord that a friend from church who is an elementary ESL teacher has offered to work with Angelica. She will come on Sunday for the first meeting and then will come once a week to work with Angelica! What an amazing gift that will be! Praise the Lord that Angelica is learning healthy habits, our family expectations, and English so quickly. The biggest praise is that she is feeling loved and showing love to the family! In so many ways it seems like she has been a part of our family forever.

Please continue to pray for our family as we adjust. We know that we are in the “honeymoon” stage right now so we are praying that when that phase is over we will transition nicely to everyday life. The social worker who conducted our home study is currently on maternity leave so we will be having a visit in a few weeks from a different social worker. Please pray that will go smoothly and that I will be able to complete all the post adoption paperwork that needs to get done soon. Pray for us to make wise decisions about readopting Angelica, which is more like validating the adoption here in Colorado. This will be more paperwork and more expense that seems a little overwhelming right now. We have six months to make our decision so we are praying for God’s direction and provision. Pray also as we prepare a short testimony to share at church next Sunday. May God direct what He wants us to share. The youth pastor will come on Monday to make a video that will be shown at all 3 services at church on January 29. Pray that God will use the testimony to bring Him glory and stir a desire in other peoples’ hearts to care for orphans in the ways He directs.