Our One Year Anniversary!

Kali has been here over a year now and is amazing! We thought helping a six year-old transition into our family and culture would be much more difficult than it has been. She quickly learned English and fit in with her new siblings. The girls have gotten along since day one.  Our youngest (4 years old) and Kali were jealous of my attention at the beginning.  They loved each other, but didn't really want to share mom.  So I often had two girls on my lap and fighting for my attention. That can still happen but not all that often.

I worked with Kali at home from last March through the summer getting her ready for Kindergarten.  I don't think she had used scissors before or had done much, if any, coloring.  So we worked on fine motor skills, learning letters, and letter sounds, I read aloud a lot of books (fair tales, classics, our family favorites, etc.). She did both Kumon and Get Ready for the Code workbooks. She attended Sunday School and Wed morning preschool (where I am the teacher) at church during the women's Bible study.  By mid-August she was very ready for Kindergarten and has done very well.

She sleeps well and the range of what she will eat continues to expand. She really likes meat, plain pasta, gogurts, and fruit. She loves pizza and ice cream! She has been very healthy. She is tiny, under 3% in height, but has gotten closer to the growth chart 3% line over the last year!

Overall, she has had very few issues, but she has had daily tantrums or meltdowns.  As an example, about a month ago, Brad and I drove separately to church and he went home first with a few of the kids.  Kali didn't notice they were leaving.  When they were gone she said she wanted to go with dad.  I told her he had already left and she sat down on the ground and refused to move. After about 10 minutes I ended up carrying her to the car while she cried and flailed. Fortunately, she is not very big so I can carry her.  In the last month the meltdowns and whining have been greatly reduced! Her maturity has taken a big leap in the last several weeks. She is usually pretty easy going now. She has always been truthful and considerate of other people's feelings. And she has been affectionate and cuddly since early in our relationship.

We are very blessed to have Kali in our family and love her dearly!

Sisters and Best Friends

Amy and Kali are best friends as well as sisters. They play together all day and have started dressing in matching outfits whenever they can.  They are so cute together. This picture was at Chuck E Cheese last summer for Amy's birthday.  It was Kali's half birthday and so we had a double birthday party. It was just our family and I think it was one of the most fun parties I have ever been to.  The two girls were so excited and cute. I am so blessed to be their mom.

Funny Stories

One of the best parts of having many children is that there is something pretty humorous everyday.  We also have at least one person cry and usually a couple of siblings arguing - but there is a lot to laugh about.

My friend, Crysta, reminded me of a couple of funny Kali stories:  Brad and I try to go out for dinner a couple times a month.  The two youngest girls don't really like us going without them.  One night Kali told Brad and I she didn't want us to go.  Brad told her it was important for us to go once in awhile.  Kali told him that he could out, but not mom. And she said, "find another mom to take out."  Brad thought that was funny, but I explained to her that he was not allowed to take another mom out to dinner:)

When we decided to adopt again, I asked the two youngest if they wanted another sibling.  Amy said in 4 year old fashion, "we is enough." Kali agreed.  Then I asked, what if it is another child from Ethiopia?  Kali's eyes lit up and she rubbed her hands together and said oh, yes! Then I said we were planning on adopting a little boy from Ethiopia. Kali looked disappointed and irritated.  "A boy??! Why would we want a boy?" Now they both seem to warming up to the idea and agree his pictures are cute.

Our oldest is getting ready to take his behind the wheel test to get his driver's license.  This has made driving and cars a hot topic at our house. Our almost 15 year old can hardly wait for his turn and is talking about saving up to buy Brad's car in a year. Yesterday he asked Amy, who will start Kindergarten next year, if she would like him to drive her to first grade.  She said, "No, I will have my own car." Expectations are apparently very high in our family!

We are so lucky in this country!

Yesterday, as I drove the girls home in the car, I told them that tomorrow night we are going to a dinner at the Christian high school.  Our oldest is a senior and his soccer team is having a dinner to honor the senior players. The girls were very excited, particularly since we don't go out for dinner very often.

Kali said, "We are so lucky in this country." I asked her why she thought so.  She said because we get to celebrate holidays and sometimes go out to dinner. So cute!  She has had a wonderful time celebrating Thanksgiving, Christmas and Valentine's day. This really warmed my heart. She is still in transition and frequently whines to me when she doesn't get her own way. I am trying to help all of the kids have grateful hearts and it is a blessing to hear Kali being thankful without prompting.

A really big family!

Many times people react with suprise when Brad or I say we have 7 children (soon to be eight).  In Silicon Valley families tend to be small, so we do stand out a bit.

But the Kayes family is a really big family - they have 19 children, 16 adopted internationally.  I was blessed and inspired by watching the video interview below with Joe and Nancy Kayes.  What an awesome couple - they are the kind of people I would like to be when I grow up:) I loved hearing about some of their fears as they adopted and how they learned to just take things one day at a time.  God has truly blessed them.
http://www.facinglife.tv/episode/season_3/episode_16/episode_316.html

Kali's birthday

Kali just turned 7 and had her first birthday party.  We invited all the little girls in the afternoon kindergarten.
Kali was so excited and had a great time!

All Kali's sisters (and one brother) had a great time too!

Russian and Ethiopian Christmas!

For the last 6 years we have celebrated Russian Orthodox Christmas on Jan 7.  Ethiopia also celebrates Christmas on Jan 7, so this year we had Russian and Ethiopian Christmas.  Our friends who also have a Russian son celebrate with us.  My mom and her husband and Brad's parents joined us. We had great food and a fun time!