The Pumpkin Patch

The kindergarten class went on a field trip to the pumpkin patch. We went on a hay ride, through a corn maze, etc. while it was pouring down rain the whole time. So no pictures, too wet to even get the camera out.

So the boys agreed to go with Deanna to the pumpkin patch to get a pumpkin on a nicer day.

We actually went on Halloween Day to a place right by our house, and there were plenty of pumpkins left. Deanna and I carved them later and they turned out great.

HOME A YEAR AND A HALF

We have been home with our daughter for a year and a half, but it really seems like forever. She has gone from a friendly, non-verbal, toddler, to a friendly, outgoing, talkative (but not always completely understandable) little lady.

She is very athletic and has been called a tomboy, but she is really all girl at heart. She loves dressing up and playing with makeup and jewelry. She always says "I want to be just like you mama, all grown up". I tell her to just have fun being a little girl, she will be grown up soon enough!

Socially she is doing great. She loves to play with friends, and prefers this to anything else. She can make a new friend anywhere she goes. Sometimes she comes on a little too strong with people she doesn't know so we have been working on boundaries and taking clues from people.

She loves to go to school and is always ready to go on time. She is great at writing, and beginning to read. Sitting still and listening are a bit more difficult, but progress is being made.

At this point she remembers no Russian at all. She really lost it very quickly because she never spoke it. She has been able to verbalize some memories of the orphanage or "the green building" as we refer to it. She remembers some punishments, as well the the ghost in the bedroom that would get you if you got out of bed. I guess that's how they kept 13 children in the same room from getting up.

She likes frequent reassurance that she is always going to be with us, which we happily give. She is very affectionate and tells us she loves us many times a day. Can't get too much of that!

The Gymnast

Deanna is really loving gymnastics, and is quickly progressing. When I found out they make a home gymnastics bar I had to get one for her. Being a former gymnast, I would have loved to have this when I was young. We don't have a play structure so she needs things to burn some energy. She doesn't have great arm strength, but this should do the trick.

Our Newest Addition

We have recently added a third dog to our happy dog-loving family! This was not something we intended to do, but we learned of an elderly couple entering an assisted living facility who were looking for a good home for their 10 month old puppy. She is a purebred pekingese, housebroken, crate trained, with shots and been spayed. She is very sweet and gentle, and of course Deanna LOOOOOVES her. What more could you ask for.

A girl and her dog

Someone else loves the dog too

Last month Jeremy and Jordan, along with Jordan's friend Dave moved to an apartment. Boo Hoo!! (I still have hopes they will come back at some point)

Jeremy has not lived here full time for three years, but this is the first time they both are gone. We do miss them very much, but the groceries do last much longer. Also, they don't live far away and still come back to help with Deanna when we are at work. I appreciate that VERY MUCH!!!!

Picture courtesy of Deanna

Deanna is loving kindergarten and reading sentences. I think her reading skills will pass up her verbal skills! Verbally however she is making great progress. We continue to go to private speech therapy weekly and have just started speech therapy at the elementary school. Deanna has great writing and art skills but she has trouble sitting still and keeping her hands to herself during "carpet" time. She also has trouble keeping her hands off things she likes. Many, many times I hear "she sure has a lot of energy". I still think this is all due to lack of experience rather than ADHD. It sure is hard to be still when you are so darn happy!

More Soccer

We had our first soccer game last weekend. Deanna made at least 6 goals! (we don't keep score) She really enjoys it. I heard a parent from the other team say "that girl is gooood!"
We have been enjoying really warm weather so far this fall. I'll appreciate it now because soon enough we will be watching soccer in the pouring rain. Maybe her brothers can catch a game sometime....hint hint.

Look Who's Six!

Deanna had a fun sixth birthday. She loves the attention. Her birthday was Friday, so she had cupcakes at school with her friends. Then we took her out to Red Robin for dinner where she enjoyed being sung to.

On Saturday we had a nice family birthday party. She loved all of her gifts and she told me "I'm so happy I got so many toys!" We got her a Disney Princess clock radio that tells stories. She really loved this. I taught her to stay in bed in the morning until the clock said 08:00! It worked!

Its so nice to see such a happy girl celebrating her birthday for only the second time in her life.

Back to School

Hanging out at the Beach

Love that Rosie!!!

We finished up the summer with some fun time at the beach. Deanna and I started out the trip and Jon joined us a couple days later. Deanna has discovered miniature golf and kite flying. We all had a great time and enjoyed great weather.

Today was the first day of Kindergarten! Deanna is going to a private kindergarten, with a small class size and a great teacher. She really needs to be back in school as she is getting bored. She was very happy to go this morning and saw some old friends from preschool. They seemed to get a lot of things done at school today. I think it will be a productive year.

Soccer

Deanna has started playing soccer this fall. I signed her up for the exercise and socialization but she shows some promise. She is a good runner, coordinated and tough. Now if she will just stop socializing during the actual game and remember which goal she is aiming for we will be great!

End of Summer

Summer is almost over and I think Deanna will be ready to go back to school, I know I am ready! She is getting bored and needing to see some old friends. We have been keeping organized activities to a minimum but soccer and gymnastics will soon be starting up.
Deanna has not been going to daycare all month because Jeremy has been watching her instead. This has been very good for the both of them and Deanna says "I want my Richie to babysit me, I loooove my Richie!" He tries to do activities with her but he's still not brave enough to take her anywhere.
We have been going to weekly speech therapy and making steady progress. I am hopeful that within the next year she can catch up to age level (or close). She speaks a lot better at home when she is relaxed that when talking to others. This fall she will continue with private speech therapy and begin sessions at the public elementary school.
The boys are moving out to their own apartment next week, along with Jordan's friend Dave. I love having them around but anxious to get the whole house clean and organized when all of their junk is gone. It will be nice to not have to pick up after them, not to mention the lower food bill! Deanna will miss them VERY much but they are not moving far and they have promised to help with childcare.
My sister, Deanna and I (along with our 4 dogs) went to the beach for a few days and had some nice girl time. It will be even more enjoyable when Deanna is a better shopper!
We have one final beach trip planned and then we'll be back for the first day of school on September 2nd. Deanna's birthday is coming up and she finally knows her birthday is September 4! It will be her second birthday party!
I'll post some misc. summer pictures soon.

Camping Trip

We recently returned from our annual camping trip with a group of our friends and their kids. About 40 people in all! This was Deanna's 2nd time, so she was a pro. She loves to swim and is fearless in diving in deep water (with live jacket), riding on inner tubes, and fast moving wave runners. She and our lab Rosie enjoy swimming together but we had to remind Deanna that she could not "ride" Rosie in the water. A Big thanks to everyone for helping entertain the youngest member of the group. We really appreciate it!

Family Wedding

Leslie and Lucas, bride and groom

Our niece Leslie recently married her boyfriend Lucas. They were married on the campus of the University of Oregon, a true "Duck" wedding. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time. We were all there and dressed up, but I didn't get a family picture.

Deanna and her brothers.

Deanna and her Daddy

Jeremy and Mom
How do you get that boy to smile??

Showing off hair and dress

Swimming Lessons

Deanna has been having fun in swimming lessons. She is very comfortable in the water and eager to learn. She will be getting lots of practice swimming on our upcoming camping trip. She passed her class but her teacher wrote on her report card under things to work on, "listening to instructions and keeping hands to herself". Boy did she nail that assessment! I didn't get any good action shots but here are a few of her modeling her swim suit.

Healing

Since the surgery Deanna has had a few minor complications, but now is on the way to recovery. Several days after the operation her incision seemed too red to me. I had been religiously cleaning it 5 times a day as directed by our plastic surgeon. I wasn't sure if it was becoming infected or just irritated from the cleanings. I finally decided it looked too bad, so I called the doctor. She wanted us to come in that day, and she agreed it was infected. They also took out some stitches. She was started on some antibiotics and it began to improve slightly. But, a day and a half later it looked worse again. She was put on different antibiotics and it slowly has improved. I had to remove some sutures from the inside of her lip and it has been healing better since then.
Her nose looks very good. It is much less flat on one side and the nostril is really lifted and rounder. It is still sore but the swelling is gone.
We kept her home for a week and a half but this week she went to day camp at the church. She really needed the activity and had a great time. Next week she starts swimming lessons. She is back to her old energy level and is in need to things to do!

Surgery

On Wednesday, June 10, Deanna had surgery for "cleft scar revision, cleft rhinoplasty, (and bilateral ear piercing)". The last thing on the list was Deanna's only objective! When the anesthesiologist came in to talk to us and verify the procedure being done (scar revision, etc) Deanna sat up and said "no, my earrings!" and showed them to him. Everyone at the hospital was really great. Yea Doernbecher!

This was a day procedure and we were home in 8 hours. The surgery itself lasted almost 3 hours. They reattached muscles on her lip, to make them straighter and removed the zigzag scar to create a straighter one. Her lip line was also evened out. Her flatter nostril was lifted and reshaped some. It looks pretty good as the swelling goes down but it will take a while to see the final product. Overall everything went very well, but she has been quite swollen and sore. The stitches go from inside her nose all the way down her lip and inside her mouth. She was barely able to smile due to the swelling, what a difference. We are so use to her happy face all the time! We have had to clean and apply ointment to the wound 5 times a day. We (I) have been quite diligent but the scar still seems red to me. Hopefully there will be some improvement soon. The earrings on the other hand look great!

Now for the 6 weeks of no contact sports or tumbling. Swimming pool here we come.

Watching cartoons after surgery.

Beginning of Summer

Deanna loves to hang around with Jordan and his friends! They are quite tolerant. Here with Breanna, Dave and Ericka. They have had some campfires in our back yard and Deanna was allowed to attend for a short while.

Deanna still refers to Jordan as "my O". Jon was making her say Jordan, and she is able, but she then said, "Jordan, I just call you O".

So "O" it is.

Jeremy will soon be moving home for the summer. If he doesn't find a job soon I told him he will be my free baby sitter. Hope she likes staying up late, surfing the internet, and video games. Oh yeah, I guess she does! Deanna loves her "Richie" even though he is by far the biggest teaser.

Someone loves to have their nails polished. To the extent of being obsessed with nail polish. This has resulted in some messes in the house. As a result she is not supposed to ever touch the nail polish herself, and I try to keep it out of reach. This night I did her hands and feet for a special occasion the next day. She was so excited and is showing them off in the pictures. The next morning I found her playing with the same nail polish, trying to touch them up! Needless to say the beautiful polish had to come off and she has been bare since.


Gymnastics is probably our first love. She now is inventing routines involving dance moves and tumbling. Look at that extension!

T-ball is coming along as well. Her last game she was 3 for 3 hitting from a pitcher! Tonight was to be her final game of the season but a sudden thunder and lightening storm cancelled the game. She actually was quite disappointed.

Deanna's surgery is scheduled for next Wednesday the 10th. It will be an outpatient procedure and hopefully not too unpleasant. She is not looking forward to it, so we don't dwell on it. The hard part will be 6 weeks of no contact activities or tumbling. Swimming is okay after 2 weeks so I have signed her up for some lessons. I may take her away to the beach house for some quiet time right after the surgery. (I think I may need it!) Maybe we'll break out the nail polish.

PreSchool Graduation

The preschool year has officially ended. Deanna has learned so much this year and has made many friends. They had a nice program and a ceremony at the church. Deanna will be attending kindergarten there next year so she will already be accustomed to everything. I think she looks very grown up in these pictures!

Preschool program, shes the "mouse" in black.

Getting her certificate from her teacher.

The whole class.

Celebrating with friends!

Catching Up

We have just been busy with the regular routine! Preschool, gymnastics, t-ball, speech therapy, and just playing. Jeremy came home for mother's day weekend so the whole family was together. Deanna loves her brothers despite the teasing! (Jeremy is the biggest teaser).
Deanna has surgery scheduled the first part of June to revise her lip scar. This is something that is commonly done with cleft lip repair, and usually before kids start school. It will just be a day surgery. She is aware of this upcoming procedure and is not too pleased. She says "I don't want my lip cut, I'll just stay home with my Mama". We have told her she can get her ears pierced at the same time, and this has helped to give her something positive to look forward to. She has really wanted pierced ears and is excited for this. I think after the surgery when she looks in the mirror she will focus on her new earrings and not a bandaged lip!

Deanna had some pictures taken at the tulip festival, courtesy of my friend Debbie. This is a preview, stay tuned for more.

MEXICO!!

We just returned from our family vacation to Mexico. This is already Deanna's 2nd trip to Mexico, as it is a favorite vacation destination of ours. This year Jon's brother Mike and his wife Lori shared a suite with us. My parents, my sister and several other friends also made the trip, and they had the pleasure of staying in the penthouse suite. Jeremy and Jordan opted out this year due to school, work, and social obligations. I really missed them, we haven't gone without them before.

Deanna was the only kid in our group, but she seemed to make a friend everywhere we went. At our resort she met several friends at the pool. They swam and participated in many activities together, such as pinatas, coloring contest, watermelon eating contest, dart tournament, bingo, etc. A five year old boy and a five year old girl in particular were good buddies. The girl actually lives in our area and we were on the same plane on the way home. Language being no barrier for Deanna she also made friends with some Mexican children. One little girl she played with for quite some time while we were dining in an outdoor restaurant.

Vacation may not be very relaxing, but always full of fun and excitement with Deanna around.

Mexico cont....

T-Ball

DeAnna has started to play t-ball this spring. She really seems to enjoy it, and tackles it with her usual enthusiasm. She is beginning to learn the rules of the game, with the rest of the kids on the team. Her first inning in the field, she got the ball and proceeded to do a happy dance, neglecting to throwing the ball to first base. The kids all fight to field the balls and DeAnna is usually in the middle of the pile. Players be warned, if you bump heads she won't be the one to come up crying!

Gymnastics

DeAnna continues to enjoy gymnastics. She routinely practices tumbling in the living room, or wherever she may be. Sometimes she'll spontaneously do a little dance number and it looks like a real floor exercise routine, Olga Korbet style! She also has a soul mate in gymnastics class. A little girl who is just as spirited and affectionate, so the hugging is very mutual. This girl has been known to say "DeAnna, I love you". I'm sure the feeling is mutual.

Spring Program

DeAnna had her spring program at preschool last night. Her class was dressed as ducks and they sang a little song. None of the pictures came out very well because we were too far away.
I did get some pictures of DeAnna before the event. She was so excited to get ready to "go sing with her friends" that she was ready way too early. Soon she was tumbling in her dress in the living room!



Naturally wavy hair!!!

She's the duck in the middle.

ONE YEAR HOME

We have been home from Ukraine and had DeAnna in our family for a full year now. Everything has turned out so much better than we could have ever hoped for. DeAnna has such a huge, outgoing personality you would never think she spent her first 4 1/2 years in a desolate orphanage.

She is very bonded with her family and is wonderfully affectionate to all of us. She loves her "Papa" and she asks him every night, "Papa do you go to work tomorrow?" If he says yes she carries on "Oh Papa no!, why? I want Papa home! If he says no she says "Oh Papa, I'm so happy!" followed by many kisses.

She loves her brother Jordan, and she sees him just about every day. She calls him her "O". She does not get to see Jeremy "Richie" as often, but she frequently says she misses him and wants to talk to him. He is good about talking to her on the phone. They enjoy playing with her and teasing her as big brothers do.

She still has some issues with being overly friendly to strangers. We have been working on understanding "stranger danger" and respecting the personal space of people she knows. Although she has made a lot of progress in this area we still have to watch her like a hawk in public.

In the past year DeAnna has grown about 5 1/2 inches and gained about 4 pounds. Her hair has gone from short and falling out, to thick and wavy. She is very healthy and has only had a couple of colds. She had her palate repaired and tubes placed in her ears last May. She will have scar revision surgery on her lip probably early this summer.

Speech therapy has been by far the biggest issue. She went from non-verbal to speaking in short sentences in the past 9 months. Speech does not come easily to her and we have had to work very hard to get to this point. She is so great at communicating, this has actually hindered her motivation to speak. I think it is quite interesting watching her learn to talk. It is apparent that she missed a big developmental stage in language and really has to work to form the pathways from brain to mouth.

DeAnna has endless energy and is especially excited around friends. She sleeps well all night but she NEVER falls asleep anywhere except in her bed. When she is tired she is more active.

DeAnna likes to test her limits but is very directable and likes to please. She sometimes gets frustrated but has never had a tantrum or any kind of "meltdown" (since the plane trip from Ukraine).

She is doing great in preschool this year. She has learned a lot and she feels secure and well accepted there. We will be sending her to kindergarten at the same place next year. I have heard great things about the kindergarten teacher, and they have a longer day and much smaller class size than our public school.

DeAnna loves her gymnastics class and she practices at home all the time. She definitely needs the physical outlet! She is also going to play t-ball this spring. The boys played baseball for many years and it will be fun to go back to the field! DeAnna also shows some potential in this area, but I really would just like her to meet some little girls in our area.

People often say what a lucky girl she is, but we know the truth, we are the lucky ones.

Preschool Field Trip

Last week I went with DeAnna's preshcool class to the fire station. The kids had a great time and it was fun to watch DeAnna interact with her friends.

Sometimes it is hard to remember all of the little things DeAnna has not been exposed to, essentially missing out the the first few years of life. Before this day I don't think she knew what a fire station was, and I hadn't thought to explain it to her. Some of the kids were talking about stop, drop and roll. I know she has never heard of that before! There are so many things to learn!

Beach Trip

Jon had a couple days off, so the three of us went to the beach for a few days (boys not available). The weather was great and we spent a lot of time on the beach with the dogs. We even tried our hand at clam digging, but the tide was really too high and we only got one.

We went to a store where DeAnna found a pair of sunglasses that she wanted really bad. It was a sunny day and they were only four dollars so we said yes. She kept giggling and saying thank you, thank you, I'm so happy!!! People were smiling and turning to look at someone so happy. I tried to quiet her down a little and a lady said, "its okay, just let her be happy!" We went up to the Astoria column where the view was spectacular. The column was closed for repairs so we couldn't climb up.

On the way home we had ice cream. More happiness!

The next day we walked the prom in Seaside. DeAnna insisted on posing on each of the benches, while sprinting up and down the sidewalk in between. Endless energy!

Adoption Day Anniversary

February 11 is the anniversary of our adoption day. We didn't make a big deal out of it because DeAnna really prefers to think she has always been with us. She is at the stage now where she doesn't want to look at pictures of Ukraine at all. Jon kiddingly said something one day about her going back and playing for the Ukrainian national basketball team when she is older and she said NO, I here now! We didn't even know she was paying attention.
So for now we just focus on the fact that she is with us forever!

We also spent the day going to the doctor for a lingering bad cough. We saw our regular pediatrician's brother and partner in the practice. He was very nice to her and when he left the room she said "I like that boy, he's nice".

We then went to TCBY for a treat. I doesn't matter what day it is, every day is a day to celebrate being together!

11 Months Home

DeAnna has been home 11 months, and she has really changed from toddler-like to a little girl. She has recently lost 2 teeth, and grown an amazing 5 inches in 10 months, as well as 3 pounds!! I keep buying her new jeans and they are too short before I know it. She likes to dress up and have her hair styled every day.
She loves to write and carries a spiral notebook around most of the time. Her penmanship is excellent. She likes to write the names of those in her family and some of her very good friends, including Krista her favorite older girl friend!
She is happy 99% of the time and she always wants everyone else to be happy as well. She asks us many time a day "are you happy?" and "do you love me?" Of course we tell her we love her all the time but she likes the reinforcement. We're working on teaching her that even if we are not happy we still love her.

One Year Ago Today, A Day in Court

Finally we were set for our day in court. Now she would finally be ours and we could officially start our 10 day waiting period. Yana arrived in town very early in the morning. I brought a dress to wear and wore my new boots with it, very Ukranian and Yana approved. Jon drug a suit along for this occasion. Yana had all the details arrainged with rides to the courthouse for us and for the orphanage officials who were testifying at the hearing. Yana went over some questions we would likely be asked and made sure our answers were short and to the point. We weren't too nervous because we hadn't heard of anyone being refused by the time they made it to court. We had to wait for a while in a hallway before going into the court room. It was small and similar to a typical American hearing room. There was a judge, a "prosecutor", and some witnesses. The entire procedure was in Ukranian and Yana sat next to us and translated everything. At this time they just started tape recording the court proceedings so the judge read through every single document in our dossier. It was very long, a couple of hours. The judge looked at our family picture book that we brought, and he commented that Deanna looked like our family. They had a short recess and then came back into the room. He said a few things in Ukranian and then left the room. We said "what happened?" and Yana said that he granted our petition and it was over. Several of the people in the court room came over and congratulated us. They now seemed much friendlier! After this experience we went out for a celebratory lunch with Yana. We went to an interesting little restaurant and we were the only ones there. We had good food, and of course Vodka! The waitress took our picture in front of the fireplace, and insisted we crouch down in front of it (see odd picture). It was such a relief to finally begin the waiting period. Even though she was officially ours, we still didn't have possession.

One Year Ago, Daily Routine

Once Roman was gone we were left fend for ourselves. We felt prepared for survival but it is very strange to have NO ONE else to communicate with. They had given us a cell phone to use and we could call Yana anytime we needed help or a translator. When talking to Yana on the phone she always said "hows the girl" in her Russian accent. We still use this phrase when talking about DeAnna. Jeremy and Jordan could call us on this cell phone at no charge to us. I got them an international cell phone package before we left so the calls were fairly inexpensive. Talking to them frequently really ended up saving my sanity.
Visits to the orphanage were the highlights of our day, but actually became somewhat boring for all. The orphanage rules were very rigid. We had to hand over our passports every time we visited! Like we'd try to kidnap her and hide out in Dniprodzerzinsk?? We could visit in the morning from 10-12 and in the afternoon from 4-6. Sometimes they would cut the visits short with no notice. One time a large woman came out on the playground scooped her up, yelled something at us in Russian and went back in the building with her. We looked at each other... I guess the visit is over! In the morning visit we would trek through the snow and ice to the orphanage. It took about 20 minutes. We would stop at the store on the way and get her a healthy snack. We could play with DeAnna outside in the morning as her group was out marching around. We would take her to another part of the play yard as we weren't supposed to interact with her group and heaven forbid never go outside of the gates. She liked to lead us around and show us off to everyone. One time we were spotted giving her juice outside which we found out was a no no. Apparently drinking something cold outside will make you sick! After our morning visit we would walk back to town. Usually we would do some shopping and get some groceries. If you bought too many groceries at once they clerks got irritated. We would then have lunch and hang around the apartment playing games or watching British TV. There was also laundry to do, and the typical Ukrainian washing machine cycle is about 2 hours, no exaggeration, then 24 hours on the line before it was done. Soon it was time to get ready for the afternoon visit and snack. Vlad picked us up everyday like clockwork. In the afternoon we had all of our visits in the coat room, on the floor. There was no furniture and no toys! We brought books, toys and treats, but after a little while she would be getting into mischief. This was a very uncomfortable situation. Clearly they were in charge of her, and she minded them perfectly. She was constantly pushing her limits with us though (in a very charming way). If she was naughty they might think we couldn't handle her and if we upset her they might think we are mean! In the next room all the kids were having free time with a lot of toys and a big screen TV. By the end of the 2 hours sitting on the floor in the cloak room we would all be bored and frustrated. Soon we shortened this evening visit to 1 hour and it was much better for all. Vlad would pick us up for the ride back to the apartment. Sometimes we would have him drop us off at a restaurant, but this was a challenge since he spoke zero English. We usually ate out once a day, either lunch or dinner. Then it was back to the apartment for more BBC or one of the movies we brought. We often went to the Internet cafe down the street to blog and email. So this was it, day after day. Cold, depressing town, so far away from home, nothing else to do, no friendly faces, no one to communicate with, no end in sight. I remember thinking, if I could leave RIGHT NOW I am so far away I would have to take an overnight train to Kiev, get to the airport, buy tickets and fly for 20+ hours to be home. I can't even wait that long, how can I possibly make it 3 more weeks??????

Year Ago, Eating Out

**These One Year Ago posts are a journal of our experiences not before posted, to preserve our memories. May be long and boring to some!

When we were first settling in, we had Roman to help us out. Roman is fluent in Ukrainian so he was able to help us acclimate to the city and find a few restaurants to become familiar with.

We found a little bakery that had great little rolls filled with everything from meat and cheese to fruit. Everything was freshly baked every day and you never knew what varieties they would have available. When Roman was with us there was no problem ordering but when we were alone, as hard as we tried, they never seemed to understand us, and weren't too friendly. We would end up pointing to a few different varieties and holding up 1 or 2 fingers. It was always an adventure, am I biting into apples, cherries, or liver? We called this place the point and grunt shop.

We also found a pizza place that was quite good, called the Pizza Potato. As well as pizza, they had many freshly made salads. No English was spoken here but they were friendly and helpful. Internet was available at this place, but you had to pay by the hour. The connection was so slow it was hard to get much done.

Our favorite place for dinner was a little cafe just across the main street from our apartment. If you didn't know it was there you would never find it. They actually had an English menu! However, you had to ask for it and it only had a few items where the Ukrainian menu had many pages. They had a "salad" that was a whole plate of sliced fresh vegetables. I got this with dinner every time. We loved the BBQ'd chicken. It was a breast with a little wing sticking up, grilled in some way, but the flavor was delicious. I have never tasted chicken this good, some kind of a fresh, salty, buttery taste. They also had a baked chicken dish that was wonderful. It consisted of caramelized onions, some veggies, chicken, and a creamy cheesy sauce over the top. When you ordered this it took a very, very long time to get. The rest of the party could be completely done eating before this order arrived! In Ukrainian restaurants, food arrives when it is ready so you wait for no one! We had a nice waitress that I nicknamed Snow White, and a not so nice one that I called The Vixen. The only downside to this place was the bill seemed to be a lot more when Yana or Roman weren't with us (and we had The Vixen). We still miss this place a year later!

One Year Ago, Settling in

Once we knew we were staying in Dniprodzherzinsk to adopt, Yana wanted to find us other places to stay. I was happy and comfortable at the hotel, but it didn't have a kitchen, laundry facility, or English TV. She said she had an apartment for us to look at. She said it was a nice, safe place with 2 bedrooms, kitchen, laundry, cable TV for $75.00 a night. Being thrifty I really just wanted to stay in the hotel. It was cheaper and I didn't plan on doing much cooking anyway. Later Yana negotiated the price of the apartment to $50.00 a night so I agreed to see it. (Jon didn't care either way). I knew it would be easier for Yana to be able to stay with us when she was in town. The apartment was very nice. New furnishings, new "European" kitchen, etc. It was on the main street in town within a couple of miles to the orphanage, and it was owned by the orphanage doctor. It had two huge entry doors, one on top of the other, with an elaborate system of locks using giant skeleton keys. We were told to never open the door for anyone. This was supposed to be a prestigious apartment, was this type of security necessary??? Anyway, sure we'd stay there, it was nice.

We packed up our stuff at the hotel and went back to move into the apartment. The doctor, Luba and her husband were there to show us around. As it turned out this actually was THEIR apartment where they lived. It seemed a bit awkward displacing them, but the salaries are so low there it would be a huge sum of money for them and they would live with their son.

They were the nicest couple we met on the whole trip. Very genuinely kind and friendly. Luba was very short and stocky with red hair, a huge smile, very talkative, and had very nice fur coats. Nikoli was tall and thin, more reserved, quiet and gentle. Neither of them spoke or understood one word of English. Luba proceeded to show us around the apartment talking a hundred miles an hour in Russian, smiling and laughing. She would point to something and say very deliberately JA- O -N, or S-H-A-L-I in a French sounding voice. There was a clothes line in the main hallway, about 12 feet above the floor and there was a step ladder to use to get the clothes up there. The kitchen had an oven, but she didn't know how to light it. The washing machine was in the bathroom and drained directly into the bath tub (we saw this everywhere). There was a nice TV with a satellite dish. Well, maybe we would get by.

Yana arranged for Luba's son Vlad, to drive us to the orphanage each day. We would walk in the morning every day and Vlad would drive us in the afternoon as it would be dark (and cold!) Vlad was a nice guy but also spoke no English. He could only say Hello and Goodbye, but he was there without fail each day to drive us to and from the orphanage. We were never sure what he did for a living but he seemed to be available all the time and had more than one cell phone. There were some very expensive cars behind our apartment building, we don't know who these people were but we called them "mafia". Weren't sure if it was a good or bad thing to share a building with "mafia"!

One Year Ago, The First Meeting

At last, we were going to the orphanage to meet the little girl. The entire town was gray and dreary. The buildings in the old Soviet style and not well kept up. Most buildings were gray, streets and sidewalks gray, sky gray. The orphanage was an institutional green color. It was surrounded by iron gates and had typical old steel playground equipment in the yard. The building itself was quite nice, and undergoing some renovation. We went into an office where the orphanage director and orphanage doctor were waiting for us. Yana, Roman (our facilitators) as well as the gold tooth lady from the inspectors office were also there. They began telling us that she was born with a cleft lip and palate and she was left at the maternity hospital after birth. She was there for three months before being transferred to the orphanage where she had been ever since. They then went on the say she has severe delays in speech as well as psychological delays. They said she may never be able to talk. Were we still interested? Of course!! We didn't come all this way to be scared off!
Suddenly she was in the room with us. Roman was saying "look at her, she's cute!" It was obvious to us in a matter of seconds that she was the one. She was very adorable, dressed in a fancy dress and new shoes (we never saw these clothes again). She made her way around the room interacting with everyone. She was so inquisitive! She came up to me, looked me straight in the eye and wanted to sit in my lap. She liked my clothes and earrings. She wasn't the least bit intimidated by Jon either. She was eager to go sit with him. We were prepared for a tough decision, and it couldn't have been easier. Our prayers were definately answered. We had an overwhelming sense of relief and happiness (actually euphoria). Everyone was all smiles, even the gold toothed lady. They continued to read her entire medical history to us and I was only half listening as we were more interested in DeAnna. We were told we would get copies of all of it later and could have it translated. (In the end we never received any of it...so I had to rely on my memory which fortunately is good, especially with medical information).
We said of course we want her, so Yana began the proceedings.
First we had to find a place to stay. At this point we had been up for about 30 hours but we kind of wired. Yana knew of a hotel in town. It was above some stores and offices, next to a grocery store on the main street in town. It had an elevator and a nice and very attractive lady at the desk who spoke a few words of English. The rooms were huge with soaring ceilings, lots of wood wardrobe closets, refrigerator, TV and enormous claw foot tub in the bathroom. It had frilly pink bedding and pink curtains on the huge windows. I really liked it and felt safe and comfortable there. It was $55 a night and I would have been happy to stay there the whole time. We got settled in and then went back to the orphanage for another short visit. This time we took pictures and played with her some more. They had to observe us with her all the time for the first weekend we were there.
Finally it was time for some food and celebration. We went to a place close to the hotel that was traditional Ukrainian cuisine, and decorated with taxidermy animals. Roman, Yana and our driver from Kiev were with us. We had lots of good food. Dinner, appetizers and vodka! I asked Yana "what do you have with your vodka" (meaning mixer), and she said slightly puzzled, cucumbers and pickles? We learned the rules of vodka, there must be a toast and everyone must have a shot! Needless to say, I had sips to everyone elses shots. I don't even remember what we had to eat, anything would have been tasted great. It was a wonderful day.
Coming up...Settling in for the long haul.

One Year Ago, Trip to Dneprodzerzhinsk

We were getting packed to leave Kiev at 2:00 am. We got no sleep at all, how do you sleep when your mind is racing and your nerves are on end. Would we know if she was the one for us? Would we be able to determine her delays considering the language barrier and her reported speech delay?
Yana, Roman and a driver were picking us up at 2:00am. How do you check out of the apartment at 2:00am?? At 1:55 the doorbell rang and there was the landlord for the money and the keys! Shortly after the van arrived for us and we were off. It was a large passenger van and Yana sat in front, Roman in the middle and Jon and I in the back seat. We all talked for a while then it was time to try to sleep. Yana was asleep right away and slept right through. Very soon we were in what looked like the middle of nowhere. It was all snow and ice and extremely bumpy. Where were the freeways?? I had a little pillow but when we went over bumps we flew off the seats and my pillow came out from under my head and Jon's head actually was hitting the ceiling. So much for sleep. We were passing what looked like farm land and many little tiny houses, for miles and miles. Many times the van would slide around on the road, while we alternated between slow and extremely fast driving. In the early morning hours when it was still dark there would be lone people walking down the road. The driver would slam on the breaks and jump out of the van and run over to these people. Was he asking for directions? Funny though, they never seemed scared or even surprised. If someone jumped out of a van in the dark and ran at me I would be terrified. We would often turn around after speaking to these people and go back the other way. Were we lost?? We seemed to be going in circles. Sometimes we would actually come to a dead end road and have to turn around. The driver spoke no English and Yana and Roman were sleeping, so we had no idea what was going on. Approximately 6 1/2 hours later we actually arrived in Dneprodzerzhinsk. It was about 9:00 in the morning and we first had to see the City Inspector to get permission to visit the orphanage. Yana had only been to this town once but she remembered how to get to the office. The Inspector was not there we would have to come back. We went to a little restaurant/bar to get some food and coffee. We were so stressed and overtired it was hard to enjoy it. We had these fried, cheese filled, dough things served with sour cream and marinara sauce. This little place was close to the orphanage so we actually ended eating here many times during our stay. This was the best place for coffee, the lattes were like home and always came with chocolate candy!
When we returned to the Inspector's office she was there. It was in an old run down looking building. When we went in she read over all our papers in great detail. She had orange hair and quite a lot of make up. She asked us many questions, including what classes our boys were taking in college! She was very stern and we really didn't care for her. At this time we thought this was just a formality, but we later learned she actually did have the power to prevent us from seeing children at the orphanage.
Yana told us the inspector would have to go with us to the orphanage. We were happy when her assistant decided to go instead. This lady was very nice, with a big smile and all gold teeth. (We would later learn this was quite common in Ukraine)
Up next......the first visit.

One Year Ago, the Mix-Up

One year ago in Kiev, the day after our SDA appointment. We were with Era taking care of some paperwork and going to a notary's office. The plan was to pick up our official referral paper from the SDA and take a van to Dneprodzerzhinsk at 2:00am for an overnight drive. We were excited, nervous, and full of hope. As we were walking around downtown Kiev with Era she began talking very fast and furiously on her cell phone, much more so than normal. I heard her day Di-ah-na, Di-ah-na, many times. I knew something was wrong. She was walking so fast we could barely keep up with her. Finally she stopped and was able to fill us in, bad news as I expected. The SDA had made a mistake and given DeAnna's file to someone else. How could this be?? We picked her first!! She was "ours"! I had a bad feeling yesterday when no one ever wrote anything down.

Era continued to make phone calls as she marched us back to the SDA. It must have been several miles and we didn't stop once, not even for cars or traffic signs. By the time we arrived she had straightened it all out and the ladies at the SDA remembered us and were nice and apologetic. Now we had paperwork in hand and were ready for the next journey.

One Year Ago, SDA Appointment

Unbelievable anxiety surrounded our appointment at the National Adoption Center. We were taken up to the "psychologist's" office and were not allowed to take anyone with us. Our facilitator told us to write down as much information as we could about the children we were interested in such as first and last name, location of orphanage , diagnosis etc. We were then to ask for 20 minutes to think about it, so she could use the information to try and find out as much information as possible before we made any decision. They were polite but not very friendly. They showed us a boy and girl sibling group and a nine year old girl. These were not right for us, and they proceeded to show us a many special needs children, and some with various severe delays. We picked out #1 (7 year old with "low IQ"), and #2 (4 year old with many delays) both girls appeared normal in their pictures. Then Jon pulled out a file and said what about this one? I was surprised he chose it because it was an infant picture of a baby with an unrepaired cleft lip. She was 4 and reported to have speech and psychological delay as well as a still unrepaired palate. We added her as #3 on our list. We asked for 20 minutes to think about our decision and they gave said we could have an hour and a half. We went downstairs and gave Era the information. She immediately started making phone calls and talking a hundred miles an hour in Ukrainian. She actually was using 3 cell phones. We went to a nearby cafe and watched in amazement as she performed many tasks simultaneously. She was able to locate the orphanages and talk to doctors and/or directors about all of the girls. #1 was said to be delayed enough to not even attend school. #2 and #3 were at the same orphanage and the orphanage doctor said she would definitely choose #3 because she was very pretty and very smart. This information was invaluable to us and we chose #3, Deanna. We went back and told them our choice. Era kept saying De-ah-na over and over again to this lady. I was a little worried about this procedure as no one wrote anything down, but all of their procedures seem odd and disorganized. We then left with some sort of relief but still a huge uncertainty of what we would find when we actually arrived at the orphanage. Remember, this would be the only chance we would have to meet a child. We just prayed our answer would be obvious to us.

One Year Ago Today, In Kiev

It was one year ago today that we left for Ukraine. Here are a couple of pictures from the apartment we stayed in. I remember every detail of this apartment very clearly. It was right in the center of Kiev, by Independence Square. It was old but very homey, warm, clean and felt safe. We were very stressed out at this time, overwhelmed with being in a foreign country and the huge uncertainty of what would happen with the adoption. It was in this apartment that we found out we would only receive one appointment at the SDA (instead of 2 or possibly 3 if necessary) to find a child. At the time couples were waiting at least 45 days for a second appointment and were being advised to just go home and wait. We knew due to expense and job obligations this would not be a possibility for us, so it was now or never, and we were at their mercy!
It was just past Christmas but the tree remained in Independence Square. We walked around this area at night and it was very beautiful. We were not brave enough to venture much further. It was easy to get turned around in the underground tunnels and reading street signs was impossible.

Speech Update

DeAnna recently had her follow-up appointment with the Speech Pathologist that specializes in cleft palate disorders. She thinks that DeAnna has made excellent progress in the last 5 months. Her palate is very functional which means no more surgeries, (on the palate that is).

I have been frustrated with the services provided by Early Childhood Intervention so I have been working with her every day at home for the last couple of months. We also found a private therapist who is very enthusiastic. She can repeat just about all words and is beginning to put together sentences of 3-5 words (and does this constantly!) She is sometimes hard to understand but getting better for sure.

Even with her limited vocabulary she can have a conversation with a complete stranger and have no trouble communicating. (Yes, we are working on stranger danger!)

All in all she has come a long way from completely nonverbal (and non-English) just last spring to understandable speech. This process has not been easy and she has and will continue to work very hard to develop the speech part of her brain. Clearly the social part of personality has overcompensated for this delay!

Happy New Year, 10 Months Home!

We had a fun filled New Years Eve at a party with our friends. There were lots of teenagers there so DeAnna was very excited, a little too much so! I forgot my camera so all I have is a picture of her morning bed head!
I am ready for the new year to get back a nice routine of school and activities.
DeAnna continues to do well and is very happy and healthy. We do have some appointments scheduled to plan her next surgery (lip scar revision) and future orthodontia work. She lost her first baby tooth on Christmas Eve!

Christmas Celebration.....Finally!

A few days after Christmas we had our celebration with Jon's family. Uncle Mike and Aunt Lori hosted the festivities. A good time was had by all and DeAnna really loved her gifts as evedenced by her famous thumbs up! There were also some fun dogs to play with!

The following pictures were taken by DeAnna, our budding photographer!

Jordan Saves Christmas

We had a nice Christmas Day celebration at our house this year. We anticipated everyone being able to make it to our house as all major roads were finally cleared. Our street however was still a couple feet deep in hard snow and ice. No regular cars could make it across the blockage created by the highway snow plows at the end of the street. Jordan's lifted jeep however could handle the terrain. He made many trips back and forth to the Safeway parking lot to deliver our family to the house. (Pictures courtesy of DeAnna)

DeAnna was very thrilled with her Santa gifts. She wanted a guitar and that was what she got. She also received a beautiful baby doll, a toy

camera, and lots of clothes.

Winter Storm Postpones Christmas Eve

Our back yard.

Our street.

Making a snowman before the big snowstorm.

This year we have been having a record breaking snow storm. While it may be fun for a short time, this region is not equipped to handle anything like this so getting around the metro area has been next to impossible. Fortunately I have had time off work so I have only had to trek across town and up "the hill" a couple of times. Jon of course must make it to work every day no matter what.

We have had no US mail, UPS, garbage service, or newspaper delivery for over a week!

Jeremy made it home before the second storm hit and his Mustang has been snowed in ever since.

The week before Christmas all parties and activities were cancelled, including the preschool Christmas program. Even our family Christmas Eve gathering was cancelled due to lingering poor road conditions.

We have had some nice family time at home though. The boys built a snowboarding jump in the field and DeAnna has enjoyed going outside with them.

We had a quiet Christmas Eve at home and opened presents from each other. DeAnna was of course thrilled with everything she received, and excited for "HO HO HO" to come.

Santa

DeAnna was able to visit Santa for the first time. She has been very excited about Santa, whom she refers to as "HO HO HO". We had practiced saying what she would like for Christmas (her main request is a guitar!) but when she finally got to see him she was too excited to ask for anything. However, in true DeAnna fashion, she charmed him out of his glasses in about a minute (see picture). The poor guy is lucky he didn't have a cell phone or a camera!

Winter Weather

We have been experiencing our first winter weather this year. Snow and very cold. We haven't had our winter clothes out since we returned from Ukraine in March. DeAnna was very excited to see the snow, but interestingly enough when I came downstairs wearing my Ukrainian fur hat she looked at me like I had lost my mind and said, "MAMAAAAA NO NO NO!!"

DeAnna has had lots of time to play at home because as is customary in our region, when there is snow there is no school (or daycare). Of course we still have work so Jordan has been kind enough to entertain his sister for us.

Christmas Tree

Today we went to find our Christmas Tree. DeAnna is very excited about seeing Christmas trees so we were anxious to get one. It was a georgeous day and we are lucky to have a fantastic tree farm about 1/2 mile from our house! DeAnna didn't care which tree we selected so I made sure we hiked around and saw every last one before making a final decision. The good ones are never close to the car!

9 Months Home

Nine months have passed already, I can hardly keep track. DeAnna is happy and energetic as usual!
We are continually working hard at her speaking skills. She can repeat almost all sounds and words now but has trouble putting them together in sentences. Her speech therapy through Early Childhood Intervention has proven to be disappointing. They only offer her one group session a week and I can not see any progress gained from there. Her private therapist is better, and offers some ideas, but I can get her to more for me working 1:1 at home.
However, this does not stop her from having conversations with complete strangers.
What she lacks in verbal skills she more than makes up for in drama. When shopping at the store she can often be seen practicing some dramatic performance, or character imitation. She's actually quite entertaining and requires no encouragement!

Thanksgiving

I guess everyone can guess what we're thankful for this year!

I had the pleasure of attending the preschool Thanksgiving program where all the kids wore costumes they made and sang songs. This was followed by a lovely "feast". I forgot my camera so I don't have pictures of the actual performance.

We had a nice quiet Thanksgiving with our family and Mimi and Grampa. Jeremy managed to come home for 2 days and we were glad to see him if only briefly. Deanna was glad to see him, but worried that he would eat her ice cream (i peam as she says). So we went out and bought him his own carton, she was very relieved. She's really not greedy he just teases her unmercifully about eating ALL the ice cream.

After Thanksgiving dinner we all went over to see Mimi and Grampa's new condo. It is vacant now and the boys hadn't seen it. It is close to downtown Portland and has spectacular views. Deanna was very excited and was sprinting up and down the hallway. She turned her head and ran right into a wall at full speed. She recovered quickly but is now sporting a black eye.

December is here and will be full of many "firsts" for our girl. Stay tuned for the highlights.

8 Months Home

We have been home 7 months now! Here is Deanna's preschool picture, I think it came out pretty nice. Here's a quick update:

She loves preschool and is eager to go every day. She verbal skills are coming along, but continue to require lots of reinforcement. I've found she gets lazy and she will use her "signs" or her own version of words that she can say correctly. At this point we discourage signs and make her repeat things. She is able to say "I want to watch a movie please" but usually says just 2 or 3 words together. She is an excellent communicator and can get her point across to anyone.

She thinks she owns all the ice cream in the house and goes into a little tirade if the boys eat any. She can really tell them off with her limited vocabulary!

Halloween!

Posing in her kitty costume.

She loves her brother "O"

Extremely excited on the way to trick-or-treating

Krista giving Deanna a break trick or treating
Krista's and her group of very nice friends!

Deanna had a very fun filled Halloween this year. She picked out her costume (kitty if you can't tell) and was quite excited to wear it. The day started out with a preschool party with games and prized. Fortunately not too many treats.

Later on she was thrilled to be able to trick or treat with Krista and her friends. The girls had a great time and Deanna kept up pretty well.

We later met up with some of our grown up friends and Deanna busied herself with TV and learned to play some pool.

Thankfully Deanna is very generous with her halloween candy and she was quite excited to share it with Jordan. This is amazing considering this girl LOVES candy and we usually restrict it!

Busy with Fall

Deanna was happy to dress up to go out to dinner for her Grandma's birthday. She is always happy to go to a restaurant, even though she doesn't eat very much.

The Pumpkin Patch!!

We had a great time on the Preschool Pumpkin Patch field trip. We have been enjoying great weather this fall, and this morning was one of the best. This particular pumpkin patch had hay rides, crafts, a hay maze that you crawl-through with flashlights, and animals to pet.

Deanna had a great time and it was fun for me to watch her interact with her preschool friends. She really fits in like she has always been here!

Deanna was so happy to be invited to a pumpkin carving party. We really had a lot of fun and appreciate being included!

Kitty Rescue

Today we were wondering where the little kitty was when Jon heard a faint cry coming from the trees. We spotted our little Lucy way up in a fir tree. The base of these trees is surrounded by blackberries so I imagine she was chased up there, possibly by a coyote which are often invading our property. If you look hard you can see the little black and white spots up in the tree. Jon tried to coax her down but she was too terrified to descend on her own. He had to resort to a ladder rescue. She was spooked but otherwise unhurt. Jon unfortunately suffered several third degree bleeding cat scratches! Below is Deanna doing a victory dance. (She has her bathing suit on, hoping for a hot tub) Thats our excitement for the day!!

Home 7 Months

Deanna has now been home for 7 months. Doesn't she look grown up!! She looks big, but she is actually on the small side for her age.

These pictures were the first day she rode the bus to speech therapy. She was very excited about it, but I was a nervous wreck. Everything went very smoothly and she was home safely in a short amount of time. We both like her new speech teacher very much!

Everything is going well at home and Deanna's new favorite thing to do is watch movies. At first she was not interested in TV at all (not a bad thing) but I was a little concerned about her attention span. Now she watches all kinds of movies and especially enjoys musicals and stories about animals. I do think its good for her english comprehension. "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" here we come!

Very Happy and Busy

Today Deanna received a birthday gift from her friend Sophia, who was adopted from the same orphanage in Ukraine! They were best friends in the orphanage and we met and are keeping in touch with Sophia and her family through the internet. She was so excited about this bear and hugged it repeatedly and said "so happy". It will be fun for the girls to keep in contact because they have so much in common!

We have been really busy getting into a routine with our fall schedule. Deanna has preschool 3 mornings a week, daycare 1/2 day, speech therapy 2 times a week, and gymnastics.
She is really enjoying preschool and I can tell she has already learned a lot. One of the teachers has told me several times how much they enjoy having her in the classroom, commenting that "her enthusiasm is infectious". Even though she likes preschool, she says she likes daycare better! (Same location, different area) I know she really likes the teachers and the free playtime.
In addition to her private speech therapy we have added a group speech class with just 2 other children. Deanna seems to really like this class and encourages the other kids to talk as they are much more shy than she.
The gymnastics class is the most fun of all. It is very fast paced and she really loves it. She is about in the middle of the class as far as ability, so there is room for improvement!

The Best Birthday Party!!!

We had a nice birthday party for Deanna with all of our family; aunts, uncles, grandparents, and some cousins. She had a good time planning it with me, picking out the invitations, food and cake. We wanted to make is special because it was her first birthday celebration ever.






















She received many very nice gifts which we appreciate very much!!

DEANNA'S 5th BIRTHDAY

We had a great fun filled day for DeAnna's 5th birthday. It started out at her first gymnastics class. She had a great time and I was pleased at the fast pace of the class. I think she will learn a lot.

Then Jon and I took her to the zoo. Her first time of course, and she loved all the animals. The weather was beautiful and we got to see the new baby elephant!

We then took her to Toys R Us and let her pick out a bike. She chose the Disney Princess model.

Then the whole family went out to dinner. They put a big sombrero on her head and sung happy birthday, she was all smiles!! Deanna had a very special and memorable first birthday with us.

Six Months Home

It has been six months since Deanna has joined our family. She has experienced so much and come so far in such a short time. Here are a few items of interest about Deanna.
She tends to wear too many clothes and always thinks she will be cold. When we first came home she would go to her room and put on tights and snow pants with a turtle neck and a sweater, on a warm day. I still have to hide her long pants on hot days or she will put them on every time.

She would always wear shoes and seemed to be afraid to get wet in the rain. Being an Oregonian now that has changed. Recently she ran through the grass barefoot during a summer downpour and was laughing hysterically.

She would never lounge around in pajamas in the morning, she would be fully dressed as soon as she woke up. She'll lounge for a while now but still does not ever want to put PJ's on until she is actually going to bed. She changes her clothes several times a day and even though she loves to get dressed up, she immediately changes into something casual when we get home.

The first day we were home she was TERRIFIED of the dogs. She is now a full fledged dog lover and says "nice" and "ahhhh" every time she sees a dog, and wants to kiss and hug them extensively. (She likes cats too)

Her English comprehension is excellent and she can repeat most words now, (but speech of course is an ongoing project).

She has a great appetite and loves eggs, bananas, apples, cheese, chicken, rice, mac and cheese, potatoes, ice cream and of course her beloved wheat thins which she will glom onto in any store and hoard them all for herself. Vegetables are still a big negative and there are NONE that she likes. She will even pick miniscule carrots from chicken noodle soup.

She has grown 2 1/4 inches, gained 3 pounds, and expanded 2 1/2 shoe sizes. Her hair has grown quite a lot and has beautiful natural curl. She styles it many, many time a day in various pony tails and clips.

Behavior wise she is pretty good but likes to test her limits. She knows what she wants and loves to be the boss if at all possible. She often has trouble leaving things alone like cell phones, nail polish and anything belonging to Jordan. She really is very outgoing and happy almost all the time. Aside from getting frustrated by prolonged teasing from her brothers (whom she adores) she has never had any kind of a tantrum.

She fits into our family like she has always been here and she is perfect in our eyes!

End of Summer

Nothing too exciting to report. We have just been hanging out at home and getting ready for the school to start. Deanna has been having a great time spending time with her brothers. What will we do when Jeremy goes back to school??? Deanna (and I) will miss him terribly.

Preschool starts next week, and we attended the open house this week. Deanna already is familiar with her teacher and classroom from camp and vacation bible study so she is quite comfortable.

We have decided to try gymnastics, and that also starts next week. Deanna has been practicing at home and is ready to go!

Lake Tahoe Vacation

We just returned from a very fun family vacation to Lake Tahoe with our friends Rick and Debby and all of the kids, and a few of their friends (except Jordan who opted to stay home because he hates car trips).

This was our longest road trip with Deanna, and she did fine. About 10 hours in the car each way. Fortunately we had lots of Disney movies. On the way home she recognized our exit off the freeway and started cheering!

Deanna had an great time with our friend's daughter Krista. They spent A LOT of time together in and out of the pool. Krista was very patient with her and she will be a great babysitter (we get first dibs). Deanna lost her fear of water and was diving in, going under and paddling around the pool by herself (with the swim vest on).

Jeremy and Jeff had the run of the resort, and visited the casinos as well. Two of their high school friends (and baseball team members), who happened to be in the area, came by for a few days and stayed with us. It was fun to have all those young people around.

We had some fun sight seeing on the lake with the wave runners. Jeremy took me for an extended death defying ride and it was gorgeous when I could manage to open my eyes. He also took Deanna out for a much gentler outing, although I'm sure she would have loved a daredevil trip!

We all had a great time and are so glad they invited us along. If Jordan would have been there it would have been perfect!

Dance Class Finale

Today was the last day of the summer dance class. Deanna really enjoyed herself and did well following instructions and interacting with the other girls. I think we will try something new and a little more challenging this fall.

Tackling Speech Therapy

Deanna had her much awaited speech therapy evaluation with the cleft palate specialists at Doernbecher Childrens Hospital yesterday. (Even though she has begun speech therapy with a speech therapist I found myself).
First some history.....Deanna has a history of "misbehaving" at medical appointments. She gets a cute, yet blank smile on her face and sits there like she doesn't understand. Sometimes she starts wandering and getting into things to tests her limits. When asked to speak or demonstrate something, she might cooperate for a minute or two then sighs and acts totally bored.
Well, before this appointment I had a talk with her and asked her to REALLY TRY HARD to do everything they said, and be really good because we will only be there for a little while. I have tried this tactic before speech therapy appointments and it has helped.
Deanna of course reverted to her "doctor's office behavior". By the end of the evaluation the speech pathologist thought Deanna could barely utter a sound, had a limited understanding of English, and had trouble following instructions! (They were not interested in my input only their own observations). I do have great respect for these people but they do not know the real Deanna, and could not have possibly figured it out in this short visit with the show she put on.
I was not happy with her behavior and we had a talk afterward. I told her she really was naughty and did not do what I asked and also reminded her that she was going to have to work very, very hard to learn to talk, etc...
That evening at home she said more words than she ever has. She was initiating (not repeating) three word sentences for the first time!
She must have been paying attention to her prognosis and decided it was time to get with it!

Home 5 Months

We have been home 5 months and everything is great. Looking back on all the pictures Deanna has changed so much. She is taller and thinner, and looks so much healthier. Her feet have grown at least 2 sizes. Her hair is much longer and just short of an attractive pony tail (very important to her).

She loves to run and play catch. We may find our way back to the baseball field soon! She also loves her dance class and loves to tumble. I think she'll make a good gymnast because she is coordinated, tough and a bit of a daredevil. Deanna is also somewhat bossy and has a way of charming everyone to do things her way. Hopefully we can channel this energy into leadership qualities! (Pictures courtesy of my friend Debbie Mehlhaff, more to come)

Camping Trip

We spent the past week camping in Prineville with our good friends. This is only the second time we have participated in this yearly event and it was great. Deanna got to experience camping with a lot of swimming, boating, and socializing. There were several teenagers there who she immediately took a liking to. The young people were all very good with her, allowing her to "hang out" with them and it really made the trip special for her. Thanks to all the adults too, we appreciate your kindness to Deanna.

She did meet a couple of girls her age to play with. They had fun on a trampoline on the water. This is very good, as she prefers older kids.

We had to watch her like a hawk though because she thought everyone in the campground was her friend, and no place was off limits. This was a good time for practicing appropriate vs inappropriate behavior!

Parties

Deanna has been fortunate enough to be invited to several parties and events this summer. She has plenty of clothes and loves wearing new outfits! This day we thought we were going to a BBQ, but it turned out to be a surprise wedding reception. Congratulations Wanda and Neil! We all had a great time and Deanna had fun dancing and "singing" with the band.

New Kitty

Yesterday the "boys" came home with a new kitten. I have been saying that our cat is old and having trouble catching mice and we should get a new one, specifically an orange one.
Jordan called and said they found a nice black and white kitty and I said if we get a cat I want an orange one or a tabby. He said it might be too late, Jeremy might have already bought it, as I hear the car heading for home.
Anyway, she is a very nice kitten, very friendly and not intimidated by the dogs at all. Deanna of course was immediately in love and has been carrying her everywhere. Jon wasn't too happy but seen later that evening petting and kissing her......

HAPPY 21ST BIRTHDAY JEREMY

Hard to believe but our oldest son Jeremy is 21! It keeps getting harder and harder to deny my age when the boys are men. It has been great having him home this summer.
Deanna picked out some gifts for him and kept making some sort of hat gesture, so I'm thinking they did celebrate birthdays in the orphanage with a party hat.
After all the gifts she has received at her showers she is very good about giving to others and not expecting anything for herself.