A Month At Home

It is still hard to grasp that this beautiful young lady is our daughter. Anastasia loves spending time with her mom. It's like they've been mother and daughter forever! Her English is rapidly improving to the point where we can have basic conversations and her ability to read is excellent. She read all of Heidi in one day! The big news is that the girls start school on Tuesday, August 21st. Everything has fallen into place for them to attend full-time at Banner Christian School. The story of the first five years of this school is an incredible story of God's faithfulness, and we are so humbled and grateful for the way God has provided.

Galyna has already practiced two days with the volleyball team. She was scared to death on the first day, and couldn't even say her name when she was asked to introduce herself. But several girls on the team reached out to her, and she never stopped smiling for the next two hours, which was a brutal workout! She is a natural athlete, and quickly found that she fit in with all of her teammates. Now, if she only worked as hard on her English! Fortunately, we've found a great tutor who will give them English instruction at school five hours a week. I've got a feeling that little Miss Galya is in for a shock!

I love these moments! Anastasia is a great big sis to her little brother, and Christian is mostly happy about having two sisters. He only threatens to send them back to Ukraine once or twice a day!

We don't have cable or satellite TV, so we watch alot of movies. I highly recommend The Miracle Worker, a newly released version of the Helen Keller story. This is a great film for children and parents in adoptive families, or anyone else for that matter.

Galya rode for the first time last summer, and she couldn't wait to saddle up again. She walked around the house for a week saying, "I want horse!" The lessons are pricey, but it is a joy to see her doing something she does so well. And a huge confidence booster. She'll need it when school starts next week!