And she's off...!

We're happy to report that Dasha has mastered bike riding! Michael worked with her and now she's lovin' it! And, I have a scratch on my van that will always remind us of the learning process. :( She got rolling on Monday and it was literally 98 degrees out, but she didn't seem to care. She just wanted to ride. Her face was the color of a tomato and her shirt was soaked with sweat. It looks like we're going to have to buy another bike!

The kids are attending a program at church this week. It's called Health Through the Bible and is put on by the Russian ministry for the Chernobyl kids. Each night they focus on a different aspect of health and nutrition...tonight is dentistry!! Last night they learned to wash their hands properly and even had a black light to show where they missed. Monday was about proper nutrition. We are blessed to have a Russian ministry right at our church.

That's the mid-week update on what we've had going on....

Brighter Days

This week was much better than last week. We definitely had some bumps in the road, but nothing earth shattering. We completed the registration and course selection process for Dasha to start at Wakefield High School in August. We haven't decided yet where to place Michael.

The kids had two more English lessons this week. Neither are terribly motivated to spend free time doing their homework. Dasha does well when she tries. Michael is very reluctant. We purchased the Rosetta Stone English software for home schoolers. We are hoping that they will think it's more fun since it's on the computer. There are workbooks, answer sheets and speaking activities. I've heard good things about this program so we thought we'd give it a try. It is so very hard to communicate even the littlest thoughts to the kids so I often just "let it go".

We went to a couple second hand stores this week and got some clothing items. Since Dasha is so small she can wear just about anything and it will look cute. Surprisingly enough, Michael seems to go for the wild, Hawaiian type prints. Works for me!

Dasha's having her first sleepover tonight with Lena Huston. Rhondi and her kids came over to swim and for pizza today. Lena is spending the night here. I remember how much I enjoyed that as a kid.

That's the week in review!

Challenges

This was a rough week. ESL went better on Tuesday. Dasha and Lena had class together and Michael and Vitali had class together. The report was actually that Michael and Vitali were a little silly which was the complete opposite of what had taken place on Friday. At least he participated!

Wednesday Michael got his hair cut. It looks really good.

Dasha and I had a couple days this week that we really didn't get along. This escalated Thursday evening. When it was over we were both crying in each others arms. The language barrier makes these situations even more difficult. I think we BOTH learned a lot this week. Most importantly, I hope she learned that no matter what I love her. I tried to explain that even when I get mad, I still love her. I want her to feel secure in that thought.

Michael woke up with a temperature Friday morning so we stayed home all day except for when we had to run over to the church to pick up Primo Jr. (he was at camp all week). Yesterday (Saturday) we went to BJ's and the grocery store to stock up on supplies. The kids were much better about not throwing everything under the sun in the cart. I appreciated that!

Today (Sunday) we had the pleasure of meeting with Constantine Petrov who leads the Russian ministry at our church. We wanted to be able to express to the kids our expectations and have them hear the experiences of someone who has walked in their shoes (so to speak). Constantine and his family moved to America almost 10 years ago. He talked to the kids for FOUR hours!!!!! It was great. He talked to them from a Biblical sense and shared that without Christ we can do nothing. So true! The kids were attentive and spoke openly asking questions and responding. Both seemed to have a more positive outlook when we left. It was time well spent!

I think we all grew a little this week!


(Note: I started typing this post before midnight, but ran over. My brain still thinks it's Sunday so forgive the discrepancy in days/dates)

General Update

The kids had their first ESL class on Friday (we had to change the day). Dasha flew through the lesson with flying colors. Michael, however, withdrew and would not speak or make eye contact. This is not the first time this has happened, but we're still trying to figure out what triggers it. So far we have not seen a specific pattern. In this case I was wondering if he felt uncomfortable because Dasha was doing so much better than him. The point is that she had English lessons in Ukraine and he didn't. We realize that, but maybe he doesn't think we do? I spoke later with the tutor and we've decided to separate Dasha and Michael for the next lesson to see if he does better. Not only that, Rhondi's children need ESL also and we are considering letting the girls go together and having the boys go together. The next lesson is tomorrow.

We had a nice visit with Dick Hilliard and his grandson last night. Dick was the Raleigh coordinator for the hosting program in 2005 when Dasha came. He has remained a tremendous support to us and a good friend. He considers all these kids his grandchildren! He has 4 adopted grandchildren from Ukraine and Andry was with him last night. He has been in the US for about 3 years. He's 17 now. He and Dasha talked for awhile, but Michael slipped back upstairs soon after meeting them. It didn't seem to matter that he had someone else that could speak Russian. I enjoyed hearing Andry speak because he has a really cool accent!! I bet the girls love it!! I hugged him when he got here and when they left. He said that American's like to hug. He commented that he doesn't mind hugging the girls!!! No doubt!

Primo Jr. left this morning for camp with his youth group. He will be back on Friday. Primo Sr. went back to work today so I guess it's another transitional day. One step closer to "normal".

Fun at FRANKIES

Yesterday we took the kids to Frankies for something to do. Primo Jr. didn't want to go. I wish he had joined us. Sharing his room with Michael is very difficult. Michael is the same age in years, but definitely not in maturity. Nights are funky around here. People are up wandering in the middle of the night, music playing, tv's on...weird! All the while Primo Jr. has exams this week. I think part of it is that he's tired. Today we are planning to go back to the pool.

Here are some pictures from Frankies...

Grandma's Gone Home...Boredom Sets In

Primo left early yesterday (Sunday) morning to drive his mom and Charlie (her dog) back to New York. The four kids and I went to church service and had lunch at home. It was raining off and on and at times very hard. We watched Miss Congeniality and Titanic. Primo called around 7:30pm to say that he had arrived safely at his mom's house.

Today I got up and planted some flowers in the front landscape. Dasha was getting up just about the time I was heading out, but gardening is not something that interests her. She sat inside for a while cross-stitching then she watched some TV. Michael has been snacking most of the day...? boredom? I haven't been able to get too involved with things today for some reason. I didn't sleep well last night. Dasha leaves her music on all night and I woke in the night to find that Michael had apparently been up to use the bathroom and left the light on. At some point the TV in the boys' room was also turned on. I don't even want to see our electric bill this month. We need to have a lesson in turning things off when not in use!!

Primo should be home around supper time tonight, but his flight out of Syracuse was delayed and he just called that his connecting flight is also delayed. When he called I told him that after just one day my eyes have been opened to something that he already said. We have to find something for these kids to do this summer besides just a few hours of ESL! I was concerned about the money, but now I'm concerned about my sanity!! (LOL) They love the pool, but an adult (me) has to be with them and I can't spend every day at the pool.

Any suggestions???

Fun at the Pool

Yesterday was a fun day at the pool. Primo Jr. has exams so he got home from school at noon. We got ready and the four kids and I went to the pool. Primo has a friend in the neighborhood that wants to be friends with Dasha. She was at the pool too.
When we got home we hung out watching TV and napping. Primo Jr. fell asleep on the couch and his sister took that opportunity to paint his toenails pink!!! LOL It was hysterical! Unfortunately his cell phone rang before they were dry and he got some on the carpet :(

Michael refused to sit with us at dinner which was making us mad, but he later came down with a piece of paper that said "headache". He apparently didn't feel good which was probably a result of too much sun. Primo gave him some Advil and he went upstairs to bed. In instances like that the language barrier is difficult.

Enjoy the pictures...

Productive Days...with a lesson in "No"

The last couple of days have been busy ones, but also productive. Wednesday we went and applied for social security numbers for the kids. It didn't take too long and was an important thing to get done. Then we took the kids to a Russian market, but it was closed. We told them that we would try again on Thursday. We had a quick bite to eat at McDonald's and then came back home. Michael has found "Lego-land" upstairs and has been hiding out up there building stuff. He does a great job. Primo Jr. and Dasha have been hanging out a lot. What 15 year old boy wouldn't want to hang out with a drop dead gorgeous girl...even if she IS his sister!!!!

Yesterday (Thursday) was really busy. We went to Michael's base school and picked up the registration papers. We also got a form to request a transfer (which has to be submitted by 6/1!). We want him to go to the year round school that Primo Jr. attended. Then we went to the church and picked up the donation bin that had been in the Welcome Center. There were many wonderful things...Bibles for each of the kids, a Russian/English dictionary, a backpack, journal, art set, gift cards, pillow protectors, sheets and a laundry basket. What a blessing!! From there we went to the high school to get the papers to enroll Dasha. We found out that because she is an ESL student she will be on the main campus with Primo Jr. next year (because of overcrowding they are putting this coming 9th graders at a satellite location). She was very excited and loved the school campus!

At 1pm we met with the English tutor at her home. She is great and the kids took right to her!! (Primo had talked to them alittle and they were both uncomfortable with a male tutor.) She does this for a living and has every resource known to man! Books, workbooks, games, visual aids, audio....you name it, she's got it! She played a couple games with the kids and they were very receptive. We are going to start classes next week on Thursday. We are going to slide into a time slot that is just opening up. It will be on Tuesday and Thursday for 1 hour with homework. She will tailor the work to their individual level since Dasha knows more English than Michael at this point. It was a very positive meeting and I can't wait for them to get started!!

From there we went to the Wake County school's main office to submit the transfer request for Michael. I handed it to the woman at the counter and she asked where the kids were coming from. When I responded "Ukraine" she said, "Are you part of that group from Wake Forest?"...I said, "Are you Mrs. Miller?!!".....Yes! I had talked to her AT LENGTH before we went to Ukraine because I wanted the heads-up on what I could expect from the school's program. She grabbed the four of us and took us immediately to her office. She is SO nice! Then she insisted that we meet her supervisor because she's been telling him about us for weeks! She wanted to meet with our whole group once everyone is back in the country (there are still a couple families in process). She had our transfer form in her hand when we left and I told her not to lose it to which she replied..."I'm gonna hand carry it upstairs myself!". I think she will put in a good word for us with the powers that be. We should hear in 7-10 days if the transfer has been granted.

Then, as promised, we took the kids back to the Russian market. It's very small. Dasha got some snacks and four containers of what is the equivelant of Ramen noodles. They wanted salami from the deli case. Dasha looked around at the food items, but Michael was fixated on the videos. He kept bringing various ones to us...some were for purchase, some were for rent and many were rated "R"!! We told him "no"..."no"..."no"..."no", but he kept going back and getting more. Primo told him that we have movies at home (many of the ones he picked were in English). We stood our ground and he wasn't happy. He didn't speak on the ride home and went immediately to his room. I went up to see what he was doing and he had his head under his pillow. Oh well! We have been buying things like crazy because they have needs, but they have to learn that they aren't going to get everything they WANT. There IS a difference! He got over it fairly quickly and wanted to go with me to Target later on. He had gotten a pack of gum around 12:30 and by 6:30 the whole thing was gone. I had a piece of gum in my mouth at Target and he wanted a piece. I said "no" and reminded him that he ate a whole pack. We walked around the store with him saying "gum" and me saying "no". I won that round!! :)

Sorry this is so long! We've been busy!