Seeing Artyr and losing a tooth.....

It's been quite a week as Dima finally got to see his best friend Artyr last Sunday and a few days later he lost a tooth!  As I posted before, Dima was so excited to see his friend again and as each day got closer, his excitement grew.  Here are a couple video's of them together. 

This is a video of Dima and Artyr seeing each other again. I stopped it early as I had to get my hug from Artyr!

The next video is of Artyr opening up his gifts from Dima.  Dima was so excited to get something for him.



All the other children that have been adopted came to welcome Artyr home. At one point I sat back and looked around the room to see all the children laughing and having fun. The mood was very different from when we were all back in the orphanage. The children seemed tense and their laughter was not as intense as it is now. It was amazing to see all the smiles. Like Cheri Walk said in her blog, I didn't think Artyr's smile could get any bigger....it was permanent on his face. He was such a thoughtful young man as he could have hung out with Dima and Erik the whole party, but he kept making his rounds with every other child and family members that came to see him. I can't wait to see how he blossoms with his new, loving family.

Dima has had a tooth that's been lose and the other day it finally came out. Dusty explained to Dima in America if you leave your tooth under your pillow, the tooth fairy will leave you money. Dima acted like it wasn't a big deal but as soon as he got ready for bed that night, he ran and got his tooth to put it under his bed. Well, the tooth fairy left Dima a big amount of money under his bed that night! Dusty woke Dima up the next morning and told him to look under his bed. Dima pulled out the money, looked at Dusty with a big smile and said "Thank you!".

Our First Parent-Teacher Conferences!

As Dusty and I were walking into the Altoona Junior High, I said to Dusty that this is our first parent-teacher conference and we laughed that we skipped to 8th grade! We first visited Dima's English teacher since she is basically the facilitator between Dima and his teachers.  She told us how he has made improvements the last few weeks.  We are so excited to finally see him open up a little to her more! With the help of Liliya and the teacher having a lot of patience he is not as upset to have the class by himself.  He just wants to be like all the other children.  He can be stubborn and not talk to her when he feels the content is too easy, but since he wouldn't talk to her, she had to continue with the basics.  We met with Dima's other teachers and all have said the same thing about him being very shy and will not say much to them, but that he is doing very well.  They are noticing that he is starting to be more social with his peers which is good.  We wish we could record how much Dima speaks to us and let his teachers hear how much he really does know.  Sometimes he will talk so much that Dusty and I can't get him to be quiet!

We have been in touch with all of Dima's teachers but to see them face to face was really nice.  They have all been extremely wonderful and patient with Dima.  We are very pleased with the Altoona Junior High School system.  I have to admit that I was a little hesitant at first since it was a big school and was afraid that Dima would just be a number to the school, but that has not been the case at all.  Maybe that would not be the case for the other children that are adopted or being adopted, but Dima has bloomed into such a young man since he's gone to school.  My advice to those trying to figure out about a school is to think about the child and what would be best for their personality.  Even though Dima is shy, he is very brave and social so he is doing well in this school.

Dima also started track last week, what a brave boy! We are so proud of him for getting out of his comfort zone again to try out for track.  It took a little coaxing and explanation from Liliya, but he wanted to do it.  The morning of the first day I noticed he was grumpy so I figured it was because he was nervous.  We picked him up after the first day and he had his big ol' smile on him again, phew!

Before track started, he would run with us for about 30 minutes with little problems so Dusty and I thought he'd be better at the distance events.  Yesterday when I picked him up from practice, I asked if he went with the distance kids and he said..."no, did lots of sprints".  It didn't dawn on me until I talked to him more about it and he said that he switched to sprints! I laughed and told Dusty that he and about every other kid on the team are doing sprints.  We thought if he'd do distance he'd have a better chance making the away team, but we will see.  He likes to sprint and we think having his new friends doing sprints was the main reason he switched.  The main thing is that he is enjoying track and it helps him to be more social and confident with his English.  I think it has worked because my Dad dropped him off the other day and he said Dima saw his friends going into practice and he jumped out of his truck and ran up to his friends!

Last night we all went to see "Annie" that the Altoona Junior High students put on and it was really good! I was so busy before the play that I didn't think about the play being about an orphan.  As the first scene starts and all the girls are sleeping in one room, it hit me like a tone of bricks! I really had a hard time not letting Dima see me as it brought back so many memories of what Dima went through.  Just to think a few short months he was in an orphanage with no family! I then started to worry that he was going to be upset, but again, he was a brave boy and enjoyed seeing a few students that he knew. 

Tomorrow is the big day that Dima will see his best friend Artyr! He is so excited to see him again and I can't imagine how excited he is going to be tomorrow.  I will make sure I take some pictures of the reunion!
Thanks for reading!
Tina

Party at Lodge

Yesterday we went to a party to celebrate Dema, Anslee and Vika coming to America.  It was a great time talking to the other parents that have adopted and those that are still in the process of completing paperwork.  Before we left for church yesterday I read about some great news.  People that helped out at camp had been thinking of adopting but timing just didn't seem right until recently. They were able to Skype with sisters when Cheri and Russi Walk were in Ukraine.  They are around Dima's age and from the same orphanage. I am so excited to hear about that as I will never forget hearing the younger sister ask Lori Walk to find her a Mama and Papa.  They were actually to make the hosting trip but because of paperwork and no one showing interest in hosting them, they missed the trip.  Again, I am seeing how amazing God is putting families together halfway across the world. Please pray for the family that is adopting them and the sisters they are adopting.  I just remembered one more moment I had with the girls in Ukraine.  During the birthday party to celebrate Anslee's birthday, I had the older sister stand up next to me.  She is very tall for her age and told her that she was tall.  Later I was told how insecure the girl is about her heigth.  I remember being her age and taller than most kids my age and how embarrassed I was.  I can't say enough about how sweet these girls are and how excited I am that this great family is trying to adopt them!

Back to the party......here are some pictures from the wonderful afternoon.

Anslee, Vika, Liliya and Dima.....I think he really enjoyed being the only older boy there!!

Janelle with her daughter Vika

Dima, Anslee.....ok, you guys are a little too close together.....Vika, Vika and Liliya

Me, Dima and Dusty

Thanks for organizing a great party Cheri and Cindy!!!!! Can't wait until the next celebration when Artyr comes to America!!!

Counting down the days.....

When I first started asking Dima if he was getting excited about Artyr (Dima's best friend that has been adopted from his orphanage in Ukraine) coming home soon, he played it off like he wasn't that excited. I can only imagine that he has been let down so many times in his life, that deep down inside him he doesn't want to show his emotions. Artyr is coming to his forever home on March 11th and will be living within 45 minutes of Dima.  Dusty and I are so excited that Artyr will be so close as well.  Dusty and I will never forget when we took the bus to pick up the children at the Philly airport to bring them back for camp in August.  After all the children walked from customs into where we met them, Artyr came up to Dusty and introduced himself.  Little did we know then that this boy was going to make such a huge impact on a lot of peoples lives.  Artyr is 15 years old and in another year would have "graduated" from the orphanage.  He was fortunate that Lori(whom organized the hosting camp) was able to take pictures and get to know the children when she was in Ukraine adopting Ana.  This was a life changing event for Artyr because normally the center will pick the most "adoptable" children to send on hosting trips.  Usually younger children are sent since they are most wanted for adoption.  From what we understand, this was the oldest group of children that came to a hosting camp in America and almost all are being adopted!!

When Artyr came to camp, he won everyones hearts over and actually had a choice of what family he wanted to be hosted and adopted by.  The Rose family had intentions to host another child but after seeing Artyr with their girls, they new Artyr would be a good fit for their family.  It is amazing to watch him with his little sisters.  He is such a caring boy. 

Anytime that Dusty and I even mention a date in March, Dima chimes in and says March 12th!!! He knows that is the date he is going to see his best friend.  The other day I saw him shut his bedroom door and heard a scratching noise.  I asked what he was doing and he said "secret".  I left it go and Dusty noticed this on his calendar. 

The date when Dima will see Artyr.

This weekend we will also be seeing two sisters that arrived last week from the Dima's orphanage.  These two girls will be living in Tyrone and are around Dima's age.  We are very excited to see them again.  Anslee and Vika are their names.  My last birthday was very special as I was able to be in Ukraine with Dima and since Anslee's birthday is the day after mine, we got to celebrate together.  It will be a birthday I will never forget! Anslee was so overwhelmed from having a big celebration that she hid behind a curtain crying.  After her friends coaxed her out, we had cake and ice cream.  She said it was the best birthday ever. 

I want to end this blog with thanking those from the Altoona Surgery Center that were gracious to donate money towards the orphanage.  We have sent the money over with Artyr's father so he can make sure the money will go to the orphanage.  I will let you know what is purchased and hopefully get pictures as well. 

One more thing, the Gurley family, who is adopting two children from the hosting camp, are going to be leaving next week for Ukraine! We will pray for safe travels and for a quick adoption!  I will never forget Vika speaking at camp how she was already at a hosting camp in America before and that all she wanted was to live in America.  It broke my heart knowing her age and that this trip was the last chance of being adopted since she was older.  I am so amazed at how God had this all planned and orchestrated the right people at this hosting camp!

Thanks for reading,

Tina