3 1/2 Months Home

It's hard to believe we've been home close to four months now. Anastasia continues to adjust beautifully. Here are a few pictures from the class trip to Frankfort. She had a great time. She gets along well with the other kids and is so much better about sharing her stuff. One little guy in her grade has downs and she was great with him. Read some of the "do not touch" signs to him (she told me "Patrick not know all of the words") and looked out for him. This is a side of her we saw in orphanage but since she has been home she has been a little intolerant. That is changing as she is getting more confident of her place. Rachel left earlier this week (there's a pic of her on her way to airport) to study in Spain for a few months. That night as we were putting her to bed we said something about it being a good day and she said, "not good day when my beeg seester leaves for 2 months" Her school had a field day and she competed in hula hoop - she was 9th (out of 10!) but didn't seem to mind one bit. A few months ago she would have had a meltdown - but she just sat down in her hoop and watched all the other kids. At field day she got introduced to the Macarena. She got right up and did it with the other kids - "I like deez song!" We're trying to figure out what extracurriculars to enroll her in. She now wants to try it all - baseball, dance, soccer, . . . and it's a little hard for her as she hasn't experienced any of these yet.

SHe spends most of her days after school outside. Some of the girls on the street have a "catepillar club" - actually it's bag worms but they won't let us call them worms. She still loves riding her bike and is great about staying on the street. There's also a picture here of her with a donkey. Our street had a derby day/cinco de mayo/welcome to America party. When the donkey was delivered, Anastasia walked him around the neighborhood. There was a dunking booth and a big inflatable house to jump in. She asked Rachel, "In America how many times we have party like deez." She was disappointed that it wasn't going to be a weekly event.

So all is good. She's going to go to a summer program for a couple days this summer with a neighbor. We think the structure will be good for her as she had a hard time with all the free time during spring break. Also the ladies who run the summer program are teachers and will tutor her some. They also do field trips.

Rachel picked her up from school quite a bit when she was home during Spain and college. One of the teacher assistants said to Rachel,"You guys look so much alike you could be real sisters." Anastasia got right back in that ladies face and said,"Rachel eez my real seester." SHe is a spunky little thing.

The big kids continue to be great with her. She's a fun little sister. We can't imagine our lives without all four of them! Ukraine continues to be closed for international adoptions. FOlked who started the process months before us still have not travelled. It's truly a miracle that we have her and we are so thankful. Thanks for checking in.