In the blink of an eye

You hear how lives can change in the blink of an eye, how life is fragile, etc. But every once in a blue moon, you experience it.

We have a pretty tight-knit group of neighbors in our cul-de-sac. Our kids all play together almost daily. We help each others pets and plants when one is on vacation. We spend many evenings outside talking while the kids play. Last night, we saw a fire truck and ambulance pull up to the house next door. They have two boys, 6 and 9, who my boys love to play with. We went outside to see what was going on, and the boys were outside crying. The oldest told us that his daddy had stopped breathing. Shortly after, their mom came out and told us the same thing.

Scott ended up driving her to the hospital and her boys hung out at my house. Not long after, Scott called to tell me that our neighbor didn't make it. He had a pulmonary embolism (blood clot in the lung) and had died instantly. Just like that. In the blink of an eye, his wife has become a widow and his boys will grow up without their father. It's absolutely heartbreaking.

Last night around 11:00, Scott finally drove our neighbor back home from the hospital. We gave her a few minutes to collect her thoughts, and then I walked her boys over to her so she could tell them that their daddy wasn't coming home. How you tell your kids news like that, I can't begin to imagine.

Lots of prayer went up last night from our quiet cul-de-sac. I pray that the Lord will answer with comfort and peace and healing for this sweet family. I know God promises that he is close to the brokenhearted and I pray that this family will feel His presence.

All the cliches about life being fragile have hit just a little too close to home. The truth is, it could have been any of us. Around here this week, we will all be hugging our husbands just a little bit tighter...we will be explaining the tragedy of death to our children...and we will also be helping our friend and her boys mourn their overwhelming loss. Of all that is good in this world, this is the slap-in-the-face reality that we live in a fallen world. This is the reminder that we all so desperately need the Lord, because in the blink of an eye, everything can change.

Cousin Camp Fun

Cousins riding on the historical Tarantula Train...


Thanks for the picture, Mom and Dad! Looks like lots of fun!

Overdue Post

I heard from 2 people today complaining that I haven't blogged in awhile. Considering that one was my mother and the other was my father-in-law, I figured it was time to catch up! :)

Buenos Aires was great and we had a great time. It was especially nice to take a break from our Texas heat and spend a few days in WINTER! We saw the sights, ate great food, and just relaxed a lot. Here is the view from our amazing hotel...

The Tango show was incredible - and yes, a little spicy! Scott commented that you really should be married to your Tango partner. :)

Here are some snapshots of the great city of Buenos Aires.





Meanwhile, at home the kids had a blast at Cousin Camp. Halle Grace was a little lobster and is now peeling, but other than that, all went well! She just jumped right in the fun like she'd always been there. Everyone was thoroughly exhausted at the end, so it must have been a huge success. Maybe my dad will send me some pictures (hint hint).

This week, we started our little home school sessions. Kids just love to learn, and they have been so excited! They all learned their memory verse this week and we did a fun painting project. Other than that, Grant has been doing lots of reading (he's currently reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid, which he is loving). He's also doing some math practice. With Garrett and Halle Grace, we are just working on the basics - letter sounds, handwriting, numbers, etc. So far so good! But I gotta tell ya, I have HUGE respect for those of you who home school. It's not easy, but it's worth it right now because Garrett is just right on the verge of being able to put his sounds together to make words, and Halle Grace is just a little sponge - soaking up everything she can.
Here are the kids painting (in their pjs). I gave them only white, red, blue and yellow paint and told them to make as many colors as they could to paint with...they loved it!



On a completely different subject, have ya'll seen the Pioneer Woman's website? I just found it a couple of weeks ago, and it's my new fave! Go check it out...her recipes are divine.

From Buenos Aires...

We are loving it here! The food is amazing and there is lots to see and do. Tonight we are going to a Tango/Dinner show. Last night, we had a traditional Argentine steak dinner. Yum! We had appetizers, steaks, 2 sides, and a bottle of wine for $50! And they brought us complimentary glasses of champagne. Can you believe that? We´ve spent lots of time roaming around the sites, including the famous cemetery (which is incredible, by the way) and shopping/strolling down Florida Street (pedestrian-only shopping area).

Can I just point out how great it is to have all the signs and menus in our alphabet? I will freely admit that I do not miss the Cyrillic alphabet of Ukraine! We´re no Spanish experts, but we know enough to get by and the menus are much easier to read. It has been really strange to be in a foreign country that is not Ukraine after spending 5 weeks there. The entire first day here, I kept wanting to say "spaceba" instead of "gracias", and I keep saying "da" instead of "ci". Old habits die hard! It can be tough being multi-lingual sometimes. (HA!)

Adios for now!

Update...

Here's what we've been up to...
Friday began with an early appointment at the opthamologist's. Halle Grace had surgery for crossed-eyes in Ukraine before we met her, and we knew that a second surgery could be a possibility. Apparently they were right. But the doctor wants to try everything else first just to be sure it's necessary. So...first she'll wear glasses for 6 weeks, then we'll try some patching, and then reevaluate.

After that, we headed to the lake with some friends and had the best time! They have a great pool, which the kids LOVED. We also got to take the boat out and the kids went inertubing (even Halle Grace!).


Saturday, Scott took the boys to see Kung Foo Panda (which they loved!). Meanwhile, I took Halle Grace to pick out her new glasses. Did you know Barbie makes glasses? How smart is that! While we waited, we shared a pizza and salad at Carabba's (yum!) and roamed around the mall. Miss Grace is a great shopper!!! Thank you Jesus! :)
AND...how cute is she in her new glasses?!


Sunday, we had a great Father's Day. The kids got really into it this year and wanted to give Daddy all his favorite things...so we made up a big gift bag of things like Reese's, real Coke, football stuff, his favorite cereal, etc. The kids had some great ideas. Halle Grace really wanted to give him a football bike. I tried to explain that (1) Daddy already has a bike, and (2) they don't really make themed bikes for grown-ups. In her mind, if she has a princess bike, then Daddy should get to have a football bike. Makes sense to me!
Daddy chose lunch at Kincaid's, which has been a famous Fort Worth hamburger hang-out for decades. It was SO GOOD! Here are some snap shots from lunch.

Can you tell how much Halle Grace loves her Daddy?


And can you tell the difference in personality between Grant and Garrett? Just a slight difference... :)




Tomorrow, the kids are off to the 3rd annual Cousin Camp at my parent's house. They are so excited they can hardly stand it! They are planning to swim, check out a couple of museums, ride the steam train in Fort Worth, and have an outdoor campfire/cook out. It's such a special time for them to all be together, and the cousins literally talk about it all year! Thanks Mom and Dad...what a blessing!

What are Scott and I going to do with all that time? Take a trip, of course! We had planned a trip to Buenos Aires last year for our anniversary, and ended up not being able to go at the last minute. So we're going NOW! This time tomorrow, it's off to Argentina! How crazy is that?

I've got to get packing...it's winter there now.
Highs in the low 60s.
We'll have to Tango to keep warm... ha!

Obedience

Most of my posts about Halle Grace are all sunshine and roses...because for the most part, she is.

But this post is just us trying to keep it real.
Lately, we have had some obedience issues. For example, the other day at the pool, she learned how to spit water out of her mouth in a stream. She was very proud of this accomplishment and showed off by spitting water in Zoey's face. We told her to stop, explained that was yucky and not nice, etc. About 15 minutes later, she did it again to Grant. This time she had to get out of the pool and sit with me for 5 minutes. That night in the tub, she did it AGAIN! This time, she had to get out and go straight to bed (which was accompanied by much crying and drama!)

I know this is basic kids stuff, but I feel like this is the sort of stuff the boys pulled when they were 3. I doubt Halle Grace had any consistent discipline at all at that age and I think we are seeing the affects of this now. Today, we were getting ready to leave my parents' pool. After lunch, I told the kids not to get back in the water because we were all dry and ready to go. Halle Grace decided to sneak over to the pool and get in one more time. I told her to get out of the water NOW, when she quickly dunked her head in the water - hoping that I wouldn't notice that the head-dunk was actually AFTER she was told to get out of the water! Ughhhh! I know this is small potatoes compared to what many many adoptive parents go through. She's just been SO compliant all this time, and now we are seeing some sneaky testing going on. Usually she just cries and cries because of the consequence...not out of remorse. But today, on the ride home from my parents' pool, she said quietly, "Mommy, I'm sorry for getting in the water." This was a huge step because it was the first time I think she understood that disobedience disappoints her parents - and wanted to make it right. When we got home, she went straight to her room to rest with no complaining. Hopefully she is starting to get the picture. We hope!!! :)

Two-Monthiversary

Today, Halle Grace has been with us for 2 months. It's been amazing, truly, and we can't imagine life without her. In this two month time period, she has experiences countless firsts, her hair has grown longer, she's got some Texas color on her cheeks, and her English is amazing. She speaks mostly in English now, with Russian mixed in when she doesn't know the English word for what she wants to say. I wanted to do another video interview today, but the day got away from us. Tomorrow...

Today we had swim lessons and a trip to the water park. Halle Grace and the boys were up in line for a slide in the kids' area when Halle Grace got stung by a bee!!! The lifeguard carried her down and I ran over to them. Halle Grace was screaming and I had to run to keep up with the lifeguard carrying her towards the first aid clinic. She asked me if she was allergic or if she had been stung before. Of course, I had no idea. I explained that we had recently adopted her from Ukraine. The lifeguard just looked at me and said, "Does she speak Russian?". I said yes, and she immediately began speaking to Halle Grace in Russian! She asked her if she had been stung before and Halle Grace said no. She went on explaining that they were going to put some medicine on it and that it would be ok (at least I think that's what she was saying. Like I had any idea! Ha!). But it sure put Halle Grace at ease. After she was treated and feeling a little better, the lifeguard explained that she had been adopted from Russian 5 years ago with her 2 siblings. How crazy is that!!! It just goes to show that the Lord is still answering all those prayers for comfort that we sent up on her behalf. What a sweet gift her gave her today!

After the obligatory drama, Halle Grace was back on the water slides in no time. They are all in bed now, thoroughly exhausted. Tomorrow is the last day of swim lessons. She and Garrett have done so well and made so much progress! Halle Grace is still afraid of deep water, but she is actually swimming, so that's fine with me!

Here's a little memory-lane walk from April 11, followed by two current picture of Halle Grace with her brothers (sorry, they're repeats!).
The Lord has truly blessed us beyond all our expectations.

First week of summer

We've had a great week! It's been busy, though. Garrett and Halle Grace had swimming lessons all week and they are doing so well! We've also been to the water park, had a sleepover (Grant), had Halle Grace's first gynmastics class, and went to Ranger game. Whew!

Halle Grace LOVES gymnastics. She is taking classes at Sunbelt, and I am so impressed with them. They worked on floor and beam, and Halle Grace was a little natural for her first time. She even did a forward roll on the beam without falling off (I think it was a fluke, though, becuase the other times she rolled off - she was SO proud! :) Here is a picture of Halle Grace and our neighbor, Sophia. They are in the same class.

We went to the Ranger game last night with our good friends, the Popes. The kids had the best time (maybe too good of a time!), but the Rangers lost. Here are some fun pictures of Halle Grace's first baseball game (I don't think she was a huge fan. She was much more interested in the food! :) I don't know if you can tell, but I french-braided her hair for the first time. It turned out really cute. She told me it was just like how Mama Nadia did it (her favorite caregiver from the orphanage). That's the ultimate compliment. :)





We started a more intensive summer chore chart this week. Each kiddo has a couple of jobs a day, Monday through Thursday. Friday is for "special projects", like cleaning out dresser drawers, organizing closets, etc. I taught Grant to fold laundry - and he's great at it! My goal is to form habits that will help our home "run itself" and teach the kids some more responsibility. I'll let you know how it goes when the novelty wears off. For the moment, they think it's great fun!

It's Summer Time!

I've been hearing the "What Time is it?" song from HSM in my head all day long! Big day - Grant is now a 2nd grader! He had a great day, winning the "Most Dependable" and "Fastest Runner" awards. We are so proud of him. He has grown up so much this year and has really matured into a compassionate, independant kid who loves to learn. We celebrated the beginning of summer vacation by doing the High School Musical dance in front of the school, then we went out for ice cream. I had Kalua Almond Fudge. Yummmmmm.
(yes, I was kidding about the dancing...but that would be kinda fun. hehe!)

Grant's end-of-year party was yesterday. Every time a party comes around, I ask myself again, "why am I the room mom again?". We all know the answer to that one..."because no one else wanted to do it!". It really wasn't that bad. I had an amazing helper and she really stepped up while I was in Ukraine. We had a great year!

Garrett and Halle Grace started swimming lessons yesterday. They are going so well! Garrett is learning his stroke techniques and Halle Grace is learning the basics. She's already made huge progress and LOVES every minute of it. Garrett is also working on learning to dive. I took some "before" video yesterday, so we'll have to compare his progress at the end.

I was going to load some pictures, but my camera is dead. It's charging now so check back later if you're interested... :)