Third Time Today??

Good grief!
Three entries in one day?

Alex has decided to stop writing in his blog. That's fine. It's his call. I told him he'd have to go back to his journal then but it was his decision.

He decided he's going to write and draw in his journal like Diary Of  A Wimpy Kid. That's fine too.

He misspelled like crazy-I really think the red squiggly line when he blogged helped him. Sure, he had some funky, weird words in his sentences because they were actual words but not the right word but still, he usually only had to add two or three more sentences each entry for misspelled words. (Words that he already had recorded in his dictionary)

Today's written journal entry?

EIGHT more sentences.

I tried to revive his desire to blog, pointing out that he didn't misspell as many words on the blog. "Whatever." was his answer.

(((Sigh)))

He was really feeling sorry for himself this afternoon.

He told me that he is jealous of Rylee because she doesn't have to write in a journal. Yep. I can see that. Then I had to point out that perhaps Bogdan or Sasha back at the orphanage were jealous of him? He has a family and lives in America?  We can all find people to be jealous of. I mentioned that sometimes I am jealous of other mom's that have cleaner houses, kids that don't fight or husbands that come home from work every night. We can be jealous of others and feel sorry for ourselves or just appreciate what we have and realize things could be worse. First, he had to argue with me that Sasha has a mom. She visits once a week. I asked if he would like to live in the orphanage and I visit once a week? I had him there. He had to agree that Sasha might be jealous of him living at home all the time with his mom. And I think it sunk in that things could be worse. 

Funny how one can lose perspective so quickly.

Tonight he had to write sentences with his current vocabulary words. I didn't correct them-I want his teacher to see just how hard these words are. Here are some of my favorite sentences. Keep in mind he has the definition in hand while he's writing.

Their's fjord cliff.

I absorb the spong.

I have an innovations about my invantion.

I am durable kid.

I erode that my mom is awesome.

Lucky for us he IS a durable kid.  Not so sure about that awesome mom sentence. How does he erode that I am awesome? Am  I wearing him down to thinking I'm awesome or maybe I'm wearing him down and he's discovering I'm awesome? 

Oh well. 

In Alex's word, "Whatever."
At least mom is awesome is part of the sentence!

Vocabulary Update!

Dear Internet,
I'm sorry. I didn't wait long for your response. (Thanks Deborah-I got yours!) I was walking the kids to school and thought "Hey, I'll just go talk to Alex's teacher right now!" And I did.
Guess who is in charge of Alex's vocabulary from now on??? Yep, me. It was my idea. I've been scouring  you (the Internet) for vocabulary lists and finally found one I think I'll use all year. It's a 3rd grade level-right about the level he reads on and I love that the definitions explain the word in simple sentences-not like the dictionary. The point is that he learns and understands the word....right? So here is next week's list.

coincidence-When the same things happen at the same time.

pleasant-Something that is pleasant is enjoyable and makes you happy.

modeled-If you modeled something, you showed it so other people could see it.

murmured-If you murmured something, you said it softly so people could hardly hear it.

loyal-Someone who is loyal sticks by you in good times and bad.

recited-If you recited a poem, you memorized it and then spoke it aloud.

trudged-If you walked slowly as though your feet were stuck in mud, you trudged.

gushed-When you were excited about something and talked a lot about it, you gushed.

frustrated-When you try and try to do something and cannot, then you might feel frustrated.

imitated-If you copied what someone did or said, you imitated him or her.

Cool huh? We'll just replace his ten very difficult-never going to use-can't say or comprehend words-for this list of ten words that might actually come in handy! I've already made up a quiz and sent it to the teacher for him to slip in to replace the other vocabulary quiz next Friday.  So look at me....home schooling while Alex is IN school. Best of both worlds!

What do you think?

Hello Internet!
It's time for a quiz.

Can anyone give me the definitions of these word:

setae

fjord

isthmus

?

What do these words all have in common?
They are three of Alex's vocabulary words this week. Along with oasis, absorb, concentrated, erode, gulf, innovation, and one more that I have forgotten.

Uhh.....I consider myself pretty well read-or at least a little above average in my vocabulary usage- although I can't spell worth a darn-and I didn't know those first three words. (Well, I have heard of fjord but wasn't quite sure what it was exactly. Heck, spell check doesn't even know the first word!)

I'm thinking-out loud here-a boy just learning English and only being in the country sixteen months should perhaps work on words that he will actually use in a sentence?

Hum.....

What do you think?

I'm going to talk with his teacher today but I wanted to get your input!

Thanks Internet!

Labor Day Weekend!

Saturday we went to Willard Bay for one last run on the boat.

We have quite a crew for one boat so we had a beach camp. This is a shot of the boat approaching camp to pick up the first batch of riders.

Austin & Kambree pushing us out!

The first two to try out the tube.

This was Alex's second time on a tube. Last year he went with me, we fell off an he practically crawled up my body and sat on my head wailing in despair until he got back on the boat. Needless to say he would not get in again. So, here we are a year later and he tells me at home that he thinks he'll bring his book and READ rather than tube. His siblings groaned. No way! You HAVE to tube! We gave him a pep talk that Richhart children are not wimps! He agreed he would go ONE more time. He wrote about is in his online journal if you want to get his take.  They did wipe out but it was Rylee that was crying because he fell on top of her-by the time the boat had circled around he had swam over to her and had his arm around her trying to comfort her. We have come a long way since last year!

Alex then went with Brach:

And then Ry had shook it off and went with Tyler

It was time to get out the "big" guns!

Kambree and Austin

My Dad said he wasn't holding back for these two and we zoomed around the lake! 

Riding back to the beach sitting on the tube in the boat!

I love this shot of  my big kids just chill'en.

My Dad-The Captain!

And my token picture-proof I was there!

We were eating Bugles and Rylee had to show me this impressive talent!

Boys on a boat!

Austin 

I love this picture of Brach getting splashed!

Kammy & Mom-yes my sister tubed with her broken foot!

Sara & Troy

Elianna and Jeff : 

Elianna is actually from Ukraine-and quite beautiful. Alex asked later "Where did Jeff find Ukraine girl?" Good question. Where does Jeff find all his girls? She is fluent but Alex made no attempt to talk to her.

The bathing beauties! 

(Devree wasn't on the boat with me so I didn't get pictures of her tubing....but she did!)

Playing out on the tube

Our beach camp-take not of Alex eating in the left hand corner.

And eating some more!

That night Alex had a terrible tummy ache. I made the mistake of telling him he can eat what he wants during our trip-that has never happened and now we all know why! He ate so much he was sick. He tried to tell me it was because he fell off the tube with Rylee first thing that morning. Nope. It was because he ate too much! If he wasn't in the water he was eating! I hope he has learned a lesson. I know I have. He's not ready for unsupervised grazing privileges. 

We really had a nice time and missed James, Bill, Arron and Shondra.

Kambree was with us all weekend and we loved every minute of it. Monday she took her car in to have the battery checked and it needed a new one. She called her grandpa and he went and helped her choose a new one and get it installed. Thanks goodness for grandpas!

We had to say goodbye-again-to her tonight:

And I attempted to hold family home evening. (My new good habit for this next round of Game On Diet!) We made a cake by looking up ingredients in the scriptures. It was a little chaotic but we muddled through. Then I read a very childish story about a boy who chose to read his scriptures daily. Complete with pictures and chocolate milk. After prayer I told everyone to put their scriptures away and Alex informed me he was keeping his in his room so he could read them each night. 

Wow.

And I thought no one was listening to my lesson. 

Well, time for tuck-in's and my book is calling my name!

Labor day is over....time to put away my white skirts and shoes.

(Does anyone do that these days?)

Dancing Buns?

Alex sat down next to me after passing the sacrament in church and with a perplexed look whispered,

"Mom, what is a bun dance?"

"A bun dance?"

"Yes."

I wasn't sure I was hearing him right. Did he mean barn dance? No. Pretty sure I heard bun dance. Was this something someone told him? He was sitting with a bunch of 12-14 year olds. What the heck?

"I don't know Alex. I don't think that is word or that I'm understanding you correctly?"

"Look." 

And he pulled out a hymn book and flipped to a certain hymn. Sure enough in the song we were singing were the words "bun dance" except on the line above it was the letter a. Our hymn books space out the word so you can tell what part of the word to sing under what note. The word was a-bun-dance. 

Abundance!

I had to suppress my giggles and explain that the word was abundance-not a bun dance. And then a quick vocabulary lesson on abundance means to have a lot of something. Like, "He has an abundance of money." or "We have an abundance of tomatoes." 

 I thought of the the word abundance.
I have an abundance of many things. Laundry, dishes, dinners to make, errands to run but looking at my five children sitting there at church with me-the two youngest on either side resting their heads in my lap-their hair almost identical in color-I felt abundantly blessed.

And yes, with three girls in dance, Alex with his groovy moves and Austin with his beat boxing....we often have dancing buns too!

Uncovering Pain In Ukraine

Last night was a tender night with Alex. 

It started with me talking to him about school work and how I am on his team. If things are too hard and he's not getting it, he needs to let me know. I will go in and talk with his teacher. (This after tears when I was quizzing him on his vocabulary-words he supposedly studied all week but apparently thought he'd get by osmosis?) Anyway, it was more of a pep talk-that he can do this work-needs to try harder and that it would be better to try and catch up in sixth grade then 7th. Nothing too traumatic, no tears were shed. 

Then I asked if there was anything he wanted to talk to me about. He mentioned a hard paper he has in school about geography and we talked about how "I don't understand" might not be enough information for his teacher. Maybe he needs to say, "I have never studied this information, I need help in how to find it?"  and if that doesn't work to bring it home and I will help him with it. Really it was a "up" talk. He really is doing well and trying to study but his idea of studying is just getting through it. It's going to take effort and concentration to grasp vocabulary this year.

I then asked if there was anything else he'd like to talk about? (As I always feel our talks are a little one sided!)

Yes. People pick on me.

Who picks on you?

Everyone.

Who picks on you the most?

You do.

Oh, that is probably true. Just that night he had made a statement about the show we were watching:

This awesome show.

I asked if he had watched the show before? 

No. 

Then how do you know it's an awesome show? 

We talked about communicating, that he should have said "I think this will be an awesome show." We had the same conversation just hours prior when the phone went dead while I was talking with my sister. It was weird. I was hollering, "Did anyone pick up the phone?" and Alex who was sitting in the room with me the whole time announced that Rylee did. Which is utter speculation on his part. We talked about how he cannot make statements like that. It's one thing to THINK that Rylee did it but he doesn't know it for a fact so he can't just proclaim it.

Anyway, back to my picking on him-which apparently I do all the time.

We talked about how I do correct him....a lot. 

But not because I want to be mean or pick on him but because I love him. That I don't want people to make fun of him or how he talks or his manners. Who's going to correct him and help his if his mother doesn't?  (We had a milk-mustache lesson at dinner that night. Why he thinks it's okay to have milk dripping from his upper lip through the entire dinner is beyond me-but I have to remember, no one has ever taught him to wipe his mouth or drink so milk doesn't slosh all over his face.) That I'm trying to help him.  That maybe instead of feeling picked on, he can just feel loved? "My mom loves me so much she's trying to help me." He agreed that he would try that and he agreed that he would rather I correct him then people laugh or make fun of him. 

I did tell him about how I think it must be hard to be corrected all the time and about how well he takes correction and his eyes watered just a tad.

We came up with secret signals for good day, okay day and bad day. Which if you saw them you would know they are not very secretive. We had some last year too-for days he just needed to come home and be hugged and cry. He told me he doesn't want to tell me when he has a bad day because then I will ask about his feelings.

We talked about talking about feelings and how I know in Ukraine that men don't talk about how they feel inside but here in America they do. (I can tell him this right? Some guys DO talk about their feelings.) I told him how he needs to leave that tough Ukraine man that won't talk about how he feels in Ukraine. He told me he will leave everything in Ukraine. How I ask? He will just stop thinking about it. I told him he can't do that. He can't forget Ivan and Sasha. That Ukraine is a part of him and it's okay. He told me he can never forget his punishments. See? I know. Ukraine is a part of you but if I could, I would take all the hurtful memories so they wouldn't haunt him anymore and then the he started sharing stories of his past....

He talked about how the teachers were much nicer to the children with parents at the orphanage. In his orphanage it was really more like a boarding school for children with speech disabilities. 3/4's of the kids had parents and would go home to their families on the weekends. He claimed the teachers were much nicer to these kids because they needed the money from their parents.

Then he talked about how one night only he and Sasha were there-out of the seventeen boys in his room. Everyone else had gone home with family and how he and Sasha felt so "bored" and sad but the word he really meant was lonely.

Then he started sharing stuff about his mom. He shared that the police came at six am and woke him up. ( I had heard this before) but then he went on about how his mom tried to hit the policemen with a glass and yelled that they could not take him. The police asked Alex if he wanted to go with them or stay with this alcoholic mother. (Alex has such a look of disgust on his face-I'm sure he was living in filth at the time.) He chose to go with them. He had been hit so often by his mom that at around age five or six he had to make the heart wrenching decision to leave his mother. 

He said she came to visit him once in the baby orphanage but then he was moved and she didn't know where he was. I asked if he wanted her to get him out of the orphanage. He said he wanted a mom but a kind mom-not a mom that hit him all the time and was drunk all the time.

Then he told me about witnessing his fathers death. I asked if I could share it on my blog and he would rather I don't so out of respect for him I won't. 

Sufficient to say, he has been through a lot in his short little life. He was extremely upset that he didn't go to hid Dad's graveside-his mother wouldn't let him. He claims she didn't go either.

Afterward, all I could do was hold him and hug him and tell him it was not his fault. I told him maybe we could do something about it right now? He sat up quickly and looked me right in the eye and proclaimed, "We are not going to Ukraine to see my Dad's grave! " with such authority & conviction-like that was preposterous! Ridiculous! I know that, I said. But maybe we could get Ivan to take a picture of it? Or maybe you could draw a picture of all the happy things you remember with your Dad and we could get a  nice box and we'll put his Dad's name on it and sort of have a little funeral service here in America for his Dad? You could tell he thought that was crazy.

We talked about how we could do some research and perhaps do his Ukraine dad's temple work?  That maybe his Ukraine dad is looking over him from heaven? Maybe it was his Ukraine dad that whispered to me that Alex needed a mom?  He liked those ideas and it helped the sobbing and gave him something to think about but he was still so very sad.

I got him somewhat calmed down and tucked into bed. We'd been talking for over an hour. He did pray that he would not feel so sad about his dad and in the next breath prayed that his dad was safe and warm-which is referring to James at work. I have never heard Alex pray while James is gone without him praying that James is safe and warm-even if it's the dead of summer! 

I gave him about ten minutes and went back in. I thought I had something that would defiantly cheer him up. Earlier that day he had found $10 in his backpack that he claimed was not his. Oh, yes. He is working on honesty!! I had text everyone asking if anyone had used Alex's backpack and could  have left money in it. No one claimed it so I went in and told him that because he was so honest and no one claimed this money, he can keep it! I was sure this would put a smile on his face. But no. He just nodded and was still so sad so I resorted to the only thing I had left. "Do you want to sleep with me?" Yes, and he bounded out of bed and crawled in on James' side-he was snuggling with the a little stuffed animal like he was five years old and held my hand as he fell to sleep.

Such hurt. Such sadness at such a young age. The disgust he has for his mother and alcohol is severe. And to have to CHOOSE to leave your mother at such a young age. The sorrow he has over his dad's death and the fault he feels. It breaks my heart. What a brave boy. I told him as much as I tried to comfort him last night. My brave little man.

So, I sent an email to Ivan hoping for a legal name, birth and death dates and city of birth but I'm not even sure Ivan has this information-it was his step father/mothers boyfriend (not sure they actually ever married-that would explain why the other fathers name is on the birth certificate?).  I also asked if he knew anyone that might have a picture of Alex's Dad. I feel like I'm looking for a needle in a haystack. Any suggestions?? 

Today Alex is a little somber. We looked through his Ukraine papers.....again. In hopes of finding something more but we've got nothing. I could have sworn that Ivan told me the name of his Dad and I wrote it down somewhere but I can't find it. I couldn't even say his name so there is no chance I'd be able to retrieve it out of the cobwebs of my mind.

Post Adoption Advice & SAC Lunches!

I am so excited about this blog! (http://postadoptionadjustments.blogspot.com/)

My fabulous friend just started it today AND she needs your input, comments and suggestions. I haven't seen anything like this and think that so many of us could benefit from it!

Attention SAVE A CHILD parents! 

I am in a quandary. As many of you know some of us get together for lunch each month on the first Wednesday of the month. There is another fabulous lunch group that gets together the 3rd Tuesday of the month. I have been known to attend both lunches as I just love my association with these people. I started up the Wednesday lunch group after I put Alex on the plane to Ukraine a little less than two years ago. I just needed to rub shoulders with others in the same situation as me. Those few months while I was gathering paper work they were my salvation and we have all followed each others adoption adventures and are a source of support & encouragement to each other. I have come to love these ladies and their children both adopted and biological and look forward to catching up every month.

Most of those that attend the Wednesday group hosted in 2008 but this is not an exclusive group and everyone is welcome. We love having new people join us. So my quandary is that I don't want to leave anyone out that would like to be invited to the 1st Wednesday lunch BUT I feel like a crazy-lunch-lady stalker when I  keep inviting people month after month that don't come. So....if you did not get an invite this month, or have never got an invite, or would like to be on the invite list regardless if you attend or not, please leave me a comment or drop me an email. The more the merrier and I will not feel like a crazed "come to lunch with  me" email stalker!

My Brother Jeff!

Many of you may or may not know about my amazing brother, Jeff. This is a sneak peak of the movie he's producing.

Pretty cool....huh?
Yes. Jeff is in the movie business. He's a casting director and now a producer. He's a self made man and has worked up from the bottom in the industry. And let me tell you-this industry is hard work!
For the record, no, he doesn't get me parts-I have to audition for him just like everyone else and the fact of the matter is all the parts I've ever gotten I DID NOT get through him. That's okay. I like knowing the parts I got were on my own merit-not because of who I knew. Although based on the fact that my last couple of parts were a vampire's funky dressed mother and a woman that fell off a curb and ran her head into a post-I may be in trouble!
He did cast my kids as extras when they were little and that was fun and how we started their savings accounts.
Once Devree was a featured extra and played "Baby Steven" for a TV movie of the week. Dev has never let me forget that I made her play a baby boy. Come on, she was only six months old!
And he did get my young women extra work on a Disney film a couple of times. We were able to go to Lake Powell on a houseboat for girls camp and to a cabin in Bear Lake with the money we earned.
I have to laugh because Devree keeps getting approached in the mall by "talent modeling scouts"-she does have amazing hair-and fortunately I have been with her each time. They start off with "Do you know that High School Musical was filmed here in Utah?"  Of course we know! I casually mention that my brother  has cast ALL the High School Musicals and you should see these "scouts" back pedal and duck out. (These "scouts" are scam artists-preying on young girls to get them to spend thousands of dollars on bogus modeling classes-I knew that but Devree didn't believe me until Jeff told her! )
Anyway, I just had to toot my horn about my brother. I think he's awesome. And no, I can't get you a part in a movie-I can't even get myself one!!

Lunch, Arriving Orphans, Stick Ball, & Rambling.....

Ahh...lunch!
Cheap therapy!

Thanks ladies for lunching with me today. ( A big thank you Christy-you really didn't have to!)  It's so nice to hear how your children are doing, how every one's adjusting and realizing that we all have similar issues and concerns. It's always nice to talk with the new mom's and realize just how far you've come with your child. Or just how far your child has come regardless of how much you might have messed up!

The new group of children arrive in October and this year I'll be a captain over an orphanage.  When we met for our first meeting they passed around pictures of some of the children that have not yet been placed in homes and I got a little worried. I didn't want to look. Having such a witness when I saw Alex's picture just over two years ago-knowing he was suppose to be our son-I got a little nervous. I'm not ready for round two! (And thinking I will never be! ) I did manage to make it through the stack of pictures without any tingles and/or heart palpitations.

Whew.

However, if YOU are feeling a bit sweaty palmed knowing that FORTY FIVE Ukraine orphans are arriving next month and need hosting families, perhaps you should let me know and I'll get you hooked up with  the chance to glance through the stack of beautiful, parent-less children.

Even if you're not in the position to adopt but would like to give your home grown children a little empathy, appreciation, and bigger picture of the world, you might want to think about it. (But be careful. You might just fall in love, jump through crazy international adoption hoops and travel 1/2 a world away to make them your own!)

I'm excited to be a "captain" with my BFF-Ukraine adventure friend-Amy. We're co-captaining the bigger of the three orphanages. Good thing because her girls are still fluent-unlike Alex-and when families call with "Can your child talk to this child and tell us what they're asking?" and Alex gets on the phone and tells me he can't understand-they talk too fast-I'll send them to Lena and Sara for translation!

I am currently watching Alex out my window inventing a game with the neighbor boy involving a ball and some sticks. Sort of like hockey? I'm a little worried about my windows but I think the ball is actually a wad of paper and not a real ball? Not sure. How funny. All the toys and gadgets and he's back to playing with sticks and garbage.

Alex told me this morning-when I warned Rylee not to get burned on the hot french toast pan-that I am a "safe mom". It's funny what he appreciates. Things like being safe, or making a new job chart. Really. What child thanks their mom for a new job chart or for reminding them to be safe?

 Kambree is coming home this weekend! 

When I announced it to the other children they all cheered! It will be eleven days since we've seen her last. That sounds much shorter than it feels. I'm glad she's only two hours away instead of twenty!
James is off to work. Boo. THREE long weeks. He's covering for another guy so he can attend his daughters wedding. Pretty important and the extra money will be nice but only having him home for six days.....not so nice.

Homecoming is quickly approaching and I can't convince Austin to go. It would help if his friends had plans to go but it's come up so quickly-September 11th-I think most boys are bagging it. Grrr.....

Well, I should be making dinner or something more domestic like that and I really sat down with nothing particular to say and have managed to ramble about nothing in particular all this time.

Wow. Such talent!

Kam & College!

Well, a week ago today I dropped Kambree off at college. Here is a picture of her and her roommate Whitney the first day of class:

We sent the desk and a bunch-o-stuff with Witney's parents on Saturday. 

Here's the desk in her room:

And the bed with the new pillows. My mom made her one to match her chair and Whitney's mom made her one to match Whitney's. (I should have her send a picture of both their beds so you can see how cute and color coordinated they are. How about it Kam? Maybe after you put up the pictures?)

But this picture warms my heart the most!

Yes, she's cooking....in a apron never the less and barefoot! 

(((((Sigh)))))

She's going to be okay.

In fact, she's loving it!

They've already had one drill team performance last Saturday-during a football game where they won with a score of like 80 to 6? Or something insane like that. (I saw a few of the football team members while dropping her off. They were all very big and brown. Not a white guy among them!)

She's signed up for institute and attended her new ward and she seems to be doing fabulous!

Love and miss you Kam!!