Because He adopted us first

I receive comments and emails looking for an update and a thousand times I wanted to sit down to write an update but I just cannot seem to find the time. Bohdan was diagnosed with Reactive Attachment Disorder which is an all consuming thing for our family. Add that to all the other medical issues with 5 special needs kids, caring for and losing two grandmothers, a new baby, homeschooling, and just life in general and I hope you all can understand the lack of updates. However, I wanted to at least pop in and let you all know that we are doing well. God is good! We appreciate that many of you still check in on the blog to see how we are doing. I think of so many of you often and how you prayed for us and donated to our adoption and the love you have shown us. I am sorry I don't update more. I hope you won't mind just a picture update for now.

I don't know why we waited so long, but we finally got baptized!

Family of 7

Surprise!

After laying in cribs next to each other in the orphanage, "Valentine" (our Daniel) was reunited in the U.S. with "Stellan" (now Caleb). I don't have to tell you what a sweet moment that was for me to see "Stellan" again, doing so well, and in a family. It was wonderful to finally meet the family that adopted him!

"So you shall rejoice in every good thing which the LORD your God has given to you and your house..." Deuteronomy 26:11

Did ya'll give up on ever seeing an update? I am so sorry! So many of you invested so much time and money into bringing the boys home, I should not have taken so long to post an update.

To be honest, it's been a rough year and I really did not know what to write. The years of abandonment/trauma/neglect/etc started to show in Bohdan's behavior and it has been the hardest and darkest year we have ever faced. It's been a struggle...that is putting it very lightly...but it's too hard to even write about. A thousand times I thought about updating but what do you say when you feel like you are so close to losing hope that things will ever be okay?

Books, therapies, strategies, modifications, social workers, doctors, and psychiatrists later we are FINALLY starting to see some progress. We are trying desperately to keep our family together and attached. Bohdan's neuropsychological evaluation placed Bohdan's cognitive, social, developmental, and emotional level at that of a 2-3 year old (he is 9 years old). His IQ is also extremely low. That has shed a lot of light on his behavior (besides his very traumatic past).

On to happier stuff...

There have been moments of joy and I am happy to share them with you.

Daniel started school. As a homeschool family, it was very humbling to realize that school (with all it's services) was the best place for Daniel. It was so hard to watch him leave on the bus (and some days still is) but he LOVES it. We wondered if it was a good decision and looking back now, it was. Developmentally, Daniel continues to make slow but steady progress. He says a few more words and he is CRAWLING! He continues to practice walking everyday and we have every confidence that eventually he will be able to walk with a walker for short distances.

I wish I could get some video of him to post but our computer just will not handle video anymore, but he is such a character. Honestly, meeting him today, you would never know the horrible past he came from! Praise God!

We continued to homeschool Bohdan, Ethan, Kai, and Emma. It was going well but Bohdan's behavior because so intense that on a call to our social worker she insisted we put him in school, mainly just for respite. It was such a deflating thing to hear and I fought it for a long time. Finally I gave in and we put him in school. Best decision ever! I think it gave us all just enough respite to try to repair all the brokeness in all of us because of Bohdan's past. Bohdan really does not like school (mainly because he does not like being challenged to learn or work) but it has allowed us to just focus on loving him and not teaching and that has helped in our mission to heal Bohdan. We continue to homeschool the 'littles' and love every minute of it!

The rest is mostly just pictures. I wish I had more to share but like I said it has been such a hard year, we have spent most of out time just trying to keep our family together and stable. In everything though, we praise God. It certainly has been a year of trials, but also of great well-learned lessons. We trust Him that through this we will be a more united and stronger family. We cling to the fact that He works all things for the good of those who love Him. And boy, do we love Him!

We know that there are many people that still pray for our family. We cannot thank you enough! Hope you enjoy the pictures :-)

One of our many camping trips.