School Starts Soon...

Happy 50th Wedding Anniversary Mima and Papa. It was truly a "Golden" day.

What Mama looks like playing 500! Come on, let's get out the cards. It helps to be winning also!
Katya is pouring herself some punch at the Golden Dinner.

Jaclyn playing the piano in the background. A beautiful Haak family photo.
Katya, Chris, Jonathan, Alesia, Jaclyn
James, Andri, Natasha, Sophia.

I'm not sure what I like better, the juice mustache on James, the super happy smile on Andri, the loving life giggle look on Natasha, or the life is wonderful look on Jonathan. I'm changing this one to my laptop.

Hi everyone,

School starts in a couple weeks, and Chris has volunteered to enroll the kids who are going to school, Katya (8th), Natasha (4th), and Andri (2nd). We'll have the other 4 at home. (Which is now done according to Chris). Sounds like Katya will be in choir which is great for her singing. And our neighbor girl is in the same grade so she can show her around school.

I've started working on my schedule. I think it's coming along nicely.

Chris' cousins Ann & her husband Joel, are coming over tonight to play with our children and give them "time and attention" : ) Which Ann gently reminded me that they need, but that I'm only 1 and they are 7 so it's hard some days. Ann asked me to let her know if we needed a break, and I did let her know right then, with tears in my eyes. They are so sweet to help us out.

(We just got back and all went well. They even said they would like to do it again!!! We had a nice time at a Mexican restaurant, running some errands and taking the dog to a pet store! It's the first time we had a sitter who paid for the kid's pizza, and we didn't pay them for sitting. It's a real encouragement to have friends willing to step in and help us out like this. We might last a few months on this one!)

So far so good without any meltdowns (except mine) lately. Hockey season is gearing up starting Sept 7th with fall clinic. We'll have 4 in hockey, 1 in soccer, and 2 in dance. The three boys just started football so that overlaps fall hockey a bit.

Love Alesia & Chris

Horse'n around.....

Photos taken at a friend's farm when she hosted a picnic for families hosting childred from Ukraine. I managed to get 1 photo of Jaclyn and Jonathan and none of James, Chris or I.

That is a pretty accurate representation of who is getting left out in this adventure.

James is just falling to the wayside. Him and Andri "had it out" yesterday and missed movie, popcorn, and treats.

Chris and I did get away, to cover some "business". It was a start I'd say.

Gearing up for school and fall sports. I'm going into auto mode here, so if you get a chance and can figure out a way to drag me away for coffee, I could use the change of pace.

Alesia & Chris

Some Good Problems...

Thistledew camping. Wed-Sat. We had a very nice vacation even though it was busy and it's hard for Chris and I to find alone time together. Chris slept with the boys in the tent and the girls slept in the camper. We also had a cousin visitor, Livvy, stay with us one night and during the day a couple days and she was a good companion for Natasha. She even lost her tooth with us!

Sophia at the ECAS picnic. All the kids had their face painted different ways. It was a good day.

Taking a "shower".

Natasha getting a hug from Chance.

Livvy & Jaclyn seeing who can stay up on the log longer. No laughing!!!

Katya showering. She joked about sending the photo to her friends and saying she has to shower and sleep outside. No mom or dad! She was just kidding!

Chris and our setup. We brought Chris' Dad with us as well, and he even hiked the Stairway to the Giants.

Campfire at night. We really did have a nice trip.

Andri lost his first tooth. I'm so glad we were there to see these first teeth fall out with him.

Some little good problems. Katya & Sophia cleaned so well, that I went crazy because I couldn't find my stuff and felt like the girls were taking over. I said I was sorry and I just need to find new hobbies, like organizing shelves and closets, and mowing. : )

We're having some money problems from going to the doctor and dentist, and wondering what activities we can afford.

Chris wants to spend more time with me, but that means at night after the kids are in bed, or if one of us organizes it, and lately, I'm too tired to organize the date, so hoping that he will take a turn at this.

All in all the kids are getting along well together, we're healthy. Chris and I are getting worn out and need to work on that. We're looking forward to one more camping trip before school. And need to get organized for school, and homeschool.

Love from Alesia and Chris

Simple and Sweet....

Back: Katya, Jaclyn, Sophia, Papa, Chris, Alesia
Front: James, Andri, Jonathan, Natasha


Chris said I should tell you the whole story, like when we have a bad day, when some of us are crying, or up to our limit with each other. But now when the house is quiet at 10:04pm, Chris is reading the paper, and the dog is laying peacefully by my feet, I can't even start to complain. God is good to us, AND we need Him every hour.

We watched our video from our wedding and reception last night and then later Marley and Me. Both brought tears of joy and of course sadness when the dog died.

We have all the normal teenage things going on, all of our children sass from time to time, they don't practice their instruments faithfully, or comb their hair enough, or fight with each other off an on. But we are a family and it shows every day. We cry, we laugh, we hug, we are moving forward. It's a lot of work many days, and on days like today, it's a joy.

I hope to keep giving you short and sweet updates each week with 1 or more photos. The above photo was after a 2 hour parade and picnic at Chris' Uncles home. It was fun for all of us, including the dog. It had been a very rough couple days for me, and I had cried all through church, and then the parade came, the kids gathered their bags of candy and it was a lot of fun. Chris' dad is in the photo with us.

Today we had a wonderful ECAS picnic with our adoption agency and lot's of friends. Then we tried to teach the kids 500. That will take awhile. Then we had a great time talking before bed at 8:30 (early from an exciting day). Everyone went to bed cheerfully with Chris reading a couple of books to them. That's a huge accomplishment for our family.

Thanks for your prayers, encouragement, love and good will. It is what keeps us going some days!

Love from Chris & Alesia