June 27........

Hello,

We are almost ready to put our home on the market. Chris has done a lot of work on it and it looks beautiful.  Katya painted the outside porch, and the garage and front door and vacuumed all the new carpet. She planted plants all over. Chris redid the wood floor, cabinets, doors, door frames, patched walls, and we had our home painted and  new carpet put in. The kids washed toilets and helped clean out the garage. Every day we go over there and do a little of this and a little of that.

Last Thursday James and I went to be with Dad when he was to have chemo, but his platelets were too low. He suggested we pick strawberries and that picture will be with me forever. Grandpa played cribbage with James (skunked him!), and just had a nice relaxing day with us. He took us out for breakfast before we sat with his doctor. All in all, James and I had a wonderful day, very calm and relaxing, complete with calaraby (I think). It's discouraging that his platelets were too low, but it was a blessing to be with him when he was doing so well, and in such good humor, and with so much energy.

Saturday we went to Joan and John's retirement party. They have been very kind and supportive of our family and it was a nice place for us to go all together. We had a nice time. We had a nice time in the van together for the couple hour drive, and a nice time together all day.

Sunday was one of our first days that we were able to just work on the house for hours, after church and we did a lot that day. We feel as though we're finally getting there. Today we played a little baseball...after working at the house and a trip to the library.

We're looking forward to a little family reunion this weekend at my parents, camping for a night, playing baseball, and tossing the volleyball around. Hope we can help Mom and Dad with their dock and any other little things they might need help with.

Here are a few photos. Thanks for your love and support. Alesia & Chris

Photos after Homeschool Track & Field Day

Big bunch of berries...picked with Grandpa O

Sophia having fun posing for pictures.

Me with two of my girls, Katya & Sophia

Katya beautiful with flowers.

Joan & John, the happy retired couple!

Chris has worked really hard on our house.

Katya sends a message to her friend in Ukraine.

Chris with Jonathan & Jaclyn.

A creation by Andre..and a comfy room for games.

Another photo of cleaned up home in Oakdale. Hope it sells soon!

Love from Alesia & Chris and family.

 

Happy Father's Day..

Today is Father's Day and I didn't even talk with my own Father! I am feeling a little sad about that as we went to church this morning, picked up paper plates, and then did a few things before we had our friends over.

Then we had a really nice time with friends who have adopted from the same orphanage as us, and they have little ones, so our big ones helped with the little ones and it was a very nice day. After that, we headed out to pick up our van that was have the timing belt changed, the water pump, struts, and I think Chris mentioned something else.......and then to McDonalds for ice cream and play time.

It's 9:05 and I've asked kids to shower and read a little so they can have quiet time, and I can blog (I almost said glob..I guess that's how I'm feeling)....so kids are coming to me one by one smelling much better and going to their rooms doing something quiet and waiting for tuck in's from Daddy.

We hope to have our home on the market by the end of the week as we have so many weekend plans now for the next few weeks, next week James and I will be heading up to spend time with Grandpa when he has Chemo and celebrating with Chris' aunt at her retirement party, and then we have July 4th family weekend up at my parents, and then we are camping with church friends, and then we are visiting Glacier National Park and going to a wedding, and then we might have a get away weekend, and then we'll be home for August with hockey, so we need to have our old home on the market this week!

Anyway, here are our photos from Father's Day!

Amelia's parents of 1 year! They have 6 under the age of 9, after adopting 3 last year. They are doing well and have a beautiful family. Heath played a lot of sports with the kids while Ginger visited and kept her eyes on her little Evie, and really all their children are still little. I can't even imagine what it was like a year ago, but they said things are much calmer now and they can enjoy some adult conversations now!

David & Chris. Do they look like they have been through a lot in the last couple of months??? David is recently back from Ukraine after 9 weeks of adoption time, and Chris is just worn out from moving, fixing our older and new homes, and traveling for work. They are doing well considering all they have been through in the past few months. David kept our children laughing a lot and played volleyball, baseball and soccer with all the kids.

I definitely look tired! Jaclyn gets in the photo too! 

Nellie with her new daughter, Anya. Nellie said she didn't care for photos, but she is very beautiful and takes wonderful photos. It was nice to visit with her. She runs a day care with 2 year olds and younger, and plans to home school her little girl here, her 10 year old son and they have a new little 3 year old boy, as well as older 3 other older children in college and getting married! It was fun to see their new children again. 

Evie, one of the 6 under age of 9 family chalk drawing. She was a cutie pie, sweet little girl. She came up to her mama one time and said in this quiet little whisper, "Can I have a cookie?" which meant a chocolate brownie! With some kids being loud, it was soooo cute to hear her little polite quiet voice! 

Fishing on Father's Day...

A bubbly time....

Samuel from Ukraine..sweet, calm, good little boy....

8 of our 17 children playing..should have had a group shot..maybe next time..

           

Samuel & James

That's all we have for photos. It wasn't a great photo shoot, but it was a good nice time with families who have and are traveling down the path of adoption like us, and to just be able to relax and let children play and parents visit. Everyone had a very nice time, not really any major problems. A little Jaclyn/Jonathan squabble that was fixed a few minutes later. Lots of baseball, volleyball & soccer, Bingo, bubbles, chalk and Little House on the Prairie. Good food and time for families to play.

Love from Chris & Alesia

Broken & Beautiful

 Thank you for your prayers...Chris' mom is home now...Chris is away from home on a business trip...

Here's our address sign..notice it is broken, but still says our address. Andre fixed it up for us yesterday, and Sophia & Andre planted flowers in the pots. Katya & I planted in the beds a bunch of flowers.  I explained that they are like babies, their "necks" are fragile so be careful and she was. She remembers planting flowers at Tatiana's home in Ukraine...we had a very very nice time planting. Now I know why people enjoy planting things, because it's very peaceful.  

 

Here is another bed of flowers and they are very little but they will look beautiful . It took a couple of days, but they will grow and look nice.

"But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and he meditates day and night......

................And I heard Pachebel's Canon today and it reminded me of my wedding.....it was a chamber practice in our home and it was like a dream come true for me as I had hoped our home would be one of music and gatherings of people...

      

Jaclyn is "meditating" for quite a while in the peaceful tree..that she reads in occasionally.
Below is a pot that is broken...vessels just like us, broken, in need of a savior...some day we hope to replace them with something the boys make out of wood or stone. But the flowers will help. 



 The kids like to joke that the impatiens are for me...because of my "impatience"..ha ha ha!!! A little bit of truth in that.



 Here are a few more we will plant tomorrow...


......and the sunny bed we planted, and all of our tools, hoe and shovel were missing in action! Katya personally planted all of the plants so we'll be happy to tell her as they grow beautiful all summer. She even planted our beds at our older home. Tomorrow, we plan to look into a job for Katya at an elderly home near here..as a server of food. I think she will do well at this job. She cares about people and is very helpful. Today we have have a very beautiful family.

I have my first showing of our old house tonight, will all the tools, and messy garage..hope they think it's beautiful despite it's "brokeness look"....and if it's not for them, hope they will spread the word.

Girls are looking at the computer and sharing memories, James is recovering from a baseball to the head in catch, and Jonathan & Andre are still playing catch...an hourly passtime this summer.

Just a day in our lives..and to let you know that we are doing well...looking forward to seeing some friends and family this weekend, and finishing a lot of things on our old home.
Love from Alesia & Chris

A tour of our home..and please pray...

Please pray for Chris' Mom as she is in the hospital with a dislocated hip. Her hip is back in place and she is resting after a stressful 24hours.   And my Dad continues to battle cancer and he looks well although tired, and pulled radishes and onions out of his garden today on his birthday. We appreciate your prayers.

Here is a tour of our home. Thanks for all your love and support!

 Andre & James' bed.                                Boys Bath                                 Out door "baseball field"

 Boys clothes                               Home                                               Brothers Grimm in the tree...

 Clutter too see above                           Dining Room...my Dad called it the Last Supper table...
                                                                                                                        ....dressers for the boys...

 Foyer........................................................flowers...........................................downstairs

 Gazebo..................................................Guest bedroom
                                                                                                                              Girls bathroom

 Hallway with sticky mats................Katya & Natasha's room..........................Jonathan's bed

 Skyping........................................................Laundry & cats..................................the kitchen

Side door to the back yard..............living room......................................piano and living room



Mom & Dad's bedroom...............

Cluttery garage................................................................and rhubarb..

 

Sophia & Jaclyn's room...

Upstairs...............................Movie time.....................................................school table with a view....

Movie time fits many....

Welcome to our home..there is room for you to visit...Love Alesia & Chris