Merry Christmas & Happy New Year...

Christmas & New Year Memories

Winter in MN..it's so beautiful, but we have had record snowfall this year. The kids get outside to play and skate, and we keep walking the dog for excercise and fresh air. It's a "holiday" for mom to walk the dog! The kids were all lining up for something to eat and we snapped this shot.

Here we are Christmas Morning. And here I am so that you know Mom is "surviving"! : )

Katya met Santa skating at the MFSC Winter Party, and Andri turned 8!

Our crazy hockey boys with their trophies. Grandpa O doing well at Christmas which is a blessing to all of us. His esophageal cancer treatment has been working, and we treasure every day that we have with him.

We made 6 ginger bread houses on New Year's Eve, and munched on them NY's Day. We went to see Santa, who we have seen now for 10 years, and we showed him our first picture with him (Experience with Santa in Mall of America). He asked the kids if they were behaving, eating their veggies, making their beds and brushing their teeth.

We still need to start our Christmas cards, and there are piles of laundry, and things to be dusted, but we have each other and we hope that you and yours are doing well also. Thanks for your notes of encouragement and enquiry. Love from Chris & Alesia Haak

Nov 8th, 2010

Andri sporting his new hat & scarf from Grandma Janet. All the kids received a beautiful set. Alesia with the kids at the Walker Sculpture Gardens. It was a good day.

Halloween, Natasha, Jaclyn Sophia & Andri dressed up.
Jonathan posing for a school photo. (9)

Jaclyn posing for her photos (12)

Pumpkins carved. Sophia posing for her photos (11)

Sophia earned trophies for soccer.

We are hanging in there. A few rough days lately. Hope all is well with you as you enter into November, and Christmas time.

Alesia's Dad is doing well so far, today he has his 3rd round of treatments. Chris' Dad will have hip replacement on Wed. We have no big news. Just one day at a time around here.

Love Chris & Alesia

October 14th,

Here's Katya playing volleyball. I finally made it to a game, the game times are at the same time as so many other activities.

Katya really liked volleyball and would like to play all year, but it's not easy to find a group to play with all year. Her Junior High team is done. They won a lot of games this year, and lost maybe 3. She had a lot of fun.

Katya, Natasha & Andri have school off tomorrow, and we'll all be heading to an art museum.

Chris hopes to take the dock out at the cabin this weekend.

Jonathan is on the big Squirt hockey team so he is happy. Jaclyn, Andre, and James also started up hockey as well.

Sophia has her championship soccer game on Saturday. If they win, they are #1.

Alesia's Dad has his 2nd round of chemo tomorrow, and will probably experience some ill effects this weekend. He has been doing really well so far, and we are so grateful for this.

All is well here, and we'll try to get more photo's for next time.

Alesia & Chris

Hello Again...

Fawn-doe-rosa for Alesia's Birthday.

James/Andri Football, Chris is coaching.

Go Andri & James!

We toured a unique sculpture park as well. Andri did the photos here.

Andri & Lexi the lynx. Go Sophia soccer girl! (in Blue)

Well, as per the last blog, no one stayed overnight at the hospital and if you have further questions, ask Katya, and let her know how much you care.

I've decided to lighten up a little (and no that doesn't mean smoking, but I can understand why some might need a fix here and there!).

My dad has been diagnosed with stage 4 esophageal cancer, and that could really get us down (and does sometimes), but he loves the Lord, and he is a respectful, strong fighter, and Mom & Dad love each other a lot, and really, looking at their love for each other, and remembering all the good things, there is a lot to be thankful for despite this. Dad is responding well to treatment so far, but it's only treatment they say, not a cure, so we're cherishing our moments with him.

Top 10 things I'm glad we did before adopting:

1) Didn't read all the stories of past adoptions that could have left us changing our minds, but rather just plunged right in to our own host of experiences!!!

2) Didn't listen to all the horror stories our social worker told us, nor let them split up our 4 siblings, so that we could have our own stories to tell, and pray that someday our 4 will love that they could stay together.

3) Walked our dog daily so Alesia could get a little in shape for walking in Kiev.

4) Didn't get a degree in Psychology, or I would be literally going crazy right now (instead of almost going crazy).

5) Learned a little Russian so that I could tell when the kids are speaking Slava Ploho (bad words).

6) Called the orphanage often to let them know we were coming so that I could be fully "in love" and "attached" to them to offset the desire to detach at times once at home!

7) Cleaned out our last room in the house, the laundry room, so we could lock the cats in away from the rest of the house for 90% of the time. I didn't have the heart to get rid of them.

8)Gave up trying to have a perfect home, as it will never happen with 9 of us here!!!

9) Homeschooled our 3 so that I could get an interesting comparison of the school system vs. homeschool. I think there are positives to both (if I look hard enough!).

I am proud of Katya for surviving her first month of school (and we hear interesting non-academic lessons as well), and the grade school offers Andri and Natasha a balanced education. I think Sophia is enjoying homeschool, but is interested in public as well, and I think Jaclyn, Jonathan, and James have a deeper appreciation for homeschooling this year.

10) Trusting Jesus as our Lord & Savior. He's the only one who could give us the strength to make it through the daily schedule, the peace to sleep at night, and the sense of humor to keep us plugging despite setbacks.

May your day be filled with HIS love and strength. You can trust him, he never lies.

Love Alesia & Chris