Home and SO Busy

Well, Matthew, Johnathan, and Charity have been home for a full month.  Things have been SO BUSY.  Matthew and Charity were use to being given something to sleep, so sleep is not common here right now.  They all have medical stuff going on that requires appointments.  Thankfully, Brent had two weeks off when they got home!  That was especially good since Matthew had to be admitted to the hospital on Thanksgiving evening and spend a few nights. 

They are all making HUGE progress.  Matthew has been gaining about a pound a week!  Charity was so constipated that she literally lost 4 INCHES around her stomach when her bowels were dealt with and we are still trying to finish cleaning her out.  Johnathan had some type of head injury (it looks like someone hit him in the back of the head and broke his skull) between our first trip and 2nd, so we are still trying to get all the different visits for that and his hydro taken care of. . . you know the kind where one visit leads to the next. . .

Christmas is so exciting!  So many great things to see, hear, smell, and taste!  If the doctor's appointments ease up then I will try to get a real update on each individual kid done.  They are AMAZING kids who have been through so much and are changing SO fast.  We are so blessed to be their family!!  

Trying to Get a Photo of the Five Together LOL!!!

Well I wanted a picture of the five together on their one year home anniversary.  I got them all on the couch and all I could do was laugh.  Keith is in CONSTANT motion.  It was just funny.  I decided to just take a whole bunch of pictures and share them all!  Then you would all get the best idea of who they all really are.  You can see how grown up Ahnja is.  You can see how much Keith moves.  You can see how funny Aleshia thinks Keith is.  You can see how annoyed Anita is at them both and how funny Nicholas is while he watches. 

Here we go!

 

YES THAT ABOUT SAYS IT ALL! 

AREN'T THEY GREAT!?!

 

If you'd like to help bring home our next three, there are links on the right side of our blog to ways you can help!

One Year Update on All Five!

So here are some updates on all 5 of the kids who've been home a full year!  The updated pictures were taken on July 22nd which was their 1 year home day!  I took the pictures myself so they aren't "great", but you should get a pretty good idea!

So here is Ahnja's 1 year home side by side!

 

Here is Nicholas's 1 year home side by side!

Here is Anita's 1 year home side by side!

Here is Aleshia's 1 year home side by side!

 

Once again here is Keith's 1 year home side by side!



As far as other updates on them, here we go:

Ahnja is 11 now and doing amazing.  She has learned English so quickly and still speaks a lot of Bulgarian too.  She understands all everyday English that is spoken to her and her grammar is getting better all the time.  We actually all speak some simple Bulgarian around the house (very simple because we just aren't that great, but we enjoy the words we've been able to pick up!).  She has learned to write the alphabet and can tell you many of the phonetical sounds.  She can write most of the names of family members (no small task around here!).  She recognizes quite a few words as well!  She is SO amazing.  She has a sparkle about her that captivates everyone she meets!

Nicholas is 10 1/2 now.  He is much more delayed and still very traumatized from his time in the mental institution there.  Going into a hospital environment or even a large brick building that isn't but reminds him of his institution will leave him in complete fear.  His institutional behaviors have reduced dramatically, but he still has a long ways to go to heal from all he went through.  He reminds us so much of Mowgli on The Jungle Book.  He just wasn't socialized.  On top of that he just suffered a lot of stuff that most people will never understand in that institution.  It was a "survival of the fittest" kind of environment.  He isn't at all aggressive though and he can be quite cuddly.  He has learned to eat with utensils and to slow down for the most part though and has come SO far!

Anita. . . oh Anita.  lol  She is 8 now and quite the stubborn child.  If you look at her picture above the first thing you will notice is that she learned how to smile.  At first she just didn't know how.  Somehow or another her initial response was what you see on the left. . . no one else I know can duplicate that face, but it was her "smile".  She did it every time you got out the camera.  She's come so far and is saying words and phrases in English.  She spoke nothing in Bulgarian, so this is HUGE!  She is partially potty trained already and really just needs to learn to go on her own instead of waiting to be sent.  She's able to put together puzzles and is working on preschool/kindergarten concepts in English. 

Aleshia is 7 now and is our most delayed and physically handicapped child.  It is believed that she did not get enough oxygen during her heart procedure that she had prior to coming to us.  She can sit up for short periods of time, but it is very tiring for her.  We hope that her upcoming heart surgery will give her more energy and strength.  She can push to a stand in her stander or in her jumperoo, but she does not walk or really sit unassisted for any real length of time.  She has said a few words though!  We will learn more about the extent of her brain damage the day before her heart surgery.  She has become SO much more interactive though in the last year.  She laughs and interjects her personality into every day family life and we LOVE it!

Keith, well you can read about him in the last post!  lol  He is doing AMAZING!  He is cruising the furniture and into all kinds of mischief!  We figure after 5 years in that crib, he has a lot of mischief to make up for! 

If you'd like to help bring our next 3 children home, so that they too can make amazing progress in the love of a family, then there are many ways you can help us to bring them home. 

We have an Indiegogo fundraiser that a friend set up for us HERE that has a place to donate and even some things offered for your donation!

You can shop at our Usborne eshow by clicking HERE and get some amazing books for your family while helping our kids coming home! 

You can shop at our What's in the Bible link and buy amazing dvds to teach your family about the Bible and help with our adoption at the same time as well.  These are made by the creator of Veggie Tales and are so much fun, but even adults will learn something!  Click HERE to go shop our site for that! 

Our Tshirt Fundraiser ends on August 3rd at midnight, so you can click HERE to learn more about the amazing shirt we have available! 

Thanks for all your help!!!  More pictures of the 5 to come in the next post and then I'll get to pictures of the newest three from my trip to meet them!



So much to UPDATE and so little TIME

So much has been going on here.  I have been on trip #1.  Those of you who follow the Facebook page know that, because it is SO much easier to post a quick update on there than it is to write a blog post.  I am going to try to do an update on that soon.  It is also just past the one year anniversary of the 5 kids coming home.  I need to do a full update on that too!! 

So much to do and so little time.  Aleshia is due to have her open heart surgery on August 15th.  She will have neurological testing on August 14th to see how much brain damage really occurred during the one that she had done before we adopted her and brought her to the US.  She was going to have it done sooner, but there were insurance issues to clear up and things that had to occur.  So things are SO busy.

Today I want to give you a little update on the 5 that already came home.  Here is Keith's one year home side by side comparison! 

THIS HE'S GROWN MUCH!!!????!!!!

He went from wearing size 3 to 6 months clothes to 36 inches tall and wearing 3T size clothes!
He went from less than 12lbs to weighing 32lbs!
He went from not being able to hold his head up to cruising the furniture!
HE IS AMAZING!!!! 

We have lots of fundraising going on to get to our other three kids.  I will post more about that later and you hurry and get to the post just below this before Saturday, August 3rd is over then you can still order those amazing shirts!  I will be closing that up and turning in those orders after that date. 

You can also shop on my Usborne page to support our adoption by clicking HERE. 

You can shop for great dvds and help your family learn more at the Bible while supporting our adoption HERE. 

We also have a fundraiser running on Indiegogo right now where you can help us raise the funds needed for the pickup trip for the kids.  Click HERE to go there.  You can read more about each of the three kids there.  I will update on my trip to meet them here very soon!  I just have to catch my breath and have a moment to spare.  I just finished up an auction of Facebook and have a ton of stuff to mail out.  Not to mention that little boy you see above is ALWAYS ON THE MOVE!!  Believe me though, I'm not complaining.  I'd give anything if Matthew, Johnathan, and Charity were here and into everything instead of stuck in cribs across the ocean!  Please please pray for them while they wait.  Please especially pray for Matthew.  Leaving him was the hardest thing I've ever had to do and he is in need of coming home SO very badly.

Hidden Treasures!!

The Hidden Treasures Auction will end tonight!!!  Go check it out before it is all over.  CLICK HERE TO GO VISIT THEM!   Make sure to look for the quilt that I made and the Princess dress that I made that Anita is modelling for the auction!!  My grandmother also made two quilts to help bring home her newest great grandchildren!!  She started making quilts just so she could help bring them home, so go check it out.  There is awesome jewelry, great gift cards, and lots of great items on there!! 

Don't forget to look at the giveaway we have going on right now on here!!  You can click HERE to see that and read about Mulligan Stew!  You should go check out that blog to see pictures of Keith meeting Julia.  We were in town for the girls' cardiologist.  Aleshia and Keith that she has pictures of on there were both from our last adoption.  Julianne was from a different adoption and was adopted from US foster care.  She was our first with Down Syndrome and is the one who made us start looking around and find the 5 Bulgarian Blessings that you all came to love so dearly!  Go look HERE at pictures!  Check out the giveaway while you are at it there too!!!

So here are some treasures for you to see from Easter morning.  These are the youngest 5 girls.  :)

Julianne is 6

and

Aleshia is 6!

Anita is 7!

 

 Ahnja is 11 now and Destiny will be 10 next month!





I recently gave you an update on Nicholas.  Keith will have an update all of his own.  It is impossible to show you how much he has grown with just one picture and he is in motion so much that most of his pictures have at least one part blurry!  lol 



Christmas Pictures Any One?

Christmas pictures of the 5 Bulgarian Blessings are here and ready to share.  :) 

First of I'll show you the Family Christmas Picture!

 Ahnja

 Nicholas

 Anita

 Aleshia

 Keith

 Our 5 Bulgaria Blessings Together

 Ahnja with Destiny (these two are tight)

 Another family shot

 

I think if you look at both of the family shots, you can see the spots that 3 more little ones are meant to fill!  We can't wait to get them home and are still working hard on the paperwork to get them here. 

 

I will try to get all the kids posted on the family blog soon.  Right now it is time to bake Christmas cookies!