High School Open House

Oopsie!

I took Alex to the Open House at her new high school this morning.  She met all of her teachers and I feel very, very good about her upcoming school year.  She will only have ESOL for one period, but her remaining teachers seem to understand her challenges with English comprehension beyond casual conversation.

While I feel quite good about her first year of high school, she is less than thrilled about going.  At one point during the "tour" she asked me how many years she would be at this school.  This is a good place to remind everyone that her education at her school in Ukraine would have ended at the end of her 9th grade year.  I told her four years of high school and I thought her eyeballs were going to actually pop out of her head.  She exclaimed that she thought it was just two years.  Now, I realize we don't talk about it every day, but I *know* I have told her that students go to high school for four years before.  I think this is one of those very important instances that she acted like she understood what I was saying when in reality she was paying no attention.  I also think she knows that *most* students graduate when they are 18, which for her is in two years.

Part of me feels a little sorry for her that this news was such a shock.  Part of me is slightly (and yes, I know this is mean) amused.  I hope think that once she starts, meets new friends and realizes that high school CAN actually be fun she will not be so upset about the whole four year thing.  If not...ughhh!  I can't even go there!

She starts high school on Monday...wish us luck and say a prayer!  :)  We're gonna need it!

End of summer vacation blues...

Alex had an amazing week being a junior counselor at camp this week.  It is a fantastic Christian adventure camp that focuses on being part of a team, challenging ones self and learning about God and His Word.  She was really able to connect with so many of the counselors there and has formed many new friendships.  She loves being there and is very disappointed that she can't do it again next week.  While the new friends and week of fun has been wonderful to watch her experience, the best part for me is that she is really making a connection with what having a relationship with God is about.  She has been "attending" church since we arrived home in March in addition to when she was here for the hosting trips, but being involved with this group of teenagers and young adults has been life changing for her.  It has been a beautiful thing to watch!  I'm very excited to see her grow in this way.

Next week is the last week of summer vacation for our school district.  The kids go back on August 1.  We have several doctor/eye doctor/dentist appointments lined up in addition to the "Sneak Peak" at the schools.    My two younger ones will learn who their new teachers will be and Alex will get her class schedule and locker assignment.  She is very nervous about going.  Every time the subject of going back to school comes up she audibly moans and starts talking about how she doesn't want to go.  I know she is scared, mostly about her reading capabilities and her English comprehension skills.  Conversationally she is remarkable.  In a classroom setting I know she will struggle at the beginning.  This is why it was so important to us that she get a few months of middle school under her belt before jumping straight into high school.  It will be a lot of work, but I know she is capable of doing it.  She just needs to start believing she is capable!

The hosting organization that we originally hosted Alex through, New Horizons for Children, is currently in the middle of their summer hosting trip.  All the kids that are in this country through NHFC will go back to Ukraine/Latvia on August 1.  I look at the kids photos on the NHFC Facebook page and think back to this time last year when we were excitedly starting the adoption process for Alex.  I know that there must be many families right now in a race to get their paperwork started in hopes of traveling to complete their adoptions as quickly as possible.  If you are one of those families reading this right now, congratulations and good luck!

If you are interested in being part of an amazing ministry by hosting an orphan from Eastern Europe, the Christmas hosting program will be here before you know it!  The NHFC team will be traveling to Ukraine and Latvia in August/September to interview children for the winter hosting program.  Keep in mind that NHFC is a hosting ONLY program!  While they would love to see their host kids be adopted, their first goal is to place these kids in a Christian home where they can learn English, feel the love of a stable family and see that there is hope for their future.  For more details on hosting a child for 4 weeks this winter, please visit: New Horizons For Children    

We are still alive...

Summer has absolutely flown by so far.  The kids go back to school on August 1, so they only have three weeks of vacation left!

So far we have:

• had Alex and my son's dance recital
• my 6 year old turned 7
• my 15 year old turned 16 (and it was also our one year anniversary of meeting Alex for the first time)
• we took a road trip to Colorado
• Alex met her great-grandmother who lives in Missouri for the first time
• Alex also met her wonderful Aunt Nicole and amazing cousins, Tess & Audrey in Colorado
• we went to a beautiful wedding in Vail, (Aunt Nicole got married so Alex also got to meet her new Uncle Mark, too!) spent a few days in Steamboat Springs and Fort Collins and drove all the way back to Georgia
• all three kids were in camp for a week with Alex being a junior counselor and the two younger ones being campers
• now we are in Florida visiting Grammy!  

Yeesh!  I have no idea why summer has flown by!  :)  And when we get back to Georgia, Alex will spend a day with the youth group at church working on a community project, then the following week she will be a junior counselor at camp again!

Alex is currently reading the driver's manual so she can take a test to earn her learner's permit.  It isn't easy reading and it has a lot of terms she has never heard before so it is taking some time.  (Fine by me!)  My hope is that this will be a good motivator for her to try very hard in school.  She is a smart girl and wants to do well, but she is also *very* stubborn and refuses to admit when she doesn't understand something.  That isn't going to be a good trait to have entering high school.

It's been a crazy, busy, but fun summer.  I'm not quite ready for school to start, but it really isn't up to me!  It's okay, though.  I love our county's calendar because even though they go back so early, they get extra breaks throughout the school year.  I love that!  Alex doesn't love it so much.  She is used to going back to school on September 1 every year.  She doesn't think getting the extra breaks is going to make up for going back so soon, but I image when that first break rolls around in September she is going to be very happy to have it!

Hopefully when school starts I can get back to blogging more regularly.  Until then I can tell you that the rest of our summer looks like this:

• finish our trip to Florida and drive back to Georgia
• Alex will participate in the youth group project
• drive Alex back and forth to camp for a week
• doctors and dentist appointments
• back to school shopping
• "Meet & Greet" at the schools where the kids meet their teachers for the younger ones and Alex will get her class schedule, locker assignment and hopeful meet a few teachers

I think next summer maybe we will stay home a little more often.  :)  I'm wiped out already!