Now A Family of *gulp* Six.

Rebekka has been here for 24 hours now, and all is going well. She has homework of making out a schedule of her days, so that's been easy to do for the next few days. A large grocery shopping excursion was accomplished today at Meijer and we're all much happier now that snacks and real meal ingredients are back in the house. Tomorrow is the first Saturday I'll be home since June 16. Amazing, isn't it? But clothes shopping is on the agenda for Rebekka, so that will be fun. She's a typical teenager - a ton of hygiene products (as she calls them), lotions, etc. She's happily downloading music on my old computer as she has lost a lot of the CDs she used to have. And she made a trip to the library already and came back with a great book. So things are settling in... next week Roman is in VBS all week and so is home EVERY afternoon. May have to take a trip to the local pool, as Reb. has been asking about that as well. We'll see!

Tonight has been busy, putting the burgundy room together as Rebecca's room. The futon was moved downstairs, and a Monday night shopping spree at IKEA got us the basics - bed, beside table, mattress, bedside lamp, linens, a mirror, etc. Roman got some things out of it too, because we didn't want him to feel left out -and because it's time to upgrade him into "young kid" stage from the nursery colors. Roman chose to make his room a castle. Weird, huh? We totally thought he was going to go for the outer space idea. But he was taken with the dragons and the flickering torch lamp (which I now want a dozen lining my hallway). So he got a new carpet, the flickering torch lamp, and some shelves that hang for lightweight "treasures." I'm thinking of designing a banner for him to hang on the wall. Rebecca arrives officially at 3pm tomorrow. There will be a roundtable discussion of her expectations both at our house, and through her outpatient counseling. ...

She can't go by "the girl" any longer. Her name is Rebecca. We had our first meeting tonight with her, about an hour. We both took an instant liking to her - and both secretly wish this wasn't a 90-day placement! She came in and introductions were made. Roman and I gave her the tour of the house, and she was very quiet, soaking it all in. When we went downstairs she asked me a couple questions about teaching. Roman was great at filling in the gaps, showing her Star Wars characters, bouncing on his bed, etc. Back upstairs, Sarah (the social worker) said "Well, why don't you start off giving them some background on why you are here today." Rebecca was clearly nervous about telling us this, did not make eye contact. Then she had written a list of questions she had for us, which were very good and well thought out. There was no awkward silence during the visit, which is good. Arrangements were made for a longer visit this coming Tuesday; she will be brou...

I don't know what it's like for all teachers, I can only attest to the ones I work with. We joke about our summers and how by the time we decompress from the previous school year, and start to gear up for the next school year, we have, like, a month of summer. I write this because I am going to give you a sneak peek into my teacher's brain. When do teachers start thinking about the next school year? Well, for one coworker it's July 5. He says he gets bored after that and wants to go back and teach. Another teacher says its August 1st, because it's the month we have to report back. For me, it begins in small amounts. Last week, for instance, I was on the computer and a thought came to me out of the blue - "I should probably start cleaning up and updating my parent letter." Then I thought, "Egads! I still have a couple weeks." So I put it out of my mind. Then a coworker called a couple days after and casually mentioned she was thinking of stopping ...

The past 3 days has brought an interesting twist. First (and brief) was the announcement that a new principal has been selected for my school. It's the guy I had been hoping for, not knowing the out-of-district candidates, so I am pleased with that. I actually met him my first day working for the district as a substitute, and know his wife as she's a social studies teacher at one of the high schools. So things are positive on that front. Here's to hoping our VP decides to take a leave of some sort, and we can get some discipline going too. Or maybe the new principal will force some changes on that front... one can hope. Next, is that we've got a teenager on the horizon. Got a call Monday from Sarah, our social worker. She has the complete opposite situation than what we were expecting - a temporary girl to house. Not that she's a girl temporarily, but that she would be with us hopefully only 90 days. We've decided to say yes, move forward and see what this brin...

Roman said the oddest thing tonight, but it was very touching. My guess is that he is learning about accepting "different" people at Red Bell, but it was amazing nonetheless. He had been playing Lego Star Wars with his Daddy, and they can choose to be different characters. He also had been looking at his book with all the different characters. Roman out of the blue said, "Know what? The weird people in Star Wars are just people... they're not weird, they are people." We agreed and Doug said that it was really good of Roman to realize that. Then Roman kept going... "Even though they look weird, they are not, because they are people. And we don't have to understand... you just click on them anyway." He said this while crossing his little arms on the table and resting his chin on his arm. And for a 4 year old it was so profound, it brought tears to my eyes. Now, I don't want to give Red Bell all the credit - a pat on our own backs because we'r...

The name itself oozes excitement, doesn't it? Our family went to the air show on Sunday hosted by the Yankee Air Museum . I went to an air show once in Kalamazoo, but Doug (and obviously, Roman) had never been. We met up with some friends when we got there, who are plane enthusiasts and have been going for years. IT WAS AWESOME!! As we pulled into line to pay the gate fee, an F-16 "Fighting Falcon" was having its fun blasting around. I think we all got neck cramps trying to see out the windows watching it shoot straight up into the sky, do loop-de-loops, and all kinds of cool stuff. As we parked, the F-16 then escorted 3 P-51 Mustangs around the airfield. As with any WWII aircraft, I got tears in my eyes - I've never seen a P51 fly before. How very cool. You can see the whole schedule of events that we saw if you click here . We walked around the static displays and Roman fell in love with the "shark plane," a P-40 painted with big scary teeth. There was als...

Roman has been calling the 4th of July "USA Day." Cute little ring to it. We went to Greenfield Village last night for their "Salute to America." Gates opened at 6pm, picnics were allowed. We went with Roman's friend Max and his mom, because dad is in Pennsylvania starting his new job. (side note: yup, it's true: the economy IS forcing people out of Michigan). Anyway, we secured a spot on a more level area of the hill overlooking the food tent and the side of a stage. At 8:00pm there was a 5x flyby of a B-25D bomber from WWII, the same kind Doolittle flew over Tokyo after Pearl Harbor. It was SO cool. Doug was so entranced he didn't even remember to take a picture. He reports the bomb bay doors were open; Roman and I were in a different spot at the time and Ro didn't like the noise at first, so I didn't notice. What chills I got, though, to see that baby fly! At 8:30 the Detroit Symphony Orchestra began their concert of patriotic favorites. They ...

Roman will ask interesting things about his adoption sometimes. According to my favorite adoption book, "The Lifelong Search for Self," which talks about the general "stages" that an adoptee goes through, Roman is in the "Becoming a person, becoming a thinker, and parroting the adoption story" stage. This is very evident in some of his questions. For example, we have been talking about names. First name, last name, and people will often comment on his first name and how "unusual" or "unique" it is. Now I personally don't think so, but then... Anyway, Roman asked me the other day after a visit to the doctor's office, after his medical history in Russia was discussed, if he had a Russian name. I thought this was a brilliant leap of intelligence for him. I told him that he did, and told him what his last name was in Russia. He giggled because it sounds funny, and didn't say anything else. A few days later, seemingly out of th...