The new year has begun...2010

I can not believe how fast the year went by. It has been exactly one year since we came back home with our sons. We are a big and happy family of seven!!!!


We had a great year and the boys have adjusted so well to their life here in America. They love it here! Aleks is now 15 and in 9th grade in high school and brings home straight A's. His teachers are always saying how smart he is to do so well in school while he has only been here one year. He is learning to drive and loves every minute he can spend at the wheel. He wants to be an architect and I am planning to enroll him in some summer classes at Portland State University.
Dmitri has changed so much during the time he was with us. From being a very shy and not expressive boy, to a confident, loving young man. He will turn 14 soon. He is doing great in 8th grade and improving his grades constantly. He is very good in math and enjoys playing soccer at his school. He wants to be a cartoon animator.


Katie is almost 17!!! I cant believe that she came to us when she was only 11... She is such big help to me. She is attending 11th grade and is also enrolled in Center for Advance Learning, taking medical classes. She wants to be a doctor. Katie is very friendly and outgoing and very strong in her faith and beliefs. When she grows up and has a family of her own, she wants to adopt. We are very proud of her. Katie is also getting ready to go on a mission trip to Mexico this year to help build a house for a poor family.


Ilianna is in 3rd grade and is 9 years old. She loves to play with her little sister and she absolutely loves school! She is a sweet girl who writes me letters almost everyday of how much she loves me. When we go to parent/teacher conferences and the teacher shows me her journals: all she writes is about me and how much she wants to be like me. She has such a loving heart and she wants to be a massage therapist.


Isabella is 3 and is our little princess. She loves playing with her brothers and sisters and always waits for them to come home from school. She loves horses and ponies and dreams of having a horse of her own. She learned how to ski this winter and really loved it.





We spent many fun moments together this past year including, going to Hawaii, Mt. Bachelor (where kids learned how to ski and had so much fun together) and the Oregon coast.
We are blessed to have such a wonderful family and always pray for the orphans still in Ukraine. I still get emails from kids that really want to be adopted asking if there is a family for them.
If you know of anyone that wants to adopt or is in the process, I can always share about kids in the Kiev orphanage.
We are looking to many fun and memorable memories ahead in 2010!
Happy New Year!~
Blessings
Inna