If anyone is in need of some little movers, how about these two? They're not very successful with the actual moving work (as evidenced by the mess in the front room), but they're pretty entertaining.
Sunday, December 14, 2014
Friday, December 12, 2014
Picture Of The Day
Emilia was way overdue for a haircut, so I finally took her this morning. This is her opinion on the whole experience:
Thursday, December 11, 2014
You've Got Mail
When you grow up in an orphanage, there are many everyday occurrences that pass you by. You don't learn about them naturally by experiencing them. You may not even know they exist at all. One such thing for Ella is the mail which is new and a little confusing for her, so I decided to do a homeschool lesson about mail on Monday. We'll reinforce the information we have learned over the next few weeks with a trip to the P.O., preparing letters ourselves, going to our mailbox as well as looking at different mailboxes around town, and hopefully receiving mail. If anyone out there would like to send Ella (or Emilia) a letter or postcard for the Christmas mailboxes they decorated, please contact me at viviane 8 at yahoo dot com.
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Speaking of mail, we have a great custom painted mailbox at our new house. I am seriously determined to have way more fun than ever before with how we decorate our family space and this mailbox is a first step.
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Speaking of mail, we have a great custom painted mailbox at our new house. I am seriously determined to have way more fun than ever before with how we decorate our family space and this mailbox is a first step.
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Ella's Big St. Nick's Day
Ella has been incredibly excited about all things Christmas, so December 6th was a big day for her. First, overnight, some holiday decorations appeared in our living room. The Countdown to Christmas Day chain that's hanging from the fireplace was a homeschool activity Ella and I did this week. It required a great mix of skills: cutting straight lines, gluing, lacing, counting and number recognition.
While everyone was asleep, St. Nick brought a few presents.
And after 18 days of waiting and marking off days on a chart, Ella was finally allowed to wear her red Christmas dress.
Then she and I went to breakfast with Santa.
Ella colored a beautiful tree and tried her hand at some games like plinko and ring toss. She was also really interested in watching a few songs from Seussical performed by local high schoolers.
After breakfast with Santa, we met up with the rest of our family and headed to the Sensitive Santa Christmas party for kids with special needs at our local children's hospital. It's always a good time. This was Rex and Emilia's fourth year there and everyone remembers them. In all the years past, Emilia has been scared of Santa, but this time around, she greeted him like this:
As usual, we made the attempt at the classic holiday photo with Santa and this one is perfect. You know why? Rex is sitting down and looking at what's happening. Emilia is contentedly examining Santa's glove instead of screaming and squirming away. And Ella is just thrilled with it all. My kids are happy and I couldn't ask for anything more.
On the way home, the kids all took a nap in the car. We had soup for dinner and Ella enjoyed it with some of the lavash she'd received from St. Nick. At bedtime I asked her if she had liked her day and Ella answered, "Yes, very like."
While everyone was asleep, St. Nick brought a few presents.
And after 18 days of waiting and marking off days on a chart, Ella was finally allowed to wear her red Christmas dress.
Then she and I went to breakfast with Santa.
Ella colored a beautiful tree and tried her hand at some games like plinko and ring toss. She was also really interested in watching a few songs from Seussical performed by local high schoolers.
After breakfast with Santa, we met up with the rest of our family and headed to the Sensitive Santa Christmas party for kids with special needs at our local children's hospital. It's always a good time. This was Rex and Emilia's fourth year there and everyone remembers them. In all the years past, Emilia has been scared of Santa, but this time around, she greeted him like this:
As usual, we made the attempt at the classic holiday photo with Santa and this one is perfect. You know why? Rex is sitting down and looking at what's happening. Emilia is contentedly examining Santa's glove instead of screaming and squirming away. And Ella is just thrilled with it all. My kids are happy and I couldn't ask for anything more.
On the way home, the kids all took a nap in the car. We had soup for dinner and Ella enjoyed it with some of the lavash she'd received from St. Nick. At bedtime I asked her if she had liked her day and Ella answered, "Yes, very like."
Friday, December 5, 2014
St. Nick Does Lavash
As you know, we celebrate a tradition from my childhood here with our kids every year. During the night from December 5 to 6, St. Nikolas (or Nikolaus as we call him in Germany) brings some small presents to children who have cleaned their shoes and put them onto a window sill. In our home, St. Nick always delivers the Christmas pajamas and a trinket or two.
This year, Nikolaus knew that a certain little Armenian girl has been struggling with American bread and missing lavash something fierce. So, he worked it out for her to find a bag of homemade lavash by her shoe tomorrow morning. He even devised a plan to have her out of the house for a few hours, so he could work his magic secretly.
This lavash turned out a little crispier than what you might find in some places in Armenia, but it's definitely delicious and St. Nikolas hopes that Ella will like it.
This year, Nikolaus knew that a certain little Armenian girl has been struggling with American bread and missing lavash something fierce. So, he worked it out for her to find a bag of homemade lavash by her shoe tomorrow morning. He even devised a plan to have her out of the house for a few hours, so he could work his magic secretly.
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| Lavash dough |
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| Roll out, fold, repeat three times |
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| St. Nick's little helper |
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| Baking up with nice bubbles |
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| Finished lavash loaves |
This lavash turned out a little crispier than what you might find in some places in Armenia, but it's definitely delicious and St. Nikolas hopes that Ella will like it.
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
Less Is More: Our New House
Craig and I have known ever since we received Rex's multiple diagnoses that he would always need special, individualized education services which means we have also known for about three years that we would have to move into a better local school district as well as closer to the various services and therapies Rex accesses now and may need in the future.
Therefore, we had been loosely looking for a different house for about 18 months and finally, over the summer, narrowed our search down to only one school district with the best reputation for special needs services in our county. And then we toured some houses. Big ones, small ones, old ones, new ones, fixer uppers, and ready-to-move-in. We'd seen what Craig would dub "a dump" in an amazing location or tour a house with a perfect floor plan, but with an unacceptable closeness to the highway and its noise. With the large number of variables in consideration, we knew we would have to make concessions somewhere, but for a time it seemed like we would never find the right place.
Meanwhile, as we were set on this new path with our children, our priorities had shifted in many areas of our lives which quickly included our home. For example, I have not been able to keep up with the housekeeping in our large space nor have we been very successful in meeting our neighborhood's standards for lawn maintenance and landscaping. Plus the very open interior layout of our house presents various safety challenges for Rex. And even with the size of our family more than doubled, there are still areas in our home we never or rarely utilize. On the other hand, the backyard is a nearly unusable space for the kids as it is a steep hill down to a pond. We cannot fence here due to HOA regulations and so can never allow the children outdoors without vigilant supervision.
As I was processing all of these factors and our family's long-term needs, the tiny house movement became increasingly fascinating and attractive to me. I read up a little bit and came across this quote at one point: Not So Big doesn't necessarily mean small. It means not as big as you thought you needed, but designed and built to perfectly suit the way you live. Reading that sentence was a light bulb moment for me. I realized in that instant that the home Craig and I had chosen over seven years ago as a childless couple expecting to raise healthy and typically developing children was no longer perfectly suited to the way we live now and will, predictably, be living for the next decade or so. In that moment I felt quite ready to give up some of what we have now for what we really need and can use, to exchange quantity for quality.
And then it happened. Toward the end of the summer, we came across a house "by coincidence" on our way home from visiting family. From the outside, the house seemed to fit the bill of what we were looking for more than not, so we decided to tour it a few days later. We had no expectations that this house would work for us, but after we had seen it, we realized it would meet all of our needs.
Still, we made the deliberate pro and con list:
Cons
1) House is significantly smaller than current home
2) House is noticeably older than current home
3) Neighborhood is not as fancy as current one
4) House floor plan is not as open or light-flooded as current one
Pros
1) House is located in the best public school district for SN kids in our county and address is assigned to what may arguably be the best public elementary school in the county for special needs services
2) Large, flat, securely fenced back yard
3) In-ground pool: we weren't looking for a pool and we know it's a lot of work to maintain, but our kids do love the water and this is like free entertainment off the back deck all summer long (and in case you're wondering, we just had a 6 foot tall fence installed around the pool's perimeter)
4) Safe, quiet neighborhood with low traffic and diversity of residents (retired folks, couples with first babies, terminally ill people, kids close in age to ours, etc.)
5) House is completely rehabbed inside with brand-new appliances, refinished hardwood floors, etc.
6) Craig's daily commute reduces from 3 hours to 60 to 90 minutes, 90 mins being a worst case scenario with traffic, weather, etc.
7) House is safe inside and out for Rex (no open lofts, no high deck, no steep hill, no large windows, etc.)
8) House is only a short walk away from our cousins' home
9) House is a 6 minute drive from our Prompt therapist's new office location (current drive to new location is about two hours round-trip)
10) House is within 30 minutes to any private programs and schools Rex may attend in the future.
11) School district has a fantastic English Language Learners' program and some teachers in the district share Rex and Ella's Armenian heritage
12) The price was right
13) The area attracts many new immigrants from around the world allowing our children to grow up and attend school with people from varied ethnic and cultural backgrounds
So, we took a leap of faith and decided to move forward with this new-to-us house. We own both homes at this time (read cash flow is severely impeded) and are slowly moving ourselves from the west side to the east side of our city. I am not going to lie, I will miss this house here so very much. We are trading a beautiful, spacious, comfortable, light-filled home in a scenic setting for a much better location in terms of the needs of our family; for quality time together due to reduced commutes to work, school, therapy, shopping, etc.; and for better educational opportunities as well as safer home conditions for our children. We are giving up a noticeable amount of creature comforts to be able to re-focus our family on what really matters, given our personal values and principles.
Please keep us in your thoughts as we are going through this transition. We need all the positive energy we can get until we're settled in the new house, hopefully by the end of December.
Therefore, we had been loosely looking for a different house for about 18 months and finally, over the summer, narrowed our search down to only one school district with the best reputation for special needs services in our county. And then we toured some houses. Big ones, small ones, old ones, new ones, fixer uppers, and ready-to-move-in. We'd seen what Craig would dub "a dump" in an amazing location or tour a house with a perfect floor plan, but with an unacceptable closeness to the highway and its noise. With the large number of variables in consideration, we knew we would have to make concessions somewhere, but for a time it seemed like we would never find the right place.
Meanwhile, as we were set on this new path with our children, our priorities had shifted in many areas of our lives which quickly included our home. For example, I have not been able to keep up with the housekeeping in our large space nor have we been very successful in meeting our neighborhood's standards for lawn maintenance and landscaping. Plus the very open interior layout of our house presents various safety challenges for Rex. And even with the size of our family more than doubled, there are still areas in our home we never or rarely utilize. On the other hand, the backyard is a nearly unusable space for the kids as it is a steep hill down to a pond. We cannot fence here due to HOA regulations and so can never allow the children outdoors without vigilant supervision.
As I was processing all of these factors and our family's long-term needs, the tiny house movement became increasingly fascinating and attractive to me. I read up a little bit and came across this quote at one point: Not So Big doesn't necessarily mean small. It means not as big as you thought you needed, but designed and built to perfectly suit the way you live. Reading that sentence was a light bulb moment for me. I realized in that instant that the home Craig and I had chosen over seven years ago as a childless couple expecting to raise healthy and typically developing children was no longer perfectly suited to the way we live now and will, predictably, be living for the next decade or so. In that moment I felt quite ready to give up some of what we have now for what we really need and can use, to exchange quantity for quality.
And then it happened. Toward the end of the summer, we came across a house "by coincidence" on our way home from visiting family. From the outside, the house seemed to fit the bill of what we were looking for more than not, so we decided to tour it a few days later. We had no expectations that this house would work for us, but after we had seen it, we realized it would meet all of our needs.
Still, we made the deliberate pro and con list:
Cons
1) House is significantly smaller than current home
2) House is noticeably older than current home
3) Neighborhood is not as fancy as current one
4) House floor plan is not as open or light-flooded as current one
Pros
1) House is located in the best public school district for SN kids in our county and address is assigned to what may arguably be the best public elementary school in the county for special needs services
2) Large, flat, securely fenced back yard
3) In-ground pool: we weren't looking for a pool and we know it's a lot of work to maintain, but our kids do love the water and this is like free entertainment off the back deck all summer long (and in case you're wondering, we just had a 6 foot tall fence installed around the pool's perimeter)
4) Safe, quiet neighborhood with low traffic and diversity of residents (retired folks, couples with first babies, terminally ill people, kids close in age to ours, etc.)
5) House is completely rehabbed inside with brand-new appliances, refinished hardwood floors, etc.
6) Craig's daily commute reduces from 3 hours to 60 to 90 minutes, 90 mins being a worst case scenario with traffic, weather, etc.
7) House is safe inside and out for Rex (no open lofts, no high deck, no steep hill, no large windows, etc.)
8) House is only a short walk away from our cousins' home
9) House is a 6 minute drive from our Prompt therapist's new office location (current drive to new location is about two hours round-trip)
10) House is within 30 minutes to any private programs and schools Rex may attend in the future.
11) School district has a fantastic English Language Learners' program and some teachers in the district share Rex and Ella's Armenian heritage
12) The price was right
13) The area attracts many new immigrants from around the world allowing our children to grow up and attend school with people from varied ethnic and cultural backgrounds
So, we took a leap of faith and decided to move forward with this new-to-us house. We own both homes at this time (read cash flow is severely impeded) and are slowly moving ourselves from the west side to the east side of our city. I am not going to lie, I will miss this house here so very much. We are trading a beautiful, spacious, comfortable, light-filled home in a scenic setting for a much better location in terms of the needs of our family; for quality time together due to reduced commutes to work, school, therapy, shopping, etc.; and for better educational opportunities as well as safer home conditions for our children. We are giving up a noticeable amount of creature comforts to be able to re-focus our family on what really matters, given our personal values and principles.
Please keep us in your thoughts as we are going through this transition. We need all the positive energy we can get until we're settled in the new house, hopefully by the end of December.
Monday, December 1, 2014
IAC Results 296, 297 & 298
The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 296 which was held on October 9, 2014:
1) Spanish dossier from September 2010 referred a female child aged 2 years with features in health status
2) Spanish dossier from October 2010 referred a male child aged 1 year and 6 months with features in health status
3) Dutch dossier from October 2010 referred a female child aged 4 years and 3 months
4) Italian dossier from March 2011 referred a male child aged 5 years and 4 months with features in health status
5) Italian dossier from August 2012 referred a waiting child (#2467) with a profile on the MOJ site
6) US dossier from June 2013 referred a female child aged 3 years and 9 months with features in health status
7) Swedish dossier from August 2013 referred a female child aged 3 years and 9 months with features in health status
8) US dossier from January 2014 referred a waiting child (#2414) with a profile on the MOJ site
9) US dossier from October 2014 referred two waiting children (#1634 & #1635) with profiles on the MOJ site
10) US dossier from October 2014 referred a waiting child (#2278) with a profile on the MOJ site
11) US dossier from October 2014 referred a waiting (#2314) with a profile on the MOJ site
12) US dossier from October 2014 referred two waiting children (#2312 & #2572) with profiles on the MOJ site
13) US dossier from October 2014 referred three waiting children (#2460 & #2461 & #2462) with profiles on the MOJ site
14) US dossier from October 2014 referred two waiting children (#2065 & #2066) with profiles on the MOJ site
15) US dossier from October 2014 referred a waiting child (#2438) with a profile on the MOJ site
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The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 297 which was held on October 16, 2014:
1) Spanish dossier from October 2010 referred a male child aged 2 years and 9 months
2) Italian dossier from December 2010 referred a male child aged 5 years and 8 months with features in health status
3) Spanish dossier from April 2011 referred a female child aged 6 years and 11 months
4) German dossier from February 2012 referred a female child aged 7 years and 7 months
5) Italian dossier from June 2012 referred a female child aged 6 years and 6 months with features in health status
6) Italian dossier from June 2012 referred a brother and sister aged 6 years and 9 months & 8 years
7) Cyprus dossier from April 2013 referred three siblings, male and female, aged 6 years and 5 months & 5 years and 3 months & 4 years and 3 months
8) Italian dossier from April 2014 referred a female child aged 2 years and 6 months with features in health status and a family history
9) Italian dossier from June 2014 referred two brothers aged 8 years & 9 years and 7 months
10) Canadian dossier from June 2014 referred a female child aged 10 years and 11 months
11) US dossier from July 2014 referred a female child aged 2 years and 10 months with features in health status
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The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 298 which was held on October 23, 2014:
1) Spanish dossier from October 2010 referred a female child aged 2 years and 6 months
2) Italian dossier from April 2011 referred a male child aged 6 years with features in health status
3) Italian dossier from February 2012 referred a female child aged 7 with features in health status and a family history
4) Italian dossier from October 2013 referred a brother and sister aged 5 years and 8 months & 12 years and 11 months
5) Italian dossier from December 2013 referred a male child aged 9 years and 11 months
6) Italian dossier from January 2014 referred a brother and sister aged 6 years and 2 months & 8 years and 7 months with features in health status and a family history
7) US dossier from October 2014 referred a waiting child (#2281) with a profile on the MOJ site
1) Spanish dossier from September 2010 referred a female child aged 2 years with features in health status
2) Spanish dossier from October 2010 referred a male child aged 1 year and 6 months with features in health status
3) Dutch dossier from October 2010 referred a female child aged 4 years and 3 months
4) Italian dossier from March 2011 referred a male child aged 5 years and 4 months with features in health status
5) Italian dossier from August 2012 referred a waiting child (#2467) with a profile on the MOJ site
6) US dossier from June 2013 referred a female child aged 3 years and 9 months with features in health status
7) Swedish dossier from August 2013 referred a female child aged 3 years and 9 months with features in health status
8) US dossier from January 2014 referred a waiting child (#2414) with a profile on the MOJ site
9) US dossier from October 2014 referred two waiting children (#1634 & #1635) with profiles on the MOJ site
10) US dossier from October 2014 referred a waiting child (#2278) with a profile on the MOJ site
11) US dossier from October 2014 referred a waiting (#2314) with a profile on the MOJ site
12) US dossier from October 2014 referred two waiting children (#2312 & #2572) with profiles on the MOJ site
13) US dossier from October 2014 referred three waiting children (#2460 & #2461 & #2462) with profiles on the MOJ site
14) US dossier from October 2014 referred two waiting children (#2065 & #2066) with profiles on the MOJ site
15) US dossier from October 2014 referred a waiting child (#2438) with a profile on the MOJ site
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 297 which was held on October 16, 2014:
1) Spanish dossier from October 2010 referred a male child aged 2 years and 9 months
2) Italian dossier from December 2010 referred a male child aged 5 years and 8 months with features in health status
3) Spanish dossier from April 2011 referred a female child aged 6 years and 11 months
4) German dossier from February 2012 referred a female child aged 7 years and 7 months
5) Italian dossier from June 2012 referred a female child aged 6 years and 6 months with features in health status
6) Italian dossier from June 2012 referred a brother and sister aged 6 years and 9 months & 8 years
7) Cyprus dossier from April 2013 referred three siblings, male and female, aged 6 years and 5 months & 5 years and 3 months & 4 years and 3 months
8) Italian dossier from April 2014 referred a female child aged 2 years and 6 months with features in health status and a family history
9) Italian dossier from June 2014 referred two brothers aged 8 years & 9 years and 7 months
10) Canadian dossier from June 2014 referred a female child aged 10 years and 11 months
11) US dossier from July 2014 referred a female child aged 2 years and 10 months with features in health status
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 298 which was held on October 23, 2014:
1) Spanish dossier from October 2010 referred a female child aged 2 years and 6 months
2) Italian dossier from April 2011 referred a male child aged 6 years with features in health status
3) Italian dossier from February 2012 referred a female child aged 7 with features in health status and a family history
4) Italian dossier from October 2013 referred a brother and sister aged 5 years and 8 months & 12 years and 11 months
5) Italian dossier from December 2013 referred a male child aged 9 years and 11 months
6) Italian dossier from January 2014 referred a brother and sister aged 6 years and 2 months & 8 years and 7 months with features in health status and a family history
7) US dossier from October 2014 referred a waiting child (#2281) with a profile on the MOJ site
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