Mission San Marcos

Our church is doing a thing called Mission San Marcos, where they're reaching out to kids in our college town during the summer.  Bekah has started going to help on her off days.  So have Kayleigh and Michael :)  It's amazing that they've been here less than 2 months and seem to take the time to think of others.  Both have hit it off wonderfully with other kids and are making friends quickly, plus they are both really, really good with small children.  One of the things families are typically warned about during adoption is that adopted kids may be very selfish and think only of themselves, having come from a survival mode environment.  To date we've really seen nothing like this from Kayleigh or Michael, they have jumped into the family with their sisters and brother and get along amazingly well (well, ok, Michael does like to hog the front seat in the Firebird but learned quickly about taking turns..... :)  Sharing and making sure everyone is taken care of seems to be big to them.  No stealing, hoarding, hiding things under their pillow, etc.  Younger boys look up to Michael as he is very athletic and they think that is very cool (he dazzles with playground agility and soccer skills).  Kayleigh has been great with little kids and they love her, she'll make a great babysitter once she gets enough english!  Every day we just have to step back and be amazed at how blessed our family has been in bringing these two orphans into their new family.  It's clear they've always been meant to be ours.

Be Awesome To One Another

One of the things you are typically cautioned on regarding adoption is that orphans you adopt are typically selfish.  They come from a "me first" survival environment so naturally their interests are centered around meeting their own needs, which only makes sense.  Naturally as well, those behaviors will tend to carry over into their adopting families because they don't change as people overnight.

We have been so surprised (in a good way....) that neither Kayleigh or Michael seem to be that way.  They have been so good with their new sisters and brother.  They share chore responsibilities, even doing things without being asked or prompted.  They get along freakishly well with their new siblings (we are still convinced that Kayleigh and Alyssa share a brain, and Michael adores Dylan and Bekah...).  They get along great with other kids and are making friends fast.  Kayleigh and Alyssa went to babysit our cousins young son for a couple days in Houston, and Kayleigh is just as amazing and awesome with children as Bekah and Alyssa are, she has such a sweet heart :)  Michael wows kids at the playground with is athleticism (he will run across the TOP of the monkey bars and is the soccer player of choice...), and the other boys have taken a real liking to him as he plays very well with others.

It is such a great feeling to know that we have two kids that have such huge potential and now have the opportunity to make it count :)

ZZZ... zzz...

Really, nothing that amazing to report, just living normal life.  That in itself is pretty amazing since it's been less than 6 weeks since we returned to the states with Kayleigh & Michael, and they've plugged into our routine so well.  We haven't had any problems of substance since they've joined our family, it has always seemed like such a natural fit :)

Both kids continue to work on their english and are doing really really good at picking it up.  Kayleigh really likes Wal-Mart coleslaw from the deli.  She does not like bratwurst.  At all.  She likes to be chased around the house and play.  So does Michael.  He is totally digging martial arts class so far!  We're digging having him there :)  Kayleigh will have her 2nd dance class tonight, heard she was all smiles the first time.  Both kids smile a lot and love to play, be chased, and for me to play the ear cookie monster.  I have a blast doing it.  Lots of hugs :)

The next several days will be more like our usual crazy schedule so we'll see how they do, but expect they'll do wonderfully.  Jodi, Alyssa and Kayleigh have a short trip to Houston to babysit our cousin's child.  Bekah and the others are going to a youth group event.  I am......  I don't know!  Perhaps a moment of pause and quiet :) 

Happy Fathers Day

First of all, Happy Fathers Day to all the dads out there!  This year has an extra dash of specialness in it as I've been blessed with the privilege of being the dad to two kids who needed and wanted a family :)  I love being a dad and having such an awesome family, and getting to be that for my family is more important than anything else really.  I can pretty much take or leave anything else but my wife and now 5 kids are the one thing I truly treasure and would do anything to care for and protect!  There really is no greater joy than getting to spend time with and enjoy your family.  When you hit the end of the road in this life, your family will be the legacy you leave behind that mattered the most.  Jodi, Bekah, Alyssa, Kayleigh, Dylan, Michael, I love you :)

Yesterday was most excellent hanging out with Dylan as we spent the day preparing for, reflecting on, and going through the PKC black belt show to officially receive our black belts in Tae Kwon Do.  I love having Dylan as a son, he is a truly special young man and it was an amazing year to go through candidacy for black belt with him.  It was a joy to watch him excel and mature through the process, and to see him continue to grow into the amazing man God has destined him to be.  It is an experience that he and I were privileged to share together, and many memories and stories that we will have together for the rest of our lives!  I am also very excited that Michael has taken a big interest in martial arts as well and has started his journey as well this month :)

Family Movie Night

One of the things we like to do is have a family movie night which is what we did last night.  We'll all get a comfortable place in the living room staked out, popcorn and drinks, candy (can't watch a movie without candy....) and crank up a movie.  Last night we watched The Incredibles (new to K & M...) and it was a lot of fun.  Michael and I are snuggled up on a couch, Alyssa & Kayleigh are snuggled up on the floor.  The funny thing is that they've been back here for 5 weeks now, but it seems like they've always been ours.  It feels totally normal to say we have 5 kids, to call them Kayleigh and Michael, to hug them and tell them we love them.  Good stuff :)

White Belt

Last night at karate class we got Michael his first Gi (uniform), complete with the white (beginner) belt.  He was so excited!  He carefully tried it on and took great care in bringing it home neatly folded up.  He had started trying out the classes a couple weeks ago and loves it and so far seems to have quite the knack for it (he is very athletic...).  In martial arts, the white belt is the starter color when you begin.  For Michael (yes, here comes the word picture.... :) it reminded me of how coming to our family is a new start for him.  It's funny to think of a 13 year old being at the starting line for their life, but that's what it is.  A new family, country, language, everything is new.  We laugh at how stoic he was in the pictures we had seen before traveling to Ukraine, and how we had anticipated that he would be quiet and withdrawn, and how long it would take to break through.  So far nothing could be further from the truth.  He is very happy in our family, absolutely loving having a dad and big brother who love him.  Michael is very bright and learns quickly, athletic, energetic (still hasn't learned to pace himself yet....), laughs easily and loves to play, and yes (sorry people I don't know....) has our Tansey family sense of humor!  Of anything in our adoption journey to date, he has been the greatest surprise!  I love this kid :)

Amerikanski!

Today is a cool day as Kayleigh got her official papers of citizenship here in the US of A :)  Both Kayleigh and Michael officially got citizenship upon going through immigration in Houston after we arrived on our flight overseas, but because Kayleigh is 14 or older (she's 15...) she had to go the office in San Antonio today and do the oath thing to get her papers (Michaels just came in the mail...).  Technically they are dual citizens until the age of 18 and then select a single citizenship at that point.  Not really worried, hey, we have BBQ here!

After the visit to the office the crew went to our friends who had adopted one of her friends from the same orphanage she and Michael were at (her friend was here in Texas last summer on the same hosting trip as Kayleigh).  We are in kind of a unique area that has seen a lot of Ukrainian adoptions, from the same city and orphanage, so there is a cluster of kids here that knew each other in Ukraine now within an hour of each other here in Texas.  God is so good that not only did he find them new homes and families, he brought them some familiar friends as well :)

Kayleigh's swelling in her face from the absess tooth has gone most of the way down (yea!!....).  She'll go back to the dentist on Friday to get it checked out again, and see what else is going to need to be done to put a beautiful smile on this beautiful girl.  We can see that Michael has a lot of cavities as well that will need to be taken care of.  Good thing Bekah is almost out of her braces (she'll be done in October....). 

The rest of our kids continue to do great as always.  Before we ever adopted we had the three most amazing kids you can imagine, and that certainly hasn't changed.  In fact, it has been truly incredible to see how giving and loving they are with their new brother and sister.  All of them have truly taken a huge part in bringing K & M home to Texas, making them a real part of our family, and loving on them like they've probably never experienced!  Bekah is growing up into an amazing woman, working for a family up in Austin and doing a wonderful job, and is getting ready for volleyball to kick off here sometime soon.  Alyssa is loving dance class and I am pretty much convinced that she and Kayleigh share a brain and personality (it is really amazing how much they are alike....).  Dylan has been the poster child for an awesome older brother for Michael, and is helping him get started in martial arts with us.  Dylan and I get our black belts this Saturday (come to the show.... :).

We're having a great time with our Fab 5, can't wait to see what amazing things tomorrow shall bring :)

Under The Covers

This weekend we were blessed with one of Alyssa's friends staying over.  Katya was adopted from Ukraine a few years ago and is an amazing young lady.  She also can speak a fair amount of Ukrainian, so she got to talk to our two new kids and share some insights.  They are happy to be in our family.  They like and yes, love us.  They are very happy here!  Kayleigh misses her two older brothers sometimes.  Michael is not a big fan of schoolwork.  They were taken from their parents four years ago.  Both parents were alcoholics.  Their mother subsequently died from alcohol.  Kayleigh seems to grasp that they chose alcohol over them, and did not do more to care for them.  Gut feeling is there is more hurt in there than we see now so we'll be doing lots of loving on these kids!

Kayleigh really had a great time at her first dance class last week.  Michael is very much enjoying martial arts classes so he'll be sticking with it (he'll look so cute in the uniform!).   Both really like riding bikes.  Michael loves soccer, was playing some after martial arts class last week and looked great!  Michael likes XBox 360.  Kayleigh likes pretty much anything Alyssa likes, they continue to seem like they've been related their whole lives!

We are very glad to have them here.  I was reading an article in the news about the anticipated surge in prostitution in Ukraine with the Euro Cup coming to town.  About teenagers who are forced into it or have no choice because they have no other way to survive.  I am so glad that Kayleigh is here instead of there and at risk.  In reality, she's just a child, a beautiful young girl that would have no idea how to take care of herself.  Michael is such a joy to have around but would never make it on the streets.  Sometimes I find myself just watering up at how glad I am that they are here and safe and with a family that loves them.  At the same time my heart aches for their friends who were left behind to face an ugly reality with little hope.

On another note, please pray for Kayleigh as she had an absess tooth over the weekend so was defnitely not having a good time!  Our dentist, who totally rocks, took care of things today but with the typical adopted kid, we're sure she's got a lot of dental work to be done (she had a broken molar pulled last summer while on the hosting trip here...).  Prayers the swelling and pain goes down (she's on meds for the infection) and for God's provision for hers and Michaels dental needs (yeah, we can see the cavities just by eyeballing ....). 

OK, that's it for today, off to give my kids some hugs :)

One Month

Today is the one month anniversary of our return to Texas with Kayleigh and Michael!  It's hard to believe its been a month already!  We continue to be surprised (in a good way) at how well they have both done with everything.  Their whole world literally changed and they have seemed to taken it in stride and with great eagerness.  Both seem quite happy in our family (this is good :) and we are thrilled to have them and be able to call them our daughter / son / sister / brother! 

Things continue to progress well as we work through each day bringing something new.  Both are learning english and seem to be making good progress on their language.  We continue to get to know them and learn their individual likes, dislikes, etc, as they continue to learn life in our family.  English is their primary school subject for the summer along with some math.  Michael has tried out karate and really likes it (he's already asking when the next class is...), and Kayleigh tried out dance class and enjoyed it as well (did well for a first timer...).  Kayleigh really likes chicken.  Michael likes just about anything (except for the well documented dislike of mushrooms...).  Neither likes oatmeal and won't touch it.  Michael is a front seat of the car hog.  Kayleigh loves music.  Michael really loves having a dad and brother to hang out with and has warmed up to us far faster than we ever would have imagined.  Kayleigh is a typical 15 year old daughter who likes to pretend they are too old to be doted on, but loves it when you show her you love her.  Both of them love to ride bikes!

We are a truly blessed family with five awesome kids, can't wait to see what the next month brings :)

Window Stickers

We're just chugging along as our family finds its routines (new and re-establishing...).  We get a bit of a break as it's the summer months to get our new expanded family into a groove.  Both kids continue to work on their english through the computer software and just daily immersion and are doing well.  Kayleigh we can tell has a lot more comprehension, just not as much speech.  Michael is a typical 13 year old boy who isn't the biggest fan of school work but is coming along as well.  Both kids continue to help around the house well, although we are having to teach Michael that you need to ask to do things like go outside and play (he refused to ask yesterday so ended up hanging out inside, he will learn quickly though....).  We're focusing on english and some math (Kayleigh will translate the instructions to do math work...) and then get into regular school gear in the fall.  Dylan and I are having a great time at karate class being new black belts, and Michael has tried out karate as well and really enjoys it.  It's been mainly some sparring while the club prepares for the black belt show on the 16th, but he seems naturally good at it and looks forward to coming to class.  Kayleigh decided to try dance (shocker as her and Alyssa share a brain...) and her first dance class is today.  Both activities are stocked with super duper adult instructors so both are great situations for new kids on the block.  Bekah did volleyball camp last weekend to kick of her final volleyball season as well.  We've done the sports window stickers in the past, good thing we have a Suburban, window room for five of them (ahhh, now the blog title makes sense... :)  Both kids still seem to be very happy and are adjusting very well to their new world.  We are very happy to have them here.  Saw online pictures of the remaining 92 kids at the orphanage leaving the orphanage for the two new ones as their orphanage has now closed.  Praying for the kids as they have to adjust to a new place, and for all the workers at ours who lost their jobs with the closure (the staff there was always most excellent to us!).

Happy Birthday-Ish

Saturday was a fun day as we held the belated birthday party for Alyssa & Kayleigh.  Alyssa's sweet 16 was while we were away in Ukraine for the adoption, and Kayleigh's 15th birthday was back in September.  We consider that one under our umbrella as well.  When we talked to her the end of July last year and told her we wanted to adopt her and her brother, and she said yes, from that point on we considered her ours.  For the birthday we teamed up with some most excellent friends and birthday party for their daughter AJ, so it was a three for all party!  Games, tubing down the river, swimming, food, friends, gifts.  Lots of smiles.  Awesome birthday cake.  I think my favorite moment was seeing Kayleigh piled on the couch with a bunch of other girls (teenagers tend to pile....) opening gifts and having a great time with friends.  This is so much better than the life she was headed for, and we feel very blessed that God gave our family the privilege of being a part of it.  Today will be a great day as we celebrate the one month anniversary of being their new parents.  It has been an amazing ride so far!

Happy Friday!

The last 3 days have been pretty normal which is good.  Both Kayleigh and Michael seem to be fitting in very nicely into the family, and it doesn't seem strange to have them here.  Just feels like normal daily family life :)  Things continue to go very well.  Kayleigh is NOT a morning person, which drives Alyssa nuts as she tries to get her out of bed, which IS ironic as Alyssa was exactly the same way!  Both kids seem very happy and seem to be destressing nicely.  Both have slept a lot which we have heard is normal, both are eating a lot more food (Michael accepted a 2nd helping of spagetti last night, which he usually wouldn't do...) and are looking a lot healthier.  Both help with chores around the house, often without being prompted.  Both are working on their english and it's coming along well (we still know a lot of our Ukranian so it's a nice meeting in the middle).  Michael has come with Dylan and I to karate class twice and enjoyed it, did some sparring on Thursday and did great.  Dylan and I are very much enjoying being new black belts, it was a hard road to get there but we now get to be a part of a very special group of people:)  Kayleigh is going to try out dance class with Alyssa.  Time for new sports stickers on the back of the Momster truck!  Kayleigh totally has our family sense of humor.  We have a new family pet, another bunny rabbit that the elementary school down the road was letting go due to summer.  Both Kayleigh and Dylan decided it should be named Pasha, after the boy at the orphanage that had a crush on Alyssa.  I think it's going to stick (the name....).  We pray for Pasha and all the others at the orphanage who were in Kayleigh's graduating 9th grade class, and for the remaining students who have now been transferred to two other orphanages.  I am so glad that Kayleigh and Michael are here and part of our family now:)  Tomorrow is a big day as we're doing a birthday party for Alyssa (her birthday was while we were in Ukraine...), Kayleigh (her birthday was in between the hosting and adoption trips...) and AJ (friend of theirs...).  I'll be there! (for the cake...).  Have a great weekend!