V's First American Christmas.....

Whew! It's been awhile since I've posted any updates on Vitaly, but we've been busy with Christmas celebrations and have experienced some internet issues. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! V has enjoyed his first Christmas in America (we still have one more to go to this weekend), and he continues to pull at our heartstrings more every day. What an amazing little boy! He calls us Papa and Mama, gives hugs and kisses freely, counts down the days until he returns to Ukraine and makes crying motions, loves to experience new things, went to church twice and even attended Sunday School (where he painstakingly wrote his memory verse in English, even though he can't read any of it. It brought tears to my eyes to see how hard he worked to be like the other kids), cleaned my scrapbook room because he thought it was too messy, continues to be a big help around the house, loves to play in the snow, visited Dedushka's (Grandpa's) farm where he climbed around on some of the tractors, had an exam at the eye doctor's office, got a haircut, and adores his new Christmas gifts. We continue to have hilarious language barrier moments, too, and at other times I find myself wiping tears as I think of this sweet child aging out of the orphanage system in just 5 short years. He, along with many other orphans, will "graduate" out of the orphanage onto the streets, where they will be neither mentally nor emotionally prepared.  V will most likely not have the money or means to receive his medicine, which in his case means death. I lay awake at night wondering about this dear child's future, although I know that God has a plan for him.

With 9 people in the house, I find myself flying by the seat of my pants. I do believe that 6 kids is my limit if I want to stay organized and put together, and I can feel God using this time to stretch me and teach me that I am not in control. That I do not always have to have everything in order. That's kind of hard for a perfectionist like me, but I am learning that these are the moments that really matter. As I've heard before, in 100 years it will not matter how clean my house was, what kind of a vehicle I drove, or how much money I had in my back account. What will matter is whether or not I've made a difference in the life of a child.

We were so encouraged to learn that Vitaly knows, loves, and prays to God. He loves to read the Russian Bible and Bible Story Book we gave him, and he enjoys listening to the Russian Bible story player that he got for Christmas. He loves to say the prayer aloud before mealtimes as well.

Here are some pictures of the things we've been keeping busy with:

Christmas with Chris's family

Jalen's afro got a little unruly one day... ;-)

All dressed up!

V's first American haircut:

Adrian got a tad bit excited about one of his gifts. Can you tell?

Sweet boy loves his Papa.

A new backpack to take back to Ukraine:

V calls the twins his "chocolate boys."

 The aftermath.

Hopefully I translated these Bible verses correctly!

Checking out all the farm equipment:

Eye exam. V has great vision!

And that's all for now! Have a great day, everyone!