Kari's Poem.....

A Trip to Spring Gate Farm

Today we made a trip to Spring Gate Farm and had an awesome tour given by the very knowledgable owner, our sweet friend Jane.  Ana enjoyed seeing the goats and ducks. She did not enjoy all the goat "poop" and pointed it out to me repeatedly in a very concerned fashion.  My response; "at a farm, there is lots of animal poop and it's okay".  The cashmere goats were ADORABLE and the kids held them, chased them and frolicked with them delightedly.  In the picture above, this goat was only days old.  They kept hopping with all 4 feet leaving the ground at once....like they were leaping for just the joy of being alive!

Guess who likes ice cream...

In this photo, Ana is eating it right out of our ice cream maker.

Ash Wednesday Poem

Is this a Fast, to keep 

The larder lean?

And clean

From fat of veals and sheep?

Is it to quit the dish

Of flesh, yet still

To fill

The platter high with fish?

Is it to fast an hour, Or ragg'd to go,

Or show A down-cast look and sour?

No: 'tis a Fast to dole 

Thy sheaf of wheat

And meat

Unto the hungry soul,

It is to fast from strife 

And old debate,

And hate;

To circumcise thy life.

To show a heart grief-rent;

To starve thy sin,

Not bin;

And that's to keep thy Lent. 

~Robert Herrick (1591-1674)

I have a Daddy!

(Sigh).............

We know a family here in town who adopted a little blonde, blue eyed boy from Eastern Europe.  Aaron has some physical challenges and the family is making trips to Shriners Children's Hospital in Maryland each week to get casting on his legs to correct some muscular issues that were not addressed in his earlier life which he spent in an orphanage, and then spent an additional miserable year in a mental institution which is where unadopted post 4 year olds are sent in Eastern Europe. These children are basically discarded, locked away from society and many of them literally perish in these horrific institutions.  Aaron was adopted at 5 years old by this dear family who fought like crazy to get him out of this hell-on-earth place and into their loving home.  For the last 3 weeks, I have had the HONOR of teaching Aaron in the PreK class at our local homeschool co-op.  To see him smiling, full of joy, bright, laughing and interacting with the other children is truly unbelievable.  Aaron is doing SO well, is so smart, so full of life....all because of one loving family who was willing to take a "risk" and get outside of their comfort zone.  Many adoptive families hear from others;..."oh, (your child's name) is SO lucky that you adopted them!"  but most adoptive families would say that THEY are the ones who have been blessed beyond measure.

This is where my (sigh) comes in.  Aaron's family has a blog that follows many other blogs which highlight families in the process of eastern european adoptions.  While it is wonderful to see the cases of the children being adopted into their forever families, there is still a great and DIRE need for many more families to adopt.  Every day, these sweet children "age out" of the orphanages and take a very somber and scary car ride to what will probably be their final destination: a mental institution for children ages 4-18.  Run-down, ill equipped, understaffed, unclean, wretched places that most people would not deem livable at all.  And 4 year old toddlers are "introduced" into these unwelcoming places where they will likely spend the rest of their "childhood".

When I hear Ana chattering away in the preschool class, announcing proudly that "SHE has a Daddy who wears a tie" when we're learning about the letter "T", or that SHE has a doggie at her house that she loves, I can't help but think about all the other children for which time is ticking, ticking, each day bringing them closer to aging out of the orphanage.  Who will go for them? Who will adopt them?  When, if ever, will they be able to say that THEY have a Daddy and a doggie and a house?  I know I sound depressing, and I know most people don't want to hear such sad things but this IS the reality...........

Micah 6:8- "He has showed you O man, what is good.  And what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

Pink Froggy Potty

This new little gadget is decorating my family room these days.  Ana had great interest (and production) with pink froggy potty the first few days but the interest has waned.  (sigh).  Maybe when the days are warmer and there are less clothing layers...and the pink plastic doesn't feel so icy.......

"Happy Day"....3 today!

Whenever Ana hears the "Happy Birthday" song, she says "happy day!".   Today was Ana's Happy Day!  Her third birthday.  We started our day out Keyser birthday style, which meant Mom had set the table the night before with colored birthday plates, the kids (whose birthday it wasn't) strung up streamers and made home made birthday cards.  Luke insisted on an elaborate scavenger hunt to hide Ana's gift which was a set of play-doh.  Ana wore her "Cav Man" (UVA) t-shirt. Mom declared school but no math today (big bonus) and we had cinnamon rolls for breakfast.  It was indeed a happy day!

Me and "Mee-Mee"

This little video was taken by Daddy.  That's my Mee-mee [Grandma] singing the songs and sitting on the sofa. Aren't I cute??? Love, Ana

Celebrations To Remember

Christmas with Ana was so joyful this year. She was happy, singing, dancing, and really "getting it". Mary had Baby Jesus in the stable and everyone is rejoicing and celebrating! Her favorite new word is "joy" as she keeps singing "Joy To The World" and "Joy, Joy, Joy".....she also likes "We Three Kings". When I got up this morning and thought about our Christmas Day yesterday with her, I remembered our first big celebration, or "party" as we say with her. It was our US Embassy appointment in Moscow last November. Every adoptive family must check out through the US Embassy...it is the final "hoop". The appointment is typically the day before you leave and going into it, we really didn't know what to expect. We were slightly apprehensive that all our papers would be in order and we were mysteriously told that we would be given a very important packet of (more) papers that we COULD NOT OPEN FOR ANY REASON. That MUST be opened by a US Customs Official once we landed in Dulles. It just all seemed so very...oh, I don't know, "spy-like", but I guess it is for some international legal reasons or SOMETHING. Anyhow, by now we had learned; "they say it, we do it!" So off to the US Embassy we went, Ana in the backpack, with a diaper bag, sippy cup, papers, toys books, snacks, etc. We were prepared to be sitting for hours. But when we arrived and went through all the appropriate (over-intensive) security checks, we were sent to a room with about a dozen other couples, each with toddlers, all looking somewhat bleary-eyed and speaking, we soon caught on, english. We realized these were fellow adoptive parents who had all been through the same experience (battle) that we had to get our new children. We quickly began talking to one another, sharing stories, laughing, and comparing notes. There were couples and new Moms from all over the United States....Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Florida, North Carolina, New York. Some were adopting one child, some two. The joke immediately became: "well, it's 1:00...naptime at the orphanage." These poor children were looking as shell-shocked as the parents. Everything was new to these little ones. They had probably never been outside their former orphanage walls, never heard english, they were with total strangers who spoke and smelled and acted differently from anything they had ever known. But it was such a sweet moment....to look around and know these kids had been rescued and these parents were building their families in an unconventional way. One couple from North Carolina had the husband's Dad with them and the proud new grandpa was BEAMING and chatting away about his new granddaughter. He was insistent that she was the brightest and most beautiful little girl in all of Russia- probably the whole world. Aren't all grandparents convinced of such things? Matt and the husband were rolling with laughter as we realized that we had had the same judge in St Petersburg just a week apart! The new Dad (this was their first child) started firing parenting questions at Matt and was particularly interested in our Kelty back pack...he even tried it on. It was hilarious and I wished we had had a camera to capture the moment. Anyway, we all commented that the moment was one big "adoption party"...we were all departing Russia soon and the mood was merry. Just like yesterday on December 25, the joy of a new Baby, ....just like Christmas.

So glad we didn't miss it.....

We Didn't Miss the Blessing

As the kids decorated our Christmas tree the other night, I thought about how different this Christmas was for Ana from last year. We had her last Christmas...but it had only been a month and, quite frankly, things were a blur- for us, and most definitely for her. But this year, she is singing the songs, anticipating the advent candle lighting at dinner each night, hearing the stories and getting caught up in the excitement of lights and decorations. I turned to Matt and proclaimed; "I am so glad that we did not miss the blessing of adoption!" It really hit me that we very well could have missed the blessing. Our family's life would have continued but we would have never had this moment of seeing our sweet toddler daughter decorating our tree. And then I couldn't help but think of all the other children, orphaned and abandoned, in her orphanage alone. And they were alone, for another blank year, another stark, lonely, meaningless year. So many other families were missing the blessing that could be theirs! The latest statistic reports something like 147 million orphaned and abandoned children are in the world today. That is a staggering number. And yet, if just half of the 300 million Christian families worldwide would open their homes for adoption...what a difference could be made! Would you consider adoption this holiday season? Whether praying for orphans, financially supporting couples wanting to adopt, encouraging adoption among your families and churches, or maybe, just maybe, consider what it would look like in your family to have another sweet toddler decorating your tree next Christmas.

One Year Ago Today...

...in a courtroom in St Petersburg Anastasia Elisabeth legally became our daughter. That was our second trip to Russia- for court- and it was a hard trip. Ana was not with us in court (not allowed) and when we visited her in the "Baby Home" (orphanage) she was running a fever and congested. I knew there was no one to hold her when she was feeling bad as I would with my other children, especially at that age. There was a human bite mark on her arm. She was wearing an ill fitting dress which had sleeves so constricting and tight I could not move them to check for other bite marks. It was very hard to fly home knowing she was there and not feeling well and unaware that things would ever be better for her. We pleaded with Svletlana to move up our date of return to get her....but paperworks and passports and visas can only be done so quickly. We would fly home and back in 14 days. I will relay our court experience in another entry...but for now, just rejoice that she is here with us. Even as I type she is dressed up with butterfly wings and a necklace and a star wand out of the dress up box. She is brimming with happiness and our family is very grateful!

Ana Learns Mothering

Right away, we gave Ana some dollies. For a while she called them "La-La's", then they were called "babies". She really loves babies; both real ones and her doll babies. She keeps a couple in her crib. Each morning we hear her singing and talking in her crib and then eventually she starts calling "Mama!, Dada!" when she's ready to get up. This morning Matt went in to get her up and something very sweet occurred. He asked her; "Is your baby (doll) still sleeping?". She answered in the affirmative, "Yeah", with her cute little smile. Then she bent down and tucked her dolly in. After standing back up and lifting her arms for Matt to pick her up she got this "Oh, wait a minute" look on her face...she bent back down and kissed her baby doll on the forehead. Not only was this all adorable behavior but it occurred to us that this was all learned behavior since coming to live with us. In the orphanage, there was no tucking in and kissing good night. There may have been a few dollies but there was no concept of a Mommy and a baby, of nurturing love for that matter. We don't doubt that the children's physical needs were met there, but with 100+ children, emotional needs simply can't be addressed. So we are rejoicing in her happiness, her laughter, and her love of "babies". We are praising her and encouraging her that she will be a great Mommy one day!

Paper Mache Madness

This week can only be described as "paper mache madness". I have lost track of how many trips to Walmart this project has taken....it has reached grand proportions. We are in the final weeks of school which means only 3 more weeks of teaching at the HomeSchool Co-op for me. After avoiding it all year long, I decided to take the plunge into paper mache. It seemed like such a great idea...a lesson on Russian Art and Architecture, a replication of the Russian "onion domes" seen brightly displayed on some of Russia's finest architecture. We'd make several domes, varying heights and structure them all together with cardboard and masking tape, paper mache, coat with a solid white and then paint with stripes and checks and ornamentation.....they would be glorious! And best of all, take up the 3 final weeks of Co-op classes. So I gathered materials with the help of my family, Lowes, JoAnn's & Walmart. I enlisted Ethan to chop saw 120 cardboard tubes. We loaded up my truck and teaching Tuesday arrived. And then came first period......

"Mrs. Keyser, Mrs. Keyser, Mrs, Keyser!..." Sloppy, messy, squatting in the blaring sun in the parking lot of the Co-op building........"it's all over my hands, it's in my hair, I NEED HELP!" OK, maybe we'd just be making one dome per student. Globs of newspaper drowning in the soupy paper mache mixture, wind blowing strips of paper away, balloons popping......yep, just one dome each.

When I agreed to teach art to 3rd and 4th graders at the HomeSchool Co-op this year, and double my classes, I had no idea we'd be getting Ana so soon. I had taught the previous year, just 2 periods and it was great. The students were wonderful, my kids were there doing science labs and writing classes already, so it made sense. I love art, I love teaching. I'd make a little income. Besides, heading into this school year, we had just turned in our adoption paperwork; and we were hunkering down for what we expected to be the long wait. So, flying home on November 5th with our dear sweet under 2 year old was not exactly "on plan"...but we were rejoicing to have her so soon, of course!