First day of Kindergarten!!

Alex was so excited! We had a great orientation yesterday and I think his teacher is going to be wonderful. Today was hard for Mama, though. I didn't even get to hug him goodbye because as soon as he saw his classroom and teacher he ran up to her, she started showing him where to put his backpack and lunch bag, and he never looked back at me again!






































Look at how he's grown since last years first day of preschool picture!

Happy 6th Birthday, Alex!

Alex woke on his birthday with his room decorated. This was a tradition in Kim's family growing up. He really loved it. After that he had a birthday donut (he had told us the day before that his birthday wasn't going to start until he had his birthday donut). We met Chris at Waffle House for a late breakfast, and then later that day had family over for a Scooby Doo birthday party!

















































Alex loves to dress up...
thanks for the Spiderman outfit Mike, Susie, and Sophie


























Scuba Spidey with his Scuba diving Gramka































Guess who?!








The day after Alex's birthday we visited Lake Winnie amusement park with our good friends the Cooks































The cutest part, which I did not catch on camera, was that Alex and Hannah held hands the whole paddle boat trip as they sat in the back




















































We had a great time!! Thanks for coming to visit!

Soccer and swimming

We have been having a great summer. I can't believe Alex starts Kindergarten in two weeks. He is very excited! I had to be careful because for a while I kept saying how much I was going to miss him when school started, etc.. and so he would say "I'll just stay home with you Mama, don't worry. I don't want to go I'll just stay home with you". So now that I have kept my selfish thoughts to myself, he is definitely excited to go.
He has also just started soccer- we thought it would be good for him to be around some other kids and continue learning teamwork. It is going okay. He kicks the ball well with me and Chris around the house and at practice, but he's not really getting into it at game time. He is busy watching the kids running around and investigating the soccer field. Also he is such a talker that the last game he spent most of it with a little piece of wood in his hand he was using as a microphone and giving commentary on everyone else's plays (and telling them what to do). Oh well.. he sure is cute!















































And now to what he really loves to do....
Swim, swim, swim

Beach trip to Jekyll Island

We went to Jekyll Island again this year for the 4th of July and had a great time! Before we left Alex said he was not going to get into the ocean this year. As you can see from the video below, it didn't last long.
As we left Alex told us "Just say the word and I'm ready to go on vacation again". Sounds good to us!
































































































The alligator we saw on our bike ride

Happy summer!

Hope everyone is having a great summer. We have been keeping busy and having a good time. Alex has started swimming lessons and we also have a neighbor who has a pool so we swim/play in the pool a lot. He had vacation bible school last week which he really enjoyed, and has also started Kindermusik classes, and his occupational therapy. We are getting so much out of the therapy visits.. it's been a great thing!














Shortly after we moved to Dalton 5 years ago we started a small group with two other couples. Others have come and gone from our small group, but the 6 of us have stayed the same and havebecome very close friends. It has been so fun because when we met none of us had children, but now they both have two, and we have Alex. It has been fun to see our children become friends, too.
Now Shane and Jody and their boys Caden and Merek are moving to Colorado Springs, CO where Shane will work for Focus on the Family. And Erik, Christy, Seth, and Jakob have moved to Maryville, TN, also for a job relocation.
We are going to miss them all so much! Their friendship, support, and prayers have meant so much to us. We spent Saturday with them for one last get together down in Chattanooga where we rode the Fat Cat Ferry.
















































Also here are some pictures from a picnic recently with the Williams.










































We love you and will miss you!

Mother's Day pictures






visiting with Mamaw
















out to Chattanooga















eating Sushi













at the fountains

Update on our appointment

Thanks for all those who prayed- we had a great visit to the UAB International Adoption Clinic last Wednesday. They were so helpful and encouraging. The visit was about 4 hours long and included visits with the occupational/developmental therapist, a social worker familiar with international adoption issues, and the pediatrician. They had all adopted internationally themselves and it was so nice to talk to people so familiar with the international adoption issues personally and professionally.
There were a lot of positive things. They said Alex's language skills are exceptional. We all knew he could talk a lot :) but they said few at his age that have been in the U.S. this amount of time would have the proficiency he has. They said that would make his school and social life much easier for him. We were also thankful to hear they did not think Alex had any attachment issues, and in that and some other important areas they said Alex is doing better than a lot of children adopted at his age. They said a lot of the strength in attachment was due to our decision for me to stay home with him so I am thankful that was able to happen for us. He also has made it onto the growth chart for a 5 year old- just barely, but he's on there so he's making progress!
His main developmental delays are his large and fine motor skills. They assessed his large motor skills at a 3 year old level and his fine motor skills at a 3 1/2 yr old. They said this is also very common, though, for a child with his background as he had no opportunity to develop them. It explains also why he has no interest in these things- it's so hard for him. The good news is this can be improved and we are going to start working with a local occupational therapist on this.
Alex did test high on his high activity/inattention,which was no surprise, but they think that will be helped as we work with his other skills and as he ages and matures. We also talked a lot about his need to control everything. That is also very common and they gave us some tips to help him deal with it.
Overall, we were pleased to hear they thought Alex was doing really well. Even though we had felt that in our own hearts it was reaffirming to hear. We are glad also to have the knowledge to help him more, as it was hard to see his struggles and not now how to help. Of course I've certainly been learning through parenting that once again I only have so much control over the situation - God has the ultimate control. I have to entrust Alex to Him and I know God has good plans for him :)

Alex's first T-ball game

Alex's first game was tonight on his team "Storm". He looked so cute in his uniform, and he really had fun out there so that was good. He ran hard after the ball to try and get it -we were glad he was really trying (except he would get a little mad at his teammates when they got the ball instead). He is #8.

Prayer request and update

Alex has an appointment on Wed, April 23 at the Univ. of Alabama International Adoption Clinic. We have heard great things about them and they have a pediatrician, developmental and occupational therapist that will just help us asses how Alex is developing, etc.. after being home a year. We are looking forward to it as sometimes it is so hard to know, and it would be great to get input from professionals who are familiar with the issues of international adoption, etc.. We know Alex is doing well and made incredible progress, but it would be unrealistic to think he isn't going to deal with issues stemming from his background and we just want to make sure we are doing all we can to help him.
His first year home we were very focused on loving him, him attaching to us, and getting him healthy. That has been really successful, we think. Now as he starts kindergarten next year and is more involved socially (T-ball, tumbling) we want to make sure we are helping him all we can.
We knew originally he had Sensory Integration issues, which is expected since he was so neglected in his first years of his life of any sensory input (and basically everything- love, attention, food, toys, clothing). This displayed itself when he was first home as spinning a lot, moving constantly, touching everything, not being conscious of pain (he would get a severe burn on his finger and be seemingly unaware of it), clumsy, bumping into things, unable to pay attention. He has done so much better on these areas (especially the pain one as that worried me the most), and some he still struggles with. It is something that doesn't really go away but kids mature and learn to cope with it better and control themselves more. When they are young they need us parents to help them cope.
He also has a very, very short attention span and gets distracted easily. Part of it of course is being a little boy, but his is more than that. At home it takes enormous continual effort to get him to engage in a task or school work. And we know at preschool it can be difficult for his teacher, but he is improving.
We know a lot of things will develop as he ages and matures, but we also recognize where he comes from and want to help all we can.
We just pray this appointment will be helpful.. but also a realistic picture of what's going on and how we can help him the most. So we ask for your prayers on that, and we also wanted to update on some of the struggles we have . Mostly, though, as you all know Alex is so much fun and such a blessing and we are absolutely loving being his parents!!

Fun in Texas

We traveled out over spring break to visit Chris' parents (Grandmama and Grandpapa) in Texas. This was our first visit out there and our first time on an airplane since our flight home from Ukraine. Alex doesn't seem to remember that plane ride so he was really excited about this one, especially during takeoff and landing.
We had a great trip! Grandmama and Grandpapa were well stocked on toys, and Grandmama spent a lot of time playing with Alex (a nice break for us!) While in Texas we also visited a family fun park. Alex loved the go carts, and bumper boats (and so did Grandpapa). We also roasted hot dogs outside and visited the Bluebell ice cream factory. Ice cream is Alex's favorite treat, and I tried a chocolate covered cherry ice cream that was WONDERFUL. Unfortunaetly, I can't find it yet back in GA.
We had a great trip!