Frustrating Friday!

From reading other blogs, I see that today was not a fun day for several people.  Let me recount the details of my past 48 hours.  
1. Husband sick- doctor visit- $$$
2. Zhenya sick- doctor visit-$$$
3. Leeza running 102 fever for two nights- NO sleep for me.
4. Bad tire on my car- tire replaced-$$$$
5. Husband calls- SUV broke down on the interstate- I go to pick him up and we have a 3 hours wait for tow truck.
6. Husband drives Zhenya and me to school/work- leaves radio on- dead battery at 7:30 am
7. Arrive to work/school-drop fingernail file and bend to pick it up- GIANT rip down butt of pants and NO CAR to go home and change.  Had to wear ripped pants all day... On the bright side, one student told me my fashion trend of a jacket tied on my waist was cool! 
8.  I am now sick from whatever the rest of the family has/had.
9.  SUV repair-$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

I'd ask for a redo, but tomorrow is Saturday!!  

1 Peter 1:6-7 ⁶ In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. ⁷ These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Flying Kites and Doing Good!

I mentioned in a previous post that we sent boxes to Ukraine,  here are the photos I took of preparing the boxes..nothing exciting, but I thought those who donated would like to see them!  It looks like we are sending food service products with all the Sysco boxes!!  However, we sent toothbrushes, clothing, shoes, and toys.

Here is a video clip from this past Sunday.  Instead of having church, we as a church collected bags of food to take to a food bank in the area.  Here is a bit of video I took of the kids in the parking lot while everyone was bringing back the food collected.  You will be amazed at how well my boy speaks English!  You will also get a good look at his dental work....LOL.

   

I bought the kiddos $1.00 kites at Walmart.  They were thrilled.  Zhenya was happy, because his kite was Buzz Lightyear.  Sunday afternoon happened to be windy, so we attempted to fly them.  Attempted being the key word there.   They had fun though. ( I just want to clarify that the burp you hear in the background is NOT me!!  I am not sure if it was Jeff or a friend of ours that was over helping Jeff barbeque.)

 

This video is my girl on the Starfall website. She loves it, and she is usually singing along with the songs.  The video is almost two minutes of her playing on the computer.  I was just happy to see how she was able to correct herself when she made mistakes.  At one point in the video, my mom comes into the room talking about something.  Anyway, it isn't super exciting, but thought I'd share it anyway. 

 

  Zhenya stayed home from school today.  He was coughing all night, so papa took him to the doctor.  All the doctor told us was to give him cough medicine...which I have already been doing.  Wow...how much are they charging our insurance for that piece of medical wisdom?!!  Leeza went to school, and for the third day this week cried most of the drive home.  Now if we drove only 5 to 10 minutes, it wouldn't be too bad.  Our drive however is about 40 minutes, because I work in a different town then we live.  The kids go to school in my school system rather the one in our town.  So three days in a row, a teary eyed little girl crying "Mama, mama..."  Once we get home, she is all smiles for papa.  Uughhh...I am dreading the teen years...if she is this moody now.  She's probably just tired, but they said on the radio this morning that our personalities are completely formed by age 6.  I call her Moody Judy some days.    Out of the two, she is the biggest challenge.  I know a lot of this is her emotional response to all the life changes.  I have to say it is exhausting for mama and papa.  Overall she is pretty happy, but when she is unhappy.....  

She can be easily distracted sometimes.  We told her that we would get a puppy when we move to Colorado this summer.  Now all we have to do is mention the puppy and she is all smiles.  Of course, we have to hear about the puppy every day at least 4 or 5 times in a day.  It is the first thing she asks about each morning and the last thing each night.  

We are off to Disney in two and a half weeks. Leeza is excited about sharing a bed with her Tetya Ira. (Aunt Ira)  She asks about that every day.  Then she asks if the dog is going to sleep with her and Ira in Colorado.  I have to explain that Ira will not be in Colorado and she is only sharing a bed with her on vacation.  I think I need to stop telling her things ahead of time, so I don't have to answer the same question a thousand times!!  The cute little dance she does after asking and receiving confirmation of her question is pretty cute though.  

That's all for now!!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Why am I still messing with paperwork?

Way, way back almost 5 months ago, my sweet kiddos became American citizens.  They still need their certificates of citizenship.  I got a letter in October stating they needed some more information.  Apparently, I was given back paperwork that needed to stay with their documents at immigration.  I immediately sent those documents (court decree and new birth certificates) to the office in Buffalo New York.  About 3 weeks later, we received Leeza's certificate.  Nothing for Zhenya....hhmm..   We waited..with the U.S postal service, maybe it was delayed...hopefully not lost.  One month nothing, two months, nothing.   (Okay, so I forgot for a bit of time in there....I am a new mom and my memories is a bit crowded!)  Last month, I attempted to call the toll-free number that came with Leeza's certificate.  They were no help, and treated me like an idiot.  She kept asking me question as if I was not fluent in the English language. To which I replied, "I am a natural American citizen, I speak fluent English."  I was HOT!  I hate being talked down to, especially when the person talking was completely incompetent.  Finally, I just hung up on her.  Typically, I am pretty calm on the phone, but wow...those people KNOW nothing about their own procedures.  Anyway, I ended up emailing the Buffalo office and after several days I received a reply asking for Zhenya's ID number on his Visa.  Sent that and waited, no reply,  Emailed again a few days later,  they asked for my phone number, sent my phone number...no phone call, no email.....Now it is Feburaury and still no document.  Geeshh..it was easier in Ukraine to get the documents I needed.  Anyone who has adopted from Ukraine can tell you what a challenge that is!!!  I emailed them again over the weekend.  Reply:  Zhenya's file is missing the court decree and the copy of his birth certificate.   Me: You mean the documents I sent in OCTOBER!!! Them: We are attempting to get your daughter's file sent back up, so we can see if they are in her file.  However, if you can email or mail us a copy it will probably be quicker!!!!! 
I guess I should be thankful that someone is responding to my emails!!

Blog by request

I was told that I needed to post a new blog by my friend and co-worker,Barbara, so since I have a few minutes today....
I personally have been soo busy.  I am taking my final three classes to get my master's degree.  I graduate in May!!!!!  This time I am going to my graduation.  When I graduated from MTSU for my bachelor's, the graduation was the same day as a BBQ contest.  Being the good wife that I am...the BBQ contest won out.  Later I was kinda sad later that I didn't attend graduation.  So, I am attending my graduation this time.  The classes have been online, which is FABULOUS!!  I don't have to leave my kiddos and I even took two classes while we were in Ukraine.   Anyway,  no one is reading this blog to hear about me, soo.........

On Thursday, Jeff, the kids, and I packed up four boxes of clothing, shoes, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and toys.  Then we drove to Nashville to a Ukrainian family who regularly ships stuff to Ukraine from a Pentacostal church out of Chattanooga.  It was EXTREMELY affordable and we were so excited to do it.  Zhenya and Leeza had a blast helping us find things to send to their friends they left behind.  In about 6 weeks, our boxes should arrive to Ochakiv at both Zhenya and Leeza's former homes. 

Speaking of the Ukrainian family in Nashville, my kids totally love them.  We saw them twice this week.  By the second visit, you would have thought my kids had known them forever.  They are a close knit family and welcomed us right in to their home.  On Tuesday, they fed us a fabulous Ukrainian meal.  The kids were so excited.  I have attempted to make things familiar to Ukrainian food, but I am not that skilled at it yet. 

Today was beautiful, so we took the kids for a bike ride on the greenway in our town.  They had so much fun and it was a great family event that got them out in the fresh air.  We are so over the cold and snow.  Now we are praying for NO MORE SNOW!  If we have anymore snows day, it is going to be taken out of our Spring Break...which we don't want.  We are taking the kids to Disney World, and Zhenya is so excited to meet Buzz Lightyear.  His only disappointment is that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will not be there.  The child is obsessed with them!!
Leeza is sick again.  Nothing too serious, but she has a stuffy nose and cough for the third time since we've been home.  She is crabby patties when she doesn't feel well.  Right now, she is taking a short nap with papa.  It took forever to get her to lay still long enough to nap.  I may regret it later when I can't get her to sleep.  Though I can just put in a movie and she will be out like a light!!
Well not much else going on in the Fellers family!