New family member

Leeza finally got her long awaited dog.  We found a Chiweenie...which mostly looks like a dashchund.  We named her Chai because Jeff wanted the dog to have a Russian word for a name. Chai is the russian word for tea....I assume it the word for tea in other countries as well.  He was pulling for spaciba which is thank you, but I told him that was too long for a dog's name...so we settle on Chai.  We think it fits her anyway. Leeza is in "dog" heaven.  She will just sit and stare at the dog if we let her.  She has barely touched a toy all week, unless it has been the dog's toy.   Chai loves both of the kids.  She isn't as fond of adults, but we think she has been mistreated by adults.  She is a rescue.  When she first came home, the kids couldn't understand why she wouldn't just play with them.  I asked them if they remembered how they felt when they first came home to America...kinda scared and not sure what was going to happen.  They both remembered...I explained that Chai was feeling the same way.  It is a new home and she doesn't know if we are going to hurt her or be nice to her.  Both of them really seemed to understand after we had that conversation.



This is Chai!  The newest addition to the family!

In other news, I got a job offer on Friday!! Yay, God!!  I will be working as the Special Education teacher at Academy Endeavor Elementary.  It is about 7 minutes from the apartment...which makes me super happy!  I have driven about 45 minutes a day for the last 5 years for the school I worked in before.  So the change will be nice.  School doesn't start until 8:20 each day, so I definitely will get to sleep a bit later.  I have to talk with them about my kids coming to school there.  According to the locals, the district is the best school district in Colorado Springs.   I had to take our turtle to the vet for an ear abcess, and when I was telling the vet about the job...her comment was " They have Special Education kids in District 20?"  At any rate, I am very excited to have a job.  Please pray that God show Jeff and my mother the right place to go to find a job. This is certainly a walk of faith for me, but if God sent us as we feel He did..then He will provide.  Chai is going to the vet tomorrow morning to get her girl parts taken care of...please pray for her...it would be horrible if something happened after Leeza has waited so long to have her own puppy!!  I am also praying the turtle heals quickly...Zhenya adores the turtle and I would hate for him to die.  An ear abcess procedure is major surgery for a turtle!!
More later!!
Sheila