Going home soon

Wow, I haven't written anything in a long time.  I guess I am well overdue for an update. First thing first, we are moving back to Tennessee in about a month and a half. Jeff graduates from bible school in 3 weeks, and he will head back to Nashville to his old job in radio. Since the school year is not out, the kids and I will stay here until the end of May. Then we will have about a month of limbo land because our house will not be available until July.  We have tenants living there currently,but their lease is up at the end of June. Then we can move back into OUR house. I never really thought I cared about having my own house, but after renting for two years I have discovered that I like having my own place. Now that I have discovered Pinterest, I can fix the things I didn't like in our house with all the fabulous ideas I found.  :-). The kids have taken the news pretty well.  I expected Zhenya to be the one to be upset, but it was actually Leeza.  She said she would miss her teacher.  She has a super fabulous teacher this year. I reminded her that she would be going to 2nd grade, and her teacher teaches 1st grade.  I also told her that if we are in our own house, we can MAYBE get a bigger dog in the future.  No pet deposits or landlord rules to worry about. After that, she was perfectly fine with moving.  We really feel like it is a God thing with going back home. There have just been too many signs that this is what we are supposed to do. We had planned to stay here in Colorado another year and see the sights on the West side of the states, but clearly that is not in God's plan for us. I have to admit that I am pretty happy about the move. I have never really felt at home here in Colorado. It is beautiful, but just not home. Not to mention that I have not felt well for most of our time living here. The dry air and high altitude is too much for me. I am still gasping for breath even though we have been here almost two years.   Anyway, we have to get everything packed up fast and furious. Then, I have to find a job in Tennessee.
On other news, we have been in contact with our children's older brother. Zhenya had a cell phone from Ukraine, but the battery was dead.  We finally found a charge that would work with it, and we got their brother's phone number.  I sent him a text message a few weeks ago, and he calls my phone at 3 AM.   He is rapidly speaking in Russian which I don't speak. I tell him in my very rustic Russian that I don't speak Russian well. So he puts his wife on the phone....I think she said one English word and then went back to Russian.  I can tell you that I don't understand female Russian either. They hung up and sent me a text message to find their brother on a Russian classmates website. It took a few days, but I found him. It was worth all the hassle when the kids got to see his picture.  They just kept saying over and over, "That is my brother!" I almost cried.  I posted  pictures of the kids for him to see. This week, an aunt emailed. It was a bit amusing because she made a comment about being so worried if the kids were alive or not. I assured her that we are good people and that we love them very much.  While I do have moments of anxiety about being in contact with them, we felt it was the right thing to do.  I would hate not knowing if my siblings were okay if they lived in another country with people who were strangers to me.  Not to mention all the media hype about children being adopted and being killed or hurt...so I suppose I can understand the aunt's concern. It is just amusing to me because I know how sick Leeza was in the orphanage. Outside of keeping the seizures under control, she is a picture of health now. Zhenya is healthy for the most part as well. Though he has somehow gotten mono, and he runs high fevers every few weeks for about 4 days. We are hoping they get further apart and stop altogether soon. Anyway, I hope we can have a good relationship with their brother and aunt. I also hope to find out background information in regards to medical history. It would be nice to know about how their parents died, and if any illnesses run in their family.

The kids are doing great, and they are growing.  School has its challenging moments particularly for Leeza, but she is making progress and that is all I ask. Zhenya is getting his preteen sassiness and moodiness..and all that comes with the preteen years.....ugh! If only, he would learn to stop talking while he is ahead.....not sure when that will happen. Got to love it! Well, that is the update for now.  Please pray for our upcoming move and that I find the right job.