New Family Website is Here!

Our family has now created a new website  -  www.ourchosenone.com.  We are very excited to get this new website up and running and have our blog connected directly to our website.  We have neglected our blog because most everything we post we post on FB.  But there a few topics of importance to us that we want to blog about on a regular basis.  Of course our main topic is children with special needs and how we change the mindset of people in our area today who frown on adopting children with special needs and not so much as children with special needs but International adoption.  I can not begin to tell you the number of times I got asked - "why didn't you adopt in the United States" there are so many children waiting on a home here.  Well, believe it or not the list at the National DSS to adopt a child with Ds is long - to the tune of a little less than 200.  We would probably be way too old by the time our number was up.  Besides the fact, www.reecesrainbow.org was able to open our eyes to all the children available internationally. 

Another hot topic for us is parental alienation.  FB is restricted to family and friends and we want parents who are separated and divorced to understand the damage they do to their children by alienating one parent against another.  If you are reading any of this and you are offended then don't read it - especially when it comes to parental alienation because we plan to tell it exactly as it is - as we have walked in those shoes and have seen the damage that apparently a biological parent doesn't want to see. If you are the party we are discussing - and you think "I am going to sue them for deffamation of character" - just remember that deffamation of character are things that you say that are untrue and damage the reputation of another. Everything that we post in our blog will be absolute facts and proven.

We also want to tell more about Ivanna's days and her teachers who have taught her so much while also being sensible and discreet with posts.  There are so many people who are important to a child's success - not only when they have special needs but also when you have a "typical" child (whatever that is).  Society today is our future and we, as parents, have to be advocates for our children.  We ARE their voice. 

Looking forward to this site being interactive and informative and being able to share with some of you interested in reading - the great success stories, the stories that will make your heart hurt, as they do ours as well as stories that are genuine and true. 

Love and blessings to you all and we look forward to sharing with you all soon!

Ivanna Surgery

Today Ivanna had tubes put in her ears and her adenoids removed.  Boy was she a TROOPER.  Mommy didn't cry until she went to recovery and they were just waking her up.  The nurses were really good to her but goodness she was GROUCHY!!  They all loved her and thought she was very sweet.  She drank a full cup of apple juice.  Before she got awake they had put her in my arms so that when she did become coherent she would find mommy and daddy there to comfort her.

Here are some pictures of on the way to the hospital, once we got her gown on her and then once we got her home and settled for some rest.

The doctor says she did great - it was over in about 20 minutes actually.  He said she had a lot of fluid built up behind her left ear and the tubes will fall out on their on in about 12-18 months.  Then we will need to re-evaluate to see if they will need to be put back in.

She will return to school on Monday!!  YAY!!!  Just kidding we have enjoyed having her with us for the extended Christmas break.

The pictures are not in order but you can tell what is happening by the captions!  WHEW!!!  Mommy and Daddy are glad this is over!

Happy New Year to all of you!

One our way to the hospital!



Can someone PLEASE get this braclet off of me like NOW?



So I am ok with this goofy looking tiger gown but this bracelet has GOT TO GO!!  What happened to fashion?

Alright enough is enough......tell them to come on and let's do this thing!

Alright I'm over it - take me back RIGHT NOW or I am OUTTA HERE!



Finally I am back home in my bed!



Turn my TV on NOW (forget the PLEASE)!  Yes dear! {sigh}

Ok I'm set....Dutchess make them all get out of MY room!



I'm still smiling!

Oh wait!!!  I knew they forgot to give me something MY LAPTOP!!!  Now you can GO!



Ivanna's First Encounter with Santa

Regretfully I don't post as much to this blog as I used to - can't imagine why!!  :D  Been just a tad busy with holidays and Ivanna and all.  I do keep Facebook updated though so it's the best place to find pictures and videos. 

Below is Ivanna's very first encounter with Santa Claus and might I say she reacted just as we had expected UNIMPRESSED the little stinker. 

Here are also her first school picture and the picture she had made with Santa on the day the video was done.

I'll post some more pictures soon I know I keep saying that but I will. 

Love to all and a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

DIAPER FREE!!!

Well, today is DAY THREE of being DIAPER FREE!!  I am now putting her in pull ups at night and she did GREAT in school today too.  So very proud of our little princess.  She is absolutely the smartest little girl I know - but you know we are all partial to our own :D.

Here are a few of the signs that she knows well.....
Please
Thank You
Sorry
Water
Aunt Lou
Ryan
Steven
Ball
Cat Dog
Sit
Yellow
Blue
Red
Boy
Girl
Drink
Eat
More
In
Orange
Pumpkin
Car
Banana
Bear
Play
No
Yes
Apple

I'm sure there are more that we left off.  The majority of these she says when she does the sign which is GREAT!!

Love to all,
The Stratton's

First Day At The Beach 10/22/10

Here are the compiled pictures from her first day at the beach. Ivanna had photos made today for next year's GCDSS calendar. Regardless of whether her picture makes the calendar or not we have another day of memories and another day full of firsts!! Love these pictures I think they all turned out wonderful. One of her Aunts curled her hair for her and then she visited her Aunt Beth's house to get washed down after we left the beach - the princess had sand in every crevice. Thank you Lord for another great day!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Two Bottom Teeth!!!

Well today at school Ivanna lost one of her bottom teeth.  When she got home I noticed that the other one was loose also.  Well, as soon as Ivanna noticed it was loose she went to work on it.  WHAT a surprise I could have never done that.  She didn't shed not one tear but bless her heart her little mouth was bloody and she had smeared blood all over her face and was happy as I don't know what.  GROSS!!!  I got her Aunt Kristi on Skype and Andy came in with a warm wash cloth and finished pulling it - she was so happy!!!

She is excited about the tooth fairy coming tonight. 

She also went outside and drove her new ride some today - she still gets to excited to push the gas pedal and steer all at the same time but it's so funny!!

She just loves her new car.  She's had a great last few days - had another birthday party yesterday at school.  I'll upload those videos as soon as I get them off of my other device.  She will have another birthday party on Sunday the 24th -- this one is a family party at her Aunt Lou's house!!!

Also kept her hair from her first hair cut.  Here's a picture of it:

She seems to really love school and is learning very quickly.  She surprises us every day with more signs she has learned and she tries very hard to repeat every word you say - she can now look on a paper and point out her shapes and point out ball, cat, car, duck, bell.  AMAZING!!  The happy look on her face is priceless.

They are also teaching her computer which totally amazes me at how young they start learning now - They probably start teaching them computer when they are 2-3 years old.  She loves it!!

Well, we love you guys and take care.

The Stratton Family!!!

School ROCKS!!!!

Today I don't think I have been this blown away with our little princess up to this point.  But she is EXACTLY like a sponge in that she absorbs EVERYTHING and does it very quickly!!

Before we left Kiev - we had bought her a wooden box that you put the specific shapes in to the holes and she could not do that at all or see that a circle was a circle.

WELL.....today is DAY THREE of school and the teachers and assistants ROCK I tell you!!!!  Check out this video it speaks for itself.  She came home with homework tonight and we kind of glanced at it and we are very ashamed to admit that we underestimated her.  We questioned why in the world they send stuff like this home with her but boy did she show us!!

WATCH IT I promise you will be impressed too!!!  It's the little things that make you go WOW!!!

The Princess of the Palace

Well, second night in a row our precious little angel has let me rock her all the way to sleep.  When we first got her she would have no part of being rocked.  Still hard to believe how much she has changed in almost three weeks. 

We have been so on the go that we are just now about to get settled.  Will finish registration for school tomorrow and start her IEP - YAY!!!  Mommy and Daddy get to start the crazy IEP days but I just feel like we will not have any issues.  Ivanna is just so smart she amazes us more and more everyday with her wittiness and charm.  Her and her daddy pick on each other constantly.  It's quite funny.

She got a little more trimmed on her hair this evening now that Aunt Lou was in her shop.

Poor girl has been through it today.  At 8:15 she had her first doctor's appointment.  LOVED the doctor and she like him as well which is very important.  He says all looks good.  She had to he her finger pricked and boy did I panic - but it went NOTHING like the finger stick when in the Ukraine when she screamed and had to be held down by three of us.  WOW what a big girl she was.  Then God love her she had to have three shots to complete her immunizations for school which was surprising and one of those was a flu shot.  She didn't take those quite as well mostly because she absolutely does not like restraint.  Of course none of us do.  But after it was done she was ok but her leg has been really sore.  Tonight after her bath her little eyes teared up and she pointed to her leg and made motions for me to rub it and of course I did for quite some time - every time I would stop she would tell me to do it again.  So you know us, anything for the princess.  Then he also sent us to get some labwork done.  I was really stressed about that.  The stuck her in one arm and got under the vein and didn't get enough blood so they ended up having to stick her in the other arm - very aggravating.  She cried just a little but as soon as they released the rubber band she was very quiet.  One of the nurses gave her four shiney quarters to go get her an ice cream with.  She didn't know what to do with the quarters but mommy showed her.

Of course her little smiles are used everywhere she goes to light up rooms and buildings.  In the afternoons she is usually pretty tired so she can become cranky.  Since she has left the orphanage she does not take naps.  In school first graders don't take naps so I saw no reason to start or force her.  She keeps herself busy with all her baby dolls. 

Tonight for the first time she is in her bed.  We have her monitor on and I'm sure we will not sleep well with her in her room just typical worry.  But one thing is for certain if she wakes up in the middle of the night and wants to crawl in bed with mommy and daddy she knows where to find us.

Well, turning in - been a long day.  Oh and also she LOVES to fold her hands and say the blessing.  Last night at dinner we forgot to say it simply from being tired I'm sure and about five minutes in to eating she folded her little hands and closed her eyes and starting muttering.  Then she will say AMEN - followed by a YAY!!!!!!

Love to all and please remember to say your prayers.

The Stratton Family

Baby Girl GOT BLING!!!

Well, today is the last day the hubby is home - he goes back to work after six weeks.  WOW!!  Have loved spending the extra time with him.  The only greater thing in this world is that now we have a little one also!

After I got off work today we went to the mall and got her ears pierced.  Her Aunt Lou was going to pierce them but we never could catch her at the right time today.  Although was thinking that maybe it was best that Aunt Lou not pierce them in case it hurt her too bad I didn't want her to have a negative memory of her Aunt Lou cause it was once again love at first sight.

How did it go?  Went GREAT in our opinion.  We really had talked a lot about getting them pierced and was really hesitant and afraid it would hurt her or that she would try to jerk them out.  But low and behold - she let the lady mark her ears and then another lady came over to help and they did both ears at one time.  She let out a gasp and a yell and then we started telling her out beautiful they were and held the mirror up so she could see and she was smiling and grinning as big as the whole state of Mississippi when she saw them.  We were even more proud of her than we already were. I took the camera in to take pictures of her getting her ears pierced and hoping to take pictures of a big girl while doing it except I got so nervous and anxious about it I FORGOT!!!

She has learned several different signs and she repeats several different words and understand their meanings.  We have taught her to "high five" and now she walk around telling other "five" and it's hilarious.  We have to listen more closely now since she is actually saying words and we can figure out what they are.

In the morning she goes to the doctor for the first time and mommy is not looking forward to that.

We have had so many visitors over the last couple of days we have been busy not to mention trying to get several things done here.  We had washing to do for days.  I washed everything whether it needed it or not just so I could put it in the dryer. 

Today we managed to only go through two outfits.  Not sure why I think I have to change her when she gets just one drop of juice on her outfit.

She has been eating GREAT and has tried many different things.  Most of the time if we have several things we let her pick which one she wants to try with which bite - she loves doing that - she will say "this" or "that" - it's funny.

I'm telling you - no one would believe how much she has changes in just a few very short weeks.

Tonight was the first night that we put her in her bed to sleep only because she had been somewhat going to bed later than she really needed to and we needed to give her a little time to wind down.

She now LOVES to be rocked and she is a cuddler.  It's so hard knowing that for over six years of her life she rocked her own self to sleep.  There have been many and will be many more "firsts" for her from now until the end of time.

Her skin was so dry when we got her - and when we got home we were able to get some decent lotion and mommy rubs lotion on her several times a day.  She even wants me to give her some to rub on her baby dolls --- too funny.  Can you say SPOILED????  That's ok that is what mommy's and daddy's are supposed to do is spoil their babies even when they get older.  And yes the boys are spoiled too even though they may not want to admit it. 

Well better get on too bed have a busy day tomorrow.  I know I know I still owe pictures.  Hubby is looking for the cord to the camera now and I still need to download some videos for you as well.

Hugs to all,
The Stratton Family

Welcome To America Princess Ivanna!

Oh my goodness there are just not enough space in the world for me to blog everything that I want to right now but eventually I'll get it all on here so that I can keep it FOREVER!!

The last few days of our trip were extremely busy.

On Monday, 9/13 we were able to apply for the passport however that took three days so it wasn't ready until Wednesday and didn't get signed until Thursday unfortunately - however we were able to go to the US Embassy on Thursday without and get the Visa process rolling.  We knew the Embassy required two days so earlier in the week we had finalized our flights for Saturday hoping that every single thing fell in place just right so we can make that happen.

Wednesday 9/15 was Anna's birthday - Ivanna's biological mom.  Yuri (bio dad) was supposed to have Skyped to us on this night so we could sing her Happy Birthday but that didn't happen.  I'm sure they were most likely going through some emotional times but I guess I was just not very understanding towards the end of the trip and it didn't help getting sick, then Andy catching it then the poor princess caught it.  But Anna and Katia came by on Thursday night and Ivanna was tickled to have company.  She just loves people in general.  But I tell you - I didn't want to show it but this was very emotional to see.  When I saw tears from Anna I thought for sure I was going to lose it and burst in to tears myself but I managed to hold it all in.  I just can not imagine the hurt and the happiness at the same time.  But, I am really glad that they came to see Ivanna and hate they all didn't get to see her on Friday evening.  Unfortunately we discussed and we had to tell them that we didn't want them taking us to the airport we just didn't think that emotionally we could handle that and maybe that was selfish but I didn't want Ivanna to see either of us cry (us meaning Anna or myself).  Well enough of the depressing stuff.

Danielle and Ben (Igor's mommy and daddy) came to visit us at the apartment that evening.  Our day again was quite busy - we started off early Friday morning with the medical evaluation required for Visa submittal.  Unfortunately - there wasn't a notation on her medical paperwork that she had ever been tested for syphilis so we had to go upstairs and get her blood taken.  WOW was I anxious about her having to have this done - I was so afraid of her being hurt.  Well, it was way worse than I expected.  Andy and I had to hold her and I think Nadiia may have been holding a piece of her too while the nurse pricked her finger and got the blood she needed for the test.  All the while Ivanna was screaming and crying uncontrollably - but just as soon as the nurse let go of her hand she immediately stopped and wanted us to kiss her boo-boo.  WOW my heart just ached.  Then we went back in with the doctor who was just super nice.  She did a quick check and I do mean QUICK and then we had to wait on the package to be prepared for us to take with us to the Embassy to obtain the Visa - OUR LAST STEP!!  Ok got it and then we had to wait until 2:00 p.m. to go to Embassy.  When we got there they scanned us with the wand at security and Ivanna just put on a show for them.  She loved having the wand waive over her - she was so silly.  The gaurd was really nice and she kept walking back over to him for him to do it again.  It was hilarious.  Then at about 3:10 p.m. we walked out with our completed VISA!!!!  Praise the Lord we now oficially had everything we needed to depart on Saturday morning.

When we left there with Nadiia - we went to eat at the Italian place we liked so well.  I just tell you I was really going to miss her.  She had her stuff together and I don't know how she kept running the way she did and now she is juggling families and I know she is gonna be worn out by the time the next few months are over.  After we departed - she said she had to go pick up something and was going to come by our apartment - when she got there - she had gotten Ivanna a "Princess" purse that was purple - that was so sweet - earlier in the week she had brought her a pair of PINK sunglasses!!  Sweet, sweet girl and I can't believe she has found a lucky guy yet but whoever catches her will have him a good woman!  Saying good bye was terrible - so terrible that I let her walk out without giving her her "happy" - but that's ok I'm going to e-mail her and get her address and I also want to get her a DVD of the Beverly Hillbillies so she can see who we were talking about.

Sivlet picked us up at 4:15 a.m. Kiev time on Saturday morning - that was 8:15 p.m. on Friday night for most of our local folks.  It was raining and quite cool but we still wore out our summer clothes and chose to not wear jackets so we wouldn't have another item to keep up with once it warmed up.  But we did dress the little one appropriately.  She was good as gold on the trip to the airport. 

Andy's brother, Bobby, picked up the boys for us on Saturday evening and we landed in New Orleans aroudn 7:15.  Ivanna was asleep before we even got a mile down the road.  She was just exhausted.  We ended up getting home around 9:45.  When we got home there was a "Welcome Home" sign in our front yard, snacks and drinks in our refrigerator, fresh fruit, yogurt and bananas for our little sweet baby girl and then several different bags of happies as well.  Including fresh cut flowers on our kitchen table and pink roses in baby girls room and a bed full of more happies for the princess.  WOW was this ever so sweet.  I just can not even thank those ladies enough for all they did for us.  Donna, Kim, Holly, Beth - YOU ROCK!!! 

The house was clean and it had been lived in for the last 5 and a 1/2 weeks - that was so sweet of him to straighten up. 

Ivanna came in and was introduced to her brothers, Steven and Ryan and my goodness she LOVED them and I know she understood - she did the same thing to them that she did to us for the first couple of days - just rubbed on their faces and smiled and hugged and kissed them over and over and over.  Then she got to meet her Uncle Bobby and Paw Paw (my daddy).  It was quite an amazing site.  Can't wait to share some pictures with you.

We then gave her a few minutes to absorb things and we took her in to her room.  Another WOW!!!  She LOVED IT!!  She couldn't get on the bed because it was too high for her but of course we put her up there but we have a stool (princess no doubt) that she now uses to get up on her bed and down.  She had a bunch of little happies on the bed and her baby dolls - she had to take them all and love on them and give them kisses - that was just soooooo sweet.

How was our plan rides with Ivanna?
Well, the first leg of the flight from Kiev to Munich was very good and was about 2.5 hours.  No trouble at all as a matter of fact I caught a little cat nap. 

Second leg of the flight from Munich to Charlotte, NC was our longest leg of the return.  Several babies and small children on the plan and each one of them cried and was whiney the entire time mostly.  So there was no sleeping on the plan.  I will tell you this Ivanna was the BEST child on the plane and I'm not just saying that because she's our child either.  She was truly great.  This flight was over nine hours and we absolutely could not believe how well she did - and she watching cartoons and slept quite a bit.  THEN the very last ten minutes I'm not sure what triggered it but she wanted her safety belt off of her and she was not taking no for an answer.  She screamed so much I thought she was going to pass out from not taking a breath - but as soon as we landed and clicked the button to remove her seat belt and immediately she stopped.  I do believe though that part of her trouble was her ears popping - she kept holding them and she let me rub them so I'm thinking it was a combination of many things - not to mention she was tired.  Too funny - I just tell you mommy can't stand it when she cries - almost makes me do it with her.    Then we got off the plan only to go through passport control, get our luggage, have them rechecked and then off to immigrations check point for her package from the US Embassy in Kiev to be processed so we didn't have much time to spare and had to get moving as soon as they were done.

Last and final leg of the return home was the WORST!  Poor girl - we got on the plan and I got her strapped in and all was good, then as soon as the engines started - she started screaming again.  Oh my I kept holding her and rocking her from the side and even though she would not allow me to take my hands off of her she still was not going to lett up.  Then once we were settled in the air - they still kept the light lit for seat belts and after thirty minutes of her screaming I finally just undid the seat belt and decided I'd take the consequences.  Luckily they didn't say anything to us because they knew that had completely quitened her.  Then she crawled up in my lap and wanted me to rock her and was asleep in about 10 minutes.  Then since this was our shortest flight - it was then time to stick her back in her seat and buckle her in.  Well, this time I left the belt loose enough that she could get all the way over to me and she wanted me to hold her the whole time so this time she was whimpering but not screaming and I rubbed her ears the whole time in hopes to keep them from popping as much

Today - we all got up this morning to get ready for church.  We are still not unpacked but we will get to that tomorrow evening.

For now I'm going to sign off and go to bed - the princess is already asleep bless her little heart.  Next blog I'll give you pictures and videos as well as let you know how she woke up this morning and tell you about her first night of sleep in her forever home.

Love to all,
The Stratton Family

Monday Night and Forward!!

Tonight is our last night in this apartment.  Oh yesterday and last night we had a FANTASTIC time.  We took the princess to Walk with the Dinosaurs even though she wasn't that interested.  Hate the boys weren't hear they would have loved and Steven would have been our tour guide telling us what kind each was and their background.   Savage family and Nadiia was with us.  The princess got to jump on a trampoline and of course again had no idea how to make it bounce but she knew it was supposed to.  Thanks to Sandra who got in with her and bounced and bounced and bounced some more she had a fantastic time.  She also got her first ride in one of those stationary cars that you pretend drive and plays music.  More than likely going forward everytime we walk by one we will have to have tokens to be able to put her in or else it will be a bad time for all who are in her vicinity LOL!!!

Then we all went to Sam's Steak House ---- man I love that place.  Almost felt like we were home.  Nadiia is just so much like us she fits in so well and we seem to fit in well with her.  I am sure going to miss her.  She told us that after Erin left and "warned" her we were coming to prepare for our arrival she watched "Gone with the Wind" three times and had to keep rewinding the captions so she could figure out with the "southern" people were saying.  She is hilarious. 

When we get home we are going to get her a DVD of the Beverly Hillbilies and send it to her.  She will laugh and laugh and laugh.  She does such a GREAT job.  Our facilitator better be glad he has her.  :D

Well, we also hit another milestone shortly.  THIS IS THE LAST NIGHT in this apartment.  YAY!!!  We are so thankful for our journey and look forward to many more doors that will open in the future.

Can't wait to get home and don't want to hear the clip clop sound of heels walking down the street for quite some time.  I'm ready to be home and cook - can you believe that.  I MISS COOKING!!!!  Will see all of you very soon and can't wait to be back in church on Sunday.

I'll leave you of course with a few pictures.

The most wonderful husband of all!

The cutest little Princess with her new sunglasses compliments of her Auntie Nadiia :D!!

Ivanna knows a good woman when she sees one!!!

One bite and she'd be gone :D.  Thank goodness those teeth aren't real!!!!

Nadiia.....you do wonders for the looks of that dinosaur!!!

A Dragon created from Legos but it was covered up unfortunately!

Oh my goodness she LOVED riding in that car!!!!

Sandra jumped and jumped and jumped and then had to wrestle her to get her off the trampoline!!!

Ummmm honey your hair has just a little static in it!!!   Don't touch me please!!!

Marshall Savage

Just LOVE our translator and so glad we were able to cross paths with the Savage family!!!  Sandra and Nadiia in this photo enjoying our visit to SAM's STEAK HOUSE!!

Love,
The Stratton Family

Our Last Sunday

Today was our typical family day just didn't have the boys.  We had a great day met a new family that came in last not.  They are adopting Ivan/Igor from Ivanna's baby house I'm so excited for him and I know he is going to be so happy to see them finally walk through the door.

We did some shopping and bought Ivanna some additional cooler weather outfits.  Can't wait to get home and she can wear all of her pretty clothes. 

She is still doing better and better every day.  Today was the first day that she didn't try to grab at food on plates which was fantastic.  She has slowed her eating way down but of course we are still feeding her.  Again we will regress a little and then move forward.  Maybe not everyone agrees with this but we believe it to be working great for her.  Once we get home we will start letting her feed herself again but not with a spoon the size of a shovel.  Ugghhhh!!

Also yesterday her daddy was with her in the mall while I was in one of the shops and he found a tea set in a window and told me "she wanted it" --- funny - neither of us knew it was a procelain tea set.  Well, needless to say several pieces of it are already missing.  :D  But, it wasn't because she threw them so that was good it was because they had accidental mishaps.  So today in our shopping excursion daddy found her a big tea set that was plastic and boy does she love it.  She went from not having any idea yesterday what to even do with one to today she is cooking up all kinds of stuff in her little pot and fixing us all kinds of flavored teas.  She is such a sweet little angel.  But, her horns to take a tendency to come out from time to time but thank goodness it's not very often.

Bath time is so much fun with her - can't wait to get home and get her some toys to go in the bathtub.  I can't believe she went from being afraid of water in the bathtub to now loving it and now she doesn't even mind the spray nozzle.  Little trouble with rinsing her hair but at least it's giggles and screams of excitement.  Now, I just have trouble trying to get her out of the bathtub so I typically have to call daddy in to intervene LOL.  Imagine that she doesn't listen to her mommy. 

Well, tomorrow morning we will all get picked up at 8:30 to head to the passport office to have the little munchkin's photo taken for her passport.  One step closer to going home.  Really am going to miss this city though and I am really going to miss some of the people here.  We have met some very interesting people and people have really been so friendly to us it's actually been quite surprising. 

Well, again, I'll leave you all with a fiew more pictures.  We can't wait to see the boys and get back to church.  Ms. Alice is going to love Ivanna.

Laid Back Saturday!

Well, today we have just taken it easy since neither of us felt very well. However I am feeling much better but still have a few sniffles. Daddy now has a stuffy head and a tickling throat so we are working on trying to prevent the Princess from coming down with it.

Ivanna's biological parents came over this morning. Her papa called on Tuesday I believe it was and told me he was coming the next day but didn't show up. Her maternal grandmother came back from the Black Sea yesterday and they had really wanted us to come over but we were just not feeling good enough to go and didn't want to risk any of their family getting sick and our germs being stuck in their house so we opted out. We thought Katia (maternal) grandmother was coming with them this morning but she didn't make it she is waiting on us to come over there. I'm not sure if we will get to or not we hope to but this week is going to be so busy and so crazy running from here to there to do all of the last minute stuff that we will just have to play that one by ear. Plus the fact that I am working in the evenings.

Well, I do have a few things to blog about and then I'll leave you with a few pictures. Found out a little more background on Ivanna that was quite a challenge for me to personally deal with. I haven't asked her biological parents about it yet and honestly it doesn't really matter just something that bothers me, personally.

Ivanna was able to talk on Skype tonight to her Aunt Kristi, Austin and Alyssa. It was her very first time to see a face with the voices that generally come from the computer. So it was really funny. At one point our power went off again and she was NOT a happy camper with the faces went away. She was very cute in that she was rubbing Alyssa's face while she was talking to her. She blew them all kisses and was just LOVING it!!! Pretty soon she will be able to see them all in person.

She has been doing GREAT at resteraunts. She is eating well and I feed her and don't shovel food in her mouth like she is accustomed to doing for herself in Vorzel - but those days are LONG GONE!!!

Right now it is AMAZING how far she has come - she is in her daddy's lap and he is rocking her. It took several days for this to happen. She crawled up in my lap one day this week and let me do it for about 30 minutes. We don't push her it will all happen in due time. She is getting use to the fact that she gets hugs and kisses any time she wants them and more than she could possibly ever want.

She communicates very well. When she wants something it has been very easy for us to figure out what. She gets up every morning in the BEST mood. She crawls over to us and just rubs our faces and looks in our eyes and we just wish we knew what she was thinking. She just jabbers. We think she is so happy that it is no longer a dream for her. She loves watching baby TV here. It's an English channel with lots of nursery rhymes and such and then at night has some "good night" stuff on it. So her and her daddy are watching that now.

Well, I'm going to leave you with some pictures. Ivan/Igor's mommy and daddy came in to town today so we are very excited about meeting up with them tomorrow. We got to spend a little time with their son since he was in the same baby house as Ivanna. They are going to be so very happy with him because he is another handsome young man and he is going to be so very happy that his mommy is finally here and it's going to be "all about him". Sad how you want to just round them all up and sit and spend time with them all.

Enjoy the pictures and thanks again for your prayers and most of all thanks for all of God's blessing that he has bestowed upon our family.

Love to all,
The Stratton Family