Summer Fun!

We are all enjoying our time with Katya and all our kids. We can't believe how lucky we were to get Katya out when we did. A few days later and she would have been stuck in Ukraine for at least another 6-12 months.

Zhenya graduated from High School. He got a 3.7 grade point average his final semester. He has a job at Red Robin. He is averaging about 12.50 an hour. He can't believe how much money he is able to make. He has lots of great friends. He will be starting college this fall.

The Perry family from Atlanta will be coming to visit in a few weeks. They adopted Katya's friends, Angela and Jenya, from the Slinko orphanage. We are planning on going to Breckenridge for 3 days with them.

Nikitta has started third grade (year round school). Sonya is starting middle school this year. Katya and Alex will be starting High School. Leeza is starting 10th grade.

We finished our basement shortly after arriving home which enabled us to have seperate bedrooms for every child. They have enjoyed not having to share. However, all the girls end up pulling out the hide-a-beds in our basement family room each night and sleeping in the same room. We put a home theater in our basement. The basement has become the family gathering place as we watch movies together and play computer games together in our network room. We have 8 computers networked together in a computer room and everyone teams up for different games. The home theater room has been the biggest hit and has saved us quite a bit of money already as there seems to be less enthusiasm for going to the movies, which would cost us 75-85 bucks a trip, as our screen is 9+ feet wide and 5+ feet tall. It feels like a regular movie theater with the surround sound.

We haven't really planned any trips yet. We have been enjoying all being together for the first time and we haven't been bored at home. We would like to get to Disneyland at least once with everyone. We may do that in December. We can't stand the summer crowds at the theme parks so we are not in a hurry to go this summer. We have been taking a few short trips to our condo in Breckenridge here and there when we can.

Several families have contacted us for some adoption information and help and we are going to start getting more active in helping others with their adoptions. Mostly it will just be advice as we recommend people use Cathy Harris. Sometimes people just need someone to talk to that has been through it recently. We can definitely help families looking to adopt kids that are older than 5. It seems to have been a help for other families to talk to our children and get information on how to help them adjust and what to expect. We also have found a great method for families to increase their incomes by 200-1500 a month - which is perfect for families looking to add a child to their family. It can be done at home, part time, with no investments and no start up costs. It took us a long time to find something this good. Our income in our second month with this part time business will be over $1,000. Let us know if you or anyone you know would be interested in hearing how to do it.

We are going to spend more time updating our site with pictures, etc. So check back often for updates. We are still working on a good family picture that includes Katya as the pictures we took didnt work out so well. We may just put them up anyway.