Heading down the right road....

She said....
It's been a while since my last post. I can't believe it's been almost 10 months. Elizabeth completed her first year of high school and is officially going in to 10th grade in the fall. She was nervous about going to high school, but like everything she does, she dove in head first and never looked back :-). She never gives up and works harder than I ever thought about working in high school. She wants to be on grade level and is willing to do what it takes to achieve her goal. Tim and I are so proud of her!

Elizabeth turned 16 in March. We had a Sweet 16 birthday party and sleep-over with all of her Ukraine friends. She started planning this party in March of 2009. She was very excited about turning 16. She was so happy to have all of her friends celebrate with her. She is very excited about getting her driver's permit. Tim has been teaching her to drive the past few months. We signed up for the course through the DPS where Tim will be her "instructor". This will be interesting. When Elizabeth wants something she sets a goal and is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve her goal. She knows that she has to pass a written test as well as the driving test and she is ready to get started.

The Kids love the Rodeo. They wanted hats, boots, and belts this year. Thanks to Ann our adoption group got tickets to the Jonas Brothers this year. It was great! We spent all day at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. They road carnival rides, toured the livestock show and watched the rodeo. They may not have been born in Texas, but they are Texans!

Michael will be in the 8th grade in the fall. He passed all of his classes and has moved to Advanced High in ESL for 8th grade. The most difficult thing for both kids is English - spelling and grammar. We are so thankful to the tutors and teachers who stay after school and work with the kids. Tim and I feel like we are back in school because we do homework every night. We are so happy it's summer!

Michael played basketball for the first time this year. He really enjoyed it. We watched him go from not understanding any of the rules to being a good team player. He would get called for fouls and not even realize he was at fault. Tim couldn't help himself. He was coaching from the stands. Michael's team played in the finals and came in second. He was so happy to get a trophy. He also played soccer again in the Spring. He loves it. He is right in the middle of the photo.

We've made several trips to visit Grandma and Grandpa. The kids love it! Their favorite vacation is going to visit their grandparents.

We are hopeful that the children's brother, Vadim, will be able to visit this summer. He is scheduled to be here for the month of August. He is still attending technical school Ukraine. Technical school teaches the older kids trades like welding, transportation, farming, and maintenance.

He said....

Sharon & I are so glad the school year is over. We worked so hard with Elizabeth to pass the 9th grade. Amen! She did it! Sharon handled English and Math homework and I took Science and History. Elizabeth worked extremely hard. We also have to give thanks to Mrs. Wilson, her math tutor. Sharon and I were no match for 9th grade Algebra. A couple of highlights of Elizabeth's school year. The first semester of World Geography had an assignment where Elizabeth had to pick a country in Eastern Europe and do a report. Guess what country she chose? UKRAINE! Which Elizabeth knew nothing about! I helped a lot with this one. The second semester we had the same style report to do for South Asia. We chose India since I had been there. Elizabeth did the report using the Ukraine report format. She learned how to use Wikapedia and her text book to complete the report . She did most of it herself. I was very proud of her. When Elizabeth grows up she wants to open a Ukrainian restaurant. She is learning to cook and is doing a great job.

We signed Michael up for basketball in the Spring. I taught him and Elizabeth how to shoot hoops. He had never played on a team, but he did very well. We were surprised he didn't kick the ball. He grew out of his old bike and I bought him a Schwinn. Every kid should have a Schwinn. He doesn't take the bus to school. He rides his bike every day and loves it. He did very good in school and passed all of his classes. Michael played soccer again with the same team. They were the champions in the fall, but they did not win one game during the playoffs in the spring. He played good, but the team lost their best player and it was hard to overcome.

Nice break from homework this summer.