WOW!! October is here!!!!?????

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~OUR UKRAINIAN PRINCESS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



The picture above is Sara and her 15yr old brother Anthony. She loves him to death and he adores her. She really enjoys the rides he gives her on the mini-dirt bike , the four-wheeler and the lawn-tractor. Anthony barely has to mention it and she's out the door like a shot! There is also a picture below with the 2 of them together, which was taken infront of the computer. They also play together on the computer sometimes. The 3 pictures I took of Sara in the traditional Ukrainian costume was purchased the day before we left at the out doors market which is located near the new SDA centre.This is a pretty spot because of all the booths with authentic Ukrainian things and it is also infront of a beautiful church. It also has cobble stone everywhere. It is very European looking. We really enjoyed ourselves that day.

I couldn't resist posting this one of Sara. She LOVES nail polish! This is her very carefully trying to apply nail polish to her toes. She actually doesn't do too bad of a job!

This is me and Sara taking a picture of ourselves when we were baking some banana bread. This was her first time making a cake. She was so excited and had an excellent time making it with me. Here she is below proudly presenting the finished product!We had a great day and baking together is one of the many bonding techniques I used.There are sooo many things one can do. Just let your imagination run wild!

A picture of our oldest and our youngest. I'm definitely a proud mamma!!!!

I can't believe we are now in October. This is my favourite time of year. The colours of red, orange and yellow with the warm sun and cool breeze are just to die for. I'm sure Anthony, Marina and Rafael will soon show Sara the joys of playing in the many piles of leaves. We are also nearing the 6 month mark that Sara has been home. (On the 30th of this month.) She is now attached to me and 95 % bonded. The reason for it being 95% is that when I hold her for rocking at bed time, she will start looking everywhere else, trying to avoid my eyes. I think she is still alittle intimidated by the intimacy of mother and child just gazing into each others eyes. This is after she has asked me to rock her. She loves to be held and massaged,hugged, kissed etc. and she always looks into my eyes when talking and even when she's telling me she loves me. I think she is still holding a very tiny piece of herself back. But thats o.k. That will change with time. She has also slowed down with her regressing. I haven't put any diapers on her for the past 2 and 1/2 weeks. I also haven't made her a bottle of milk for about 2 wks. She is only taking a soother sometimes.(usually when she is sleepy) I think this is telling me that she is becoming more attached to me. I also made up a special "love-kiss" for her. After telling her I love her, I kiss her behind the ears. The first time I did it she said,"Why kiss Sara der??" I told her that this was mamma's special "love-kiss" for her. She smiled and hugged me and said ,"I love you mamma!".....do it again!! Like I had mentioned before.....Use your imagination when it comes to promoting attachment. I'm having a wonderful time doing this with Sara!

Her english is really coming along now. She just needs to get a handle on the right pronunciation of words. I wonder if her being "tongue-tied"(the problem she had with her tongue just before we met her) has anything to do with it?? I have been showing her how to place her tongue in her mouth in order to make the correct sound of some of the letters. I think I will speak to my doctor about this and possibly get her some speech therapy started before beginning JK next year. She definitely tries hard to make everyone understand her. It looks like her motto is, "If all else fails.......use hand&face expressions!!

About Sara's "holding-time"...........I haven't done it too many times this month. I try to do it when she has been repeatedly misbehaving, which she doesn't often do. She is a pretty good girl. Its amazing what you can get out of holding-time. One example is.........One day she was misbehaving in a sort of "sour-puss" way. I decided to do "holding-time" to find out what was bothering her. She would not tell me what was wrong after I asked before, numerous times. After doing "holding time" she finally told me that she was very hurt by what Mikey did. (our little yorkshire terrier/poodle dog) Apparently she was petting him and hugging him while telling him she loved him and he ended up snapping at her! She was very upset about this. She thought he had rejected her. She really loves our Mikey. After that I explained to her that she probably startled him somehow and that Mikey still loves her. I then showed her how Mikey still gives her his Love kisses/licks. After that she was satisfied and happy.

Sara is also starting to practice writing her name. She tries to copy what I wrote for her. She is doing pretty good. You can start to make out that it says Sara. She is so proud of herself and shows everyone what she did. She is also learning the ABC's song which she eagerly wants to learn. She loves to sing all the time. I'm also teaching her other childrens songs and I always find her trying to sing them by herself. She's also listening to a casette that has childrens Russian songs sung in Russian and english. She repeatedly listens to that too.Oh yes, I almost forgot,. We are now going to a play-group for 2 hours every Mon. Morning. She loves playing with the other children.

Yesterday she had her first Canadian Thanks-Giving celebration. She helped me with some of the preparations. We had it at our house. She was amazed at the large turkey in the oven. We started off the meal with me helping Sara say our prayer of thanks. She knows how to do the sign of the cross and I helped her say,"Thank-you God for the food we are going to eat and thank-you God for everything good in our lives, Amen!" She enjoyed eating turkey with gravy, mashed potatoes, peas and alittle salad with bread. She is actually a very good eater and likes to try new foods.(just like mamma!) We had a wonderful day. The weather was very warm and the kids ended up in the back yard with the dirt-bikes and four wheelers. Sara was right there along side her brothers and sister. It was great listening to them squeal and laugh all afternoon while us "old-folks" played cards inside.I remember so many months ago how I ached to hear just what I was listening to on this Thanks-Giving day. Our children laughing and playing together. What a beautiful sound and how lucky we are to hear it. By the end of the day we were all stuffed, tired and content.

My Prayer Of Thanks

Thank-you Lord for the wonderful things you have given me in my life. I'm so very grateful for you helping me make my dream come true. My dream of having a large family with bio and adopted children. Thank-you for giving me strength and patience throughout my life and especially when I really needed it. You are truly amazing to me and you have really shown this with our journey to Sara. This journey has taught me to always trust and have faith in you. I also thank-you for answering my many prayers. With every prayer you answered my faith in you grew stronger and stronger and continues to do so........AMEN.......................

Whats been happening in Ukraine???........

Apparently the SDA will be closing after the 14th of this month. They will hopefully be giving out some November appointments before they do. They will not be giving out any appointments during this 2 wk closing. They will only be preparing a list of all the November appointments which will consist of many couples travelling blind for young children(babies). I pray that it will be no longer than 2 wks and then FRUA will be flooded with news of everyones appointment date! Lets keep our fingers crossed!!

God bless you all!!

Please please post your comments. Let me know if anyone is reading my blog! I would love to read some hello's.

Take care all......

Gina Fortini