We realized after our last hard patch how much we still need prayer for all the changes and adjustments. I also realized how much we need to stand under His grace. Yulia has been here for 9 months now. She is starting to lose her Russian and even with her Russian class on Sat. am's she will need a tutor. Her teacher has graciously offered to tutor her for a good fee, so we will start this as soon as basketball is done on Saturdays, which is March 10. We have not been in touch with anyone in Ukraine. This is partially because I have had too many things to process so it was on the back of my mind.
My Dad is still struggling with his health. He is fragile and is on oxygen full time, but still has a hard time talking without losing his breath. He is in the hospital/rehab place to heal from 2 surgeries on his ulcered foot. The ulcer did not get to the bone, so they are trying to save the foot. He has PT help each day and still has alot of swelling/edema. He also struggles with Congestive Heart Failure, and his kidneys are having problems. This is on top of his lung disease (COPD). I have spent many hours on the phone to my mom, dad, and sister. Prayers are appreciated.
I am in the process of planning a sledding party (if we get snow) for Julia, John & Ben to celebrate their birthdays. The 3 of them have birthdays very close together. John's is 2-29; Julia-3-3 and Ben 3-20. They are all very excited to celebrate with friends. We also plan to go the Wisconsin Dells in April for a little family getaway. We look forward to this.
Julia (Yulia) is doing well with the English. She continues to like school, except it can get hard for her if she feels the homeschooled kids get something she does not. Julia still can ask for things very indirectly rather than directly and also can look to external things to "fill" her up and make her feel better. She overall is a "good" girl, but this also can get her in trouble with the siblings if she feels like she must be a second mother and tattle on the kids (particularly the boys). She tries to correct me or Caeli at times when she sees thing are not how she supposes they should be. It all can be either aggravating or humbling, depending on how Spirit-filled we are at the time. We are thankful for that the tantrums have gone to little/none with her.
Caeli has been really struggling with her relationship with Julia. They argue often, especially at bedtime. Jesse & I are realizing how much she needs time away from Julia. She needs to spend time with other friends apart from her. She also needs time 1-1 with both Jesse and I. She is realizing how much she has lost, even while gaining unexpected blessings too. However, she tends to focus on the negative and losses, so we are trying to pray and talk with her. We are also trying to make special time for her to play with friends away from Julia.
We are also in the process of leaving one body of believers for regular worship and joining another. This has been a difficult decision, but we feel it is best for our future and the direction of our ministry. We believe we cannot be pulled in too many directions and still have a healthy family. The new group of believers is in a part of Madison (north/east) that Jesse & I both have more contact and opportunity to be involved, whether it is inviting others to join us or ministering in a food pantry, ect.
All these things put is in the constant feeling of flux.
On another front, we also painted our living room, which is the first time since we lived in this house (10 years). Jesse plans to put in a new front bay window with a friend sometime this spring. We are going to use tax return money for this.
In Julia's first 9 months, I think she is starting to feel more safe with us. She often expresses her love to us by hugs, kisses and writing or verbally expressing this to us. Overall however, she still has a hard time connecting with us on a deeper level. She does not share her deeper feelings perhaps she is not even aware of them yet. She has a difficult time understanding our faith. And although she attends AWANA, we do not yet see a conversion of faith in her. I know this all is a process...it just makes it hard at times to have deep connection with her like we do our other 3 kids. Although, we also do not know if any of the kids have had real conversion of faith either, but they have a greater understanding of Jesus and the Christian faith. We did get Julia a Russian Bible from the local library to take with her to AWANA, yet we have not seen her use it yet.
As for John & Ben, I am learning about raising boys...which is much different that girls. John & Ben are very loving, but can also be rude, disrespectful, loud, demanding and messy. We am trying to sort out what is disobedience... versus what is young foolishness.... versus what is just plain "boy". Sometimes raising these kids takes us to the end of ourselves, which in many ways is good because we have nowhere else to look but up. The boys are often rude to Julia and can see her as an "outsider" still, but at other times they can be very loving & inclusive of her. Change, Change, Change...it can be exhausting.
If you are still checking this website for updates, thank you for standing by us and for loving and encouraging us.
Blessings and love, Lisa & Jesse
My Dad is still struggling with his health. He is fragile and is on oxygen full time, but still has a hard time talking without losing his breath. He is in the hospital/rehab place to heal from 2 surgeries on his ulcered foot. The ulcer did not get to the bone, so they are trying to save the foot. He has PT help each day and still has alot of swelling/edema. He also struggles with Congestive Heart Failure, and his kidneys are having problems. This is on top of his lung disease (COPD). I have spent many hours on the phone to my mom, dad, and sister. Prayers are appreciated.
I am in the process of planning a sledding party (if we get snow) for Julia, John & Ben to celebrate their birthdays. The 3 of them have birthdays very close together. John's is 2-29; Julia-3-3 and Ben 3-20. They are all very excited to celebrate with friends. We also plan to go the Wisconsin Dells in April for a little family getaway. We look forward to this.
Julia (Yulia) is doing well with the English. She continues to like school, except it can get hard for her if she feels the homeschooled kids get something she does not. Julia still can ask for things very indirectly rather than directly and also can look to external things to "fill" her up and make her feel better. She overall is a "good" girl, but this also can get her in trouble with the siblings if she feels like she must be a second mother and tattle on the kids (particularly the boys). She tries to correct me or Caeli at times when she sees thing are not how she supposes they should be. It all can be either aggravating or humbling, depending on how Spirit-filled we are at the time. We are thankful for that the tantrums have gone to little/none with her.
Caeli has been really struggling with her relationship with Julia. They argue often, especially at bedtime. Jesse & I are realizing how much she needs time away from Julia. She needs to spend time with other friends apart from her. She also needs time 1-1 with both Jesse and I. She is realizing how much she has lost, even while gaining unexpected blessings too. However, she tends to focus on the negative and losses, so we are trying to pray and talk with her. We are also trying to make special time for her to play with friends away from Julia.
We are also in the process of leaving one body of believers for regular worship and joining another. This has been a difficult decision, but we feel it is best for our future and the direction of our ministry. We believe we cannot be pulled in too many directions and still have a healthy family. The new group of believers is in a part of Madison (north/east) that Jesse & I both have more contact and opportunity to be involved, whether it is inviting others to join us or ministering in a food pantry, ect.
All these things put is in the constant feeling of flux.
On another front, we also painted our living room, which is the first time since we lived in this house (10 years). Jesse plans to put in a new front bay window with a friend sometime this spring. We are going to use tax return money for this.
In Julia's first 9 months, I think she is starting to feel more safe with us. She often expresses her love to us by hugs, kisses and writing or verbally expressing this to us. Overall however, she still has a hard time connecting with us on a deeper level. She does not share her deeper feelings perhaps she is not even aware of them yet. She has a difficult time understanding our faith. And although she attends AWANA, we do not yet see a conversion of faith in her. I know this all is a process...it just makes it hard at times to have deep connection with her like we do our other 3 kids. Although, we also do not know if any of the kids have had real conversion of faith either, but they have a greater understanding of Jesus and the Christian faith. We did get Julia a Russian Bible from the local library to take with her to AWANA, yet we have not seen her use it yet.
As for John & Ben, I am learning about raising boys...which is much different that girls. John & Ben are very loving, but can also be rude, disrespectful, loud, demanding and messy. We am trying to sort out what is disobedience... versus what is young foolishness.... versus what is just plain "boy". Sometimes raising these kids takes us to the end of ourselves, which in many ways is good because we have nowhere else to look but up. The boys are often rude to Julia and can see her as an "outsider" still, but at other times they can be very loving & inclusive of her. Change, Change, Change...it can be exhausting.
If you are still checking this website for updates, thank you for standing by us and for loving and encouraging us.
Blessings and love, Lisa & Jesse
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