All the kids seem to be doing really good now, health-wise.  Thanks for the prayers.  They are all looking forward to our upcoming trip to the Dells....ah....now I must find time to pack and prepare food. (Smiles).  
     We haven't yet got back our tax-return.  We were told the IRS needs to look into everything to make sure we for sure did the adoption, ect.  We pray there will be no issues. We are waiting on this in order to replace a big front window in our house that loses heat in the winter and cool in the summer.  
    Jesse's mom had surgery and it went well so she is recovering.  My Dad is doing much better now.  My parents even went on a trip with one of my sisters and the grandkids.  We haven't heard anything....so hopefully no news is good news.
    Caeli and Julia seem to be doing much better connecting as sisters.  I think Caeli is feeling more secure as a big sister.  So all seems well now in the Harman household.
    Jess & I have been trying to make it a point to more consistently pray for our city.  We have recently been touched by some great prayer times at Bethesda.  We are grateful.  Thanks for all your prayers.  Lisa

    Johnny did end up having Pertussis.  He is much better after some medications.   We did, however, have to get Julia and Ben swabbed to see if they had it.  We did not get Caeli swabbed to see if she had it because she had been on the antibiotic so long...and it was the same one they prescribe for Pertussis in the "contagious" stage before it fullly develops, so we knew she would not have it.  The doctor suggested Julia get tested for Pertussis, even though she had been vaccinated because "sometimes it doesn't work".  We heard two days ago that their tests were negative.  We thought we were all on the mend.
     Ben had been on antibiotics for an infected skin sore on his elbow, and had napped several times this week on his own initative, so we wondered if he was going through a growth spurts, or tired from the antibiotic, but yesterday, he napped twice, and had a temp....then threw up.  He didn't eat much yesterday or this am, so I took him again to the doctor.  They noticed a rash on him, and suspected Strep throat.  So we took him off the end of his other antibiotic and put him on another...Amoxicillin this time.  We have only given him one dose and his fever was 101 when I left for work. (I gave him some Tylenol & Jesse said he is doing ok.) So we are not out of the woods yet.  We leave for Wisconsin Dells next week for some vacation days, and I am really hoping we are not sick anymore by then.  
    We have been in the planning stage of what we will do with summer hours, and I finally started to do some registering.  Caeli wants to act in a Shakespere comedy called "As You Like It" put on by Young Shakespere's Players and swimming.  Julia will do danceand swimming, and John & Ben will do a few short MSCR classes like a soccer camp, baseball, and swimming .  Caeli, John & Ben all have piano recitals in May. The kids also will do some swimming in April, May and June (every other week).  
    Besides that, Jesse's schedule changed as they asked him to move back into police patrol and he will no longer be at East High as the Educational Resource offficer.  He was able to stay on days, but he now works 6 days on and 3 days off, with only about 1 full weekend a month.  So I looked ahead and saw that both of us off of work on a weekend will be very rare.  In fact, we only have 4 weekends left in 2012 that both of us will not have to work.  I had a good cry over this.  It is an adjustment, but I know God is in control and we can trust him for this too. 
    We are studying Matthew now for devotions and it is coinciding with the Passion week, so we are excited Easter is around the corner. For homeschooling, I am enjoying that we are studying about Daniel Boone's life, and Thomas Jefferson as well as Lewis and Clark.  I love the history!  It is my favorite part of homeschooling!  Caeli, Julia and John are all a little behind in Math, so we will concentrate on catching up. I will try to work with Julia this summer, as she is supposed to be 2nd grade math, the same as Johnny, but Johnny is way more advanced that she is.  Julia is good at languages though and we have her doing Russian still, so we pray this is a blessing in her future.
    I need to go now, but we are grateful for prayers as we trust him that we will not stumble or fall....except to fall into the arms of our Father.  Lisa

     We have had to go to the doctor's office several times this week.  Caeli had strep throat and needed antibiotics.  She had an allergic reaction to the antibiotic and so now we have her on another one.  Julia and Ben have had stuffy nose, sore throat and a little cough. Johnny has had a bad cough sinus infection, diarrhea, sore throat and temp.  Since Johnny has been sick for over one month and he had some changes this week of getting worse, we took him to the doctor on Monday.  This young doctor decided to diagnose him with "Pertussis".  We had them do a lab draw, since I am not convinced.  We do not vaccinate our kids (except Julia is fully vaccinated) and the last time Johnny was sick with headache and cold syptoms (last year) they thought it was Meningitis, which it was not.  So we are still waiting here on Thursday evening to find out if the lab draw /culture will show anything.  Perhaps we will hear tommorrow.  
    One nice answer to prayer this week is that we were finally able to SKYPE with the orphange this week.  Julia's half brother Oleg was there.  He was passive, and smiled alot, but he had no questions to ask us or Julia.  This made me a little sad, but I am not surprised as he seems to want to distance himself from us to protect his heart.  Julia did not have any questions for Oleg either.  All the questions were from me.  But anyway, Julia was able to see alot of her brother and old friends on the camara.  It makes me long to pray for these orphans more.  They know they are homeless and without family.  Please pray for those who remained behind, that the Lord would touch them and do a work to draw them to himself.  Pray that they find families too...healthy ones.  
    The John, Julia's and Ben's Birthday parties went really well.  We prayed for snow and would you believe it that God gave us snow for sledding on that one weekend alone and that it was gone 4 days later.  It is hard to believe that today we had 81 degree weather, and that only a week and a half ago we were all sledding!!!  We had about 45 people in our house afterwards.  I hadn't planned on that many there, but the Lord worked it out!  The kids felt loved, and Julia enjoyed feeling "special" on her day. 
    I need to run, I will try to write more later.  Thanks for the prayers!  Lisa

    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 

     As school has started back and we are back to the activities, it has been a little hard.  The boys at home are less motivated to get home schooling done.  In addition, by the time Julia gets home, any little thing that bothers John that Julia does tends to set him off which leads to teasing, yelling or hitting her.  Julia is also very quick to get John in trouble or report him or Ben to me for being naughty even if they are not.  This enrages the boys.  We also have caught Julia in a few lies when she is trying to "look good" and has done something we disapprove.  Furthermore, my stress has been higher now that we are back to tigher schedule and I have fewer breaks.  This stress has led to Jesse & I have being verbally tough on each other, hurting each other.  As a result, we feel like we are in a hard patch right now. 
    Someone at AWANA told John & Ben a scary story about ghosts, and now at bedtime, John has been really clinging and hysterically crying.  He wants to sleep in our room each night and will remain awake in his own bed until Jess & I get ready to go upstairs and he ends up coming up too and sleeping in the little toddler bed next to ours.  We have prayed over him, and with him, both by ourselves and with others.  It seems like it is getting slightly better, but could use more prayer.  Johns fear has also rubbed off on Ben.  These crying episodes are very trying on us
    I am recently also testing Caeli & John to learn about how they best learn....Auditory, Visual or Tactile/Kinesthetic.  John, as we learn, is the latter.  He needs a lot of "hands on" learning, which actually involves more planning on my part.  I am trying to figure out how to make adjustments in our home schooling day with out putting more pressure on myself.
    We still are praying that the attachment continues to deepen with Julia.  It is hard when the other 3, who already had relationship with each other, choose to leave her out while playing (which means Jess or I need to intervene).  Sometimes they need a break from her...as she is not as easy to relate.  She still has broken English and is sometimes it takes more effort with her.  It bothers Caeli that Julia is not more her own person.  Whatever Caeli does, Julia wants to do also.  If Caeli picks red, Julia wants red.  If Caeli picks purple, Julia wants purple, ect.  It is wearisome with Caeli.  Sometimes the kids are jealous of each other and the time spent with friends or the time spent with Jesse & I alone....we try to have "dates" with each one, but they come very sporadically.  
    So if you pray, please pray our dependence on the Lord and to recieve and give His grace to each other. And also pray that our relationships are more positive, with less negative: yelling and provoking.  Pray Julia is more herself (not what she thinks we want her to be in order to be accepted) and more open and vulnerable with us so we may attach to her better. And pray for Jesse & I to learn to love each other more deeply and when we argue to "fight fair"....which is the name of a book by Tim Downs that we recently got at the library.  Thanks for any prayers you can shoot up for us!!!!   Lisa 
     

     Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  We had a very nice low key Christmas where we did not go anywhere, or have any family to stay with us.  We did have a few high school girls from East High school spend Christmas Eve with us.  They went to the Christmas Eve service (there first one...one girl didn't know if it was Hannakah cause of all the candles). And then we took then to dinner.  It was Julia's first Christmas, so it was nice to be home and open presents and watch the Nativity story movie the next day.  It was fun when we had people over to eat on the 22nd of Dec. and we had bought a cake which we lit candles and sung Happy BIrthday to Jesus.  Julia was very excited as she learned it was Jesus Birthday, which she did not know anything about.  
    On the 8th we plan on attending a Russian Christmas celebration with the Madison Russian School.  Ukraine and Russia celebrate with "Father Christmas" around this date.  Most countries that have the Orthodox christian churches as their primary religion use the Gregorian calandar so their "Christmas" is Jan 7th.  This celebration with have some Russian readings and activities and all our kids will receive a gift from "Father Christmas".  I haven't told our kids yet....it is just fun to let the excitement linger a little longer.
    Even though we have daily devotions with the kids (often it is during homeschool hours when Julia is in public school) Julia does not always understand much of what is read/talked about so I pray that God begins to enlighten her heart as she grows in her English comprehension. Join with me to pray that she begins to understand the Christian message more and more.  
     We sent a package to Ukraine with gifts/pictures for Oleg, their grandma, the orphange & workers.  We hope still to S
    We hope to see Jesse's mom sometime the week of Jan 8-16th.  She is going to be in Minnesota at the Mayo Clinic.  Otherwise, we will enjoy the rest of our break from school without too much to do.  I need the break, and the kids probably do too.  We have not gotten much snow, and I know our kids would love to be able to sled soon, so we are hoping.  The kids & Jesse did great in the church play they helped to cast on Dec. 18th. I was very proud of them.  
    I better go as I am working now for New Year's weekend and Jesse is home with the kids tonight.  We pray your Holidays are very special.
 

    I wanted to let you know that we still have not SKYPED with Oleg, Julias' half brother in Ukraine. We are still trying to pursue this....it has been since June since we SKYPED with them. Despite the disappointment of this, I was happy to find my journal that I lost a month ago (of our journey to Ukraine and our diary of emotions as well as phone numbers of Ukrainian folk).  Thank you for you r prayers for this.  Also, as far as Oleg goes and the ministry called "Alpha Omega" in Dnepropetrovsk, he has not been responsive to wanting to go.  There will be a special Christmas gathering in a few weeks put on by Alpand I am praying that he goes to it.  Please join me in prayer for this.  
    I have "lighter" the last two weeks so thank you for your prayers.  I will be especially busy the week of Dec. 11th-18th, so pray for me esp. during this week to rely on God's grace & strength.  
    Julia attended her first ballet class and loves it.  The dance company offered to give us free tickets to see their Nutcracker Ballet this weekend.  I work, but I found a friend who can take both Julia and Caeli to it on Sat afternoon at 2pm.  This was a blessing too. We also have been given the chance to see the Christmas Carol presentation for free too, so we have been blessed with some great opportunities.  We are trying to keep this month focused on Christ and stay out of the materialistic focus that this culture has made it.  We are praying for a simple, Christ-focused advent and we pray the same for you. 

    We are thankful at Thanksgiving for each other.  When asked at brunch today what one thing they are thankful to God, the kids answered in various ways: one mentioned "family", one said "memories...the past", another said "that God gives us eternal life", another answered "cookies, pets & a new piano".  Jesse & I mentioned besides being thankful for each other and our kids, we had attributes of God we were thankful: God's patient love towards us, his forgiveness, his personal relationship with us.
      We are also thankful this week at Julia's school that an owner of a dance company was there to teach the kids the art form of dance.  She saw Julia dance & she decided to offer her the chance to take free dance intruction this year through her dance company.  This is such a blessing, since we had not signed her up for dance because of the expense.  We were going to try to get her into something in the spring, but now she can start next week.  We feel so blessed.  
     Julia is doing a good job to learn Russian and English (she spoke Russian so reading & writing in Russian is new to her since she had learned to read & write in Ukrainian).  Her Math is slow, but she is not as motivated to learn this.  I believe she is becoming more secure in our family, so thank you for your prayers.  Keep them up as you think of us.
    We had Jesse's Dad & step mom come to visit last week that this was there first time to meet Julia.  That was good for all.  This week I we have no family and we did not even make a turkey.  I am working tonight ( on Thanksgiving), but after tonight I am off work for a week.  We hope to get our Christmas lights up and our tree this weekend.  We have friends coming over on Sat. night who will bring food, and we plan to have a pot-luck and time to fellowship.  
    I have been up & down emotionally this last month...not sure if it is hormones, over-work, stress or my own unrealistic expectations....or a combo of all of these.  Perhaps I should have not taken on the task of writing & directing the church pageant (play).  All of the kids are in the play, as well as Jesse, and you are welcome to attend if you are local.  It will be at Gateway Community church on Dec 18th.  The play is based on a children's story "Amahl & the Night Visitors".  Anyway, I do appreciate your prayers for me to rely on God's grace & strength and to open my eyes to anything I am not seeing that God wants for me to lay down and trust him more.  Thank you.  Blessing and Have a great Thanksgiving.  Lisa