This is what adoption is all about!

This picture sums it all up - it makes everything worthwhile! Can’t express in words how much I love Alex, Amanda, and G4 and how complete they make my life.

We just got home from a cruise to Alaska and had so much fun! It was Alex’s first time on a boat and he thoroughly enjoyed it. I have noticed that in the beginning he had a lot of trepidation about new experiences but now, that anxiety is less. It is still there, he has trouble trusting us, but it’s definitely less.

He was able to speak Russian with a lot of people - there were many crew members that were from Eastern Europe and Russian speaking countries. It was good practice for him, as I worry about his lack of ability to speak Russian with others on a daily basis.

Here we are ziplining in Skagway, Alaska.

Here we are after whale watching in Juneau, walking back to the cruise ship.

Docking in Victoria - looking forward to the evening in Butchart Gardens.

Yay for Alex!

Alex just had a major victory with his English fluency yesterday. He took his knowledge test for driving in English and passed it! We are so proud of him. He was very worried about it as there was a time limit and there was a lot of reading involved. But he was fine and actually accomplished it in record time - 20 minutes for the 25 questions.

I think this experience has given him a lot of confidence in his own abilities. He came over with only a minimal smattering of English and now can read at about the 9-10th grade level. He was initially very suspicious of my way of teaching as all other people we know who have adopted internationally have sent their kids to some sort of school or had some tutor or help. We decided to go it alone, just the two of us, and I am happy to say - it worked out!

It has been the first real outside validation of the work that he has done and I think it had energized him. Alex never really had a lot of success in school before (ok - make that none) and to have this feather in his cap, he is starting to look at himself in a different way. He even mentioned that he had believed every one in Ukraine when they called him stupid, but now he is starting to question it.

This made me so happy, as these self-images that he came to us with are the pits and really are going to be self-fulfilling prophecies if we can’t break them. I am also so happy because I feel validated. Lots of people have been pushing me to be more regimented and dictatorial with Alex, but I have found letting him guide the way himself with my encouragement to be the ticket. I think going at his own pace has allowed him to process the information better and be more receptive to learning.

We still have a long way to go with academic vocabulary, but this was an important first step.