A few people have been on me to update this. Been busy with life and didn't have alot of access to the internet for a bit.
Brief overview of the last few months:
We moved into the three bedroom place - so normal move related stress, disorganization, and unpacking.
Lost my job at Macro - but found another job within two weeks, though didn't start said new job for about a month. Been at the new job now for about a month and loving it. I'm back in the lab, making more money, and get to go to Africa in September to do REAL public health work.
Dealing with the tax return - government captured ALL of our stimulous package and our adoption credit for my husband's student loans even though we filed injured spouse forms. Our accountant is working on getting my portion of the refund.
Had to turn in the Aveo as the lease was up. With gas prices where they are, we decided against the minivan for now and have been using one car.
Had Katya/Katie's 15th birthday party this past weekend. Not many of her school friends showed up, but got to see Dee and her kids and one of the Barr girls, so it was great. Took Katie to take the test for her driver's permit, and she failed the written test. She is taking the test more seriously now and is studying her butt off and we will take her next Saturday to retake the test.
In behavior news, Marina is doing much better and is much more consistent in her behaviors. We are still trying to get neuro psych testing done on her due to her continued memory problems with are likely due to very mild FAE or head trauma from her abuse. We are working on her "backtalk" and sassiness, but its getting better. The girls also deal much better with the rules we set and the consequences for not following them. They whine and stomp for a few seconds and then they are fine. Big issue the past few weeks has been them not wanting to wear their glasses and or losing their glasses. Marina has lost three pair so far. If anyone has any suggestions on how to get them to wear the glasses and not lose them, let me know.
Another new thing has been their interest in boys. Katie is wanting to start dating or having a boyfriend. We said no, not until you are 16. But we relaxed it a bit, allowing her to have a pseudo-boyfriend who she can call on the phone, email, and hold hands with at school. We may even allow her to have a boy over to watch a movie, with us in the same room of course and the lights on. We are trying to encourage her to find a Russian boyfriend. Language is such a big issue in dating since communication is the corner stone of a good relationship. Most of the boys she is in class with are hispanic, since she is in ESL and ESL-friendly classes all day, so they don't speak English very well and they definately DON'T speak Russian.
I added some photos above - the blonde girl is my cousin Liza. She is 17 and has been staying with us for part of the summer- partly to get away from her family, and partly to help us with child care while the girls are out of school.
