The Davis Family

Little brother…. we’re on our way!

Hello!

Well, we started this adoption process on Christmas day, 2016. It’s been 4 1/2 months and we have completed enough of the process to be granted permission to meet him in person and accept his referral! (His country of birth requires in-person visits before accepting his referral) I am really excited and nervous about this development. And we are making great time! Trip one will be May 12-21 (that includes all the many hours of flying) and Brian, Anna and I are going. That both Brian and I get to go is a testament to the support from my parents and the willingness of a college helper, Madison. It means a lot to us. Thank you.

So there will still be three kids, Madison and my parents holding down the fort while we’re gone. The travel takes roughly 24 hours until we are on the ground. We’ll stay overnight and then go on a six hour, cross-country drive to get to Daniel’s city of birth. We will visit him 1-2 times a day for several hours Monday-Friday and then fly home on Saturday. The trip will be grueling physically and emotionally. It will be beautiful and terrible too. It is unnatural and difficult to have a son, to hold him and meet him and then to let him go.

After we accept his referral, the adoption process has a few last steps to go through before he is legally ours. 3-6 months from now, Daniel should be in our home!

Over the last month, I’ve spoken with a number of mothers who have adopted children from this same orphanage. Until Daniel’s adoption is complete, I will not be sharing any negative details publicly. Certainly, we all know that institutional care has its weaknesses. And we know that those are compounded when special needs are present. All I will say here is that our suppositions of Jordan’s early life experiences were confirmed in these conversations and that Daniel needs prayer every day until we adopt him and then prayer for some time afterwards.

On this trip, I have several main goals:
– To get to know Daniel – his level of understanding, his speech, his physical needs, his size, and just as much as possible as I possibly can to help us when it’s time to make him ours.
– To support my oldest daughter as her world gets bigger.
– To experience Bulgarian culture and country.

I don’t know if I have any greater or more spiritual goals, but these seem to me to be a mouthful already. 🙂 Thank you for praying for us!

Leaving on trip one in 2011 to meet Jordan.

Archive:
*2020-2021 School Curriculum
*2019-2020 School Curriculum and Review
*2018-2019 School Curriculum and Review
*2017-2018 School Curriculum and Review
*2016-2017 School Curriculum and Review
*2015-2016 School Curriculum and Review
*2014-2015 School Curriculum
*2013-2014 Review

This year was 4th grade, 1st grade and preschool. Here’s my feedback on the curriculum we used:

4th Grade

1. Reading & workbook
Christian Light Education Level 4 : 5/week : 4/week
I liked the workbook material and I liked the reading material even better! They are endearing, old-fashioned stories with a lesson in morality that is just right for the age group. The workbook was good practice in reading comprehension, a little grammar, and thinking up answers (they weren’t all multiple choice). Anna finished this early, so I don’t remember it in detail, but it was a perfect level of work for Anna and she didn’t drag her feet to work on it, which is always a boost. We did it 4 days a week and were done early. I think 3 days/week is what it was designed for.

2. Math
Teaching Textbooks Level 5 : 5/week : 4/week
Teaching textbooks is about a year behind the average, so Anna did level 5 this year. Actually, she’s still doing it and will probably be working on it into the early summer. 4 times a week just barely gets you finished in a year and we had a fair number of missed days. 4-5 is what it’s geared towards. We are still liking the computer-based math program. It has a lecture, complete with worked-through examples… which means I don’t have to teach the lessons one at a time myself. It gives the opportunity to try a problem twice before marking it wrong, which has helped my daughter’s perfectionist tendencies to relax a little. She can view the problem worked out, step by step also. If she’s truly struggling, I encourage her to have me come and work through it with her. Math is her achilles heel, in terms of emotional stress, so that we’re making it through the year at all tells me that this is a good fit.
3. Science
Christian Light Education Level 4 : 5/week : 3/week
I really like these workbooks! Each workbook has a subject – weather, energy, physics, the universe, etc. We haven’t kept up with this, so are only halfway through, but I like them. Sometimes it’s hard to do an accompanying project if Brian isn’t here, because… well, projects aren’t my strength. Also, because I’m not working closely with her on this, the material is not being completely understood. There is a lot of information and vocabulary. It’s the appropriate level, but there is a lot of it. Science seems like it would be more fun and successful in a classroom. But I’m satisfied with this to get us along for now.
4. Social Studies & workbook
Christian Light Education Level 4 : 5/week : 2/week
I love this material! But, Anna doesn’t. ha! She liked it at first, but it is a little harder work than her other schoolwork – requiring reading in a large textbook and then using that information to answer questions in her workbook. She’s only going to get 20% through by the end of the year,
but I still don’t feel like it’s a waste. I may have her finish this next year.
5. Spelling
Sequential Spelling Level 1 (continued from this year) : 3/week : 2/week
This wasn’t a terrible fit for Anna, but spelling is not a natural skill for her. We did spelling regularly until about halfway through and petered out quickly from there. We were both burnt out with trying it. I am undecided on how to move forward with spelling practice next year. Same curriculum? Different? Give it a rest while other supporting skills catch up?
6. Grammar
Growing with Grammar Level 4 : 3/week : 2/week
I like this program, but we decided to cut it this year.
7. Writing
Just Write Level 1 : not sure : 2/week
These are good little books. She went through all of the the first one and part of the second one so far.
8. Bible
Christian Light Education Level 4 : 2-3/week : 2/week
These were very easy for Anna. Partially because she has grown up in a world saturated with Bible stories, but partially because it’s all multiple choice. However, it is not a waste as the stories are worked through at a decently in-depth level and she was learning new information.
9. History
Story of the World Middle Ages on CD with activity book : 1/week : 1/week
We enjoyed listening to the story of history while coloring chapter-specific coloring pages. We didn’t “study” or do the “study questions.” I plan to go through all four disc sets at a quick, enjoyable level. Then we’ll go through the whole thing again more slowly in a few years.
10. Art
Local classroom OR Christian Light Education Level 2 : 1/week : 1/week
I was pleasantly surprised with these! They take simple projects and introduce concepts and skills that are useful for the long term. The kids liked the projects too!

Maggie 1st/2nd Grade

1. Reading & Workbooks
Christian Light Education Learning to Read (starting with Primer 7) : 5/week : 4/week
I didn’t like the Learning to Read program… it requires figuring out a teacher’s guide that works together with the kid’s book and it really was just more complicated than I wanted. Maggie’s reading had really improved over the summer, so after a few weeks (months?) we switched to the more advanced first grade reader and they were wonderful! Perfect level for Maggie. I love that every other lesson she read the story out loud to me. It was a pleasure!
2. Writing
Just Write (Write About Me and Write About My World) : not sure : 4/week
These went well. Lots of pictures to go along with the writing. Nothing in depth and maybe not super great at preparing for harder stuff, but it kept her going and thinking.
3. Math
Teaching Textbooks Level 3 : 5/week : 4/week
Maggie is doing really well with this. She loves the little pictures that progress every time you complete a problem.
4. Science
Christian Light Education Level 1 : 5/week : 3/week
These were easy and simple… and surprisingly well accepted by Maggie! Lots of concepts were presented in levels that seemed too easy, something like “rain falls on the ground and makes the ground wet. Plants use the water to grow.” But maybe I would be doing Maggie a disservice by not starting there… because she liked these books a lot!
5. Typing
Dance Mat Typing – not sure – 2/week
Oops – forgot about this.
6. Art
Local classroom OR Christian Light Education Level 1 – 1/week – 1/week
These were good for Maggie as well as Anna.
7. Music
She would like me to teach her piano : 5/week : 4/week (one lesson plus practice)
DIdn’t do this.
8. History w/ coloring pages
Story of the World Middle Ages on CD with activity book : 1/week : 1/week
Maggie did this with Anna

Carolyn Preschool

1. Reading
Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons – often- 4/week
She loves doing this with me, but when I lost momentum around lesson 50, we stopped. She is still in preschool next year, so I didn’t feel the need to push myself, though she certainly wanted me to!
2. Learning to follow directions and make letter shapes
Generic Pre-K or Kindergarten workbook
She loves these. She likes the cut and paste ones even better.
3. Art
Some kind of self-led art… maybe one of those cut and paste books?
I got her one of the Christian Light Publication books and she worked on those projects, though many were too difficult for her.

Yesterday, our dossier (adoption paperwork) was presented at the IAC (International Adoption Committee) in the Eastern European country we’re adopting from. It was approved for us to move forward. As soon as the MOJ (Minister of Justice) signs this paper, we can make our trip one! And the interim government has been signing quickly, so it is likely that we will have that paper signed next week!

AHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I get to meet my son SOON. The first long wait of this adoption process is finishing.

I have tears in my eyes and hope blooming all over the place.

Preparing to travel…..

Little brother…. we’re on our way!

Life has been full. Sometimes Brian and I try to figure out what we can cut out, because we’ve bitten off too much. But the only things that are easy to cut out are things that we enjoy… like chickens and gardening and dogs. Those are all “extra” but they all contribute enjoyment. Laundry, now there’s one thing I wouldn’t mine losing. It’s the coordinating that seems to get me first. Trying to keep up with friends, doctor appointments, dentist, glasses, ballet, play dates, finding a babysitter for this or that, cleaning my desk again to try and figure out who I’ve forgotten. Nothing like forgetting important things to keep me humble! Not that I can think of a specific example. That would require… you know… remembering.

March was difficult. We lost Brian’s mom halfway through the month. Everything kinda stopped that day. We’re still fumbling a bit to get our momentum on the daily living things. But saying goodbye and seeing death and a relationship finished… it’s painful and alters… a lot.

I get the feeling that if I write much more, you’re going to see a lot more of those trailing periods. … The slow waiting for words or thoughts that aren’t cohesive to come into focus.

Random photos:

His face cracks me up!

Little cave on the way up. FYI, eight young children on a hike up the side of a cliff is a bit of a stressful hike.

Neither Anna or I liked looking over the edge of the falls much.

Multnomah Falls – the top – carried Jordan up on my back – booyah!

The bee hive looks GREAT!

It was a verrrrrry cold pre-5K with my brother Neal

Probably watching wild kratts.

Maggie and her papa.

I’ve been running regularly and exercising regularly. I ran my FIRST EVER 5K for the Portland Shamrock Run in March. And since then, I’ve run 5K two more times on my own! I’m so excited for me! I feel powerful physically for the first time in fifteen years. Since whenever I was hauling bales of hay and cleaning stalls and wrangling horses. It feels good. Since I achieved the goal I set a year ago (running a 5K), my new goal is to maintain my distance ability while improving upper body strength. Since we’re adopting a non-ambulatory 4-year-old, I believe that I have my priorities straight.

Speaking of adoption – either April 20 or 27th I should have some good news! That’s when our paperwork is submitted to the government adoption committee. It won’t be too long after that that we’ll travel. Maybe one month? Maybe less, maybe more. The closer it gets, the more my heart yearns for that second trip, when we get to bring him home. It’s hard to love a child and have them outside of your control. Keep praying for Daniel!

The fundraiser garage sale got delayed, but it’s still going to happen. Our basement has lots of great stuff in it. It’s a disaster, honestly… it’s on the list of things to clean up. 🙂

All for now. Lunchtime.

I am compiling a list of all the people who have offered prayers, garage sale donations and financial contributions towards helping Daniel transform from orphan to son. I am missing quite a few. If you want your name on his puzzle or if you know somebody who should be on here, let me know so I can remember to add their names! On my handwritten list, I have more notes about each person, but thought i’d keep it semi-anonymous here.

From November last year.

All extended family member names… plus:
Ed P.
Paul & Gretchen
Heather A.
Philip and Anna
Tim & Lydia
Toni in Bulgaria
Vivian M.
Susan B.
Erin E.
Natasha E.
Larry & Kristy
Robby & Dianna
Natalie R.
April
Anonymous
Heather H.
Katie W.
Mary Jo G.
Susan F.
Jenny B.
Molly M.
Josie E.
Kim G.
Jennifer S. (Dwain, Jen, Glenn, Makayla, Trey, Micah)
Wendy P.
Jamie M.
Mike & Debbie D. (Olivia, Caleb, Set)

Image of puzzle:

Daniel’s Victory