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I am so glad things went well, I have been thinking of you guys.  It is quite the shock to see things like oncology and know it is a part of your life.  I will continue to pray for you all and think of you all.
 
Love
Shannon Dennis Courtney and Cheyenne Martin
Mar. 21
No namewrote:
God does have a plan for us all.   I have been blessed with a wonderful sister & she has been blessed with me.......
Jan. 23
Leave me a message.  We love hearing from you.
Jan. 21

From Home and Back, our Ukraine adoption journey.

Finding the missing part of our hearts and family, our Ukraine adoption journey.
May 15

Wow, its been so long, hasn't it?

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What can I say?  Other than life has gotten in the way and what a wonderful life that we have had.  The kids are both keeping us busy running to the ball park.  Kelsey is loving her softball, I swear that girl lives and breathes it and she has such a natural talent, that I only wish I had.  She again has gotten another GRAND SLAM as well as many homeruns.  In fact we are doing double duty with Kelsey, since she has been asked to play on the 14U as well as the 12U teams, which means double the games.  Kole is in his second year of T-ball and he is doing very well.  Of course he still has to do it just like his sister, including the catching.  Its very cute to see.  I'll try to add a couple of pictures of them playing ball this year so far.
 
 
Kelsey getting a triple.
Kelsey making an out at homeplate.
Kole catching just like his sister.
Kole warming up and making a throw to  home.
 
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December 23

Merry Christmas

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Another year has flown by.  December 29th marks year #2, since Kole left the orphanage for good.  He has come so far and our family truly feels complete.
 
 
 
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December 12

Wow, times really got away from me.

I do apologize for that.  We have been busy over the summer, with softball, and T-ball.  Kole really enjoyed playing ball.  Of courses he had to play catcher, just like his sister, and it was hilarious watching him slide into home, just like his sister too.
 
This fall brought school and more sports.  Basketball for Kelsey and soccer for Kole.  We enjoyed all of it.  But I must be honest I am glad to have a bit of a rest before the holiday begin as well. 
 
The trees are up and I need to start wrapping presents.
 
Can you all believe that it will be two years ago tomorrow that we met Kole for the very first time?  Which also happens to be Beth's birthday.
 
I'll try to do better about updating the blog.
 
We wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a very blessed and Happy New Year.
 
Kristi
October 20

Cooking lessons..... Kole style

As we were eating dinner last night Kole informed us that pink monsters make the best soup.
 
However if you wanted to make cookies then any old monster would work.
 
His favorite food of any type is soup of any kind and lots of it.  So I think that we'll be going on a monster hunt this afternoon for pink monsters to make some soup, anyone want some?
 
K
September 03

Copied from another blog......

I found this late one night as I was reading blogs of those who have been there and done that and I felt it was so appropriate.  Not nearly as much now as it was when we first got home.
 
I am also posting this to show that we are not the only family that feels this way.
 
 
 
Our family is not defined by adoption. We are defined by who we are and what we do. Adoption is a part of our family's history, but it does not define us. When the boys are introduced as "the two little boys who were recently adopted", you have labeled our children and our family. Would you say "this is the little boy who was born after 4 in-vitro fertilization attempts"? No, and in the same way, it is our choice to share how our family has grown. Right now it is our decision, and someday when they are older it will be the boys' decision as to how much of their past they want to share. Please do not share it for them. If you have someone who is interested in adoption, you are welcome to introduce them to us as a family who is interested or has adopted, and we can choose how much of our story to share.

It is our story. The story of our family. And ours to share, not yours.

This post is the result of a few incidents that have happened over the past few weeks. Please do not feel that you cannot tell people about our adoption if they have a valid reason for knowing. But if you are introducing us as "the family who adopted", please carefully consider your reasons behind that and be considerate of our family's privacy.
 
Here are the comments that followed this woman's post as well....
 
Blogger Diana said...

AMEN!!!

p.s. Please remember that there is much you probably don't know about our story. Sharing your assumptions about it only leads to idle gossip. We didn't purchase our children from the novelty shop. They're not puppies we just picked up at the pet store. They are our children, just like yours are yours. While our story may make for some great conversation on your part, it doesn't always bode well with our children. They don't always want people to know they are adopted, and especially that they came from another country. It makes them feel as if they are different - and to them, different equates to "bad." Plus, they may or may not want to have anything to do with their former country and you asking them about it may only trigger painful memories of things they'd rather not remember.

Oh, yah...one last thing...if you do happen to find out that we adopted our children, please, do NOT, especially with a sing-songy tone in your voice, respond "Oh, fun!" I may well just around and smack the next person who says that.

8/25/2008 11:18 AM

Blogger Jane said...

We were on vacation last week (went to Branson) and I heard a lady talking to Ben and said said "what State are you from?". I immediately thought "great Ben, you've forgotten what City we live in again". Later I asked him what she had said and he told me that she asked him where he was from. I asked him what he'd said and he said "Ukraine". With his American accent, no wonder she then asked him about the State!!!!

8/27/2008 5:58 AM

And if you want to read it yourself here is the link to the blog

http://markandcourtney.blogspot.com/

 

 

August 22

School has started now

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and our days are mostly spent with just Kole and I.  I am enjoying it and so is he.  However we are so very happy when Kelsey gets off the bus as well as the other kids. 
 
Kelsey has started with basketball practice as well.  Kole has started pre-school for the 2nd year, last week.
 
He loves it, however I still have to stay for a few minutes before I can leave.  He is ok with it, but he doesn't want me to be in a rush to leave either.  I think its because he likes me to see how big he is.  He is in a small group again this year only 6, which is great.
 
I'll try to post some recent pictures of the kids.
 
I also found a blog of a family in Kirovograd adopting a sibling set of 3.  I hope to email them, the little girl and boy look very familiar.  I'll have to go look through my pictures to see if I can find them.  I have been lucky enough to have a picture of another little boy that was adopted about 6 months after we left.  The family loved having the pictures of him as well.
 
I hope all is well.
 
K
Kelsey and Kole at the creek this summer.
Kole at the creek
 
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August 09

Where do I start?

Well, as you can tell by reading the last post, we were just a day away from Kole's surgery.  Kole's surgery was performed and well done.  He did great.  He ended up having a double inguinal hernia and he was pleasantly surprised that he would have two scars like Daddy.
 
He was funny after having given the happy juice before they took him back...
After the doctor examined him, he was still quite loopy.  The doctor laughed at him and said buddy, if you were in a bar we would have to cut you off.  To which Kole replied, after being examined, You gonna cut it off????? He was very worried.  Much to the doctors dismay he quickly scooped him up and gave him a hug and assured Kole that he was not going to cut any thing off.
 
The night before he snuck into the kitchen and got a drink about 1:30 am.  I explained to him that the doctor said nothing to eat or drink after midnight.  He very matter of factly said to me, 'Well Jesus says I can have a drink of water.'  Kind of hard to argue with him about that one isn't it?
 
The surgery was on an outpatient basis and it was done on Thursday.  By Monday morning he was telling me that he was hurting much more than he had been before, so I began giving him his pain medicine again.  He threw up, much to his dismay and he didn't know what all that was about.  He wouldn't eat anything all day.  He went to sleep about 7:30 Monday night and woke up at 11:00 pm screaming in pain and doubled over.  After a call to the doctor and some ibuprofen we decided to take him to the ER.  He would not walk, he kept screaming and could not have any clothes on anywhere near his surgery sites. 
 
When we got to the ER, we told them that the doctor told us to come in, we waited a bit and they called us back.  After the triage nurse took a quick look at him, she made sure to stress to us not to let him have anything to eat or drink, absoultely nothing and assured us that Kole was now their priority case above anyone else in the waiting room.  Kind of scary.  By this time he was much calmer and not screaming as long as I carried him.
 
When we got back to the examining room, we  were told by 2 nurses and 2 doctors not to let him eat or drink anything at all.  They gave him some pain meds and then sent us to ultrasound to make sure he didn't have a torsion going on.  It took 4 adults to hold him down with him screaming bloody murder and I must admit that I was crying as well.  All looked well by ultrasound and he did not have a torsion, but it was suspect that the hernia had reoccured.  Back to our exam room we went where they inserted and IV and started giving him pain meds and morphine for his pain and admitted us.  We were there for two days.  It was decided that he had been a bit overly active and it had caused some internal bleeding, which pooled south and caused EXTREME pain for our little man.  So, all we could do was wait and his body would reabsorb the blood.  In the mean time they kept him on IV pain meds and morphine to keep him comfortable.
 
He is still a bit on the cranky side, but getting better.  The swelling has continued to go down and his bruising is fading a lot.  Hopefull his crankiness will subside too. 
 
Talk to you soon
 
K
July 30

Kole has his surgery tomorrow.

I'm starting to get a bit nervous about it.  I know it has to be done, but I worry.  I worry because I am his Mommy.  All he knows at this point is we are going to the hospital in the morning and the doctor will give him one scar like his Daddy's.  Anything that he can have like his Daddy is cool with him.
 
So please say a prayer for a save and great outcome to Kole's surgery tomorrow.  Also tha Tad's blood work comes back clean of cancer on August 6.
 
Thanks
July 20

Sorry for the interruption.

Its amazing at how fast the time does seem to fly and how quickly you become busy, especially in the summertime.
 
We are all doing well here.  Kelsey and Kole are now finished with their ball, and they both did very well.  Kelsey did better than well.  She was oustanding.  I just love watching that girl play ball.
 
The summer seems to have flown by and it will only be a few short weeks before school starts. 
 
Tad is doing well and will have more blood tests at the end of this month.  Kelsey is doing well and growing.  Kole will have to have surgery for a hernia on the 31st of this month, nothing serious, but it does need to be taken care of.
 
I am staying busy with my babysitting duties.  We have been having fun this summer.  We spend our days playing in the creek or going to the pool to try and keep cool.  All the kids seem to love it and I love watching them as they explore.
 
Next week we plan on 'exploring' the river, as my kids call it.  I love to watch them as they find someting new.   Any new fossil, intresting rock, a turtle, a frog, and even crawdads, which I must say are very hard to catch.  Its great to watch the expression and wonder on all of their faces.
 
Kole continues to show no fear when it comes to the water.  He is now doing front flips off the diving board, much to everyones delight at the pool and gets lots of cheers and clapping when he does so.  Which he does love.
 
 
More next time.
May 21

What are you thankful for?

 
This will be the first in a series. 
 
What are you thankful for is a question that is running around rampant in the blog sphere, and it truly got me thinking.  There are so many things that I am thankful for and no, I won't list them all.  Instead I'm going to be telling you about the people I'm thankful for, what they have meant to me and why.
 
Today I am going to star with my husband, Tad.  My Aunt recently said to me how she never in a million years that I would be with someone like Tad.  I was a bit taken aback by her statement.  It was not said with any malicousness at all.  But it did make me stop and think.  I personally could not see my life without him.  He makes me laugh so much and we have a lot of fun and some great discussions.  I love hearing his insight and his opinions lately, especially when it comes to politiics.  I really enjoyed telling her why I loved him. 
 
Our house is always full of laughter!  He is a constant source of amusement for lots of my family members and has been 'affectionaly' termed as 'Cousin Eddie", for his uncanny ability to come off as the goofy character in Chevy Chases's Vacation Movies.  You can always count on him to give a good laugh, cause a good laugh, or to get a good laugh out of anything.  He never hesitates to lend a hand, in fact one of his earlier concerns after finding out that he had cancer was to make sure our neighbor had enough wood before he had surgery, and to get things done and have supplies on hand, to make it easier for me and Kelsey,to do the chores that he usually does. 
 
When we started dating, he knew that there was no way anyone would come between me and my daughter, Kelsey.  In the beginning of my 'dating, after separating days' I dated a few people other than Tad, none of which I would consider having them be a part of my daughters life.  In fact the first time he met my daughter, and we werent dating, she had a runny nose and he simply took out his hankie and had her blow her  nose.   I know that doesn't seem significant to anyone else, but for some reason it was to me. 
 
My Papa, who I'll tell you about more later, because I am so thankful for him too, was a quiet man.  It wasn't until I was a high schooler that I understood that he was not of 'my blood'.  In fact a family member had a question, when a cousin was expecting, about how he would feel to have his first grandchild.  I sat back shocked that a question like that was even posed to him, for he never treated any of us as 'less' than his family.  From my Dad and my Uncle having him as their father, to all of us as his children, there was never a question of his love for any of us...
 
The point is, that Tad is the same way.  There was no doubt that he had love for Kelsey, as any father would.  He took us as his family, without question, without hesitation and smiling the whole time as well.
 
He always encourages me and I have never ever heard him put me down.  When I ask him a question and ask him to answer it honestly, he does.  He gives me his opinion on things, but he ultimately lets me make my decision and stands beside me after its made.  He makes breakfast, which I don't like to do, on the weekends.  Even though he works hard there are still times that he comes home and fixes dinner and more often than not he is the one that cleans up afterwards, if I have to give Kole a bath, or just spend some 'girl' time with Kelsey.
 
He is one of Kelsey's biggest cheerleaders at her softball and basketball games.   He helps Kelsey with her math homework.  He seems to sense when Kelsey and I need our girl time.  So he and Kole go do something while we go do our thing as well.
 
He is the one who makes sure we go to church, because quite frankly I would be sorely tempted to just sleep in.  Which, by the way on a lot of Saturday's he makes sure that Kole stays quiet and shuts the door so that I can do so.
 
Our motto, after finding out that he had cancer, is 'you and me'.  Its the first thing I said to him after the doctor closed the door and left us alone in the room. 
 
I have no doubt that when we are old and wrinkled that we will be sitting in rocking chairs on our front porch, laughing and talking about old times, good times and how blessed we have been in our lives. 
 
My husband, is one person among many of who I am thankful for.  But the thing that I love the most, is that just about every day, every day.....
 
He still asks me to marry him.
 
 
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