Wednesday, May 12, 2010

A few pictures for you

There's nothing to write about. All is well and the family is doing fine, so...here's some pictures. We were warned Monday & Tuesday of an incoming winter storm. Here's what we woke up to this morning. Isn't it mid-May? Gotta love it here in Colorado!



The Flatirons of Boulder, near home
One day last month at the Zoo

Feeding & petting the giraffes are a family favorite!


Posing @ giraffe house
Last weekend @ Rabbit Mountain








Daisy loves the pictures above!

~ Felix ~

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Heidi's adoption savings tip #4...

...enlisting Fred's help. Who's Fred? Fred, aka Fred Ford, aka Fierce Fastbox Freddy. Fred is our 12 passenger family cruiser. We picked up Fred last summer when he was only six months old for less than $15K, mostly 'cause no one wants a Freddy in their lives. Let's face it, Fred's not sporty, he's a V-8 (that scares people) and he's BIG! Fred gets 16.5 mpg on average, but his fill-ups can be in the $70-85 range depending on gas prices. But when you have a crew to move, he gets the job done. Fred likes that he was born beige, not white. That way he doesn't get mistaken for the diaper delivery service :)"

Most weekdays, Fred sits in the garage or on the curb waiting for his turn in the asphalt jungle on weekends. But, Fred LIVES for summers! That's when he gets to go everywhere. Fred even gets to spend three weeks each summer with the UOO camp kids. Being handed over to the camp's use is a special treat for him...just look at his grille smiling! Right now Fred is enjoying a couple of days with the Stoesz family and Grace Place church, somewhere south of here. Fred always likes to brag about where he's been on his GPS, too. No doubt he will show us where he's been these past few days. Which reminds me...

Heidi's adoption savings tip #4....enlist Fred's help! One Fred at 16.5 mpg beats taking our other two vehicles at 20 mpg and 25 mpg, which we have to do now if we all want to go somewhere together.

~ Felix ~

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Summer Vacation

See that girl up there at the top of the blog, the one with the yearning look on her face? Well, she's coming home for the summer! Ten weeks to be exact. Another miracle has happened. Z (Zina, Lizzie, depends on which family member you ask) will get a taste of family life in the Rogé house and an idea of things to come. No one in our family but Heidi, Rimma and me has met her and the reverse is true for her. Family & friends are invited to come out and meet her as well as the rest of our family. She will be here June 19th through August 31st.

We are so happy and grateful to have her this summer. We had been trying to get both she and Rimma home for the summer for the past two years, to no avail. Prayer and persistence worked! That and her inconsolable state after Rimma and I left a couple of months back. This will be good for Z and will help break up the wait she has to endure. It will have been four months since we left her behind, she will be here for two-and-a-half months, and she will have another four months to wait until we get there...hopefully sometime mid January, when she becomes eligible.

In other family news, all the other kids are eagerly awaiting the end of the school year. I don't know why they are sweating out the last two-and-a-half weeks, though? It seems like every time I turn around, I'm writing a check for some field trip, field day, school movie, concert, pool day, potato sack race, you name it. Everyone has gone somewhere and done something while Mom and I are still slugging it out at work. Geeze, next year I might take off the last two weeks too and join 'em. That Body Works exhibit that first Nadia, then Julia attended is something I really have been wanting to see. It is at the Denver Museum of Science right now. I wrote two checks for it already and haven't seen it yet! Kole is doing some Water exhibit thingy today. Last night he had a school potluck and awards ceremony that the family attended.

In addition to all this, Kole is still playing rec soccer, Julia still goes to her horse riding therapy on Saturdays, Nadia is interviewing for a summer youth work program and Rimma started cheerleader tumbling and gymnastics at the local gymnastics center. I do a boot camp exercise program three days a week and a running program six days a week. We have a few camps lined up for the kids this summer and I will take them to the pool over lunch hours a couple of times a week when they are not in camps.

Z is included in all of this, but I don't know what to do with the chaperon Victoria. She will be accompanying Z and Vika. Vika will go to the Carman's home and hopefully we can split the ten weeks of housing Victoria with them. Victoria has already offered to be the "Alice" of our "Brady Bunch", so it will be a welcome relief to come home to a clean house and cooked meals, albeit Ukrainian style food. The trend of late has been not getting dinner until 6:30 to 7:30 due to everyone's schedules!

Whew! Most days I go to work because I need the rest!

~ Felix ~

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Heidi's adoption savings tip #3

Great looking, high quality and mostly new clothing can be found at the thrift shops for a fraction of the cost. We have total buy-in from the kids, too. When given a choice of one item from a name brand department store or a dozen items of like quality from the thrift shop, they always go for the latter. With multiple growing children, it just makes good economic sense. Just last week, Rimma got 10 items for $31! Only underwear & shoes aren't worn second-hand.



Friday, April 23, 2010

Summer Hosting

A few folks have aske me if the Ukraine Orphan Outreach (UOO) summer camp kids can be housed in their homes. Unfortunately, no. UOO keeps the kids all together in a camp-style setting in two homes that are board member homes. You may, of course, participate in all the day's activities during our annual three week camp. Details to follow as we cement our camp schedule.

That being said, there is another organization that I am familiar with and that I help on occasion. Frontier Horizon has been bringing kids from Ukraine for years and can help if you desire to host a child in your home for the entire summer, a short summer stay or over Christmas holiday. If you are interested in hosting children through FH, visit the link in this post, e-mail me at felixroge@yahoo.com or comment on this post for more information. As a "Rocky Mountain area helper", I can help get them to your home from DEN airport if you are in the state. Neighboring states would need to travel (any means, air, car, Am-track train) to Denver. East coast & east-Midwest residents can contact FH directly.

For an introspective on adoption, read the comment from Alycia...thank you Alycia!

By the way, Oksana & Vladik had a family step forward to host them this summer, thank you all who responded. There are more children without homes listed at FH's website. Take a look.

~ Felix ~

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Heidi's adoption savings tip #2...

No car payments! Heidi pulled over and snapped this picture when she rolled 222,222K miles on her 1997 CRV! Honda's are like the Energizer bunny, they keep going and going and going. Don't worry, that red "maintenance required" flag has been stuck since 100K.

Heidi's adoption savings tip #1...

Nothing says fine dining better than your own collection of Red Robin cups. We get at least 12 everytime we go! Tupperware be darned! We even get the added benefit of dinner for 6 for the low, low price of $36...tip included!

About Us

My photo
Longmont, Colorado, United States
Heidi loves to play sand volleyball, sail and garden. Felix loves to fly at the local aeroclub, sail and fish.