Happy Birthday, Julia!!

The newest teen, Julia!

Today is Julia's 13th Birthday! Happy birthday, sweetie! This is her second birthday with us and she got to choose where she wanted her family party (we had an earlier friends party on Saturday). Of course, she choose Red Robin where her dinner is free and so is the dessert!

It just occurred to me that I now have three teenage daughters at home...five when Lizzie and Jordan come home for the summer! Six when Jessica comes home for a week in July. Yikes, was I dropped on my head as a child?

~ Felix ~

Then...and Now

Awhile back, someone commented that it was amazing to see the difference in our kids. That got me to thinking, what if I put together some pictures to see the difference. After all, with the exception of Z, we live with them and it's hard to see the changes sometimes. Heidi and I know that Nadia & Julia have gone through growth spurts, we keep the thrift shops in business with all the clothes we have bought. So, without further delay...here's our kids, then and now, in order of oldest to youngest.

Lizzie, 12 in March 2008

Lizzie, 14 in March 2010

Nadia, 12 in November 2008

Nadia, 14 in May 2010

Rimma, 11 in March 2008

Rimma, 13 in May 2010



Julia, 11 in November 2008

Julia, 12 in May 2010

An angry and confused Kolya, 9 in November 2008

Kole, 10 in May 2010




All four in early May 2010

~ Felix ~

Third Time's the Charm!

What's the title mean? I updated the '3rd adoption timeline' over on the right side. That's right, we have started the push for Z!


The update says, 'Dossier Started'. The first step for our adoption of Z will be updating the home study. This won't be a problem with our social worker. The cool part will be that our SW will actually get to meet Z when she comes to visit this summer.


Hopefully, we will have the dossier done and submitted at the exact time Z becomes eligible for adoption by us, mid-January. Every time we talk to Z, she says she wants to be home forever.


Mom & I talked to Z on Saturday. She was very chipper and stated that she was very happy to be coming home on June 19th! I talked about her visit and subsequent return to Ukraine. She said that she wouldn't want to leave after the summer, but I reminded her that she would definitely be returning. "After all", I said, "you have to go back if you ever want to come home permanently." She said, "I know, but I will no like it!"


~ Felix ~

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 ~

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 ~

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 ~

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.