Uncle and Aunt B always give cool presents. These socks were right up Ace’s alley.
Bryant’s sixth birthday was first.
He asked for a birthday cake with ice cream layers. It was good!
This is our yearly Christmas/New Year Letter. So here we pause, and take a look back at what 2016 held for us:
Our biggest highlights:
January saw our new son Silas still in Ukraine having to celebrate his ninth birthday without us. We’re grateful that we were able to send a cake to him to help him celebrate. We also found out that we would not be able to continue the adoption process until that summer.
In February, Emmie had spinal fusion surgery in her cervical (neck) spine. This was a big highlight in our year since no one knew exactly what would happen or how she would do with it. We praise God that she not only made it through surgery with no complications, but we are now 10 months out and the bones are fusing!
March brought two beautiful kiddos birthdays, Ceili Rain turned 7 and Malachi turned 4. We enjoyed celebrating Easter with our church family. Emmie had her halo removed (after 8 months in it) on March 30th.
April was a much cherished and random “quiet” month if you don’t count the kids’ annual school testing and mom’s weekend away with Tracy. Mark and I celebrated 20 years of dating.
May passed by with Emmie’s 2nd birthday. We had a wonderful beach trip, watched brave pirates, and met some sea lions. We turned in our dossier 2.0. And Mark and I celebrated our 16th year of marriage.
June was another quiet month but news came we would be traveling to Ukraine in July (and later in August). I traveled to Austin, Texas for the NF Forum. Emmie had her final neck brace off on June 10th! Emmie had her sixth MRI and found her UGGHH was stable! We celebrated Josiah’s 9th birthday.
July saw Zoe (her first plane ride and international trip), Mark and I traveling to Ukraine for our “second” first trip. We got to visit with our Silas, sightsee in Kiev and in Vienna. While recovering from jet lag, we managed to celebrate Ace’s 12th birthday and Bryant’s 6th one! And, last, but not least, Mark’s birthday.
August was THE month to have Silas become a permanent part of our family. He became a Character, officially, on August 9th. While Mark was finishing up the paperwork and requirements in Ukraine, Josiah decided life was too boring. He made an unscheduled stop at the hospital to have his appendix removed. We, once again, praise God for our proactive pediatrician. We’re also very thankful that his appendix didn’t burst!
In September, we welcomed home Mark and Silas and began our journey as a family of eleven by attending our church’s annual family camp. We started school pretty soon after and took a break here and there to go to the zoo and talk like a pirate.
October was another “quiet” month and we enjoyed settling in to school, learning to read and being a family.
November was just the opposite of October! We had my birthday (one year closer to 40). Our first NF walk went off without a problem and lots of smiles and laughter. All total, we raised over $7000 for NF Research! Liam started wearing glasses this month. We celebrated Thanksgiving with Papa and Grandmere. Mark and I learned that God had chosen to give us a new addition.
December brought joys, trials, and sadness. We found out early in the month that we were expecting twins but the babies, sadly, did not make it (“not viable” in medical terms). This has been one of the hardest miscarriages (mentally, not physically) yet and I learned later in the month that twin pregnancy losses can sometimes feel harder, even if they are early miscarriages. We rejoiced over Emmie’s spinal fusion successes and UGGHH continuing to behave. We also learned that she has another plexiform in her hip muscle as well as scoliosis. Recently, we have noticed a very small plexiform on her armpit. Also mixed in with all of our news, we mourned the loss of my uncle too close to Christmas and rejoiced in the time we knew him here on earth. Despite the hardships, trials and struggles this month, we have been able to fully rejoice in our Savior’s birth. We are continually reminded that we are not facing these struggles alone because He is always with us. We continue to feel God’s guiding, gentle, and loving hand leading, comforting and sometimes carrying us through.
Looking ahead…we have some fun trips planned for the kids and new experiences for us all (I’m going to be homeschooling a high schooler ya’ll!)! We can not wait to see what the Lord does in and through us this coming year. Yes, with new diagnoses, we are looking at another year of uncertainties and deductibles met too soon as well as meeting new specialists…but we know the Lord has carried us this far and we will continue to walk where He leads. Two things are certain, we’ll continue to raise awareness of NF and also advocate for children who need a home.
**I know that I started out with links and continued on to what I had actually posted. I’m doing my best to get everything up to date. Our months have been very busy since August! For now, we have an easy way to read up on our fun and crazy year.**
Ace, Liam, and Josiah worked hard building a retaining wall.
Papa cuddles were good subs for Mama and Daddy hugs.
Ceili Rain did a wonderful job helping with Emmie. Word has it, she was able to get her to sleep for naps.
While visiting, Josiah was able to celebrate his birthday with Papa and Grandmere.
After a very sad good-bye, we headed back to Kyiv and then to Austria. We planned a 24 hour layover to check out all things Vienna and squeezed in as much of their culture as we could in that time.
Riding the train from the airport to City Centre.
Our first glimpse of Vienna.
Riding through the country side is quite beautiful.
We probably spent way too many hours trying to find a hotel in Vienna. We decided on a art boutique hotel (reasonably priced of course). Our room’s air wasn’t working and there were dog paintings on the wall that made us giggle. I know. I know. It’s art. But it was fun art and that made us laugh.
Our main stop was Schonbrunn Palace, the hunting palace of the Hapsburgs. This wasn’t a fake backdrop. Nope. It was the real thing. A large, beautiful, proud Austrian piece of architectural and interior design. We toured and were able to walk where Mozart and Napoleon walked. Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed inside the palace.
A small metal model of the palace grounds.
The gardens were fair game for picture taking. And just as gorgeous as the inside!
Roses were in abundance.
On the way back to the subway, we couldn’t pass by a golden Mozart street performer without taking a picture.
Speaking of the subway, we enjoyed the art. It was fairly clean and easy to navigate. 
A beautiful statue on the way to our hotel.
For supper, we headed to City Centre. We saw St. Stephen’s and just basked in the beautiful architecture.
And the crowds. It was so busy!
Every side of St. Stephen’s included a beautiful piece of art.
Trip Advisor gave super good reviews for Aida and was right in the city centre. And ya’ll, the desserts did not disappoint. Yes, supper was good…but dessert. Oh my!
Vienna was beautiful and we fit in as much as we could in 24 hours. I would love go back and see more one day.
After we had our appointment with the ministry in Kyiv, we headed to visit Silas. He was at summer camp which gave us a bit more freedom in spending time with him (school days are pretty structured). We were able to see him for four days in a row and stayed from lunch to late afternoon.
We made sure to bring a few toys that would be fun to share and goof around with. These silly glasses were a hit.
Silas almost always had a friend with him. We enjoyed getting to know D. His English was okay and he enjoyed trying to talk to Zoe.
There was a river across the street from the camp. 
Mark got in the river one day and they had fun. Zoe and I both forgot our swimsuits and purchasing them there was not really an option.
I managed to get some snuggles in between venturing everywhere.
One day, the older boys took us to a lumber yard area (Zoe said it said something about animals) and they convinced the owner to let us come look. We walked over to the gate and saw a forest of boars. Lots of them. From giant ones to little babies. Lots of fun to look at and all the boys were super excited to show us.
Silas writing his letter stating he wanted to be a part of our bunch.
We brought our lunch each day but the director of the camp was insistent that we eat with them. We were able to try some very interesting and authentic food but we all agreed it was very yummy.
Before
After
Zoe was so excited to be on the main street in Kyiv. Mainly because she read the street sign without help.
The Maidan. We had missed it on our previous trip (even though we stayed only a few blocks from it on our first trip) and it was a blast seeing it with Zoe.
Several Ukrainians have worked tirelessly to get rid of the old boring sides of apartment buildings (most of which were built during the Soviet occupation) and have brought in both local and international artists to spruce things up. This one, by far is my most favorite. You can check out more murals on Euromaidan Press.
Selfie with the sun in our eyes. Mark and Zoe put up with a lot of my silliness.
Um, the food was, of course delicious and did not disappoint Zoe at all. The food was the highlight for her!
We love Pirogi for lunch. Never disappoints.
St. Sophia’s
Traditional Ukrainian Borscht at a local Soviet style restaurant.
Milkshakes for yummy desserts!
Can I just say this trip was not just for Zoe? She was wonderful to have with us. The day we were to head to region closer to Silas, we had a chance to run out and grab a bite to eat at a street vendor before our driver showed up. The street vendor did not speak English. We told Zoe what we wanted, she told the vendor and we were all super happy. Mark and I thanked her over and over. She also was a big help at the super market, other restaurants and when we met up with Silas at his summer camp. Having a semi-polyglot is awesome! We had our own personal translator with us wherever we went and all we had to do was feed her and let her sleep.
A restaurant out of Kyiv. Beautiful scenery.
The prettiest part of the trip was seeing the sunflowers EVERYWHERE. Ya’ll…we had beautiful blue skies most of the time. So, it felt like we were driving by the Ukrainian flag over and over again.
The day we had time to stop and get pictures, the sunflowers were turned away. But we found a few rebels not following the sun.
Golden Ukrainian wheat and a beautiful blue sky. Slava Ukraine!
Making it to region, we stayed in an apartment in Bila Tserkva (the White Church) and were able to spend a bit of time sightseeing there. It’s a smaller city than Kyiv but still a few things to explore. This was our local supermarket. It was just a short walk from our apartment. It was more like a mini mall with the supermarket on bottom.
Slava (Glory) Park was in the center of the city and was dedicated to the soldiers who fought in the Great Patriotic War (World War II). We saw this wood building from the other end of the park and were pleasantly surprised to find it was a church. The doors are absolutely beautiful. While we were taking pictures, a man came up and asked as best he could if we were Americans. Between his English and Zoe’s translations, we figured out he wanted us to email pictures of the church. I noticed a rosary in his hand and after he gave us his business card, Zoe translated and told us he was the Father at the church. Obviously, the church was under construction and we were excited to be able to send him pictures of it in progress.
After watching the Netflix special “Winter Under Fire,” we started noticing memorials set up to the brave men and women who fought so hard against a corrupt government with virtually nothing. This one was at Slava Park.
Zoe and I got a kick out of the translation from Ukrainian to English only because she had several laughable moments of going from English to Ukrainian in speaking and each time, every one was so gracious.
I had a Princess coke. Coca cola speaks…even if it’s a different language.
A quick picture with Papa before Zoe gets some stamps in her passport!
She was super nervous about the plane ride. But not too nervous to give up a window seat.
Her first plane ride food. Lufthansa has pretty good plane food. We traveled Austria airlines home and, well, it was ah-mazing.
Watching the sun rise over the Atlantic Ocean.
Layover in Frankfurt, Germany. Zoe and I saw a castle (painting). In the process, we had several German employees giggling. Goofiness is international.
No. I didn’t get sick. We just wanted to be funny. I don’t get sick on planes, trains, or automobiles. Our family is blessed with no sort of motion sickness (except the dog).
A German McDonald’s Breakfast
My thrill was on the way back in, we had a layover in Newark. We saw New York City out of the plane window and we could see the Statue of Liberty too. That was our first time being that close to New York City.
I’m fairly certain we have created a world traveling addiction in Zoe. This thrills Mark to no end. And I can’t wait to see where her dreams and God take her!
One of the best things about summer time are the blueberries. We don’t have apple trees or pumpkin patches or even public peach picking places (they’re all commercial). But we do have strawberries and blueberries. And we love to pick blueberries every summer. With eight kids, our blueberry picking takes approximately 30 minutes. That is for about 10 lbs of blueberries. We do two trips to ensure we have enough blueberries to last us through the year. I bet my kids wouldn’t mind being hired out as blueberry pickers…for a large fee. It’s hot out there ya’ll.
Anyway, the cost to pick at this local farm is phenomenal and well below what we would pay in a grocery store. That makes this mama’s heart even happier.
Emmie’s first year to actively participate. Translation: She probably ate more than she picked but she was so cute doing it no one would stop her.
Ceili Rain made sure Emmie grabbed the ripe ones.
Bryant decided he needed some shade and donned Emmie’s pink hat.
This girl can pick some berries ya’ll!
Absolutely one of the cutest pictures of the whole day. I love my girls.
