Christmas Letter 2009

Merry Christmas to you! Wow, it’s been more than a year since I updated this blog! That’s only because I now use Facebook instead.

 

We’ve had a wonderful and blessed year in 2009. Our family has continued to bond. It’s hard to believe we went from having 1 child to 5 in 1.5 year’s time! We adopted Sean at birth in January, 2002. He was an only child for 4 years. Then we adopted McKenna and Valerie in 2006 and then Misha and Dima in 2007. 2008 was a bit of a transitional year for us in many ways. But, 2009 has been great.

 

John is working at San Joaquin Figs as their Quality Assurance and Safety Supervisor, though he is also doing some HR and Operations for the company. He enjoys his job and the people he works with. Laurel is still running the non-profit organization called God’s Waiting Children. They do orphan ministries and adoption services in Kazakhstan and Ukraine. God’s Waiting Children is celebrating the adoption of 19 children to their forever families in 2009!!!

 

Here are a few highlights from the year:

 

v     Misha and Dima learned to ski this year.

v     We visited Legoland over Easter break.

v     Sean played baseball.

v     Misha and Dima were baptized!

v     We went to Santa Cruz beach Boardwalk and Monterey Bay Aquarium over Mother’s Day weekend.

v     We took the kids on their first real hike to Twin Lakes over Memorial Weekend.

v     We spent our 10-year anniversary in South Lake Tahoe with the kids.

v     The kids took swimming lessons at Swim America.

v     We took a road trip to Montana for a Boylan family reunion, stopping to camp and see family in Nevada and Idaho.

v     We spent Laurel’s birthday in a little cabin at Edison Lake in the Kaiser Wilderness. We also took the kids into Mono Hot Springs for the first time.

v     The kids and mom went to Wild Water Adventures weekly during the summer.

v     Valerie started kindergarten!!!

v     We went camping at Florence Lake over Labor Day.

v     Misha, Dima and McKenna played soccer.

v     Valerie took Hip Hop dance and McKenna took tap/ballet classes.

v     All 3 boys are involved in Cub Scouts.

v     We rode on a float in the Clovis Electric Light Christmas Parade.

v     Our new puppy was born on Thanksgiving Day and will come home to live with us in the middle of January.

 

Here is a summary of each child.

 

Misha – Misha is 9 and in the third grade. Though he is still one of the smallest kids in his class, he has grown quite a bit this year. Misha is the more sensitive and reserved of all the Boylan kids. He is quite an artist and loves building things with scrap materials. He has a vivid imagination and often serves as the leader of the pack with the other kids. He is sometimes known as “Officer Boylan” due to the fact he obeys all the rules and makes sure others do the same, or he tattle tales! Misha can be moody or pouty at times, though he’s usually happy-go-lucky. Misha’s now reading at a third grade level!!! This is amazing progress considering he did not even speak English at 7 years old! He enjoys school and has many friends. Misha has a bit of a lazy streak when it comes to doing work or chores, but he loves to be given new responsibilities and learn new things.

 

Dima – Dima is 8 and in the second grade. Dima is also very small for his age but catching up quickly! He has endless amounts of energy. He loves life. He wakes up with a smile on his face and a bounce in his step (sometimes a leap!). He goes to bed the same way. Dima is quite impulsive though and often gets in trouble for doing “not so smart” things (like jumping down our porch stairs on his pogo stick or swinging on our open car door – yikes!). He also talks very fast, loudly, and all the time!!! Dima has a wild imagination and loves to do creative play outdoors. He builds things with materials he finds outside and uses a rock as a hammer. Dima is very smart and learns quickly, though he is still behind at school. He is the best worker and “daddy’s helper”. The other kids will help daddy for an hour or so, then get distracted or bored and go do something else. Dima will stick by daddy’s side all day long to help him.

 

Sean – Sean is 7 and in the second grade. He has made AMAZING progress this year in all areas. He has grown several inches to where he towers over our other 4 kids now. Last year they were all very close in height. He has matured and his behavior is much better than prior years. He enjoys being part of his second grade class, but also has the opportunity to work with two special ed teachers for half of his day at school. He is thriving with this personalized plan for his education. He loves school and has learned how to socialize and make friends this year. He has much more confidence in himself and is able to verbalize thoughts and feelings better. He still plays by himself quite a bit at home, rather than playing with his siblings. Sean has become a very caring and thoughtful boy. He is not too big yet to walk hand-in-hand with mom or dad and loves to get hugs and snuggle. Sean still struggles with anger outbursts and defiance issues, but he’s 100% BETTER than he used to be. He loves to jump on the trampoline to burn energy.

 

McKenna – McKenna just turned 7 on Thanksgiving Day and is in the first grade. McKenna is doing GREAT in school. She’s one of the top in her class with math and spelling and she’s right on grade level with reading. McKenna is very competitive in all aspects, which causes her to be “mean”, as the other kids say. She cannot yet play a board game and lose without throwing a crying tantrum and saying mean things about the person who won! She also has a pouty lip that she uses when she’s not happy about something. We captured this is many photos throughout the year, which will be fun to look back on when she’s older! McKenna is very much a “girly girl”!!! She hates to wear pants or tennis shoes. She wants to wear dresses and sandals or boots everyday. Her favorite color is pink. She does not like to be restricted to “first-grade activities”. She’d rather be allowed to get her ears pierced, wear make up, and walk in high heels!!! She blossoms when given new responsibilities. We have to continually stay ahead of her with new challenges in order to channel her competitiveness in a positive way. She would much rather stay in the house and play dolls than go outside with her siblings.

 

Valerie – Valerie just turned 6 on Halloween and is in kindergarten! Valerie is the BEST helper. She wants to help mom, dad, teachers, other students, her siblings, etc. She is extremely sensitive and caring. She loves school and is doing very well. She also still has a very stubborn streak in her and throws the occasional “two-year-old tantrum”, complete with kicking, flailing and screaming at the top of her lungs. We are anxious for her to outgrow this, as it will hamper her chances of keeping a boyfriend in the future. J Valerie is 50% girly girl and 50% Tom boy! She enjoys playing outside and getting dirty. She also likes to wear fancy dresses and bows in her hair. We think she may have a singing talent developing. She is quick to memorize all the words to songs and she loves to sing. Helping mom or dad is her favorite hobby. She craves individual attention, which she gets daily when her siblings are at school. She also says beautiful prayers and seems to grasp religious concepts more than most kids her age.

 

Daily Life

The word that best describes our family is BUSY! We do several hours of homework each night. Each of the kids requires one-on-one assistance with their homework. Add in a Cub Scout meeting, dance lesson, CCD class, or soccer practice and you have a full day. We are determined to sit at home and have a meal together each night, so sometimes we eat at 4:30 and sometimes not until 7, but we’re always together. We feel that is important. The kids are very competitive with each other since they are so close in age. Though they are best friends and play together very well, they also bicker constantly! The best way to solve this is to put each one to work. The kids help put groceries away, fold laundry, take the trash out, feed the dog, and clean the house. They are great workers and do a fantastic job given their age. We try to make chores a family project and have some fun while we’re at it.  We have a “helper of the day” program which the kids enjoy.

 

The kids are at such a fun stage. They are so easily excited by new things and they ask a ton of questions (sometimes too many questions, all at the same time!).  Our car rides get rather interesting to say the least!!! That’s what happens when you don’t allow video games, don’t have t.v. or cable, and make your kids go on long car rides without a movie playing! They are being raised the “old-fashioned” way and so far it’s working well. J

 

From our family to yours, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We are hopeful that many more families will step out in faith to adopt a child (or two) in 2010! May the blessings of this Christmas season bring you joy, peace, and hope. God bless.

 

John, Laurel, Misha, Dima, Sean, McKenna, and Valerie Boylan