May 2008
Michael is looking forward to finalizing his adoption.
Although we are in weekly contact with our attorney no date
has been set for his adoption. Once Michael is officially
adopted he will be able to get a passport and go on cruises
with Grandma Sue. More than anything Michael want to be able
to travel so getting his passport is a huge goal.
In the meantime Michael continues to struggle to keep up in
high school. While his test scores show Michael has an above
average intelligence quite often his moods affect his
production level. Once Michael gets behind in a particular
class it is very difficult from him to get motivated to
catch-up. Currently we are in close contact with Michael's
special education team at school to try to get him caught up
enough to pass all of his classes this year. With LOTS of
encouragement and support we are hopeful Michael will get
all of his credits this semester!
February 2008
Michael has been rehearsing with the Shane's Club choir for two upcoming events where the group will be performing. Michael enjoys singing and was quite involved with singing and performing while living in a Kazakhstan orphanage. Michael has not shown much interest in taking voice lessons or joining any other choir groups. Michael continues to take guitar lessons weekly however. Michael has also returned to the Young Marines and is now participating on a regular basis. Michael took a 6-month break but with lots of encouragement he has agreed to return to the program. It takes a lot of prompting from us for Michael to stick with anything extra curricular. Generally he is very gung-ho in the beginning but quickly loses his enthusiasm. Michael seems to sabotage himself whenever he is starting to be successful in any project or activity, school included. We are hopeful that with encouragement and some pushing we can get Michael past his inclination to sabotage himself. Michael is a bright and talented teenager and we would like to see him stick with something long enough to develop his talents.
November 2007
Michael is really maturing. He has gone from greasy middle school student to well-dressed and well-groomed freshman! It seems like the change just happened over night! It used to be days in between a shower, even with lots of prompting and encouragement but now Michael is up every morning and in the shower. Michael is looking so handsome, check out the black dress shirt and red tie, no wonder he has a few girls at school asking for hugs! Academically Michael continues to best when pushed and encouraged by Ivan!
Michael enjoyed his 15th birthday by celebrating with a dinner of Chinese food then going to Universal Studios "Fright Night" with Nikolai, Javier, Ivan, George, and Phillip. He had a great time!
September 2007
Michael had an interesting summer vacation. He attended a number of summer camps. Michael seemed to enjoy the Catalina Sea Camp the most. Michael spent three weeks in Catalina learning how to snorkel, fish, sail, and surf. Camp near the ocean seemed to suit Michael just fine. He was quite tan and looked like he grew a foot when we picked-up the boys after three weeks! Michael also went to Camp Bravo and Sports Camp. Michael said he liked each camp for a different reason and says he looks forward to returning next summer. Michael recently started high school and loves it. Michael has already met A LOT of girls and attended two dances! Michael says "high school is way better than middle school!" I swear something magical changed over summer, Michael went from a greasy unkempt eighth grader to a well-groomed girl-crazy freshman in high school! Hmmmm, this year should be interesting...
April 2007
Michael is starting to really enjoy the Young Marines. He was made a squad leader and takes this role very seriously. After two new recruit encampments and participating in several regular day activities with the Young Marines program Michael is excited to graduate! If Michael gets to graduate, the graduation will take place on May 19, 2007. We have already seen an increased maturity level with Michael, as well as, an overall increase in his general politeness and compliance. The Saddleback Young Marine program just might be the ticket to help Michael transition from middle school to high school smoothly!
February 2007
Michael is enjoying his guitar lessons and practicing with his ice skating team. He has been very successful with these activities. Michael is losing some of his enthusiasm for basketball though. Michael has not felt as capable playing basketball as the other boys on his team. It is very hard to convince Michael to attend practice or participate in the games. Luckily the season will be over next month. Michael is typically like that, he needs to be pushed to continue with a an activity where he feels less competent then the others. At first Michael is very enthusiastic about trying a new activity or sport. He is eager to participate until the activity starts to get increasing difficult or competitive. Then Michael avoids the activity at any cost. It seems that guitar lessons are going well because Michael is not competing with anyone and the lessons are moving exactly at Michael's pace. Ice skating is successful because Michael is very skilled on the ice from years of experience in Kazakhstan. We continue to find non-threatening and non-competitive activities while encouraging Michael to stick with an activity, even when the activity becomes difficult.
December 2006
Michael joined a basketball team through the Pacific Hoops program this season.
Thanks to a monthly donation from Blanche Swintek, Michael not only actively participates in the after school sports program but he also received a brand new basketball!
He likes going to practices and is really enjoying the games. Michael's team has played against Val's team at least once so far. The boys are very competitive, and so far Michael's team is ahead. We will see how the rest of the season goes. Michael continues to be interested in the Young Marines program and is looking forward to the next training camp for new recruits.
October 2006
Michael enjoyed two birthday parties this month. He went out to dinner with mom and several of his brothers. Michael also went to Knott's Berry Farm's Halloween Haunt with a few more brothers later in the week. Michael loves a party, especially when it is his own! Hard to believe that Michael is already 14-years-old. He has grown so much both physically and emotionally since he joined our family almost two years old. During a recent IEP meeting Michael's teachers reported that Michael was doing very well academically and had shown much more mature and age-appropriate behavior at school this year. We were excited to hear all of the positive comments from school staff and to learn that Michael was requiring less special education support this school year.
July 2006
Michael is enjoying his summer. He is rotating between
relaxing at home, going to our local water parks and going
to summer camps. While Michael still enjoys having his
space, he has improved his ability to "keep his cool" in
stressful situations. When Michael joined our family he was
very aggressive and had a very short fuse. He was easily
bothered by other people especially his peers and his
brothers. After a year and a half, Michael has made huge
strides. Michael is much better able to use his words to
communicate his frustration. Michael has also developed his
own strategies of dealing with his anxiety and short temper
including going for long bike rides by himself. We are proud
of Michael's growth and look forward to watching him
continue to mature.
March 2006
Michael (13) is growing like crazy, both physically and emotionally! Today, Grandma Sue and Michael had to go shopping to replace all of Michael's pants. Michael has grown almost two sizes since he first joined the family. We were once worried about Michael's small size and almost frail stature. Not having any background or information about Michael's biological family we had no idea if Michael's small frame was caused by genetics or a medical condition.
After almost a year and a half Michael is physically making changes. Although he continues to be very thin, Michael is starting to shoot up in height. Michael's health continues to need monitoring but so far this year he has remained healthy. We are happy to Michael grow a little and, of course, Michael was delighted.
Michael still to need lots of encouragement to be kind to his brothers. Michael, however, is starting to share his personal possessions with the other boys more freely. Michael is also much more able to walk away from a situation that might annoy him rather than get into a fight. We are excited that Michael is able to make some better choices about his behavior and is beginning to develop more positive relationships with other family members.
January 2006
Michael would love to
receive e-mail
