My friends the Rieben's are fundraising to bring home 3 more boys. Two are J and S. As part of their fundraising efforts they have a Facebook page with auction items on it. This is one of the things I put together for their auction.
It's a floating locket with a Bulgarian theme.
Maria has been wanting to try wheelchair racing for awhile. I started talking with a few people earlier this fall because the NJDC will be held in July 2014 in Ames, IA. We would love to see Maria have a chance to participate in the games. So, I started asking around and trying to figure out where to start. We were told of GLASA in the Chicago area and that they had a track clinic coming up. We signed up and were excited to see what Maria would think of it.
The clinic was on Saturday from 1-3. The participants were divided into 3 groups, based on age and experience. Maria was in group 1 for youth that were beginners. The first station was sitting/fitting for a racing chair. This takes some time. While Maria and the other kids waited, they got to race in their everyday chairs. Skill and ability varied, but Maria did well.
Finally Maria got fitted for a chair and got to try one out. While this was happen, something unexpected happened. I was talking to one of the coaches and mentioned Maria was from Bulgaria and he told me there was another girl from Bulgaria there too. He called her over. Dana was adopted at 2 and now is 20. She really doesn't have many Bulgarian connections and was so excited to meet us. Her mom and sister were there too. Dana normally is a lead for blind runners. She was in a wheelchair because she had recently has surgery. Her sister is also a wheelchair racer. We exchanged information so that I could help get her connected with other Bulgarian adoptees. By this point, Maria was in a racing chair and trying it out.
According to the GLASA staff and former Paralympic racer Maria is a natural and has the right build for wheelchair racing. In fact heard some real positive things. Maria loved it! She is ready to do more!
After Maria got out of her chair it was time for the nutrition portion of the event. Maria got to make a yummy snack and had a lot of fun. In fact on of the coaches even gave me his card so that we can get training workouts to help her prepare for qualifying! Now onto finding a racing chair. Going to try a couple different groups to see if it can be covered by a grant or at least partially funded. A racing chair starts at $3200! Not sure what I will do if those options don't work out....might need to do a little fundraising for it.
We often go to Chicago area to visit with friends of mine from college. This weekend held a different purpose. Because I knew this weekend we would be there far ahead of time, I asked several other adoptive families if they wanted to join us in the hotel. Two other families took us up on a fun weekend.
Friday night we arrived around 8 and met up with the Weal family. They are adopting a sweet little boy from Maria's orphanage who happens to be blind. I met them through Facebook and it just happened that Maria knew the child they are adopting. Right now they are in between trips and waiting for a court date. We are very excited for their little hoy to come home.
Friday night we spent in the hotel room, us moms talking and our girls on a bed making Raimbow Loom bracelets. They had so much fun! The loom bracelets are a big hit with most girls in the 9-14 age range right now. I have no clue how many bracelets they made, but I know Maria had on 2 to start with and by today had on 6.
Saturday Kim and Nikolas joined us too. They did a little trip to Legoland, but it was super busy from what Kim said. Kim and I got some talking time in too, but her little guy wasn't quite his normal self.
We also spent some time on Saturday with two of my college friends. Nicole stopped by in the morning and we chatted before needing to go to the track clinic and then Andrea and her daughter Scarlett came and spent the night with us. All the kids loved swimming. Maria got to try out a swimming tube....she loved it. I have never seen her look so confident in the water and be willing to be so far away from the side. Of course more loom bracelets were made.
Today brought a quick trip to the Bulgarian market, Malincho. We love this store...most of the adoptive families I know rave about Jungle Jim's in Cinncinatti, but they have nothing on Malincho. Malincho is like shopping at a market in Bulgaria. Today we got fresh banitsa to eat and lots of snack foods including salted stixs, Double croissants and juice too. After that we decided to get lunch at Ave BG, a local BG restaurant. It was good. Maria wanted Bulgarian meatballs of course with peach juice. Others had tarator soup, Shopsak salad, and a yummy chicken dish. While we were out there was quite the storm that hit the area. Some flooding happened on the streets and there were some semi trucks that were getting towed on the interstate that we saw.
For anyone who adopts a school age child, there are many challenges. First the language must come, but it can take 5-7 years for the child to understand the language enough to begin to understand academical language....and in case you are wondering, there is a BIG difference between conversational English and academical English. Last year Maria spent a short time working with an ELL (English Language Learner) teacher. This teacher was focused on the conversational English, not on helping Maria begin to understand the academical English, which is where most ELL struggle. The teacher was not open to preteaching academic words or vocabulary that Maria would be taught in her classroom, which was recommended by the ELL resource at my agency. So, I made the choice to pull Maria out of ELL shortly after parent teacher conferences. I will add that all Maria was doing with the ELL teacher at that point was bringing home note cards with words or phrases on them for us to translate into Bulgarian....yeah, it wasn't really teaching her anything. I knew she had strong teachers last year that would make sure she did well.
This year has been different. Changing classes....different teachers for each class....more homework. I'm not going to lie....homework time is NOT pretty at our house. Most time there are tears...not because she can't do it, but because I won't make it easier for her. I do help her, give her options, talk through things with her, explain how I come to my answer, etc. it is exhausting for both of us at times. Then there is the issue of grades.....well, my perfectionist daughter cries when she gets anything other than an A. In fact she has told me that B's aren't good enough for her. She worked really hard the first quarter. Some of her grades dropped because of testing...specifically testing with vocabulary and matching terms and meaning. But at the end of the day Maria came home with 5 As and 3 Bs. She made the A honor roll! This is without having work modified for her or getting extra help. I couldn't be more pleased and proud of her.
A few weeks ago when we were at the hospital for Maria's appointments we went to a Greek/Mediterranean place for lunch. Maria had a lamb gyro and loved it! Claiming it tasted like Bulgarian meatballs (which really aren't in the shape of balls). I mentioned it to my mom that Maria liked lamb. Well, my dad took a hold of that information and went out seeking for some lamb meat for his granddaughter (anyone want to guess who has grandpa wrapped around her little finger?). Well, my dad located some lamb and he and mom made some plans to make some Bulgarian meatballs today. I found some recipes (we ended up using one from a Bulgarian cook book I have, with a few modifications). When Maria found out yesterday what grandma was going to try making for her she was ecstatic and cheerfully exclaimed "Good Grandma!" Today Maria helped my mom with making the Bulgarian treat and exclaimed it tasted as good as the Bulgarian ones!
So, here is how to make them:
1 lb ground beef and 1 lb ground lamb mixed
1 onion (finely chopped or grated)
1t salt
1t pepper
1t garlic powder (you could use fresh garlic if you have it)
2t cumin
3/4 cup dried parsley (you could use fresh)
Make into patties and grill
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