Fast and Furious

The last two months have been a fast and furious ride. My last post was just a couple of weeks after school had started and we have finished up the first semester. Laina has done amazingly well in school. She tries really hard and is very diligent in getting her homework done. Sometimes I do wonder if she really comprehends it all, but if I look back to my Jr. High days, I really don't remember it all and I knew the language.
One Monday I picked her up from school and she was excited to show and tell me what had happened. She had been called down to the principals office, she was very nervous, she had no idea why, but she was presented with the award of 'The 8th grade Terrific Kid of the Month'. She got some prizes, like a soda, chips, candy, T-shirt, water bottle, frisbee, etc., a certificate and a nice letter.
It said, "The 8th grade team would like to select Laina as this month's Terrific Kid. She has been going through a lot of changes with learnig English and getting used to new cultural traditions. In spite of these challenges, seh comes ready to learn and understand each day. She is always pleasant to the other students and her teachers. She strivesto do her best, and she has been doing a great job in all of her classes.
"When I nominated her, I mentioned the look of concentration that Laina gets when she doesn't understand. Before I could mention the smile and 'dawn of understanding' that crosses her face when she puts it all together - three other teachers finished the sentence for me! She loves to learn about every subject!~ She has an inquiring mind combined with artistic talent and good people skills."

A couple of days after the last post, Cort got engaged to Janelle. It was fun to help him plan the day and be involved in it, and to know she had no clue of what was happening. It had been fun to watch him fall in love, being happy, and the stress of how and when to ask her. She is a great young lady and we are thrilled with her to join our family. Actually, she has already joined, they were married on Sat. Nov. 10th. They had a short, 9 week engagement. they didn't want to compete with the holidays and it was a beautiful day. Lots of work, but lots of fun, it turned out beautiful. The dinner party the night before at Brooke and Matt's house, with food from Bajio, turned out fun and very nice. The ceremony at the Salt Lake Temple and then the reception at the Officers Club at Fort Douglas. It was fun to plan because we are good friends with Janelles fam. Her mom is one of my dearest friends - now we are related.

I was also involved during this time with helping with another group of orphans that came to be hosted from Ukraine. 45 kids came this year, many from the same Internat that Laina was in. It was fun to see her friends, and her music teacher. It was a wonderful opportunity for me to participate in and meet some wonderful families and make some dear friends. It was awesome to watch as these families and children participated in the hosting experience for 17 days. It is amazing that it has been a year since we were hosting and tomorrow it will be 7 months that we have been home with Laina.

Also, during this fast and furious time, we had some more difficult news to deal with. Steve's younger sister was diagnosed with cancer the beginning of September and passed away shortly after on October 23. She will be deeply missed. She was only 41 and had so many things going for her. The love her and her husband had for each other was very strong. It was difficult to have it be so quick, but also I suppose a blessing that she did not need to suffer physically for more than she did. I have definitely witness how Heavenly Father comforts us during difficult times.

The other kids are doing well. Lexi, my bio baby, turns 16 next week. I think I am in denial and am not quite ready for that. I love her so much and she is such an awesome girl! so talented, such a joy, I don't give her the credit she deserves. She is anxiously waiting for us to get Cort's room cleaned out, so she can have her own room again.

I gotta go - too much to still get caught up on. I will try to add some pictures soon.