Back to School!

Wow is all I can say!

School has started here in Alabama and we are at it full force. Becca is playing volleyball for the school and Drake is playing pee wee football for the school (Layne is coaching), and I am homeschooling Luke and Alexandra. Our days are full. It has been quite a transisiton from lazy days where no one but Alex needed much of me, to days where I need to spend time with Luke and shuffle kids to activities. I would love to say it has all gone smoothly, but this week we have noticed a bit of regression in Alexandra. Everything she is doing points to needing more attention though, so I am trying to carve out time for more one on one with her as well as teaching her she CAN do things on her own. She did a funny thing yesterday that just screamed "I want to know you see that I need you!" While I was cooking dinner, she went on the patio and shut the door. She started banging on the door like she was locked out, then when it pushed open she pulled it shut again and continued yelling. After a few minutes of this (I was in the middle of cutting raw chicken and could see she was fine and could come in at any time) Luke couldn't take anymore and went to open the door, thinking she really was locked out. She yelled at him and pushed him away and shut the door again and began yelling for me again. It was at this point, I knew the game and knew she needed to know I wanted to help her. It is funny now, but was exhausting yesterday!

The English continues to get better and better and there isn't much she doesn't understand us saying. She still uses a mixture, but wants to say the English words and made the 'f' sound today for the first time. Her newest phrase is "I lub you mucho!" It makes our hearts melt every time! We will do an audiology test to make sure her hearing is ok, but she has some fluid on the ear that we need to dry up before the test so we will have accurate results. (I think we have spent too much time in the pool and in the lake this summer!)

Alex is loving 'school at the house' as she calls it in spanish and loves to do worksheets and cut and glue. Luke is great with wanting to encourage her and help her and I can already see her picking up some of those school readiness skills. Luke is easy to teach as well as he just soaks it all up. The only problem with him will be keeping up with him as he wants to dig deeper and do projects for every subject. (One of the main reasons I am homeschooling him) She is having trouble understanding why we have to wait in line to pick up Drake after school and why we can't 'vamos'! The same goes for when we are driving. When we stop at a red light, she wants us to keep going. We try to explain about the lights, but she grows very impatient! I am guessing she spent enough time driving around in Peru to think no one follows the signs or stops for anything. (ha ha...sorry my Peruvian friends, but you know you all drive CRAZY!)

Becca and Drake continue to wow their friends with their spanish skills and leave everyone wondering what they really said. I wish I could be afly on the wall at school some days...then, on the other hand, maybe not!

Becca is officially in high school now and is loving it, yet is bummed that her summer birthday will make her the last of her class mates to get her driving permit. Layne and I are just fine with that though.

Drake is in 6th grade and is enjoying being the oldest class on the hall this year. They are growing up way too fast!

I know it will be a good school year and the time will fly. It will take being very intentional to stay focused on what is really important and to keep priorities in order. Hope everyone else has a great start to their school year as well!

Where does the time go?

It is hard to believe it is already August. School starts in 2 days and the last couple of weeks have flown by. Doctor appointments, swim team, back to school shopping, constant water hose play in the yard. Summer is coming to a close. Alexandra is settling in and is now falling asleep by herself. Staying asleep all night is a different story, but we are taking it one day at a time. We did have her follow up at the International Adoption Clinic this week. Medically she is still great. (Except for the ear infection that we suspected, but weren't sure about because she had no fever and never complained about it...even when I tugged on it. Ouch!) We will continue to work on her speech and school readiness skills. It is interesting, as people have been speaking to her in spanish this week, she looks at me to interpret for her. I think she is losing the spanish as she is understanding more and more of what we are saying. As badly as we wanted her to keep the spanish, we want her to have English more. Language doesn't seem to come quickly for her, so we are praying down the road the Spanish will be easy to pick up again.

Her spirit continues to amaze us as she haa fun with everything. She loves to dance and listen to music. We can get her to do just about anything if we put it to song! More trips on the boat, dressing up to play, play dates with new friends...there is nothing she doesn't like. Ok, so except for going to the doctor, but who does like that? I have posted pics with this entry of her just being Alex. The green dress she is wearing in 2 of them is a Peruvian dress we bought for her in Peru. The pic with Layne is while we are waiting at the International Adoption Clinic in Birmingham.

She has added so much joy to our already crazy, yet joyous lives. Thank you for allowing us to share our joy with you!

Stone Mountain

Our nephew who lives in California was going to be in Atlanta for a week before coming here for a weekend visit. So that the boys could have more boy time, we went early to pick him up and bring him back to Alabama for a few days before his mom and dad and little brother and sister came. We hadn't been to Atlanta, other than airport runs, in over a year so we decided to spend the day.

The day started with all of us (the 6 of us, my sis in law, our nephew Ryan and Jessica and Jacob (younger cousins) eating lunch at Chick Fil A. As if the excitement of having a person her size eating with her wasn't enough, the giant cow made an appearance. She made a bee line for him and hugged him like crazy yelling "Grande Vaca". Quite funny. I pulled her off of him so she could eat lunch and we thought that was the end of it. When we went out to the playground there he came again. This time, after having chocolate milk and a few fries for lunch, Alex was revved up and ready to go. She grabbed his hands to dance, she pulled herself up on him and then grabbed his leg and wouldn't let go. That was all before she discovered his tail. That provided much more entertainment/torture for the Chick-Fil-A worker. He/she was a good sport, but we do wonder what all those around us thought. The only bummer was I didn't have my camera or better yet a video camera. It was hilarious.

From there we went to Stone Mountain. We toured one of the small museums where one side is a scientific description as to how it was formed (up Luke's alley) and a video of the Civil War Battle of Georgia (up Drake's alley). The girls all humored the boys and Becca and I entertained Alex in the foyer during the end of the movie. While I went to the bathroom though, Alex got away from Bec and got behind the counter to torment the park worker with one of her "HOLA"s in his face. I am thinking we should put a warning sign on her.

We did hike up the back side of the mountain (over a mile hike) up to the top. It is so beautiful and the kids did great. Alex even made it most of the way. At the very top, it gets very steep and Layne had to carry her at that point. Once at the top we enjoyed the cool breeze and the view and relished our accomplishment. Of course getting down wasn't nearly as tasking and once we were in the car, we decided we were done for the day.

It was great and we were all ready to get home. Alex started asking for her casa (house) about 4ish and got a little ansy towards the end of the 3 hour drive. All in all she did very well and we figured it was a good precursor to a real overnight road trip at some point.

Oh, the rain!

It has been so nice to have a summer with so much rain. The yard is green, the lake is up. It is so nice compared to those summers with crunchy grass and no lake ramps, because the water is too low. Alex loves the rain as well. One morning we sat on the back deck (under the patio cover) and watched all the lightning and listened to the thunder as a huge morning thunderstorm came in. She liked it and jumped in my lap with every big bang of thunder. She would say "Lowwwd". I tried to teach her thunder,but she stuck with "lowwd. I told her that was Dios (God) and she shouted "Mas, Dios! Mas, Dios!" (More, God! More, God) It was priceless. After He blessed us with another big bang, we shouted, "Bravo, Dios!" It was such a great morning.

Another afternoon as rain moved in, she decided to run out and play with the boys in it...clothes and all. (Don't worry, this was just a shower...no lightning or thunder.) She splashed and liked the feel of the water on her face. Yet another awesome moment for the Trosper family. The boys even paused their water gun fight to lay in the big puddle in our driveway with her.

It is so fun to watch all these occurances in her. I wish I had a special camera to look into her mind, but watching her face will suffice and I think her smiles says a good bit!

Eye Appointment!

Well today we went to an opthamologist in Birmingham who was highly recommended to us for Alexandra. What we found out was good news. She does have a detatched scarred retina in her right eye, but does have peripheral vision in that eye. Her left eye is near sighted, easily treated with glasses. He said there is no reason to see why she will have any trouble seeing to read and later on to drive. Praise God! He did say that the vision loss in her right eye is due to prematurity and is not correctable. We did receive a new prescription for her glasses and plan to go get some stylish ones that will stay on better. While she really doesn't need them now since she isn't reading yet, he did say they would be good for protection for her good eye since she has 'all of her eggs in one basket' concerning her sight.

All in all Alexandra did well during the visit. She was petrified they were going to pinch her (give her a shot) and when she realized there were no needles, she calmed a bit. Also when the doctor spoke spanish to her, you could see her ease up and let him completely check her eyes! What a blessing it all was!

Becca turns 14!

It is hard to believe our oldest turned 14 on July 8th! We celebrated while we were in Birmingham and we will celebrate with her friends once everyone is back in town from camps, etc. She is so mature for her age and shows so much wisdom and discernment. We are so blessed!

Alexandra was pleased to celebrate Bec's birthday with cake and candles. She loves a good celebration.

We did make it through 2 trips to the lab for blood to be drawn. She definitely doesn't enjoy needles and gets quite scared. Even with a handful of tootsie rolls, we screamed through both times. The second time I did take the other kids and let Becca sit next to her while I held her. Even with both of us there, she hollared for her brothers, hoping they would rescue her. I know the lab techs at Maxwell were glad that was over (as were we!)

We were able to get an appointment in Bham for her eyes in a couple of weeks, so it will be very interesting to see what they say!

Our days continue to be fairly slow! We try to get to the pool at our friend's house quite often, or have play time in the water in the yard!

Friday was our first really busy day as we headed to the lab for bloodwork, went to a luncheon for Layne with his work, had a visit from Allison from Lifeline and then went to house church that night. She did amazingly well with everything, but we did see more of her indeiscriminate behavior at the restaraunt for Layne's luncheon. As we were leaving, she got away from us for a moment and walked behind a man as he was bringing his food up to his mouth and she grabbed his arm and shouted "HOLA!". He just looked at us as his wife just laughed out loud. As I looked around I saw many at different tables witnessing this and smiling. I thought about explaining, but thought it best to just to scoop Alex up, say "I'm sorry" and head out.

She did reasonably well at house church as well and our friends were so kind and patient with us as we asked them to help to send her to us when she went to them for attention and affection. She is getting better and better with each day at coming to us for that attention. She couldn't resist running into our friend's arms however as she was worshipping with her hands raised while on the floor with her child. Alex just knew that was our friend looking for a hug. It was so cute! It was wonderful to hear her say 'Halleluia' along with us! It sounds wonderful in any language! It was so great to have some much needed fellowship.

This weekend has been more swimming and playing. and as I type this, Alexandra stands here in a "ballerina" outfit looking at pictures of us from Peru. She remembers all of our friends we met while there as well as her friends from New Life.

God still continues to remind us of His unconditional love for us. It is nothing we do that earns His love, just as it is nothing Alexandra does to earn ours. We love her like our own, because she is our child. Such a great picture of how God loves us, because we are His, not because of anything we do!

Settling In!

Wow! We have been home over 2 weeks now. It just seems crazy. We have still been laying pretty low with the occasional outing. We did take Bec and her friend to lunch and shopping and that went well and her trip to the doctor here went well, too. She did have to get 2 shots that she was not too happy about, but all in all it went well. Painting, puzzles, and Dora are her favorite things right now, besides torturing Petey the dog. Though it took a bit for her to warm up to him, she now won't leave him alone and we find him hiding under the bed most afternoons.

For the Fourth we headed out to the lake on Friday and Sunday and she loved every minute of it. She rode in the tube again and swims like a fish. She was also very patient while Drake and Luke practiced getting up on skis and while Becca and I skiied. It was a wonderful weekend! We didn't do a big fireworks show as we weren't sure how that would go, so we cooked out here and ate outside (which she loves to do!) and did our own fireworks in front of our house! She laughed and thought they were "bonita!"

Everytime we experience something new, we are amazed as to how Alexandra reacts so postively! She had her first real mall trip today as we explored the Galleria in Birmingham for great deals in honor of Becca's 14th birthday! She liked riding in the stroller which made for easier shopping, however getting out of the Disney store without one of every princess dress was a bit more difficult!

We were in Birmingham today for Alex's appointment at the International Adoption Clinic. Everything went well and it put us at ease to know most of the behaviors we are wondering about are perfectly normal! We will go tomorrow for a bunch of lab work. I am going stocked with tootsie rolls and gum, as needles are NOT Alex's favorite things!

Sleeptime is still our struggling point. As you can imagine, as the day winds down and it gets quiet and still, lots of thoughts run through her head and it is very hard for her to wind down. It is getting better each night, though I do have to lay with her until she falls asleep. The kids still are being patient during this wild time. I know God will bless them for their patience and love.

Alexandra is a constant reminder to us of God's unfailing love towards us...it isn't based on what we do or who we are. When we are His children He loves us despite our pushing away, despite our crummy attitudes. His love is unconditional and He holds us tight, continuing to pursue us and woo us to Him!