Hi there!  I don’t know if anyone is still checking in here but if so I thought I would post some great videos of Karina that I have finally had a chance to download.  Hope you enjoy them.

Also, last year about a month after Karina and I got home from Kazakhstan we visited our first carnival.  The first ride we went on was the carousel.  This year, the same carnival set up in the same mall parking lot and of course we had to go again.  I have posted some videos of Karina riding the rides this year and last year.  My girl is growing up so fast.

Well, this last weekend marked a real milestone.  Karina came to me with a crayon and a piece of paper and asked me to write out some words.  So, I told her that I would help her sound out some words.  I wrote down the word H..A..T and she sounded it out and said…..Hat.  So we tried it again with CAT.  Again she was able to sound out the word.  One more try and we did MAT.  Success again.  She then spent twenty minutes asking me to write out words like blanket, flower, picture, etc.  I would exaggerate the sounds and she would name the letter.  Very impressive.  Very exciting stuff.  Karina is almost counting to 50 by herself now.  She makes on average two to three mistakes between the number one and the number fifty.  We are going to try and get to one hundred before September. 

Karina loves to have me read her books.  We go to the library every two weeks and get about a dozen books.  About a week ago, I watched as Karina sat down and paged through about twenty of her books all on her own.  She was engrossed in what she was doing for nearly an hour – a miracle record for her to play by herself uninterrupted.  This week we will go and get some truly easy readers and see if she can master a few of them by herself.  Will be posting pictures and video from Karina’s dance recital a few weeks ago later tonight.  Very cute stuff.  Right now I need to go help Karina fill the watering can to water our vegetable garden.  Will post some pictures of the little gardener.  Then we go bicycle riding.

This post is dedicated to Sandi who is about to travel!!!  For all of you who know about Sandi and the trials she has been through over the last two years please say a small prayer that everything goes smooth as silk for her.

I do find it interesting to say that during the first attempt when Sandi was at about the same point in the adoption process as I was I found her to have an incredible amount of patience and fortitude.   When everyone around her in blogland was freaking out she was as calm as a cucumber and not easily upset with the delays and waiting.  I remember thinking to myself that the process was so difficult for some people because maybe they needed to endure certain hardships and learn from the experiences thereby gaining knowledge that can only come from surviving difficult times.  For Sandi that seemed to not be the point since she seemed to endure everything with style, calm and grace. 

Later, after returning from the first trip to Kaz I heard from Sandi of her troubles.  When I realized that she was going to still pursue a Kazakhstan adoption I realized that maybe her experience would also be a test of her perserverance and endurance however since she was already equipped with a large amount of these qualities her test was obviously going to have to be much harder than most. 

Well, in true Sandi fashion she has managed to last the extended time and has remained in relatively good spirits considering what she has been through.  So, here is to Sandi the last family in the making listed on my blog links to travel.  May your journey be smooth and as incredible as can be.  Your time has finally come!

As requested by Suzanne I am posting  recent pictures of Karina and some taken more than a year ago when we first met.  Here they are.

Today was Karina’s birthday.  She turned five years old!   It was a truly special day!  Last night Karina got to sleep with Mommy!  This morning when she woke up I sang her Happy Birthday!!!  Then I made her a special treat breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes!!  Aaahhh the sugar binge begins.  LOL.  Then we got the car packed up for her birthday.  After an early nap we got into the car and picked up the balloons and cake.  Then with cake, pinata, balloons and birthday girl in tow we arrived at Airtastic.  It was a huge warehouse sized space filled with fun jumping, climbing and sliding bounce apparatus.  Karina and her ten friends (and their parents) had a blast.  After a while we went and changed into our party dress and had pizza and cake.  Then came the pinata.  Thanks to John Pinner who held up the pinata that wouldn’t break!!!!  Finally, after eviscerating the pinata we turned it upside down and shook the candy out.  It worked fine, the kids didn’t know the difference.  Then we made a mad dash to rip open presents.  The good part of having a party at a place like this is that the mess stays there.  The bad part is that the schedule is very tight!!!  It was fun but hurried and overall I think the kids had fun and it was just the right length….two hours.  Karina had a very good time and looked beautiful in her party dress.

Hi all!  I know it has been a long time since I have posted.  Sorry about that.  Wanted to post some great shots of

Karina taking cupcakes into her preschool classroom.  She was very excited about it.  I can’t believe that my little girl is going to be five.  I have to say that becoming a mother has been the single most incredible experience of my life.  I don’t think there is anything I could ever do that would equal how wonderful it has been to have this little girl in my life.  The last shot is of Karina sleeping.  She has all of these doll clothes in a little cardboard dresser by her bed and one night I went upstairs after she had fallen asleep and saw this.  She had taken a red baby doll sweater and had put it on her head.  I laughed so hard!  She looked so funny and of course, I had to get a shot of it.  Stay tuned for more photos of Karina celebrating her 5th birthday and the first one in America!!!

Christmas was absolutely great!!  Karina really enjoyed it all.  I think she wasn’t fully convinced that Santa was going to come but when she came downstairs and saw her stocking full and the cookies gone and presents under the tree her face just lit up with surprise and happiness.  Very, very cute….I of course spent the evening before wrapping presents and trying to put together a drum set that came without any of its nuts, bolts, or screws….that was fun.  Here are some pictures.

Here is the first photo of Karina with the big guy in red and white.  She was mesmerized.  Very cute stuff.  Karina and I just made cookies for Santa and are waiting for them to cool before we put them on Santa’s plate.  We will be pouring him a glass of milk soon…hope he isn’t lactose intolerant. 

Karina just experienced her first Halloween.  It actually all started a week ago when she attended the park district’s Halloween party fundraiser.  She was able to dress up, use the obstacle course, and play all the games.  She was so excited about the candy and would run back with each piece she got to put it in her bag.  Mommy caved on the sugar and let her have several pieces right there.   Enjoy the pictures and I will try and get some videos up by the end of the week!

Yesterday, was the six month anniversary of the day I picked up Karina at the babyhouse and we started our new life together as a family. I can hardly believe it was a whole six months ago. And that it was nearly eight months ago that we met each other for the first time. Time surely does fly. Karina has grown straight up more than three inches in six months. She has only put on four pounds and has lost most of her little toddler belly that she had. She is beginning to really look like a big girl now and I can’t believe how many physical changes I have witnessed in her since February. She is so much fun to be around. She has the best sense of humor and we are a good match because we are both silly and giggly. Her teachers at preschool, in ballet class, and gymnastics all seem to really like her because she has such an infectious and charming personality.

Yesterday, I pulled out the pair of leggings that I had bought for her in Kazakhstan and gave to her at the babyhouse – the ones that were too big and didn’t fit – well they fit her now! I went to put them on her and she looked down at them and up at me and said, “Remember momma, the groupa? You gave me these at the groupa.” I was floored that she remembered the leggings that I bought for her. I told her that yes I remembered them. Then she said, “Thank you for these, Mama.” What a great kid huh? I hugged and kissed her for nearly five minutes. I remember all the books, and articles and advice about adoption telling the PAPs to not expect their child to be grateful…but the truth is Karina acts grateful all the time and looks at me with gratitude in her eyes for so many things….and in turn I look at her in the same way, I am so grateful to have been so blessed by such a wonderful child. We are both very grateful at the Sharify house.

I really look at Karina as a reward from God, being matched with a child with such personality, depth, intelligence and doing so while traveling blind, to me is a gift and confirmation that I have been on the right road all these years. I know we all get signs of one sort or another but Karina is like a blazing billboard in neon blinking lights.

I have been motivated so much by this little girl. I seriously know I could rope the moon and pull it down if it means her life would be better. I have always been a motivated person but now with her here I am steadfastly determined to do everthing humanly possible to create a stable comfortable life for her so she never again experiences hardships of any kind.

Karina has learned so much English and has basically become totally Americanized at this point. She is a happy little girl with just tons of energy. Here are some pictures, the first four were taken during the first week I met Karina and the rest were taken recently. You’ve come a long way baby!!!