The Dunkle Family Six

Wow! Where is the time going? I have had great intentions of updating our blog, but something else like life keeps getting in my way! We are all doing great though and Shay seems to be adjusting remarkably well!

She has the sweetest personality and is very "go with the flow." The language barrier has been virtually non-existent from the beginning. She is very patient in trying to get her point across. She will use other words or hand motions to explain what she means or as a last resort will get her iPad and use iTranslate. She has never been upset or angry at us for not understanding her. In fact, we have yet to see her angry. We all need to take a few lessons from her!

Shay and Emily continue to be joined at the hip. They love and adore one another so much. I love to just listen to them talk and play. I know at some point they will have the typical sibbling squabbles, but so far, they are the best of friends. They are so kind and polite with one another and are very protective of each other. If one bumps the other one, you can be sure an, "I'm sorry" from one and, "it's ok" from the other will quickly follow. Shay is so very patient with Emily too which I think is the reason the girls get along so well. I overheard her talking to Emily a few nights ago in the tub when they were obviously disagreeing over sharing a tub toy:

Shay: (whispering) It's ok, Emily. Take turns. You take turn. Shay take turn. Don't be sad. Ok?
Emily: (sad voice) But, I really want a turn now.
Shay: Emily had turn. Now Shay turn. Ok?? Don't be sad. Take turns. Ok??
Emily: (voice sounding a little happier) Ok.
Emily: (after a few seconds, quietly)....Ok. I love you, Shay.
Shay: I love you too, Emily.

Can you stand the sweetness?! And, no...I didn't add words to make that sound cuter...that is seriously the conversations that we hear all the time around here!

What a difference 2 1/2 months makes. Bathtime in China was some of our roughest moments- Shay was seriously a danger to herself and everyone around her at that time. She tries so hard now to be a good listener and do what is right. She compliments herself a lot when she knows she has done a good job and asks us to compliment her too. "Good Job, Shay," she says. Yes, sweet girl.....very good job!

Our house is full of girl giggles and laughter and we all just love it. I always get asked how the boys are doing with their sisters. They love them just as if they were always a part of our family. The boys are often curled up with one of the girls in the evening, or playing hide and seek with one another, or being a human jungle gym for both of them at the same time. My sweetest moments are watching them all playing or snuggling together. It makes me teary eyed right now just picturing it. Adding another sibling never divides the love.....it grows it. Yes, it has changed our family dynamics, and yes, there are some things that are more difficult now, but it's for a season as our family continues to bond together. There's nothing sweeter than walking around the corner and seeing our girls grinning and whispering secrets into each other's ears, or listening to Seth help his sisters with their iPad apps, or seeing Kyle feed Emily a few more bites of food when she hasn't eaten enough. Those moments make all the challenges and difficulties worthwhile!

Shay is very willing to try new foods and now seems to like almost everything. For the first couple of weeks, it was tough because although she was very good about trying new foods and taking a bite, she really didn't like much of anything, and was living on tomatoes and oranges. In fact the poor girl ate so many, she has no desire to eat them now! We were literally going through 16 pounds of oranges a week!! One of her toughest moments was likely over being hungry and just plain tired of our American food. She has made so much progress! She likes meat and seafood, eggs, strawberries, corn on the cob, and sweet potatoes the best...as of this week! :)

Our big news is that Shay started school 2 weeks ago.

First day of First grade!!

With much deliberation and lots of prayer, we decided to enroll her in public school in the 1st grade. Our boys are homeschooled, so it was a very difficult decision for us. Our boys were in public school until 6th grade for our oldest, and 3rd for our youngest. Due to many factors, we made the decision to homeschool them using a DVD driven program, and have been doing so for 5 years. They do their work independently and we facilitate making sure their work is complete and help answer questions just like we would if they brought homework home. The DVD program we use works well for us as we are certainly not teachers and my husband works from home and I work full time. But, homeschooling a younger child is much different and it would require a whole different type of curriculum to teach Shay who is considered an ELL (English Language Learner). Emily goes to a local preschool Mon., Wed., and Fridays from 9-2:30, so Shay was used to seeing Emily come and go as well. While I was home for two months to help with bonding and attachment (thanks to my wonderful and supportive colleagues- thank you, Laurel Eye!!), we did workbooks, Hooked on Phonics, watched Leap Frog phonics videos, and did numerous apps on the iPad to work on Shay's language. She was very eager to learn and wanted to work very hard to speak English. She was reading basic books and was talking non-stop. However, I had to return to work part time the last 2 weeks of January, and this week was my first full week back to work. So, with much prayer, we met with our school who was extremely accommodating, and made the decision to enroll her. Not surprisingly, she has done great and has a wonderful teacher! Here she is reading her sight words for the week with a silly sister in the background!: (I think you have to be on a computer to watch the videos)

She is making lots of friends and loves to tell us about her day when we pick her up. She is so brave and is adapting to school well. She can still get quite loud and has to be reminded to use her "inside" voice, but has done amazingly well. We had 4 days of schedule changes in a row (three 2-hour delays and a school cancellation) due to the weather, and during those days she was sad in the evenings and mornings about attending school saying that it was "hard." I can't even imagine. Although her language is exploding and she is doing so well, it's a LOT for her to process (put yourself in a Chinese classroom for a day by yourself....no wait.. and be 7 years old and be expected to behave, act appropriately, etc). It has to be exhausting for her some days. But, she obviously does much better with a set schedule and has done fine the last several days. In fact yesterday she kept urging me to drive faster! She couldn't get to school fast enough! We are so proud of her, and are amazed at the things she is learning and doing already. She was determined after the first day of school to learn the Pledge of Allegiance so she could say it like her classmates. She practiced and practiced and within 3-4 days had it almost entirely memorized!

She can be a bit of a perfectionist, and we worried that the stress of the other kids knowing more than her would cause behavior issues or meltdowns at school, but she has done great and seems to be handling it well so far. We are so appreciative of her teacher and classmates for making her transition go so smoothly.

She was so proud of her snowman! She loves to write words and asked me to spell several words so she could write them on her snowman!

I was a little concerned that she would have trouble getting enough food to eat at school because 2 weeks ago, her food choices and likes were still more limited. She didn't care for sandwiches or things that were very packable. Well, she has done fine, and I'm sure seeing the other kids eat has helped greatly. She tells us all about the "yummy" food she tried at school each day!

She is really doing incredibly well. Her toughest moments are at bedtime, but those are few and far between now. She grieves silently and unless you catch her, you don't know, so we have to be observant and watch. It breaks my heart to see her sad and cry, but yet it is all normal and expected. We're so blessed that she lets us comfort her when she is sad. I truly don't know how our kiddos do it. They are so amazingly brave.

Emily has been an awesome little sister. She is doing great in preschool and really loves to go. She loved getting to see Santa there and told him she wanted a princess toy for Christmas!

Having a big sister has made her grow up and be more patient and kind. She has been great sharing all of her toys. I know she loves having a big sister. I truly can't imagine my life without my big sister, so I'm so glad she has one now too! :)

Yep, joined at the hip.

She talks about China a lot and misses her foster mama- Mama E-ah as she calls her. We talk a lot about China and she loves to hear the "Story of Emily." I have started working on a lifebook for her and can't wait to get it done. I know she will treasure it and it will spur a lot more conversations. I just recently put together a letter and album to send to her foster family. We included lots of pictures that we had received from Grace and Hope, the organization that sponsored Emily's foster care while she was in China.

Emily loves looking at these pictures of when she was a baby and toddler and gave her Mama E-ah a kiss before I mailed it.

Our boys are doing great. I will soon have two teenagers in the house! Seth turns 13 on March 1st, which is actually Shay's birthday too. He is in seventh this year and is doing great. He will soon be looking me in the eye as he has been growing like crazy.

He just recently helped us pick paint colors and helped John paint our downstairs basement/schoolroom/playroom which turned out great! He's just overall a great kid, and I'm so proud of him and blessed to be his mom!

Kyle is a junior this year (gulp..) and just recently got this....

But WAIT!!!!.......Wasn't he just doing this...???

Hug your babies everyone....the years go by much too fast!

He is such a huge help around here and is so self-sufficient. He still gives me hugs, even in public, which makes this mom smile! I am so proud of the man he is becoming. They are both growing up so fast, and John and I are trying to enjoy every minute we have with them!

Well, I know you mainly have been checking my blog for pictures, so here you go.....lots of them! Maybe next time I won't wait 2 months to post!

Getting her first haircut!

Fun times in the snow!!

Shay's first experience with sled riding! Big brothers are AWESOME!

Putting together her Hello Kitty Lego tree house- thank you, Corina and Nicole!

Taking care of her sister- putting a band aid on!

"Hugging" her friend. We Face timed two of Shay's good friends from her orphanage. It's so bittersweet to watch them talk, and see how much they miss one another, but we are so grateful to be able to keep in touch with her friends!

Who needs toys when you have boxes that turn into cars??

Taking care of Flat Stanley for their cousin, Corina!

Notice anything missing in that beautiful smile??!

Our Elsas with their China dolls on Christmas morning!

One of the boys' favorite gifts.... they each got binoculars. (And that made John happy too...now they won't be stealing his!!)

Helping his sister put together her "heart box"

And two brothers continuing to put together their sister's heart box because....well....somebody has her big brothers wrapped around her fingers:) And, because they are the most awesome big brothers- EVER!