Vitalik turns 20

Vitalik.  He moved back home about a week ago.  He might be telling the truth.  He might really feel that he just cannot make it on his own and needs parents to help him make good decisions, go to school, go to work, etc.  Or he may just think we have faster internet than he had in the apartment.  Fact of the matter is, it really doesn't matter to me right now WHY he wanted to move back home.  Because at night when I lay my head down, I know where Vitalik is.  He turned 20 today.  He might be growing up, becoming more responsible.  Or it might be that he has become better at manipulating.  If its the latter, I will learn that soon enough.  Tonight, I rest easy knowing that Vitalik is safe.  And for now, thats all I need to know.

The Bios

Colton got married to Kelly in 2011. Perfect wedding. Perfect couple. They are living in LA where Colton is honing his skills at cinematography and learning to snowboard. Alexandra and I were talking about him today; how he is so talented-----at everything. "The rest of us pale in comparison" according to Alexandra. He is certainly talented. But so are the others.

Luke is racing motocross again and living at the farm in Montgomery. He's pretty darn good at that if he could just stay healthy. Right now he is in a cast while his wrist heals. My biggest concern for Luke is that he is too much like me. But don't tell him I said that.

Alexandra will graduate from high school this year. Bummer. I am not ready for her to leave home but the day draws near. She will be studying Social Entrepreneurship at Belmont University in Nashville. There is no one in the world as talented as her at mercy and compassion. (Not to mention her photographing skills).

God has given us 7 unique children; each special in his or her own way. They challenge me; tire me; surprise me; but most of all bless me. I could not have written a better story than the one God is writing for our family. An adventure, indeed.

Roman Elijah

Roman. Thats what I call him. Eli. Thats what his dad calls him. Romchick. Rome. Romeo. That kid has the most nicknames! And he's smart. I mean like he is most likely a genius. He would have graduated from the orphanage at 14 since he was 2 grades of where he was supposed to be. When he first joined our family, we homeschooled for 2 years then he went into the 7th grade at our public middle school. He makes all As. He scored like close to perfect recently on his ACT Explore exam. He reads like a machine. Can do or be whatever he wants to be. And he worries like crazy. About everything. He worries we will run out of gas on the way to soccer. He worries that we are going to go broke. He talks non-stop and asks questions that no one can answer. And he is so attached to his family that you would never know he has only been here for 4 years. He is here, in the moment, 100 percent American, 100 percent Davie.

My blog resurrected

I have decided to return to the world of blogging. Mostly because I talk to a lot of people who are adopting themselves and they are interested in hearing what my life is like. I have to admit that my life is quite interesting and since I like to write, I figure I might as well.

So I will begin here with a brief update on what most people are interested in: the 4 children who came to us by way of adoption. First, the baby. As many of you know, when we first went to adopt Vicka, we came home empty handed. As we landed in Atlanta from that trip, we got a call from Angie Spackman at the Adullam House in Wetumpka. She wanted to know if we had any interest in adopting Jalen. We had known Jalen since birth but he was not then available for adoption nor did we, at the time, have any notions of adopting an infant. So here we were after adopting 2 older children and failing at adopting another, being offered that infant who was now 3 years old. To make a long story short, we said yes; Jalen (whom we renamed Jay Marcus Davie) came to live with us in December 2009; we completed his adoption in August 2010; and we feel like he has always been a part of our family. He is quite the live wire; I have recently begun calling him Jay-Turbo; not only because he is a speedster but his emotions are pretty much on turbo power most of the time. He should count as 2 children at least. More on him in the days to come.

After we committed to adopting Jay, we got notice from Vicka that she had made a mistake in saying no and so we went back to Ukraine and adopted her again. She came home in April 2010. Since my last blog post in 2010 was an appeal for someone to adopt her friends, Vicka and Dima, I am happy to report that they are now living happily in a family only about 45 minutes from us. Our Vicka had the hardest time adjusting of all our Ukrainian children. She is more introverted and it seems like she spent the first 3 months here in her room. But she eventually came out and now we joke about those days. She went into 9th grade at a public high school and has been on the A-B honor roll every semester. The social adjustment has been harder. Being 17-18 in the 10th grade is proving to be a test. 

Which brings me to Vitalik. When we went to adopt Vicka the second time we took Vitalik because we couldn't trust him enough to leave him here. He ran away; lived on the streets I guess for about 5 weeks but somehow we managed to get him home with us. Boy did he smell. But I digress. When we got him home we sent him to a wilderness therapy program in Georgia to detox and try to get it together. He was there about 8 weeks. We went and got him after he ran away thinking he could get home before my birthday. Yeah, I'm a softie. Vitalik had a great summer that year; had a full time job; started public school in the fall. Then about October, he bought a ticket to Ukraine with the money he had saved and he was gone! Just had to get it out of his system I guess. 6 weeks later he called and said "I know I can't live with yall anymore; I will live anywhere you put me; just please can I come home." Music to my ears. He told someone recently that the sweetest sound he had ever heard was when I said yes. We had a rough year after that but at present he is living in an apartment about 5 minutes from the house; we see him everyday so that we can still parent him and he has a full time job landscaping. He is 19 and I look at this like his college years. There are always bumps in the road but at least right now the road seems to be headed in the right direction.

Roman and the bio kids will get there own blog tomorrow. Until then.....