It has been a long time.......

Some good things have happened......and some not so good things have happened.....


The kids went into a hurricane simulator with Kelli (the babysitter's daughter). They had a blast and laughed the whole time.


John trying bungee jumping.....Kristina tried it too but the picture did not turn out as well. They had a blast and didn't want to stop.

A boy and his dog. John loves the dogs and is around them as often as possible.

We took the kids to the Monster Trucks again this year. This year the big winner was Monster Mutt that just so happens to be Kristina's favorite. We all had a good time and even got to go into the pits to see the truck upfront and even got to get all the driver's autographs before the event started.

Since our last post.........

We welcomed a new family member....a new great niece Victoria Raine Cornejo!

We had parent teacher conferences for both of the kids and they are both doing great. Krisitina is reading better and better and John has started reading a little. We could not be prouder.

We took Keegan to a college fair to look at colleges for Keegan. He will be graduating June 2012. It is scary to us that this time is upon us.

We lost a member of our family. My sister Diane passed away on February 26th. She will be greatly missed by all of us.

I had my 47th birthday......

We travelled to Peoria this past weekend and met some friends that we haven't seen in a long time and got re-acquainted.

Kenny became a godfather again on Sunday to Jacinda Marie Estep and we got to catch up with old friends there and make some new ones also.

Things we have to look forward to......

Keegan will be taking the ACT on April 9th. Wish him good luck!

Kristina is playing softball this year.

John is playing T-ball again this year.

I am sure there are many more things happening and hopefully I will be better about updating the blog.

So until then.......

A Great Idea.....

A blogging friend of ours is in between trips 1 and 2 to go back to Vladivostok to bring home their second adopted son. They had a GREAT idea to make a book of other adopted children from that area to show to the MOE (Ministry of Education) and show them how happy and how good all the children look in their new homes, lives, ect. Here is what we sent them for our kids. Wow have they changed or what? Thank you to the Overstreets for doing this.

Referral Picture taken September 2008 received March of 2009.
Kristina DOB 10/25/2001
Ivan DOB 12/13/2004
Adoption Date: October 20, 2009
Institution: Spassk Children’s Home
Name of Territory: Primorsky Krai

Kristina Pauline Duda – Second Grade taken October 2010.
John Thomas Duda – Kindergarten taken October 2010.

I see the kids everyday and still can not believe the change in them!!! What do you think?

Our Awesome Kids............

John - Kindergarten

Kristina - Widget Black Cheerleader 2010

Kristina - Second Grade

Keegan - Junior Year

Keegan - Varsity Football (Junior Year)

Happy New Year!

Click on the picture to read the card!

The kids were troopers and made it to midnight! Then John asked, "Can I go to bed now?"

Christmas 2010

Where to begin......

We celebrated Christmas not once, not twice, but six different times. Yes, you read that correctly. Six times....

The first party was the weekend before Christmas - this party was with my mother's side of the family, so my Aunt and Uncles and Cousins and their kids. We have not been able to make this party in a few years so it was really nice to get to attend this year. The kids had a blast and even got to see Santa.

The next party was the following night....that was at our good friends house. We do not have any pictures because we left the camera in the car and when I did take pictures, they were all foggy. But again the kids had a blast and got to see Santa again.

The next party was the following night. This party is hosted my my mother in law and step father in law. We got an extra special gift this year.....Kenny's sister, brother in law, and their three kids were able to travel to the states from Germany to celebrate with us this year. My brother in law Don is a Lt. Colonel in the Army and they have been stationed there for the past year and a half. Their youngest, Grace was born in July 2009, so this is the first time we have gotten to see her since she was 3 weeks old. So it was very exciting for everyone. The kids had a blast and again Santa made an appearance. This time Santa talked to the kids and knew what they wanted for Christmas, so they were very intrigued by the man in the red suit. They wanted to know where he parked the reindeer. Oh to be young again!!!!

Keegan & Santa Claus

John & Santa Claus (He is even smiling) What an accomplishment!

Kristina & Santa - this is when Santa told her that he knows she wants an i-pod for Christmas!
Thanks Santa!

The next party was on Christmas Eve with Kenny's family. As usual we had a blast. Mom spoils all of us - not just the kids. We love her for it! The kids got lots of toys, clothes and things. Even the big kid got everything he wanted.

Our family picture

Next party......Christmas morning.........

Look at all the loot.......

Someone is very spoiled......


Keegan & his snuggie!

John & Kristina with their ride on scooters.

They love them and have been riding them around the house since.

The dogs are not real fond of this gift from Santa.

The afternoon of Christmas Day, my family comes to celebrate Christmas. This year we have new family members, our great niece Erika, our great niece Caitlyn and our great nephew Zachary. We were blessed that almost the whole family was able to attend this year's celebration. We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and wish everyone the happiest of New Year's. We pray that everyone's dreams come true! So until next year.......Merry Christmas from the Duda Family of Five!!!!

Kenny, Gloria, Keegan, Kristina & John

Now he is 6...

The cake for his friend's party on Saturday!
A Group Shot on Saturday with some of his classmates and his sister!

Waiting for everyone to sing to him!

The cake for Sunday's celebration with family and friends!

I love this present!

I love Transformers!

Kristina, John & Keegan
Our Babies!

Are you guys gonna sing soon?

John turned 6 on the 13th and we had two parties the weekend before. One party for his classmates from school and second party for family and friends. Great times were had by all. On Saturday, we had the kids from school come over. John had a great time showing his school friends his room and his toys. Everything went well and we played a few games. We played pin the tail on the donkey, clothespins in the bottle and hot potato. The kids had a blast. On Sunday, we had the family party and again everyone had a great time. The kids are getting use to being around everyone now so we really do not have any more shy children. On Monday, getting ready for school he asked "Is it my birthday again today?" We told him yes today is your birthday and you are finally six! He put on one of his new outfits and said to me, is this my new outfit from my birthday? So I guess he is getting it! Now that his birthday is over.....we get to move on to Christmas. According to John, Christmas is his favorite!!!

A New Champion!

Well Gloria and I had one of those "moments" yesterday...one that make you so proud of what your child has accomplished that it takes everything you have in you to keep it together. As many of you know we enrolled Kristina in Cheerleading this fall. Early in the season we got a note from the team asking if any of the girls were interested in being on the "Competition Squad" for this year. After thinking about it we decided that it would be a good way for Kristina to begin to transition her competitiveness that was a daily way of life for her in the Detski Dom into something that more fit her life as it should be moving forward. We asked Kristina what she thought and she said OK if I can win a trophy! Well after many long hours of practice, yesterday was competition. Competition was set up for squads in each grade Kindergarten through 5th grades in two categories; Cheer and Poms. Winners were chosen for each category in each age group and a Runner up and Grand Champion of all of the squads competing. In addition there were Overall Special Awards Given for teams displaying certain characteristics. Kristina's squad competed in the 2nd grade cheer category. After doing a great routine a little after 9 in the morning we had to watch all of the other squads performing through the morning. Then around 11:30 it was time for the awards ceremony. First the Special awards...The announcer says; For the award of the most Electrifying Transitions between stunts...The 2nd Grade New Lenox Mustangs Cheer Squad! We went nuts! Yelling and screaming and beaming with pride. After awarding the remainder of the special awards The Kindergarten and First grade winners were announced...Now it was our turn...the announcer picked up the microphone and announced; "In second place for 2nd grade cheer, The New Lenox Mustangs!" Kristina's squad...we went crazy (although slightly disappointed)...then the announcer said..."Wait, I made a mistake...they are written in the wrong order" (This of course only meant one thing! our girls had to have won right?) "In second place the Oak Forest Raiders and in FIRST PLACE the New Lenox Mustangs 2nd grade cheer! Now it was crazy, all the screaming and yelling! Gloria and I looked at each other and the tears started....Now we had to stay in the stands until after all of the squads were announced and then the Grand Champion was announced. We wanted to rush the podium and give Kristina the biggest hugs ever...we would have to wait, 6 more categories to announce...it was painful! The announcer finished announcing the 5th grade champs and started with runner up for the grand championship...we crossed our fingers...to no avail we did not make runner up...Gloria, Keegan, John and I began picking up our coats and walking down the stairs when we heard..."And the 2010 Grand Champions...The New Lenox Mustangs 2nd Grade Cheer!



Needless to say we lost it! From a 8 year old orphan who did not speak any English and never even knew what a cheerleader was to a 9 year old Member of the Grand Champion Team in a few days more than a year! Tears were flowing from both of us! We could not have been prouder! Next Sunday at her awards banquet Kristina will get that trophy she has been dreaming of for the last 10 weeks!