BEEN A WHILE

We haven't blogged in a while because the computer has been down....AGAIN. Paul Barry leaves town and everything goes to pot. The computer and the tv. Thought for a minute the fridge was going, too. Oh, did I mention I backed my new car into a very large delivery truck. Didn't hurt the delivery truck, but Frosty(my new car) will need a body shop visit.

PB spent one week at the Byron Nelson Golf Tournament and is now on the annual boy's golf trip. Boy, will I be glad when he gets home.

They told us to expect that Yulia would start talking about Russia at about this time. She has and it's been difficult. I must admit it's hard to hear her talk about missing her "Russian mom" and grandmother. And, she's having a lot of guilt about leaving them in Russia. She wrote them a very sweet letter this week, saying she was sorry that she left them. I can't imagine the guilt she must be feeling.

Please pray for us as we deal with what we've been told is a very normal transition. It's expected, but that doesn't make it any easier to hear.

Other than that, things are going well. Yulia is loving soccer even though she still has to be reminded which way to kick the ball!

BUNKO

The First Annual Bunko Bible Hat Society recently met on the Barry deck. The temperatures were great and we had a great time on the deck.


What the neighbors must have thought!!!

Bunko Queen Regine, with her winning bunko hat!

SOCCER

After NO PRACTICES due to heavy rain, Yulia's 5th and 6th grade soccer team took to the field. (Paul Barry was in charge of pictures, that's why we only have this one to post.)

This was her first time to ever play soccer and she did very well once she got her hands out of her pockets and stopped playing in the mud. The team lost 2/2 games.

At halftime, the coach asked all girls to stand up and give their names and which soccer position they liked to play. Yulia gave her name. When the coach asked her what she liked to play, she said, "soccer."

Birthday Week

I had a wonderful birthday week!!!! My sister flew in Friday and we celebrated with a birthday dinner at Outback.

Yulia loves her Aunt "Debbies". In fact, she cried for 20 minutes after we put Debbie back on the plane to Texas.

Paul and Yulia made the homemade birthday cake. First cake Paul Barry's ever made in his long-legged life. It was most tasty.

A weekend of birthday cake, shopping and movies. All was well until the Longhorns went down in defeat Sunday afternoon :(

SPRING BREAK THAT ALMOST WASN'T

What flooding in Missouri???

So, I talk to my sister Wednesday morning and she tells me that Springfield, Missouri, the direction we're headed for spring break, is flooding. I call Paul Barry. No problem he says.

Three hours later we're sitting in traffic. About an hour from Springfield, I-44 is shut down heading Northeast. Heading the other direction, the left lane was open only to 18 wheelers because of high water. The right lane was open for those cars dumb enough to cross. We told Yulia to hold her nose and we drove across. About half way across we decided maybe this wasn't a good idea after all and couldn't believe the highway patrol was allowing any traffic through. Well, we made it and went to Silver Dollar City the next day.

Pop and Yulia boarding the log ride in the freezing cold! This was the first ride of the day and Yulia was ready to "go home" afterwards.

Yulia and me on "Fire in the Hole." Only Colyn and Jon would understand!

The day at Silver Dollar City, we celebrated Yulia being in the U.S. 6 months:

Yulia continues to be such as a blessing to our family and fits it so well. At Silver Dollar, she was a real trooper on all the rides, including the scariest roller coasters. We decided we wouldn't give her a choice. She would have to ride what we rode. She did. Poor thing, never knew what to expect. Would like white as a ghost while riding and at the end of the ride exclaim, "I win!" We tried to tell her she in fact didn't win anything, but it became funny by the end of the day. She was exhausted that "we spent all day outside." Guess our 6 hour visit was the longest she's ever been outside. The things you don't think about!!

The latest funny sayings:

1. She was worried that Pop might be lost. I told her, "Don't worry. Pop's a big boy." She said, "Mom, Pop's not a boy. He's Mr. Paul Barry."

2. We've been reading an Easter story everynight. When we put her to bed tonight we were talking about Jesus rising from the dead. She wanted to know if he was coming to our house tomorrow(Easter). Think she's got him mixed up with the Easter bunny.

The second part of our trip we went to Big Cedar Lodge, just south of Branson. It was beautiful and a blast.

Many firsts for Yulia:

1. First spring break.

2. First boat ride.

3. First canoe ride.

4. First paddleboat ride.(First pink hat lost in the lake)

5. First lazy river(in the freezing cold)

6. First fondue.

Have a great Easter! Love, the Barrys.

Luck 'O the Irish!

Believe it or not, I've found a photographer to meet my needs, and the initials don't start with JC. One of my bosses recommended Photography Innovations, and I was quite pleased. They spent a lot of time with us and even did Yulia's hair, which of course, I'm not able to do. I think they felt sorry for us. As soon as I can get Paul Barry on the job, we'll be scanning copies of our photos and share them with everyone.

In the mean time, turn your head sideways to enjoy the Karen Barry photog job:

This is the Easter dress that I thought I would want in the pictures. But, thanks to our new friends at Photography Innovations, we went with the second dress choice....a multi-colored pastel polka dot.

Details to follow.

Easter Egg Hunt

Even though it was butt cold, Wentzville had it's annual Easter egg hunt. There were hundreds of kids Yulia's age.

There was also a "bone" hunt for dogs that afternoon, but we decided to do our hunting on the warm couch and watch THE LONGHORNS DEFEAT OU SUX.