Natasha

Natasha is 11 now. Home 3 years but it feels like forever. She is such a wonderful loving beautiful intuitive daughter. If I could be assured all kids would be like her I would adopt a million times. She is very sweet and caring, but not saccharine or artificially so. She loves hugs and kisses and is the only one of the bunch(even birth kids) that talks about how we (mom and dad) have a certain smell that is comforting to her. Infants know their mother by smell. I find it interesting that Natasha notices that at such a late age.  I guess she, like me, has a very sensitive nose. She is helpful and always makes sure things are tidy when I return from having gone away.  She is a hard worker and does well at school. She is very smart and notices everything. We call her eagle eyes. Her language is ever expanding and sometimes she makes funny mistakes but she isn't afraid to try out new words. If this girl doesn't go on to do something awesome, I will have failed completely.  She is approaching puberty and can be a bit moody, and holding a grudge is a long held pastime. She is a born leader. She loves to be in charge, yet gets shy and blushes when she has to speak in front of her class. She is a helper to the bus driver on the school bus. She sometimes gets herself in a snit over some jealousy or someone who wronged her but she can most of the time be persuaded to share with me so I can help her. She also loves playing the piano and is very excited to start piano lessons.  She is really a great kid. of all my kids, she gives me the least grief. She is really sensitive to my feelings and observant of my actions. If I am upset she knows it, even if I have done my best to keep it to myself. She loves animals and will often try to save animals she finds. She wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up, but sometimes she forgets the word and says she wants to be a vegetarian.  Really, if people thought they might get a kid like Natasha, adopted at age 8, people would flock to older child adoptions. She has been through some hellish experiences in her short life. She wont let it bring her down though. She rarely talks of the nastiness of her life in her birth family.  She loves when we talk about our memories of her in Ukraine. We played HUNDREDS of games of UNO in Ukraine, but oddly enough don't play it that much at home. so many other things to do I guess. She is a great reader and can put away an entire chapter book in an afternoon. She is awesome. She is mine. I am so glad to have her. Every day with her is a reward for me for some unknown thing I have done. She is that much of a fun kid, good kid, nice kid, smart kid.