School is over for the kids. Matt and Julia will go to a special needs camp down the street, all day, for 6 wks, they will start this thurs. It's a great place, this will be Matts 3rd summer there. I think Julia will do ok, this will be the first time she will be away from me for 6 hrs straight since coming home last summer. Update on Ashley: she is such a great kid, helps out with her siblings. She made her first communion in May, played her first year of softball, her team became her age group champs last saturday, she was proud, so were we. She had a great year of 3 rd grade, doesn't need reading group at school any longer, as she now tests above average in reading/comprehension. She recently turned 9 2 days ago. It is hard to believe that double her age, she will be a young adult of 18 yrs. I truly enjoy being with her. Matt: had a great year of school this year, has learned alot, he can be such a good kid too. His speech is awesome, as his GI DR said in a note, "Matthew is doing extraordinarly well, from a medical and developmental point of view" When Matt went to Childrens-hosp dental clinic last week, he would hold open doors, eleveator doors for people, he was so polite. His adult teeth are coming up on the bottom, but baby teeth aren't loose, so we'll see what happens naturally with that instead of getting him into the OR, if possible. the dentist than told "this is highly unusual, don't see any adult top teeth (on x ray), we'll give it time, and hopefully they will come in" HOPEFULLY is right! We were able to get Matt off of prevacid for reflux. He is doing quite well. Julia: the hep is nearly gone out of her system. She is still very little, weight is 36 lbs, and about 3.5 ft tall, she is the size of a 3-4 yr old, her clothes are 4-5 shorts/pants, 5 shirt. We are seeing the International Adoption/Developmental Dr thurs, as it's been 10 monthes since Julia saw her, and the Dr wanted to see her. The Psych wanted me to consult with this Dr for the autistic tendancies since it is most likely related to Julias early years in the orphanage, the negelct, and so on. She babbles alot now, her receptive to english language is 23 monthes, and her expressive language to English is only 17 monthes, as the school speech/language woman tried to test her. As we hear about bad, abusive, international adoption stories, we think that after Julia being her nearly a year, could be a success story. she is very attached to us, yells now and again, but as a toddler would, likes to be with us, she likes to be held, hugged, will seek us out if she needs something, will seek us out if she takes a spill and is crying. She does have a very high tolerance for pain, since her early years, if she was hurting or not feeling well, no one probabaly cared enough to take the time to help her, so why bother to cry. She doesn't rock anymore, after being released to my custody last year, she would rock for hours, and suck her fingers, still suck them but just in sleep. I think she really likes life now, and she has a normal life, full of love, affection, caring, support, and all that a kid needs. As for Frank and I, he loves his new job, I may look for a PT job in the fall, as the kids will be in school all day, even Julia. We are all healthy, happy. Life is so great!