Beautiful soaps that help orphans

My friend Cathy Dreher makes amazingly beautiful soaps that also happen to smell REALLY good! She started making soaps as a hobby and then she sold them to help fund her own adoption of a boy from Ethiopia. After the adoption was completed friends were still requesting her soaps so she started selling them in local stores and online. Her website is www.catiebeth.com. Now she uses a portion of her proceeds to help other families adopting. They make fantastic gifts for teachers, therapists, etc., and they are also perfect stocking stuffers! Below are just a few of these amazing soaps with their descriptions. I'll start with my favorite!


Oatmeal, Milk, and HoneyWarm and delicate, this bar is lightly-scented to smell like oatmeal, milk and honey. It is all natural and contains Calendula Extract Oil; an oil known for it's anti-inflammatory and skin soothing properties. This would be a great soap for infants, children or anyone with delicate skin. Each bar weighs appx. 4 oz. Contains: Olive oil, coconut oil, palm oil, Calendula extract oil, sodium hydroxide, fragrance oil, skin safe colorants.


Cherry Limeade Fruity cherry and tart lime mix to make a scrumptious Cherry Limeade Soap! Moisturizing Sweet Almond Oil will soothe your skin while the delicious fragrance will ease your mind. Not responsible for inducing cherry limeade soda cravings. :)
This soap is handmade using Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Olive Oil, Sweet Almond Oil and Castor Oil. Because this soap is handmade, each bar is unique and may not resemble those pictured online.


Wintergreen I love the smell of snow. Really, it has a smell. It's crisp and bright...just like this soap! Wintergreen handmade soap has a bright, peppermint scent with hints of orange, apple and cloves. AND, it sparkles! It's a must have stocking stuffer!
Each bar is appx. 4 oz. and contains: Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Olive Oil, Sodium Hydroxide, Sweet Almond Oil, Castor Oil, Fragrance Oil, Skin Safe Colorants.

Dancing Machine

Oksana's dancing cracks us up. Today when she heard the ABC song she broke out in a dance and we got it on video!

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So much to say....so little time

Almost on a daily basis I think of updating the blog but I just can't find the time to do it. In fact as I type this I already know that I will soon be saving it so I can come back and complete it later. That's just life right now and it's perfectly fine with me!

Most of our days lately have been spent homeschooling and going to therapy. Both have their good days and their bad days! Oksana is in a phase right now where she follows me EVERYWHERE I go. If she doesn't know where I am she will go through the house saying "Where's the mama?" and when she finds me she says "There it is!" It was cute for the first few days but I've found myself hiding just to have 5 minutes alone! It's not just me either, she will gladly follow Daddy or the boys if they are more convenient. Obviously attachment is not an issue! Despite her desire to know where we are at all times she is doing fantastic when any of us have to leave the house. She finally knows that when her family leaves they always come back and she happily says "Bye" when we go out the door.

It's been interesting to see the relationship she is building with our boys. Clayton loves kids, especially kids with special needs, and has always been excited about Oksana. Evan, on the other hand, is our shy, quiet, and reserved kid who would prefer not to be around younger kids and we figured this adoption had potential to be really bad or really good for him. Thankfully both boys adore her. Clayton takes on a much more typical big brother role. He helps her and cuddles with her. She and Evan; however, have become great buddies! They play together all the time and Evan LOVES to make her laugh. It has been wonderful to see Evan come out of his shell and love this little girl.

We've had so many fun experiences as a family lately. We all enjoy living these experiences through Oksana's eyes. A couple of weeks ago we went to a pumpkin patch where we got to go through a hay maze, pick a pumpkin, and take a hay ride. They all had a blast. Last weekend we went downtown to see a sculpture show, got pizza at our favorite pizza place, and rode the trolley. We also loaded up our bikes and took a long bike ride through a local park. It was such a fun weekend! Last night the Kiev Symphony Orchestra came to a local church. We knew it might be risky expecting Oksana to sit through a symphony but we decided to take our chances and sit in the back so we could leave easily if need be. It was amazing! The kids all LOVED it. Unfortunately we had to leave at intermission because it was well past bed time already. Before we left we were able to find someone to speak Ukranian to Oksana. She completely and totally ignored the nice lady and only said "Hi" when I told her to! The lady said she wasn't even sure Oksana understood her. Whatever the reason we thought it was an interesting response. If you want to learn more about the Kiev Symphony Orchestra you can go to their web site at www.musicmissionkiev.org. They are Christians who spread the gospel through their music and also do work with Ukraine's orphans and widows. Very cool!

Well, times up and I've only been interrupted once but now I'm typing with her on my lap so I'll leave you with some pictures.

Oksana before church. I'm loving the huge hair accessories :)

Larry, Evan, and Oksana on the trolley in downtown Little Rock.

I love this picture! In the van Oksana often likes to hold Evan's hand. He is not a fan of hand holding and she knows it so she holds his fingers as tight as she can so he can't get away!

My kiddos at the pumpkin patch.

Our family on the hay ride at the pumpkin patch.

Walking alone!

This morning Oksana was holding onto our hands and walking back and forth between us. We started letting go a little bit before she reached the next parent and before we knew it she was taking 1, then 3, then 5 steps between us! We got her braces and shoes on and she ended up taking 8-10 independent steps back and forth! We were shocked!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Therapy, School, and More

Oksana's testing results came back and just as I suspected she is about at the level of a 2 year old in all areas. I told them that had they tested her 2 months ago she would have tested as a 1 year old. On Monday of this week we got a phone call from Easter Seals with therapy times and they told us we could start immediately! So on Tuesday we went to Oksana's first day of therapy. It was...ummmmm....interesting. She had PT and speech that day. Without giving details so this blog isn't too long I'll just say that I saw some behaviors I haven't seen in awhile. They are behaviors that she had with us in the beginning and they are all based on 2 things. First, she is SO scared. It was a new environment, new people, and they were asking her to do things she had never done before. She was scared someone would hurt her and she couldn't handle the transitions because she didn't know what was happening next. Second, she tries to control adults. It is a survival mechanism that she used in the orphanage. She wanted to see if she could control what happens in therapy. There were plenty of tears and lots of "No, no, no, no, no!". Still, she actually did have fun overall and screamed at the top of her lungs when we had to leave. The next day was MUCH better. She had OT which was new so that caused some issues but not near as bad as day one. We figured out that if we simply prepare her for any changes or upcoming transitions she handles them fine. Her PT and speech therapist are great. Her OT is OK. She has a more passive personality and Oksana seems to take advantage of that. Here is a little video of her in PT working on standing from a sitting position.

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I've also been more intentional about her education lately. Up to this point we've really just been playing and she's been learning through that but today I started to work on the alphabet with her. I made a big A on the floor with tape and we drove trucks over it:

Then we lined it with blocks:

And we glued cereal on a letter A:

We talked about words that start with A and we did a matching activity using socks.

Now that she has her walker and rides in a stroller, we are able to do much more with her. Yesterday she also discovered that she loves the grocery carts that have little cars attached to the front of them so we got to do our grocery shopping together while she happily "drove" her car.`I never thought I would see that day! Week by week we see improvement and I find myself looking at her and feeling amazed that she is supposed to be in a mental institution right now. It blows my mind.

2 Months

This Wednesday marks 2 months since we arrived home. What a difference 2 months makes! At the one month mark I didn't even do a blog about it because I was still reeling from what we had experienced. She still felt like a stranger in my house, and I still spent most of my days wondering if life would ever feel normal again. In the last month we have been able to slowly come up for air and have begun to see light at the end of the tunnel.

For starters, I am blown away at the fears this child has conquered in 2 months. Guess what she is doing now? Riding in her stroller! After we took her out of the orphanage she would scream at the top of her lungs and literally try to claw herself out of the stroller. She was so incredibly scared. She had NO idea where she was and feared that we would leave her so she had to be literally ON us and with both of us in sight at all times. We weren't even allowed to sit. Now she happily plays in her stroller while we take walks or go to the store and the other day she went to her first restaurant!!!!! In Ukraine we mistakenly thought we would take her to eat and the second our behinds hit the chair she lost it so we learned quickly that "to go" would be the only way we would be eating out for a long time. This weekend, with some trepidation, we went to a local pizzeria with some friends and she was an angel. I couldn't believe it was the same child.

Her English is coming along well but we still have a long way to go in this area. She was speech delayed in her native language and I am definitely seeing that in English as well. We have her speech evaluation scheduled for Wednesday. Still, her progress has been good and we definitely have a good start to communication and it is reducing some frustration in all of us. The other day a man came to our door and she said "BIG MAN!......Gimme five!" Luckily he thought she was adorable!

Of course I can't forget to mention that this wild girl is walking like crazy. She blows us away. Even if we can tell she is getting tired she will keep going. It's a new lease on life! I really thought she would fight the leg braces and the walker but she has not once complained. Right now she is wearing her braces 1-2 hours a day and we are slowly working our way to increasing that so she is wearing them most of her waking hours. She went to church Sunday with her walker and had a great time walking all over. She even found a class having their music time and walked herself right in to check it out! It's been interesting watching other kids stare at her. Everyone has been kind to her but they are definitely interested in that girl with the walker. I guess that is something we will all have to become accustomed to.

Along with all of that...as if that wasn't enough...she is also doing great with her colors and now knows the basic colors well, she is feeding herself more and more, she is showing increased signs of attachment and trust, and she is just overall a happier child than she was 2 months ago. Please don't get me wrong, there is still a long journey to walk with Oksana, and the damage done to her over 5 years isn't disappearing in 2 months but the change is evident and for that we are thankful.

Here are a few pictures and another video of her walking:

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Walking

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Look who got herself a new set of wheels today! We had Oksana's OT and PT evaluation this morning. She will be getting a speech evaluation soon. We started with PT. She was very nice but Oksana got scared and cried when she tried to touch her feet. This fear stems from the surgery she had done in Ukraine. She's been hurt a lot and she doesn't trust anyone to touch her feet except us. The PT was very respectful and ended up earning her trust by the end of the session. The problem we have is that in order to get fitted for AFOs (Ankle foot orthotics, otherwise known as leg braces) you have to have your foot and calf casted in plaster and that will send Oksana into a panic. Instead she went to their donations and found a pair that fit her, and a pair of tennis shoes to go with them. It's not perfect but it will have to work for now. Then she came around the corner with a walker and next thing I knew Oksana was up and taking her first independent steps! She said that she wouldn't be surprised at all if Oksana walked without a walker soon. The walker slows her down :) but she loved the independence! It will be a few weeks before all of the reports are written, signed off, and therapy scheduled so she sent us home with the AFO's and the walker to be praciticing.

OT was next and she was also very encouraging. Oksana did qualify for services but she really felt that her fine motor delays were only because of the orphanage and she would catch up quick. Besides basic fine motor skills, she will be working on self help skills, and she will eventually be tested to see what kind of sensory issues she might have from the lack of stimulation in the orphanage.

Both OT and PT said she would come twice a week for an hour each. The speech therapist had originally wanted to wait to evaluate her until she had more English but after meeting her today she decided that she wants to evaluate her now. We don't have that scheduled yet but hope to soon. I might as well just set up a cot at Easter Seals because it sounds like we're going to be spending a lot of time there! When we left she had a fit because she liked their ball. Even now when she sees her walker she tells me that they had a ball and goldfish! I'm glad she had a good experience but hopefully she won't have a fit every time we leave!