January 18, 2014
One year ago today we brought into our house a beautiful intelligent teenage girl from Ukraine, Masha Nicole Atchley. It still feels good to actually type her full name, because I felt for so long Masha becoming our daughter would never be reality. I had completely lost faith and felt it was not going to be in our future to have another daughter, but an amazingly strong Mom and a daughter with childlike faith turned the impossible possible. The tears, The Prayer, and emotional roller coaster will forever be a memory I will not soon forget. That part of our journey is now just a memory, and now we live daily as a Family of Five.
So how are the Atchley's doing one year after bringing a 17 year old, Russian Speaking, hormone filled, emotional at times, opinionated daughter into our house? I will admit if you would have asked me that after the first four months I may have had a different answer than I do today, but we are doing quite good. How am I doing with 4 girls in one house? About as good as a dad with 4 girls to answer to can do. Mostly thanks to my wife which is my voice of reason on the female psyche.
You might ask how is Masha doing these days? Well her list of accomplishments this year include: completing 2 semesters of school averaging over a 3.5 with classes that include real algebra I and physical science, her first season of cross country somewhat gimped and is now onto track, has steady babysitting jobs and a job offer already for the summer, groans her way through 4 hours of extra tutoring a week beyond school, reads daily now, finishes her homework nightly, is verging on speaking English fluently, has mastered 2 different Just Dance Games, and has neatly found her place in this crazy Atchley Family where she will be loved forever.
What are we looking to accomplish this next year. Parents list: friendships, a summer job, manage own money, improve English, continue to bust her butt in School and Track, and clean her bathroom and closest.
Masha's List: Study Driving Manual and DRIVE.
