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The Belles-Silcock Family ..it's all about Inclusion |
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AllOurBoys.com |
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The Silcock Family Newsletter
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MESSAGE FROM ANN AND JIM Thank you for your kind donations. Our son Nathan requested gardening tools. See how he's using them.
Wow! We are sure enjoyed our Spring Break. The kids were home from school, and we were finally able to concentrate on the CD we hope to put together. The boys spent all week long working at home with songwriter Dave Nachmanoff. They channeled some of their creative energy into fitting their ideas and experiences into songs, gently guided by Dave's expert hand. Together with Dave, the boys wrote twelve songs. Some of the songs were written collaboratively with several brothers contributing; others were written individually with Dave. The boys attacked songwriting with enthusiasm and energy. Each song is written with personal experience.
The songs ranged from the slightly silly 'Mine, mine, mine' to the 'Too Many Surgeries Blues'. At the end of the week we celebrated with a living room concert and pizza feast. Dave, along with percussionist, Wendy Sue Rosloff, performed the songs with lots of audience participation by the boys. I'm telling you, some of the songs had me busting with laughter and others brought me to tears. I was especially touched by their 'special secret project,' a beautiful song about me composed for my birthday. We are excited about getting these songs on a CD. After returning from his London tour, Dave will put the boys' songs together and record the various instruments and vocals in his Northern California studio. Then he will return to Los Angeles, where he will bring the boys into a local studio to add their own personal touches. When the CD is complete, the boys will design a cover. Finally, when the project is done, we'll produce a small number of CDs to send out. The kids are really anxious to share their songs. We'll keep you posted on the CD's progress.
JAVIER'S PROJECT:
Thanks to everyone who took the time to help Javier with his 5th grade science project. Javier's project was to show how quickly the Internet can connect people to one another. During the last part of March and the first part of April, Javier, with the help of the rest of the family, sent out 25 e-mails to friends and family members. We asked that each person receiving the e-mail return an e-mail to Javier with his or her name along with the city, state and country in which the person lived. Furthermore we asked that this request be forwarded to others. During the 10-day period, Javier received a total of 967 e-mails! Javier initially tried to personally answer each piece of mail. He answered about 40 pieces of mail but was soon overwhelmed with the enormity of his project.
Javier received e-mails from the 25 people he originally e-mailed. In addition Javier received 942 e-mails from people he did not know. In the end, Javier received 783 e-mails from every state in America. He also received 184 e-mails from 25 different counties. Javier's e-mails came from every walk of life. He received an e-mail from the former governor of North Dakota; a sheep farmer in New Zealand; an English teacher in Alabama; 5th grade students in Russia; actors from Los Angeles and New York City; a reporter from London, England; a girl scout troop in Alaska; and a pilot in Florida. Javier also received e-mails from people of all ages. He received an e-mail from a four-years-old child in Hawaii and many e-mails from grandparents all over the world. Javier absolutely enjoyed this project and couldn't wait to open his mail everyday.
The data Javier collected was as follows:
E-mails from America 783
Top States California 191 New York 136 Texas 97 Florida 83 Massachusetts 71 Washington 71
E-mails from other countries 184
13 E-mails from Australia 01 E-mails from Belarus 11 E-mails from Bulgaria 29 E-mails from Canada 18 E-mails from England 02 E-mails from Estonia 03 E-mails from Finland 11 E-mails from France 30 E-mails from Germany 01 E-mails from Iceland 12 E-mails from India 05 E-mails from Iran 02 E-mails from Ireland 01 E-mails from Israel 12 E-mails from Italy 15 E-mails from Japan 01 E-mails from Korea 22 E-mails from Mexico 13 E-mails from New Zealand 23 E-mails from Puerto Rico 13 E-mails from Romania 17 E-mails from Russia 22 E-mails from Sweden 01 E-mails from Tahiti (French Polynesia) 06 E-mails from Ukraine
So far, Javier has printed all of his e-mails and sorted them by the date they were sent. He has collected his geographical data from each e-mail. Javier has located, on his map, all of the States and Countries listed from his e-mails. During spring break Javier and his dad will put together a nice display with his map and printed e-mails. On Monday, April 19th, Javier will present his project at the school science fair. Javier is so excited to share his project with his classmates. We will keep everyone posted on the comments Javier receives and Javier's grade for this project. Again we appreciate your support and encouragement on Javier's project. Without all of our old friends and our new friends Javier's project would not have been a success.
ADOPTION
Matvey, or Mathew as he prefers to be
called, is a 15-year-old orphan living in an orphanage
for special-needs children in Moscow. See more of his
story...he needs your prayers.
FEATURED THIS MONTH: Meet our son Alin....His Story...His Words Hi--- My name is Alin Silcock. I came from Romania down in Europe I was a small boy. I was six years old. I lived in an orphanage my whole life. I didn't like living in the orphanage because I was scared I did not like Romania. Why? Because I got hit by sticks, the staff yelled at me and there were no toys. We had a television but the staff got to watch what they wanted not what the kids wanted. Sometimes I got hit with sticks even when I did nothing wrong. I still have scars today from those beatings. I was very sad in Romania. It was so hard for me without a mom and dad and without a family. Even though kids should have a nice life, when I lived in Romania I had a hard life.
In the orphanage there were lots of other kids waiting to get a real mom and dad. I was waiting too. When I went to sleep at night I was always very cold and very scared. The window in my room was very high. I could not see out of it. The only thing I could see from my bed was a picture of Jesus, but I didn't know who Jesus was then. That picture scared me and gave me nightmares because I thought the picture was watching me
In the mornings, I was a little scared. Before we went to eat our breakfast we had to do chores. Our first chore was to make our bed. If we didn't make our beds fast enough we got hit and yelled at. That is no way to teach a kid. After we made our beds we got undressed in our bedroom. Then we all had to walk downstairs naked and wait for our shower. We had to wait a long time because there were lots of kids. We were cold because we had no clothes on and we did not have any heat. It was also embarrassing because there were boys and girls together, all standing there naked.
After the cold shower, because we did not have hot water inside, we had to get dressed. We didn't have our own clothes so we all had to share. The clothes were very old and didn't keep us very warm.
When it was time for school, in Romania, I had to walk to my school. it took me 30 minutes to get to my school. I didn't like to walk that far because it was tiring, but al least no one was yelling at me or hitting me with sticks. I had to hurry because if I wasn't to school on time I was hit with sticks again. In school we did math, reading and had some fun. Most of the time I was bored because we didn't do a lot.
When school was out I got pick-up by a car. I was lucky because I was the only kid that got picked up by a car and driven back to the orphanage. I loved it because I didn't get tired and I got to rest. When I got back to the orphanage I was supposed to take a nap. I did go to my room but I did not take a nap. I just stayed awake in my bed. There were ten bunk beds in my room and all of the kids had to lay there very still. We had to pretend like we were asleep. If we made any noise or even go to the bathroom we would get in serious trouble. Now ask yourself, 'would you rather fight back or not?' I decided to not fight back because I knew I would get in more trouble. I did what I thought was right, I had to survive.
One morning the staff at the orphanage woke me up early. I was surprised They told me to get up because I was leaving. This was the first time they were nice to me when they woke me up. I was pretty amazed. I did not even have to take a shower but I did have breakfast. My last breakfast at the orphanage was eggs, bread and hot tea. I wondered why I got a nice breakfast on that day. A social worker told me that I was finally getting my real mom and dad. I told the social worker that I was ready because I really had been ready for a long time. The social worker told me that my new family was in the United States. I wondered what an orphanage was like in the United States. I didn't know what living with a family was all about. The only moms and dads I knew came to visit their kids at the orphanage then left their kids there. I thought those kids were lucky.
Before I left for the United States I stayed with a Romanian foster family for a week. I was bored there because there were no other kids. I had to sit there all day and wait for my social worker to come get me. I had to go to the doctor before I got to go to America.
When I finally got to leave I was very happy. This was my first time on an airplane. I saw the pilot and met the stewardesses. I was so excited that I stayed awake for the whole trip. Even my social worker fell asleep but I didn't. ......
I got off the airplane. My social worker and I had to wait in line to turn in some papers. When we were waiting in line I was thinking about my real mom and dad, I wasn't worried about the paperwork. I was just thinking about meeting my real mom and dad for the first time. We finally go to the front of the line. I did not understand a word because they were speaking in English.
When my social worker finished with the paperwork, we headed up stairs to meet my real parents. I followed my social worker through the airport until he found my parents. When I saw my parents for the first time my social worker told me to hold my mom's hand so did.
To Be Continued...
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