One year without him

It's hard to believe that Arvid's dad passed away one year ago.  In some ways it feels like it has been way longer, yet in other ways it still feels fresh.  I'm glad that we've made it to this one year mark...usually the "firsts" (Christmas, birthdays, Father's Day, etc.) are hardest to go through the first time around.

As an in-law who has only been in the family for a little over 12 years, I don't feel like I have a right to even garner sympathy when I say that I miss him...Arvid and his sister, Lynelle, feel the void so much more.  However, I definitely do miss him and tear up even now as I'm writing this and thinking of him.  We recently upgraded our tent trailer to a "new" bigger trailer, and I kept thinking of him during that process.  He was always so supportive and interested in our purchases or decisions.  Last spring we had to get a bigger vehicle in light of the fact that we were adopting Mebira and now had "all" these kids.  Arvid had kept his dad posted on our vehicle search, and let him know about one that we were interested in from out of town.  His dad decided to call the owner and ask a bunch of questions...his plan was to stay anonymous and just ask questions...but he ended up recognizing the last name of the owner and found some strange connection to them.  Somehow he had connections to so many people - he was so well-known and well-liked.

One of the hardest parts is to have no parents on Arvid's side of the family.  There is still something about a mother or father who glue the family together, organize and host special occasions, or are there for you when you need advice, or just even give that comfortable feel of home. We are so blessed to have such a great relationship with Lynelle, Eric and the girls and we have been able to continue on the Schimke traditions with them.  We are also blessed to have a great extended family on the Manske side - they are all amazing people, and specifically Auntie Bev and Uncle Lyle who have been able to help fill the role of grandparents.

I am continually amazed at how well Arvid and Lynelle have handled everything - especially some of the messy parts of last year and the conflict there.  My respect for both of them has gone even higher - they have handled themselves in godly, unselfish ways, and have been able to push past hurt and a lot of grief and live emotionally and spiritually healthy lives.  I think they have been amazing examples to others and especially to the girls on accepting situations and not growing bitter.

To Lynelle, Eric, Arvid and anyone else missing your dad (and mom!) today...may you experience God's comfort and love in a special way.  How amazing that day will be when we are all united again in heaven!!

Summer fun

Wow, I sure have been slacking in the blog department, haven't I?  I have been fully embracing this summer...and sitting inside facing a computer hasn't been on my top 100 things to do. Seriously, I LOVE summer.  We've had amazing heat which is awesome, and I've been able to sleep in until 8:30ish most days which makes any day a good day, and things have just been really fun!

I should probably have a separate post for a lot of these, but that would probably take me until Christmas at this rate...I'll give you the coles notes version instead.

What have we been up to in the last month?  Here are some pics...

We celebrated "Family/Mother's/Father's Day"  Mebira had been home with us for a year, and it happened to fall right in between Mother's Day and Father's Day.  We wanted to celebrate being a family of 5 for a year, and celebrate her birth parents as well...but the timing of everything was crazy so we thought we'd wrap them into one and call it "Family Day".  We put out one candle to signify that we had been a family of 5 for one year, and we said some special thoughts to acknowledge appreciation for Mebira's birth parents.

We visited with an online friend of mine.  We "met" online through the adoption process and were able to officially meet in Ethiopia when we attended court.  Her two children were in the transition home at the same time as Mebira, and Mebira was thrilled that they were making a road trip and would be able to come see us.  It was such a nice visit - I could have chatted with her for days, and it was so great to see the kids reunite here in Canada.

The three friends, reunited again in Canada.

We went camping in Radium with 4 other families.  We had some heat, and some rain and overall a ton of fun!

Here we are enjoying the Canada Day parade in Invermere.  The kids love it, because they throw out candy to the kids!  :-)

We took in some Canada Day crafts down at the beach.

Pretty cute craft idea!  Pretty cute kids, too.  :-)

There's nothing like a pancake breakfast when you're camping!

And what could be better than having the kids wash up after?

Mebira had our family birthday (just the 5 of us) and she picked her favourite supper - tortellini.  We then had a family supper with my side of the family, followed by her friend party.  Seriously...these birthday parties take their toll on me.  I'm not a party planner type of girl...with 3 kids, and 3 parties each that's 9 parties a year.  Does anyone else feel my pain?.....On another note, you may notice her bracelet.  When we were in Ethiopia I bought a whole bunch of special things from there. Each year on her birthday I give her one or two special items from Ethiopia.  This year she got a pretty Ethiopian scarf, and this bracelet and she really seemed to appreciate both...and the Barbie RV we got her.  :-)

Her gymnastics party with friends.

We soaked up the heat.  This is seriously one of the nicest summers I remember.  Even Mebira is complaining it is too hot! 

The girls decided to have a crazy dress-up day.  Clearly they get this from the other side of the family.  :-)

We took out her hair extensions.  Oh, this deserves a post to itself but I might cry.  The braids didn't take too long to get out...only about 2 hours.  However, you may or may not remember that when I took her yarn braids out the last time I had huge matting issues at the base of each braid.  Well, that was nothing compared to this time.  I had left these braids in for 8.5 weeks, and absolutely loved how cute it looked when the braids were out.  HOWEVER, I had HUGE, I mean HUUUUUGE matting issues again.  It's like I had an impossibly twisted knot of shed hair at the base of each braid.  So I took the braids out and left it for a few days like in this picture.  Then I decided to bite the bullet and fully detangle and it took me over FIVE hours straight!  It was so bad I actually had to cut some knots out, and the shed hair (although I think it's normal) totally stressed me out when you get gobs of it in your comb.  Anyway, I have no idea if I'll do it again.  I LOVED the low maintenance of extensions, but maybe I just need to take them out sooner?  If you have any tips I would love to hear them.

Mebira has a thing for bangs.  She loves bangs on people and has told me so many times that she wants bangs when she is a mom.  We were very happy to take her braids out and realize that she could actually have bangs for a bit.  :-)  We are such strange beings, aren't we?  We always want what we can't have! 

Anyway, that will do it for today.  I hope you're having an equally fun summer!