Whirlwind week

I don't even know where to start. The last week has been so busy. From the day that Arvid's dad passed away to the funeral it has been a blur. I can't even remember what we did...only that the days were very full.

The funeral was on Tuesday at Ellerslie Baptist Church. We are so thankful to the church for opening their building for the funeral, as well as to the caterer who changed her plans in order to help provide food. There were probably about 600 people in attendance - and it meant so much to have so many people come out. Thanks for those of you who sent cards, emails, e-cards, and for those who attended and were able to express their condolences in person. We are also so thankful for the many friends who brought baking. Arvid's dad had planned a lot of the funeral in advance...and two themes that kept repeating were "Keep it short!!!" and "Lots of food!!" so we were so glad that so many of you brought such delicious treats!

Grieving can bring out the worst in people, or the best. We've had such an amazing show of support from so many of you. For instance, one of our adoption friends (who we've actually only seen in person two times!!) sent us a beautiful card with a $75 gift card to BP's as they thought we wouldn't be in the mood for cooking. I'm never in the mood for cooking and it was such a sweet thing - thanks A&C!! Another person who really stood out is my mom - she baked, took the girls for us on numerous occasions, and even offered to drive 5 hours round trip to the internment just so that she could help watch Mebira during that part as she knew I wasn't sure how she would handle that. We told her not to bother, that I would just walk around with her if it seemed too much, and I'm happy to report that it didn't seem to phase her too much. She was so thrilled to be with her cousins that I don't think she cared about much else.

The other two people who have really stood out over the last few weeks have been Arvid and his sister, Lynelle. Often people think of the spouse left behind and minimize the loss of the kids as they have their "own" families. I can understand this a bit, as the devastation for that spouse left behind is huge, but the children grieve so much as well. Arvid and Lynelle have now lost both of their parents, both to brain aneurysms. Their mom, about 16ish years ago, and their dad last week. They have been AMAZING! They are obviously grieving and hurting, but they handled everything thrown at them with such maturity and wisdom. I am thoroughly impressed with them. I asked Arvid a few days ago if he was angry at God for allowing this. He responded that he struggled a lot when his mom died, but he now knows that it doesn't help anything and he's choosing not to go that way. They are both so strong and their faith is unwavering. Arvid, I am reminded more and more each day how fantastic of a man you are and Lynelle, I am so blessed to have gotten you as a sister-in-law and great friend.

On the note of aneurysms, we found out that not only did Arvid's parents both die of that, but his grandfather as well and within the last few weeks Arvid's dad's cousin also had an aneurysm. Thankfully, Arvid just had an MRI this week so they are able to keep an eye on him in the years to come.

OK, I need to grab a snack for the kids...I'll post more soon...

So sad

We are so sad to say that Arvid's dad passed away last night. After his brain aneurysm on May 17, he recovered enough for the family to spend time with him and to be able to communicate with him for over 2 months. Unfortunately, as time went on, his condition continued to deteriorate.

We were there as a family on Friday afternoon, the kids were updating him on kids camp and the lrt ride, and although we knew he was going downhill, we didn't expect he would be gone just 4 days later. His breathing became quite laboured, and it was so hard to see him gasping for every breath yesterday. We are glad the end didn't drag out and that he was surrounded by family and friends. One of the sweetest things was to hear three of Dad's sisters sing hymn after hymn by his side. They sang so beautifully, and it was such a peaceful and comforting thing to do for him and for those of us who were too choked up to join in. I will treasure that memory and the love for him in that room.

As Christians, although we are sad to see him go, we know he is in a better place. He will no longer be in pain, immobile, unable to talk. Mebira's middle name is Hope. We named her that not only because we hoped for her, but as Christians, we celebrate that we have hope!! We know we will see him again and be reunited with him. One of my favourite songs is by Jeremy Camp - and it played yesterday on the radio. I've posted it once on my blog here. The words are just so amazing..."There will be a day with no more tears!!"...and I can't wait for that day!

Arvid's dad was a very amazing man. He went through a lot of hardship in his life, losing his parents at a young age, then losing his wife (Arvid's mom) to a brain aneurysm about 16 years ago. Through it all, he maintained such a positive attitude, faith in God and easy going spirit. He wasn't anyone who craved the limelight but loved to serve and help in behind the scenes. I think Arvid is a lot like his Dad...and if he continues to follow in his footsteps then I am a very lucky woman.

I've attached a picture of him from before. Right now it hurts to look at this picture, to remember how things were and to reconcile that with how we saw him yesterday, but we know that we will soon be able to look back at this picture and celebrate the man we all knew and loved.

Heavy Heart

It is with a heavy heart that I write that Arvid's dad is no longer on support and the end is near (likely 3 hours to 3 weeks). Although we knew his condition was deteriorating, it is still quite a shock that it's official, and there is a lot to process.

Arvid was able to talk to his Dad tonight and tell him how much he loved him. For that, we are very thankful.

For those of you who pray, please lift up Arvid, his sister Lynelle and their step-mom Brenda in prayer at this time. This family has gone through a lot.

We went camping

I know we've only been home a little over a month, but Mebira has been doing so well that we thought we'd go camping. Our church has family camp from Tue-Sun each July at a campground about 1.5 hours from home. It is a great place to hang out with friends, they've got great programs for the kids, and good services and electives for the adults.

I went out and camped with the girls on Wed, and Arvid joined us on Thursday night at bed time. It sounded like a good idea at the time...and it actually turned out pretty well, but looking back on it I wonder if it was maybe a bit soon. Mebira is so easy going that she will go along with pretty much anything. It makes change (which for a lot of adopted children can be really difficult to experience) pretty easy with her. The only thing I regret is that the kids had so much fun playing with all of their friends, that there really wasn't much family bonding going on. When you have biological kids it's no problem to have them run off with their friends for a few days...but when you've only been together for a month, the bond is a lot more fragile.

Oh well, we made great memories, and we all had a lot of fun. Mebira was able to experience a lot of new things, and she handled it like she's been doing it her whole life.

I've included a few pictures so you can see what we were up to. The first one is of her cute hair. My mom's hair dresser is from Guyana so I had her do Mebira's hair the night before we left. I didn't want to have to fuss with it while we were away and this did the trick!

(Below) Some down time at home...notice Mebira's cute hair

(Below) The girls did almost all the dishes while camping. Ever time they did, they got 25 cents to go to the canteen and buy some snacks. It worked out great for all of them. Mebira is very meticulous...it took forever when she washed the dishes! :-)
(Below) The picture doesn't do it justice, but a professional face painter attends the camp and she did beautiful sparkly tattoos on the girls.
(Below) Mebira and her totally adorable cousin hanging out and colouring.
(Below) Yummy pancake breakfast!
(Below) Not the best picture, but I just had to show how she ate her pancakes. Just like injera, she broke the pancake and then used it to catch all of the syrup.
(Below) Trying out a friend's trailbike with Daddy.

(Below) Hanging out at the campfire.

(Below) Mebira's first smore...she seemed to like it but didn't ask for s'more. :-)

(Below) Wow - that looks yummy!

(Below) Oh the bliss of a car with a DVD player. After being in extremely close quarters together for the week, Arvid and I enjoyed the pure silence on the way home!

2 years ago today...

2 years ago....we received the news that Imagine went bankrupt
2 years ago...I felt like we had just experienced our 5th miscarriage
2 years ago...I was depressed, cried for days, heartbroken
2 years ago...I spent hours a day keeping up with our yahoo forum
2 years ago...I had a crisis of faith, wondering why God would sit by and let this happen

Today...we are home (over a month!) with our precious girl
Today...we are enjoying a house full of girls - lots of pink, sparkles, crafts, barbies & princesses!
Today...I love the laughter and joy in our house
Today...I barely have time to check the forum, nor post
Today...I am accepting that God is God and I am not.

On another note - I got Mebira's hair done last night by a professional. It looks cute - I'll post pics in a few days.

It's summer - pics

(Above) Yes, they have too many webkinz...they took turns burying each other in them.
(Above) Canada Day with cousins
(Above) Mebira's first Canada Day
(Above) A very slow, but determined scooter girl
(Above) Mmmmm....tea with Daddy
(Above) Summer has arrived!! Fun on the trampoline
(Above) Birthday cake and celebration!
(Above) Opening presents. I wasn't sure if it would be a gong show or not...she actually sat patiently through each card, opened each gift, said thank you, then went on to the next one!
(Above) The beloved chaos of our extended family!
(Above) A "new" Barbie house for Mebira's birthday!
(Above) What birthday is complete without a little pampering?
(Above) First time on the bike...she is so determined! I just watched her outside and she fell and did a face plant and scraped right under her eye. That bone is so tender it must hurt soooo bad and is already swelling. She cried a tiny bit, got right back up and wanted to go on the bike again!
(Above) Another hot day - this time we went to the pool at the Legislature.
(Above) My three bathing beauties
(Above) It's the Biggest Loser winner...oh wait, those are just my capris she has on!
(Above) She is sooo funny and loves to make us laugh. Here she put a pair of Dad's boxers on and turned them into an outfit. We howled and howled with laughter!
(Above) Jumping on the trampoline with the sprinkler underneath - so much fun on a hot day!
(Above) Cheese! We're still working on that. :-)

Canada Day and Birthday

We've had an eventful week and haven't gotten around to posting - G&E finished school, we celebrated Mebira's first Canada Day and also celebrated her 5th birthday.

Last Monday, Mebira was invited to a birthday party with her sisters and she was able to observe a party in action. It was actually her birthday that day, but we didn't acknowledge it that day at all as we wanted to observe her in a birthday party and see what she thought. She did very well and seemed to understand that the birthday girl was special and got gifts and a cake. Once that was done, we started prepping her for her birthday. Birthdays in Ethiopia aren't a big deal at all, and some of the people we spoke to didn't know how old they were...so we spent the week telling Mebira she was 4 years old and would be 5 on Sunday (the day of her party).

G&E finished school on Wednesday. I was relieved not to have to rush anywhere anymore, and to just be free (and yes, sleep in!). I was also a bit nervous about the drama of having all 3 home all day by myself. Thursday was a brutal day - the kids were fighting and needy and difficult all day. I was ready to sign them up for school again! Thankfully, Friday went much better and I started thinking it might not be so bad after all. Of course, it was Canada Day and Arvid was home to help! We told Mebira it was Canada's Birthday, and we all had either white or red Canada shirts on. I wish we would have gotten a family picture...it just didn't happen. We visited Arvid's dad at the hospital (he is stable but the recovery is a very slow process) then went to the Legislature and waved our flags and looked around.

On Sunday we had Mebira's birthday party. She loves princesses so we decorated the kitchen with some princess things and had presents waiting for her in the morning. In the afternoon we had our immediate family over for cake. With only our immediate family there were 9 kids so it was great fun for her! She got lots of Barbie stuff and immediately got to work setting it up.

Today we were back at home again...but the girls did pretty well. I had one major meltdown with Mebira (probably the biggest one yet) that lasted about 10 minutes but after that she was adorably cute again. One moment I'm thinking that summer is the best thing ever and I never want to put them in school again, and then next minute I'm climbing the walls wishing I could just have 5 minutes of peace! :-)

Anyway, we got some cute pictures over the last few days...I'll post them soon.