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!

How far we have come

We have been home for one year now and life is going great.  At the time, we were prepared for the worst and things actually were going pretty well when we first came home.  However, even with the relative ease in the transition, the family dynamics had changed a lot and we were still trying to get to know each other, plus we had the stress of Arvid's dad in the hospital. Looking back, I realize that it actually was quite difficult but we were able to find much joy in it. Now that we are one year in I am so glad to be over all of that.  Mebira has blossomed into an even more amazing kid - super smart, athletic, helpful and fearless.

These are two of my favourite videos from a year ago.  Hard to believe how much she has changed so quickly!  (The second one may not work on an iphone...it is quite large so I had to upload it a backwards way...hopefully you can view it on your computer because it is so cute!)

Both of these are from June 26/11

Weekend away - Beth Moore conference

Last weekend I had the privilege of attending a Beth Moore conference in Calgary.  It was such a good weekend.  I drove down with two absolutely wonderful friends and spent the weekend with them and a bunch of other amazing ladies.

We dropped the kids off at school on Friday morning and hit the road by 9.  Our plan was to have some fun shopping before the conference started so we went to Cross Iron Mills and shopped from 11ish until about 5:15.  It was so much fun to have a whole day to browse and get coffee and visit with friends while shopping.  After a bit of a crazy drive downtown (what on earth is it with the Saddledome?  I've never seen a place that's harder to get into...one lane for thousands of people...really?).  Anyway, we made it to the conference safe and sound.   A band came out and sang some amazing worship songs - I was moved to tears at numerous times and truly felt in absolute awe of the amazing God we can call Father.  Beth Moore came out next and led us through the "theology of walking" as she called it.

For those of you who don't know who she is, Beth Moore is a hard core bible teacher who is very interesting to listen to - she's very knowledgeable and always very good at sharing something applicable and not just theology.  She teaches huge bible studies on various topics and records them so that you can watch them at home or with a small group and follow along with a study guide with homework five days a week.  I've had the privilege of doing some - Believing God (at the start of our adoption journey), Stepping Up, Fruits of the Spirit, Daniel - and am looking forward to even more.

Anyway, it's hard to sum up the weekend in a few sentences.  I can't say I walked away with something concrete to work on, but it was a very uplifting conference and I would for sure go again.  Friday night we went to the hotel, had some snacks in the restaurant and went to bed.  I felt a bit out of sorts...I'm not away from Arvid or the kids very often and I definitely missed them.  I didn't have the best night (but who does, the first night in a new place?), but still enjoyed the conference on Saturday morning.

After the session we shopped a few more hours at Chinook Mall...so many more fun stores.  I was looking for a few things for myself and had worked a bit extra that week to compensate but wouldn't you know it...I barely found anything for myself and spent more on every other person in my family than I bought for myself!  Oh well...I made up for it this week.  :-)

Anyway, the highlight of my weekend (as fun as it was to be away) was definitely coming home.  I so rarely leave the girls with Arvid alone...usually the two of us will leave for a date but weekends with Dad don't happen very often.  They definitely had fun with him but it was such a treat to come home because they just couldn't stop hugging me and telling me how much they loved me.  They had a nice dinner set up with flowers and wine and I was so happy to be together again...all five of us.  Absence definitely made the heart grow fonder with all of us and I'm so thankful to have such an amazing family to come home to!

Here's a picture from the conference courtesy of my husband's cousin - thanks M!

Tae Kwon Do

A few months ago I was noticing that Mebira was having some behavioural issues.  I found that she was very easily distracted, often lacking focus when listening to something in a group setting, or that she would crash into things a lot because something would catch her eye so she'd look over there while walking in a different direction.  One time I took the girls shopping and within the span of about 1.5 hours she crashed into one person, a shopping cart, table, chair, and, had we not stopped her, she would have crashed into a glass wall, clothing racks, numerous other people, etc.  I also noticed that she was very impulsive...if she found a pen in front of her she would immediately pick it up and start drawing with it - on anything...her clothes, the tablecloth, important paperwork...it didn't seem to register.  She also did everything full speed...instead of just getting up and walking to the bathroom she'd jump up and run so fast she'd fall, crashing into more things on her way, or she would drop things, etc.

I mentioned this to a good friend of mine (thanks, B!) and our international adoption doctor, and they both recommended that I let her try Tae Kwon Do to help with her self discipline.  We had put G&E in piano for numerous reasons and self discipline was one of them.  I was looking for something similar, but knew that sitting still in piano would be just a bit much for her.  Tae Kwon Do sounded interesting, but coming from a Christian background I've never been too sure about some of those things...acupuncture, yoga, Tae Kwon Do...they had something mystical surrounding them and I wasn't totally sure what I felt.  Anyway, after talking more to my friends and watching a class I felt much more comfortable and signed Mebira up.

I'd like to say that all of the issues we were experiencing just magically went away.  They did get better for awhile but in the few weeks (perhaps due to her one year anniversary of being home - a time when many children find difficult and act out? or because routines will be changing soon with summer coming?) I have noticed similar behaviour happening again.  However, regardless of whether that is changing or not, TKD has been awesome for her.  It is a way for her to expend some energy as well as learn to focus, sit still and act respectfully.

TKD is a lot harder than it looks - there are so many sequences and "routines" to memorize...punching, kicking, turning, blocking.  The people who break boards always make it look easy but there is quite a technique involved with that, too.  I was starting to get a bit nervous because we had been in it for a few months and she just wasn't getting some of the technique right.  However, something seemed to click a few weeks ago and then she was flying after that.  Her instructor (who is totally fantastic!) recommended her for testing the following Saturday.

The world of TKD is totally new to me...and even moreso to Mebira.  To make matters worse, she was the only person going for her belt level and therefore went first in front of a packed house.  I would have been terrified, but she just took it in stride like everything else. She completed her sequences well, performed the tasks the instructor gave her without issue and broke through her board (dare I say demolished it?) on the first try.  I was (and am) so incredibly proud of her!!

Here are a few pics:

Practicing her kicks

Getting her acknowledgment from her instructor

New yellow-stripe belt.  Way to go, Mebira!!

8 to 1

We are blessed with the two most amazing nephews on my side, and the four most amazing nieces on Arvid's side.  For years and years and years now (I would say at least 8 or more) we have been trading dates with Arvid's sister and brother-in-law.  What that means is that they will take our girls overnight and we go out and have a super long date, and the next time we take their girls overnight and they have a date...usually at Joey's.  (I had to throw that in for you, L :-) )

Last weekend we had the privilege of having our four nieces over...which made the female to male ratio in our house 8 to 1!  :-)  Things have changed a lot in the last eight years since we started this...our oldest niece is now 15 and doing things like playgrounds or Chuck E Cheese don't quite hold the same excitement.  I admit that I was a bit apprehensive about it this time because I wanted it to be fun for everyone, but I also knew that I had to do some work once the younger ones were in bed and I didn't want the older ones to feel bored.

I shouldn't have worried - we had such a fun night!  (It was extra special because all we have left of this side of the family is their family and ours as Arvid's grandparents and parents are no longer with us.)  Our girls LOVE their cousins and it is so fun to watch them in pure happiness and adoration as they interact.  We started out by having supper together, then we walked to the nearest 7-11 for some candy.  (Isn't that what aunts are supposed to do?  Plus I craved some candy.  :-) )  We ended the evening with some popcorn, America's Got Talent and trampoline time.   And getting ready for church the next morning was actually pretty easy (once we woke the sleepyhead ups)...the older ones helped do hair for the younger ones...my how times have changed. 

On our way to 7-11

And this was even before they had sugar!

The seven beautiful cousins

Mmmmmm.....candy...I didn't realize $2 a kid would stretch quite so far.  :-)

J, J, J, J, I am so proud of each of you and so glad that I get to be your aunt!  Thanks for being such amazing cousins to our girls and I look forward to making many more memories together.

June 4

June 4 marked the day that we brought Mebira home exactly one year ago.  I'll be posting a bit more in the future about how things have changed, but here are a few pictures from then and now.

The amazing friends and family who came to greet us at the airport

FINALLY a family of 5.  Our first picture together!

The girls were so excited to take her inside and show her around.

One whole year in Canada - she wore a Canada shirt on this day although I'm not sure if that was intentional or not

My three beautiful girls...a rushed picture before school started...

12 years ago...

Twelve years ago today was a perfect day.  I remember waking up, taking a look outside at the beautiful blue sky and breathing a prayer of thanks.  I had a long soak in my parent's huge bath tub, and anxiously thought about every detail in the day to come.  My wedding day had finally arrived and I couldn't have been happier.  I was marrying my best friend, about to go on a honeymoon to Hawaii, and would then move into a house we had just built.  We both had full time jobs as electrical engineers, and life was looking great.

Twelve years later, I am a very happily married woman.  We have had some bumps in our marriage for sure, but it has been the easiest relationship in my life - mostly due to the fact that Arvid is incredibly easy going and easy to please.  We have been blessed with two beautiful biological girls, and our amazing girl from Ethiopia. 

We had a fun family night on Friday night - we thought it would be fun to celebrate a few things at once...Mebira honoured me on Mother's Day and is busy preparing for Father's Day at school...we wanted to find a day to also acknowledge her birth parents, as well as celebrate that she has been with us for one year.  So we had our family's favourite supper (cobb salad), baked a chocolate cake, said a few words of thanks about Mebira's Wolayta Mom and Wolayta Dad and sang "Happy Family Day to us".  Then we spent the evening watching the first few moments when we met Mebira, followed by watching our wedding video.

What amazed me the most was to see how many people have passed away since that time.  A lot can change in 12 years.  However, with those sad moments watching those who are no longer with us we also had some fun moments.  We had an especially good time watching my adorable niece and nephew walk down the aisle - boy were they cute!  It was also heartwarming to hear the toast to the bride from my brother Ron, hear him sing a song, hear both of my brother's play their violin and cello, and listen to the speeches from my sister-in-law and brother-in-law.  We laughed at our slide show, as well as how cheesy the wedding video was - technology has changed a lot in 12 years, too.

Yes, we were younger, yes we had new, young love, but I am just as in love with my husband now as I was back then.  Actually, what am I thinking...I love my husband more now than ever.  I have come to learn so much more about him and appreciate his many amazing qualities.  He is hard working, smart, generous, easy to talk to, non judgmental, easy going, positive, God honouring, loving, and the thing I appreciate the most is that he is still my best friend.  We went from lab partners at University to partners for life.  I am truly blessed.

Happy Family Day to us!

This was us then...12 years ago! Sadly, I don't think anyone had digital cameras way back then...I scanned these in today instead.

We took pictures at the University - where we first met, became best friends and fell in love

 

I thought it would be fun to try on my wedding dress today for the first time in 12 years.  It fit all the way until it hit my rib cage.  I'd like to think that it's because I'm voluptuous now but it's actually because I think my rib cage expanded through pregnancy...and maybe a little back fat, too.  :-)  The flowers are a dried bridesmaid bouquet from my sister-in-law Angie's wedding.

Excuse the hair - I had just gotten back from an 8k run.  :-)  Don't I have a good husband to humor me with this?  And he was even hangry at the time (grumpiness brought on by hunger).  :-)