iron kids

our four youngest competed recently in the Ironkid Triathlon in Brights Grove.  this is a really fun event.  two had done it before, but for AJ and Hudson this was their first time.  for them, the race included a 50 metre swim, 2.5 km bike ride and a 1 km run.  for Layla and Adam the race distance was a 100 metre swim, a 5 km bike ride and a 2 km run.  i could go on and on about this day, but i'll mostly let the pictures speak for themselves.  below, pre-race registration and bike check...

 

listening to the rules of the race.  all four "getting their game on"....worth noting was the intense questioning we received from AJ the whole week prior to the race.  he covered everything...."where will i leave my bike?", "how will i know where to go?" etc....thankfully, a few days before the actual race we'd gone for a family bike ride and pretty much taken them all through the course, so it wasn't completely unfamiliar....

 

walking to the starting point down on the beach...

 

 

entering the chilly water...worth noting~ Layla took on some water early in the swim.  there are, after all, bodies all together in close proximity, and separating from the pack is difficult at that distance.  she was struggling enough to catch her breath after swallowing water that she instinctively rolled to her back and floated/did back stroke until she was breathing well again.  she finished last out of the water, and there was much ground to make up...but my fierce and determined one did not let that get her down...

 

 

Hudson~ racing like he'd done this before.  his face said "i'm good, i'm going for it, i'm strong"...how far he's come.  and if you're thinking the pics are really just average, you are right.  me with a cell phone, just trying to see all of them and get them through each transition point.  between Jeff and I we still didn't catch each one.  it was a whirlwind and over so quickly.

 

 

AJ coming in from his bike course and ready to transition to the run.  also worth noting, AJ apparently fell at the very beginning of his ride, and had the skinned knee to show for it at the finish line.  neither of us saw him fall as we were helping our other kids get dried off and onto their bikes.  he says he fell, got up, and then just kept riding!  AJ also just mastered two wheels officially last month.  the training wheels have been off for a lonnngg time, but after many delays he finally agreed to keep practicing until he got it, just last month!  when he was four he'd say "i'll learn when i'm five", when he was five he'd say "i'll learn when i'm six, etc....so, this summer his siblings bribed him to practice riding for time on their devices, and it finally worked! i had started to give up and figured he'd learn when he really wanted to~ but hey~ their bribes worked!  thanks Adam and Hannah!

 

 

Adam~ solid and strong all day.  he made it look easy. 

 

 

Layla, gaining ground and almost at the finish line!

 

 

AJ~ almost there!!

 

 

done....

 

 

 

 

post race picture~ a few smiles look a bit forced, which i think is understandable....they were all tired and glad to be done. 

 

 

lunch!!!  yummy hotdogs, cookies and water bottles for all competitors.  discussing the race with dad.  speaking of dad~ also worth mention is his completion of the Sprint Triathlon the day prior.  he competed himself with lots of other brave people and finished strong.  especially considering he didn't train for the day at all...because that's how he rolls... :)

 

 

so, the final results are:

AJ~ sixth place out of twelve in his age group

Hudson~ seventh place out of twenty-six in his age group

Layla~ third place out of fifteen in her age group

Adam~ sixth out of eleven in his age group

Jeff~ thirty-ninth out of ninety-seven total competitors

 

great day~ great kids....and the big kid too!  so proud of all of you for your courage and effort!

at the pool

so, i'm a few weeks late on these pictures, but even still, i wanted to post about our annual summer session of swimming lessons at the city pool.  there is just something about this way of kicking off the summer.  it feels very "old school", just the way we go every day, rain or shine.  the community feel to it.  the way it's been done for years with very little changed in the format.  the kids seem to enjoy the predictability it brings, and there is the rewarding feeling of passing the level at the end of the two weeks.  the final day is always "fun day" with pool activities and candy at the end! what's not to love about that?? 

Layla, Hudson and AJ...

 

unless, of course, you are Hannah, whose final day would be more suitably called "the not-so-fun-day" or if you are dramatic like her "day of death" :).  she is now into the higher levels of swimming lessons and training to be a lifeguard~ so to complete Bronze Cross you must pass a written exam as well as an in-pool exam.  she did~ and she is so relieved it is over...she is already using her skills this week on "Beach Crew" at the summer camp her older sister is lifeguarding at.  so good for them both...which means next summer we will be down to four at the pool, as our older two are beyond the levels offered by the city. 

 

 

honestly, this is for sure a summer routine i will miss one day.  it can be taxing to get them to the pool on time and commit to the two plus hours required, for two weeks straight.  but as i sit and observe, i see their skills improving and the very real personal satisfaction they feel as they learn and achieve.  i love watching the rapport develop with their teachers.  these instructors are all highschool or college-aged kids who impress me year after year.  they are solid teachers with a nice dose of patience and fun mixed in as well.  below is a picture of AJ "schmoozing" with the lifeguards before class. the picture is taken from a bit far away, but he's the small brown guy in the middle :).

 

 

i love watching my kids do jumps and flips off the board.  i love seeing their endurance displayed as they all do distance swims within set time frames.  i'm so thankful for their healthy and able bodies.  so blessed they are to be able to use them in this way.  it is just good...

oh boy....

the saga continues....a certain letter arrived for my dear son the week after i posted this.

addressed to Hudson, complete with a stamp and return mailing address.  super cute.  Hudson's friend had taken the time to journal her early weeks of summer and share bits and pieces with him in the two cards contained inside.

 

 

these pictures just get me~ not sure why...

 

if you could have seen the look on Hudson's face when he laid eyes on the letter (with his name on it!!!)....absolutely priceless...

 

so, as it turns out, this little letter exchange has proven to be a teaching opportunity....about letter writing and stamps and addresses and return addresses.  Hudson did his best to respond, with way, way fewer sentences than Miss E. had included in her cards, but hey, he's a guy!  why overdo it??!!  get to the point as fast as possible and be done with it! :) 

 

so, perhaps Hudson has a summer pen-pal venture underway...we shall see...

 

yonas

where do i start.  it's been so long since i posted about Yonas because it's been almost a year since we last received an update.  for six months we've been trying to arrange another Skype visit.  finally, last Friday, it happened. 

 

wow, what can i say??  Layla took a cell phone picture of our Skype exchange, so maybe i should start there....

 

isn't he sweet looking??  as far as how he is doing, this is what i wrote to the sponsorship families.....

 

"As is expected with a pretty big language barrier, communication is tricky. We asked lots of the usual questions, and he was finding it difficult to understand most of what we asked, so Betty, the Kingdom Vision International worker, translated for us.

Basically, the gist of it is this. He is well, feeling good and taking his meds. He is on summer break now~ he just finished grade nine and is going into tenth grade in the fall. He is 15 years old, but really doesn’t look it. His enjoys studying geography. He likes to play soccer.  When I asked about his home it was translated that things were ok, not the best, but ok…He does get food, but again the translator suggested that for a boy of his age and with his medical status, he wasn’t having nutritional needs met as well as they should be.

I meant to ask him if he had any questions for us, but forgot. :) It was a bit overwhelming. I reminded him that we all loved him, prayed regularly for him, and were so thankful to have the chance to see him. He got to see four of our kids as well, which seemed to make him smile. He said thank-you and 'I love you'…..oh my heart….

Because of the great difficult we had in arranging this visit, I have asked if we could switch to a communication model like Compassion uses, by regular snail mail.  The KVI staff seems to like this idea. If it happens, I will keep you posted."

 

so, there is the latest.  my ongoing prayer is that Yonas will see his God-given potential met, whether with a forever family, or not.  that he would know the love of Jesus in his day-to-day life, and see his future unfold as he must dream about (i hope he still dreams about a future).  that he would feel loved and warm and safe.  that he would have his spiritual, emotional and physical needs met.  man, do i wish that for him....as i said to a friend, when i think about Yonas i waffle between feeling peaceful and frantic, sad and frustrated, and so it goes... seeing this child struggle from afar is hard...also if you know of any family who would seriously consider adoption of an older child with medical needs, please share Yonas' story with them.  i believe in miracles.  we are living with one right here in our home! :)  thanks for caring and praying for Yonas!

canada day 2014

three out of five were picture ready.  one was away working at summer camp and sent a text, "enjoy those tatoos!"  she knows this is our morning, pre-parade routine....so much easier than other years as they all do their own or help eachother....no crinkled-up or half-tatoos this year :).  great day, lots of sun and good food and fireworks.  thankful for this great country we call home.  so blessed!!!!

early summer snapshot

seeing as the summer is already moving fast and furiously, it may well be that this blog becomes a place of lots of pictures posted over the next eight weeks with little narrative substance in-between.  hopefully the non-edited, non-professional cell phone pics do something to capture the essence of these busy days.  because our lives sure don't feel like they lack substance.  quite the contrary...

 

 

above, me and my boy on my 41st birthday.  not a great shot of me, but very real nonetheless.  i was just back from a baseball road trip where a few of us had gone to watch Hudson play.  i was tired and ready to call it a day.  still, it was my birthday.  and the first real chance the kids had to give me their gifts.  in typical "Adam style", he had wrapped my present in the shape of a pyramid. it was created with paper tubes, then covered in newspaper, and was a great disguise. only Adam....there are so many things to love about this boy.  first, in so many ways he reminds me of Jeff.  he is becoming very witty, is soooo creative and such a little thinker.  he can fix and build and patiently solve puzzles and obstacles in ways that i never could.  plus, he still loves to hang out with me, and isn't too old to be seen with his mama.  that is special to me....

 

can't believe i am 41~ yet so thankful to be....i am determined to never hide my age or feel anything but gratitude for the years i have been given.

 

summer is here, life is in full swing, all six are busy and active and the kilometres being logged on my van are a sure indication of the number of times we are buzzing around town and beyond.  also an indication of the clear shift i've (we) made from busy care-giver role to crew taxi-driver.   no longer are all nestled in their beds between seven to eight-thirty, read to, sang to, and clean behind their ears....no, no, no...we are carting and lugging and doing it all over again multiple times each day.  certain kids are up until we finally threaten their lives, and only then will they march down to their beds. it's worse than the stall tactics used in their toddler years, let me tell you.   

 

it's good.  it's fun.  it's joyous to watch them fly and have fun discovering what they love.  or even what they don't love, but are doing because it's healthy for their hearts and for their "life experiences column" on the pages of their life, and because their parents made them.  :) 

 

happy summer, all!  enjoy your own families and loved ones during these longer days of sun and heat and fun!  blessings!