mlk jr. day

yesterday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day. 

 

 

i thought i'd post some of his most memorable quotes in honour of this day~ and the legacy of a courageous and inspiring man...

 

 

"If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward."

 

"I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear."

 

"Faith is taking the first step even when you can't see the whole staircase."

 

 

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge."

 

"Only in darkness can you see the stars."

 

"Forgiveness is not an occasional act.  It is a permanent attitude."

 

i wish i could formulate my thoughts on issues of race as it relates to my black boys, their future, and our family...apparently today i can't.  i type, i delete.  type, delete. 

quite simply, i'm sooo thankful for the historical representation of this man, this agent of change, who boldly stood for justice and liberty in a non-violent way...i'll finish with one last and powerful quote,

 

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter"

 

evidence

here's some free advice in the form of a gigantic run-on sentence...if you ever were planning on taking a cellular device that wasn't yours (that had once belonged to your sister, and was barely even operational anymore), say...to school on the last day before the Christmas break, when handheld game devices were allowed by the teacher on this special "party" day, and if you were going to do this without mention or permission (even after a summer episode in which this occurred, had been found out, and didn't end well for you) and deliberately decided to hide the device in your backpack, perhaps it would be smart to remember not to leave evidence on the phone of photographs that display your shenanigans and incriminate you as having possession of the device.....

he probably wishes he'd thought of that....

 

it was fun for the day though! :) :)

recap of the random sort

happy new year family and friends!  i'm back!  after missing a week while deep in the throws of holiday mode, i'm back at my computer wondering where the past two and half weeks disappeared to so quickly.  it was a rush and then restful and even a delightful shift away from our usual "normal".  two weeks where we throw our schedules and routines upside down and break from it all~ and instead incorporate lots of food (ahem...), family, friends, celebrating, play and naps.  so nice, full and blessed. therefore, time for a recap of sorts...because i'm that sort of person.  always enjoying looking back, forward, organizing, summarizing, and categorizing.  that's how i roll....no mocking please.

Christmas was wonderful.  Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinner are always spent with our extended families.  all eight of us love this.  we have some awesome and fun families to call our own.  i wish already that i'd taken a few pictures of these two occasions.  i didn't.  i failed.  if i had~ you'd see delicious croquettes being deep fried (yummmm!!!) and Christmas Eve service together and a hilarious gift game exchange and cousins together playing and stockings/gift bags opened and turkey and sweet potatoes and endless baked goods that called my name (too often)...and on it goes.  blissful memories i/we hold dear.  Christmas morning with our eight~ equally wonderful.  peaceful and fun~ hot coffee sipped while stocking treasures are revealed, gifts ripped open, toys assembled and clothes modelled as i happily discovered that most things fit!  then i absolutely loved moving on to my kitchen to make brunch while i heard the sounds of the kids in and out of the kitchen, showing me treasures or playing games together.

 

it always feels like a surreal pocket of time where all are contentedly playing and discovering and getting along in harmony.  i caught myself singing along to my Christmas music, and glancing up at the wooden manger (made by my dad) containing our own version of the swaddled newborn baby, beside the lit tree.  it was a snapshot moment in my head~ a deep and heartfelt joy for The Gift that changes everything for me, for us.  an undercurrent of peace and hope that i was deeply aware of as i fried the sausages and sliced the fruit.  so thankful for all of it...

 

beyond Christmas we coasted through and had a productive last week of holidays together.  an ice rink was made (thanks Jeffrey!), the tree found it's way to the front lawn, a few things were tackled on the list of "things to do while on Christmas break", friends came over, games were played, movies were watched, and the popcorn popper got regular use (and where has all our butter gone????  Jeff and Hannah are surely to blame for that one....).  added to that~ driver's education happened for our oldest (what??!?!??!?), our youngest lost his second front tooth (oh how i'll miss those teeny tiny baby teeth...and he's our last to lose them...a wee bit sad about that), our middle child whipped me repeatedly in the tabletop hockey game (a favourite gift of 2014~ given to the three boys by J&B), hair was curled with new curling wands, and on it went.....

 

(in case any of you are wondering, i do take more pictures of my fabulous oldest four, but almost always there are protests and complaining and threats that sound like "don't you dare put this on the blog!", and so on~ AJ and Hudson remain willing subjects.  i kind of remember feeling the same way about pictures when i was that age, so i generally respect their wishes...)

below, Hudson watching the World Juniors game in the goalie pads.  always playing the part and deeply engrossed.  just like baseball....

when Monday morning came and the alarm gently roused me to a state of wakefulness, and it was STILL VERY DARK, i was less than impressed....however, once up and moving, i sensed that all of us were ready to get back into the routine we were so familiar with.  we were refreshed and ready to return to some structure.  structure is good~ spoken by one who generally thrives on it.

 

below, Monday after day one of school in January 2015.  homework!!!!  just a little, thankfully.  they took it well...

 

wishing you all a smooth transition back to your "normal" and a purposeful and joyous 2015!!  cheers! :)



"Christmas Eve Eve"

last night one of the kids announced "tomorrow we can say tomorrow is Christmas Eve!!!"  you follow??  so, that's today i guess!  wishing you a meaningful Christmas filled with sweet joy,

peace,

 

 

play,



 

and rest!

 

...stop and consider Jesus this season, a King born in a humble stable~ the only true lasting Reason for celebrating at all...

Merry Christmas!!

four

yesterday (and the day before, cuz we spread it out a bit) was a special one for AJ.  his fourth "gotcha day", or adoption day or family day, as many prefer.  that's another blog post. but don't wait for it! :) our boys have always known this day as "gotcha day" so we aren't going to change it on them now, even though we understand there are more accurate word choices floating out there now. 

every year this day hits in the middle of all things Christmas.  it comes up fast, and i'm usually somewhat taken aback by the thoughts that come with it.  it's big, it's the most amazing memory, it's the reminder of God's direct and clear miracle in this sweet boy's life (and ours!), it's the loss, it's the joy, it's a lot.  i won't talk about it much here as i touched on some adoption related stuff last month.  but honestly, every year this is significant for me as i remember (here's the blog post from the actual day we took the bumpy ride back to our guesthouse with our new son on my lap), feel overwhelming gratitude, and put into motion a way to highlight this day for our son. 

we had a yummy and spicy African chicken stew over rice, Ethiopian honey bread and cream puffs for dessert.  AJ wanted to decorate his own, and did a fabulous job...

 

 

AJ got a new t-shirt and a letter from me...here's one bit from what i wrote...

 

"But then, God did something BIG!  God saw your struggles, He saw the losses…He saw your need for a forever family to grow up into.  He saw your personality and your character and He decided you would fit well here!  With us!  He looked at this crazy family in Canada, and He knew I longed to be a mommy to another child, and He knew Hudson would do well to have a brown brother in his forever family~ and He chose you, to be with us, FOREVER!!!  And He did all of that through a spectacular miracle!  I can’t wait until you are old enough to understand more of the details and we can share how this whole journey to Ethiopia began….God clearly gave us you..." 

 

 

in my life, it's definitely during the times of refection and looking back that my perspective for the future is that much clearer.  thankful for that!  thankful for this sweet seven year old on his special day...

tunes

last year i mentioned this song.  of the approximate 300,000 views on YouTube i hate to think how many of those have been me! :) i still love it to pieces.  this year there are a few others to add to my "go to" list of must play tracts during Christmas wrapping, baking or just about anything...

life is full during this month of December, to be sure.  these lyrics and melodies have a way of taking me back to the Hope behind all of it.  i love that....so, add to last year Mary's Boy Child by Pentatonix....such crazy talent and i can't even believe the beauty of their voices and delivery.  mind-blowing.  and one more...just because i'm in a sharing mood! :) have fun singing along!  happy Christmas!

giving

the theme of the week is giving! :)  obviously we all love the season for what we "get"....wrapped treasures, rest and time off, sweet Christmas treats, and shiny new "things"....in the end, however, nothing, absolutely nothing compares to the feeling of giving, especially when the gift being given literally has the power to change the course of one's life, forever. 

so, a couple of links to point you in that direction as we all remember the true meaning of this wonderful season.

first, an amazing team (including some dear friends!) from our church family is currently in El Salvador building houses and relationships with a local community there.  this is a long-term investment that has been developing over the past five years, and many lives here and there have been impacted.  check in and browse their daily blog posts to be encouraged and inspired!

finally, WestJet has done it again!  last year i linked to their Christmas Giving Miracle, and this year's video proved to be another tear-jerker for me.  no surprise there.  how badly do i want to work for WestJet???!?!  you don't even know...the 2014 Christmas miracle captures the Spirit of Giving in a beautiful way and is a good reminder to all of us~ of our many many blessings and the responsibility we have to give from our place of abundance...

check out the "why we did it" to learn more of the back-story about why WestJet chose to invest in the location and manner that they did.  so beautiful.  enjoy!