first pow wow

we attended our first official pow wow.  i don't think it will be our last.  the girls and our boys both enjoyed it.  i loved it.   

 

it moved me for many reasons~ too many to articulate here.  i think one theme stood out for me~ while we share this beautiful grand globe with so many diverse people, cultures and histories, ethnicities and traditions~ we really have so many ways we are all very much alike.  so much that is similar and perfectly the same.

aren't we all just everyday people drawn together by love and family and a desire to belong to community and be apart of something bigger than ourselves?  it seems almost universal, doesn't it? 

when we were finished little miss E. danced her way back to the van in the cutest possible way.  Hudson joined her.  from the northern regions of Ontario to the beautiful land of Haiti~ and for all the vast differences in between~ so much is exactly the same which is truly important to remember and celebrate!!

"My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together"

Desmond Tutu

"An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity"

Martin Luther King Jr.

random pics

a few random disconnected photos.  a little like our life has been in June.  a wee bit "all over the place"...a bit of real life crazy sometimes.  

off to preschool one morning~ miss E. was delighted to have hair long enough to manage three small ponytails!  

PD day park time in the sun with the boys and their boards...

when you are gifted some beautiful bigger mattresses and move one into the oldest's bedroom, you can't do so (if you're truly of dutch upbringing) without a full and proper cleaning of her room...so this delightful scene greeted me behind her dresser...did feel sooo good to send her a pic of her clean and tidy room that awaits her arrival home~ tomorrow!!! :)

sibling pool shenanigans that make me smile...

after dinner nap ("Siri, set an 11 minute timer" and then another ten minutes is usually added on to that! he's so cute and predictable) miss H. jumped up to torment him, but he really does love it!

a rare thing~ Hudson brought home art work that he was so proud of.  me too! a "colour wheel and a reptilian eye"...love his effort with this and ownership of his final result...

memories

recently Hudson had his official golf debut with his dad and brother, and for Jeff it was the first time on the course in a very long time.  

 

brave frog right there, appearing with these three on the course!! :)

  

they loved it, and the carts were a bit of fun too!

there might be more of this happening this summer!  

45

beauty in a bouquet, from my sweet dad

i had a birthday yesterday.  reflective about many things.  thankful for many more.  trusting God more with life's challenges as i let my "death grip" hold on life's circumstances loosen ever so slightly, little by little.  God is good, He is faithful.  His promises are still true, still unchanging.  

so i picked this song as a fitting one to enter in to another year of living life as a mom, wife, daughter, friend, and daughter of the King...

this is my heart's cry

in a song...

happy birthday to me!

oh, one more thing, scrumptious came on my birthday in the form of a key lime cheesecake~ absolutely amazing...

how she likes it

when miss H. is left to pull up her own pants....."i do it!" she says.

not exactly flattering, but 110% adorable nonetheless...

plus two and a half is about the only age you can even get away with this "look" for more than two seconds, thank goodness!

sweetness

Hannah and E...

a picture of sweetness

mother's day mush

i'm well aware of the lack of deep substantive thought on this here blog these days.  not because i'm not thinkin' it, however!  i'm certainly in a super busy season, and my time sitting in the chair in front of the computer is minuscule, at best.  that is okay.  my purpose here is to log the happenings of my bunch and i think this blog is still reflecting the season we're in~ so i'm good with that. 

i had these flowers below looking gorgeous for over a week....still, these roses are more than just beautiful flowers.  this Mother's Day they were a special reminder of the three moms whose children i am blessed enough to know and love.  two for the first mothers of my two adopted sons and the third for the mom of E&H...

the special day we celebrate moms is emotional and weighty and layered to be sure, and these moms were in my heart and mind for the whole week in and around Mother's Day.  

  

add to that my gratitude for my own amazing mom and my husband's equally awesome mother, and well, it was a bit of a special occasion to celebrate.  i feel blessed and overwhelmed many days as a mom, in equal parts actually.  the task is daunting, which feels understated....i'm thankful for a steadfast legacy of mothers who stuck to the grind on hard days, years challenging seasons :), and loved us well.  i'm thankful that they modeled consistency and patience and strength.  i'm thankful that they loved us unconditionally.  i hope my kids see this in me~ that they know this and find security in it.  i'm also thankful for a timely letter from my big kid, and the way God knew my heart could use a little lift.  she has no idea how her words fell on my weary spirit and refreshed me...that is soooo how God works in my life.  not luck, not coincidence~ rather His love and care and grace extended to me in a way that has me standing in awe.  i'm undeserving and so very thankful.