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!

 

this made me smile

is it just me, or does this photo make anyone else smile??

 

 

AJ, Hudson and their dear friend displayed some serious Dutch pride as they stood for the anthem during the last World Cup match between Netherlands and Chile...as each of the two goals was buried in the net, you should have heard the yelling and screaming.  it was a show within the show, let me tell you....totally priceless.

secret mail

the other day, right after school had finished and we were transitioning into summer mode, i stopped the van at the end of the driveway to get the mail.  Hudson saw me remove the envelopes and called out the van window, asking me to put the top one back.  he was pretty adamant it remain in the mailbox for the mailman to pick up.  it was a self-made envelope from lined paper, stapled at the sides.  i explained that it needed a stamp (not to mention a full name, postal code, etc..) and that he needed to run such letters by me before sending them for delivery.  he reluctantly agreed, grinned a bit, and i knew this was a special letter going to a special someone from his grade three classroom.  Hudson has had a soft spot for Miss Emily for most of the last two years, and apparently they have discussed mailing addresses as they considered the end to the school year and the end of being together at the same school :(...totally understandable, and i remember a similar crush back when i was that age.  i was smitten and carried that crush right through to grade eight!  sure felt "real-deal" at the time, right down to the moment my friend (still my dear friend today, love you Trish!!) and i cued up "Glory of Love" by Peter Cetera (still know every word) on our tape player and dialed the home phone number of the mutual crush.  when he came to the phone we hit the "play" button, blasted the volume, and set the hand receiver by the speaker, but laughed so hysterically on the floor we were unable to return to the phone to properly end the call.  we never heard his thoughts on the shenanigans of that day although i'm sure he was most impressed...but, i digress.

 

 back to Hudson and his secret mail...when he wasn't looking i snapped a picture of the note inside...i know he will enjoy looking back at this ten years from now, and seeing as he doesn't actively read this blog now, i figured i was safe to publish this without causing him embarrassment.  i certainly don't want to do that, yet i really think it captures Hudson's true-blue character~ his affections, his sneakiness, his writing style~ short and to the point, his sweetness, and that is what i want to remember in a decade....in a decade when i'm beating back the girls from our doorstep....