Tire Swing Fun Again

Our kids love the tire swing. It is a great item that draws brothers and sisters together.

One day the boys decided to raise the tire swing. That was something to see. They had to climb up the ladder to get up on the swing. Then they had the fun of trying to untie the knot once it got tightened from them swinging on it!

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Children and Their Imaginations

Caveman

One day when I called the children to dinner I could hear a distant thumping sound. Upon investigating the sound I found a puffed up Briton standing by a pile of rubble. It didn't take long to figure out what was happening.

Briton said, "Daniel Boone," as he pointed to the pile of rubble. From below the pile I could hear a thump, thump, thump.

I said, "Are you Daniel Boone?"

To which Briton replied, "No, me yucky man. Daniel Boone here." And he pointed down to the piece of nearly hidden plywood.

Throwing Another Rock on His Pile

Cassidy has been digging himself a hole in the yard. This hole is about 2 1/2 feet deep and big enough for two children to hide in. Apparently, due to all the Daniel Boone stories we have been watching the children had been playacting. Savannah was Mingo, the Indian friend of Daniel Boone, and Briton was the 'Yucky Man', and Cooper was Daniel Boone.

It was really quite funny and surprising to see Briton in charge of the play! He is usually the tagalong and for once he was in charge. I was amazed to find he had covered the hole with the piece of plywood and then proceeded to cover that with all the rocks and logs that were lying around.

It didn't take long for him to let the kids out when I told him to. They were having fun and were right into the act. Of course, Daniel Boone was busy under the ground rescuing himself and Mingo - hammering a hole in the plywood.

Daniel Boone Knocking a Hole Into the 'Prison'

Daniel Making His Escape

Daniel Boone, His Wife, two Natives

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How Blessed is a Child With a Sister or Brother

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Spuds

I have a great husband. He doesn’t complain about what he is served for dinner. Usually it is a good meal and often it is different. But once in a while it is not very interesting and is not very different.

That once in a while was lately when I realized we had a new menu and it didn’t include much in the way of potatoes. I had a 50 lb box of potatoes, and I really didn’t want it to go to waste.

There began the Week of Potatoes!

It began with baked potatoes and ended with chicken and potato soup. My husband was very patient through it. You would never know from this posed picture, but he is just a good actor! *grin*


My motto – Waste Not, Want Not! Well, as it turns out, a bunch of potatoes did get wasted, but in the meanwhile we had lots of potato dishes that week!

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A Good Breakfast - A Healthy Start

I am a person that loves to learn from others. If they can enlighten me I want to learn. Of course, it is as long as I see the results in their life that I want. A friend came to visit me recently and she pulled out her breakfast making ingredients. Granola, yoghurt, sliced almonds, bananas, blueberries, wheat germ. You name it. Healthy stuff!

My breakfast is not bad, but certainly not that healthy. But I do enjoy my evening snack:

(Note: since I have written this blog I have given up my evening snack, and am well on my way to healthy living again!)

So I realized it was time to make a change. If I wasn’t yet ready to throw out my evening crutch, then at least I could start the day right:

I am enjoying it. And my kids are having it now once or twice a week. They, of course, love it! It is a break from the monotony of oatmeal and toast. *smile* And speaking of monotony of breakfasts. Lately, I have been trying to get back on the “Interesting Breakfast” bandwagon. So, now the new menu includes:

Smoothies and Muffins

Toasted Egg Sandwiches

Granola, Yoghurt, Fruit

Pancakes

Oatmeal

Toast and Jam

Let’s see how long it lasts! The kids are certainly enjoying the variety!

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How Does My Garden Grow?

One day I came home and found some flowers in a box on my front porch. I thought to myself, “How kind. Ray brought me some flowers.” I then found out he didn’t even know they were there. *grin* It turned out that a subcontractor that works for him sometimes had dropped them off. I haven't since seen the man, but I aim to thank him. He must have taken pity on my completely bloomless yard!

The next day, I saw him walking around the corner of the house with a garbage can that was cut off about 10” from the bottom. I thought to myself, “How kind. Ray is going to make me a planter.” Never mind the fact that it was a garbage can. It was somewhere to put flowers! I later saw him mixing concrete in it for the base of the house where he is applying rocks. *smile*

The flowers continued to sit there. I have not got a green thumb. I kill what I plant. I plant marigolds and potatoes. Why? Because I have no clue what else to plant. Oh, I have a great eye for flowers. I know what *looks* beautiful! I just have no clue how to create it. Nor do I have desire to create time for that. It is not my love. But I would *love* to have a garden like that

I have seen my sister’s and been envious. But she had enjoyed creating it and that is the key. You usually enjoy putzing and putting these things together. Not I! I would enjoy sitting and looking at one of these beautiful gardens, but I have no inclination to spend my summer creating it.

So, one day my dear, sweet, multi-talented son, Cassidy, offered to plant the pretty flowers for me. He was working on a vegetable garden at the time. A garden that would not be done in time for summer. It was already summer! Oh well. He could have it ready for next spring, when he could simply freshen the dirt and plant it.

Cassidy Let Briton Choose the Order of the Flowers

So now, I have flowers.

And don’t say, “How sad. How pathetic is her garden.” Because I know. It truly is. But at least there are blooming things in my yard. My sister came to see me and she said, “Are those ---- .” And I said, “I have no clue. They are colourful. They are pretty. That’s all I know.” And I do not even know what flowers she suggested they might be! *grin*

I have always wanted hanging baskets, and big container gardens, so when I went to my friend’s house the other day and saw her amazing garden I hired her on the spot. I asked her if she could take on my garden. She will tell my husband and sons where I want the containers built – and she will tell them how big, what design etc. Then she will pick the plastic containers when she is at Costco. She will be the one that tells me to order bark mulch or rock and she will pick and choose the flowers and plants that she thinks will look good. I, of course, will give her my opinion, but based on what she has done at her house, I will trust her judgement.

Dear friend that she is, she was willing to do it for free. What a blessing she is to me. But I so want a garden that I want to give to her, so that she can buy herself something just for herself, as a thank you for her kindness. So stay tuned for next years garden.

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Military Bound?

Colt is past the finishing gate of being in Cadets. He has been in for four years and has accomplished so much in that short time. He has completed six years of levels, being promoted to Regimental Sergeant Major, and succeeded in being selected for Para.

Para was a long time goal for Colt. When he was in Grade 10, he began his physical fitness training in the hopes that he would qualify. Para is short for Paratrooping. Every year, the top 20 cadets (out of a possible 7000) in British Columbia are selected to train over spring break for the Pre-Para camp at the Vernon Army Cadet Training base.

Colt was one of the 20 selected from BC. During this week, it is like the game show Survivor: each day you wait for a phone call from your cadet telling if they made it through another day of physical fitness and training. It was very exciting knowing Colt was doing so well.

Finally, we got a call from Colt telling us that he had received the 6^th place out of 20. Unfortunately, only the top 5 go on to Ontario where they train to jump out of airplanes. Colt then went on to tell me how he lost his 5^th place standing.

During the training/elimination week it is every cadet’s goal to graduate. Fourteen of them will not qualify for Ontario, but to have been selected to be one of the twenty is an accomplishment in itself. And so, each of these cadets wants to be able to graduate from the weeklong elimination round.

One day there was a 10 km run (there were many, many of these!) and Colt was doing fine, but he could see there was a girl who was not going to make it. If she did not make it, she would not graduate. He slowed his run, lost his place in the race, and encouraged the girl on until they crossed the finish line together. In doing this he lost his 5^th place winning spot and earned the right to graduate, but not go on to Ontario.

While, I was on the phone with him, I asked him a question, “Colt, I have to ask you, because others will ask you. What were you thinking when you pulled out of the race to encourage the girl to finish?”

“I wasn’t thinking. I just didn’t want her to not make it,” Colt replied.

My heart swelled with pride. I told him that God would see the bigger picture and his integrity would be rewarded! As the cadet who received the 6^th place standing, Colt would be on reserve, in case a cadet pulled out or could not make it to the training in Ontario. He would then be given their spot. I was dead certain that he would get that opportunity because I knew that God would reward his attitude.

Well, days before they were to head out to Ontario Colt received that phone call. He was awarded #4 spot in BC. It turned out that two of the five cadets in BC had not been able to pass the medical exam that was required to complete the course. Colt was flown to Vancouver, where he was extensively tested physically and medically to ensure he was capable of the physically exhausting program he was about to enter. It was at this exam that we discovered that he was almost deaf in one ear! Thankfully, his other ear was extremely good, thus allowing him through.

Colt left our house at 11:00 am for his flight to Ontario. His flight left Vancouver at 11:00 pm. He arrived in Ontario at 7:00 am Toronto Time. He was picked up at the airport and transported along with the other cadets to the military base. His training then began! The powers that be did not clue in that the BC cadets (especially the ones from outer cities, that had to take two flights!) had been traveling for 24 hours already, with little to no sleep!

The first thing he had to do was drop and give 325 pushups.. in.. a.. row.. !! And of course, he succeeded. Colt is a machine.

Over 2000 Pushups in the First Three Days

For the last three years he has trained night and day. While he was signed up for ‘PE 10’ or 11 through Distance Ed and he would write out his PE that he had done, it was easy for him to do enough to satisfy them because he was doing way more than a normal person would do. And *that* is why he made it to Para.

Colt said this was very painful. They had to hang, pull their knees together, and have all the strappings between the legs at the same time. Uggh!

During this exercise one guy fell asleep. From then on they were all required to hold out their helmets are arm's length to ensure they didn't get sleepy!

One of the exercises he had to do was run 10 km and be back in 60 minutes. They had to run 5 km, turn around, and run back 5 km. They headed out, and Colt hit the 5 km mark and there was no marking officer showing the spot, so he led the way and they kept running. At 6.5 km Colt decided to turn around and head back. He was the first one from the BC crowd back at 58 minutes, having run 13 km!

The packs the guys had to train to be able to wear while jumping out of the airplane. (This is not Colt in the picture.)

I have seen pictures of what it was like at this camp: nasty! If one person’s bed was a mess the officer would dump all the beds and the lockers.

Colt's Barracks After a Routine Dump

They would enter the mess hall and stand behind their chairs. When the last person entered, they would quickly sit and begin wolfing down their food. They were given 10 minutes to eat a meal and they were expected to have their plate clean when the time went off. If it was not clean then there was a consequence for everyone. Trust me, they finished their dinners!

As you can imagine, with the hours and exercise that these cadets were putting in, they needed their nutrition, but the military set it up in such a way to make it near impossible to get the food they needed into their bodies. Moreover, if they did they were sure to get indigestion!

Colt spent two weeks doing this exercise.

Each test, each elimination round, each endurance bout, Colt passed and did well. He made it through the first three weeks and two days of the four weeks of training. During this training time they were not making the actual jumps from the planes; they were practicing off towers and other exercises.

Jump Tower

Colt called me on Wednesday of his last week of training. “Mum, I’ve been RTU’d.” My jaw dropped open and my mind couldn’t compute. The word RTU and Colt do not go in the same sentence.

I watched the movie Annapolis about a young man training to get in the Navy and the intensity of the training. I saw this movie before Colt went to Para or was even accepted. When I saw this movie, I said to my husband, “That’s Colt.” He is the young man that has the determination to beat or achieve any goal he sets his mind to.

So when Colt told me he had been RTU’d I was stunned! RTU means Return To Unit. In other words: you are cut from the program. This does happen in the programs because only the very best make it through and they don’t want any dead cadets, so there is no room for failure or mistakes.

Colt told me what had happened. He had been doing a test jump and when he had jumped his hand had accidently touched something on his uniform. He had not even been aware he had done anything. When they called him over he walked over with a smile on his face, totally not expecting the shattering news he would be given.

As you can imagine, he was devastated. He had worked for three years to get to this point and in a moment it was all gone.

I talked to Colt and told him I really thought that God must have had a reason why it was not to be. He didn’t get Colt to Ontario for nothing. He had seen him through when Colt had given his spot to help a girl get through. It simply didn’t make sense that he would not be allowed to jump and get his “Wings”. But we had to believe that God had a plan and a reason for not allowing the jumps.

Colt then told me that he was terrified of heights. He had no idea of this until he had been jumping off the towers and super high diving boards. He said there is no rational reason for a human being to jump into thin air and it goes against everything his mind and body wanted to do, and yet, he kept on jumping. He kept on facing his fears and each jump he did it. It didn’t make it any easier, but he didn’t give in.

I tried to come up with reasons why it might have happened. I know what Colt is like and if he had made it right up to the jump from the plane and he had not been able to step through the door what would he have felt like? He would have been so upset. What if he had jumped and been so freaked that he forgot to open his shoot?! He would have been dead!

One boy that did make it through the training and was able to jump, ironically, forgot to open one of his shoots. He was the last one out of the plane and the first to the ground. Instead of 90 seconds to the ground, he was down in 20 seconds. Thankfully, he landed in a tree!

I have to believe and I think that Colt believes also, that God had a reason for him not making the jump. A friend of mine said that perhaps all that was required was that Colt *did* face his fears and did not give in on each jump he was presented with.

Any which way, Colt gave it his all, and should be nothing but proud of himself. He intends to join the military, and if he does, I see in him the qualities it takes to make a great officer: integrity, determination, great leadership skills, and compassion. He would be an asset to any organization or firm that he was to join.

Field Trip to a War Memorial

As a mother, I sincerely hope he doesn't join the military. However, some months ago, Colt came to me and asked me, "Mum, do you have a problem with me jumping out of airplanes?"

I simply replied, "Colt, I have no problem with you doing anything that God has called you to do.Even if it means jumping out of airplanes."

I really, truly meant that that day. I can see where I have grown. It all began when he was five years old. He was the love of my life (well, one of three of them *smile*) and my parents wanted to take him on a trip. That was the day I released him to God. I knew that I couldn't hold on to him forever, and I could stress every time he was out of my care, or I could give him to God, knowing that God had ordained his days before he was born.

So I did that. I can tell you that it has made my life so much less stressful in everything he has chosen to do. Of course, I pray for him, but I trust that God is with him and loves my son even more than I do.

It doesn't mean that when the day comes that he says he is signing up for the army that I won't feel a piece of my heart crumble. It will. Even as I write this my eyes are stinging with tears at the mere thought of my child being so far away and in such danger.

Colt is my first child to leave the nest. He already has plans to go to another province to work. I know the days of him living in my home and being home for dinner on a regular basis are fading away. I mourn the moments I didn't take to play more, read more, talk more with him. Thankfully, he is the son that will call home to chat, so that will ease the distance.

So now, as I release him to the world, I give him my love and prayers, and trust that God will hold him in the palm of His hand.
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Need Wood?

Recently, our boys had the job of splitting a huge stack of logs that were cut down last winter. Ray kept waiting for time to do it himself and I asked him why? Why didn’t he just get the boys to do it?

I am so used to delegating that I can’t believe he wouldn’t think that way himself. To me, delegating is a very important job. If you do not delegate jobs then you are not training your children, and you are setting yourself and them up for them to enter the world with less abilities!

Everytime one of my children learns a new skill I am pleased. It is like a checkmark in an invisible book of life. One more thing that they are capable of.

The boys all vied to run the machine and so they all took turns.

And you should see how strong my boys are.

Cooper Helps Out

Even the tiny ones like Austin! He may be the size of many seven year olds, but he is one strong little man! I was trying to wrestle him to the ground the other day *smile* and I could feel the strength in his arms! Having your boys haul and stack logs all winter long is a simple weight lifting real life activity. And it’s free!

I had a little laugh when I saw Austin’s attire when he was told he needed to have goggles if he wanted to run the machine. Swim goggles!

The boys won’t be very pleased when they find out that Ray is going to chop down a few more trees in the back yard this year!

The Finished Product

I like the free firewood and the labour it produces for testosterone filled boys! When my boys are full of energy, testosterone, or negative attitudes they run laps, do pushups, or haul logs.

And it pays off.

Our boys don’t think anything of running 4-6 km a day. It is routine for them. And the pushups have been happening since they were about five years old. It suddenly occurred to me the other day that Colt, who made it to Para, based on physical fitness that is mainly made up from pushups and running, was training since he was five years old! While other boys might have been jumping on furniture my boys were running laps. Ever since we moved to the country we have had a ‘lap track’.

In our old home there were four trees that created a square. Our boys ran however many times around the track. They’d hear, “Go! Five laps!” And they would come back much more ready to sit and do their lessons. Boys can’t be still. They have so much energy and as they get older it becomes aggressiveness. And not always negative. More often that not they are simply wrestling or rough housing. But not in a house! So now, in our present house the bigger boys hear, “Take a run! Two blocks!” We are fortunate enough to live on a street that borders two ‘circle loops’, so my boys can run in one direction in a circle, check in, and then run the other way. From the air it would look like a figure eight, with us in the middle. Each block run is about 2 km.

And when they learn to cut through the woods to shorten it, you learn to give another block run when you catch them or if you suspect it! *smile* They don’t often try that trick anymore! And when they are inclined to walk instead of run, you put time limits on it to make sure they are back in a reasonable time, or they end up getting given two runs. As it stands, it makes a fabulous PE program, because just our big boys do it. The older boys report their runs to a PE teacher, along with their pushups, and get credits for it. They also get the chance to get in shape by working in construction for their dad when they hit about age eleven. When our oldest son went into school for a year he went up against kids in arm wrestling. He beat them all. Though he is thin, he is wiry and strong.

The younger ones are in training, so when they hit grade 7 and up they will be quite fit. Right now, the middle-sized ones run laps around the perimeter of our property. One of the first things I noticed when we bought our property was how perfect a track it had on the fence line. Of course, the boys weren't impressed that I noticed. *smile* And the littlest two aren't far behind. Their training includes running driveway laps.

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Edmonton Road Trip - part 2

June 22-26, 09

Our road trip to Edmonton was wonderful. We were able to reconnect with old friends and meet some new ones. Our girls were able to visit children that they had known in the transition house. Raine was excited to see Ruthie (Kenean), Shay (Nardos), and Kai (Natnael). Ruthie was told that they would be seeing our children but I don’t think it really sunk in who they would be seeing, because when they walked in the door, Ruthie walked right past Raine.

Raine said, “I know you. You’re Kenean.” And it took Ruthie a minute to connect Raine’s face with the girl, Mesay, that she knew in Ethiopia!

Savannah, Raine, Maya

Kai, Shay, Briton, Denaye

Cooper and Maya

New Friends

We also made some new friends with Maya and Denaye, who also came from Ethiopia, plus their mum Debbie and their brother, Sam. It was wonderful for our girls to see other kids that have come to live here from their old country.

We only had about 2 hours with Tracy's family, because they had company at home and had to leave early, and that was too bad because we mums were having a wonderful conversation, and we would have loved to have visited longer. As it was, it didn't take long for Ruthie, Shay and Nardos to warm up to the girls and reconnect with them. Soon they were old friends.

Raine, Shay, Kai, Ruthie, Savannah

It is so sad that they have moved to Ontario. Good for them, but sad for us, as I was hoping to keep that connection alive for our kids. Hopefully one day we will get to Ontario and the children can meet up again. Who knows!

And of course, we mums had plenty to discuss with comparing the ages of our children: the ones we had received on paper and the ones we figured our children might be. It is really a strange phenomenon in the adoption world to not know the true ages of your children. I am guessing that in most adoptions from most countries the children are given accurate birthdates, but through the Ethiopian adoptions I have met, the majority of them have no real clue as to how old their children are. The ones that are fortunate are the ones that brought home babies that were referred within weeks of birth, so they can have a pretty for sure idea of how old their child is.

Sharla, Tracy, Debbie, Justine

What was very helpful to me was to meet two mums with girls who were supposed to be *older* than my four year old, but yet they were shorter!! *smile* More about that and ages in another post.

Savannah and Denaye

Our boys had lots of fun with sleeping on the trampoline one night, and crashing on the basement floor the other nights.

I am very impressed with Sharla’s hospitality considering I now know how stressed she was about her upcoming trip to Ethiopia that was *supposed* to happen in another three months. Ironically, it happened not in three months as she expected, but in one month when our agency collapsed in bankruptcy!

Now that I have a trailer I hope to haul it to Sharla’s next spring when 13 of our 15 children can get together for another yearly trip. And this time Sharla will have her two new Ethiopian children for our kids to connect with.

Driving Home

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A God Given Late Summer Holiday

August 30, 2009

I am sitting here in the serenity of a quiet late August morning. It is an unexpected reprieve from the humdrum days of the end of summer. I thought our holidays were done for the season, but then out of the blue we ended up taking a spontaneous trip to the beach.

Three weeks ago, I came home from two weeks of heavy duty camping: no power, water, or sewer! I was ready for some hometime, but at the same time, I was really wanting to get into a campsite that had beachfront. The one I had been at was wonderful, but I had to walk about 5 minutes to get to the beach. As I drove by the place we are at now, on my way home from our two week holiday, I could see it was chock-o-block full! There was no getting in.

I could come back on the Monday at 8:00 am and see who was leaving and grab their spot before the crowds came from other campgrounds, but I didn’t really have the umph to get up early and be here vying for a spot. It would mean asking people if they were leaving and then asking if they minded me dropping my gear at the end of their site to ‘claim’ my spot on their site. I wasn’t really in the mood to do this, so I went home.

While at home, I knew the summer was slipping by and I kept thinking, “I should go back and try to get in the site,” but I knew it was going to be near impossible. In my head, I also got this little message running through it, “When do you *want* to go?”

Honestly, I didn’t want to go right away. I wanted about 1-2 weeks at home before I went out again. Well, time went by and I figured camping was done. Then as I was lazily lounging on the deck in the hot, hot late August sun, a friend called and asked if I wanted to go to the lake for an afternoon break?

It was hard to get my butt up and do it. It meant packing up six kids, life jackets, rubber toys, boxes of beach toys, towels, snacks and on and on. I told her I would let her know. I walked into the house and lethargically made my way down to the tv room, where I lay down on the couch. I called Cassidy to me and told him that if he could pull the gear together in 15 minutes, we would head to the lake for the afternoon.

I then called my friend back from my couch and told her we were on. She had some friends of her children over and she made six kids, plus our six, and so it was going to be a party. I had to take one of her children, as she didn’t have enough room in her truck and off we headed.

I wish I had brought my camera! It was wonderful. We headed to the campsite where I had originally wanted to go camping and lo and behold, it was nearly empty!! There was just two campers. We spent the next three hours at the empty beach with the preteens and teens hanging on the large foam block, the big and little ones burying each other in the sand, and lots of chasing each other through the sand and water.

When I went home I told Ray about the site being open and asked if he would be willing to drive me down the next day. Of course, being the nice guy that he is, he was more than willing to take half a day to wait for me to get organized and then set me up.

So here I am in the late morning enjoying the peace and quiet of the lake. And here I will be able to catch up on all my last three months of blogs that I haven’t written.

I feel so grateful because as we were saying the blessing over a breakfast at a picnic table overlooking a beautiful serene lake, I was awoken to the fact that I feel that God blessed us. That little voice in my head that said, “When do you *want* to go?” rather than listening to my reason that said I have to go *now*, or I won’t get in.

Well, I put it off and off, but I think God blessed us, as He knew I wanted to get in and just in time for the last hot week of summer my friend spontaneously calls me and asks if I want to go to the very lake I wanted to camp at. We never go this far from home for a day trip! If I hadn’t been here for the afternoon I would never have known it was vacant for camping. Thank you Lord for knowing the little things in life that mean so much to us!!

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Just Checking In

I am alive!! *smile* I have been SO unmotivated to post all summer, due to the fact that I have been camping and busy and busy and busy. *grin*

I WILL be back soon!!!!! And I will be posting summer pics and updates on the girls and boys and names and ages and all that interesting, intriguing stuff!!

Can't wait to chat again!

Oh, and thank you to all you sweet people that have sent me private emails and blog comments asking when I am posting again! Love you all!

Blessings, Justine