We live a life of faith-filled adventure! We are a family with eight energetic, loving, crazy, happy, and very noisy children. Ray and I thought our family was complete when we had four children. Now, when people ask us if we will have any more children, we simply answer, "We don't know." We have learned that God sometimes has surprises in store for us, as He did when He brought home our two girls from Ethiopia!
Last summer, I introduced Savannah to a bicycle. Within a half-hour she was riding that bike like a pro! Her sister did the same thing. It was so amazing! Cooper was our youngest rider with being comfortable on a bike at age 4.
Briton is so small and he just didn't have the coordination figured out to ride a bike, so he still wasn't riding one. When I picked up the dirt bike I asked one of the guys if he needed to be able to ride a two-wheeler first. He said he did.
So I came home and Briton before he could ride the dirt bike he had to learn to ride a two wheeler. Well, pretty much like his sisters he took off. He was nearly ready. He still needs a start, since he hasn't figured out how to get the bike going, but once he is going he isn't bad at keeping it going. And if he can't keep it going the fence is good for catching him! lol
We live in a town where there is not much diversity. So little that any time our children see *anyone* of colour they say, "Look a brown person!" They call them brown instead of black because our girls refer to themselves as brown, and not black.
When we visit a town near to us that has a large number of First Nations people living there, I love it! We headed to the park last week and when we got there the park was filled with First Nations people. The first words out of Savannah's mouth were, "Brown people!"
For me, a mum raising my daughters in a mostly white community, it is wonderful when we meet people that show our daughters that not everyone in this world is white.
This is what makes this upcoming weekend so important. We are heading out about 5:00 am on Friday morning to a destination 6 hours from where we live. There is a new Families of Children From Africa camp this week. There is another of these adoption camps that has taken place for the last sixteen years, but since they only have spots for 60 families and there are always way too many families for those 60 spots, a new camp was formed.
So we were in the group that decided to try out this new camp. We are very excited as we know that there are at least three children going to the camp that our girls know from their time in the Imagine Transition Home. And then there are a number of mums that I know of who were adopting from Ethiopia, but their children came home after ours, so we have not actually met.
There is also another family that we have not met that have a child from Swaziland. The rest I am not sure about. But all the same it will be wonderful to see all the brown faces. Not just for our girls sake, but also the rest of our children *love* it when they see children that look like their sisters!
So stay tuned for pictures from our next road trip. .
I vividly remember after I gave birth to Cassidy being so sad thinking there would not be another baby. I sat in my hospital room and sobbed to my mother that this would be the last baby I would get to snuggle and love on. It broke my heart.
It seems strange having just given birth to a baby that I would be already sad thinking this was the end, but that is how I felt. You see, I had always wanted four children, but I had come to believe Ray only wanted three.
With three children I knew we were already considered a larger family. Sadly, in the world today, big families are not the norm, and therefore, I was a bit unusual in my desire for lots of children.
So when Ray agreed to a fourth child it was a wonderful day. I remember the exact place I was when he said yes. When I conceived it was amazing, but the pregnancy started with a scare. Shortly after I found out I was pregnant, I began to bleed. I was sure I was miscarrying. My dear friend, Renee, told me to take Red Raspberry Leaf capsules or tea and to rest. I did this. In time, things settled down. My ultrasound came back with a little heartbeat, and I knew my wee one was safe.
Eight months later, Austin seemed ready to make his appearance at the beginning of April. My other, good friend, Denise, told me he couldn't come yet - it wasn't her birthday! I guess he decided to listen because on about 2 weeks later, on her birthday, Austin made his appearance!
Just like his brothers before him, he was born in 95 minutes. Yes, I am thankful to have such wonderful births!
He was aptly named Austin Isaiah Blue - so named because right before I got pregnant with him we decided to move away from the city and to the country. We gave him the name Blue because we were moving to the "Blue Skies", and the book of Isaiah gave me so much guidance, over the course of that uncertain but faithfilled year.
Right from the beginning, Austin was a dream baby. He rarely cried and was easily satisfied. But when he was three weeks old he began to cry, and cry hard. That poor little chap. When I looked in his mouth he had this *nasty* black abscess about the size of the upper joint of my baby finger where his front teeth would eventually come into his gums! It was horrifying. I couldn't imagine the pain.
This problem was dealt with by medication, and then mysteriously came back two more times. We eventually took him into Children's Hospital to see what it was, and they could not come up with any answers. They questioned if he might have a minor cleft palate that might be causing it, but no.
After this, things improved and when Austin was 5 weeks old we moved to the country. That little guy was brought up while we built our new home. He was a dream, and slept through the sound of the power saws and hammering.
This is the moses basket that he slept in on the jobsite every day.
Austin and His Big Brothers
Enjoying Watching His Brothers Play in the Snow
We did have a high chair for the first three kids. Then when it broke we figured we were done and money was tight, so we didn't replace when we had baby number four. So this 'poor little guy' had a makeshift highchair.
When Cooper came along I decided that I no longer could be sure what was going to happen regarding children, and things were better financially (since we welcomed more children God has taken care of our monetary needs and we have never done without what we need) so we bought new baby furniture. And now I refuse to sell it, cause who knows what the future holds! Hey look! Briton arrived unexpectedly didn't he? lol
Sneaking Treats! Caught Red-Handed
Welcoming Daddy Home
When we first moved to the country it was with some sacrifice. My hubby had to work about five hours from home for the first sixteen months. His departures were always very sad, but his arrivals were time for celebration. The boys sometimes would have a marching band complete with noise makers and hats and streamers. This always brought great smiles to Ray's face.
Helping to Build Our Home
Learning to Ski
Austin you are such an energetic happy child who is full of compassion and love. You are such a blessing and I am so thankful that you are a part of our family. When someone needs a nod of encouragement that's what you are for. When I look lousy, you don't notice. You'll still tell me I look wonderful. You are so easy to make smile. A few words of kindness, even when you are feeling down will cause you to smile the sweetest smile. I love you!
Our trip to visit Colt was a short one due to the finances, so after we popped by to say goodbye to him we were on our way. I was going home a way that I had not been before, and I really had no clue where I was going. I simply followed the map and read the road signs. I really need a GPS!
As we are driving down this road I suddenly realized we had arrived at a ferry crossing! I told Austin that he had directed me the wrong way. I got out of the van to ask and found out that, yes indeed, we were on the right road and we had to take a ferry to continue our journey! I felt like one of the explorers from the old days. Normally, I have total understanding of where I am going. Here I was travelling blind! It sure made for a fun trip, though.
The beach was absolutely covered in these beautiful rounded colourful rocks! We had the pleasure of hanging out and waiting for the ferry for an hour. The kids enjoyed throwing stones and clambouring over the rocks.
When the ferry arrived we learned we had a 30 minute crossing, so I figured this was as good a time as any to pop open the back of my van and make lunch!
We then took the lunches up on the deck of the ferry boat. It felt like we had just been blessed with an unexpected holiday on our holiday! You have to enjoy the small treats along the way.
Our drive took us through some beautiful little lakeside towns. There were some amazing historical buildings. I wish we had them in our towns!
The Old City Hall
One of the sites along the way home was the Enchanted Forest. I have driven by there before and always intended to stop there, so this time I surprised the children when I pulled in. It was almost closing time, so we only had an hour to spend there. I wasn't sure it would be worth the expense ($60) for all of us, but I am glad I stopped because Austin told me at the end that it was worth the money. The children had fun playing out the Three Little Pigs. I will have to upload that video as it was really funny. I told them the story, but forgot to tell them the ending...
This expression says it all. I was leaving this area and turned back to see where Savannah was. She was hanging the laundry! It was already there, but she obviously wanted to pretend she was hanging it up. When I called to her she put on this silly look. She is such a ham!
Our last meal out of the back of the van: baked beans, bread, and fruit.
It was a great trip and I am glad I made the time and effort to take it. Colt will be home in July for a couple months, and we are all really looking forward to that. There is also the possibility that Tyler will be coming to visit us for a while in August, after her time as staff at Cadet camp is over. .
From the beach we headed out to dinner. It was to be Colt's 19th birthday and I wanted to take him somewhere to celebrate this. We were in a small town, and I knew we didn't have a lot of options; basically, we had three choices, and two were family style restaurants, and the third was too expensive for this Mother of Many Mouths!
Colt and Tyler went back and forth on which restaurant to choose, and in the end, it was decided that we would go to the ABC Family Restaurant.
We set up at two tables and then commenced to enjoy ourselves for the next two hours.
The children all ordered the kids dinners, and we adults studied the menus for ages, before we finally came up with our choices. We weren't the easiest guests, as we changed our minds two times. The waitress was ever so kind, and didn't seem to mind, even though we made a dash to the kitchen to change one of the orders!
After a delicious dinner we ordered these monstrous desserts! I am amazed we even had room, but we devoured them!
Right before we were done for the evening, I received my bill. I decided to make a quick trip to the ladies room before we paid and hit the road again. Now remember, these children had been sitting in this restaurant for nigh on two hours. They were being extremely well behaved, but at the same time, they were getting restless...
As I came out of the restroom our waitress was waiting for me. Uh oh! The first thing out of my mouth was, "Is it my children?"
She said, "No." Then she hesitated before she continued, "This is going to sound kind of weird."
Have you ever noticed just how quickly your mind can think fifteen different thoughts in what seems like the same moment? Mine can do that in a mere 1.5 seconds!
I thought something like: 'Can't be too bad. The only thing bad would be if the children misbehaved. She doesn't know me. Can't be anything too personal. Mustn't be anything I have done. Must be the van. Van that size is going to make any one say something weird. What else could it be? Yup, gotta be the van.'
She begins to talk again and then hesitates and then says, "This is going to sound weird, but I really feel that God is telling me to pay for your meal."
Now the weird thing is how I react. I reach out and touch her arm and say, "I get it! I'm a Christian."
How weird was my response. This is not something that anyone has *ever* said to me before!! Why did I say that strange thing before anything else, and without even pausing to think? Probably because I know my God!
And the interesting thing is when I told this story to my girlfriend back home, without telling her what I had said in response to this unusual statement from a stranger, my friend immediately said, "You know my God!" (speaking as if she were me)
And that is just it! That is how my God operates! I have had that happen to me before, so when this young girl said this to me, it didn't seem foreign or strange. Just simply something that *my* God would do!
She said, "So don't worry about the bill, it has been taken care of."
For a moment, my brain got screwed up and forgot what she had originally said, and I thought she meant the restaurant was paying for it. Why? I have no clue! I just did. Maybe because the thought of a young lady of probably no more than twenty-two paying for our huge dinner bill was too much to comprehend. So I said, "Are *you* paying for it?"
To which she said, Yes.
I was suddenly (almost as if I came down to earth and could think straight) shocked that someone this young would be offering such a huge gift. I gave her a hug and thanked her profusely. She told me she knew she would be blessed by this. This young lady and I then began to talk. She told me that she had felt convicted to pay for our meal, and she had even called her mother and told her that she felt "God is telling me to pay for their meal."
At this point, I began to tell her our story. I did this because I really felt I understood where this had come from. I felt that if God had told her to pay for our meal, she deserved to know the reason this might have happened.
I shared how I had made this long journey to bless my son and his relationship with his girlfriend. I wanted to meet her before they went their separate ways. I explained how we had come down there with literally no money at all. Simply a gas tank of gas (and a few more on the credit card) and four nights in cheap motels.
My telling her was not to say 'oh poor me', because it was not a hardship, it was simply a fact that we had done this trip because it was so important and couldn't be put off.
I wanted her to see how God had used her as an instrument to bless Colt and Tyler's relationship, and how I felt He might be blessing me for my putting my son as a priority, while not being wasteful and spending oodles of money at expensive hotels and takeout meals.
The interesting thing about all this was that we had not even looked 'poor'. Our children had all had desserts, full meals, and drinks. So we had not spared anything, given it was Colt's birthday dinner! There was nothing to say we couldn't afford to pay.
As I left the restaurant (and yes, I left her a hefty tip to help with the financial damage I left! lol), she gave me another hug, and I felt the most incredible feeling. I felt like God himself had met me on this journey and blessed my son and his girlfriend!
After we left the Glass House we headed back to town. One more of the items that I had on my list was Twin Bay Cove. This was supposed to be a beautiful little white sandy beach, but I had no clue where it was. Well, wouldn't you know it, someone pointed me in that direction, not even knowing it was on my list! She just mentioned that there was a nice beach for the children to run on.
It was truly a gorgeous beach! I took so many pictures and it was so hard to pick and choose, so you will have to bear with me, as I am going to load a ton!
Click on the picture to see Briton and Cooper's expressions. They say it all!
As we are walking down to the beach the boys are playing with the football - the same football that gets Austin in trouble later - and it accidently ends up on someone's lawn. My little boy, Cooper, read the sign of "No Trespassing" and knew the ball could not be saved. Briton, on the other hand, had an impish grin, as he crawled under the rope and dashed to get the ball. Cooper looked horrified that Briton would do such a naughty thing. lol. Meanwhile, big brother, Cassidy, walks on having a laugh at the words and actions of the little people!
As soon as we got to the beach, Colt starting tossing around this football. Austin began playing with it and while throwing it, inadvertantly tossed it into the water. We all said, "You better get it. It's going further out."
He didn't move fast enough and it kept floating. Colt and I are saying, "You better move it! You are going to have to swim if you don't hurry!"
Well, that boy! He kept procrastinating cause he was in his shorts and he didn't want to get his feet wet in the cold water. Now, I think, he would say it would have been smarter to have moved in the beginning when it first hit the water!
He had no option but to plunge in and get the ball, as it slowly floated out to the middle of the lake! Austin quickly stripped and threw himself into the late spring cold water!
The funny thing is that as soon as Austin got out of the water with the ball, Colt threw it right back in again. Cooper immediately volunteers to get the ball! He strips down to his skivvies and then throws himself into the icy water!
Out he comes, and big brother, Colt, having a wonderful time with these nutty kids, says, "Who wants to get it this time?"
Savannah drops her clothes and races for the water.
It Looks Like Her Sister is Thinking - Are You Crazy?
She dives in headfirst and swims out to the ball! Now, if you remember her introduction to water last summer, you will remember it was not a quick process! Goodness, it took a long time to get her comfortable in *warm* water, let alone cold water. But she was up for the game. lol
The kids (with my suggestion) decided that big brother Colt decided to be thrown into the water. I told them the story of Gulliver and the little people. I figured there were enough of them to gain control. lol.
Escaping the Little People!
Briton was *not* getting wet! But after a while, he succumbed to the peer pressure of all these children running around the deserted beach in their underwear, and he joined the crowd. They had a blast for the next hour just digging holes, rolling in the sand, and running and jumping in the water.
I had fun sitting on the beach with my eye to the viewfinder of my camera, just snapping wonderful shots of my brood. I am very blessed indeed!
I made a joke to the kids that I felt like paparazzi sitting on the beach snapping away pictures of my older son and his girlfriend, but I couldn't help it. They looked so sweet together. (smile)
We all had a laugh when he put up his hand pretending to be a celebrity holding off the paparazzi. lol.
