Trip to the Ballfield

My parents joined us for faith and family night at the ball field a couple weeks ago. 

After a gorgeous warm day, we had a late day storm that cooled things off.  

The rain delayed the start of the game (and made for a very late night) but we're thankful it dried up. 

 Running the bases after their first live experience of fire works. 

It was an awesome show. The kids were thrilled!

Luke

I can hardly remember the days when it seems all I did was change Luke's outfit and take
more pictures. At the time it seemed so hard. I overthought everything.
Wanted to follow an exact mathematical recipe for getting long naps and
therefore the "perfect" well-rested kid. ha!

Now my blue-eyed boy is TWELVE and he is making up for all those years of being a baldy. ;)

Watching him mature and grow up has been such a sweet experience so far. (minimal stereotypical middle school boy moments for now.) He and I share similar character traits which helps me to understand him better (both his strengths and weaknesses). It also helps me to see areas where I need growth as I recognize my own flaws in him. Ack! Sorry for sharing those genes, Luke. ;)

Some guy friends from school came to hang out the Friday before Luke's birthday. These outgoing boys have been a blessing to my reserved guy and I'm thankful for their friendships. Ethan was thrilled to be included in the party. Aaron and Irina spent the night with Grammy and Poppy. (Luke promised to save them treats.) Really fun to say "yes" to all his junky food requests even if it meant throwing out our typical nutritional choices. 

On his actual birthday, Grandma and Grandpa were here to celebrate with us. Luke still loves legos and is a gracious gift receiver. Easy to shop for! It was one of many rainy days in May. 

Dinner out with all four grandparents and then dessert at home. 

Luke asked for homemade chewy chocolate chip cookies and strawberry ice cream. yum!

And because my sensitive guy didn't want to leave out all his girl friends from the festivities, we had another get together to finish off the cookies and ice cream. These girls have been his friends since he was a baby and feel like family to him. That was a LOT of celebrating!

Happy Birthday Luke! God is at work in your life and I'm so 

thankful I get a front row seat. love you!

Day in DC

Following our Ukrainian Embassy egg experience, we spent the rest of the day in Washington, D.C. making more memories. The day started rainy, but ended up being lovely for lots of walking and learning.

After three hours of focused egg decorating, it was so good to 

be on the move outside in the beautiful fresh air. 

"We have to get ice cream if we're going to make a memory." 

Memory made!

A Trip to Ukraine

Well...actually, we took a trip to the Ukrainian Embassy, in Washington, DC. But technically, we were in Ukraine. This is as close as I'll get for a little while...(Not sure why God has linked my heart with this country. It's more then just having adopted Irina and I cannot explain it.)

A ginger bread house on display made to represent St. Michael's in Kiev.

We were one of several adoptive families invited to participate in a Ukrainian egg dying (pysanky) craft on April 22. The traditional Ukrainian eggs are beautiful and I was so excited to learn. Our contact at the Ukrainian embassy graciously included the boys in her invitation even though most of the other kids were native to Ukraine. Halyna Mudra demonstrated and taught the children.

 Things I learned...

Being in the Ukrainian embassy and experiencing the sights and sounds triggered a panic attack in Irina. It lasted about 15 minutes, but it was scary. As quickly as it came on, it was gone. She's never been able to articulate what she was thinking or feeling, but she had a very physical reaction. (couldn't breathe, heart racing, nauseous, sweating, pale, jittery...) I was prepared for a reaction to occur, but didn't expect this. I comforted her as best as I could. Then suddenly it was gone and she was back to normal. There are very deep wounds and many consequences to the brokenness of this world. I know God is redeeming and healing, but it was a reminder that our love alone cannot fix this.  We need Him. Irina needs Him. She is flourishing in many outwardly visible ways, but like all of us she has a story to tell that will unfold in time.

Other things I learned... Pysanky takes a VERY long time and lots of patience. 

There are many steps of applying hot beeswax and then layering on dye. 

Artistic perfectionism and a first attempt at pysanky can be a recipe for frustration. 

It is not easy to maneuver the kistka (stylus). It takes lots of practice and determination.

The eggs we used were RAW eggs. They were not hard boiled. They were not blown out. What does this mean? They were very fragile. The last step of the process is holding the egg over the flame to melt off the beeswax revealing the stunning design. After all that work, imagine how sad it is to have a parent drop the hot egg when their fingers start burning. Crack. Given a second chance to make an egg, imagine how very, very sad it is to have another parent accidentally drop your masterpiece onto the floor. Splat. boo!

Another lesson learned... if hot beeswax accidentally gets flicked onto your skin by an innocent child, quickly remove it. My burns are still healing 25 days later. ouch!

Last lesson learned... carrying a FRAGILE and SPECIAL egg in a styrofoam cup along bumpy sidewalks can have devastating effects. I can still picture the scene of Aaron walking back to the car. One false step resulted in him tripping, which launched his egg out of his cup. Smash! Sobs. 

 In front of the Ukrainian Embassy

After all that drama, would we do it again? YES!

The kids have all begged me to buy a kit so we can do it at home. 

They want to go back again next year (if we're invited...ack!). 

Maybe armed with all our lessons learned we'll have a different experience. ;)

April Memories

It's officially May 17, but it's 56 degrees and rainy (again!) We have 8 days left of our school year and beach time is quickly approaching. Ahhh!! Testing is done. The homeschool academy is finished for the year and we have only one more week of soccer. Yeah! Our pace is slowing and I think that's why I can squeeze in time to update here. Yippee!!! We celebrated another birthday and took a trip to Ukraine (sort of). Posts on that coming soon. ;) In the meantime...

I'm thankful for apple tree blooms and growing apples. Maybe we'll get a taste this year before the squirrels hog them all? If not, the flowers still make me happy. I guess I can share with the squirrels. 

Running has it's ups and downs, but it keeps me sane. In early April, I ran in a 10K without my usual crowd of family spectators. There was wind, rain, and a snow shower so I'm glad I encouraged them to stay behind. Darin surprised me by bringing out this old sign to encourage me as I pulled out early one Saturday morning.  (need to add Irina's name!) I usually love races and push myself hard to make my goal, but this time I think I would have preferred a quiet run away from the crowds. I'm thankful though that my body can still move and I'm able to experience the stress release and running high.

We had some sunny days in April that were great for kite flying. 

Ethan is my chef in training. He's the only one who has expressed an interest and it's a great for him. (and me!) He gathered the spices and prepped the whole chicken for the crock pot. It was the best massaged chicken I've ever had. So tender. ;)

How many caterpillars can you spy? Don't forget the one climbing up her neck! gross! 

Didn't phase her. Thankful that my girl likes adventure, nature, and trips to the park with friends. 

I'm thankful for art, creativity, and an inspiring art teacher. 

The boys selected work to display for the science fair and art show. 

Here is half of the crew for our morning running club. Eventually it fizzled out, but it was great preparation for the soccer season and a great PE opportunity. Can't wait until one of the kids wants to join me for longer runs. I see glimmers of desire, but I don't want to push it. I tried that before and it had the opposite result. 

What an unexpected fun activity at the summer fair for Westminster Academy. 

A mechanical bull! The kids were enamored. 

I couldn't resist trying it too, but I insisted on no pictures. ;) You'll just have to 

believe I gave it a whirl. I used muscles I didn't know I had, but it was so much fun. 

These two keep me company during Luke and Ethan's soccer practice. I enjoy walking 

around the perimeter of three soccer fields while we wait. I try to encourage them to 

be active with races of all sorts. This day, they asked me to take pictures of them. So funny!

You never know what you'll find in the laundry baskets. Never expected a large branch from the Crepe Myrtle tree. 

Although in our house, the best motto is to expect the unexpected. ;)