Family Day 2013

In the adoption world, Gotcha Day is the day you receive your child and what you call the anniversary of that day each year. We are going with the alternative name because we want to celebrate the whole, complete family. Plus, 'Gotcha' is just a little too much slang for me, so we call it Family Day. I've been looking forward to August 13, our first Family Day as a big milestone for some time.

In the morning, I was treated to a rare long and not-too-squirmy snuggle with my little Ruby who took a long time to wake up.  Then the girls and I watched home videos of each of them as babies. My husband missed some of Family Day because of some serious back muscle pain and resulting medications that kept him in bed. He made a big effort to get himself ready to go out for a late lunch to celebrate.



Ruby loves tractors.

We had a simple Family Day. We picked up lo mien because that was the first food we fed to Ruby when we tempted out of her post-hand-over-near-comatose state. I got sushi.  We took this picnic to Perrydell Dairy where we later visited the baby cows which *thrilled* Ruby.

Perrydell ice cream was also a hit. We chatted about what we liked about our family during the snack.




Then we visited our local library where, unfortunately, the little girls piled up a ridiculous number of board books on the floor for no good reason. After cleaning that up, we headed to the playground outside where some of us faced a little time out and others played.

This is the video I had the bellhop take as Ruby first walked into the huge lobby of the Sheraton in Hohhot (if you can't see it in your email version, go to the blog itself). Here she's just come through the doors where we have been anxiously waiting for about 20 minutes, after waiting, slightly less anxiously, in our room for much longer.  We're kneeling smack dab in the center of the not very private lobby, and the very young woman who escorted Ruby from Beijing is the one encouraging her to make friends with us as we attempt to buy her toddler affection with toys and lollypops. In retrospect, one of my frequent prayers was answered. I was praying that she wouldn't burst into tears at her first sight of us.


So, not a really warm reception on Ruby's part, but at least the all out tantrum didn't come for another 20 minutes.





This is the first all-family photo taken when we returned from China a year ago.

This is the most recent one.  

Probably the biggest difference is the fact that Ruby now has no problem letting her daddy be the one to hold her.  A year ago his hug was torture to her! But I think she's also leaning back on her family instead of trying to inch away. She's really grown into the family in the last year.
 
Thanks for all the support we've had in the last twelve months from you all too!

Kingdom Rock Bible School

Last week was Vacation Bible School. I had the honor of serving as director for the third year. The organizing gets easier as you know how it will play out, and this year I wasn't rushing off to China midweek!

The kids enjoyed child-friendly worship all week. I loved seeing the little bodies hopping in the pews, singing their hearts out along with the music videos projected on the walls.  Somehow I have gone from being a youth grouper terrified of playing a tiny role in a Youth Sunday skit back in the 1990s to someone who can act ridiculous on the stage in front of two churches, wearing a red cape no less.

What I found when I read the God sightings wall one night

Our volunteers bring great expertise to their roles, so things ran pretty smoothly.  We minister to 65 different kids during the week, and I'm especially thrilled about the fact that VBS builds a community of kids within the church, giving them a sense of tradition each summer that helps to define their identity as Christians. 

We finally found the perfect role for Jasper.  He liked being a crew leader. He likes any role, but as a crew leader he could just show up and be himself, no preparations.




I remember thinking last year, as I was emotional about missing three days of VBS, that in twelve months we'd have another daughter bopping around, enjoying it. Ruby did just fine. She was a little nervous the first day, but once I got her to her first station she went with her crew and even learned to do some of the hand motions to songs.





On Saturday I took Pearl and Sapphire to the 4-H fair. It was our first time there. It was smaller than we expected, but had everything the girls needed for a great afternoon. We tried to figure out the steer judging, but the bouncy house and face painting part made a lot more sense to us. We enjoyed a dance group from the New Hope Charter School and simple 'carnival' games that, as Sapphire quickly realized, always resulted in a lollypop. At one point I looked over and she had two in her mouth at once.


Pearl fell in love with the snakes the Critter Guy brought. On Saturday she made having a snake seem like a dire need, but I suspect if we don't mention snakes again, we can escape reptile-free.

That evening her daddy took Pearl out for a star gazing event at a local park. They saw a binary star system and several of Saturn's moons.

We're trying to make the most of last few weeks of summer. Today the girls got to flag down the snow cone man for a fleeting, but beloved treat.

4-H Camping Fun

Our 4-H families met at Gifford-Pinchot State Park for a few days of cramming crafts to finish before the 4-H fair next weekend. Last year the weather was gorgeous the week we went, and it was just as good this year. (Ruby spent time with her daddy the two days we were gone. They made a trip to Chocolate World and went through four times.)







Our 4-H is a craft based club, so there were boys making hemp bracelets and wood burning, girls quilling, and Pearl getting tips on all of it. The Cloverbuds worked somewhat reluctantly on a tri-fold display for the fair, but they did enjoy designing characters out of bowling pins. The big kids also helped my girls design neat tie dye t-shirts.

quilling

We were a quick walk from the lake beach, and the warm water delighted us all.  Sapphire's big wheel made many laps of the campground, and I benefited from the easy-going big kids who seemed perfectly happy to take the girls on long walks.

With them occupied, I learned how to knit. It is slow going, and not as addicting as I had thought it might be. But at least now I have a sense of how it works.



This inch took an hour!

Our last night there the kids gave presentations of their projects. This isn't required of Cloverbuds, but Pearl got some public speaking practice as she explained what went into making her fairy bowling pin. We thought presentations were done, when a very confused Sapphire popped up, holding her bird bowling pin.  Had we forgotten her? Now, if I had asked her to present, she would have dug into her camp chair and ignored me, but because no one mentioned it to her, she was eager. She gave a startlingly loud and expressive explanation of her work. 

We caught a gorgeous sunset over the lake then skedaddled home to our real beds.

Once the camping things got unpacked, the girls had play practice for the Children of the King Sunday service they are helping with in September (there is a dinner show the afternoon of Sunday Sept 22nd if anyone wants tickets!). And I'm prepping for VBS next week.

Sapphire with her leather working tools

Western Pennsylvania

On our way out to stay with my grandmother, we stopped for a picnic lunch and long afternoon in Old Bedford Village. This was a Pennsylvanian version of the Icelandic and Norwegian folk museums I had been to and enjoyed so much last month.









Here we saw some original log and stone buildings that had been relocated to the museum. We tried our hands at tin punching, and the girls learned how candles were made.

Beware Pearl! Bedford County cut off the ears of their horse thieves.








Our route to Grandma's took us past the Flight 93 Memorial Park, so we stopped in there despite Sapphire's ongoing meltdown. The meadow lands setting is certainly soothing. It was sad to have to explain what it was all about to Pearl.

We pressed on to Grandma's house. The girls love to cover themselves in the aprons my great-grandmother made in the 1950s. The next day we drove to town for lunch and several hours on the Somerset Borough playground. That's all it takes to make a vacation for the girls!

On Thursday Jasper stayed home with Grandma and worked on the children's sermon handbook he is creating for his doctorate of ministry dissertation. My patient Aunt Cathy and I took the girls to Idlewild, an amusement park with an old time feel. 

In Storybook Forest, where they have homes and figurines of Mother Goose characters, Sapphire easily stepped into the fantasy. I saw her waving furiously at the three bears (all life size, but plastic), and here she cuddles Mama bear's porridge. 

Pearl stood above the magical 48 inches mark, so she and I put her bravery to the test and tried out the water slides and her very first roller coaster.  The carousel was a favorite, and the two bigger girls liked the ferris wheel, but I did not. All three shorties enjoyed the children's section, where they zoomed around in circles on various rides. Thank you for a fun day Aunt Cathy!

The next day Ruby had a chance to play with my aunt and uncle, while the rest of us paddled down the Youghiogeny River. We rode over a mountain or two to Ohiopyle, PA, where we saw a tiny town that lives by the river and the fun to be had on it. The safety talk about how to handle running into rocks or being thrown from the raft had me a little nervous. Pearl became our safety officer, and she kept telling Sapphire to stick her feet in the grips to stay in the raft.

The first half hour was rougher water than I had expected. No napping in the boat and watching the sky roll by! We eventually got the hang of it, and Jasper even trained Pearl to steer the raft while Sapphire and I lolled with our feet up on the edge. We paddled, drifted, and played on some rocks, taking frequent snack breaks. A muskrat swam past us. We saw the huge elephant shaped rock in the middle that marked the end of the trip 4 hours and 20 minutes after we had put in.

Now, at the start of the rafting trip, everyone else from our batch of rafters was out of sight by the time we pushed off. We were passed by people who started long after us. Nonetheless, as we neared the pull out spot, Sapphire noted it was empty. "We're the first ones here!" she shouted triumphantly. 

I was very pleased with the assortment of western PA amusements we strung together. Seeing family was the real joy, but it was neat to couple that with some new experiences.

Church Picnic

Last week was a scorcher, and we stayed cool in the Splash Park on two afternoons, then got a nice break in the AC at my parents over the weekend. This Sunday was our church picnic. We hold church outside under the trees, then have a potluck picnic, kids' games, and an auction. 

We also had a Zucchini Cook Off. Last year it was a blueberry theme. We had sweet and savory dishes, and everyone enjoys sampling them and voting with cash for their favorites. 

It is nice to sit under the trees and watch the picnic go by!

The kids enjoyed the games.  I think Ruby ate her cookie long before the rest of the kids!



Today we're off to western PA attractions and a visit to family.  It looks like it will be in the 70s out there all week. I may need to pack long sleeves!

July Heat

Swim lessons are over (phew!), but everyone seemed to make big strides. Pearl gained strength in her strokes, and she can now do a bit of a back stroke. Sapphire splashed and hopped, loving her teachers. They often had to hold her during the circling since she was the shortest in her class.

Ruby and I had a nice weekend together alone at the house, so we picked blueberries in the cool of Saturday morning. She is a great little helper with this as with other things. She moved my buckets around for me to speed my picking.






Sapphire enjoyed some alone time with adults too when she accompanied my mom and sister to the farm to visit her great-grandma. Then, a few days later, she got to go to her beloved Miss Darlene's house for a day of baking and other-people's-toys.

Miss Darlene knows that if Sapphire naps, even for five minutes, she'll be up until after 10pm, so she tried to keep her awake on the drowsy drive home. From the back seat a  sleepy Sapphire had just enough energy to suggest "Give... me.... your... phone...."  She has a few favorite games, and that woke her back up.


With Sapphire busy and Ruby bonding with Daddy, Pearl and I enjoyed a day out together.  I realized she really values mommy-daughter days when she prayed about it over our Chinese buffet lunch. She dictated the day, so we hit the playground despite the smashing heat so that she could practice her skills at the monkey bars. She loves them, she tells me. We enjoyed her favorite 'Chinese chicken' then visited Tia, a 4-H friend, who guided us through the art of quilling. We all quilled for 2.5 hours!

If you don't know, quilling happens when you tightly twist thin strips of paper around a tool, then use the spirals of paper to create pictures. We mostly stuck to bugs and flowers, but Pearl tried a food collection too, as seen below. 




Our week also included a long afternoon at the new borough Splash Park with some friends. We splashed, then crafted in the library for an hour.  I keep suggesting to the girls that we go back and kick this heat wave, but they are too busy playing.

We are very much looking forward to our church picnic on Sunday and a visit to family in western PA next week. 

Youth Retreat & Swim Lessons

Pearl had one last birthday party with her karate friends in Chester County on June 29th. Here they all are with the amazing Pegasus cake.  The Greek myth games came out again, and they seemed to enjoy them.







This last weekend Jasper took the big girls to see some friends home from their mission field in Thailand while Ruby and I worked to get ready for the youth retreat that just ended.  We had a nice but too brief time catching up with the Killars when they visited our church on Sunday, and then the retreat began.

We had six boys and five girls, plus the five in our family, all hospitably housed in a home lent to us by some church members. I had been praying for grace and patience, and when God sends it, it is like you don't even need to think about it. The kids all got along well and made great use of the devotional times.

They played hard too, and on Monday I took Sapphire and the big kids on a four hour creek walk (Pearl got to spend the day with a friend), and on Tuesday Pearl and Sapphire joined the youth in some epic Capture the Flag games. Sapphire told speedy, 18-year old Andrew that he could hold her hand so that he could run faster. This was a great relief and gave her team the edge it needed to win both times.




We had campfires each night, and during the day the youth sorted donated clothes, rolled them tightly, and packed them into banana boxes that would eventually be shipped to missionaries and disaster areas around the world. We totaled 140 of these boxes at about 20 lbs. of clothing per box.

 
The two big girls have swim lessons this week, which meant we were in the pool while the youth were packing boxes. Pearl hopes to pass the diving board test tomorrow, and I see a big jump in her swimming abilities.



Sapphire, meanwhile, delights in her little nursery-rhyme-singing class, but she also found she can swim underwater. This makes her even more independent in the water, greatly decreasing my level of relaxation while in the pool with her.

              S'mores are so sticky!