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All three boys still enjoy their time in the bath and none wants to be left out. Since moving into our new house, with our new, big, old claw foot tub, the kids are able to almost go for a swim at bath time! They wanted a picture of the three of them lounging with their feet hanging out. Too cute!
The two little guys want to be pirates for Halloween this year. I am somehow very early in getting their costumes ready – completely out of the ordinary for me. So, they ask to wear them everyday. I quickly caved and let go of the idea that they had to wait until Halloween to wear them. What a silly thought! Why wait several more weeks when we can let our imaginations run wild today! We had a spare cardboard box kicking around so we quickly built a pirate ship and set sail for adventure:
We are down in Oregon for the weekend visiting family while I photographed a wedding with my brother (Jason Allen Images). Today was beautiful and we wanted to get out of the house and go somewhere off their gorgeous property (Cottage in the Grove). So we headed over to the Banks-Vernonia State Trail. The kids had a blast and the older two walked all 3 miles on their own! I loved the light for taking photos. And I always love my beautiful boys for photo subjects.
We walked across this very high train bridge that had been re-purposed as a pedestrian bridge.
Then Grandpa introduced the kids to geocaching. Ethan picked out a bouncy ball, Aaron found a kalaidescope, and Caleb chose a bandaid from the box.
These three little hikers walked 3 miles today! Caleb was the only one who was carried for parts of the walk.
The trail was full of bikers out for a Sunday ride.
Beatiful alder lined trail
I just came across a blog post by another adoptive mom yesterday that really made me start to think. We have been told numerous times how lucky our kids are to have been adopted by us. We have also been told – significantly fewer times – how lucky we are to have received those two boys. This has never set well with me. How could we be lucky? How could tearing a child away from his mother, culture, country, foster mom and more be considered lucky? How could a family unable to conceive a child be lucky? Adoption is a miraculous event that comes out of such tragedy. I believe this particular blogger gets it, and wrote exactly how I feel. God is good and doesn’t plan for anything not-good to happen. He intended our two little guys to be raised by their birthparents. However, we live in a world where people mess up and are messed up. God is able to take that pain and that hurt and turn it into something beautiful and loving. God is good and I feel blessed beyond belief. I am thankful every day for our family and how our family came to be, but I will never forget the circumstances that brought us here. None of us were “lucky,” but God is good and intended us all for love and a family. If you would like to read this other blogger’s thoughts, you can find them here. On another note, we have been having such fun in the sun – FINALLY! I posted these pictures on Facebook, but in case any of you aren’t on there, enjoy my beautiful boys!
We finally had a chance to color Easter eggs this morning. I spread newspaper over the table, found some old, stained shirts, let the kids drop the tablets of magical color into the cups of vinegar water, and set eggs out in front of them. They did a beautiful job of turning boring, white eggs into masterpieces. Enjoy the photos of their creations. And have a happy Easter everyone!
The kids and I ventured down to the International District in Seattle this morning. We were out of furikake and needed to make a trip to Uwajimaya to refresh our supply. While we were down there, we made our first visit to the Asian Art Museum. While it may not have been the best museum to take two toddlers and a 5 year old, it was a great experience. We all enjoyed looking at the art and the kids loved the pictures of dragons. The most interesting part, for me, was the gallery dedicated to Asian Pacific American Adoptees. I wasn’t aware this gallery existed until we saw it in person. It brought on a slew of emotions for me. I tried to talk with Aaron about what this gallery meant and, after asking only a few questions, he asked me to stop talking about it. I know he has thoughts, concerns, questions, emotions, but he isn’t ready to think about them out loud yet. Adoption is so wonderful and positive as it brings a child who has lost everything into a family that wants to give them everything. We longed for Aaron and our two other kids and knew they were meant to be a part of our family as was planned out before any of us were formed. Unfortunately, this joy and happiness is born out of brokenness. Several of the written works in this exhibit told how the adoptees felt torn between wanting an identity that reflected their birth country and how they struggled to achieve that having grown up in a white family and culture. So much is lost with adoption, and so much more with international adoption. Not only the loss of a biological family, but the land, the people, the traditions, the food, the culture, the language. I want to try, to the best of my ability, to allow Aaron and Caleb to experience those things that make them Taiwanese. I know that I, myself, am not able to teach them what that means, but hopefully we can lead them to friends and experiences that can help establish who they are as a child of God, a child in our family, and a child of Taiwan. I’m sure we will be making more trips to the Asian Art Museum as the kids get older. Hopefully the conversations will grow as well. We headed out for a walk – during a break in this rain storm we are in. Walking through the alley, we found several fun garages to take photos in front of. I love how my kids are starting to enjoy the idea of posing. And I love how we can take half an hour to walk two blocks. We look at every bug and every storm drain, pick up lots of stick and rocks, hold hands and run around. So fun!
We finally have a child who likes to dance! Check him out on this video. He was going for a good half an hour – straight. I cut the video down, but it’s still 9 minutes. This little guy gets a second wind almost every night and just busts out the moves. If there’s music on, his feet start going. This video shows him as you’ve probably never seen him before. Totally uninhibited. haha! |
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