The gift that keeps on giving

Sometimes I feel so blessed I'm almost embarrassed.  Such is true with these three friends.

Sally- someone I have known for going on 18 years.  Our lives have mostly intersected for the past 11, though.  She is kind, funny, gracious, honest, loyal, generous and long-suffering. We have walked through most of the significant life-stages together.  Engagement, newlywed, motherhood and soon we will share adoption as they prepare to bring home their son from China.

Amy- I met her when Steve and I were dating.  Her husband and Steve have been friends since college.  She is one of the most roll-with-it people I know.  She is such a good mom and an example to me of how to love your husband and kids well.  She has been there for me during all of my crisis over the past few years.  I can be 100% real with her.

Susie- we've known each other for a long time, but we started being really good friends about 5 years ago.  We had just brought Quinn home from China and they were getting ready to bring their son home from Rwanda  She is my spontaneous friend.  I have been able to count on her for any spur of the moment social/kid/mom emergency needs.  She makes me laugh.  We have supported each other through our bouts with cancer.  (There are not a lot of friends you can say that about.  I would have rather supported each other through something else...)  She and her family of six are getting ready to move to Brazil for three years.  I can't even talk about it because it hurts too much.  The only silver lining I can see in this deal is a potential trip to Brazil?

These are girls, that for this only child, I would seriously call sisters.

When you are 41 years old it feels weird talking about your *best friends* (isn't that so 3rd grade?) but they are. 

Being moms of 13 kids between us (with # 14 on the way from China) there are not nearly enough uninterrupted conversations, (coincidentally, our kids have all known each other from birth and in a way they are each others *cousins.*) not enough time to see movies together and we certainly don't go shopping together.  So for my birthday, Steve sent the 4 of us to a bed & breakfast for a night.

We sat on a porch and talked, we went to lunch - and talked, we went shopping - and talked, we stayed up until 1 am - and talked.  We caught a movie ( we only talked a touch during) but we talked all the way home from our trip.

My friendship with these women is magical.  We are all very different.  I'm sure I bug them to no end and we've had to work through some conflict here and there.  I know that their friendship is a gift.  I don't take it for granted.  I hope we grow old together.  My husband did an amazing job arranging the perfect birthday gift for me. 

Good luck topping this one, buddy.

summer dreamin'

Yesterday we were driving to the YMCA.  Here was the conversation:

Olivia: "Mom, when I grow up, I want to be on Wipeout."

Quinn: "Mom, when I grow up, I want to be a babysitter."

Me to both of them: "Wow.  That's cool." (Sheesh, every parent's dream.)

Quinn: "Olivia, being a babysitter is waaaay safer than being on Wipeout.  Plus it would hurt less."

Olivia: "Yeah.  Except this arm is practically double jointed.  So I don't think Wipeout would hurt THAT much."

And this is what summer vacation is doing to my family.  I guess this was a good reminder not to put all your retirement eggs and dreams in your children's future.  (Unless of course Olivia goes on to win the $50,000 grand prize.) 

As for Quinn, I'm sure he'd make an excellent babysitter- as long as the kids do exactly what he says, when he says it and they follow the rules 100%.  (He's a touch controlling, that one.)

Turner's silence from the discussion was duly noted. 

Home again, home again,

We're baaack!

We arrived back in Dayton Saturday night.  After a long and nearly perfect travel day (we had one barfer.  Quinn got airsick on our decent into Denver at the end of our first leg.  Poor guy, he may never eat another Cheez-it again in his life.  Which, if you know him, would be tragic.)  We were happy to sleep in our own beds last night.

It was a bittersweet leaving of LA.  The kids had grown attached to friends, we had grown attached to the kids we worked with at our ministry sight.  Our family had grown attached to the others we shared our unique experience with over the past three weeks.  The FIJI house had also grown attached to the bottom of Turner's feet (which were permanently and disgustingly black over the last three weeks.)  This leads me to assume that the FIJI's do NOT regularly clean their house.  Which also leads me to want to vomit if I think too long on that.  Therefore, my own home has never looked, smelled or been cleaner to me in my life.  I am thankful!

There are more pictures, stories and reflections to come.  Our schedule (which most days began at 6 am and ended at 10 pm) ended up being much more grueling than I had anticipated.  I hoped to have more frequent updates here, but I was literally burning the candle at both ends.  We now have about 2 and a half weeks before we load up the van and head back out west. This time to Colorado for about 2 weeks of training for work.  It's just *one of those summers.*  I know, poor us, right?!

But for the next 2 weeks we are going to squeeze some good 'ole summer fun out of life!

Happy Father's Day

Sweet Steve began his Father's Day with a 7:00 wake up call.  When you are all five on air mattresses in a dorm room, the wake up calls come fast and furious.  

We had a fun evening out last night.  We had our first evening off in a few days.  So we loaded up in our van and headed to the Universal Studio City Walk.  We enjoyed some shopping, street entertainment and a delicious meal.  It was nice to be with just the five of us.

Although life at the Fiji house is a ton of fun.  The kids are having a blast with the college students.  

 During our days we join the college students at their ministry sites.  Our family spent the day at three different locations around the city, trying to find the best fit for us.  One day we were at a church that serves the homeless on Skid Row.  We spent several hours sorting a donations closet.  Olivia had tons of fun, but it was a bit *challenging* to focus the boys.  So we thought we would try our hand at a different site.

The next day we ended up at a community center for a housing project called Ramona Gardens.  It is largely an Hispanic population.  There we spent time in a gym that was populated mostly by young adults and some teens.  It still didn't feel like a perfect fit.  However, we did visit this ice cream truck on steroids!!!  It was Quinn's dream come true.  I'm thinking he now has vision for his future.

The third day we found a place that was *just right*.  We will be spending this week in Pasadena at a community center for a housing project called Community Arms.  It is one of the most beautiful housing projects I've ever seen.  We will be running some day camps where there will be crafts, games and even swimming.  Our kids will be able to hop in with the other kids.  I am truly thankful that our kids are so adaptable.  They were able to make some friends with the kids on the playground and are looking forward to going back tomorrow.

I am thankful for the school experience they have back in Dayton.  I feel like my kids are able to hop into friendships and play well with kids from all different kinds of back grounds because that is what they do on a daily basis at River's Edge Montessori.  

And this is what it looks like at the end of the day around here.  We have been going long and hard!  

I have to say, these are not the first people to pass out in the Fiji house, and the probably won't be the last!

Post cards from LA

 The other day our group split up into teams and we had a scavenger hunt around LA.  Olivia and I, along with a few others in our group, raced against Steve and the boys.  There were about 10 places on the list to hit and the team with the most amount of places visited won.

Well, our group didn't quite win.  We got a bit hung up on Rodeo Drive.  (Olivia decided she would like to have this as her wedding dress.  Duh.  Vera Wang!)

What was really crazy was the fact that 5 hours earlier we were at church on Skid Row.  And by Skid Row, I mean actual Skid Row.  (Grandparents, Aunts/Uncles and all concerned family and friends... we were PERFECTLY safe.)  

Our family was also able to head to Chinatown for a few hours the other day.  It was a good time.  The kids were thrilled to have a chance to spend their cash.  The boys bought Num Chucks.  Awesome.  That was a daddy-approved decision.

The weather has been picture perfect.  The kids are having a blast.  I'm exhausted.  Pretty much, our family is having the time of our lives!

Which came first... the chicken or the ...waffle??

My morning began at 5:50.  I hit the shower by 6:00 and Quinn and I were out the door at 6:35 for a Starbucks run.  When we are at home Quinn is an early riser.  But the rule at our house is that you're not allowed out of bed until the clock reads seven zero zero.  Well... when you're all crammed in a room together - it does NOT matter what time the clock says!  This mama is getting up.  The other three managed to sleep a touch longer.

We had meetings again today while the kids (all 10 of them) played well together.  I took the kids out to play around 3:00 and there was not a cloud in the sky.  The weather was a perfect 72 degrees.  And I may have wondered out loud why the heck I live in Ohio!

Our group piled into some vans this evening and headed to a place called Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles.  Apparently the thing to do out here is eat your waffle with a big 'ole piece of fried chicken on top.  Honestly, that just didn't sound too appealing to me.  However, the rice and beans with a half a bottle of hot sauce sure did.  And that's what I ate.  I tried a taste of the waffle with chicken.  Meh.  I'll stick with my super spicy rice and beans.

We have one more day until nearly 30 college athletes from all over the country arrive.  Many preparations are going into their arrival.  I am so excited for them.

It was 19 years ago almost to the day that I was a fresh college graduate heading into New York City for a very similar experience.  It changed my life.  And I'm not even being dramatic.  It is fun to imagine which students' lives are about to be changed forever.  They have no idea!

Totally awesome, dude

 I think it is fair to say that our family is having an AMAZING time so far.  This week is a time for the people staffing this missions trip to get things ready.  It is super busy and there is a lot of work to do, but there has also been a good deal of family time too. (The kids look super busy, don't they?)

Our family had a few hours of free time this afternoon so we hopped in the van and headed over to the Santa Monica Pier.  The kids had a super fun time running around and playing.  It was rather quiet on the beach, but we were able to do some fun people watching.

After studying the older guys very carefully, Turner figured out how to do some amazing stunts on the rings at the beach.  

 He was actually quite impressive.  I could people watch all day over there.

Life at the frat house is a zoo.  Once all of the college students arrive on Saturday there will be over 50 people living here.  This is a picture of the kids table at lunch.  My kids are in heaven.  The three other families here with us are great.  They play hide and seek, have dance parties and play a few video games.  I know it's only been two days and there is serious potential for some historic meltdowns; but there are some glorious memories being made as well.

One of my favorite parts of life so far have been some cut throat UNO games between Quinn and a few of the 20 something staff guys.  One of his favorite challenge lines has been, "I'm gonna take you down.  Down to losing town!  Population... ONE."