Give me a break

Today is the first *official* day of Spring Break '14.  Steve and I went round and round on going away for break.  Some friends of ours graciously offered us their beach house in South Carolina for the week.  Although we have been back from overseas only a week, we were vacillating on jumping in the van and heading to the ocean.  The weather report was the only thing that kept us in Ohio.  South Carolina's NOT Ohio's!  It is 32 degrees here and will be again tomorrow.  Shoot.  But the forecast wasn't all that much better at the beach.  55 degrees and rainy just wasn't worth the 9 hour drive.  So, we're having a "staycation."  Which, I've decided, is a really creative way to say, "Nope, we're not going anywhere... how 'bout you."

Two kids have their 6 and 8 year well visits and one kid has a cavity that is scheduled to be filled all on Wednesday.  We went to the Y this morning and swam.  Tomorrow we're headed to the Children's Museum.  I cleaned my house on Saturday and we watched Basketball and cheered on the UD Flyers to victory.  Pretty much the same as every other week around here.

One of the souvenirs we picked up for the kids in Israel was a Monopoly game in Arabic.  This is our first set of Monopoly and the kids have been obsessed.  If we can get a few rounds in before school and after school, they've been very excited.  I've been excited too, because I've been smoking them!  (Oops, was that out loud?) But seriously, Quinn is one shrewd business man so I should be proud.

After all of our appointments on Wednesday, we will be shoving off for two nights at the Great Wolf Lodge.  Lucky for us, we have one about an hour from our house.  If you've never been to a GWL, it is a super fun and very elaborate hotel/water park.  Thanks to the generosity of Aunt Debbie and Uncle Mike's thoughtful Christmas gift, our staycation was able to get a bit more exciting.  We have not told the kids yet, because, really, who could stand the questions of "Is it time yet?" for the next three days.  Needless to say, they are going to be very excited when the find out.

Although we don't get a warm sunny beach vacay this spring break, it's a little hard to feel sorry for myself when I close my eyes and remember the ONE sunny day we had in Israel.  This is us at Capernaum on the Mediterranean Sea.  Oh, my!

Take that, South Carolina!

The lighter side

 

A subtitle for our trip to Israel might be "Expect the unexpected."  Although when you've never been to a country before, it's all pretty much unexpected.

 

I wanted to include some of the odder, more bizarre moments of our trip.  There were plenty of amazing, interesting and God-sized moments during our travels, and I'll get to those.  But we also laughed.  A lot.  Most of our laughs came from this guy: Arez.  He is an Israeli (having spent some time in the States... which was totally reflected in his humor.)  He has equal *opinions* of all people groups and what rubbed me the wrong way at first, became very endearing and helpful during some heaviness throughout the week.  The fact that he looked like a young Paul Simon made me chuckle at times too. 

 

I've never traveled as part of a tour group before.  We went with about 15 co-workers from AIA and another 25 co-workers from our parent organization, CRU.  It was a large group.  Have you ever traveled in a pack of 50?  Honestly, its the only way to see a place like Israel for the first time.  But oh my, after 7 days of waiting on *someone* to finish up in the bathroom or buy *another* souvenir or take *one more* photo in front of some old (really old) rock... I was a bit ready to independence.

 



 Steve and I found ourselves wandering around Jerusalem on several occasions (see the above about traveling in a herd.)  We came across this poster in the Jewish quarter of the Old City.  It made me laugh.  Really hard.  Oh, the irony!

I'm sad that I don't have a picture of this one, but it was BY FAR the most bizarre moments of my trip.  We were able to take a short boat ride on the Sea of Galilee.  We rode on a small boat that was a replica of a fishing boat that would have been used during Jesus' time.  As we shoved off on our short trip, all of a sudden the "captain" hoisted an American flag at the front of the boat which flew next to the Israeli flag.  A nice gesture, I suppose.  But then, from a loud speaker on the boat, began to play the Start Spangled Banner.  Okay?  And then we all stood and crossed our heart and began to sing the national anthem.  I don't know why but it just felt odd. Maybe a touch wrong? To be on a fishing boat, in the middle of Israel, reflecting on the life of my Savior, and singing to America.  Weird!  It made me giggle.  Hard!

 

You want to know another irony?  Or perhaps it's not exactly ironic, more like, just plain sad... Apparently it *never* rains in the desert.  Except the week we were there.  There was a record setting rain. And cold. The most rain in a few day period in 30 years, actually.  Lucky us.  It was 48 degrees and raining/hailing for most of our time in Jerusalem.  And guess what?  When you travel 1/2 way around the world to tour an ancient city of ruins and places that Jesus walked, you're going to walk.  Come hell or high water.  And higher water.

Speaking of high water, Steve and his buddies went for a float in the dead sea.  It was 55 degrees... there is no floating ANYWHERE that would be awesome enough for me to get in my suit and freeze.  So I took pictures.  Secretly, I'm totally jealous.  Oh well.

 

 And this sign?  Well... it's funny. 

 

Ps... we may be the only couple in history to have a marital spat at the entrance of the empty tomb.  We were waiting in line to enter the tomb that historians believe to be the one that Jesus' body was placed in after his crucifixion.  It's basically a small room carved into the side of a rock.  They allow six people into the tomb at a time.  The line was long as many people were taking a picture on their exit of the tomb.  Just before our turn to enter, a worker asked that, for the sake of time, people no longer pose for pictures as they enter or exit.  The long and the short of it - I am a rule follower.  We were asked to NOT take a photo.  Steve, REALLY wanted one of us to have a photo at the entrance.  We *might* have argued for a few moments about what to do.

 Guess who won? 

Our claim to fame.. the fighting couple at the sight of the resurrection.  Awesome.

In spite of the long travel, terrible weather, and rule breaking husband, it was an amazing trip. 

Back and giddy with thankfulness

It may appear that I have allowed my blogging to once again fall by the wayside. 

Yep, pretty much.

But wait... I can explain.  I've been a bit busy.  And out of town.  As in REALLY out of town.  Since January, I've been to Atlanta, GA.  Los Angeles, CA.  Tucson, AZ.  NY, NY and just last Sunday, Steve and I got back from a 9 night travel to Israel.  As in Israel, Israel.  I hope all of that does not sound like bragging.  Seriously, this amount of travel is totally unheard of for me.  Most of the trips were for work, but naturally, they were all peppered with incredible pleasure!

To be honest, there have been points in time over the past several months that I have felt a touch of guilt.  The opportunities that I have had to travel and see the world lately are some that few people will have in a lifetime.  That humbling truth has not been missed on me.

God has graciously blessed me.  I have stories and pictures that I am dying to share.  I NEED to share.  For my own heart and memory.  Spring break began 20 minutes ago and I'm hoping this week affords me some time to collect my thoughts. 

In the meantime, it is also a different kind of celebration day around here.  I had my 6 month check up with my oncologist today.  I am once again *officially* declared cancer free.  In case you are keeping track, that makes nearly 3 years (June 1st ish will be 3 years).  I got a little *off track* with my every six month check ups because we were in NYC and had to cancel my appointment back in January.  It was an enormous growth step for me to cancel that appointment.  Normally, I would have been beside myself "needing to know" everything was well.  Could it be that I might be moving out of the crazy, hypochondriac state I've been living in?  It would be awesome to be a sane, normal person once again.  Time will tell. 

So, join our family in celebrating today another clean bill of health.  Between traveling the world and feeling amazing, I have much to be thankful for.  If I seem giddy, it's because I am. 

And I'll take it.

Sweet and Salty

 

Not too long ago, we were going though a rough patch with Quinn.  He is half way through Kindergarten and is a smart, articulate, confident, outspoken boy.  He has a TON of personality and enough words in a day to match.  He is a character and on most days, I really appreciate 100% of who God has uniquely created him to be.

All of which made his behavior rather disturbing right around Thanksgiving.  His fuse was extremely short.  He would fly off the handle if I or his brother or sister even looked at him funny.  He became even more possessive of his *stuff.*  He would go from 0-60 into tantrum mode at the drop of a hat.  Life was obviously not fun for him and was becoming miserable for the rest of us.  He started saying things to me like, "I wish I wasn't part of this family."  "I don't like you."  "You are so mean."  When I would ask him about his day or if anything was bothering him, he would answer by shoving me away or "Why do you have to know everything?!"

I began considering if I should take him to see a counselor.  I even contacted the International Adoption Clinic at a nearby Children's Hospital.  It was near the holidays and things never really took off down that direction.  Then, one day, right before school let out for Christmas break, Olivia came home from school, very concerned.  She wanted to talk to me in private.

She told me about how that morning as the kids were walking into school, a boy from Quinn's class began picking on him.  Olivia marched up to the boy and said, "This is my brother!  You are not allowed to talk to him like that."  The boy apparently responded, "I don't care if he is your brother, I'm going to beat him up."

 

She was understandably upset.  When she finished telling me about the morning, I pulled Quinn aside and asked him about what had happened.  He crumpled into a heap and began to sob.  As it turns out, this boy, who is in his class, has been picking on him, calling him names and even pushing him down on the playground for months. I hugged him in my arms and the tears began to run down my face.  I volunteer 8 hours a week at my kids' school and had no idea.  I believe one of the reasons Quinn was so angry with me was for not knowing and not protecting him.  While I realize I can not be everywhere and I can't read his mind, it seemed the reason for his poor behavior came into focus.

 

The next day, Olivia got a hall pass from her teacher, went to Quinn's room and asked for a private conversation with Quinn's teacher so that she could tell her about Quinn's classmate and the bullying that had been going on.  I have never been so proud of my kids.  This little girl of mine stood up for her brother and was part of the solution to bullying.  That afternoon when Quinn came home, he told me all about how his teacher had talked with his classmate.  Quinn had a smile of relief on his face and for the first time in months, told me he had a good day at school.

 

Last week at the Y, my kids were playing in the childcare room.  They love the Y.  They have literally grown up there.  When I picked them up, Olivia was upset.  The workers told me there had been an incident with another child while they were playing.  A little girl had told Quinn to, "Go away you China person."  When I asked Quinn about this and how it made him feel, for the first time ever he was able to put his feelings into words.  He told me it made him feel mad.  When I asked him what he did when he felt mad he said, "I just walked away, like I'm suppose to."  He then went on to tell me that this same thing has happened to him before, at church. 

 

I know I should not be surprised.  I know Quinn will face racism and questions and opinions as he goes through life being of Chinese descent in a family of Polish people.  It's not that I think my kids are above making comments to those who look different.  It's not that I am surprised anybody would have sin in their heart against another person.  I do all the time.  It's just that I want to protect my kids from hard stuff.  I don't want them to face the cruelty of the world.  At least not yet. 

 

Yet, at the same time... there are lessons to be learned.  Grace to be applied.  Conversations to be had.  This whole parenting thing is hard work.  It is downright exhausting.  It's also the best gig I've ever had.  Please pray I don't screw it up too bad!

 

 

Not my new year's resolution. Obviously.

 

Keeping up with this blog was obviously not my new year's resolution.  Or maybe it was and I decided way back in December it would be okay to start that resolution on the 20th.  Details.  Not my strong point.

 I wanted to post a few high lights from the past few months.  I don't want to miss documenting some of these fun things that have happened.  Like Turner's 6th birthday.  Or sitting on Santa's lap.  Can you tell that the day we went to see Santa, I was choosing other battles?  We stood sandwiched between two families in their Christmas finest.  I was just happy to be there in one piece.  Matching Christmas outfits would have been awesome.  But fancy sweater/sweatpants combos work well too.

 The boys began martial arts a few weeks ago.

 Obviously, they are already convinced they are ninjas. 
And they might be.

 Olivia and I have been having some amazing talks lately.  She is a month away from being 8 years old.  She is an amazing girl.  I have a few stories to share with you but will save those for another day.  I know every mama thinks their kids are special (or at least have special moments.)  I most certainly think so about my three.

 There were several days in which the un-bearable cold here in Ohio nearly sent me over the edge.  We were frozen in and had an additional three days added on to our Christmas vacation.  19 days in all.  Honestly, my special three became a touch less special at certain moments.  Sometimes a family just needs a little less togetherness and a bit more structure and outside activity.  Seriously, if I've ever needed to move away from a cold weather climate, this is it.

Even a short trip to Atlanta over New Year's met us with chilly, cloudy skies and rain.  Lots and lots of rain. 

Don't let me fool 'ya though.  I was able to catch up on some vitamin D recently! I hopped on a plane a week ago and headed to sunny, warm (84 degree warm) Los Angeles, CA.  Poor me.  I had a work thing BY MYSELF for 4 nights.  I missed the crazy (but not the cold.) 

We have enjoyed a fun MLK day and now its off to gymnastics. 

So here, on January 20, I resolve to try and kind of, perhaps, attempt to sort of keep on our family's goings on.  Or not.  Time will tell.

Not your average Thanksgiving

 

With about 5 inches of snow on the ground in Ashtabula, it felt a bit more like Christmas than Thanksgiving.  We arrived Wednesday afternoon and were followed shortly by our cousins from Michigan.  It was a loud, wild and crazy and super fun holiday.  There is never a shortage on energy when the 5 cousins are together. 

 Natalie and Olivia are 9 months apart.  Turner and Quinn are 3 months apart and Carter and Turner are 9 months apart.  Needless to say, although we don't see each other but a few times a year, there are declarations of, "You are my best friend" while we are together and rivers of tears shed as we leave.

 Thanksgiving 2013 could be declared, Year of the Horse.  As we arrived in Ashtabula, the kids were greeted by various new horse playthings.  The girls even discovered that Grandma totally splurged and bought them "Saige's Horse" (if you don't know what that means, you probably don't have a girl at home who is totally into American Girl stuff.)

 After we stuffed ourselves full of turkey and creamed onions (confession... I skipped the cream onions!) Grandma and Papa had another surprise for the kids on Friday.  While everyone else was shopping their fool heads off, we bundled up and headed to the stables.  (Honestly, I should have bundled a touch more, I had to go and sit in the van to warm up mid-way through.  I'm tough like that.)

 Grandma and Papa had arranged a riding lesson for the kids.  (A few of the grown ups *might* have saddled up as well.)  Not this cowgirl.  I was too busy warming up in the van. I knew it would be a dream come true for Olivia, but I had no idea how the boys were going to do on a horse.  None of us could believe that all 5 kids had the time of their lives.

By the end of the hour and a half lesson, all 5 of them were comfortable with their horse and even trotted around the arena.  I wish I had a video to post  because each one of my kids reacted in their own special way.  Here were the statements made at the end of the day:

Turner: "I want to help kids learn to ride horses when I'm a grown up."

Quinn: "I want to take more lessons and win lots of stuff."

Olivia: "I'm going pro!"

There you have it.  The year Grandma and Papa created three horse-loving monsters.

Me?  I'm just trying to get the feeling back in my toes!

Caution: deep waters ahead

Over the river and through the woods... in an hour we are headed to Grandma and Papa's house for Koproski Thanksgiving.  To say we are excited is definitely an understatement.  I thought I would make good use of these last few precious moments to sit with a cup of coffee in front of Good Morning America and blog.  Usually I run around like an idiot trying to clean my house.  Not today.  I'll do it when we get back.

It had been a few weeks since Steve and I had gone out on a date, so we called in the troops for babysitting and we headed out to dinner and a movie.  Vietnamese was our taste of the night.  9/10 spicy for me.  I could have used it a touch hotter to be honest. 

We then put on our big kid pants, passed the throngs of crowds waiting for Catching Fire and headed down the road less traveled.  We ducked into theatre 12 and saw 12 Years A Slave.  I'm not even sure how to describe this *based on a true story* film.

A free black man living in New York was kidnapped and taken down to New Orleans where he was sold into slavery.  It was brutal, graphic, gut wrenching.  There were certain flaws and critiques I have of the film, but over all it is a story our nation needs to see.  We need to sit in our seats and be forced to watch the sins of our country.  Feel the pain. Make internal adjustments.  I need to repent of my own sins of prejudice... daily.  I am deeply grieved by the depths of depravity that exist in the human soul. 

I found myself having a hard time falling asleep last night because my mind kept going back to the images.  Some may say it is Hollywood.  I say it is history.  I can't imagine how my African American seatmates experienced this movie so much more deeply than I, and for different reasons. 

I want to search my heart and my life and our country to see where am I (and the Church) are turning a blind eye to injustice?  To sin?  To racism?  I have some ideas.  I need to make some adjustments.  Deep thoughts heading into this week of *Thanksgiving.*  I have a lot to be thankful for, and although they do include comforts, they far exceed those.  At the top of the list is a Savior who has forgiven.  I need this forgiveness at the deepest fiber of my soul.  He has offered redemption.  Hope for change. 

And although I am thankful for my life, I want to make sure I am not resting in comfort.  I want to stay on a course of change for my heart and direction for my life and the life of my family in regard to hard things including issues of diversity, prejudice and racism. 

I am thankful for those who have gone before me and were brave to confront these issues.  Thank you, thank you, thank you. 

Have a great holiday and count your blessings.  They abound!