She Found It!

She found the beach! Her sister managed to get her picked up from the airport and home and the adventures begin. Day one only one injury, someone's knee found her ear while riding in the waves. Her hearing will come back right?

And she found her early birthday presents a new swimsuit and a camera!

And one of her favorite things to do while at the beach is sand sculpture!

And She Is Off

In a few short hours she will be in Hawaii with Katie for 15 days! She has been looking forward to this trip for a while. She has been working hard to save money and we bought her ticket for her 16th birthday present, which she will be spending in Hawaii! Katie is equally excited for her to come, she has a lot of fun things planed and a lot of beach days ahead. Hopefully there will be a lot more pictures to come since we sent along Katie's birthday present as well, hint hint!  Have fun Kelsie!

It Finally Arrived!

The last day of school! We are still waiting for summer, it was a rainy last day. When I got ready this morning at 7 am it was 72 degrees and by noon, it was cloudy and 59 degrees and started raining shortly after.
Yesterday Ryan had his 8th grade celebration, with an assembly and then a dance just for the 8th graders. I was asked to take the pictures at the photo booth, I did it the year Kelsie graduated from 8th grade, and some of the same mom's were in charge again.  It was fun, loud and brought back my Jr. High nightmares memories the kids were cute and it was a fun party for them. (as long as I ignored the way too short dresses and the way some of them were dancing) Lucky for me Ryan can't dance. It was fun watching him with a girl that has a crush on him they were kinda cute together, and I tried to pretend that I wasn't watching his every move!
It has been an interesting run through the middle school years. When Ryan was 3 months into his 6th grade year the school roof caught on fire and the whole school went up in flames. He finished up his 6th grade year at an elementary school across town, for his 7th grade year they bused the kids to the other side of town to one of the other middle schools. Then last summer they announced that the school reconstruction would be done a year ahead of schedule and he was able to finish out his middle school journey at the school he started at, it looked the same on the outside but it was all new inside. They are the first 8th grade class to graduate from the new/rebuilt school.  This school has a lot of tradition for our family, Ryan's great-grandmother graduated from here when it was a high school back in 1928 and now 3 of my kids have passed through those same halls! 

Right Time, Right Place, Right People

• Just thought I would throw in a random wedding picture!

I found out some information about 3 days ago that I thought I should pass along to a certain someone, but this someone was a person that I didn't know very well, and had not seen in a couple of years. I thought a phone call to this person might be a little weird, she probably would not even remember me, but it kind of kept nagging me, so I have been thinking on it trying to decide what to do.

One of my old work cases came back up for bid, and I would have liked to take it but I don't have room in my schedule, but I think about the kids, teenagers, quite a bit and wonder how they are doing.

There is also another one of my old work cases that I think about every time I drive by where they live, about once a week, and wonder how they are doing as well, but it would not be appropriate to just drop by  and say Hey!

Anyway where am I going with all of this?  Today I was out and about with Avrie and I made a stop at a place I hardly ever go to, and as I was leaving the store I looked over and saw the foster parent of the 3 teenagers in the parking lot and I was able to talk to her for a few minutes and see how the kids were doing and let her know I was thinking about them, and for her to tell them Hi from me. (She said the kids missed me driving them.) Then as soon as I was done talking to her a car pulled into the parking lot and it was the exact person that I thought I should call and relay this information that I had to her. I said Hi to her then in my usual tacky way just blurted out what I needed to tell her. She was grateful for the information.

And finally last week as I was in the DCFS office the mother of the other old case happened to be in there talking to someone in the lobby, I was able to say Hi to her and see how she and her kids were doing. 
Most of these things are not big things but was so nice to be in the right place at the right time to connect with the right people even for just a moment.

Happy Father's Day!!

Dear Dad,
I love you! Happy Father's Day I love you very, very, very much and have fun. You the best dad ever in the whole wide world.
Love,
Avrie

Dear Dad,
  Happy Father's Day   I  hope   you  have  a  fun  day  you  are the  best  dad  ever   thank you for  walking me  to  school  everyday  and   you are  the  nicest dad ever   have a  fun  day.  Thank you for working on my swing set I love it.
 Love, Tia

Dear Dad,
Happy Father's Day i hope that you have a good one! i hope that you have  a good time and get lots of work done i hope that you can Skype with me and stuff like that. I love you very much and you are the best dad in the whole world. I hope that you sell lots of houses and that you can make it home.
<3 Jayden 8D

 Dear Dad,
 happy dad day i love you a lot and i love how you help me get things like longboards and bikes and a way to get to baker every Saturday and letting me use your camping things like your bag and pad and getting it all for me. I hope you do good on your thing the J. O. B. you know the thing you have not had for a while now. Thanks for helping me through school this year i will tell you if i have to do dishes all summer or not i will find out some day in the next two weeks i hope i don't but whatever.  i think i did good in all my other classes for you and me because i have to start getting good grades some year and now i think i did it this year. i will keep your bike as good as i can until you get back and i will not get hurt on my longboard.  i will send you videos as i get better and i will be safe every time i go biking or longboarding or camping. I will do all the things you want me to do like listen to mom all the time and i think i am doing it good so far i will see throughout the summer and i let you know along the way.
                    Love
                         Ryan  Gordon

Daddy,
I love you and I just want you to know that you are the best. I already miss you. I've had the best time this year everyday on the way to seminary and I will miss that too, but I know that you are doing the right thing for our family. Thank you for everything that you do for me. I will try my best to help mom out and keep the peace here at home. I love you.
Love, Kelsie


Dad,
 I love you so much and I really appreciate everything that you do for me! I miss you and wish I got to spend some more time with you before I left. I know that you do so much for me and sacrifice a lot and I want you to know that I love you.
Katie


Dad,
So I definitely have your mushy insides because I'm tearing up just thinking about what I want to tell you. I could not say thank you enough times to express how much I truly appreciate everything you have done and continue to do for me. I also don't think you realize how awesome you are at being a father. You have always been there for me, and I have never doubted how much you love me. I don't think there are too many kids who can really say that. I am bummed that you are going to be away for a while but I know that everything you do is for us. So thank you for putting us first. Thank you for teaching me how to be a good person, how to work hard, and how to love life. These are definitely things that I learn from you, plus a zillion others. Happy Father's Day. I still plan on calling you when I'm lost.  :) I love you dad!
Love, McKenzie

Happy Father's Day Honey Have a great week, thanks for being you!!

Just a Little Too Weird

I signed Avrie up for gymnastics, yesterday was her second time. She starts sometime on Sunday and asks me every 5 minutes when her gymnastics is. She knows it is on Tuesday. On Sunday she starts with, "Tomorrow is Monday, then then next day is Tuesday, my gymnastics day." Then on Monday it is, "Tomorrow is my gymnastics day right? When I wake up I can get ready for gymnastics?" Then on Tuesday ALL DAY LONG..."When is it my gymnastics?" "Can I get ready now?" "How much longer?"
Yesterday after I got home from work we went out to look for gymnastics leotards at the used kids clothing store. She was so excited she found 3 leotards that fit her and I came across this one that she is wearing and I had to check the tags to make sure it was not McKenzie's old leotard, she always cut the tags out because they bugged her, but there was a tag so it was not her's that would be really weird.

I went to Mckenzie's scrap book and found this picture of McKenzie when she was 8 or 9 and her and her best friend went to a gymnastics camp together for the first time and wanted matching leotards and this is what they picked out.

It was really weird to find the same leotard that I bought for McKenzie over 12 years ago, on the rack at a second hand store.

Bringing Back the Memories

Tonight we were asked to talk about our adoption journey and bringing home the girls right after the earthquake. It was not hard this was something we lived and breathed for 3 years. But it is something that we have not lived for 2 and a half years, and it brought back a lot of memories.  Talking about loosing Ellie and Gracie made the pain real again, we still miss them they will forever be our girls. Talking about bringing the kids home after the earthquake and the huge undertaking that took place, the miracles and the prayers to get all those kids home.  It is good to be reminded of all that we sacrificed the heartache and the trials to have these wonderful girls in our home. It was a lot of work but worth it. It is nice to be down the road and able to stand back and say that we made it through the impossible. But with God on our side anything is possible!
We were sitting at the table eating lunch today and we were all joking around and teasing each other, and it is pretty amazing to me how Destina quickly picks up the wacky sense of humor we have, and she dishes it right back out making everyone laugh.  Avrie knows how to push everyone's buttons and she rather enjoys do it regularly to certain people. Ryan likes to tease the girls and it can get pretty crazy around here, but it is such a good crazy that these girls are just part of the family like they were meant to be here all along!

Another Proud Moment in a Mother's Life

I have had 3 such proud moments, they truly warm my heart. My son is now the 3rd of my 7 children to work for McDonald's.  Actually, all joking aside, it has been a really good thing. McKenzie paid her way through college working at McDonald's. Katie worked at the McDonald's here in town and she received a scholarship from them and then walked into the McDonald's in Hawaii and when she said that she was McKenzie's sister she was hired. Now Ryan is starting his new job at McDonald's as soon as school gets out, his list of "needs" is long...new ski's, seasons pass, camping gear. He will still be working his other part time job running dogs as well.
It was nice, he walked in and asked for an application and the manager at the counter was going to give him one and send him on his way and someone in the back said, "Hey that's Katie's little brother." So she sent for the hiring manager and she interviewed him and gave him his schedule. I guess it pays to have your siblings paving the way!

Biology Field Trip?

Katie called and told me all about her Biology field trip to Coconut Island. They were able to go snorkeling and she said that there were baby sharks, dolphins and all kinds of cool fish.  She had a great day and is getting more comfortable with snorkeling. She said this was the perfect spot because it is protected by a huge reef and so there are no waves.  She is working, enjoying school and meeting new friends. She even managed to find someone to fix her bike, it got a flat tire the day after she bought it and it took 3 weeks for the new parts to get to her and then she needed to find someone that could fix it. In the mean time she is getting really good at long boarding and has been taking a jogging class and with all the walking she has to do has built up pretty good endurance.  She said she started a dread lock in her hair, just one, and that she is a beach bum, except she has a nice house to live in.  She spends a lot of time in the math lab hoping to do well enough to pass her math class.
I want to be 19 again and go to school in Hawaii! How come I didn't even know that was a possibility?

A Little Diversity

Tonight we took the family out to dinner, now that there are only 5 kids at home it is a little easier. We drove out to our favorite pizza place, one that is noisy enough so that we don't stick out, too much. After we sat down and ordered Destina was facing their big screen TV and a basketball game was on TV, something that we really don't watch at our house, basketball, not TV.  She really got into the game and started cheering for each of the teams when they made a basket. Then she looked at me and said, "Look mom all those players are brown like me!" And I replied, "Yes they all love basketball as much as you do!" She then said, "Wow it is nice to see that there are other brown people in this world besides me and Avrie."
We don't live in a very racially diverse city, they are not the only "brown" people in town but their world is filled with "white" people.
Last Sunday our town held it's annual Sea to Ski relay race it is a pretty big deal. We went down to the park where they have the finish line as the last leg of the race comes in from sea kayaking and the racers run up the beach and ring a bell to cheers from the crowd. As we were watching and cheering Avrie noticed another 2 families that had adopted some "brown" children and she wanted to go play in the sand with them so I took her down and introduced her to them.   I am pretty sure they were happy to see another family just like theirs. Wish there was a group of families like ours, close by, that we could meet up with the girls would love that.