Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family!

Christmas Productions

Whew!  We made it through a busy three weeks. If we were not at a Christmas dance recital, we were watching the girls in their Christmas musicals, at school and at church.  Add in there a Preschool Christmas performance, Singing at the Mall, a Staff Christmas Party and Mackenzie's term end Musical Theatre performance.  This afternoon Mackenzie and I are taking in the Annie production that is here in town and then we are calling it a wrap of Christmas Productions!

Madison and her best friend Erin sang a duet in our church's Presentation of "Christmas in Reverse." They were dressed as butterflies as they were also in a dance number that took place in the Garden of Eden.

Mackenzie was one of four Narrators in the production and made us proud once again.  This kid loves the spotlight.

Miah was a sheep again in this year's performance.  Her Preschool group came in and sang two songs in the Production.  She was so proud and happy to be on the stage.

Singing at the Mall

Preschool Sunday School Class Performance.  The preschoolers went up on stage to sing one song during the Sunday morning services. For the first service, Miah dressed up as Mary, and the second she chose to be an angel.

Halloween Fun

Halloween in our household seems to be the "fit in" event in our lives...last minute costume ideas (usually the day of Halloween), rushing home from work and dance class with kids already in our driveway looking for handouts! The quick change where everyone is in a panic to find lipstick and out they go...and every year I think I will be more organized next year....

...Or maybe it was because we have already participated in trick-or-treating this year in Disneyland.  If you are ever in Disneyland in October, this is the must do event!  Of course it does require the cost of a separate ticket.  Disney does pretty good financially on those days I think...they require the people who have a day pass ticket leave the park at 7:00 and then charge an additional 56.00 per person to attend after 7:00. But that being said, the entertainment is awesome, the fireworks are pretty cool (if you like the effect of ghosts flying through the air instead of Tinkerbell), many characters are out that you would not normally see and there were so many treat stations we didn't get to them all.  Each of us (yes even the adults are included in the fun) had a full bags of candy...I'm surprised our plane home could actually take off with all that extra weight.
                

Adoption Awareness Month

November is adoption awareness month.  A friend of mine posted this beautiful article written by her mother in law.  It was too beautiful not to share! What a great question...Is everyone here?

Is everyone here?
by Charlotte Riegel

In 2007, a girl was born in a country that did not value girls. Being unable to access necessary medical attention for her daughter, the mother chose to abandon her child on the steps of a busy library knowing she would be given the chance at life she could not provide. The baby was taken to a medical facility and later placed into a foster home as an orphan.

Halfway around the world, a couple with four children of their own, began the arduous task of completing a mound of paperwork for adopting a girl, on the very day this orphan was born. The wait for a placement was agony.

After many months without the girl they were praying for, the hopeful parents amended their application to include a child with minor disability. Soon after, they were contacted about this little girl who was born with a craniofacial cleft. They eagerly accepted the challenge.
Lilah did not choose the life she was born into nor the family she was placed with shortly after birth. Neither did she choose the lifestyle and love of family she now enjoys in a Canadian home. Adoption is God’s plan and it is not a new concept.

Moses, Esther, and Jesus were all adopted. They were nurtured and educated by someone who had not given them physical life. The Egyptian Princess, Mordecai, and Joseph had no idea of the role they were playing in God’s bigger picture, but they were willing to love a child that was not born of their flesh and blood. Are you?

November is Adoption Awareness Month. There are millions of children around the world, including some living in Canada, who need what most of us take for granted – the love and nurture of a parent.

Wendy Robinson of Christian Adoption Services says, “Every child we parent provides one more space in an orphanage for a child in need of a safe place. In many countries the orphanages are full and regularly turn away infants and children, only to find them abandoned on the steps of the orphanage. Mothers, who are starving, know their child will die and the only hope they have is placing them in orphanage care.”

If children are not adopted and grow up in an orphanage, during their teen years they are forced to leave and survive on their own in whatever way they are able. Many become trapped in the sex trade or illegal drug industry.

Though not everyone can adopt internationally, some can help locally by caring for a child needing temporary care. If the child is unable to return to their birth family, foster parents may choose to adopt him or her. Many of the adoptions in this province are by foster families adopting the child in their care.

Look around your dinner table, asking yourself and God, “Is everyone here?”
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans...in their distress...” – James 1:27

Christian Adoption Services (http://http://www.christianadoption.ab.ca//) would be happy to answer your questions and help guide you through this God honouring journey.

Charlotte Riegel is a Calgary based freelance writer with two internationally adopted grand- children.
This article was published in City Light Magazine. It can be found here.

Disneyland 2011

We just returned from 9 days in Sunny (and HOT) California! We had a great time as a family and visited Disneyland, Legoland and Universal Studios Hollywood. While we were there Madison celebrated her 8th birthday! She got a makeover at the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique and we made mini birthday cakes at the Plaza with Mr Pat-E-Cake!

The highlight of the trip was spending the day with Miah's friend
Tian from her orphanage in China. We have seen them once before, about 18 months ago. It is amazing to see how these girls just pick up from the last visit and carry on. They seem to have such a strong bond.  They can be found holding hands, hugging and just being plain goofy and carefree with one another.  They crack us up!  Tian kept her given Chinese name and when she heard us calling Miah, she was quick to inform us that Miah's name was not Miah, but Fu Ni.  I'm positive that they have memories of each other from China.  They are two peas in a pod and I hope that they will stay life long friends with each other! We hope to see you all soon again!  Come to Canada!  (It's not that cold)

Back to School

Today Miah had her first day back to preschool. She was so excited to go back and has been asking me for weeks when she gets to go. When I took her in another child was crying as her mother left. Miah looked very concerned and we talked about how I would be going shortly too. I suggested that she need not cry herself and her reply was " I might, you will have to wait and see." She did great though! She got busy playing with playdough and was starting her second craft activity when she permitted me to leave. No tears at all!

What we have been up to this summer...

A little surgery to keep things interesting...





Spending time with friends at the lake





Miah got her ear's pierced! She was so proud of herself!





This summer we discovered Geocaching. What fun that has been for the girls. It has made hiking lots of fun and Miah gets so excited to "look for treasure." The above photo is a cache that we found in Washington state that was in the shape of a hand. The girls laughed so hard when they found it, screaming "It's a hand!" I think it took them a moment or two to realize that it was not a real hand, but a cache container.





First horseback riding lesson





We spent a weekend in Seattle and met up with some friends at the aquarium. We had a great time and then walked to Pike Place Market to do a little shopping. It was very busy as a very large cruise ship was docked for the afternoon. We managed to find a pretty new Chinese dress for Miah for Chinese New Years and took in the fun at the Pike Place Fish Market. The girls thought it was fun watching the fish fly through the air.

In August, Mackenzie performed with the Bumbershoot Children's Theatre. She had a blast. They practiced for only 5 weeks and put on an amazing show! She has high hopes of acting again this fall with another local theatre group.

Happy 4th Birthday Miah

Today we celebrated Miah's 4th birthday with a Hello Kitty party. She was so excited this morning that her big day had finally arrived. I am still shocked that she is already four years old! Happy Birthday Miss Miah! We love you very much!

Green Bay Bible Camp

This weekend we had our first ever family camp experience at Green Bay Bible camp here on Okanagan Lake. The weather was a bit cool, but the kids still had so much fun! Miah loves the water! Mackenzie was super excited to try "surfing"...well as close as she will get for sometime. She has great aspirations after watching the movie Soul Surfer.

Painting Ceramics in the Pottery studio.

PandaMania Kids Day Camp

This week we are busy helping with PandaMania at our church! More photos to come...as soon as I can stay awake long enough....

Happy Two Year Gotcha Day!

Tonight we celebrated Miah's two year Gotcha Day Anniversary! I can't believe that this sweet girl has been with us two years! Two years ago today, Drew and his parents were in Nanjing China meeting Miah at the civil affairs office, while back at home Mommy and her sisters eagerly waited to meet her via Skype. What an amazing day that was and what an amazing little girl we have been blessed with!