I
love this time of year! It is time to reflect on the past year and share the
highlights for our family and friends. The words that come to mind when I think
about this last year are security and stability. I hadn’t really counted the
cost of the uncertainty and instability on our family during our foster
care/adoption journey that began in December of 2011. I think 2015 was the year
of the most stability that we’ve had in many years. We have our family of 8,
and although it is busy and active, it is stable and secure.
I’m
going to hit the highlights of our year, but before I start, I want to preface
that these are the highlights! It is not all sunshine and roses here; we have
definitely had many challenges as we live this life and integrate this family.
But God has been with us all the way. He has clearly shown us the path, and
we’ve tried to follow it. In the dark places, He sends friends to encourage,
songs to lift our spirits or a verse or sermon that seems like it is His words to
us. In the good times, we have been able to give our praise back and to serve
others.
As
a family, we have had a fun year! In early spring, we were finally able to make
the interior renovations on our home that we had been needing to accommodate
everyone well. We also decided to have a pool installed in the backyard, so we
can be the “fun house” for our kids and their friends. What we thought would be
a quick process turned into a very long one because of some unusual rain in our
area in the spring and the summer. Our pool was finally completed in September,
just in time for summer to end. It’ll be great fun next year! We consoled
ourselves while our yard was trashed with season passes to Schlitterbahn. Oh,
the memories of my childhood it brought back being there! It was lots of fun
being able to pack up and go at any time and stay just as long as we felt like
it. Bonus, our kids are old enough now that we can send them off to enjoy
themselves while we relaxed some.
Dad, Mark
Mark
works at Austin Regional Clinic, doing computer programming. He is a supervisor
and has 3 programmers working for his team. This year was challenging with many
transitions, but he still loves his job. We are thankful for how hard he works
and how dedicated he is to his job. He leads the boys group, Royal Ambassadors
at church and is a handbook leader for our AWANA club. He is an involved dad,
doing projects around the house with Pierce, playing in the church’s Symphonic
Band with Riley and Xavier and doing fun one on one time with Kendall,
Elizabeth and Tyler.
Mark
and I are learning about connected parenting and Trust Based Relational
Intervention (TBRI) as a way to parent our kids with trauma backgrounds. We got
to go to a conference in April, which was a lot of great training and some time
for self care in San Antonio (hello, Riverwalk and Mi Tierra!). And we are so
excited to keep learning and do better at this approach as we go on a training
cruise in February 2016.
Mom, Shelley
In
February, I started working part time as a Ministry Assistant to the Children’s
and Youth pastors at our church. It has been nice to be able to go back to work
but still have time on the weekdays for all of the appointments and errands
that go along with having 6 kids. I also got to spend time with Kendall, since
she started kindergarten last fall. In the summer, I directed my final year of
Heroes Camp and also began a 2nd position at the church—Preschool
Childcare Coordinator. The highlight of my year, though, was going to Ethiopia
with Xavier in October. We had to work hard to save money, earn money and
fundraise for our trip, then plan and prepare what we would do there. It was
hands down one of the best life experiences I’ve had, and I hope to go again
many more times.
Xavier
Xavier
is 14 and in the 8th grade. Xavier is an amazing kid, and we often
remind ourselves that we cannot take credit for who he is. We got him this way.
What started as a wish to see hippos in the wild in 2014 took him on an amazing
journey this year. Not only did he take his first ever international trip
halfway around the world, but he worked his tail off to get there and while he
was there. He is a natural motivator and fundraiser and drummed up lots of
support for us. And, in Ethiopia, he always jumped right in to do what needed
to be done and did it with a great attitude. The best thing was that he made
friends with many of the boys who live there. He hopes to go back every year to
visit them.
Riley
Riley
is 13 and in the 8th grade this year. He is a busy boy, participating
in band at school and at church. He is also in youth group at church and makes
it a priority to attend as much as he can. He enjoys helping with kids and was
a coach with spring break basketball camp and was a teen helper at Heroes Camp.
He and Xavier and Pierce also participate in Breakaway at our church, which is
an acting group that performs to music with a black light show. It’s really
awesome. It’s hard to believe that he and Xavier will be in high school next
year!
Pierce
Pierce
is 12 and in the 6th grade. He is an avid reader, fixer of things
and a puzzlemaster. He joined band this year and followed in dad and Riley’s
footsteps playing the trombone. He loved going to Schlitterbahn this summer and
always was willing to do the daring rides. Hoefully, this summer, he can
conquer the Boogie Bahn. Pierce has been waiting for us to get a trampoline in
the backyard, and it finally happened in the fall. He and the others spend a
lot of time outside jumping. We got to celebrate his first birthday with our family
by having an indoor swimming party at the YMCA in January.
Elizabeth
Elizabeth
is 10 and in 4th grade. She likes to do crafts and had lots of fun
doing card making classes at the local scrapbook store this summer. She loves
to die cut and emboss things. She loves to draw or write in her journal. She
also enjoys being outside swimming or jumping or exploring. This year, she
joined Safety Patrol at school and does 2 shifts a week in the mornings being a
crossing guard. She also advanced in her class spelling bee. She is becoming
quite a good reader and we often find her laughing out loud at her Hank the
Cowdog books. We also got to celebrate her first birthday with us in January.
She got her ears pierced to commemorate her first “double digit” birthday.
Tyler
Tyler
is 10 and in the 5th grade. He’s a happy boy with a sweet attitude.
I appreciate his help with his little sister and also his counseling sessions
with me when I deal with teenage angst. He has gotten into the Warriors book
series like his brothers before him and is very bonded with our black kitty,
Milo (who, by the way, got stuck in a neighbor’s attic for nearly a week before
he was found—we thought he was a goner). He is loving 5th grade with
his best buddies at school, Jack and Connor and his buddies at church, Ryan and
Jeremiah. He led his siblings in pooling their money to buy the LEGO Dimensions
game, and they are all enjoying playing it when they can.
Kendall
Kendall
is 5 and started kindergarten this year. She loves school, as we knew she
would, and is learning quickly. She is starting to read on her own and has
learned a lot already. Of course she is friends with everyone in her class and
knows all the details about each one of them. I love walking with her to and
from school each day; she always has something funny to say. She is doing AWANA
at church and is already working on her second book. She also loved
Schlitterbahn this summer, her favorite ride was The Falls. She wore her
wristbands as long as she could before we cut them off. She can also swim the
length of the pool on her own.
It’s
been a fun year, full of God’s blessing and goodness to us. We are surrounded
by great family and friends, who are so supportive. We are thankful for our
church family; there are so many that relate with us in this life we live,
which is so helpful. We look forward to all that 2016 has in store. We’ve
learned that the Christian life is never boring and never predictable. So we
hold on and enjoy the ride! And hopefully, when people see us living our lives,
they see Jesus in us. That’s the best we can hope for.
Philippians 3:13-14
No, dear brothers
and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one
thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press
on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which
God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
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