What a Week!!

Whew! We made it. I may have limped across the finish line, but here I am.

Last Sunday we hosted our first annual block party at our store. It was an amazing way to connect with customers in a way we don't normally get to. It was also very hot and we went home pretty tired.

Monday we got up early to get to the store in time to kick off our annual anniversary sale. It was a lot of details: giveaways and raffles, balloons and starbursts, etc., etc. We have fantastic managers who make all of this relatively easy, but it is still a lot to see to. And invariably something doesn't work or the ice cream machine refuses to actually let you get ice cream out or something.

Tuesday morning at 1:30 Keith and I left our house to pick up friends then fly to Georgia for a funeral. By 10:30{ish} I was hugging the friends in Georgia I could not wait to hug. We had lunch and spent time with the family of the 98-year-old saint, Thelma Yoder, who had passed away. Some seemed a bit confused that we were at the family events, but anyone who knew us when we lived in GA wasn't confused at all. 

Within a short time of my family meeting Jerry and Thelma Yoder back when I was 10 or 11they told us to call them as Grandpa And Grandma Yoder. When we visited GA while still living in TX they had family gatherings as if one of the children had come home to visit, and when we moved to GA they invited us to every family get together and holiday. We were family, they were family. So when Thelma passed away many years since we had been to a Yoder family gathering, we slipped right back in, family. 

Anyway, the rest of Tuesday was spent with the Yoder family. We stayed with part of the Yoder family who actually bought the place we lived in when we lived there. Keith and I skipped going back to the evening viewing and took a 4-wheeler ride around the old home place before going to bed nice and early.

Wednesday was the funeral, but first Keith got up and went to a Bible study with one of our friends there {the one who owns our old house and whose place we were staying at}, which ended up being a highlight of the trip for Keith. Then it was the funeral, which was such a sweet experience, even if the graveside service was brutally hot. One little girl fainted from the heat. I kept feeling things get fuzzy and my ears were ringing so I decided to go in before I followed suit.

We had to leave for home before the memory sharing had really even gotten started. I heard the Yoder brothers sang together after we left, and I am sorry to have missed that since it is something I always think of when I think of them. But I am just so grateful to have been able to go. My parents and oldest sister were also there, which was just an added benefit.

We arrived home at around 2:30 Thursday morning. Keith left the house at 7 to go to the store. I slept in a couple of hours longer, but made it there by 10:30 to be sure I could get the hotdogs ready to serve by 11 since we were offering $.50 hotdogs as part of our anniversary sale. 

Friday and Saturday were insanely busy at the store, which we are so thankful for, but we are also just happy to be on this side of it!

After all of the crazy busyness it seems I have suffered a bit of a relapse in recovering from surgery. So it is back to bed for me for a few days, at least until my appointment on Wednesday. I'm hoping it is just a minor bump in the road!

Lebanon Christian Academy {Just Don't}

I've been very reluctant to write this post. I don't leave negative reviews. I don't complain about service. Ok, there was the one time a waitress dragged her very floppy sweater sleeve through my food, I mortified the girls by complaining to her manager, but that was pretty extreme.

But I digress, I'm going to "tell all" about our experiences at Lebanon Christian Academy last year. 

In the 21-22 school year Annika experienced some sexual harassment in public school. It was horrible for her and I felt so much guilt over having exposed her to the situation in the first place. The boys received a slap on the wrist from the school, though we did press charges and they had more consequences after pleading guilty. We decided that finding a good Christian school would at least hopefully expose the girls to less of this type of behavior.

Annika is a confident, beautiful 15-year-old. She doesn't parse or spare her words and largely says what she thinks. She stands up for the underdog and will not allow perceived bullying to take place without saying something. She calls out injustice of any kind every time she hears it. Again, she is a 15-year-old girl who has not yet learned that there can, at times, be more gracious ways of stating things. But I am so proud of her and know she will continue to be a voice for the voiceless.

We chose LCA largely because they had space for both girls. Poor decision. They are associated with a Independent Fundamentalist Baptist church. We did not know much about the Independent Fundamentalist Baptist group then, but we sure have learned since then!

We had difficulties throughout the year. Racism toward Asians has increased exponentially since Covid. Both girls dealt with it because, Annika may look caucasian, but she is proud of her Kazakh heritage and is quick to tell people that she too is part Asian. There were comments such as, "Our dogs are not safe around you because Asians eat dogs." Some of the kids in Eliana's class would say they were speaking the language of her people then do the "Ching chang chong" thing. They pulled their eyes on the corners to make "Chinese eyes" {imagine making fun of her gorgeous almond shaped eyes!} and did so many other stupid things. I spoke with teachers and sent emails, of course.

The final straw, as we were hanging in there white knuckling it to the end of the year, came 2 weeks before the last day. I was returning from a wonderful trip to Georgia when I got a call from Annika requesting to be picked up from school. Here is the story of what happened to her that day. I do not want to share these things, but I do so with her permission in hopes of saving someone else from this type of thing.

Annika started the whole situation by throwing it out there in class that it was a little ironic that Eliana would be playing an orphan in the end of school play since she used to be an orphan. {Annika did not realize that we had already excused Eliana from the play.} This started a discussion about what an orphan is and whether Annika could truly say that she and Eliana used to be orphans. Rather than the teacher shutting this discussion down she joined right in. She sided against Annika and even looked up the definition of orphan and read to the class that an orphan is someone whose parents are deceased.

I'm going to just interject here that children who have been adopted don't always know much about their origin. Are their first parents still living? Why were they placed in an orphanage to begin with? If they identify as an orphan DO NOT ARGUE WITH THEM. If they prefer not to think of themselves as an orphan DO NOT READ DEFINITIONS TO THEM. Just don't! The last thing you want to do is go right to the heart not the most painful part of their story and quibble over minor details.

And if you insist on quibbling please, please get your facts straight.

"Under U.S. immigration law, an orphan is a foreign-born child who:does not have any parents because of the death or disappearance of, abandonment or desertion by, or separation or loss from, both parents." -USCIS website

Anyway, to continue this awful, painful story. Annika acted like it didn't bother her. Because she is a 15-year-old girl. And she did not want them to know that she was dying inside. So the conversation digressed from there until a classmate said, "Hey Annika, did your parents hate you so much that they killed themselves?" At which point Annika requested to go to the principal's office.

I know you are thinking, "Oh good! Let's get this conversation under control!" But no, if you assumed he supported Annika you would be incorrect. He told her, he told her, that if she starts a conversation she has to be prepared to see it through and cannot control where it goes. 

Anyway, Keith picked her up. Later that day he picked up Eliana. They did not go back. We spoke with the principal and, let me tell you, he knew we had our daughters' backs by the end of that meeting!

They agreed to work with us and allow the girls to finish their assignments at home. We were grateful that we did not have to enroll them in a different school for those few days in order for them to officially pass 6th and 9th grades but we would absolutely have done that rather than subjecting them to another day there.

We decide we had to tell. It has taken time to be able to. It's hard. But the girls are doing well. I think they feel protected by the actions we have taken. It was hard to know what to do and we prayed hard about it. My trip home from Georgia was tough. I cried {sorry, seat mate, at least I'll likely never see you again!} quite a bit and prayed even more and had a knot in my stomach until I had my sweet girls in my arms.

If you have adopted children, please don't send them there! If you have children of any race other than caucasian, please don't send them there! Actually, if you have children, please don't send them there! 

I want to state again that all of this was shared with Annika's blessing.

Special Olympics Opening Ceremony

In some ways I feel like this should just be a post of photos and videos. There is no way words can come close to describing what it was like to be there. But I have to try. I have to at least capture the thoughts that can be captured, inadequate as they may be. 

I was excited going into the experience. I knew it would be awesome, but I wasn't prepared for how strong the sense of community there would be. And I wasn't prepared for how much fun it would be! Right from the start they were getting everyone involved with fun oldies music and good old classics like doing the chicken dance. We yelled and cheered and danced and waved the different celebration towels they handed out. 

When the athletes from each state and the other countries who are participating were announced and the athletes started streaming it was surreal. These are people who worked so, so hard to get here. You could so easily see the joy and excitement on many of their faces. The fans roared from the stands and the athletes kept streaming in. To see families react when they saw their athlete come out or when their athlete was on the jumbo-tron was so touching! I found myself getting misty-eyed a few times. 

There are around 5,500 athletes participating in the games this year. By the time all were introduced the stadium was a rainbow of colors and ashimmer with movement (and heat waves!). The excitement level was off the charts! The athletes were dancing to the music and cheering as each video and interview was shown. Tim Tebow and Julie Foudy were there interviewing athletes.

The message we heard from everyone seemed to be... 

Don't you dare...

underestimate us!

put limits on us!

fail to see us as individuals!

fail to hear our message!

We are...

valuable!

talented!

hardworking!

individuals!

worthy of respect!

I know these things, but being here is a challenge. I want to listen carefully, really hear, and truly

see.

And this is only the beginning!

In Praise of Idleness

I was idle today. I went back and forth between my chair on the deck and my bed. I did nothing. I listened to the birds sing. I soaked in the sunshine. I watched a show on Netflix. I laughed at the dogs' antics. I did not even make food until late in the afternoon when I made a simple 1 dish meal and told everyone to eat when they were hungry and clean up after themselves.

I felt not even a twinge of guilt. I love to move slowly and see the everyday beauty around me. Most of the time I try to do this regularly, but the last few weeks have been busy. I have been at the store 6 days a week for much longer days than I normally spend there. I know it is a season and it is needed, but I do not like to feel depleted at the end of a work day. So today was a day of rest.

Living with chronic pain has taught me that life is richer and more beautiful when you move more slowly and deliberately through the day. I am so grateful for this lesson that I can {sometimes} even be grateful for the pain. 

In 2021 and now so far in 2022 I have taken and posted a photo each day. I have an Instagram account just for these photos. At the end of 2021 I printed a photo book of all of the photos from the year. It is amazing what a lovely life we lead! You just have to slow down enough to see the beauty.

In Japan they celebrate the holiday Hanami, which translates to flower viewing. It is literally a holiday dedicated to enjoying the transient beauty of flowers, especially cherry blossoms. It is basically having a holiday dedicated to "stopping to smell the roses." I feel like we don't do so well with this in the US. We rush from task to task, piling more and more stress on ourselves until we are burned out and miserable.

And that is where idleness comes in. I wouldn't want days like this one every day, but I sure enjoy one every once in a while! I believe in moving slowly and breathing deeply and enjoying the gifts God has given us. Try it, you may just discover your life is richer for it!

Also, Riley knows how to relax and enjoy life, as evidenced in these photos!

It's a Wrap

We have been home for almost a week now. We have gotten through the going back to work and school doldrums and we have conquered the jet lag. As always, home is my favorite place to be. I was watering my plants today and pulling off the dead leaves, turning them toward the light, etc. and I smiled to myself thinking of how much I love the little, simple home things. 

I sneaked into the room the girls were sharing on the final morning in Kauai to see if they wanted to go see the sunrise with me. One said yes, one said no. Eliana and I walked out to the beach just as the sun was rising and it was well worth the "yes" of getting out of bed and going out. I knew there was a reason I hauled my crystal ball all the way to Hawaii!

Our last day in Kauai we went to Spouting Horn, where waves spout up through a hole in the lava rocks that forms the coastline. The effect is that water is forced up through the hole when waves roll in under the lava rocks. It causes a spout that is quite impressive to see.

Then it was off to the airport. The airport was open to the outdoors where you could see hibiscus blooming. 

Having perfected the art of sleeping on airplanes, I'm not sure how the flights were, but I do know we made it home safe and sound.  I did wake occasionally to drink some water, but that was about it. I was sitting beside Eliana and she is a fantastic little traveler. She settles in and entertains herself for the entire 6 hour flight. There was no seat back entertainment, either. I've been seat mates with adults who did not do as well.

We arrived home on Annika's 15th birthday. We had picked up a necklace and earring set we saw she liked in Hawaii and had asked Freeland to have a cake here when we arrived home. It wasn't the usual birthday celebration, but it did come at the end of a pretty great trip.

Eliana was sick when we arrived home. She is now on antibiotics and is getting better, but she has not yet gone back to school. 

As soon as we arrived home we wanted to see our other kids and our grand baby, but Douglas & Kayla & little Riley had gone to South Carolina to visit Kayla's Pappy. We were pretty happy when they came to see us Sunday afternoon after just getting home early Sunday morning! 

Riley loves saying what the dogs say, Woof!, and she looked so startled every time one of our dogs barked. She would blink her little eyes, point, and say WOOF!! It was adorable, as is everything she does. We may be a bit smitten. 

So, I guess that is a wrap, I blogged through the trip. I think I'll keep going. Probably. We have some other pretty amazing things coming up this summer and I just don't want to miss it.

Helicopter Tour

Wow! The sights we saw today are still just boggling my mind. We lost count of the number of waterfalls we saw, but we also saw the red striped formations I generally associate with desert climates. We saw wild, uninhabited country. We also saw farms. And all of it, every little bit of it was so, so breathtakingly beautiful!

We took a helicopter tour of the island today. We were in a helicopter with no doors, so the views were stunning. And I was a little bit terrified the entire time. My fingers were numb from gripping the seat for the whole hour that we were in the air. 

But that did not keep me from taking pictures. I wished I had my 35mm lens instead of my 100mm, just in case any photographers need to know that. We went so close to everything that I actually wished for a shorter focal length. 

Also, when they tell you to dress warmly, listen. I made sure the kids had jackets, but I had on a t-shirt. It was cold up there with the wind whipping through!

It was all worth the incredible views. I think this ended up being the favorite excursion that we have done.

 

All I can say is that the One who created all of this beauty in the middle of the Pacific Ocean has a love for beauty for the sake of beauty and an unparalleled imagination. Everywhere I go on this big, beautiful world I am more and more impressed with the greatness of God. 

Easter Sunday in Kauai, Hawaii

This morning we started off with another delicious and healthy breakfast. Half a papaya with yogurt and granola in the hollowed out area? Yes, please! And a Lavender London Fog tea with that? Perfection!

We then attended the Easter morning service at Kapaa First Hawaiian Church. They were very kind and welcoming. The service was in both Hawaiian and English, which was interesting. I sneaked one quick picture of the cantor. He lead all of the music. It was an old church building with photos of almost all of the ministers that have ever been leaders there on the back wall. It was a good experience and the preacher spoke earnestly about the women who discovered that Jesus had risen. I know I'll treasure the memory of sitting there with my crew, the wind blowing through the open doors, listening to the Lord's Prayer in Hawaiian. The Lord is risen indeed!

This afternoon was a quiet, restful one. Eliana and I went to the beach just down from our apartment, but the wind is blowing hard today making the waves a little too boisterous for us. We ended up in the swimming pool, which was nice too. 

I need to record a bit about yesterday since we have some gorgeous photos I want to post. The kids and I went on a 5 hour boat tour of the NaPali coast. It was amazing! The waves were rough and Eliana experienced motion sickness for the first time. Thanks to one of the other passengers who gave her a Dramamine and some tips on what to do to feel better she perked back up and was able to go snorkeling and enjoy the rest of the tour.

The NaPali coast is wild country! It is only accessible by water or air. We saw where the opening scene of Jurasic Park was filmed and also parts of one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. We saw dolphins and waterfalls and sea caves. It was so beautiful! No whales, but with everything we did see I couldn't even be disappointed.

Tomorrow is our last full day here. I do not want to think about it on the one hand, but I always love going home. So we will enjoy the rest of our time to the fullest, but be happy to get back home when the time comes.