Virginia Beach Family Vacation

Last week we vacationed in Sunny Virginia Beach.  I am too tired and it's too late to recap every lovely thing.  But I will start by posting a few pics of the major things that amused us.

The Atlantic Ocean.

Here was our first morning and the girls wanted a ride on the golf cart that came with the house.  So we rode over to the beach to put our barely awake toes in the ocean.




We did some body-boarding(soo, so fun!) and played in the never ending sandbox of the beach.

We had quite the setup when we were altogether.  The parents(mine and Tia's) weren't too big on the ocean but enjoyed watching the kids have fun.

Adalyn wasn't too sure about the whole beach/water/waves thing.  She did warm up a little to the idea but seemed to have more fun yelling at the dogs(Possum and doggy-cousin Ripley).

The other big occupier of time was the pool at the house.  Here I think the girls may have grown gills, they were in it so much.  Honestly, instead of packing 2 outfits a day for them, I should have just packed a few total and 10 bathing suits each!  

By the end of the week, Denver was swimming entirely without her swimmy bathing suit and Willa was practicing without it 75% of the time.  They loved it!  The morning we left Willa woke up crying b/c she wanted to go in the pool.  Oh, to have a bigger yard.  After watching them swim so much I would be tempted to put a pool in if only we had the space!

I will post more later about our time.  Right now the sleepy-bug is biting and work awaits me in the morning.

Tsegaye Mamush-Our Ethiopian Son

 Now this is amazing moment for us...

For a long time, since 1995 to be exact, we have been sponsoring a child through Compassion International.  We've had the same boy during that whole time period.  His name is Tsegaye Mamush and he lives in Ethiopia.  We got him when he was 6 and he is now 21.  During the years, we have written him and he has written us.  We've sent him pictures of our family and received pictures of him.  His writing, the last few years, has revealed him to be a kind thoughtful person, who has a deep faith in God.

Close friends of ours, Jeremy and Amanda, were going through the process of adopting a child from Ethiopia and I asked them, on a wing and a prayer, if they might visit our sponsor child for us.  They would be staying in the same city as Tsegaye and after conferring with Compassion, we were able to set up a meeting.  Our family shopped for Tsegaye here, picking out a nice bracelet and had it engraved and sent along to Jeremy to take.

I can't believe they were so generous with their time, spending 2 hours with our child and taking him shopping for a new soccer ball too.  Here was some of Amanda's news for us:

He really loves you guys. I hope you know how much your writing has supported him through the years and how much he values the photos you've sent. He said he fears two things in life: 1. Losing his grandma (who raised him) and 2. Losing you as his sponsors.
He was very genuine and got teary a lot. Tried to be tough but it didn't work. He hugged us a lot and kept saying (through the translator) that he was so thankful you sent us to visit him. He said that when he was a little boy at first he didn't understand the value of being sponsored but through the years he has realized how fortunate he is. He is currently in office equipment training. Something like that. But says chances of work are not great. He plans to help take care of his grandma as she ages. he said he cooks for her. he has a little brother and sister that don't live with them but who he is close to. He loves soccer and basketball. We asked which ball he'd prefer and he chose soccer. Nice that there was an awesome sports store in the "mall" we were eating in.

It was a really sweet visit with a great guy and we were so happy to do that for you guys. 

Shopping for him made him more real to me.  His letters, of course, made him real but touching and picking out something that he would wear was an emotional process for me.  Through technology, the world has become so small, but in a third world country, he still seems so far away.  

He will be aging out of the Compassion Program but the great news is, that we will likely be able to maintain contact with him.  We will sponsor another child, but I will always feel a special connection to Tsegaye.  And I could never thank Jeremy and Amanda enough for sparing the time to meet with him.  Bless you both and your newest member!

Congratulations Mikeypoo!

My nephew graduated from High School last week.  The same nephew I took down to the beach at age 4.  And while at the beach, he roared like a dinosaur at people passing by.  I wish I had a picture of that.  But now he's graduated high school and I am left wondering where all the time went.

I got to make his graduation cake, as I've been experimenting with cake decorating lately.  (Ya' know, in my spare time).I was pretty happy with it, but of course, it didn't come out like I'd planned.  What's that they say about best laid plans?  But I got to try out some new fun things like pearl dust and an impression mat.  Fun, and I was happy to do it for him.

In the middle of typing this post I went on an all-out scavenger hunt for a particular photo of Mikeypoo with his siblings.  Thus making this post take 2 hours instead of the 15 minutes I had planned.  Ahh, what's vacation without distractions anyway?   I found the negative but lost my patients with the scanning process.  However, I found these gems from oh-so-long-ago.   They make me smile.  I am having so much fun I will have to force myself to stop otherwise I will not get anything done today!  (It is taking a monumental effort to stop BTW)

Michael, or Mikeypoo as we fondly call him, is an awesome young man now.  I think the thing about him that stands out to me is that he is kind.  OK, not necessarily to his 3 other siblings, but especially to small children, like mine.  He holds their hand, plays with them, carries the baby, moderates language usage around them, and is very good sort of person.  Plus, he's funny and fun.  I'm looking forward to our vacation at the end of this week where we've rented a beach house together as a whole family.  My happiest Congratulations to him and I wish him every ounce of health, happiness, and success for his future!

Not Yet

Clearly, we are not ready for potty-training just yet.

If you notice, she has a bright red blotches on her face, shoulder, back, arms, legs, everywhere(although you actually can't see too many in these photos).  Hives.  Lots and lots of them.  A patch will blossom and then go away 15 minutes later only to have another batch pop up somewhere else. We're not really sure what they're from, but hoping that they are just about done.  At least they aren't bothering her so I've been able to get away with Benedryl only at night.  Never a dull moment with this one!

Barnard Fireman's Parade

Our family tradition, longstanding since before I was born, is to go to the Barnard Fireman's Parade in Greece.  It is really the only parade and carnival we ever went to.

Community.  That is what I didn't realize it was as a child.

I liked it because my Dad would pop popcorn and stow it in bread bags for us to munch on while we watched.  A tradition he continues.  I liked it because sometimes the people walking would throw candy at us and we could scramble just a bit into the street to pick it up.  I liked it because of the marching bands and color guards and the too-loud sirens of the firetrucks.  I didn't understand then why I had to stand for the Vietnam Vets, but now insist that my own kids stand too.

We have gone to this event almost every year of my life and the memories tend to bleed into one another.  But there is always the carting of lawn chairs to the house where we have relatives that afford us a front row view.  There is always carnival food the night of the parade, supplied generously by my Dad, who seems to revel in the entire night.

There is always someone from High School and now, strangely, there are always kids from my children's school.  In fact, they knew more people than I did.  I'm not sure what that says.

And there is always Family.

Last night we went and did the rides with the kids. Willa was finally tall enough(by a hair) for all the rides she wanted to go on.  The girls both ran into some friends from school to make the evening even more enjoyable for them.  Adalyn enjoyed the sharing of the snow cones a great deal.  (She is still fighting a mild case of hives from God-Only-Knows-What.)

A fun way to start our 2-week vacation!

Willa Graduates Pre-K

Willa attended the UPK in Greece this year.  She attended a Christian Preschool last year too but this years program was everyday(half days).  She also got to ride the bus and it was at the school that Denver attends as well.  We were extremely happy with the program.  I tried to volunteer a little and was delighted by the children.  Kids are so random at that age, willing to tell you stories about a squirrel they just saw, their dog that died, or whatever happens to pop in their heads.

What I admired about the teachers was their ability not to squash the individual.  I'm not sure I can explain it well, actually.  If you tell me to paint a giraffe, I will try very hard to make a painting that looks like a giraffe.  But in a classroom of small persons, the image of a giraffe is very subjective.  And I just loved all the encouragement, caring, and support I observed for all the "giraffes".  After all, my greatest desire out of a preschool for my child, is the that they leave with the feeling that school is fun and they want to go back.

Willa is very bright and is excited for Kindergarten.  I think if she could start in Kindergarten next week, she would.

For the graduation, the kids sang a few boisterous songs, got their diploma, ate snacks and spent a good deal of time playing on the stairs in the library.  Gran and Pop came and Adalyn behaved reasonably well.  However, she did not want to pose for a picture with the Graduate.

Strawberries!

Well, I did manage to pick my berries and get to some jamming.  Forecast be darned.  We usually go to Burch's Farms in Hilton, for you locals.  Very sweet berries and he told me that he needed to spray a fungicide just once, no pesticides, no fertilizers.  Yeahhh!  Not quite organic but it could be much worse.  Wayne helped me pluck 10 lbs. of ruby deliciousness.  That is a lot to process at one time but it's done.  And I'm not ruling out a second round(we eat A LOT of PB&Js around here).

Adalyn was more interested in the eating, than the picking.  I managed to get 4 batches done while she napped and 2 later that day after the girls had come home.  Getting the 2 batches done with 3 children felt like twice as much work as the 4 batches did.  Ahhh, parenthood
And look, a rare photo of the photographer!

The jam came out terrific.  All 22 jars!  But it will go fast as I tend to give it as gifts too.  So perhaps next weekend I could squeeze in just a few more batches.