soccer shots

Colorado Chronicles chapter 2

Mid year 2010 we moved to our little slice of pie on earth and began pursuing an active authentic community. Our house became the landing place for all things social and we carried on that pattern until school began again. Sam and I took a look at the lives around us...some so refreshing, some so broken but all very real and said,"yes, we will do this...we will walk with you." And walk we did, though often it felt more apropos to run or even leap.

We carried on that way without taking time to see how this might be affecting us...and it always does affect us...doing life with other humans. You can't walk through a trash dump without carrying the smell out on your clothes and shoes any more than you can walk through a field of flowers without sweet-smelling pollen weaving it's way into the fabric you wear. Fragrance, be it pleasant or putrid, has a way of lingering.

By Fall, we were neck deep in the lives of people hurting all around us and had no real sense for how to manage...Sam handled it in his own way and I in mine.  At first, it felt better to just vent to each other and then it felt better just to be quiet about all of it...too quiet...we hunkered down and tried to face our fears alone...which we found only led to being more afraid...issues that originally presented as true for friends and theory for us began to creep into our own hearts and minds as haunting possibilities...and the fear crippled our once stalwart team.

We limped along focusing our efforts on keeping the peace and parenting through the winter...and I do mean limped.  Come February, we were at an all time low.  And it took sitting down with friends who have known and loved Sam and I for our entire history together in order to gain some perspective on the fall out...only a glimpse but a glimpse in the right direction...the "you two are not okay" direction.

Sweet Dreams

Cozy in my bed after a good, long day which began at 5:00am when I awoke from a dream that I was marrying my husband all over again...and yes, it was wonderful and simple and more organized {and less hot} than the first time around...and yes, I would absolutely marry him all over again, but he should really refrain from planning weddings at 5am.  Sweet dreams to all of you. G'night!

most. precious. book. ever.

my mom sent me this book as my "birthday card" this year...read it to the kids over dinner and sobbed out the ending...it's great
[i'm not an adoptive parent, but i think this is one of those books applicable to both bio and adoptive children alike]

...kleenex? you've been warned.

Colorado Chronicles chapter 1

Apparently I've stopped writing which is not healthy for me or anyone around me...it's one of my most effective therapies.  So here goes....

Peculiar, the reality that it's been two years and two months since we moved to Colorado. It doesn't seem so long ago that we were pulling into town with a van full of kids and whatever winter clothes we owned (as South Texans that wasn't much) with big hopes and dreams piggyback riding on no place to live and a house to sell.  We returned from a three week family trip to Ethiopia the day after Christmas, began repacking our bags, visited family and friends and drove off into the great unknown.  Most everyone thought we were crazy...and they were right.  We sort of pride ourselves on 'crazy' around here.  Just a month later and we were well settled into our furnished rental and were headed back to pack up everything into two UHauls (mistake) and close on our TX home...a house we LOVED and that our kids loved...a place where two of my children were born, near people that changed our world for the better in countless ways.  Everything about this change was hard...everything...except that peace in our hearts that said, "some dreams don't come easy"...that comfort was an unorthodox friend during our first year here.  It was a year fraught with challenges at every turn which we met head-on as a unified front.  We were an unstoppable team in those first months of choosing continued homeschooling, navigating community, selecting a property to call home, and building our family business...until we weren't.

...to be continued
  

Order

I’ve been saying this about myself for years, but never so poetically…I like how this describes one of my leading issues.

Nostalgia

It's been two years since we were here...I miss this kind of Christmas...

Happy Holidays Ethiopia!

might have to make some of this...

Last Chance Fall Hike at Devil's Head

My favorite fall hike in Colorado (thanks to Amanda).

Five fabulous bovine

***I stand corrected: Since mule deer have antlers, not horns, they are considered cervine, not bovine like their antelope cousins.**** (admit it, some of you really wanted to know that)

No doubt that the bucks in these pictures won't be as friendly in the coming month, but they have been running around our neighborhood together for the last six months and are always a sight to behold... I love my life!

What's Thanksgiving?

Listening to my kids' conversation regarding Thanksgiving...I wish I'd grabbed the video:

Will - "What's Thanksgiving?

Lilly - "Thanksgiving is a special day when people get together and you eat really yummy food like they make pie and cook chicken and rolls, like bread rolls, and some people bring potatoes and you put gravy on them, gravy makes them taste really good, and they might bring cookies or whatever they want like maybe sweet potatoes with marshmallows and there are special drinks and they might invite other friends who have a baby and then they all come too...and it's usually at our house."

...yeah, something like that :-)

Lilly - "Will, do you know what my favorite special day is?  My most favorite is Christmas, and then Thanksgiving, and Easter, and Valentines, and Halloween, and well, I guess I like them all, but my most favorite special day of all has to be Valentine's."

Thomas' First Soccer Practice