Think about the possibilities......

I know I've written on this topic before but today I'm feeling the need to explain our past feelings up until now about special needs. We were initially afraid of adopting children with special needs. Our first adoption search was strictly about one male child around age eleven with minimal needs. I know what it was......our feelings weren't afraid of a child with special needs, it was the unknown, lack of experience and education around children with more needs. The profile package looked like a life changing situation that would spiral our family into chaos. We questioned, "How would we go camping, boating or traveling?" "What would it look like for the rest of our children changing our family dynamics that way?" Somewhat unfair we thought. I love all our children but looking back now, knowing what we know, how we feel - we would have started adopting children with more special needs from the beginning. Of course this is a life time commitment, in fact it is with any child. Just simply some need more assistants than others. I find our children with minimal needs can be more challenging then our children with more special needs because of different behaviors. I will state, children grow and undiagnosed disorders surface later so if anyone is thinking about adopting a child with "minimal special needs" they can be surprised and hopefully the adoptive parents understand this before adopting. I personally believe this is where adoption break-downs occur is when parents are under the impression they adopted a perfect child. Here is my enlightenment, all our children are perfect to us! Do you know why? Because we dedicate our days to routine, to structure and our tolerance is short for chaos. Our children have come a long way and I'm very proud of them. Another enlightenment is everyone has special needs in one form or another. There is so many children in care that need adopting with moderate to severe special needs that I wish we started adopting those children from our beginning. I wouldn't trade our family because I now think this way but I will advocate for children waiting with more severe needs. How can I explain this..........without sounding redundant. Our children have changed our lives yes, in a good way. Our life is never boring, it's full of surprises, we have more laughter then the average family and all our children are developing the one personality trait I like to see most - compassion. We have fourteen children that have or will become adults with more acceptance for others differences because we live it. We acknowledge special needs not as a handicap but a normalcy and belief that with persistence you can do anything. Our family is a prime example that anything is possible. We camp, we boat, we travel, we will provide the necessary equipment or what it takes for our children to experience life to their fullest. This is when we see growth is when a child is not restricted because of their needs. For my husband and I, all our children bring us much joy. Even our dependant daughters gives us more then we could ever ask for - their love, their beautiful innocence and joy for life is a teaching for us to just relax and be happy for what is. Our life isn't for everyone but if you're considering to adopt, waiting to adopt, ask yourself if you can open your home and heart to a special needs child? You will be pleasantly surprised that that child/children will change your life for the better. Educate yourself, surround yourself with children that have special needs, come visit us! With writing this post I don't want to make it sound "easy" but it's a consideration if you can and can dedicate your life. If we could, we probably would adopt more children in our future. We didn't build a big home for nothing and we already have four almost adult children speaking of venturing on their own.......one already has. I do know it will be a child/children with higher special needs. In fact, I still have this one boy age thirteen/fourteen with CP located near always on my mind. Anyone interested? Think about his possibilities given after adoption!

Donate

A few nights ago our power went out from severe winds. It was approximately 1:00am - 4:00am where our home was completely blackened. Normally in those hours we wouldn't notice but our alarm system went off awakening some of our children. From there we were hooped for any chance of sleep. We had flashlights going in almost every room! Our phone was ringing from the alarm system company and it seemed so chaotic within those hours. It was feeling somewhat foreign to me. In the morning we learned that a home burnt down during the power outage in our area. Not only was the home, two vehicles were burnt and two children ages seven and nine perished that evening. I was not going to write about this topic although I don't believe ignoring it solves heart break for this grieving community, for the families and parents that lost two young children. Nothing will bring back lives that were lost, it's devastating. My heart and prayers goes out for this family and I can't imagine their loss. I've been contemplating for days what I could do or if I should attempt to do anything? It's a hard question to answer as only days after people are grieving......and will grieve for years perhaps their life time. I understand they had no insurance and they've lost everything. I do know that if anyone wants to make clothing and other donations they can do so at the Tsow-Tun Le Lum treatment centre at 699 Capilano Rd or call 250-390-3123. I know materials, money nor food can't bring back these two little boys but they need on-going support..........so please donate and with respect, that's all I wanted to write.

April 14th! Rain or shine!

It's confirmed! Write it on your calendars because it's going to be a BIG Easter Party April 14th! I'm on a mission to make this a wonderful event for all adoptive families and potential parents waiting to adopt! Come out, make friends and enjoy the supportive atmosphere and fun!

It will take place at the same hall as the Christmas party. All you need to do is bring a dish to share and spread the word to other families that don't receive AFABC emails, read this blog or isn't connected to Facebook! You can email me for details at hohnstein@shaw.ca

A few details: It will start at 3pm - 8pm. There will be an Easter hunt, different activities including face painting, tattoos, crafts, egg painting - and much, much more, door prizes for all! This event shouldn't be missed as I'm also in the process of hiring the Easter Bunny! AND looking into "real" animals for a small petting area! With possible rides! You'll have to attend to find out if I succeeded with that one! I'm on a mission not impossible!

Anyone who knows me, knows that it's important to establish friends and build relationships through adoption with other families. I can't express enough on how important it is for our children to relate with other children that come from different forms of loss, that have different special needs and to feel they're not alone. Events like these give our children much needed friendships, support and that confidence within themselves that they have connections!

SO write it on your calendar and build your family in another way, through your adoption community!

A favorite dance, work-out song! PG recommended, shuffling will become addictive!

I can guarantee something

Today was my catch up day. You know that neglected laundry?! It's finished. Then I made this dinner consisting of marinated steak, mashed potatoes, butternut squash with stuffing. The easiest part about this stuffing was I wasn't squishing into a bird! Then while most of our children were playing outside, I was running on my treadmill. See - if the weather doesn't allow the stairs, I have a back-up plan! Personally and honestly everyone should have a treadmill. It's elaborating and relieves stress if you have any! I feel very happy after I've accomplished some exertion. Not only that, if I can't leave my house for some reason  (children) I can take 30-45 minutes running inside! So today was 45 minutes before dinner jogging at a 4.5 pace. Before and after I do 20 sit ups. This is a nice change when I can't do stairs. Sometimes I have our children just watching and or waiting for their turn. So my own personal mission continues. So I don't know if I've inspired anyone to start exercising along with me, because remember there is no excuse unless it's physically impossible. I do have an idea, the posts that have my updates - you can post a comment how you're doing. This way we can inspire together! OR secretly send me an email, I get those from time to time. I've also been learning some facts about certain foods. Did you know cinnamon balances blood sugar, boosts your metabolism and soothes inflammations? Another really great snack is edamame beans, soy nuts or almonds instead of my favorite and soft spot CHIPS! I'm not a professional trainer nor a nutritionist, just a Mother that knows minimal, learning through my own research and feeling healthier as every day goes by! I know I can out-write certain topics and it becomes repetitious but if you feel fatigued, get out walking at least ten minutes a day, it will change how you feel for the rest of your day! I guarantee it.

The last stop is home

Visiting my sister in law for two evenings after two years of being a part was like a day not missed. We have so much in common and it's a breath of fresh air knowing she'll always be in my life. We met in Edmonton and we went out for dinner to my favorite place, Red Lobster. It was minus 23-ish with a slight wind-chill of something when we decided to walk to the restaurant. I think we were the only ones out there. The walk turned into running most of the way! I'm guessing 4-5 km! After dinner we walked/ran all the way back too! I know somewhat foolish but life is always an adventure when I'm around. We shopped at the West Edmonton Mall for some clothes for our children. (It was a short visit) Saturday we separated because of different flight times and for me it consisted of waiting for air shuttles and delayed air flights. From 11am until the first flight 6:40pm was a long wait! I people watched, read the Oprah magazine and listened to music. These couple of days was planned awhile ago and ironically our run-away teen called me the day before I was leaving. Unaware to her I was headed to where she was. In a previous post I was explaining on how teenagers need to find themselves, make their mistakes and come to their own conclusions on what will be. For our teens, sooner or later they want to come home. So I bought another flight ticket while in Edmonton, a birth Aunt dropped her off just before my shuttle was leaving and we came home. During the flight we didn't exchange many words although I studied her physical appearance like the first day we met at age nine. She's such a beautiful girl with so much potential and I only hope that relationships are rekindled and trust can be restored. Now the healing begins and all fourteen of our children are back in the same basket! It was a productive two days. Mostly it's great to be home. My favorite place is home........and I'm starting to realize that my husband and I can deal with almost anything! Because at times when situations feel unbearable, there is that brighter light eventually. And usually the unbearable situations is only teaching us and making us that much stronger as parents. Even our teens that will go through possible life changing events through their own soul searching, is learning. So today, regardless of the past......I feel grateful.

Experience is how life catches up with us and teaches us to love and forgive each other - Judy Collins

"Stay off my plate"

Sometimes I stare at a blank page pondering if I should write or not. Especially on a website like this one. Through-out my years of being a Mother, (twenty two years) I've often questioned my parenting skills. Lately I've been insulted in many ways basically coming from different birth family members. It's interesting on how my parenting is questioned and judged while I'm the one adopting their children from care. It's "Ok" ironically because I know my husband and I have dedicated our life, 24/7 to hopefully make a difference and change the course of what "their" children were presented initially. Us as adoptive parents might not be perfect, we will make mistakes but our hearts and determination are in it forever. I haven't written about our recent teenager leaving and circulating through birth family but our approach was completely different compared to our first teenager. Same bio siblings, same birth family, almost identical scenario except with different twists. Our first approach didn't work with actively pursuing our first teenager, trying to convince....it seemed to push away the more we tried. Eventually everything worked out, and there is peace, respect and understanding. This time around we pulled back. We let our teen search, move around and find out the truths........while the adventure continued our home was always open with the condition that if our teen came back, it was under our rules. During the past few months there has been many stories told. So many there is no truth within a single sentence. What happens is some individuals believe stories from the teen and that causes conclusions that are detrimental to the healthy process of the teen coming home. And stories are told to the teen that are clearly fabricated and distorted to attempt to ruin the adoptive family's relationship with their adopted child. Birth family members for many reasons including guilt from the past, "entitlement" because they're a birth member or just because we're the "issue" house and allow the situation to escalate with the teen. BUT at the end of the scenario not many can or will step up and take care of this child. So why on earth get involved and make the situation worse for the adoptive family? At one point we were told that we were going to be taken to court for guardianship rights returned. I wonder what happened to that idea!? We have found out that we can't make teenagers stay home. The best approach I've found is let them figure it out, find their own truths and eventually with time....with experience meeting all these individuals that the last stop is always back home - here, with their rightful adoptive family. I've always stated there is a reason for everything. There is a reason why our children are with us and that's because they need a family. They need a stable Mother and Father. You know, I tell my children that I mean it when I say I've counted your toes, watched you sleep, stared at that first picture presented to us before placement - each and every adoption was a new birth for our family (a new birth to me) and it didn't matter how old they were. I also know that none of our children are perfect, neither am I and neither will be our journey together. Some of our teens will wander but we'll always be right here moving along, waiting and hopefully the right choices will be made. Another statement I keep making is, "It's not about me" This can mean many things in the adoption world but when I say this to our children, it means it's about them and their future because my future is already established. If I didn't care, if I was this horrible adoptive Mother - it would be all about me and reality is, I wouldn't be adopting either. So.....I'm not going to question my worth especially from birth parents opinions; I'm going to do the best I can and proceed from there with my children. On that note - have a great weekend, I won't be writing again for about 4-5 days.

Where to live.......will always be a question?

I've been preparing meals all morning for our family because I'm out of Province for two days. It was actually very pleasant cooking in the kitchen while watching the snow fall. It reminds me of up North. In some ways I wish we were still located there. I miss my husbands brothers family. They have twelve children and I miss being their Auntie. We didn't live there long enough because we found it inconvenient and expensive to travel back and forth to town. We were paying another mortgage in gas alone monthly. The Country school was at least an hour bus ride one way which seemed to develop more behaviors with some of our children. The nearest city was forty-five minutes away and our family was approximately one hour. Mostly our schedules conflicted and we weren't seeing each other nearly enough. I do miss the Country atmosphere where you can see for miles, the electrical storms, the quietness of seclusion. We had eighty acres of land with a beautiful log home, our nearest neighbor was at least 2 km away. In the evening you can hear howling wolves and early mornings you awoke by yapping coyotes. We had a resident moose that seemed acclimatized with us humans. Every time we drove anywhere we were greeted with waves and smiles from our neighboring Mennonite communities. There's pros and cons about anywhere you live. I find in more populated places people aren't as friendly, everyone is in a hurry and life has to be a certain way or it's not politically correct. Being out in the middle of no where how we were didn't matter. I liked the fact we didn't know anyone. It was interesting because other children at school would question ours about what city life is like or what the ocean looks like. It doesn't matter where we are, we all get used to our surroundings and sometimes we over look the beauty that circles us. We have the ocean, the lakes, rivers and mountains that are majestic while others have that endless sky and miles of brilliant colors. For me I can appreciate the wild life, the extreme cold conditions and the differences in places. (I do miss it as much as we had experienced it) I do question what's the right location. Ultimately there isn't. If I could win the lottery, (starting with buying a ticket) I would definitely buy a home up North. That way we could juggle our life accordingly to appreciate both locations. For now, watching the snow fall.........is a reminder of what we're missing and appreciating of what we have. We're grounded where we are so traveling is our only opportunity. "See you soon sister!"

Simply love

Mmmmmm..............stumped for words. The recent weather has hindered my stair climbing. I've pulled out my treadmill although I couldn't get to it. So today I ended up baking! (A Monday tradition of mine) While the day disappeared I was thinking on how nice it's been around here. Our dynamics have changed somewhat. It's changed enough where I've been switching up my time and attempting different one on ones or sometimes three on one depending on the activity. My husband took four of our boys skating on the weekend and I wish I had a camera. Poor guy fell three times! I've been taking our children to different movies according to age. It's nice for our children to take turns and have that time with their Mom and Dad. I bought loads of groceries the other night and my son and I spent some quality time together. Had dinner, talked and laughed about nothing. It's been really nice. It can be as simple as that. During our nightly routine, most of our children have their own way of being "tucked in" Some have stories, some just like a hug, others want each blanket put on, then there is our daughter that likes to hide. I will go in and find her....(under her covers)....then I yell, "BOO" then she screams and laughs hysterically every night. Life can be simple, can be fun and sometimes someone awakes on the wrong side of the bed. It's not so simple anymore. It doesn't matter what the issue is, there is no rationalizing. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is so damaging to a child's brain. I witness it daily in our home and I often have to remind my husband to just let that issue go. It's not understood. As a mother with FAS children I hate the diagnoses because it's such a hidden disability. Rarely is there facial abnormalities and when our children are behavioral people don't understand. Our children don't understand.  Repetitiveness black and white instructions all the time. So I can definitely write about having a simple peaceful life but it comes with patience on a daily basis. Sometimes I believe it's better if a child's diagnoses can be seen physically so that way individuals know the reason on why their behaviors. Even the child with the behavior has no idea on why they're behaving that way. So it's difficult to pursue a consequence. I find with constant repetition and routine it helps keep life simpler. I often explain to some of our older children that life can be easier with knowledge of yourself, how you tick (inside that brain) and if there is complications......anything like depression or a mental illness; with a proper diagnoses and perhaps medication you can be a happy functional human being. I personally like waking up on the right side of the bed. Like this post it's completely lost ............stumped for words, a great simplistic life with one on ones to questioning why am I acting this way? Like today, there was bits of everything and unfortunately what we see in the mirror isn't necessarily a true reflection. Putting on skates doesn't mean my husband can skate either (lol) but one thing I do know is regardless of any damages done to our brains, we're working hard for our own cure together. Simply love.

A beautiful day!

What a wonderful beautiful sunny blue skied day! Our morning was planned out where most of our children were going to the park with their Dad while I took four of our boys to the stairs! They are troupers! In fact, they are like little sponges. I think they enjoyed exercising with their Mother! Today was one of my best workouts. 2,340 stairs, 100 tricep dips then after leaving the stairs, my boys and I ran 4 km to the park to meet up with the rest of our family! It was an excellent day because mostly we were outdoors. I love the outdoors! I can't express enough on how our natural surroundings makes me so happy. The stairs is located just above the ocean. We see squirrels and eagles almost every time we go climbing! We're always meeting new people of all ages climbing stairs. The oldest was 80! I told him he needs an ipod! What was really cool about today was when our boys met each other on the stairs, they high fived each other. I thought to myself what great encouragement. Every time they made it to the top, they would ask, "How many have you done?" Not only to me but to strangers! Who would of known climbing stairs would build confidence, cheering on each other and just boosting other individuals workout. See, what my children don't realize is I'm always paying attention and I've told them that I was impressed witnessing all the high fives today! Basically it's an individual workout but today it was team-work! I've found out that exercising becomes addictive. I won't lie. It's difficult at first but with commitment and the belief you can and it gets better - you can do it! With the stairs I climb, I won't take some of our children because it can be dangerous for unbalanced people. Which means I never have a "set" time to go, it's when I can. What's really nice about some of our boys is they like to compete. So if I'm up to 15 sets, they're at 16! Very cute although I keep reminding them to pace themselves or they'll be like I was the first time I did it, stiff, sore and sometimes needing a support bar to pull yourself up from a seating position! After our morning we treated our children out for lunch, did a few errands and called it a beautiful day!

"A house full of peace"

Last night our oldest daughter and her boyfriend bought us dinner at the Keg. Not only did they buy us dinner, they babysat. Before we went I made a ham dinner for fifteen and snuggled in half our children to bed. I explained the "deal" before we left. (Meaning I was relieving myself of worry) My daughter nicely reminded me she knows how to look after her siblings. During dinner my husband and I questioned what we're going to talk about. He suggested we have a staring contest! There was a rule - no talking about children or vehicles! Turned out we talked about home-schooling. Next September we're home-schooling four-five of our children. My husband and I are "Empire builders" and 90% of the time our focus is on our children. We don't sit down long so after dinner we were gone! I asked my daughter if it was "Ok" to go to Walmart! Funny, whenever we go out, we're multi-tasking. One of our sons is going to a friend's birthday party and we needed to buy a gift. That was our evening. What's really nice is not the fact we went out, it was the thought behind it. Our oldest daughter arranged all this. Her boyfriend that we adore played board games with our boys, our oldest daughter loved up her littlest sister and everything went smoothly. Our oldest son and his girlfriend was here watching the Hockey game. It was a house full of peace. Something that I always wish for, a peaceful family getting along and helping each other. Last night without our supervision it was.........a connection with siblings. My husband and I rarely travel together, especially alone. During our drive we did question what would happen if we both passed away suddenely at the same time? We have a Will that clearly outlines our wishes although nothing is 100% In fact it lead us to make an appointment to change our Will, question what anything and everything will look like if we both passed suddenely. I believe a clear path should be outlined even if we only had one child. Interesting how a night out can transpire preparations for the future. Nevertheless it was a very thoughtful and wonderful gift that we received from our oldest daughter. For me, it wasn't just about going out, it was about a family coming together. That was the biggest gift of all. PS - (My husband ate that cake!)

January 12th -Update:  2km run, 1,755 stairs and 40 tricep dips. Changing it up!

39

 Today I left early to renew my passport for my birthday present! I know, it's exciting. My dear friend came with me and treated me out for lunch. In the morning I wanted to dress in style, whatever "style" is. As mine consists of pulling anything out of my closet I haven't worn in awhile. My husband bought me some perfume for Christmas. Normally I don't where much scent but today with my style I had to have perfume! So a little spray here, a little spray there I was ready to go! At first it was a beautiful smell. In fact it is a beautiful smell although intoxicating! I felt so sorry for my friend while driving down the highway practically gagging with the van windows open! I decided to take out my hand sanitizer foam (the only wet item I was carrying) and I rubbed it all over my neck and wrists. The funny part was - it didn't help! All I can smell was this strong scent of perfume with alcohol from the foam sanitizer! From that point I made comments like, "I should roll in grass!" and "I hope we don't get pulled over, the police officer will make me walk a straight line!" We did make it to the passport office without any vomiting incidences. Crazy enough after all the paperwork I did for renewing my passport, it was simpler and quicker then anticipated. Soon after we went for lunch at a little fish and chip cafe. It was pretty good. Then we proceeded to this Super Warehouse where you can purchase larger quantity items. It's a warehouse where restaurant owners would purchase their goods. After that we ventured home. When I arrived home everyone was yelling, "Happy Birthday" I've received many wishes today from phone calls, to texts, to facebook and emails and "Thank you" so much for wishing me a great day! I also thank my friend for accompanying me, treated me out and being able to cope with my odor! Some of my children made me homemade cards, one card has a dime attached to it, another made this thing out of paper (not sure what it is) My oldest son bought me body soaps and soap hair products. This is the first time I have ever seen soap for hair. It's called Lush, fresh handmade cosmetics. I'm thinking this is going to be interesting. It has a jungle solid conditioner for hair that's in a bar of soap, squeaky green solid shampoo, a sugar scrub, a sea vegetable soap and a peach massage bar. I'm thinking to myself with my thick curly hair it's going to be an wild experience. Nevertheless it was really nice coming from my oldest son. My second oldest son purchased a card for me that writes; What is a Mom? She's the one who believes in you, who wants the best for you, who understands you, and most of all....who loves you. "Grateful" is not nearly enough to describe having you for a Mom. You know, I've never cared about material items......mostly being acknowledged and sometimes appreciated is all I want. So it's refreshing to sometimes feel that way and today I did. By the little taped dime in a homemade card, to our littlest son bringing me a box with his own toys in it saying, "This is for your birthday Mommy" It really did highlight my day. Then my oldest daughter, oldest son and his girlfriend and I went and watched a movie. Not a movie to share, it was horrible but the point is; we were together. Every thought, every wish, every moment made my day. Thank you very much and I'm just truly honored to have friends and family like I do. I haven't written in four days...(?)....I have decided at the end of each post I will share my strengthening goals. (An update) It will inspire me. mmmmm.......and perhaps you. Now that I'm 39, my goal is to be a strong, fit 40 year old! I have one year.

My first update - 2,340 stairs in one hour with 50 triceps dips. I remain here until I can gain more speed with less time.

The best medicine!

Bloggers can write about anything. Sharing an online journal regardless the writing techniques and skill can be interesting, sometimes enlightening with ideas and sometimes somewhat inspiring reading others experiences, challenges and success stories. I've been following a few blogs myself and people are miraculous! I came across a woman's blog that she just started about conquering her own mental health, loosing weight and is launching a fundraising bicycle expedition across Canada this summer to raise funds for depression. She's on my blog list named Marina Bakker- Ayers. She hasn't posted for awhile and I read when she does. She lives here locally and is a very inspiring woman. Basically I wanted to share because lately I've been extremely happy getting back outdoors exercising. It helps accomplishing a finished workout if you have inspiration and supports behind you! Like anything we do - we can do it better with supports. My sister started me on stairs seen above about two weeks ago. My first time, I did over a thousand. I believe ten times; that included going down and up, that's one time. I struggled walking, sitting, sleeping and yes - getting on and off the toilet for three days after! (I thought I can't do this again) Crazy. The fourth day I went back out and topped my 1,740 steps to 1,989. I was worried about the after math and there wasn't any! It was like I was conditioned to explain it. Today I topped 2000 steps, 2,340 in the rain to be exact! Every time I go, I want to accomplish more steps with less time. I'm figuring three times a week. Right now it takes me one hour each time. I've noticed that skipping a step is easier to run stairs, it changes up the workout. See - basically I am a busy woman with my large family, seven days a week. It's not chaotic, our home is not messy or unorganized, it's completely the opposite. I bake, cook, clean, attend appointments weekly, I do one on one time, I run errands, taxi drive....well.....you name it, I'm doing it. I could have my life as an excuse but I don't. So when people explain to me that they're too busy, my response makes them think twice! I'm not doing this to gain muscle and become the next Iron "Woman" For months I haven't exercised, I started to feel tired and exhausted. I can honestly tell you exercise in the morning lifts your energy levels for the whole day! Not only that - your spirit! (If you need that kind of uplift) My husband has been getting out every night walking our dogs for 2 km around our loop. I won't go in the dark! He also feels better endurance wise. What's really interesting, I disliked going upstairs in our home. Now it's so short, quick and easy that I enjoy going up and down the stairs inside our house because it's no sweat! The past couple hours I've climbed stairs I've been using an Ipod. Listening to music can also be inspiring in so many ways, sometimes I have my whole body moving with each step. Like laundry (with music) anything can be a dance! After climbing stairs this morning I mailed off our daughters' hair after extensive research on where it should be sent. Then I came home and made a homemade chicken and rice soup with beans and carrots. Popped popcorn for their movie snack! I used to write a lot of food recipes.....then after deleting over 200 posts I haven't redeemed the interest. Although I do have to write that this popcorn has roasted garlic and pepper butter smothered all over it! I know, not very healthy BUT for our children it's delicious! Something with popcorn is, don't be shy. Add ingredients because if anything, it is healthier then the alternative and less costly! Now that I've multi -tasked while writing, I should post and get our children ready for our movie night! Have a great weekend and remember - if you're feeling sluggish, just get outside! It's the best medicine!

"G's Auto Service"

Now that our children are back in school, we're booking up with multiple appointments. I'm the appointment attender while my husband is getting his "at home" business underway. His garage is looking more like a place to work. Yes, finally he's starting his own Mechanic shop soon! More likely named, "G's Auto Service" I suggested "G of all trades" (He just chuckled) So my husband has his Mechanic and Autobody tickets - he is the man that does everything with perfection behind his work! Not only does he work on vehicles, he builds boat motors and works on anything mechanical! He can weld and build houses from the ground up! From the foundation to the electrical to roofing and framing! You name it! (Although he doesn't want any house building opportunities) lol Mechanics is where he's happy. With Mechanics comes computers and a more electrical world regarding vehicles. My husband always said that he should of went to BCIT (British Columbia Institute of Technology) for Mechanical Engineering. Honestly, he's extremely smart this way! In fact he even drew up our house plans before building the whole structure himself! (Of course with inspections and followed regulations along the process) He always tells our children if you're interested in Mechanics, you're a good reader (lots of material) and excellent with math - go all the way! For myself, well...........as once written; everything I've done or have been interested in doing doesn't involve having children - go figure! Although I will honestly say that I'm content following the path we're on. For me it's one way or the other, a career or children. I love dedicating myself to our children with some allotted time for me once in awhile. I have thought about some online writing and journalism courses because one day writing a book would be a great accomplishment that I've always wanted to do since age twelve. When my life becomes "quieter" I will. I'm a believer in following dreams and putting the positive energy forth into something brings results. We are a family that is proof of that in many ways. We were told we couldn't build a home to provide room for our large family, we did on our own. We were never sure if any of our adoptions would take place but they did. We were told that one of our daughters wouldn't keep up with our active family, she does. Some individuals were unsure if a behavior could be eliminated within one of our children because of sensory issues, it did. I have a niece that's severely handicapped from being shaken at birth, she was to remain at a three month level, she interacts and now walks! Will our home-based business rise above ground? Yes. A few huge questions we're asked occasionally, "Will our littlest daughter walk?" Yes I believe so. "Will we ever adopt again?" Another serial adopter once told me, "Never say never" "Will I write a book that I talk about?" Absolutely. This is just a few examples that anything can happen with believing. Put your energy into the path you want to follow but keep in mind nothing comes easily or quickly. Have patience, a positive outlook and put your dedication and work into it. If you can do this...........your dream (realistically) will come true. Like one of our sons said before Christmas, "All I want for Christmas if for my little sister to walk!" Again, I believe she will with time and therapy. (Work) Because even mastering walking, like skiing, like building a home, a business or writing a book you need belief and power behind it that it can be done! There is no limitations and if there is.......then the first step too success is asking on how to get past that limitation stumbling block and that's usually in our own mind.

"Keep your dream alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe" - Gail Devers.

Splash!

Congratulations! Some of us splashed into the ocean for the Polar Bear swim. It was the 22nd Annual Polar Bear Splash! Can you find us? (I was just taking pictures) One of our sons is completely under water in the above picture! One year I attended the Slush Cup up at Mt. Washington on skis, when I came down that hill and splashed into the ice-berg water, I gasped for air! In fact I believe my heart stopped momentarily! It was shocking.......example video displayed below:  So I know all about being shockingly cold! I'm not sure about these waters above but our boys were shaking! A great beginning.....speaking of great beginnings and cold weather......a dear friend of mine and I are booking a short week cruising to Alaska! Thank you to our supportive husbands and Bon Voyage! January 1st has been successful with planning and splashing our way into a great New Year!

Mt. Washington Slush Cup 2011