Heh Bob!

A few days ago our family went on a small hike and it turned into three times around, a total of a 9 km run for some of us. Later my husband dropped four of us off 8 km away from home. We were ready and warmed up to run. It was an adventure that I will never forget. (Tripping and falling into traffic) It was graceful and immediately I jumped up and kept running like it never happened! I decided that running with children side by side, on one side then the other side was dangerous. There was no leader. It reminded me when I was a child playing hop-scotch but this was attempting to hop around children while running. Not a good idea. I think I will run on the street alone and if my children are interested in hiking through trails, climbing little mountains then all the power to them. We have been heading up Notch hill daily lately. I had one son join me yesterday but no one tonight. Yesterday we met an older man named "Bob" He explained he's been hiking this 5 km hill because he's been diagnosed with Diabetes and has been instructed to loose weight. At the top he was a bit over heated with no water. So I gave him mine. I was proceeding to carry on my way when Bob asked to join us and he explained that he never completed the full trail. Of course I said, "Sure" After all, Bob seemed harmless and in my mind I thought I could take him if I had too! (Poor Bob) I felt compelled to hold my running back. I was worried about leaving Bob behind. I had thoughts of Bob collapsing in the trail with heightened or low glucose levels or high blood pressure. I thought to myself......"I just did find him sitting over heated explaining he is diabetic" I couldn't leave Bob! On our way down, he seemed like a very nice man. We parted ways until tonight. I was alone hiking up and running through the trails. It was getting dark. Normally I don't have any issues with feelings of being "spooked" I had our two dogs with me and one ran off into the forest. I called and called him. My other dog was sitting there barking. I stood in the middle of no where it seemed.... the trail was dark.....I looked behind me, all around me and up on the rock cliffs just searching for a possible cougar or bear. The area was still, completely silent except for the rustle of my dog that ran off. I scolded him and I started running down the hill as fast as I could right into Bob! "Heh Bob!" I yelled happy to see him. He was just finishing his loop and I was feeling so happy to see him again. Yet yesterday I was skeptical of Bob, I was watching my back and now today - he was the light in my spooky trail! A moment in time where I knew; Bob was just Bob and there was no wild animals after me. Amazing how our minds can control a situation where there was no situation at all.

"Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is" - German Proverb

 "Our imagination flies - we are its shadow on the earth"

Babies aren't "toys"

I've noticed that many individuals especially young individuals think having a baby is an exciting interactive toy. I start to question, do they realize this is a human being? That once this baby is born, he/she has a life that that child will have to live with for the rest of his/her life. So I can't help wondering can these young adults provide a good stable healthy life for a child? During their pregnancy, do they realize that they need pregnancy vitamins such as folic acid, iron and calcium while maintaining a healthy diet? A multi-vitamin such as Materna that costs approximately twenty dollars a bottle is essential. The costs of raising a child starts at conception. Having a baby shouldn't be a tactic to trap a boyfriend and it shouldn't be used to create more drama. (Children don't keep couples together) During pregnancy, even smoking a cigarette will harm the unborn fetus. A poor diet and stresses throughout a pregnancy can prove to create complications for the unborn child and to the expecting mother. During pregnancy it's not exactly a joy ride, your body changes, stretches, your hormones are all over the map, you can develop depression which can lead to postpartum depression. Which means after given birth, you become severely depressed for three months up to a year. Babies don't turn off. They cry constantly. Some babies are colic which means nothing will soothe them. Pacing the hallways I remember with my oldest daughter all night long wasn't fun. Besides diapers, formula (if you don't breastfeed) clothes, medicines......the list goes on and on - until adulthood - children cost millions of dollars over their childhood lifespan. A pregnancy should be the number one exciting joy in one or a couples life and it shouldn't be taken lightly. There is so many children born with different special needs, so many children that suffer all throughout their life because of the fault of their carrier. I really try hard to have compassion for everyone, to understand the circumstances that could contribute to a baby being born under conditions that aren't appealing. Although there is pregnancies that are absolutely wrong happening daily that feeds our foster care system. As an adoptive mother, I know all too well how a child is affected by influences during utero, how they're affected all throughout their life with different special needs, how they struggle knowing that "some" birth family truly and simply messed them up. See, we have some birth family that are wonderful and then there are some that continues to destroy our child's life with their distorted images on how the Ministry caused them such grief. On how us as adoptive parents have messed the "child's" life. On the contrary, we adopted and gave our children a new start in hopes it stops this cycle of pregnancies that shouldn't be taking place but I'm not god. As you can tell......I awoke this morning slightly frustrated with knowing that these poor human beings are being conceived into a life of possible heart break. Yes, a challenging road. My only hope is that all these parents change their life, step up to the plate for the child because it's not about them anymore. I also know my fan club is limited these days because the truth hurts. Ironically I was a shy quiet person. I'm still very quiet; I usually keep my opinions to myself but while I raise many children from these typical situations - something needs to change. Potentially ruining a persons life from conception is wrong. To whom it concerns, attention all expecting parents - remember a pregnancy is someones life. It's not compassionate to make their life struggle. All I can say is, "Better make the right choices and step up to the plate from the moment you learn you're pregnant!" My thought for today.

"Face it"

"Light bulb lit our 15"

You've probably noticed and most likely have been waiting for me to explain why my fourteen and holding has changed to fifteen and holding. We have a new son. (Surprise) or no (Surprise) I try to keep my blog respectfully confidential. With stating that, I will just simply share - we have a new son. We weren't actively looking for another child but if you've been following; you know that I believe things happen for a reason. It could be our higher power (God) (Our universe) but whatever it is, he/she has brought us our tenth son. He's been with us all summer, in fact, it's been over a month! I will tell you this.....this is our path. It's somewhat natural for all of us to adapt to another child. We know how to not only council but to openly love unconditionally. For our tenth son - there was no way we could say, "No" He has this inner beauty I can see deep within his eyes. I see so much potential. Of course he's that typical boy throwing balls in the wrong direction, sticking gum underneath the kitchen table but I get him. I would want to save my gum too! You know, right, wrong or indifferent - life happens and makes turns in directions that sometimes we are very unaware of but there is significant reasons for everything. Another interesting part in life is, sometimes it can take ten years of say.... meeting someone, or doing something before that significant reason surfaces. Our paths can take different turns but I think our paths are already laid out right from our beginning. The reason I write this is because I've seen some endings from the start of a path, now that ending moves forward to the new highlighted path. If that makes any sense?! Basically that saying, "Everything happens for a reason" becomes that centre of a light bulb. You automatically know the decision or that certain path you're on because you've recognized it. All this path talk makes sense to us regarding our new son. All I can say is, "I thank the individual bringing him to us" I know this person was lead from the beginning with love to find his perfect family in a different way. In fact most of our children have unique stories on how they ended up a "Hohnstein" Our mission is to provide their home (as long as they want it), to love - to intensely parent as we've been guilty for and build memories in hopes they remember and become successful adults and parents for their own children. I keep telling our children over and over that when they live here, I am their Mother - we are family forever. When they are forty years old, I hope to be alive to still be their mother. I would be eighty counting from our youngest. So there is a good possibility. My husband didn't just build a big home for raising our children, he built a big home because we're going to need it forever too. We are parents that recognize that some of our children will remain with us within their adulthood. What was really interesting, our oldest son in front of his girlfriend of one year was saying, "We all are going to live together forever in this house" Funny.....he's turning nineteen in a month and I thought, "I don't think your significant other will enjoy that" I can look well into the future thinking our path might be this way but there is always a direction turn, just sometimes we don't know when and the why sometimes is very clear and sometimes the why doesn't become clear until another turn or until that path ends. All I know is, we need to follow our hearts, listen to our inner voices and do what's best for ourselves and our children. My husband and I completely know we're on a path that isn't straight nor paved perfectly but we're also two people that seem to ride the turbulence with stride. So long story longer, it's like the sky has opened up and given us our tenth son. His path like many of our children's has been long with several different turns but now this is home, a new path; a place where his story begins with us. Welcome aboard beautiful......we will do our best to provide the best life possible as long as you want it! Hopefully that's forever with us as your family! I say this because many of our children have attachment disorders and I've learned that some will leave either in their teen or young adult years without looking back. For us, we will remain here on our own semi-rocky road making different turns when it's meant to be and making path changes accordingly especially when that light bulb lights the way!

"The key"

It was a very productive day. I awoke and jumped on my own feet (yes my own two feet) racing to my hill. July has been very busy with different trips therefore I left my fitness somewhere back in June. Today I went straight to my little mountain, that piece of earth I've been climbing (missing) It is a place where I like to spend my dedicated hour. Almost to the top this morning I felt like throwing up. It was hot. I was alone ironically so I sat down momentarily thinking about how my favorite time of year is already half over. Maybe that's why I felt sick! Well no....it was because of the heat and my lack of exercise since June. After my short rest I continued on. I'm learning to press on, move on - push on and usually the aches, the sicknesses and stresses move on too. This is where I truly believe obtaining successes is suppose to challenge, life is suppose to be difficult. After all who wants a heart surgeon performing on us without years of dedication, challenge and stress to become who they are today! This is with everything. Nothing should be easy. That hill I climb never seems to become any easier. I asked myself today, "Why isn't this easier YET!?" The answer was simple - it's not suppose to be easy. So as I carried on running through this 5km little mountain I was just thrilled to be there finally after one month. When I returned I packed a picnic, threw our floatation devices and towels into the back of our van and headed to the lake. Today was the first day I swam with some of our children. I was even teaching one of our sons to swim while splashing another like crazy. Amazing in water you only need one hand to lift up a 80 pound boy while using the other hand as a paddling stick to splash the other opponent! Then while our children were swimming, I was able to read a chapter of my book, "Wild" an amazing book I've been trying to read since May! It's about a woman who hiked the Pacific Crest Trail solo for eleven hundred miles! It's great! I love reading inspiring true stories. One thing I hardly do is watch television. I either read or write. So after the lake we came home and had a BBQ followed by a 4 km run while some of our children rode their bikes. Now here I am writing. There is different types of productive days. Some are merely baking, cleaning and getting caught up on the dreaded household chores. Others are days like today. Exercise and quality family time without looking at the piling laundry is also productive. Everything will be here when we return but the time with each other is something that is quickly passing us all by. I keep telling my husband who is a perfectionist, who is very anal and someone who works 24/7 that he can't take it with him when he passes. It's great to be productive when it involves work but it's also great to be productive with ourselves and with our family. I haven't been actively practicing first aid but I promised myself I wouldn't have any of my tickets expire. It's my "thing" that I enjoy and I feel still like an independent person training throughout my (10) years with OEC (Outdoor Emergency) OFA 3 (Occupational) CPR C and AED (Automated External Defibrillator) tickets. I'm constantly asked to return to the first aid room where I once spent most of my weekends. Well......at least I keep training and I keep exercising. The reason why I'm all over the board with this post is because today was one of those days that I reflected. I thought about my husband and I. A friend of mine and I recently had a conversation about successful marriages. Every marriage is different. Every person is different and obviously every family is different. It's really finding the right dynamics, the right matches and adding respect and dedication to make life successful. I think about successful parenting and what that means......I don't think there is a perfect parent at all. I don't believe there is a perfect family or a perfect marriage. Life is a challenge like my hill. Life is a dedication to hopefully become successful. I guess with all this mumbo jumbo of ongoing words, we all have to learn to be patient with life. We have to understand that life isn't meant to be easy. (I keep telling our older children this) Most importantly to be a happy mother, a happy wife, a happy person - truthfully the key is keeping your independence, don't loose yourself within any position you're in. I might go away for a weekend, sometimes a week here and there throughout the year usually training with first aid but what this shows to not only myself but to my children, that I am a human being too. I don't just cook, clean, fold laundry, give rides and hand out money. I am a person. I hike. I run. I am still continually learning. For my husband and I, it's the glue for us (independence) we both have different interests and we respect one another to keep them even with 15 children. So today wasn't just quality productive, it was just another enlightening confirmation that not only do we need each other, we need ourselves to become successful. So don't ever loose yourself within a marriage or having children. Keep YOURSELF motivated, it will be your saving grace and your key to your own happiness - and that definitely equals success.

Thanksgiving in July....

Not the greatest picture above as this was after our potluck dinner consisting of two large great families! With the bouts of pouring rain it was a dark and gloomy day. Outside reminded me of our weather in October. Inside had the smells of turkey (roasted chicken) served with mashed potatoes, fresh buns, cranberry sauce, salad, roast beef, sushi and pumpkin pie with whipped cream! It was Thanksgiving in July! My dearest friend (I love) made four pumpkin pies! I even indulged in a piece. The only item we were missing was the stuffing but ahhhh......who wants to fight the legs of little chickens trying to stuff a handful of bread into the bird anyways! After dinner some of our-their children watched "Deck the Halls" After all what comes after Thanksgiving?! Christmas. At the end of the movie all I could hear was the song, "Frosty the snowman.... was a jolly happy soul, with a corncob pipe and a button nose and two eyes made out of coal" Our oldest daughter was rolling her eyes asking, "Do I hear Christmas music?" I started stating that it's time to start preparing for Christmas! There was a few years that I did start in July. This could be another year! Our dinner was great and now I'm preparing a chicken broth for homemade chicken noodle soup for tomorrow night. Remember, frosty the snowman is a fairy tale, they say, he was made of snow but the children know how he came to life one day! :)

"Before anything else, preparation is the key to success" - Alexander Graham Bell.

Love this!

"Many people walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart" - Eleanor Roosevelt

A friend sent this to me - "Thankyou Laura-Lee"

Have a great day! :)

Crazy for each other

I am one of the most sane people I know. (Ha ha) Seriously, I don't believe I'm in denial and honestly I am not crazy. Crazy is a word that seems to be spoken on a daily basis about my husband and I. Obviously most don't dedicate their life to raising multiple children, so of course what other word can anyone use for us!? I will state that it does irritate me hearing it over and over again. I thought perhaps I will just start calling us crazy and blend in with everyone else's opinions. We have lost friends and some of our outside family members we hardly see. We never get invites for dinner unless it's from another family like us - crazy. (I guess we attend to migrate to our same kind) As of late, weird people seem to be everywhere. I'm coming to the conclusion that we do attract each other. Although I do want to point out what "crazy" really means. I know it's the most easiest word to describe someone that is completely doing something not normal. Typically raising fifteen children isn't normal now-a-days but it's not crazy either. The definition of "crazy" can mean mentally deranged, demented, insane, senseless, impractical and totally unsound. Mmmmm.......this doesn't sound like my husband and I. We are "crazy" about children but we're very capable of maintaining some sense on how to function on a daily basis. What I find "crazy" is the individuals that continue to use the word "crazy" to define us. I awoke this morning to at least four of our children running to give me a hug. I am constantly asked from our children to come with me doing errands. We have children that are so compassionate towards each other that it makes me smile every day. They accept each others differences. They have learned to accept any ones differences outside our family. Today I dropped two of our children off at camp for a week for their first time. I teared walking away. Our life is full of what I call "Crazy for each other" When we were out camping, I slept next to my youngest daughter. She has this leg kick for comfort. It happens almost all night long. For me, it's not too comforting but just laying next to her watching her sleep was enough for me. When she awoke, she smiled back at me knowing I was there. Just simple little moments all day long. I was tickling one of our sons tonight, his giggle is so cute. It puts a true warmth in my heart listening to our children laugh. I know why individuals call us "crazy" It's not all giggles and love all the time. We have challenges, children that don't appreciate, teenagers that think running is their best option, we have had lots of outside influence from birth families and lots of slander against us and it might continue while a delinquent or two tries to figure out their independence and blame absolutely everything on us. (In which we won't provide or condone such behavior) So.... I would say, "That is the true meaning of "crazy" as it's completely senseless and totally unsound on the teenagers part but for my husband and I, we move forward" (We aren't crazy) Eventually that part of "crazy" settles. Then of course we have the cost of raising a large family, the work involved on a daily basis - that is "crazy" because it's completely demented. (Ha ha) I just finished putting away 10 loads of laundry BUT laundry is always a dance party - so it's fun. When I think about my life......thinking back only having three children; I think how easy that would of been. I don't do easy. If that makes me "crazy" I will embrace the word. I will love the fact that I am crazy! Basically to conclude, my husband and I do something many don't. (We have many children) Our friends have many children. Our children will grow up either departing ways or remain connected for all our life. Either way we have dedicated ourselves to provide a better life then they once had. To give our children a family with a Mother and a Father. We are at a point in our life that it doesn't matter what anyone thinks, believes and judges against us because they don't know what "crazy" is. We have learned to ignore. We follow our hearts and we will continue to do what we think what's best for us, our family and a child. If that's "crazy" it's "crazy for each other"

Slightly interesting

We just returned from camping! We camped with some friends of ours and had an amazing and interesting fun-filled week! This was a different area without service. Initially I was worried having eleven children with me and no power but it was completely suitable for our group! Our children rode their bikes, went river tubing, played at the near by park, fished for cray fish with wiener tongs, ran around at night with glow sticks lighting up slugs, went for walks, picked huckleberries and had a blast with our friends children. One of our sons started collecting cans, day after day he collected cans for a new bike. My father camped for a few days in the same area, then came by every day visiting. One day my father (their grandpa) took our son that was collecting cans to the bottle depot. He collected and received cans for a total of $36.00! Once the money came in, it became competition with some of our other sons and it was a can collecting expedition! Then my cousin that I haven't seen for probably ten years came by.....he took three of our sons for one day out trout fishing. In the above picture we cooked trout for dinner! During the course of our camping week many interesting situations arose. We met many different individuals. I won't write about every individual that we met but one bizarre situation was when a man was demanding one of our older sons picture because he was chasing a deer. For this man...he was serious that chasing deer was against the law. Now, I don't know what animal you're not allowed to chase but in this scenario we were on a walk and my son was riding his bike. The deer was scampering through the forest more likely with a few babes following. My thoughts was that they were spooked, the deer ran. Knowing my son, he probably intentionally spooked them, who knows....but this man was following my son with his camera. Finally I said, "Stop taking pictures of my children" Then he jumped on his own bike and rode off saying, "I'll find out" That was weird. In fact there was many weird incidences since Friday the 13th when we left! I was sitting in the post office minding my own business and some strange man was staring into my van window. I had eleven of my children with me. I thought to myself that this man wanted something......"something right?!" So I rolled down my window and asked, "Can I help you?" Then he proceeded to say, "Mind your own business B____!" Loud enough for my whole van to hear. My one son wide eyed was looking at me saying, "What?" I'm thinking....."I dunno" Then the man proceeded to make the coo-coo sign to me.......Apparently I was missing something. So from then on our week was slightly interesting. Our children had a blast.....we even celebrated our daughters fifth birthday out camping. Then there was a night where my toilet and sinks were backed up. My father and mother was visiting during this evening. My father pulled out the trailer septic hose that lead to a bucket. My mother was in the trailer plunging the toilet while adding water. I was on the receiving end. All I could think about was the movie RV with Robyn Williams where the septic flew into the air splashing down everywhere onto his head trying to drain his raw sewage tank! Our friend from afar was making comments that she would like to be a quest writer on my blog writing about this experience. (Ha ha) In the end, the tank outlet was plugged. I was saved! Another memory to write and talk about. The bucket with only traces of water was placed under our trailer. The next morning I was sniffing all my children wondering who did it!!!??? I even sniffed myself! I could not figure out why I smelled urine everywhere. I even asked our friend to come and sniff! Finally.......hours later......it was the bucket underneath our trailer. At one point I thought I was going a little bit insane because I was asking and sniffing our children that don't have accidents! Anyways moving on......we love him dearly; our friend was making nicknames for our children that lasted the whole week! We had Gouda, Smokey Taco, Chimichonga, Dwizzle, Mo and Hawk and Ham Bone. One of his daughters was Mickey. I know that these names will remain for years to come and what's important is it's a memory that will stick forever. Lighting up slugs with glow-sticks, having nicknames and being kids. Telling stories like I do about random individuals showing up either looking into windows or taking pictures. Carefully of course, life seems to be an adventure especially with us. My memories of being a child is fond, so I thank my parents. Now when I see our children having memories of their own, it makes me happy because that's the healthy cycle that should happen. Having healthy and yes, somewhat bizarre memories that bring them into their adulthood, so they can share and start with my grandchildren. Camping.....claims to be slightly interesting. I can't believe we've been camping all summer long so far! I can't believe I'm writing this blog right now as tired as I am! Good-night or Good-day my friends. Again, it's been slightly interesting.

July 22

After a week of testing our abilities to remain calm, myself with eleven children are heading out. I will write all about it when I've returned. While I'm away, my husband is working. This is a quick short post saying, "Stay safe and love one another" If you're interested in coming to our potluck, it will be here on July 22 at 3pm. Bring something to share, a bathing suit and towel if you're interested in having a water balloon fight! (That's all we can offer with water) I warn you, children who get upset easily shouldn't attend any water balloon fights around here! Otherwise the game is on! I will even dedicate myself as the number one target! We're going to try and make this an outdoor event, so if you're interested - please RSVP me. If you want to BBQ, that can be available. See you soon!

"Tough times never last, but tough people do" - Robert Schuller

"A loving unconditional heart is the beginning where your world and story starts" - Me.

I love you

We've had a week. I'm surprised my husband and I are sane. I also realize that our life will never be dull ever. We will come across absolutely everything guaranteed. I wasn't going to write about this but I think it's important for everyone to continue to realize how valuable our lives are. We almost lost our oldest daughter yesterday. She was tubing down a river with her friends and lost contact. From there she was swept into and under a rock crevice with another girl. Her story was horrific and something most of us will never experience. She couldn't see anything, this other girl was panicked and had a hold of our daughters hair pulling her under even further while our daughter was trying, fighting and gripping onto the near by rocks. Everything was dark. Our daughter explained very upset and traumatized that while she was gulping water and loosing strength she knew her life was over. Her only thoughts were of us, Mom and Dad. I teared during her testimony. After her fight for life everything went black. She awoke with Paramedics by her side. Alive. Thank God she was saved and the other girl was saved too. She did suffer a lack of oxygen to her brain, some cuts and bruises from struggling against the rocks and she's traumatized. She's sore from her fight to live, she's having nightmares and still vomiting. The reason I'm sharing this is because within minutes our lives as we once knew it could have been changed forever. None of us know when our time will come and how it will be. The paramedics explained she shouldn't have survived. Even her story pains me but I'm so grateful that she fought for her life. That she survived. That for some reason she is to remain here. We all take life for granted. We take each other for granted. I had a discussion with our children today about the importance of respecting and loving each other because one day, we could regret what was said or how we treated one another. Last night I made a point of saying, "I love you" to all our children personally one after another. I apologised for not saying it enough. I know with our busy lives that those three words as easy as they can be, "Aren't said sometimes" Sometimes when we're dealing with hard challenges; saying, "I love you" can be difficult even though we feel we do inside. My point is, those three little words mean a lot. Lately but not because of this almost fatal accident, we have been frequently saying, "I love you" more then we have before. I've definitely been upset, I've cried knowing that I could have lost one of my daughters. I cry knowing that she still suffers from the trauma she endured. I only want to console, love and always continue to love to the best of my abilities knowing that within minutes we can loose someone. Selfishly, I can't be that Mother that has lost a child. I don't know how I would cope. I don't know how others have. I also can't keep them safe 100% and I feel having a larger family, I could indeed one day face a loss. I dread having a constable coming to explain something other then a crime. So the reality has hit hard, and we are moving forward knowing that right now, we're all safe and sound but we will never know from one day to the next our fatalities. So all I can say from our experiences, love and respect each other like it's our last day. I can not express that enough. Trust me, make that hug tighter, appreciate the little things and smile because we are still alive.

It's that simple.

"A squirrel of a world until the pump broke!"

We went camping for a week. It was packed full of activities, swimming, boating, hiking to the waterfalls above and running around with headlamps at night. Our children had tons of fun. Mostly we met wonderful people. It seems everywhere we go, we're meeting people that are amazing. This one gentlemen who camps at the same place every year was such a wonderful person to our children. He even brought four of our boys zip lining and taught them to make fire from flint. He shared his life stories as he's been working over seas with our Canadian army, he also works for our local fire and rescue, jumping out of helicopters, fighting fires.....it was great for our children to learn about his experiences. Our next door neighbors, four lovely people were also great to talk too, they enjoyed watching our children play. When we were packing to leave, our goodbyes were sad. We also had a friendly squirrel. (as seen above) This little squirrel was constantly filling up on sunflower seeds from the palms of our children's hands. It was very cute. It was an excellent week! Then we arrived home to no water. Our well pump cracked and just now, we're finally up and running with an expense! You know, we take it for granted - water. AND we really needed water yesterday and today. I ended up at the laundry mat from 11-4pm. While I was there my flip flop broke and I couldn't wear it at all. So as I was walking around with 20 loads of laundry and wearing one shoe, a nice lady offered me a pair. Another nice person helping out a stranger. I'm just amazed on how there is so many really nice genuine people out there. I always, always say, "Don't be afraid to talk to someone" They might have some insight or a SHOE! Since we've been home, slightly frustrated with no water it's been rather calm. Our children were so tired from camping that they just wanted to be inside and watch a movie. Hang out in their bedrooms and some slept the hours I wished I could! Their sleep definitely helped considering they couldn't even use a toilet! On our way back from camping I visited a friend of ours who is out camping and she was incredible, she offered for our children to be bathed in her trailer, she made them sandwiches and really came to our rescue for cleanliness. I'm starting to figure out who our true friends are and I believe our true friends will remain in our life with all our differences. Accept and love us no matter what path we wander down. This is another quick post as I've been extremely busy but I definitely wanted to thank our friends and family for their support. I also want to thank the generosity and kindness we've experienced from strangers. This can be a squirrel of a world; humbling and appreciating having our hearts open.

Vancouver Aquarium

We went over to Vancouver for a couple of days visiting birth family members. We stayed at a hotel with an outdoor swimming pool and then we ventured to the Vancouver Aquarium. Our children loved every minute of our two day holiday to start our summer! We met a lovely woman and her three daughters at the aquarium. A woman that has been very encouraging, inspiring and full of support for me. We originally met through here (my blog) then we finally met in person. It was wonderful. It's amazing on all the different circumstances on how we find each other to become friends. I am so glad we were able to meet; thankyou so much Anne for making that happen. These penquins above are African penquins. I never knew there was penquins in Africa but there is. They live in colonies on 24 Islands and along the coast between Namibia and Port Elizabeth. They're also listed as "endangered species" I liked them. I like penquins in general and it's probably because I enjoy the movie, "Happy Feet" I wrote a previous post on Stanley Park and the Vancouver Aquarium stating that I would like to take our children there one day. Well we had our day. It was perfect and everyone enjoyed themselves.

We've been really busy (my words these days) I've decided to write after our memories, then I will share our experiences; until then it's a mystery! And smile - the sun is coming I hear!