Northern Thailand

A friend of ours is traveling solo in Northern Thailand close to Myanmar and Laos. He also traveled through Nepal and China. He's been sending us updates on his travels and sharing beautiful pictures that he's given us to share with others. Our world is so beautiful. This just confirms my want, my desire to travel (far in my future) to Nepal and Thailand. One day it will happen.......for now I'm enjoying beautiful pictures like these. I hope you enjoy them too! 

 

 

Below picture is the Junction of the Mekong

 

"Sawadee" - greetings, "Hello"

The family day event!

It's official. With the interest I've received, we are hosting another event. Unfortunately I couldn't reserve the hall in April for an Easter event, so I have it reserved for May 10th. The day before Mother's day. I'm calling it, "The family day event!" That way we're celebrating families. As we all know every family is different. This is for adoptive families, families waiting to adopt, and supportive family and friends. I want to see grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins and supportive friends with their children attending. This is a event for everybody that supports adoption! That supports children! This will be a potluck designed event, with crafts, dancing and much more. I'm working on surprising everyone with a fun filled evening celebrating each other as parents, as children and reuniting us together once again. "Yes" - "I'm completely crazy" - that I will never deny. On May 10th, starting from 4pm-8pm at the Nanoose Place Hall. Bring a dish to share, dress comfortably and casually. Please RSVP me for any further details, questions and if you're attending! Not an event to miss!

Control?

I love writing. I think about writing everyday. I might suck completely writing and I'm definitely not grammatically correct ever but I believe if I get my point across and without editors, I'm doing OK. Even when my words like "suck" shouldn't be written. The facts are.....we're in a internet world of weird accepted lingo anyways so our English as we know it is evolving like anything else. Like parenting. I have four adult children now. In an average family I would be home free! Success! We made it through all our challenges and hurdles through teenage hood! Some parents having only one child behaving irrational would set those parents to an institution. lol I've learned something parenting four teenagers already. I've learned to not be so "intense" Not to follow in my vehicle, not to secretly spy, not to try to completely control my teenagers. Why?! What I learned was that my intense actions as a parent pushed them further away. My attempts for control were completely hindered. I've learned that you can only say so much, your opinion, your insight, your experience with life, and as a parent it means only that much. Young adults need to create their own experiences, their own insights - us parents are only a guide and either they will accept that or not. For a long time in my life having children, I always thought, "They are mine" "Mine, mine, mine, mine" but the reality is they're not mine, they're individuals that are their own. They grow up and become who they are. I'm here to protect while I can, build some key fundamental skills for their future and hopefully my hard work as a parent pays off for their own successes. I can't control. That I've learned with my first four adult children. I was so intense as their mother that I internalized everything onto me, everything that didn't go as "planned" I felt like I failed. I questioned myself, "What could I do better so I could gain their respect as their mother?" Parenting sucks. There is no handbook worthy enough to help us. We don't know what's going to happen from one day to the next. We can't control it either. You might think everything is wonderful and a bed of roses but I can guarantee you that you don't have that kind of control. Teenagers have their own agenda. So what I'm learning is taking one day at a time. Not to expect that I have a flower garden. I can't expect that of myself that I can control people because they're only mine (as children) for a little while. Once children are old enough to search for their own independence, that's a healthy stage that parents need to be aware to relax on. Teens need to experience and learn from their own mistakes. If they don't, they will eventually anyways sometime in their life. I am so grateful for my first set of four adults teaching me how to parent teenagers. I learned from my own mistakes. I am learning to give my opinion when it's asked. I'm learning to calm my mind, to breath, to feel peace before reacting. Most importantly I am learning that it's not about me. I need to remain a healthy parent emotionally to make rational decisions instead of flying off wasting my energy. The truth is....it doesn't matter if your teenager isn't home on time, smoked pot that night. In our home, we have rules, curfews, expectations to follow but outside our home we can't control what happens. Our teenagers know how we feel, what we believe, and where they came from. How their home is. If they choose to do something we don't agree on out in this world, it's their experience to speak of later, in hopes it's their lesson's learned. I'm not going to chase, and blame myself that I failed. Control pushes away. These thoughts are mine, and of course this is only my opinion that I'm writing from my own experiences that I share in hopes it helps others. Take it or leave it, right? Like raising young adults, like having friends and family with different opinions and/or experiences, you take what works and you leave the rest. Are you a sensitive person? I am. Everything hurts me. I will be honest. Disrespectful children that I love hurt me but I'm learning something powerful lately and continually reminding myself that it's not about me. The only thing that we can control is ourselves. What's even more awesome is when you learn how to control yourself emotionally, what you choose to allow in and on how you handle it. It makes a complete difference when dealing with unforeseen incidences. You won't be that overly sensitive fly away parent anymore. Life irons out. I remember when I was breastfeeding for 27 months. I was told I needed to stop breastfeeding. I listened and stopped. Today, if I was told to stop, I wouldn't. Right now I have a two year old to potty train. I've already been questioned why isn't he using the toilet. In his time he will. He will not be pooping himself when he's 17. (Well I hope not) You know why? Because those moments don't last forever, breast feeding, soiling, whatever it is..... Neither does the challenges raising children. We need to remember, life moves forward. Just live within the moment knowing that's all it is. It's amazing onto what I believed not too long ago and what I believe today. It's amazing on how I never thought I could forgive, and today forgiveness is my saviour. I'm thrilled that my husband and I raised and accomplished four adults already and we're onto our next four sets of teenagers this year. We will have 4, 14 year olds and 1, 16 year old this year. Then we will have another third set of teenagers after that. I'm no longer worried, stressed.....I feel experienced and relieved to be able to just control myself as their mother. Will I be successful? I believe everything happens for a reason, I believe to take one day at a time and I try not to expect anything more out of myself or my children. I will live in the moment, plan for the future, be spontaneous with adventures and I'm going to continue to practice less control, a bit of a 747 picking and choosing my battles while working on peace most importantly within myself. Honestly, good bad or indifferent - if we're doing the best we know how, even if we're not but we're learning like writing, at least we're moving ahead grammatically. Those are my thoughts (if they make sense) this weekend. We had a busy weekend involving swimming, skating, running, movies, haircuts, groceries, you name it, we accomplished it. The best part of MY weekend was writing this post. I love sharing what I've learned through my own mistakes; I hope to forever make a difference and to help others that need support because we're not in this world alone.






"Let everything happen to you. Beauty and terror, just keep going. No feeling is final" -Rainer Rilke

Remember - live within the moment - Me - and take care of you - life works itself out eventually!

Easter Party???????

This is a serious requested poll. Every year we put on a Christmas party for adoptive families, & supportive friends, family and families waiting to adopt. We have also put on a Easter event several times in the past. The question is, who would want/or could attend an Easter party, if ones available? It's a lot of work and money, so I would need a great turn-out! Please RSVP or comment here on your thoughts?!

Achievement

I've been questioning my life. Mainly questioning what else can I do with it? Or what else should I be doing with my life? Sometimes I feel like being a mother of sixteen children isn't enough. Crazy? I don't know what's crazy except that I must have this drive, this energy, this mission that I haven't full filled yet. Children, animals, family and friends, homeschooling, first aid, writing, you name it I'm probably doing it. I was expressing my thoughts to a friend recently and she sent me a wonderful email I thought I would share. (I hope she doesn't mind but I had to share) I had to share because it brought me back to perspective. I think for anyone, at points in our lives, we all feel from time to time that there must be more to our life then what we're living. There must be right?! I'm not writing about living, experiencing and enjoying life within this post, I'm writing about purpose. I honestly believe we're all here to accomplish and make differences according to our gifts given. I often wonder if I'm using mine to my fullest potential. Should I be doing something more? I'm not even exactly sure why I'm questioning myself at this point except that "at times" there must be more I can do, give and/or excel at. This email I received was just what I needed. It was perfect. It was about achievement. She reminded me to take some time to reflect on what I've achieved up until now. She reminded me that it's often easy to forget where I started from and how far I've come in my life. Wow. How true. After reading her email, I immediately humbled myself. I reflected back from my beginning, right back when I received my first typewriter, to having my first child. Where I began. It was a road of challenges, a rocky road of unknowns to a road of "YES" achievements through hard work, and dedication to myself, for my life - who I am today! "To honor, to be grateful for this extraordinary journey that is my life", she said. A big deep breath, a smile and a huge lift left my shoulders leaving me not only thankful for who I am, thankful for my family, I am thankful for this universe bringing me friends like her. I truly believe we meet people for a reason, and things happen for a reason in our life - everything unfolds eventually onto why, when, how, where and then life just makes sense. In times of difficulty, or question - always remember your achievements. Thank you Sherry for your words of encouragement, and to remind me that I've been on my path from my beginning. All of us are achievers, we just need to reflect.

MEH

MEH a slang internet word that I mumble once in awhile that's equivalent to a shoulder shrug. I don't know much of the internet lingo but some words I have built into my vocabulary. "MEH" is one of them. Every day things change. Lately I've been trying to heal my left tennis elbow. Today I felt my right hip pinch. It's the Sacroiliac joint. The last time I had troubles with this joint, I couldn't bend or hardly move for five days! SO as much as I'm an upbeat positive type of person, I'm feeling a set back coming - its in my joints! I've been working to correct Osteopenia in my spine so hopefully my joints aren't telling me something different! Besides shrugging my shoulders feeling "MEH" today, I've been thinking about the future. Something you might not know about me.....years and years ago I started learning the Nepalese language. I'm not fluent, although I know enough to acknowledge, to have manners and call you my friend. Nepal is still and will remain my number one Country to visit on my bucket list. Do you believe in making bucket lists? (I loved the movie) Every day can change, we get sick, or we can pinch a hip - that's why it's so important to enjoy our health, our lives while we can. If you were to create a bucket list for your future, what would the first ten wishes that would be on it? Here are mine.......1. Nepal. 2. Meeting Oprah. 3. Finishing my book. 4. Having ultimate inner peace and learn to meditate. 5. Complete physical health. 6. Hiking 20 destinations. 7. Fluently able to play my guitar. 8. Having solitude for one month completely alone. 9. To back pack across several different Countries. 10. To make a noticeable difference in people's lives...... My feeling of "MEH" today inspired future thoughts and endeavours. For me my thoughts usually become reality. Life should be something to look forward too......that's my big kick lately! Eliminate the negatives. Invite the positives. Enjoy family and friends that support, that are positive and are loyal in our lives. Maybe all this "live" posts are coming from being 41? (Not that I'm old) I'm just ready to accomplish more, explore, experience and semi-selfishly take the 10% I had and change that to a 20% for me leaving the 80% for my duties as a wife and mother. My husband and I discussed this and yes a shift is happening for the both of us. For the better. We have to remember we're not in slavery raising children, that we are individuals too. Happy healthy parents equals more success and that we need raising a larger more challenging family. In fact, raising children period! So "MEH" days can be inspiring too.....just think about establishing a bucket list!

2014 = plans & spontaneity = great times!

Not sure what happened, I baked all day today (on a Friday) which is a bizarre switch in my routine! This week blew by as fast as blowing dandelion seeds but it's to be expected because during the middle of our week four of us attended the Keith Urban concert. It was great. My oldest daughter was kissed on the cheek by Keith Urban. A big ordeal when he's your daughter's idol. Unfortunately there's no pictures to prove this beloved memory except for this close up shot of Keith playing next to her in the crowd. It was an excellent concert.

 

 

While our day in Vancouver we visited Granville Island where I found jaw breakers for our children.

 

 

 See my thumb? I thought I was ordering a little salad wrap! This was three meals in one!

 

 

 We were in luck with beautiful weather! It's amazing walking in the city with thousands of other people. What felt nice was being unknown, and we were all unique to each other with any style, with any personality, it didn't matter. We seemed to just walk, except each other, ALL differences and I find Vancouver city extremely friendly. Living in a small community (knowing absolutely everyone) it's a complete different atmosphere. A nice change for a day!

 

 

 Experience, and enjoy life! It doesn't have to be extravagant. From a concert........

 

 

........to a local beach playing baseball with your float devices!

 

 

or to skating with the generals, with our local hockey team! 

 

(Last weekend)

 

If we can, we all can! Experience everything!

"Plan, plan, plan or just practice spontaneity, it will equal great times!"

 

 





Sunrises start my days!

I went for a 2km run this morning. A run that I will do every morning adding kilometers. While running watching the sun rise further into the sky, watching the clouds start to roll in, while breathing in that fresh crisp air I asked myself,  "Why do I occasionally stop doing fitness outdoors!?" I am probably on the top of the most busiest woman's list. I have aches and pains including tennis elbow. I'm up every night, several times a night with some of my children. You're getting my point right? I have lots of excuses I can use. Here's why I don't use any of my excuses......getting up and getting started, putting on those running shoes is the hardest. Dedication for motivation is hard to maintain and once you slip, it's hard to start over again. It's a vicious habit not to start. I know. Excuses are negative ideas we tell ourselves onto why we can't do something. We waste more time finding excuses then actually accomplishing the action. Staying healthy, staying physically active and keeping a positive attitude can be just as easy as finding excuses. It feels great to start your day outdoors. The positive about getting up earlier (if you need too, to accomplish your own start) is you have added more hours to your day. Honestly to get your metabolism and mental state twirling on the right path, getting fresh air for 30 minutes in your morning will create a productive positive day. I don't know about you but when my day is productive and I've accomplished lots without wasting time, I'm a happy camper. While writing my post, I'm multi-tasking speaking with some of my older children about life. About health. About experiencing. About education and work. I find it amazing that our younger generation doesn't grasp the concept of living. They seem to just exist within the walls of our home. As a family we venture together, and if I (as their mother) help motivate for activities to happen, they happen but as individuals - there is no motivation to get moving with our younger generation. I keep expressing that I'm going to live my life, I'm going to run, I'm going to be pro-active with no meaningless words attached to my existence. My life is created only by me. I hope that my children are actually listening when I preach about life and on how important it is not to waste it. I always get arguments about how the world is ending anyway - "news flash", that's why we need to live each day to our fullest potentials! It makes no sense to sit around waiting for the end of our world (a huge lame excuse) but rather enjoy, and embrace what's been given to us. Those are my inspirational thoughts for always....this mother by her own actions, will show the younger generation what living is all about! I don't have any excuses to miss a sunrise, or to miss out on even one day!

My Berf-Day!

 

January 10th a little baby girl was born with blond curly hair. A little girl who was shy for most of her life. She wrote stories on her typewriter and played with her homemade cabbage patch dolls. This little girl was a tom boy, playing in the forest, climbing trees and making mud patties. This little girl turned into a working young lady while furthering herself with first aid. She wanted a larger family. That's exactly what she received after marrying her second husband. After having three birth children, her and her husband adopted thirteen more. Now she's 41 - that's me! Now I'm not so shy. I still love hiking in the forest, writing and occasionally climbing trees! I'm all that I write and more. I'm spontaneous and I love new adventures. I love challenges. Most of the time, I am positive, upbeat and "I think I'm pretty cool as a mother" Today is my birthday! It already started out great! I was able to have a hot shower. I had some of our children giggling this morning because I was running around stating I had a hot shower for my birf-day! (sounding just as I spelt it) A hot shower for my birf-day! I'm very blessed. I have a great family and great friends! I have experienced and will continue to experience our world while educating myself. I love education. I love life. I love writing. I love people. I love witnessing the good in people. I believe that everything happens for a reason. I've learned to accept what I can not, to forgive and to live within the moment. To contradict that....I also plan for our future, and for mine - living while we are here is my number one message always. So for today I wanted to write during my morning tea, to start my day doing what I love, writing you! So here it comes, another year of laughter and tears, of wishes and wonders. Another year of being and becoming, of living and loving. Another year of celebrating today's special moments and tomorrow's special dreams, so that this won't be just "another" year - it will be OUR best years yet! OR it'll suck! It's not like I'm psychic. Positive energy and hope for the best! Lets make everyday a birthday! A new day. Our choices are on us! That's my message today.....And while turning into a squirrel in my previous post, it lead to another spontaneous decision on this mothers part. I'm bringing one of our adult children to Los Cabos for 6 days in March! Every one of my children will experience this world with me - a promise I made. I'm at my fourth child, only twelve more experiences to go then I attend to keep my own dream - Nepal. Trekking the Himalayas and experiencing the Nepalese culture has and will always be my future goal. Keep your dreams, experience life with your family and without ( you need to soothe your own soul, to he happy within yourself before you can be with others)....I can't express enough -to live! Now to conclude this post, my mother gave me a guitar years ago on my birthday. Then my mother gave me a second guitar on this birthday. It's a sign. I've learned a few chords that I pick. I love guitar picking. I would love to play some of Eric Clapton's songs one day, like "Tears in heaven" and "Wild Horses" by the Rolling Stones. It's never too late to start something new, remember every day is a new day like a Berf-day!

Travel itch

I've been feeling kind of confined within the walls of my empire. Usually I don't mind. Most of the time I can be housebound three to four days before turning into a squirrel.

Usually my outside errands and a occasional movie settles me but lately I'm ready for a vacation. My husband is great. He can handle a week if I'm away. He's not interested in traveling. So which leads me searching for a cheap one week vacation to settle my desires and calm my soul. We will see what transpires......

Other then that.....our regular routine continues and we're all slowly getting healthy. It's been difficult getting back into the routine of school, especially in the mornings. This morning I awoke dreaming about hiking. Unprepared and leading a novice group of hikers into cougar country in the dark! It was very bizarre. During my morning tea I thought that subconsciously my dream reflected just on my mood this week. Who knows but dreams are usually triggered by emotions, and ideas when we're awake. Quite interesting on how I wanted to take a group of people out into a dangerous cougar populated wilderness not being prepared. My husband asked, "Are you trying to eliminate individuals in your life!?" (Ha ha) Not exactly. I thought it's all about craving an adventure....I love being a mother, but I also love spontaneous more self designed experiences too! I guess that time has arrived to plan something just for me. It's definitely not a selfish thought....especially when my life 24/7 is wrapped around my family. It's good to self medicate doing something for yourself once in awhile or the cougars could come prowling. lol

"A Community"

The new year has continued with illnesses and infections. Our littlest daughter takes the brunt of absolutely everything that continues to last more then it's cycle. She's been very congested, coughing and then the fever started. Once our daughter is sick, she stops eating and drinking which makes our lives and hers difficult to maintain the acquired intake she needs. I brought her into a medical clinic. It's designed for triage. Worst case scenarios are first. As we remained in the lobby, our daughter hacked, snotted and was hyperventilating. There must of been thirty other people sitting around, some wearing masks. People were turned sideways away from us. One lady proceeded to state that I should have a mask on my daughter. As calm as I can be I replied, "She's already hyperventilating and she will not tolerate wearing a mask" As the eyes rolled and the snickers were made finally a nurse came to put us in our own room. This was around 2:30pm and by 6:30pm we were seen by a doctor. Honestly....the waiting was testing my patience. I understand our medical system and on how we lack doctors, staff and I completely understand how triage works because I've worked it. Although when it involves special needs and the elderly who are fragile, individuals that don't understand the waiting process, there should be some consideration. Besides being dehydrated, the hours of hyperventilating wasn't helping. After the four hour wait we managed to see a good doctor. He was thorough. Thorough enough for us to know she doesn't have pneumonia, her lungs were clear but the fever was stemmed by a raging ear infection in her left ear. The other ear he couldn't determine. He said, "There's something green in there!" I thought, "Oh no.....the broccoli didn't make its way out!" So I proceeded to explain that last month we seen our daughters pediatrician and she also found the broccoli but because our daughter flails it's too dangerous to take it out physically, too wait for it to come out naturally. The doctor's eyebrows went squishy as if he was confused.....then he said again, "It's really really bright green" Then asked, "It's been in there for a month!?" I as the comedian said jokingly, "Hopefully it's not growing in there!?" "We were going to try the vacuum cleaner with our homemade straw attachment but we can't even see the broccoli ourselves and our daughter probably wouldn't like that very much", I proceeded to explain. The doctor looks at me again.....semi-puzzled, then starts to laugh. "A straw attachment", he questions with a chuckle. "Genius" While writing up the prescription he says, "After she's done her medication, try olive oil from your kitchen first" "Ok, I will" I responded. That DARN BROCCOLI! That broccoli is going to be an ongoing issue! Leaving the clinic there was a wind and pouring rain storm. I pushed my daughters wheelchair as fast as I could, getting her into the van promptly while she's screaming from the wind. It was bad enough she was fevered, not feeling good and her equilibrium was way out, the wind and rain was coming at us sideways. While opening the back doors to put the wheelchair in my van, the doors were slamming into me. A man came running to help. The wind was amazing. I really needed to get her medication, and while living fifteen minutes out of town I didn't want to bring her home, then go back into town after being away for now five hours. I also didn't want to subject my daughter to the wind and rain again getting in and out of the van to purchase her prescription. SO I asked for help. I went on face book with my phone and asked if anyone (a friend) was in the area that could watch my daughter in my van so I could purchase her medication. Within moments I had three people offering to help. I was so relieved. A First Nations Liaison worker in our area that has worked with our children came and sat in my van. We had to wait twenty minutes for the prescription so we reminisced and had a great visit. I was pushing into the sixth hour, my daughter was so sick and I was just besides myself with appreciation and gratitude for how quickly help arrived. Face book can be a great resource used appropriately. I was amazed on how fast and willingly a community can work together for each other. Making this short story longer, our medical system like anything has hiccups but at least we have one. There was a time years and years ago I didn't think there was many individuals that outwardly cared for others, and/or strangers. Weird as it sounds, there was a time I thought humanity was lacking. People care. I've learned on how to experience peoples hearts, it's to simply trust and let people into your life. To ask for help when you need it. To be humble. My New Years message for myself was/is to continue to find out who I am, and what I believe. Today I believe in Community love and support. I believe humanity will always exist, we just need to reach out for it. The only other fact I know for sure, if the broccoli remains; I will need to ask for a referral to a ear, nose and throat specialist to remove this bright green object before it grows into a tree!