Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Celebrations

We attended Christmas Eve church service this year and then went to our annual Chinese dinner with my parents. When I was growing up, one of the places we lived was a smaller town, and the only restaurants open on Christmas Eve were Chinese ones. The tradition stuck so that is what we still go and do today for Christmas Eve dinner! Sandra joined us and the kids opened their traditionally new Christmas Eve pajamas. This year, everyone received reindeer onesies! The girls watched the movie "Santa Claus" in our room and spent the night, another tradition. Juan worked Christmas Day but enjoyed opening his presents before going to work. It is difficult to get teens to cooperate for pictures as much as we want, but we got one of them opening their new pajamas. My parents put together a fun basket of presents for the kids to open on Christmas Eve and a ring toss game that allowed them to earn money. They are always trying to think outside the box and make things fun for the kids!

Christmas Vacation Time

It is finally break time for the kids from school and even though they are getting older, I still try and make it special. Each child has their favorite candy. Ingrid helped Dainis make banana bread and wrap presents. Juan was busy working most days at his job at La Loma Independent Living.

Awards Ceremony at West MEC for Juan

 As we have said before, Juan is in his first year of computer coding at West MEC Technical School this year and is doing very well there. He was chosen this fall to be part of a group to re-design the website for the campus. It has been great hands-on experience, and we are really proud of him! They had an award ceremony as part of the end of the semester yesterday and the school gave him an award for his hard work with the website. The award was in recognition of his communication, teamwork, leadership, and problem-solving skills in the re-design of the website. If he will keep up this good work, he will find great success in the future.

Operation Santa Claus

My Mom purchased toys for the Operation Santa Claus Charity Drive. One of the drop off locations was Sanderson Ford so we went as a family and drop all the gifts off. With everyone's school and work schedule, it is often difficult to work a time out where we can all be together! We enjoyed dropping off the gifts and then going out to dinner together.

Happy National Adoption Month!

November is National Adoption Awareness Month and this is the last picture we have as a family of five before Angie left home to be an adult. Who would have thought that Christmas picture would be our last, but I am very glad we were diligent about taking them every year. Our adoption journey over the last ten years has definitely been a mix of blessings and challenges, and we say now looking back that we adopted with love blinders on. We felt called to give a sibling group a forever family that may not otherwise have that opportunity. I have learned that following in obedience on something we feel God calls us to do may or may not equal happiness. Happiness may be our plan. God's plan may be bigger than that. James 1:27 NIV says, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

Happy Thanksgiving!

Each year is always a little different as the kids have grown older, and I have learned to just go with the flow and be very flexible! I have also learned to have little expectations and do everything myself and then I am not as frustrated, upset, or disappointed. Because both kids now have jobs and were off of school on Wednesday-Friday for the Thanksgiving holiday, I just planned on doing all the cooking.  It was so much better than planning on their help and then being upset when they didn't want to eagerly participate. We had my parents over for dinner on Thanksgiving evening after both kids got off of work and enjoyed our time together. We made a big turkey and had all the traditional favorites of mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, spinach casserole, and seafoam salad. My mom made the stuffing and mashed potatoes and everything was delicious. We celebrated my dad's 75th birthday together after dinner over pumpkin pie!

Decorating the Front Yard

We decided to get a head start on our outside Christmas decorating for the front yard. The day started out with just Dainis and I with both kids busy at work so we joked we better get used to doing things alone as this is what it will be like when we are empty nesters! Jacob came over in the afternoon and he and Ingrid both helped, which we appreciated! We have two big inflatables, along with our Nativity scene, in the front yard representing Dainis's two passions. One is a pickup truck because he is currently restoring a 1956 Ford pickup and one is an airplane because aviation has always been a big part of his career. I jokingly said now that I am an author, we need to find a big inflatable book to represent me!

Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes

Even before adopting the kids almost eleven years ago, we participated in the Operation Christmas Child shoebox drive. The year before we adopted, my mom and I got overzealous and put together 50 boxes!  Since adopting the kids, this is a tradition we have carried on most years and our church participates in the program as a local drop-off location. We also try and participate most years in the angel tree program. We wanted to teach the kids compassion and the joy of giving from the beginning. We hope it is something they will carry on and continue when they have their own families one day. 

This year, I took Ingrid and her boyfriend, Jacob, shopping for our boxes. They picked out hygiene items, school supplies, and toys for both a boy and a girl ages 5-9. This was Jacob's first Operation Christmas Child event experience. I meant to take a picture of them shopping together but got so involved in helping with the gift selection that I forgot all about pictures. So instead, we just have pictures of the gifts they chose. We have a tracking number and can follow where our boxes go!

Juan The Pool Guy

Juan started helping my parents take care of their pool each week, and it has really built up their relationship. He has a shorter school day on Wednesday so he goes to their house in between high school and technical school every Wednesday afternoon. My dad has taught him how to check the pool chemicals and properly clean the pool. Juan is more willing to listen to advice from my parents than he is us at this time so we are grateful that they have invested in him and they have that relationship!

Special Date Night

 To celebrate the accomplishment of my book, Dainis took me to the Michael W. Smith concert. It was a three hour long concert of him singing all of his worship favorites. I generally pay all the bills so it was a great surprise for Dainis to pull this off. We enjoyed a nice dinner before the concert at the Tortilla Factory in Scottsdale. It has been a long time since we have been there, and it was a nice night!

Halloween 2021

 Everyone had different plans this Halloween. This was Homecoming weekend for Juan so he spent the weekend and Halloween at his best friend's house. Ingrid was away at a church retreat for 2 nights and then went and helped with a Trunk or Treat Event on Halloween night. She was not happy with us because we said 10:00 not midnight curfew since it was a school night but her plans changed anyways and she ended up back home at 9 pm! She looked very cute though! Our furry children also dressed up and helped us pass out candy to the neighbor kids! We sat outside and handed out lollipops. The key to Halloween candy is to not buy the kind you like so you aren't tempted to eat it!

Ingrid and West MEC

Ingrid now has the opportunity to work with real clients on Tuesday-Friday, since she is a second year hairstyling student and loves it!! If someone makes an appointment specifically with her, it is her customer. Otherwise, all the students take turns serving the customers that come into the West MEC salon based on their last name. When they are not serving customers, they continue to practice their skills on their manikin heads. This is one of Ingrid's first male hair cuts with a real customer. I love that the school gives the second year students this experience!

Juan and West MEC

Juan is doing very well in his first year of computer coding at West MEC. Although I, as Mom and Taxi driver, will be happy when Juan gets driver's license next spring and can drive himself to high school and tech school every day, I am so thankful that he has had this opportunity and is exceling at it! He was recently picked, along with a few other students, to re-design the school's website. He was super excited about this. We are really glad he is getting these opportunities!

Juan's Job

Juan started his first job at La Loma Village this past spring as a dishwasher. La Loma is an independent living community and located about ten minutes from our house. It was a great job for Juan because he could put in his air pods, do the job, not communicate with others, and just work hard. He has done very well there, and we are very proud of him! He was promoted to expeditor this summer and really enjoyed that position. The company just gave him another raise and is training him on some days now on how to cook and become a chef. I appreciate the life skills Juan has gained by being employed there. It goes so much farther than just a paycheck and has really helped his self confidence.

Time For Clients!

Ingrid loves hairstyling, and we are so proud of her for doing so well at West MEC. She has busy days, attending high school classes every morning, West MEC classes every afternoon, and working some evenings at Safeway! 

As a second year student,  West MEC hairstyling students become real hair stylists Tues-Fri from 1:15-5:30pm, by taking on paid clients. The salon is now open for business and all of the students are super excited to try out their skills! They offer all service from hair, color, chemical texturizing, to add on services.

The salon is located at the West MEC Southwest campus at 500 North Verado Way, Buckeye, AZ 85326. Their phone number to make an appointment is 623-872-6260. 

Ingrid's Last Homecoming

Ingrid and her boyfriend, Jacob, have been dating for over 1 1/2 years now. They just went to their Senior Homecoming dance at Desert Edge High School and had a good time. The kids all missed so much with the pandemic last year so I am glad it has worked out, so far, for some of the past activities to come back. The kids both drive so they came to our house to take pictures first and then went out to dinner and onto the dance. The dance was held outside at a park. Gone are the days where we take everyone to dinner, drop them off at the dance, and pick them back up at the designated time!

Grandparent's Day 2021

We had my parents over for Grandparent's Day and enjoyed dinner together. As the kids have gotten older and busier, it is often difficult to find a time that everyone is available with different work and school schedules! We didn't get the chance to celebrate on Grandparent's Day, but we were happy when it worked out to get together. Many times theses days, dinner nights with my parents are just Dainis and I. The kids aren't always super fond of pictures but cooperated.  

Smile...Picture Time

For those of you who are recipients of our annual Christmas pictures and letters, you know that every year I include a professional family photo. We started taking these annual pictures with the kids when we first arrived home from Colombia beginning in Summer 2011 and it just became tradition, like so many other things. I don't really know why I started the tradition of dressing everyone up every Fall for a traditional family photo because neither Dainis or I grew up in a family that did that every year. I think I wanted the kids to have that sense of family and belonging, and I was always trying to make up for lost time. By this point in time, the kids know when it is family photo time, they just have to smile and cooperate, and they did a good job! We use to treat them to lunch or dinner out if they cooperated and now they just know it is an expectation. What it really boils down to though is a lot of work and stress for Mom to buy and coordinate outfits and schedules, make the appointment, make sure everyone has a haircut, and wakes up in time. We all smile and for that moment everyone looks happy, although with teens you aren't ever quite sure what their true feelings are. I purposely scheduled this year's photo shoot on Labor Day because everyone was off school and work. By the time Labor Day rolled around, both kids were scheduled for work after the pictures! I am thankful for the cooperation to continue the tradition and have another successful Christmas picture complete.

A New Driver!

Juan passed his learner's permit test, and we went to the the DMV and received his official learner's permit this past week so we have another new driver in the house!  We will start working with Juan, practicing in parking lots, and he will attend driving school, like his sisters did. Dainis and I bought a Mitsubishi Eclipse convertible for our 20th wedding anniversary gift to each other and have enjoyed it on trips and date nights. Unfortunately, we have not used it as much as we anticipated, and we decided to sell it to Juan.  He has worked hard at his job at La Loma independent living since this spring and earned enough money to buy it from us.  Our agreement with our kids when they start driving is they have to have a job in order to pay half of their insurance and put a little bit of their paycheck in a car maintenance fund each time they are paid. Until they graduate, we pay for the kids' gas to and from school and work and the other half of their insurance.  We are really proud of Juan and his hard work at saving his money!

Gifts

 

My parents recently got home from a 45 day trip and showered us with souvenirs when they got home. They live nearby, and we are used to seeing them at least once a week so we were glad to have them home safely. We appreciated all the gifts they brought home to us but in light of my current book endeavor, this gift was my favorite! Thank you for your support!

 

Real Life Lessons

Ingrid saved up enough money from her part time jobs to buy her 2003 orange Volkswagon Beetle. It is the perfect car for her. Not only is it the perfect size, but the perfect color. It is orange, the same color as her high school! When our kids want to pursue their driver's license, they have to have enough money to pay for half of their six month insurance premium. We pay the other half and their gas for work and school. Unfortunately, Ingrid's air conditioner went out last week and the car dealer wanted $2200 to fix it. It is still hot and now humid here in AZ! Luckily she has a Dad that knows how to fix cars and was willing to do it for a lot less money! 

We Made It Through Week One!

We made it through week one of school! It will be a crazy year for both kids juggling high school, West-MEC and work but so far so good. 

Ingrid started her second year of hairstyling at West-MEC on Wednesday and was very excited to go back. She exceled in the program last year with straight A's and we were very proud of her! As a second year student, the classroom becomes an actual salon on Tuesday-Friday so she will start working with the general public during that time and start getting real experience.

Juan started his first year of coding at West-MEC also on Wednesday. The kids are at different campuses and at different times. I really hope he likes it and embraces it like Ingrid did with hairstyling. He can apply his West-MEC classes to credit at the community college and then transfer the credit to Northern Arizona University if he would like to.  If Juan works hard, coding could be a successful career for him after high school graduation. We are very excited he has this opportunity!

 

First Day Of School

It is hard to believe it is already the first day of school and summer is over! The time flew by this year with the kids working and so we kicked off another school year this morning!

Today was Ingrid's last first day of school as a senior at Desert Edge High School! She is very excited about the year, and we are all excited the kids are starting the school year at school and not in the the remote environment. As a senior and a second year hairstyling student at West-MEC technical school, she only has three required classes this year. Her classes include Financial Literacy, which we are very excited about, AZ Government and Economics, and English. She will be attending Desert Edge in the morning, West-MEC in the afternoon, and working some nights at Safeway. Luckily, she drives!

Juan is a junior at Canyon View High School and will be starting his first year at West-MEC in coding. Because he goes to West-MEC every afternoon, he has five rather than six classes. He will be busy at Canyon View all day and then goes to West-MEC after school and into the evening. He will only work on the weekends and holidays. We are very excited for him and hope he loves West-MEC as much as Ingrid does!

Juan's 17th Birthday!

It is hard to believe Juan is 17 already and time goes by so fast! He had a nice birthday, and we enjoyed a Mexican dinner out at Arribas, cookies, and presents. He worked during the day and he requested cookies this year rather than a cake. In years past, we have always had the tradition of the kids picking out a sugar cereal for their birthday morning breakfast. With a prior scheduled dentist appointment and work, breakfast was McDonald's sausage burritos and iced coffee! He kicks off his junior year of high school and his first year of technical school next week so we are excited for him, and the year he has ahead of him.

Ingrid and Juan's Jobs

Ingrid and Juan both have part time jobs, and we are very proud of them for working so hard. One of our family rules is before you are allowed to get your driver's license, you have to have a job and save up your half of six months of your insurance premium. We pay the other half of the premium for them. 

Ingrid's first job was doing laundry at a massage therapy place where she saved up enough for her insurance and her first used car. She then took on the position of a server at an assistive living home this past fall and up until this summer, did that job every Saturday and Sunday. She recently got a new job at a grocery store as a courtesy clerk in order to work more hours, and she likes it a lot. Once school starts in August, she can still work there in the evening and on the weekends. She will be very busy going to normal high school and technical school for her second year of hairstyling every day!

Juan got his first job this spring as a dishwasher at a senior  independent living home and is doing a great job! He was just promoted to an expediter position and continues to work hard. When school starts in August, he will be busy with normal school and his first year at technical school for coding but will continue to work on the weekend.

We are very proud of both of them and their work ethic!

Ingrid's 19th Birthday

It is hard to believe Ingrid is 19 now and we celebrated another birthday! She had the whole day off of work, which was nice. After breakfast, we opened up presents, went swimming, and then went and did a little shopping.  Ingrid celebrated her 19th birthday with a pool party with a few friends, in the evening, and had a nice time. 

My Birthday

I had a very nice birthday this year and thankful for both my family and friends! We celebrated with my parents ahead of time and then enjoyed dinner out and presents with Dainis, Ingrid, and Juan on my birthday. Ingrid and Juan both bought me gifts with their own money now that they are working, which I really appreciated! I received a nice text from Angie.