Fixing Up Juan's New Car

For our 20th wedding anniversary, we purchased a used Mitsbuschi Eclipse convertible. Now that it is time for Juan to start driving, rather than buying another used car that Dainis may have to do repairs on, we decided to sell him our convertible. It had a tan top and he decided he really wanted a black one. Dainis has replaced two other convertible tops and agreed to work with Juan to replace this one. He is still taking driving classes and practicing. We are hopeful he will have his license and Lori's uber days will be over in February!

Our Christmas Trip to Lake Havasu

One of the big benefits of working for Honeywell is the company shuts down the week after Christmas. Because of this, we have always planned a vacation with the kids since they are still off of school. Juan decided he did not want to go with us after we had everything planned, but Ingrid was super excited about the trip. We went to Lake Havasu for the first time this summer and were told that they decorate it nicely for Christmas. They did do a nice job and the downtown area by the water with all the shops and restaurants were all decorated with Christmas lights. At night, they played Christmas music and even had a snow machine. We spent a day visiting Oatman and fed the donkeys that were roaming the streets of downtown. It was quite cold and felt like winter. We really enjoyed walking along the water on the paved pathways every day. Without the dogs and the kids' school schedule, it was a nice change to sleep in every morning! We stayed at a resort that is located right on the water called The London Bridge Resort. 

When we were first married and working for Northwest Airlines, we attended a timeshare presentation one night in exchange for a free dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant. We lived in MN at the time and the timeshare was for Breezy Point, MN. We must be a sucker for time-share presentations because we now own several! It has worked out great though. For our first four years of marriage before my stroke, we enjoyed both domestic and international travel with our travel benefits. After we adopted the kids, having a timeshare really afforded us some great vacation opportunities. We always stay in 2 bedrooms / 2 bathrooms with a family room and kitchen. With COVID, we have still been able to travel to some of our favorite destinations and felt safe doing so. My parents joined us on this vacation. We had a 2 bedroom unit and they had a 1 bedroom unit next to us. We will enjoy Lake Havasu again in May with Ingrid and a few of her friends after her high school and West MEC technical school graduations, as we celebrate her achievements before she starts working full time.

    

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!