Intrusive Questions

Still.

Un-freaking-believable.

I get the intrusive questions.

You think I would have this all figured out.

Or at least be able to field the questions with tact. And love.
To be the adoption ambassador. Or something like that.

Nuh-uh. No sirree. Not me.

Today, at kindergarten-preschool pickup... a person who volunteers regularly in one of the classes called out to me as I was talking to and carrying Sam out of the preschool classroom upside-down, "Are Sammy and David biological brothers?"

I stopped. And paused.

Because... are you effing kidding me?

And it's not a secret, and most of the people we know at the school know they are not.

I have had conversations with this woman about the fact that they were from different parts of China. I guess I shouldn't expect anyone to remember the deets about our kids. She has talked with me about the fact that my son talks JUST like a girl adopted from China did last year ~ she has no cleft... was adopted as an infant I think... I don't really care but they are both Chinese and adopted. Several conversations that left me bristling a bit. Too personal.

So I didn't know how to answer politely. Because there were parents all around. And it just felt...

INTRUSIVE.

And inappropriate.

And why-the-hell-does-she-need-or-want-to-know????

And then I said to her, "No." and walked away to the car shaking my head. Still carrying Sammy upside down.

I got home and there was a missed call from the school.

My new response when I start to feel like someone is invading my sons' personal information is this, "Why do you ask?"

I just looked that up. I googled "how to handle intrusive adoption questions" and here were over 4 million results for that question. I am not good at this because when I am ticked off I can, well, sound ticked off.

So to the people at the grocery store who ask if they are twins (we get that ALL the time sometimes multiple times on a shopping trip), "Why do you ask?"

And to the people who ask where are they from, "Why do you ask?"

And to the people who ask how well they understand English, "Why do you ask?"

And to the people who ask how long have we had them, or when did we adopt them, or were they adopted together, or how much did they cost, or anything else, "Why do you ask?"

Because if you don't have a need to know, then you don't need to know.

And I guess this Mama still needs to be on guard for the sake of the munchkins. Protect their stories. That's my job as the Mama Bear. I gotta get better at this someday.

(((hugs))),
chris

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
        Colossians 3:17

Hawaii Pictures

Aaaah... we made it!
The ocean is actually not tilted ~ the photographer is :)

Chickens are everywhere on Kauai, even on the beach :)

On our anniversary we found the place we got married :)
The Kukui Heiau is registered as a Hawaiian historic site

10th anniversary date night

We hiked on the Napali coast... AWESOME!!!

Jason in a bamboo tree

The little man nearest the 300-foot waterfall is Jason...
He and the other little man talked smack trying to see who would go under the waterfall first.
Jason won!

Um... I don't know who this is. Too blurry...

We went to a luau. This was my favorite part ;-)

sunrise over the Pacific

The ziplines were soooo fun!
This move is called the "starfish".
I look like a starfish, don't ya think?

The last zipline dropped us into a pond.
This is Jason doing his "spin move"

We hiked in the Waimea Canyon.
Which is as breathtaking as the Grand Canyon.
Seriously.

Waimea Canyon ~ See what I mean?

This spot averages more than 452 inches of rain a year...

The cop hanging with Smoky Bear

our selfie at a waterfall we hiked to in the Waimea Canyon

Aaaah we couldn't get enough of the sunrises

Where we bought our marriage license 10 years ago ~
the Pono Fish Market.
Yep we bought our marriage license right over the sushi case.

Chickens everywhere

Chris in the coffee trees...

Chris in the sugar cane

Hanging loose with
um
the hang loose guy.

Totally buzzed out of my ever lovin' mind at the coffee tasting.
I highly recommend coffee tastings :)

Our last sunset on the beach before heading to the airport

The end!

(((hugs))),

chris

The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life. The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever.

           Psalm 121:7-8 

Happy 10 years to us!

This is us 10 years ago today a week ago at our wedding in Hawaii:

(couldn't post this last week due to technical difficulties :)

We look EXACTLY the same, no? Here's us up close 10 years ago:

Ya I think we look older now too :)

We found the place we were married ~ the Kukui Heiau
We visited it on our anniversary :)

Looking through these pictures from when we were married in Hawaii 10 years ago, and thinking of the road God has lead us on over the past 10 years I am blown away in awe of Him. It has been tough (at times, really tough) but it has been a beautiful life that Jason and I have had. We are so grateful, so very thankful, and we give God all the credit.

Here we are today:

sunset dinner on our anniversary
yes I am wearing my wedding dress :)

Here's to a beautiful next 10 years with the love of my lifetime!!!

(((hugs))),
chris

1 Corinthians 13

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues,they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

We have a 4 year old in the house!

We had a BIRTHDAY in our house this week!

Sammy turned 4!

Here he is in all his fabulousness!

King Rock Star SpiderMan the birthday boy

We had a birthday party for Sammy at Chuck E Cheese...
Here comes Chuck E...

Sammy had no part of Chuck E... he scootched over into David's lap

Then he clung to Mama until Chuck E was long gone
Some friends helped blow out the candles on his cake :)

King Sam enjoying his cake

Happy 4th Birthday, you sweet boy!
We love you!!!

(((hugs))),
chris

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!

      His faithful love endures forever.

                               ~Psalm 107:1

The 500-year Flood

So it has been raining here in Colorado.
Raining
     and raining
          and raining
               and raining.
Since Monday.

Actually that's not true because it stopped yesterday and we actually saw the sun for a while, and then the clouds moved back in. But no rain overnight. And not this morning.
Praising God!
Because the flood waters were able to recede a bit.
And that is good.
Especially when you have this going on all around you.

And this:

neighborhood on the south end of our town
Water you see in these pictures is all moving water

fields closer to D&S's school

farmer cleaning up random debris that washed down onto his property
Debris is EVERYWHERE ~ huge trees and branches, roads, gravel, pieces of buildings...

road near D&S's school

this huge dumpster was floating down the "river"
that was now in the middle of this neighborhood

National Guard did air evacs all day yesterday for the people
isolated & stranded in various mountain towns.
We heard them fly over our house all day.

National Guard brought in many huge high-clearance type vehicles to evacuate people
from the town of Lyons 5 miles west of us ~ they had no power, gas, or water for two days and still don't.
More people from that town will be evacuated today.

bus convoy taking people from the Nat'l Guard vehicles east to our church
which is being used as an evacuation center

roads all over the place are washed away
Jason had a better pic of a washed away road but I can't access his phone pics now

I stole borrowed these pics from all over the internet. So if one of these is your picture, thank you :)

Our house is fine. We don't even have water in the window wells. We are blessed. Thanks God :) So if we stay at home we should be just fine.

Jason and all the other emergency personnel have been working around the clock. Jas didn't make it home on Thursday night, but did come home last night (because those waters receded quite a bit and he has the cool flashy lights on his car that helped him drive north to get home :). So our family (and all those other families with loved ones who are first responders) can count on long hours and days for a while.

Weather people are predicting more rain in our forecast. Starting maybe later today, and the latest information is that it will peak tomorrow morning and could be quite a deluge.

We took a trip to Walmart today. Yep, to stock up on a couple things just in case we are stuck in the house for days. The streets were freakishly empty, and the store was barely staffed but was open. And if the weather forecast is wrong, and we are not housebound for days, we will still use all the groceries. So I figure it's ok. We drove by our church on the way and saw the school bus convoy lined up and ready to go for more evacuations today.

Praising God for His provision, for his community of believers who are stepping out and assisting wherever needed, and asking His blessing and protection for all our first responders including the National Guard, the swift-water-rescue people (who are in from all over the state), the police officers, the firefighters, the utility workers keeping our power, gas, and water on, FEMA workers and other command-post people, and for all the other people working in the middle of our situation, including the retail workers, school bus drivers transporting the evacuated people, postal service who has been delivering our mail every day, and all the volunteers working to keep things in order and to keep us safe.

(((hugs))),
chris

God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. Psalm 46:1

The 2013 Garden

I love gardening ~ if I had my choice, I would be out in the garden every day. This year, that did not happen :) but the garden still grew well in spite of my inattention.

Outside our front door we have herbs:

Move your foot, Jason!

Out of the way, Jason!!!

That's better :)

The veggie garden... aaaahhhhh

The gate to Mama's therapy room paradise...

I look up on my way in and see our pears.

We will have a bumper crop of pears this year (no apples though).

Lots of falling over plants this year ~

(mental note, next year don't use pansy-ish thin string to tie up the plants)

See Sammy in his pj's grazing on the raspberries?

And ~ oops this isn't our garden.

Random picture of SWAT-police-officer-catching-a-bad-guy.

Pretend you didn't see that, OK?

Jason's grapes (planted this year) are growing well :)

Aaaah my little bit o' paradise

I hope you enjoyed the tour!

(((hugs))),

chris

God’s way is perfect. All the Lord’s promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection. Psalm 18:30