Mountain Biking in Park City

Fun with Friends

One of the greatest things that has happened since we adopted our new boys has been the huge treasure chest of new friends that we have met and been able to bond with and learn from in this adventure. The great thing about these new friends is that they truly understand what we are going through and don't give us any of the common "I told you this would happen if you adopted" or "I tried to warn you or it serves you right" kind of feeling that is really not helpful. We love all of our friends but let me tell you about some of our new adoption friends.

In the past few months, we went through Ukraine with the Dean and Sonya Corbett and if that refining fire doesn't seal the deal to a life-long friendship, I can't imagine what could. They are amazing people who have increased their family by 200% and are still alive to tell about it. Sonya is an amazing Mom who is still down to Earth enough that I feel that I can confess my mistakes and frustrations to her and she won't turn me into the police. We are looking forward to spending time with them over UEA weekend and having a little East bank orphanage reunion.

I have laughted my head off and had quite the ab workout listening to Wendy Richhart and the Sonnenbergs. Wendy is a true actress/entertainer who has a way to make the most normal of people, places or things, the funniest thing you have ever heard of. She also has a heart of gold and her advice always works amazing wonders. I guess that Heavenly Father knew that we would have to laugh to make it through this eventful year.

Nanette is an old friend (duration old--not chronilogically old) and we had a fun time going to the temple last week. My kids know how much I can talk to Nanette and there is a family joke that when someone is talking for a long time and someone else wishes they would stop, they start the "Mom and Nanette Garrett" comments.

I have had some good heartfelt talks with Arri Rogers who not only was our team leader when we hosted, but she also hosted our son Vitaly for most of the hosting period. She is a wonderful friend. I love the advice that I get from what I call "the support group luncheons." I wish that I had a week straight to talk to Jen Benson, Carlin Keller and Lori Lawrence. They are amazing and even though I have only known them a little while, I am so impressed.

Then last but not least, I really admire Amy Rast. She is an amazing girl!! You can pretty much name any good quality that a person could possess and Amy is a poster child for that quality. On my birthday she invited us to go mountain biking with her, Jeff, Mary, and her friend. We had an absolute blast. If you are going to ride a bike down a mountain, Amy is the one to have watching out for you :)

I truly feel blessed that we not only have 2 sweet little new sons but we have been blessed with really good, exceptional people who are our friends in the adventure. Adoption would be a difficult road to travel alone and I am grateful for those who have made it a little less rocky and a lot more fun :)

Happy Patriot's Day

My patriotism has really been ignited this year. As we spent so much time in Ukraine, our eyes were opened as to how blessed we are to be Americans. Since the 9-11 attacks nine years ago, Dave and I have traveled to over 30 other countries and we have not seen the same greatness anywhere that we have all around us in the US. Although our country is not perfect, there is Love for others, good will and honest-to-goodness good hearted service here like nowhere else we have ever been.
The day after the 9-11 attacks I wrote a song and had my good friend Angela Winston record it. It is called Love Will Always Prevail. This year this song means even more to me. When bad things happen to us, the only real way to heal is to fill our hearts with as much love as we can and so there is no room for the bad stuff. When we use our pain to help others, it fades faster and as promised, love will always prevail.
Here is a link to a free download of the song if anyone wants to hear it.

http://www.heartrisemusic.com/Downloads/Music/Winston-Prevail.mp3

Happy Patriot’s Day

Happy Birthday Holly and Heather

I woke up this morning thinking of my sweet girls who are both 23 today. Words to a poem kept coming into my mind that I will post below. It may sound like it is just one child that I am writing about but that is because our sweet girls do so many things just alike. They are not both expecting however, just Heather :) They have been such a source of joy in our life, from the sweet little faces they made as toddlers to the sweet Mommies they are to their own toddlers. It has all happened so quickly and we are so proud and full of joy because of Holly and Heather. Happy birthday Girls!!


It seems it was your wedding, only yesterday
But now your baby’s one and there’s another on the way.
Just the day before, with ambition in your eyes
You were the youngest graduates of BYU-I
And the day before that I remember it was rough
As we watched you in your room, packing up your stuff.
And weren’t you barely waving on another parade route
People are amazed at your beauty, inside and out.
And just the day before you were thinking life was cool
With your missing 2 front teeth, you were heading off to school
And the day before that, you were learning how to talk
And at only 7 months, you were learning how to walk.
Just the day before, you were finally, finally here
It’s been 23 years, but the memory’s so clear.
In all my nice laid plans, to make your childhood last
The ladies told the truth, it all goes by too fast.
I’m glad for all the hugs and the kisses on the cheek
‘Cause it seems this time rushed by in the matter of a week.
Thank goodness for the knowledge that our sweet girls will be
Our treasured daughters for all eternity.
A tiny little lifetime simply will not do
For we have only just begun to know the joy of YOU.

It's working!

One of my big fears after we got home with the new boys was their absence of the desire to pitch in and work. I wasn't sure if they were just afraid or had envisioned that they would be free from work in America. We have had a lifetime to teach our children the importance of work and how it is the basis for a provident life, but this ethic was kinda missing in our new sons, especially Vitaly. It is not like we went all the way to Ukraine and adopted children to have more help around the house but I was a little concerned that we would need to start beefing up our retirement to be able to support 2 more adults who would grow old with us and refuse to ever get a job :)

Well things are looking up. The other day we planted a new tree and I told Vitaly that it was his tree. I mentioned that we would need to water it often so that it could get a good start. I didn't assign him the job, but one morning he took the hose, all by himself, with no prompting whatsoever, and watered not only his tree, but the other baby trees as well. It was so monumental, I took a picture and will post it after this post. Yesterday Spencer and Scott and I went out to the garden to harvest our little patch of pototoes (which only took about 20 minutes.) During the process of me shoveling dirt and the boys searching for potatoes (like a treasure hunt) Spencer kept saying, "I love this work." "This is good home work, Mom" "I can like this work." etc. These little breakthroughs make my day.

Baptism Day

Today was an amazing day. After starting out like a not so great day (Being awakened too early, a broken lawn mower, clogged sink, a Roast that didn't cook right and the stress that comes when things don't come together smoothly,) we had the opportunity to experience beautiful baptisms of Vitaly and Spencer. The program went well. The talks by our married children (Heather and Joe and Holly and Brian) and musical numbers by Devin, Daniel and Alisa) were great and of course the baptism was the best part. As soon as the boys got out of the water, they said they wanted to do it again.

We celebrated with friends with a dinner after and were so happy to have Mark and Danielle and family and Grandma Hinkson (who came on her birthday) and Vern, Nanette, Andrew, and Emily Garrett and Arri Rogers come from hours away to spend this time with us and congratulate the boys on their big day. It was a special day that we all will hopefully remember for many years.

New Blog

Today is the first day that all of our children have gone to school with the exception of Grandma Day. We have kids in 4 different schools and so with everyone starting on different days and Scotty feeling sick it took everyone awhile to all go on the same day. So this is my first day all alone. I would usually feel a little sad and reflective but mostly I feel relieved and kind of on the verge of jumping up and down. Good thing we live in the country so not too many people will hear me if I run around the yard singing and doing ballet jumps. It is just so good to have everyone busy learning and doing constructive things that I am not having to dream up. There won't be any tattling, fighting, messing or even talking until 2:30 WHEW!

I started a new blog so that families can help each other through the adjustments that follow adoption. It is a little overwhelming to see all the things that need to be done and taught when you bring a new member into your family. Yesterday I got to eat lunch with some of the coolest Moms on the earth and they gave me a lot of hope that the issues we are facing are not going to last forever. That is what I needed to hear and I would love for anyone to comment on the blog if you are going through these issues or if you have good ideas for solving the problems we face. Those who are following, and those who will be in the future will be forever grateful. The blog is not a chronological blog and if you click on the topic (problem) you can share your feelings on the topics. Feel free to share advice or vent about what you are experiencing. The address of the blog is:

Postadoptionadjustments.blogspot.com

Hopefully we can ease the shock of the post adoption adjustments.

Time to go jump up and down.
Christy