CHURCH SHOWERS

When I got married back in 1983, the ladies of my church gave me a church shower.  They put together this silly skit, had a little devotion, a great little lunch and blessed me with lot of helpful household items.  Twenty-three years later, history repeats itself.  Yep, there was a ridiculous skit, a meaningful devotional, a spectacular dessert!, and a shower of things that Lindsay and Bjork need to set up their house.  It was so much fun!  I came away feeling so honored to be a part of such a great church family.  My friends (who put the shower together) are so creative and thoughtful.  I feel blessed to have such a great support group.  The skit, of course, was a highlight.  It was a snippet of Lindsay's life as she grew up...  The details were a little off, but the acting was superb!  As far as I could tell, everyone had a great time!!!  :) 

LOTS OF ACTIVITY

Spring and Fall are always busy as we prepare for the season ahead.  The last few weeks have been filled with so many things.  The end of the school year is just around the corner so there are concerts, track meets, yard work...  We all do it...and I think (especially in Minnesota) we love it.  I, personally love this time of year.  I think that May is my favorite month of the year.  Everything starts to bloom...we have lots of jobs to finish... and to start... AND we have 4 months of WARM weather to look forward to.  I thought I would post a few pictures of what things we have been up to these last few weeks (including a Mothers' Day picture of my mom and me).  All the activity and the long "to do" list...isn't it fun???

WELCOME HOME, KRISTIN!

Kristin came home on Friday night!  Hard to believe that she left back in January, but it is true.  Our welcoming committee met her at the airport and went to and we all went to Don Pablos to celebrate her homecoming!  She made a 17 minute video to capture all of her travels and it is great!  I know how hard it is to try to explain a trip without going on and on, so this was a special treat.  I am looking for the long version and ALL the pictures, but it was really exciting to get a glimpse of all the places she visited.

Time is a weird thing, isn't it?  I tried not to think about how long 4 months would be when Kristin left.  If I thought too much about it...it seemed so overwhelming, and depressing!   Now that she is back, it seems like it all went so fast.    I remember thinking that when she gets home... the wedding would be the next big event!  Whoa!  June 6, here we come!  Anyway, it is so great to have Kristin back!   We all have some adjusting to do, but I am confident that we will all settle back into another "new" normal.  It's all good and life continues...  GLAD TO HAVE YOU BACK, MISSY!!

No, I don't have any pictures for Kristin's homecoming.  Know that she will be seen in many pictures in the next few weeks.  Pretty exciting for me!!

MILESTONES AND COUNT DOWNS

1. OUR FILIPINO CHILDREN ARRIVED JUST SIX MONTH AGO!

2. KRISTIN IS COMING HOME IN ONE WEEK!

3. LINDSAY AND BJORK WILL BE MARRIED IN ONE MONTH!

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1. I CANNOT BELIEVE... that our kids have been here for half of one year!  I remember vividly being at the six-week mark.  Right now it seems more like 2 or 3 months.  Time flies when you are having fun, I guess!

People ask me all the time how things are going with our new family.  I never really know what to say.  Sometimes it feels like people expect me to launch into this long dialog about how hard it is-confirming their expectations.   The thing is, I have their attention for about 1  minute and how do I really explain about our life in that amount of time?  I could spend all day just talking about the transition for ONE of our kids, let alone all three.  It wouldn't be fair to give them the long version anyway. Mostly, people are curious and genuinely interested.     Others smile and fully expect a smile in return with a hearty "GREAT!".  I appreciate their confidence in how things appear to be going.  The truth is...the answer is somewhere in between.

Of course, it is difficult.  You can't expect to transplant three people from one culture to another OR...one family into another and not have some rough spots.  It would be unrealistic.  We knew that going into this.  We have all been learning about each other this last six months.  We are learning about each other's personalities, our strengths, weakness and even our annoying habits.  (We all have them!)  One of the biggest things we are still working on is how to READ each other.  The other night, at the dinner I was joking about getting in trouble with Allen for something.  He told me that I wouldn't have computer privileges for a week and that I was grounded from seeing my friends.  (This was all communicated with a wink and a nod.  He certainly didn't show any anger.)  At any rate, later that evening Romeo asked which friends I would I not be able to see...  He really thought that I was in trouble and he felt kind of bad for me!  It was really quite sweet.  All of that is to say...that we still need to be very careful in how we communicate our thoughts to each other.  The opposite has been true when our kids have tried to joke about something and we didn't really get it.  Maybe some of it is cultural, but I guess we need to keep working for good communication.   

One thing that I want to mention is a change in my own feelings.  I believe that love is a choice and/or a decision.  Sometimes that is the hard part about loving someone unconditionally.  I have had lots of opportunities to exercise this kind of love in the last few months...with each member in my family.  This will be a life-long process for me because it goes against my own self-centeredness.  It is hard to love when you don't feel like it!  But I believe with all my heart that this is what God asks of me every day.    On the flipside, love is indeed a feeling.  Like most adoptive moms, I have wondered if I would love (the feeling) my adopted children to the same extent as my biological children.  I still don't know the answer to that.  I may never love them exactly the same way, but I also don't have the 16-23 years of history that I have with Lindsay, Kristin and Steph.   Having said that, I am experiencing those feelings of love more and more for my youngest kids.  I don't know if I can explain it, but I can FEEL it in my soul.  I think about them when they are gone.  I get frustrated when they are home.  I love to be close to them.  I worry about them.  I am so proud of them and I get hurt by them.  Those things only scratch the surface of what I feel..but it definitely something that is growing in my heart day by day...and I think it is good.  I know it is good.

Back to the original question.  That was a long answer to..."After six months, how goes it?"  It is challenging.  To blend a  family is complicated.  The dynamics change.  Our concept of "family" has been redefined.  We have our "moments" and it is very tiring.  BUT, overall it is going so well.  Roselyn, Romeo and Rodrigo are very bright and capable.  We see so much potential in all of them.  They all seem to be connecting with the "old Mork family" and in their new environment.  They seem to be HAPPY and secure.   We still have a long journey ahead of us...but really...so far, so good!  For those of you who have asked, thanks for your interest!

2. KRISTIN IS COMING home next Friday.  We are all so excited to have her back in Minnesota!  She adds a different dynamic to our family and we have all been missing her.  It will be great to include her in the rest of the wedding festivities!

3. THE WEDDING IS...one month away!!!  There are lots of things to do and "crunch time" is upon us, but I can honestly say that I haven't felt too panicky about anything.  Maybe I should?? I think that perhaps it is because Lindsay and Bjork are so organized.   They have helped to make this experience a lot of fun!  The next month is going to fly by, but I am looking forward to all the celebrating. 

A WILD WEEKEND!

Last weekend was a busy one!  The big event was the annual Children's Shelter of Cebu Fundraising Banquet and Adoptive Family Gathering.  People come from all over the country for this event and it is a great time to connect or reconnect with others who love the ministry at CSC.  Our kids reconnected with a number of friends (and even relatives) that they had not seen since moving to the US.  It was an exciting reunion for all of them.  I could only imagine what they must have been thinking.  

On Friday night, the adoptive families met at a hotel to basically "hang out".  It was a bit crazy as about 150 gathered by the pool to catch up.  The pool itself was full of kids and parents and there was a lot of noise as well.  The highlight for me was to chat with a family in Wisconsin who have adopted the three kids who are related to Roselyn, Romeo and Rodrigo.  It was fun to share stories and compare notes with them.  Their children arrived just a few months before ours.  It was also fun to see how much the kids looked, sounded and even acted like ours.  We hope to connect again sometime this summer.  We think it is important.

The banquet was on Saturday night.  I believe that there were about 850 people in attendance!  One of Roselyn's best friends from CSC gave a talk about her life and how God has touched her through the people and work at CSC.  She also played an original composition on the violin in honor of the day she and her siblings were told that a family was waiting for them.  It was very touching.  

I felt a little sad when we had to go.  Some of the kids that were at the banquet live a long way from Minnesota.  It will probably be a long time until they are back in our part of the country.  Those relationships were so important during a very uncertain time in our kids' life.   There is a history and a bond there that we will probably never really understand.    Now, we are all in the middle of a new chapter with a new family and new friends.  Even so, I hope that they will always stay connected in one way or another.  

Our kids had a great time, but it also seemed like they were content to get into the car and come HOME to Cambridge.  In spite of all the changes and all the uncertainty that has occurred in the life of our kids, I do feel like they are happy and feel secure with our family.  I am very thankful for that.  I am also very thankful for the people at CSC who cared for Roselyn, Romeo and Rodrigo for three years of their life.  They gave them the love and support that they needed in a very difficult time of their life. CSC is an AWESOME place.