10 years

Had you asked me on October 9, 1999 whether I could ever love a man more than I loved Danny at that moment, my answer most certainly would have been NO. But I could not then appreciate what a wonderful husband Danny would be. I didn't know what it would be like to know and be known so well that we would be able to anticipate each others' thoughts and actions. I had no concept of how much more lovable a man would be after watching him love my children with a ferocity matched only by their mother. I didn't know grey hair would be so sexy. I didn't anticipate that maturity would be immeasurably more attractive than goofiness. I just didn't know how good marriage could be. Or how great a catch Danny really was. By God's grace and Dan's diligence I truly love him more today than I did on that amazingly fun Seattle October day. And I pray that the love we share today will pale in comparison to the love we'll enjoy in the decades to come. I am so grateful that Danny said "I do," and even more grateful that he had "done" more for me in these past 10 years than I could have ever hoped for.

If ever your patriotism tank starts running low...

go to an air show!

Danny's been doing a great job lately of planning fun family outings - usually something he's wanted to do but needed the kids for an excuse. Whatever the motivation, we've all had a good time! This week was a trip south for the military air show at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. Through some connections I still don't fully understand, we got to sit with the families of the Blue Angels and had a front row center view of everything. I don't think our kids fully appreciated the privilege, but Danny and I certainly did. They were impressed by the loud jets (and grateful for the ear protection), paratroopers, tanks and helicopters, and especially excited about getting to climb up on them. I was impressed by the excellence of execution and the technology, but was also struck by the sense of pride among the military personnel and their kind respect towards all of their giddy, and probably overwhelming, guests. I also became convinced that it most certainly must have been young men that thought up most of the maneuvers. No woman or mature male in their right mind would have considered attempting any of them!

(that's two planes people!)

(Alyssa in a goofy moment)

(Parker listening intently to instructions about how to fire this Marine's weapon)

Daddy's boy

My dad didn't have a boy. Raised as the youngest in a family of sisters, and blessed with only two daughters, he is certainly not afraid to wear pink. But he is a masculine man with masculine interests. He had no other male in the family with whom to share his love of sports, so I became Daddy's little boy. I wouldn't characterize myself as a tom boy at all, but my dad succeeded in instilling me with a great appreciation for sporting events. Somewhere in a box in the garage are scorecards from the multitude of Seattle Mariner games we attended together. My mom and sister enjoyed the food and the chatting more than the action, but I meticulously recorded each and every out. Me and Dave Valle... fast friends.
When the Kingdome wasn't buzzing, my dad and I cheered on the Everett Aquasox AAA baseball team, the Seattle Supersonics, and most every sport played by a University of Washington Husky: women's basketball, men's basketball, women's volleyball, and my favorite, men's football.
The latter developed into a love for all college football. Danny routinely brags about the days he'll come home to find our Tivo filled with random games I've watched and saved for him to enjoy. As long as it's a good game, I can be entertained by any team from Purdue to Fresno State. My parents' birthday present to Danny then was every bit as fun for me as it was for him: tickets to the USC game. And not just any tickets, but 5th row, 35 yard line. Definitely a step up in my book from last year's gift!

I still carry some devotion to my UW Huskies, so this is the hat I had hoped to wear:

But last week's huge upset of USC, coupled with the fact that their opponent this Saturday was UW's biggest cross-state rival led me to choose this one instead:

Danny thought it might be the better option if I hoped to avoid being mugged. Either way, we had a wonderful time, the home team won, and Danny's entrance into his mid-thirties was significantly eased.

Fuzz

So I have a number of oddities. Just ask Danny, I'm sure he could give you a long list of things that are weird about his wife. But perhaps the peeve he enjoys torturing me about most is my utter abhorrence of peach fuzz. Love the flavor of peaches... hate (yes, I'm using the word hate) the fuzz. Just thinking about that strange, almost velvety covering makes goosebumps run up and down my arms. If I actually touch it (or rather, if those who claim to love me succeed in rubbing it against my skin), the goosebumps make their way up my neck and down my legs. Think fingernails down a chalkboard times 100. As is clear from the photos of a recent trip to a peach orchard, my children have not inherited my fear and happily chow down on all things peachy-flavored. But the God who created peach fuzz and my peculiar phobia also graciously created nectarines. Praise God for nectarines!

Another world

In 5th grade, Danny prepared his state report on the great state of Alaska. That little gem still occupies a spot in his sentimental box in Parker's closet, and the state has ever since occupied a place in Danny's imagination. Our upcoming 10th wedding anniversary provided an excuse to visit the land of his dreams, and I can't say that I was an unwilling participant. Thanks to a great deal on cruise travel and two sets of very willing grandparent babysitters, we thoroughly enjoyed a week away in a very beautiful, very different part of the country.

I'd visited Alaska as a little girl, but had not remembered just how remote the place is. The land is so rugged, so steep, that the population is confined to a few very narrow valleys, surrounded by impenetrable mountain ranges. Much of it is accessible only by boat or plane, and so few people live there that many towns don't even have a doctor. The tourists outnumbered residents 8 to 1 at two of our stops. Some still live without electricity, high-speed internet (gasp!), running water, or more than a very occasional glimpse of sunshine. I grew up in Seattle so I know wet and miserable, but Alaskans take it to a whole new level. As you might guess from the photos, we left the sun behind in California, but to us rain is a novelty so we didn't mind a bit. My only regret is that the fog made it even more difficult to capture just how vast and breathtaking the landscape really is (or at least I'll blame it on the fog - couldn't have been the photographer). Everything is just so big, but with nothing around to compare it to, all perspective is lost. We were fortunate to see a bear (that little black speck in the stream, second to bottom photo), salmon spawning, whales (or at least Danny did... I might have seen them too had I been willing to set aside my books in favor of exercise... apparently there were great views from the gym), and a couple of bald eagles. We saw glaciers, fjords, waterfalls, icebergs, and very charming towns. The boat wasn't bad either! We made a few friends among the retirees (we were most definitely the young 'uns, making it very easy to feel sexy on formal night!), ate well and often, and just as I had hoped... slept! All in all a wonderful trip, and already probably more than you wanted to know. Home is great though too, and I'm thrilled to be back with my babies. They didn't seem to miss us a bit, but a week without them is long enough.

Zzzz....

Were you to ask my kids, husband, parents, sister, best friends – anyone who knows me well or has lived with me – about my favorite pastime, the answer would unanimously be… SLEEPING! I’d like to think that none would simultaneously characterize me as lazy, but sleep is indeed a cherished friend.

Even as a child I was a sleeper. My mom has often recounted her panicked conversations with my pediatrician about this baby who just slept and slept and slept. He wisely counseled her to just be grateful, and in 30+ years my sleepiness has not worn off. As a teen I remember routinely dozing until noon on Saturdays, and am still haunted by memories of being roused long before dawn on those dark, dreary Seattle school days. Torture I say. Pure torture. In college I embraced the night life in the dorms (wild as it was at my beloved conservative Christian school). But most every afternoon I made up for my night-owl ways with a cat nap. Fast-forwards to the months in which I was anticipating motherhood: the secretary at my accounting firm used to send me into an empty office for 15-minute power naps. I guess I looked like I needed it!

My mom worried that my sound sleeping habits would prevent me from being able to hear and care for my new baby girl in the night. Fortunately for me, God blessed me with a child that sleeps as well as I do, so those midnight rousings only lasted for a couple of weeks. And it really is quite remarkable how well I do hear the cries of my own needy children when I truly hear nothing else. Even now, seven years and two more kids later, I still occasionally follow the new-mom advice: sleep when they sleep. I'd pick a power nap over a daytime drama anytime!
The only other being that can disturb my sleep is the one I share a bed with. While perfectly adorable and an otherwise fabulous husband, Danny is the master of bed stealing and cover snatching. He is actually able to get the sheets wrapped completely around his body, leaving me with the option of either waking up entirely to unroll his 6’0” frame, or sleeping coverless. Even the advent of the sleep-number bed has not completely solved the “get off my side!” problem. The man has to roll uphill to steal my half… and he does!

So what do you think is one of the highlights of my anticipation of our vacation next week? Ding, ding, ding! You got it! Sleep. And not just any sleep, but uninterrupted, solitary sleep in my very own bed. We’re going on a cruise to Alaska to celebrate our 10th anniversary - our first ever big trip without the kids except for the few days in Vietnam before we picked up Reagan - and our perfectly dark inside cabin comes equipped with two beds! I’m fully aware that they can be squeezed together to make one queen-ish sized surface, but am very much looking forward to my very own space. Danny’s on board with this idea and knows that I won’t neglect the romance of the moment altogether. We’ll cuddle…etc… but then when it’s time to sleep, I will retreat to my own little sleeping cocoon! What could be better?!

Smoke gets in your eyes

By God's grace our home is relatively far from the fires currently devastating Southern California. But that doesn't mean that the smoke hasn't settled like a thick grey blanket over it, and everything else around here. The hauntingly beautiful pyrocumulus cloud we saw on Sunday has spread out to rain down ash and obviously unhealthful air. Most of the time, the sun casts the kind of yellowish glow you might typically enjoy only at sunset. Yesterday the sun was actually red, with no visible rays. Our inconvenience is truly minor, but it is a great reminder of just how easily the things of this world will slip away, and what a joy and privilege it is to store up treasure in heaven!

Happy Blogiversary to me!

Not such a big event I guess since even I missed it! Friday marked three years of my ramblings here, and this coincidentally is my 365th post. Given the infrequency of my posting of late, one must conclude that I was a much more faithful blogger at one point in my career to still maintain a once-every-three-days average. Blogging is for me a fun way to document the events we enjoy as a family and my occassional thoughts on life, God, adoption, and other random bits that occupy my brain. When I slow down long enough to have deep thoughts, you get those. When life is crazy busy, you mostly get mediocre photos. As you can see, this is one of those latter stages! Thanks for sticking around these three years, and please don't give up on me yet!

Play ball!

What happens when you attend a "A" baseball game on a Sunday night in a distant suburb?

a. you get your choice of prime seats

b. your daughter gets to be the winner (a.k.a. sole participant) of the "spelling bee."

c. your son gets run the bases in a one-on-one race with the mascot

d. your entire family enjoys the small-town stadium, beautiful weather and great company

e. all of the above

Toothless

Last summer an incident between our active boy and the bunk bed ladder resulted in this gross photo. The affected tooth almost miraculously held on, though Parker was left with a scraggle-tooth smile and another tooth that sometimes turns grey. It hasn't bothered him, and I think he likes that it makes him look a little more like a pirate. A trip to the dentist yesterday, however, changed all of that. The low-riding tooth had apparently developed a little infection, and the Dr. determined Parker won't have to wait for first grade for a visit from the tooth fairy. She pulled the thing right then and there. My boy was brave, and he now looks so cute... and so old!

Painless!

The veteran and the newbie

Cousins (minus the bitty babies)

Summer is over, but the sting is absent! In the weeks before Alyssa's 1st Day of school, I was a bit of a mess. I absolutely dreaded losing her for hours a day to a teacher who couldn't possibly appreciate her as much as I do. Even after a year of experience, Alyssa's 1st day of 1st grade was hard on this mama's heart.

But Parker's first day was a breeze. Must have something to do with the fact that I didn't have to say good-bye (plus #1 for homeschooling!). Since there was no dramatic send-off, we started the day with a family doughnut party (plus #2!). All the cousins and grandparents graciously joined us for breakfast and play so that there would be some distinction from summer besides having to sit quietly at the kitchen table for an hour. After they left we spent some more time with daddy, enjoyed a little family worship, and finally settled into "school" around 11. We're not huge morning people so we're pretty excited about these lazy mornings. Sure beats getting up and out by 7:45 (plus #3!). We easily finished everything on my schedule and then some, and even had time for a trip to the library and Costco this afternoon. I'm sure we'll get busier as the year progresses, but so far this gentle method is working for me, and my joy will undoubtedly multiply on Wednesday when I would have had to ship out 2/3rds of our little clan. God has been so good to change my heart!

Burning up the pavement

Even Reagan has finally gotten in on the action!

10 years ago

July 31, 1999. Danny and I woke up before dawn to start the trek to his aunt and uncle’s mountain condo. His parents were vacationing there for the week, and since I had never been to Mammoth, CA, we were invited to join them for a couple of days. At some horribly early hour he arrived at my home, we packed up my “dark cranberry” (or purple as Danny called it) Ford Explorer, and set out to take turns driving and napping over the next 4 hours. I can’t recall who pushed for the early start but I do recall wondering "why?" not more than a few miles into it.
We finally arrived in the Sierra Nevadas and exited the highway onto a very bumpy road. After negotiating what seemed like an eternity on an almost impassible route, I wondered just who would want to have a vacation home here, and how strange that they would/could even build condos out this far into the hills. We eventually pulled up to a very rustic 70’s era building that really didn’t look too much like a multi-family dwelling. I dismissed the thought though and followed Danny’s call to take a look around. Strangely enough, a breakfast was arranged on a checkerboard cloth in the middle of an adjacent field, and when I recognized Danny’s mom’s Longaberger picnic basket I realized that this was a set-up designed for me.
Not wanting to read too much into it, I sat down and enjoyed a delicious assortment of fruits, breads and juice with the man I had recently come to love. Danny had brought his Bible along so he read me a passage of Scripture, we talked about our love for the Lord, each other, and the incredible view set before us. Smooth as Danny is, he at one point invited me to stand up to give him a hug. By this time I was pretty sure I knew where he was going, and I was not disappointed. Down on one knee, (gorgeous) ring in hand, Danny asked me to be his wife. I don’t remember my exact response, but it involved a lot of happy tears and a clear affirmation that my answer was “YES!”
We stood there enjoying the moment, enjoying one another, and I could have stayed forever soaking it in. One of many things “strange” things about the day thus far was why Danny kept insisting that we leave. He finally convinced me to head back to the truck, and to what I soon learned was not in fact a vacation condo but a fire lookout station. (Things are starting to make sense…) There were hugs all around from my soon-to-be-sister-in-law and her husband who had been hiding in such station recording the entire event on film. I think we could make a flip book for all the photographs that were taken!
Since we naturally wanted to share this news with the rest of Danny’s family and make some phone calls to mine, I consented to leave this special spot and drive back down the rocky road to the other side of the highway to the real condo. Along the way we were greeted with a series of congratulatory posters and balloons staked next to the (paved… oddly enough!) road. Each one had words of love and excitement, and the last few were signed by the family members I expected to be there to welcome us. As we turned the last corner though, holding a huge banner signed by my family, were my parents and my sister who had flown in from Seattle just to be there with us! I then understood why Danny was so anxious to get back in the truck, and was blown away by the joy of the day. I was so blessed to have so many people to share it with, and even more blessed to be anticipating marriage to the most wonderful of men.
10 weeks later (yes, 10 weeks, several of which I had mononucleosis – a story for another day), we were wed on another incredibly joyful, fun day. I smile every time I look back on that time, and thank God for the 10 years He has blessed us with since then. I’m so glad Danny asked, and even gladder that I said yes!

(We've aged just a little since then!)

My Charges

Papa and Tilly took the oldest grandchildren on the 2nd annual cousins camping trip this week (pictures and I'm sure some good stories to come!). Alyssa and Parker were overcome with excitement, but couldn't bear to leave their precious wildlife without a caretaker. So here I am left to cuddle with Parker's Monkey, Alyssa's Lambie, Petty Jane, Pandy, and enough other creatures to fill my side of the bed and Danny's. And of course, the world's cutest little baby girl.

Notice the box bed and sock blankie - all Parker's doing for his favorite friend. The boy is as tender as he is tough.

Alyssa's collection. If she asks, they were tenderly cradled all night long.

This girl cracks me up! It's been such a joy to hang out with just her, listening to her talk without constant interjections by her siblings. We are blessed!

Sandy pants

I've acquired a new appreciation for the ocean thanks to the outstanding documentary series by the BBC, Wild Pacific. Once you get beyond their evolutionary bias (which actually wasn't nearly as pervasive as I had anticipated), you are left with overwhelming awe in the vast beauty of the world's largest body of water and the immeasurable creativity of its Creator. (See the video clip below because I'm just not smart enough to get it to embed here.)

But that still doesn't mean I like the sand. I think I've mentioned before that I prefer to take in the sights and sounds from comfort of a restaurant, ship, or otherwise enclosed, protected structure. I love to look more than touch the wonder that is the ocean. But even my kids prefer to touch, so on Thursday, off to the beach we went.

Grandma packed the lunch that makes it all worth it, a breeze kept us cool, and building sand castles (which looked more like sand pits to me) sufficiently wore everyone out to ensure great naps at home that afternoon. Actually, the littlest miss didn't even make it that long. Here she is, just moments from passing out in her beach chair, oblivious to the very not-quiet siblings running and splashing nearby.

Wild Pacific