A Great Day

February 2, 2008

Happy Groundhog Day. Those of you familiar with our blog might recognize the significance of this day. Being in Ukraine on an adoption was compared to the movie “Groundhog Day” not only by us but also by complete strangers that we met at the embassy. How funny! How accurate. So as I watched Phil and Phil driving their little red truck over the edge last night in an effort to escape, I couldn’t help but reminisce. But home we are now. And on we life we go.

What I am about to do to you is deceitful. Not necessarily on purpose. It is just easy to celebrate the good things and maybe overlook some of the bad. We had a great day today. Gina had asked for a day off and so the kids and I had a day together. It was my job to try to plan out about half a day’s worth of activity. I’ve got to be honest here, I was worried about keeping them occupied. In the shower this morning, I had decided that we would spend the day in nature.

One thing I love about where we live is the abundance of woods and water and hills nearby. Between our home and town exists a state park which is a real gem. We often camp there with friends. It has several lakes and a lot of woods. They have a little waterfall which is really dramatic in wet weather, but it doesn’t much when it is dry. It’s pretty easy to find and the drive up to it is really scenic.

So it was on. I would take the kids for a little hike. It was awesome (once we were all on the same page)! I took a lot of pictures of the kids. The girls (led by the immigrant) decided to barefoot it into the water and goof around. Not something that a mom would approve, but hey, she was off for the day. It was such a pleasure to see them interacting and enjoying God’s creation and the wonder of this little place tucked away with sprawl all around. It was just so “natural.”

I knew Austin and Kirby didn’t mind getting dirty out in the woods, but I wasn’t sure how Dasha would react. She took to it like a duck in water – wet feet and all.

I’ve posted a link to the photos for your reference.

photo link

This was a great day – regardless of how we started or how we ended. I will celebrate the good and try to overlook the bad. I will commit to fight for the stability that we can achieve as a family and also for the position that God has granted me as a father to a former orphan – a child that is a blessing to us and is teaching us much about ourselves (in the Hosea sense).

Enjoy the illusion, but know that you were warned in advance!