disco vacation, eleven

now that summer is almost over, i guess it's about time i fill in a few of the gaps from my blog-lacking summer. we vacationed in frisco, colorado this year. on the way there as i was writing a memo in my so-fancy-i-can't really-use-it phone about what we wanted to do, i unintentionally titled it "disco vacation" instead of "frisco vacation". naturally, i left it because what kind of vacation could be better than a disco vacation?!

and our disco vacation was far out. as in far out of the plains and into the mountains. this is our third vacation in frisco, but the first time we have had our dear luci may with us...

each year, we like to have a good combination of old and new activities. this time, the old activities included:

the homemade boat regatta...

jack cheering on his first place vessel...

my nautical creation named "it's better with butter" was not at all better. it came in dead last.

but it is better at the butterhorn bakery and cafe...

oh, how we love that place as you can see. though daddy can make a mean breakfast too...

we love walking around main street...

playing at the playground...

and playing at the pool...

we also love just chillaxin' in our condo, enjoying each other and the beautiful view...

new activities included renting bikes with a new lake as our destination...

hey, guess what, lake water in the mountains is

kinda (understatement) cold (understatement)...

stranded...

rescued...

and another new activity was spending a day in vail...

the kids, missing our dogs like crazy, had to stop to pet every dog. especially the goldens...

vail had it's charm, but we missed our little frisco. and especially it's prices!

though it was quite awhile ago, our disco vacation lives on in our minds because it was so jive...

and now the kids' summer vacation is gone like disco...

what a drag.

brace yourselves.

i don't think i'm going to see this smile too often anymore...

since tate just got braces. he is perfecting the art of ventriloquism and smiling with his mouth closed. just like he used to...

he looks super cute with them, just like he looked super cute without them. but he is hoping the next two years fly by.

sadly, buddy, the years go by way too fast.

the men in her life

lulu loves her boys...

the feelings are obviously mutual.

my sunday

church.

lunch with our life group.

jack to laser tag for a birthday party.

shopping for the girls new bedding.

two hours of online "window shopping" to gain inspiration for tate's bedroom (we are switching the girls and tate's rooms thus the re-decorating. )

dinner as a family.

em has a friend for a sleepover.

boys to captain america.

and now i sit down to write a blog post.

i could give you a link for the yummy corn salad we ate.

i could tell you about the funny things jack said last night.

i could post pictures of us happy or whine about kids whining.

but tonight i am thinking about a part of the world

experiencing a greater crisis than what color to paint a bedroom.

a part of the world that i where around my neck

and i put a bumper sticker of on my van.

africa.

the horn of africa specifically.

kenya. somalia. uganda. dijibouti. and yes, ethiopia.

but even if it was a part of the world that i didn't have a child born in,

i should still care that there is massive food crisis going on anywhere in the world.

in MY world.

because i don't want my world to just be about bed, bath and beyond

and birthday parties and blogging.

the world is a whole lot bigger than that.

and i don't want to live that small.

{though most days, i'm afraid i do just that.}

but not today.

if you do nothing else,

please read this short article titled jesus, stalin and casey anthony.

if you want to do a little more, would you consider fasting

to focus prayers for this part of the world?

and if you want to do something tangible, would you check out opportunities like this and this?

maybe you, like me, need to be rescued.

not from famine, but from a life too small.

i know, i know, most of you read my blog to laugh

and this post ain't really chock full of guffaws.

and i generally don't ask a lot of my readers,

save the occasional name that movie request which is almost

always from "notting hill".

but i have made a promise to myself and to my bloggy pals

that this blog is going to be real.

and this famine is real, people.

it's not going away overnight.

real, lasting, sustainable change is going to take a lot of time, money and commitment.

but somehow, someway, i want to do something.

join me.

(out of freedom, no guilt necessary).

if not this cause, there are plenty of others.

"but be doers of the word and not hearers only" james 1:22

luci may day!

two years ago yesterday we met our "blessings" face to face. this sweet little face...

was a sweet little scared face...

my kids like to point out that anyone would be scared by my euphoric high-pitched laughing/crying combo on that day. i'll spare you the video of the encounter for that very reason, but you can read about it here. basically, it was an incredible moment...

a moment that changed both lulu's life and our family forever. as we celebrate this day, i am always joyful, but also mindful that this day was born out of great loss and sadness. a reality i don't know how lulu will process as she grows older. but that does not cause me to hold back in my gratefulness and our celebration. so celebrate we did. we knew we were going to be traveling all day on luci may day, so the night before we went out for an ethiopian dinner...

the kids aren't big fans of ethiopian food and their softie parents let them order the oh-so-traditional, chicken tenders and fries...

we tried injera again with lulu with the same result as in the past...

she spit it out of her mouth. in time, i hope she grows to love ethiopian food, but that time has not yet come. but the day had come to celebrate. to celebrate this child...

who has blossomed into this child...

to celebrate her home country and birth family...

and to celebrate being a family...

we celebrated on the night of the 27th by returning to our home after our travels. my sister's family surprised us by driving an hour at 10pm to be their when we returned to a decorated home and a luci may day celebration...

dear luci may rediet kollar,

your ethiopian mommy named you rediet which means "blessings". i cannot count the ways you have already brought blessings into this world, into our lives, and into this family. we are grateful to know you, let alone to call you our own. and you are ours, lulu. well, HIS, then ours. and we are, always, yours...

blessings, indeed.