REFLECTIONS ON ADOPTION PART 2

I wrote a post a few years ago here and at the end it said, "To Be Continued"... so HERE is the continue. :) Mike and I are getting close to retirement. We already qualify for Medicare, and I started drawing my social security over a year ago. He will have full benefits in February. So, I guess that qualifies us as "elderly". :) It IS however a little humorous when you ready the news and they say something about an "elderly" person and then you find out they are 8 years younger than you are!

Even our old rocking chair is showing its age. That rocker holds many, many memories and now new babies are being rocked in it. In fact, I think I have rocked almost every grand child in it. It is the place to talk, to sing songs, to read books and to pray.

As I reflect on the last 35 years when adoption touched our lives, beginning with Mike adopting all of the boys, and then 22 years ago when we began with the girls, one thing rings out. INHERITANCE! Every child born to their parents inherits their name and legacy. It is a gift from the Lord. A child is securely placed into a family and they identify with that family, that name, those grand parents, great grand parents and they take on the identity of that individual family. In our case, our children are MINICHS.
I remember explaining this to the children when they were very young; "You are Minichs! That comes with responsibility! Honor your name!:) Sometimes they did, and sometimes they didn't. :) But it didn't change who they were.
Our children, because they are OURS, and there is no distinction between biological or adopted, are inheriters of what we leave behind. That isn't just the physical, but it is what our family has built over the years. It is a legacy of love and acceptance, of memories and of a solid future built on the Solid Rock of Christ.

As Christians we too have been reminded that we have an inheritance in Christ and adoption is a perfect reflection of our relationship with God. It is mentioned in Scripture that we are joint heirs with Christ and that we can come to God the father and call him Abba, which means Daddy. He lovingly accepts us with all of our flaws and slowly and perfectly teaches us to be His children through His sanctifying work which begins at His beckoning to us to come, just as we are, and rest in His love. He'll wash us, He will cleanse us, He will guide and teach us.
Oh what an inheritance we have! So now that our children who range in age between 26-47, are grown and have their own families. Some are just beginning, some are close to the finishing line. They too, will carry on the inheritance of how they were raised. They will carry the good and the bad, and as we alwasy say, "Keep the good, throw out the bad and make things even better for your kids!" And they will provide for thier children the inheritance of a good name. They have and will continue to establish their own legacies for their families. And the generations go on. This blog has taken on many topics and has been an honest look into life. We are no longer adopting, but we are LIVING and I will continue to write and reflect on our lives as I can. I don't want to start anything new, this place feels like home. I wanted to finish that reflection. So there you have it. :)
And now I will go and rock in my rocking chair. It is still a great chair!

I'm A Coffee Roaster

I started roasting my own coffee about 5 years ago after Mike and I visited our grand daughter at a fresh coffee house called Michael Thomas Coffee in Albuquerque NM. She worked there and inspired us to start roasting!

So the first thing we did was research roasters and read roasting reviews.

We settled on this machine which was warranteed for a year. We used it for 3 and then ordered a new one when that one wore out. We are on our 3rd year with this one and it is going strong! Our favorite roast is Red Sea Blend from Coffee Bean Corral, and then LaLaJa Honey from Coffee Bean Corral. We also purchase from Sweet Maria's. We drink both caffinated and Decaf coffee. The newest DeCaf is La Victoria, an organic Decaf from Peru.

Even the Cat likes coffee! :) Erika has started roasting coffee too. She just upgraded to a fancier roaster. And she has become quite the barista! She has a new fancy coffee pot that makes regular coffee and specialty coffee! I could learn much from her expertise!

CHEERS to a great cup of Coffee!!!

Feel Free!

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STOP! DROP! and ROLL! : Putting Out Spiritual Fires

We have all learned the meaning to Stop! Drop! and Roll! It has to do with what you do when there is a fire and YOU catch on fire. You do not run, you stop, drop to the ground and roll to put the fire out.
The other night I was thinking of a way to remind us of when we are sinning out of habit. Maybe we are teasing another, or gossiping or thinking about things we shouldn't. How can we catch ourselves and solve the problem? Last night I came up with this!

We must Stop what we are doing! We know when we are sinning. STOP!

We should Drop what we are doing and pray. We can ask the Lord to give us wisdom and forgiveness! James says in chapter 1:5-6 "If any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God who gives to all liberally and without reproach. 1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

And lastly ROLL through the word. Study the scripture for wisdom! We can Study to learn the way the Lord wants us to live! 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says "All scripture is God-Breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Thy WORD is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path!

Erika and Donato

During the time that the kids were getting to know each other and beginning their relationship,they determined to go to museums and parks and try to go to as many as they could in a year. They were quite creative in their dating. I seem to remember one particular time, they decided to rent a scooter in Down Town Dallas and Donato would drive while holding onto Erika. She has that daring spirit in her that wants to do things! He obliged...

All I know is, a couple of weeks later, I was told of the "incident", where they hit a bump and she slipped through his arms and then.... he stopped, tried to get to her to help her and accidently stepped on her chest. LOL There is a song we wrote about that. ......HAHA His description of taking her into a local CVS to buy bandages and going into the bathroom to bandage her up was hilarious. He said, "It looked like a murder scene." Haha The DR. however (Love that Dr. at Scottish Rite Hospital) , said, "It looks like you've been having fun!" Ha. She was fine; just a bit of road rash. These two grew together as a sweet couple that would come over and play spades with us, go to his family and visit, and just be adorable!

Donato's mom and I decided to "meet" stealthfully....

We had such a great time. We met for breakfast and talked and talked and talked, and then we sorta got kicked out of Denny's, which BTW was NOT crowded at all! HOW do you get kicked out of Denny's???? Anyhoo. We took that photo and sent it to the kids, who btw kept telling us, "You two are really going to like each other!" ... We got this in return.

So we sent this in return!

We had a great time! And then our families began to blend together and here we are 5 years later with the kids married 4 plus years and all of us loving them and each other! They are perfect for each other. They are both adventurous; you will find that out for sure if you follow their You Tube Channel... I'm so proud of them.

(Donato's brother is the photo bomber) Haha.

TRANSITIONS

I was looking up the meaning of the word "Transition" in the Noah Webster 1828 dictionary to see what Noah had to say about that word. :) Quote: "Passage from one place or state to another." "Change". There were a few more definitions regarding music, or geology, but these will suffice.

I started this blog in 2007. Since then we have had many transitions. I think the only thing the same, is that we live in the same house, but even the house has had some transitions, like updates, newer floors and paint. Our parents, Ed, Lois,My mom, My Dabba have all passed away. Our brother passed away, a niece passed away recently. There have been some changes in marriage for a few of our kids. 2 of our sons now have new wives. All of the girls have married. We have 18 grand children. (including the one about to be born to Albina in a few weeks)

Our grand children are grown, many have moved out on their own. They are pursuing college and carreers and it seems like just yesterday they were digging up treasure in the back yard at Easter.

The days of Scottish Rite Hospital and surgeries are over, and the days of youth group and camp are over. We have been through many transitions in our lives and we are not far from starting a new transition. RETIREMENT. This will be a slow transition, but it is certainly one coming up very soon.

I have loved each transition, as it is exciting and I love seeing my family grow and change, not necessarily the sad parts of course, but those also are a part of life.
We still go to the zoo and the newest little ones will benefit from zoo trips as soon as they are old enough. Our Christmas celebrations are a little different with old friends and new. We started hosting a Christmas Party for family, friends and our ministry group and it has turned out to be quite fun. it is really fun to see our adult kids invite their friends they grew up with and to see all of them converge here is just wonderful!

But it is quiet here and the hallways are filled with memories of long ago. The memories make me thankful, but the memories are not all that we have. We have what lies ahead! The present and the future! While things have transitioned, it isn't a negative thing at all. It is a great adventure! Every change in life brings a new family dynamic, including health issues; aging and its effects.


So I have been writing on about normal transitions within family, but what about the transitions that have effected our sweet girls besides the growing up part. They transitioned from one country to another, from orphan status to cherished daugthers, from rejected to loved, from destitute to having a home. And they continue and will continue just as we have and the boys have to make changes in life. Each of them have already married and most have children. Our daugther who hasn't had children YET, is a fantastic Auntie to her nieces and nephews. The photo I chose for this post will always be true. If you want to make changes in the world, love your family.


The Lord has been with us throughout our whole lives and will continue to be with us in these new transitions. We have lived more of our lives than we have left. It is our intention to use the time we have left to glorify our Lord in all things. And as we move on into older adulthood, we know our children will carry the torch that was lit long ago to love their families with their whole hearts and to reflect Christ's love for us.

The Balloon Festival Albuquerque NM

If you have not been to the Balloon Festival in Albuquerque NM, it is a must see at least once in your life. It is coming up in October of this year. We went and visited our son and some friends who live in Albuquerque a few years ago. Our friends are balloonists so we were able to actually help air up a balloon and watch other ballonists air up to take off. It was so fun! The Stein was from Germany and there was a balloon from Singapore. They scared me because their helium fire was kind of near the basket chords that hold the basket to the balloon! They made it up and back down thankfully! Here are some gorgeous highlights of that trip!

At the balloon Festival they have some treats like people sclulpting wood with Chain Saws! They were so talented!

During that trip we took the Tram up to the top of the Sandia Mountains. There is a beautiful ski area up there!

I think Albuerque is one of my favorite places to visit! There is so much to do. You can hike, you can go shopping at Old Town and eat Authentic New Mexican fare, there are folks selling their beautifully made jewelry, there are beautiful sunsets and spectacular views of mountains. There is also the Michael Thomas coffee shoppe where our grand daughter introduced us the Red Sea Blend coffee! Thank you for reminiscing with me! :) I hope you enjoyed it.

Adventures at The Grand Canyon

Mike and I only took short vacations to visit family in Oklahoma on holidays like Memorial day or Labor day. We had one unusual trip to Michigan for Thanksgiving, and it was great seeing more extended family up there. When we married we already had 4 sons, and there was not a lot of extra beyond clothing and groceries to spend. Family was lovely and the perfect place to vacation with the children.


When we had just 2 girls at home, we surprised them with a trek to the Grand Canyon. It was their first REAL getaway and we knew that our time with them was very short. We wanted to give them some great memories.
I hiked the Bright Angel Trail as a teenager and had such fond memories of falling stars at night, sleeping by the Colorado River and the treacherous climb up. Going down was Easy Peasy. Going up? It took me about 12 hours. Now, we knew we were not going to Hike down to the bottom and back up at our ages! So, we started our treck by stopping in Albuquerque NM,

then the Petrified National Forest in Arizona, and our final destination, The Grand Canyon.

I told the girls to close their eyes until we were right at a place driving to the South Rim and the Bright Angel Lodge so they could take in the whole scene at the same time. There were Oooh's and Ahhh's and much excitement!

We had such a lovely time that Mike and I went 2 years later for our 35th Anniversary. :) When the girls went with us we stayed in Williams AZ which was really fun. We stayed at the Rail Road Car Motel right near Bearazona, which is a Bear drive thru and zoo.
This time we won the Lottery getting a slot at the Bright Angel Cabins! We had such a wonderful time together! Here are some highlights:

What an amazing trip we had! This was our cabin.

The Cabins do not have AC so it was a little warm during the day, but we were out hiking anyway. At night we decided to go and lay on the ground outside by the mouth of the trail to see the stars. As a Kid, I had no worries and just enjoyed the sight. As an adult, after about 15 min we looked at each other and said, we are in a desert, National Park, and there could be snakes! So we went back inside... Ha. We had the best time, and I was so happy to share my great memories of the Canyon as a kid, with the girls and with Mike. It was a dream come true!