Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

I never got around to Christmas cards this year. Still haven't mailed Christmas gifts to out of town family. Where does the time go? I often find myself saying, "I used to be so organized, so punctual..." Certainly not the case any longer and certainly not the only mom who feels this way. Oh well. Who needs to be on time anyway! Plus, a "blog card" saves trees - right?

Hope your family enjoyed a blessed Christmas! May your 2009 be full of peace, hope and joy.

TRICK-OR-TREAT

Tagged

Tagged by my friend Christina:

1. My bachelor's degree is in Latin American studies. One requirement was to study abroad. While living in Mexico and attending a university there, I was somehow hired as a DJ for a radio station. Ugh...I was terrible. I lasted all of 3 weeks.

2. I went from DJ to working in the public relations department at a beach resort (my minor is PR). First day on the job I was asked to translate the wedding ceremony of a couple visiting from the U.S. Poor couple! Certainly not the romantic, on the beach exchange of vows they envisioned with some college kid translating their vows! Not to mention, my Spanish was very rusty.

3. My name is Heather and I am an ice cream addict. This is not an occasional treat for me, but a many more days that not treat. My favorites are Bluebell's Homemade Vanilla and the Strawberries & Cream. Yum. I have completely hooked my husband on it as well.

4. While I may have influenced Chris' ice cream addiction, he inspired my love for running. I have zero athletic ability and did not play sports growing up. I was terrible and spent much time on the bench as a kid, and yes, I was even asked to be a team manager. Inspired by my husband's running, I decided to give it a try 6 years ago. After 6 months of huffing and puffing I completed my first marathon. I'm still hooked. Thankfully it helps to balance out my ice cream addiction.

5. When I turned 18 someone told me 90% have met the person they will eventually marry by the age of 18. For some stupid reason I believed the statistic and literally prayed that I would be in the 10% because I could not fathom marrying anyone I had met at that point. Thankful for unanswered prayers my beloved and I met on the first day of sophomore year in high school. We were great friends for 7 years before we woke up and fell for one another!

6. I have 3 sisters. All are talented artists. I can not draw a stick figure. A common exchange between me and my children, "Mom, can you draw a chicken?" "Well, I can try." "Mom, that looks like a dog, not a chicken."

7. I make a killer lasagna. I lack much in the cooking department and have had my share of almost catching the house on fire, mangling beaters because I tried to scrape the sides of a bowl while beating batter, made the saltiest choc chip cookies in the world after reading tablespoon instead of teaspoon, and the list goes on. But my lasagna is damn good.

And now I tag Julie, Heather F., and Meagan.

Happy Birthday Claire

Then

And Now

I have a Bible verse for each of my children to remind me of God's faithfulness and all He has taught us. Our Claire Bible verse is "God has made me laugh and all who hear will laugh with me." Genesis 21:6. As most of you know we were in the process to adopt our first child when God shocked us with a pregnancy. I literally laughed upon seeing the results of my first pregnancy test. In fact I thought it was so comical, I sent Chris out to the store to purchase a second pregnancy test while I poured myself a glass of wine fully expecting the first test to be a practical joke. It just seemed so nuts that God would allow me to get pregnant (after trying for years) when He had so clearly guided us and our hearts to adoption. And then it made me laugh even more to learn our girls would be just 5 months apart. We made others laugh too with my big pregnancy belly and a newborn in my arms --- quite the walking side show.

This verse grows sweeter to me each year as I've watched Claire develop into our family clown. She oozes with sunshine and silliness and keeps us laughing. It is as if God has etched this verse into her core.

Great Grandparents

I love generational photos. They speak volumes not only of the importance of family and heritage but history too. Zane met his Great Grandparents on the Bauer side of the family last week when we drove to Tulsa, OK. The girls did great watching movies and coloring but Zane has no interest in TV, he primarily wants to eat crayons and he refused any of the toys I packed for him. He simply had no interest in being buckled in his seat for so long and let us know loud and clear of his discontent. However, it was well worth it to visit with Grandma and Grandpa Bauer. They gave the kids Oklahoma tshirts which I'm sure will cause much rioting by the UT and A&M family members. Enjoy the pics.

Gucci Camping

For as long as I've known my husband (umm...since we were 15) he has referred to camping in site of one's car as "gucci camping." Although we very much enjoy backpacking trips, we are not up for it yet with this trio of little ones we are attempting to raise. The idea of packing diapers in and out of the wilderness...yuck. Plus Chris carries our 2-person tent for us when we backpack. Is it wrong to make the kids carry their own tent?

Instead we opt for gucci camping with the kids. Friday we went out to Pedernales Falls with the Kouri family which includes their sons, ages 2 and 4. We had a great time and all the kids did well. They were troopers and enjoyed the adventure and of course, the gooey, yummy s'mores. For those interested we ruled the ideal minimum age for campers is 3 1/2-years-old. One and two-year-olds don't remember the campfire is hot and should not be touched.

As a side note, no, Claire's scraped up nose did not occur while camping. The night before the trip she was kneeling in a swivel chair and being spun around and around by her sister. The chair flipped and she hit the bedside table with her nose. I wince everytime I look at Claire's banged up nose. The swelling has gone down some but it's still bruised.

Born in September

Heard of the "Born in September" campaign? It's a charity: water birthday campaign to bring clean, safe water to the people of Ethiopia. It's so inspiring to see the radical change just one person can bring.


The September Campaign Trailer from charity: water on Vimeo.

1 Year Ago Today

One year ago today Chris and I landed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia after a red eye flight from Rome, Italy. We were exhausted, delirious and thrilled. A couple Gladney folks picked us up (after waiting nearly 2 hours for our luggage!) and drove us to the Hilton Hotel. We grabbed quick showers (not wanting Zane's first impression of us to be that we were stinky), then back in the car and off to Gladney's infant care center. I can remember the butterflies insanely flapping in my belly during that ride.

And then THE moment, out on the balcony when Zane was placed in my arms. I can still feel the light rain that was slowly sprinkling upon our faces, Zane blinking in confusion as to why his feeding was interrupted to walk outside, have sprinkles falling upon him and being handed over to these strangers. I can still remember him looking at me, trying to figure out what he thought of us, he was so tiny...and then he spit up on me...and then I got a big smile from him. Oh wow. That was a magical day.

How grateful we are to our Lord for allowing us to adopt Zane and be his mommy and daddy. We are still spellbound by this charming little man we are privileged to call son. Zane's birthmother is also heavy on my mind today. I imagine there is not a day that passes when she does not think of him, long for him. I'm putting together a book of photos from this past year and plan to send it with a future traveling Gladney family, in hopes the Gladney folks in Addis Ababa might get it to her.

Care for Orphans

Steven Curtis Chapman will be on Larry King Live tonight, 9pm ET, discussing his experience with orphans and adoption. Check out his contributed article at CNN.com. I'm not familiar with his music, other than I know he is a Christian artist, but I am familiar with his adoption charity, Shaohannah's Hope.

I realize adoption is not for every person. But I think every person can do something to care for orphans - be it sponsoring a child, donating to an orphan fund, fostering, mentoring, visiting orphans, etc. To whom much is given, much is expected.

In Chapman's article, he says, "If only 7 percent of the 2 billion Christians in the world would care for a single orphan in distress, there would effectively be no more orphans. If everybody would be willing to simply do something to care for one of these precious treasures, I think we would be amazed by just how much we could change the world."

Ethiopia Gathering

We had 50+ people over Saturday evening for a cookout with the Austin Ethiopia Adoption group. It's such an encouragement to us as we see this group rapidly grow, knowing these families will be a wonderful support for us in raising our children.

It's not only a group Chris and I will benefit from as we raise Zane but also I think about the friends Zane will make through this group, friends who share a birthstory and heritage from Ethiopia, being adopted by U.S. families, and for the most part being raised by caucasian parents. It will be important for him to be around others with similar backgrounds and skin color. Lily and Claire - what a blessed experience for them as well to grow up having friends with a variety of backgrounds and skin colors.

It was a beautiful sight to see all these sweet children playing together.

Benetton

It's a United Colors of Benetton advertisement:

Or rather it's a photo from last week's beach trip.

July 4th

July 4th festivities included our neighborhood parade. Very cute to see all these kiddos deck out their bikes. I thought we did an ok job decorating our kids up but we were so put to shame by our friends, the Aitala's pictured below...




We topped off our evening in the tradition of fireworks.

A Month in Photos

Yep, we are still here. Since Mother's day, we went to California to visit family and celebrate my sister-in-law's graduation from law school, watched the girls' end-of-session gymnastics "show," celebrated Lily's 4th birthday, cheered Chris at his latest triathlon, remembered Mike (Chris' dad) on the anniversary of his passing, celebrated my birthday, attended Claire's ballet/tap recital and now we are days away from Lily's ballet/tap recital and Father's day this weekend. Aside from that, we have been swimming most every day. OH and did I mention Zane started walking in California?!!

Fun photos to catch you up...

California swim with Uncle Paul; Zane's first ocean dip

Little gymnasts (quite the posers, aren't they?)

Zane practicing his serious, disapproving face

Lily's 4th birthday was a "Messy Paint Party" which turned into sprinkler fun amid the insane humidity and heat. It was a Mess Fest - paint, sweat, watermelon, pizza, sprinklers, drippy ice cream cones, etc. I'm sure the parents appreciated the dirty drive home. Hey - at least the kids were worn out and ready for naptime!


Is our little man gorgeous, or what?!!! Still quite the charmer. My brother-in-law, Scott, met us to watch the triathlon. He was a massive help corralling my kids.

Go, big daddy! (blue shirt, Chris). Muggy and hot temps = snow cones.


Claire danced to "Where Has My Doggy Gone?"

Happy Mom's Day

Today was a great mother's day. 1) I didn't have to change any of Zane's diapers. and 2) I actually now have a photo of me and my children. Since Zane's homecoming we have yet to capture a pic of me and my trio mostly because I'm usually the one taking the pictures and also it's a monumental challenge to get the three of them sitting still at the same time. On top of that, we even snapped one with my mom.

In all seriousness, today was one of those heart swelling days of great joy and gratefulness that I get to be mom to Lily, Claire and Zane. It is my joy.

Catching Up

A week or so in photos:

Our neighborhood group of pals met up at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center last week, two days after my wedding anniversary. Sweet timing as this is where Chris and I were hitched. I don't think I had been back there since the first year we were married. It was special to show my kids around this lovely place and share with them about our big day. Plus we saw a snake!

After the girls' ballet/tap class this week, a bunch of us grabbed lunch and went to a nearby park to enjoy this gorgeous weather before the Texas heat takes over. I love watching these girls play together. Many of them also live in our neighborhood. These kids are blessed with sweet moms that I have so enjoyed getting to know and call friends. It's encouraging to see friendships developing among our children as well.

This particular park has some of the best playscapes in town. However our little girls were more interested in searching for bugs and climbing trees.

Yesterday Chris skipped work and we went to SeaWorld. It is one of my favorite outings with our children. They are too dazzled for fussing and have these big goofy grins plastered on their faces all day.

Lily and Claire are adrenaline junkies. We have a hard time pulling them off this roller coaster. I think they road it 6 times yesterday. They waited very patiently in line so they could ride in the front!

Lily is a "no hands" coaster rider while Claire opts for eyes closed. Last time we took Zane to the Shamu show he cried. I think the volume freaked him out. This time he was all smiles.

I love this photo. I was glad to catch this sweet moment of Claire loving on Zane, without them noticing the camera.

Back home but too wired for sleep!