My Three Amazing Ballerinas

 This past weekend my girls danced in The Nutcracker with Dancing in the Streets.  They looked so beautiful and did so well.  They were in multiple dances and even helped create some of the choreography. Last year’s performance wasn’t able to happen due to covid and the girls missed it so much.  They were beyond excited to hear they’d be able to perform this year.  Dance means so much to them.  It challenges them to get out of their comfort zone, it challenges them physically, it’s is a great way for them to exercise, and they love expressing themselves and helping to teach others about their abilities through something they are all passionate about- dance.  Finding a dance studio that values this experience as much as we do can be such a huge challenge.  One that we've experienced ourselves.  They always feel at home at Dancing in the Streets, though, and are always welcomed there.  If you are looking for a wonderful, dedicated organization to support, they’re it!  You can donate by going to https://www.ditsaz.org/.  Here are some pictures from this weekend.   I think you can see their joy flooding through.  

Beauty from Ashes

From best friends and crib-mates to sisters. My girls lost everything. They lost their families when they were brought in to the orphanage. They lost their friends, caregivers, language, and culture when we brought them here. Though they now have the medial care they needed, a family that loves them fiercely and advocates for them, more than enough food, new friends, a good education, etc...., we can’t take away the loss or trauma they experienced. Adoption can have gain, but it’s deeply routed in loss. I’m thankful that they will always have each other.

(For those of you wondering, Deena was in Ramya's third orphanage.  They were best friends for the almost year that Ramya was there before coming home.  I met Deena on my trip to bring Ramya home.  Shortly after my return, we decided to try and adopt Deena.  The process took about 2 1/2 (very long) years.)

Our Newest Family Photos

Our new family photos are here and they are perfect!  They came out just how we wanted.  You may notice a "new" addition to our photos; Kyla.  Kyla is actually not new to our family and has been "family" for years.  She was a neighbor who has been in our lives since our kiddos were little. She even lived with us for a year while she finished high school, before Ramya and Deena came home.  She's been close for many years, and has been in Tucson close by while she goes to college to be a Vet Tech.  She's over every day and is our unofficial family, so it was about time she joined us in our family photos.  

A big "thank you" to Katie Reich Photography for the amazing photos.  Enjoy!

Love Makes a Family

As I sit here going through my photos to attempt and catch up on posts (which I never seem to do), one thing stands out above the rest.  Life is messy, sometimes logistic are tricky, and nothing is perfect. Behind the smiles are sometimes struggles unseen. We don't let anything slow us down, though, and we make sure to live life to it's fullest. We try to make each day filled with joy and adventure, even when it's messy. We are so blessed to be going through this journey together. No matter what happens, we always have each other, and it's life's greatest gift! 

An Attempt to Catch Up

I've gotten so far behind on our blog that I'm not sure how to catch back up, ha!  Each time I sit down, the task seems a bit daunting because it's been so long.  In general, it's a good thing, though, because it means we've been so busy having fun and living our lives, that I haven't had much time to stop, sit, and reflect.  Though maybe in our busy schedule, sitting is what I need from time to time.

When I last left off, we had gone to Disneyland and California, then came home to enjoy Deena's new bike.  We worked on getting back in to a routine with homeschooling, appointments, therapy, and life.

We enjoyed some homeschooling fieldtrips, the girls and I went to see Shopkins Live, the kiddos had a blast on Halloween, and we enjoyed life being slow for a bit. Just about when we got settled, though, things got busy again.  

In November Madi turned 9.  I'm still in total shock that my baby is getting so big.  Madi had so much fun at her birthday party and loved celebrating.  We traveled to Phoenix and had a painting party with our friends, then also had a family party to celebrate.  She picked a Pokémon theme and got a cute little Pokémon dress to wear to the celebrations.

 We came home, recovered briefly, worked on some homeschool projects, and then Thanksgiving hit.  We traveled back to Phoenix to celebrate with our family, and had a really nice time.

(In Phoenix with family....)

(Proof that we REALLY do relax sometimes)

We re-settled once again, making sure to have some fun amid the busy Christmas season.  We went to the Desert Museum, decorated wheelchairs, prepped for Christmas, and even got to ride a party bike with my parents (who came to visit), my Aunt, and my second cousin to look at Christmas lights.  Oh, and Starwars.  I can't forget Starwars.  We saw it on opening night and all loved it, of course.

Oh goodness, and Santa.  I can't forget Santa.  We went to a really fun event with Hope Kids where we got to play games, ride rides, and spend time with Santa.  The kiddos even got gifts and had so much fun.  We also Santa at the Children's Clinic, where we go for therapy and some appointments, as well, and the kiddos got more gifts.  We had a special visit from my birth grandma, Donna, and her husband, Jim.  We enjoyed talking and catching up, and they gave the kiddos their Christmas gifts as well.  They were on cloud 9!

We celebrated our Christmas with the kids a little early, and then we traveled, once again, to Phoenix to spend time with family for Christmas.  Since both David's family and my family live in Phoenix, we travel often.  We really enjoyed our time there, and came home ready to rest a bit.  We also came home to a lot of appointments, but we made it through.  We celebrated David's birthday as well, which included cheesecake, so everyone was pretty happy about that.  David's parents sent David and Conner on a hot air balloon ride for their birthdays, and they had a wonderful time.  It's something they will never forget, that's for sure!

Over New Years my birth dad, Mark, and his wife, Michelle, came to visit and stay with us for a few days.  We had a really fun time with them.  The kids especially enjoyed taking them to the Children's Museum, which they love.

The New Years started off with a bang as we celebrated Conner's 11th birthday (I know, 11!  I can't believe it either!!), Deena's 10th birthday (Her second birthday home!!), and Deena's two-year adoption day (We celebrated with Indian food at her favorite café, at her request, which was perfect).  We had a friend party for Deena and Conner where we went to watch Paddington 2, then came home for pizza and donuts.  The kiddos loved their party, and it was so fun watching them be so excited.  They picked a cat theme and both wore cat-themed outfits, which was adorable.  

We had friends come visit for the day in January and we had a lot of fun with them.  We got to check out a pinball arcade we've been meaning to visit, and we are planning to go back for sure.

We found an amazing organization called Little Hooves Big Hearts, and have had the privilege of visiting and working with their miniature horses twice now.  Our second trip out was in January, and we are looking forward to our visit next month.  Every time we leave, the kids tell me they had "the best day ever".  They really love going and spending time there.  They let them groom the horses, do obstacle courses with them, and they just have a blast.  

It took me a month or so, but I finally got the Christmas decorations off the girl's chairs.  This time we went for a nice spring look, with ribbon and flowers.

A few weeks ago, we celebrated Ramya's 5 year adoption day.  She was really excited to celebrate, as we all were, and was beaming all day.  Ramya is a kiddo who doesn't often show much emotion, and it was good for the soul to see her so excited.  She chose to go to Smashburger to celebrate.  We also watched her adoption video together and shared stories of our time in India.

Last weekend we were back in Phoenix for a fun, whirlwind of a trip.  We had a family birthday party for Conner, Deena, and Ramya (Ramya's birthday isn't until March, but we have been lumping all the cousins together twice a year for big family parties.  It's a ton of fun, and also helps make us slightly less busy and crazy), and also had two baby showers to attend.  The kiddos party was, once again Pokémon themed.  We had it at a park that also has a small train.  It was such a fun time!  

We ended this week with a bang....

.... sorry, I couldn't resist, she's just too cute.  We cashed in some cash back bonus awards we had on our credit card for Dave and Busters giftcards, then took the kiddos there for dinner and games to celebrate Valentine's Day and how much we love them.  They, of course, had a blast, and came home with a few new fun trinkets, like this whoopee cushion.  

As you can see, we've been crazy busy, but in a good way!  I'm sure I left out a bunch of stuff, but you get the idea :).  Though life is busy, we really try to focus on having fun.  It would be far to easy to get wrapped up in all of the therapy, appointments, homeschool, and "medical" stuff in our lives.  We really try to be intentional about making sure we find joy amongst the busyness, and give our kids lots of opportunities to just be kids.  We may not ever sit down, but it's worth it!

I have some medical updates as well, but I think I will wait on those for now.  Overall, everyone is healthy and we are thankful for that!

If you've made it this far, thank you for taking the time to catch up on what we've been up to. We always appreciate your thoughts and prayers, and it means so much that you are walking this journey with us.