Birthday Fun and Yum

Last night we enjoyed a joint birthday celebration. Kirsten's birthday is just 3 days before her daddy's so we celebrated both at the Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor.

After I took the group photo, Faith asked for a picture with just her dad. I got busy adjusting my camera settings. Meanwhile, I  heard the two of them giggling. Sure enough, I looked up and they were happily dancing together.

Once inside, we ordered our ice cream.

Kolya sure loves a good root beer float.

Actually, the second one was Hope's. I just could resist taking the picture of Kolya and the two gigantic mugs as he prepared to pass Hope hers.

Kolya and Hope got their orders several minutes before the rest of us. While we waited, all eyes were on the two of them to see of they could really down so much soda and ice cream.

We also gave Dad his gifts. (Kirsten had already received hers on her actual birthday.) Sarah needed the largest bag for her gift...

...a complete set of screwdrivers! What man doesn't enjoy new tools?

As the saying goes, a good time was had by all!

And He Huffed and He Puffed...

Mrs. R:

On January 1st, we celebrated John's birthday. As the lights were dimmed in the kitchen, and John's dad began lighting the candles, I realized I had forgotten to grab my camera. I went running. As I dashed back, John was patiently waiting for me with Nathaniel at his side.

We were surprised at what an inferno the cake had quickly become!

John gave his best effort to put the flames out. However, the trick candles had a mind of their own...

...and the kitchen began to fill with smoke!

John gave blowing out the candles another try....

 ...but the flames refused to die.

John's siblings begged for the chance to blow out the flames. Despite their multi-person effort, the candles blazed away.

John then decided the best hope for actually getting to eat Christina's rich, chocolaty creation was to take the candles off the cake and drop them in a nearby glass of water. However, he quickly figured out that the cake was too hot to get near.

Dad stepped in with tongs to give the stubborn candles a wet finale. Who new just 23 candles could cause such drama -- and so much laughter? We finished John's birthday with ample servings of smoked chocolate cake!

Celebrating Zhenya's 21st!

I promised in my teaser post earlier this week to share some photos from our celebration of Zhenya's 21st birthday.

Zhenya's actual birthday took place at the end of last week on the final day of CAFO 2014 (the Christian Alliance for Orphans' annual global summit). That evening during the last plenary session, Zhenya got quite a surprise. CAFO's president, Jedd Medefind, called her up on stage to acknowledge her contribution as the designer of this year's Orphan Sunday shirts. Our budding graphic designer had entered a t-shirt design contest a few months before the orphan care summit and won! During the conference many people acquired the t-shirts to promote Orphan Sunday in their home churches around the world. Zhenya was surprised to be recognized in front of the crowd. She was even more surprised when Jedd shared with 3,000 or so seated in the auditorium that it was her 21st birthday! The enormous group then sang happy birthday to our beloved former orphan. (Little birds had whispered to our friend Jedd during the day ~ thanks, Jedd, for making the day so special for the oldest among the Russians we've adopted!)

Now on to our family celebration this week. Our family tradition is to have a formal meal on china and with crystal to celebrate each family member's birthday. Zhenya's pick was shashleek (Russian-spiced shishka-bobs) for her main dish. We lingered over the delicious meal, enjoying relaxed fellowship. Then, John, who is a marketer for the company that makes Blue Bunny Ice Cream, began to offer marketing ideas for morticians ...compelling concepts like, "Die one, get one free."

Our quiet family dinner erupted into convulsive laughing as John offer idea after idea to promote mortuaries.

As a result, when I tried to get a photo of best friends, Zhenya (left) and Sarah, this was what they offered (and, yes, they gave me permission to post their silliness).

As a mother, there are few things so precious to me as a happy family meal, and this evening had been a "10" on a scale of ten. We'd enjoyed fabulous food, fellowship and fun!

When the subject of bonding is brought up in the discussion of adopting older children, the process of attachment is often thought of in the short term. What Jim and I have learned in the 12 years since first stepping into orphan care arena when we adopted biological siblings, Zhenya, Sarah and Matt, is that bonding is a long-term process. Each sweet encounter with older adopted children strengthens the bond that didn't have the chance to develop during a pregnancy or when the child was a baby. Even after 12 years, our bond with our first trio of siblings continues to grow stronger and more beautiful.

After dinner, we proceeded to gift opening.

John's gift came in the largest bag.

Zhenya was delighted when she opened John's generous gift ~ a "pen and pad" that attaches to her computer. The tool will be a big help as she studies graphic design because what she does on the pad is integrated with a key design program  called "Illustrator. "

We usually cap off birthday celebrations with cake, but this time the birthday girl and Kirsten crafted a unique treat: frozen cheesecake coated in chocolate on a stick. Yum!

Faith wearing the t-shirt Zhenya designed

As we all enjoyed the delicious deviation from birthday cake, our oldest Russian adoptee was busy scheming. Zhenya was calculating how sale of the treats could raise money to support families trying to adopt. It was a glorious evening!

Birthday Season Continues ~ Zhenya's Turn!

Tonight we celebrated Zhenya's 21st birthday...more photos and details to come.

Miss Vibrant Turns Twelve!

(Starting with this post, we will be using all of our family's real names, rather than blog nicknames. We are the Reynolds family, not the Beaver family. The nicknames for my husband and me, "Mr. and Mrs. Beaver" came from the characters in the movie "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.")

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For our family, late April holds three milestones: Hope's birthday, followed by the 'famiversary" of Hope and her biological sisters, Christina and Faith on the same day as Eliana's birthday. This year Hope's birthday also coincided with Easter. So many grand reasons to thank the Lord for His overwhelming goodness to our family!

Late Sunday afternoon, we sat the birthday girl in the closest thing to a throne in our great room for gift opening.

When we open gifts, we always go from youngest to oldest. Even at her young age, Eliana has truly embraced the biblical sentiment that it is better to give than to receive. She is a thoughtful gift giver, picking out just the right present for the recipient. She then takes great joy in presenting the gift.

Hope received a wide array of gifts from her family, some toys and some which were more "gown up" and fitting for a girl on the cusp of her teens.

After donning the jewelry she received, she immediately dove into relishing a new set of Legos. She had help from two of her siblings. Nathaniel and Eliana who are on the opposite ends of that long-and-somewhat-strange season ~ now called the tweens by marketers ~ in which you are maturing toward adulthood while there is still much about you that is resonates with that which is of childhood.

While they collaborated on building the Lego set, some serious grilling was going on. John was the appointed grill master for Hope's birthday dinner.

I'm not sure what seasoning secret the chef was sharing here, but he had a captivated audience in his sisters, Sarah (left) and Kirsten (right). We thank God for the close friendships our adult children share!

The girls went back inside, and the men turned to technology.  

We finished off the celebration of Hope's twelfth with a beautiful cake make by Faith. 

In the build-up to Hope's birthday, we informed her that we had a plan to make a "surprise" cake. The reason for the secrecy was that a couple of months earlier, we stumbled across a recipe that we knew would fit Hope's personality perfectly. Until the first slice, the birthday girl didn't know that the white icing hid layers of vibrant color.

For our family the cake was virtually symbolic of how Hope Alina entered our family nine years ago. When Mr. R. and I went on our "first trip" as part of the adoption procedure, we were permitted to spend 45 minutes with the toddler we were considering adopting (Hope's sisters, Christiana and Faith were in another orphanage for older children.) Our first encounter with the diminutive orphan was in the office of her orphanage's director. Hope was like the cake baked for her this year. Her true colors were completely hidden.

The 2-1/2 year old sat in our laps in a silent orphanage in a small industrial city in far western Russia and didn't make move or utter a sound. Despite how passive and silent Hope was, the two of us were smitten in three-quarters of an hour. Right there on the spot we signed a legal document committing to return and make her our child. However, even as we made the promise, we didn't have the slightest inkling what she would add to our family. This little orphan was still all "white frosting," so to speak. Little did we know that hidden behind her then frozen exterior was a vivacious child brimming with curiosity and individuality. With love and a sense of security, boy, did she  blossom! We soon discovered that when the Lord added Hope Alina to our family, He added a veritable rainbow! This month, as we celebrate both her birthday and her famiversary, we again thank God for His good gift of Hope!

Alexander's 13th

Early on in the celebration of his birthday, Alexander received a Lego set. He eagerly reached over to hug the giver.

One of the first bridges that Mark and Alexander shared--long before they could speak the same language--was building with Legos.

Alexander's next gift puzzled him...

...as he pulled a small skillet out of Christmas wrapping paper.

He was unsure what to make of the unusual gift...

...until Amy (10) piped up and happily said, "Oksana (8) and I want to give you a bed and breakfast."

Once the older folks in the family stopped guffawing behind our hands, we explained to Amy that the term she was looking for was "breakfast in bed."

Another of Alexander's gifts came in the form of a hand-drawn card from Cassandra. Even as Alexander was taking the card out of it's envelope, he was repeatedly complimenting Cassandra on her artwork. One of the many ways Alexander blesses us is through encouragement. He's always on the look-out for opportunities to build us up.

By the end of Alexander's gift opening ceremony, he'd migrated to the place where he seems happiest and most secure--right at John's side.

Another???

Mrs. Beaver:

Amy on her 10th birthday in April

A few weeks before Amy's recent birthday, her dad asked what she was hoping for as a gift. Without hesitation, she replied, "A doll." He questioned her choice, "Another doll? You have so many." She looked up at him with an expectant smile and said earnestly, "Yes, but with one more I can play 'Orphanage.'"

April Birthday Number Two

We celebrated another birthday today.

Exactly one week after Amy turned 10, Oksana reached her 8th birthday.

A few weeks ago, Oksana told us she was hoping for a big stuffed dog.

A great God-given joy for these adoptive parents is being able to grant the often simple wishes of our former orphans. From our perspective, life just doesn't get much better than this!

As soon as Oksana had unwrapped her giant bull dog and pulled him into an embrace, Mr. Beaver asked her what name she was going to give him. She stretched out her arms to study her new toy's face and said decidedly, "Daddy." Mr. Beaver was a bit unsure of the implications of having a giant stuffed bull dog named after him. However, upon seeing her affection for the pup, Mr. Beaver has chosen to see Oksana's naming choice as an effort to express her love for him.

We've had a number of ups and downs with Oksana over the past year. The suffering she experienced as a very young child has evidenced itself in number of ways that have touched the whole family. She's learning now what most kids learn at two or three. Despite the hard times and challenges, God has showered us with his grace, and we all treasure and deeply love this dark eyed beauty who is now eight years old. We cannot imagine life without her! We thank the Lord for the unspeakably good gift of Oksana. His love and goodness never cease to amaze us.

Picture credits go to Daria, Cassandra and Tatiana