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.

Reminded { CAFO 2014 }

This past week, our family attended the Christian Alliance for Orphans' (CAFO) annual summit. We joined several thousand who are on the front lines in the care of vulnerable children around the globe. Those who gathered in Chicago for CAFO 2014 represented 35 countries. Each brought his or her own stories of God at work. Each came to be refreshed and renewed in their commitment to answer God's clarion call woven throughout the Bible to "defend the orphan" (Isaiah 1:17).

Most likely, when orphan care is mentioned, adoption is the first thing to come to mind. While that may have been one of the few ways to make a difference for the 147,000,000 orphans in the past. Global orphan care takes hundreds of different forms and more and more is emphasizing care for the children within their own country. Globally, creative efforts to meet the countless needs of the "least of these" have grown exponentially during the past decade. Adoption is now just one manner of caring for the fatherless.

Adoption does happen to be the orphan care arena to which the Lord has called our family. Adoption is how Jim and I became parents when the Lord placed our oldest daughter, Anna, in our arms through the courageous choice of her birthmother. Several years after the birth of our twins, the Lord grew our family through three separate adoptions as we added trios of older Russian children to our number in 2001, 2005 and 2010. As my beloved husband once put it, "Adoption is what we do as a family."

Attending CAFO 2014 reminded Jim and me of God's heart for the orphan. Being surrounded by so many who love the vulnerable renewed our determination to shepherd well the children who have come to us through adoption. While at CAFO 2014 we were deeply blessed to meet a handful of Eastern Europeans who are serving the orphans sacrificially in their countries amidst difficult circumstances. They embraced our role as an adoptive family wholeheartedly, and we were deeply encouraged by their love.

The two days of CAFO 2014 stretched us from early morning to late in the evening. We learned much during the plenary sessions and in workshops. We came home tired, but it was a good kind of tired. We returned home empowered by the Holy Spirit to continue on in the work we've been called to by Christ. Jim and I also returned to home ready to stand shoulder to shoulder with others who are called to "visit the orphan" in whatever manner the Lord might call them.

On our way home yesterday, we stopped briefly for a refreshment break in the incredibly picturesque town of Galena, Illinois. Galena was founded in 1826 and is the birthplace of U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant.

Sarah - age 20

While Dad was purchasing a snack for the kids at a coffee shop, I took advantage of the day's beautiful lighting to snap some photos of some of our precious kiddos. 

On the left, Christina, 16 and Faith, 14 

Matt, age 18

Nathaniel, age 14

Once we had food and drink, we slowly wound our way up main street. We weren't alone! A good portion of the mid west seemed to have decided Galena would be a perfect place to celebrate one of the first truly spring-like days of in the northern part of the country.

In addition to many food shops that emitted tantalizing aromas, the town is also home to a number of antique stores and shops carrying home-decorating treasures. I was drawn to this unusual peacock wall hanging.

As we ambled down the street, a fierce-looking watch dog eyed us warily from one of the shops.

We finished our stroll by taking a group photo.

(Sadly, John was unable to join us due to work.)

Our Baby's Ten--Oops!

Last week we celebrated our youngest child's birthday. In my current push to keep our blog more up to date, I worked feverishly that night to post photos. However, in my tired state I accidentally posted them on my personal blog, A Deep Breath of Hope, instead of here on our family blog. For anyone who would like to take a peek, here's a link to Our Second April Birthday. ~Denise

Laughter is Such Good Medicine: Family Night

Our family keeps one evening each week as Family Night. On Family Night we put aside all other distractions and simply have fun together, playing a game, watching a movie or, as was the case this week, going to a park. (Although this week not everyone in family was available. John, Zhenya and Kirsten were out of town.)

As soon as we set foot in the grass, which was just beginning to green up, the foot ball was in the air.

However, it wasn't long before a TAKE DOWN happened. Matt is 3-1/2 years older, but our two youngest sons are now almost identical in size. Matt may have the benefit of experience, but Nathaniel is slightly taller and still growing.

While the boys were playing football (and enjoying the tackling), Sarah was helping Hope find her balance.

When Dad came over to the playground, he gave Hope quite a spin.

Then it was Sarah's turn.

I'm not sure who was laughing harder...

Sarah has always been good-natured; she kept laughing even after being 'launched' from the seat.

Next it was Christina's turn.

Once Christina got over being dizzy, she took up dancing. The music? It was all in her head.

The whole evening was filled with laughter and joy.

... and creativity. Here she was our little gymnast.

... Here she was our little ice skater.

... and here, a ballerina.

... and here, Daddy's girl.

I love family night!

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!