Like Father, Like Son

One of the words I would use to describe my husband is "enthusiastic". It comes out in lots of ways - those of you who know him well, know what I mean.
Last night we enjoyed some special family time with his side of the family. We made it a "kid-focused" night, where we promised them games and just some special fun. Martin got right into it with these kids. It's one of the things I love about him. He takes the time to play all kinds of fun things with them - just 'cause he remembers how much he loved that kind of thing when he was little.
One of the games last night was the good-old, "find the item in the room while everyone told you if you were getting hot or cold". As usual, Martin got pretty caught up in the game - letting the kids know if they were freezing cold or burning hot or somewhere in between.
At this point in the game, someone was "so burning hot!!!!"
Which brings us to Justin. One of the ways we describe Justin is also with the word "enthusiastic". Again, those of you who know him well, know what we mean by this. Sometimes, he gets so excited, he vibrates. Quite literally. It's one of those things we've wanted to capture on camera many times, but somehow the camera just isn't ready in time. He does this over a good throw of his ball, food, Christmas lights, etc., etc. It's really quite funny. He also does this if he notices everyone else in the room getting excited - even if he doesn't have a clue why. And that's what happened last night. He got so caught up in the excitement, this is what he did:

You really have to actually see it happen to really know how funny this is - but this picture really does capture most of it.

Like father, like son?

Amazing :)

Thanks, Leanne, for these great pictures ;)

And thanks to everyone else for a really fun night together!

Snow

First snowfall of the season, so we went outside to enjoy it a bit. Justin had to learn to move well in his big snowsuit, but once he got the hang of that, he enjoyed himself thoroughly. Until his hands got too cold because he didn't keep his mittens on :(

Being home

Last night I worked a night shift. As much as I enjoy being back to work for a shift here and there, I think the best part is being home the next night. I so love being home with my family.
To top it all off, the wood stove is on, and I think I might just go curl up on the couch with a blanket and a book. Sounds positively delightful :)

Overwhelmed

Again. In fact, that might actually be an understatement.
Because Martin and I were wonderfully surprised to find out that we are expecting our second child! And this time we know the due date! We are praising God for this miracle - and also still trying to wrap our minds around it :)
To be honest, I struggled with how to word a post like this. Simply because I did not want the specialness (is that a word?) of this announcement to come across as more or less special than this one. Because they are equally special. Just different. I can't put into words how thankful and humbled we are to be able to experience both adoption and pregnancy.
Though we are excited to move forward in this journey, there are some things that I had grown to treasure about the experiences we have had (though I can not deny that there were some painful days along the way). Of course, I treasure our precious son Justin, who we can not imagine life without anymore. I also treasure the fact that God used that time to grow us and stretch us in ways I know we would not have been had we not gone through those years of infertility and the adoption of our son. And I treasure the people we met along the way, some of whom we developed wonderful friendships with - friendships that I hope and pray will continue. We are so thankful for those people, and will continue to pray that God's grace would surround them, as it did and does us.
If all goes well, we are very much looking forward to welcoming this baby the middle of May! We are fully aware that God is in control of this little life too - and we commit this child, as we have committed Justin, and our whole lives, into His care.

Precious Memories

We just received these pictures the other day. The very first day we met and held our boy. I just had to share. Definitely precious memories.

Just pictures

I've been meaning to get these up for a little while - but for some reason, blogspot wouldn't let me. Anyways, here's a few pictures from the last month:

A family picture to remember Justin's baptism September 26

Discovering the fun of slides

Story-time with Daddy

So intrigued by horses in the field behind our house

First sit-down movie - Franklin couldn't keep his attention for long, though :)

The most efficient way to eat snacks when Mommy puts them on the floor instead of in a cup

It was a good attempt...

Martin has wanted to hike to the top of this peak - Yak - for a long, long time.
(Not to worry, there is a hiking way up, it's not only for rock climbers :)

So on the holiday weekend, we decided to head up there. Before leaving, we already had a small problem, and that was that our printer did not work. Yes, that is related to hiking. You see, we get our directions from the internet, and so we usually print them out so we know where we're going. But, since it didn't work, Martin just jotted some of the "main points" down. And away we went.

We spent quite a bit of time - about 45 minutes - just trying to find the trail head. Finally, I spotted some flagging tape. And what else could flagging tape mean, but a trail? And a trail it was - or maybe not. I don't think either of us have been on such a rough trail for a hike before.

But there was lots of flagging tape and it was going in the right direction - up the mountain. So we hiked. For about an hour and then we came the the base of the rock face.

We stopped for lunch, and then carried on. Unfortunately we ran stuck. That nice trail with so much flagging tape ran us to a dead end. So, after about an hour of trying to find our way up (and a little melt-down from me when we were climbing a part that I thought was too steep - a story in itself), we actually gave up on the hike. For this time. At this point, we were more determined than ever to go home, read the directions well and get to the top of the mountain some time soon.

Anyways, despite not getting to the top, we had a fantastic day. Justin took one short nap in the backpack, and was happy the whole day.

Turns out we should have taken a trail further up the road - sounds like a pretty uncomplicated way up. Now we know.

Oh yes, we did get a beautiful view of Needle Peak from this side. It's fun to think that we've been at the top of that!

Amazed

At the gift of new life! I had the incredible honor and privilege of being there for the birth of our newest niece, Zoey Hendrika. I can not find words adequate to describe how special it was for me to be there.

Thank you Soph and Jeff - I will never forget that day.
And congratulations! We pray God will bless you with joy and wisdom as you raise your precious little girl!

Isn't she beautiful?

I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. ~Psalm 139:14

Walking!!

For some reason, the video won't upload... so here's a picture of Justin taking some of those first cute, unsteady steps.

A Swim at the River

A beautiful evening for a picnic supper and swim at the river. We love that we live within biking distance of places like this.

Newfoundland

I figured it's about time I showed you a few of our pictures of our trip to Newfoundland. A trip across the country like this is one of those things we've talked about... but never really thought we'd do it anytime soon. And then my brother got married there. Made for a nice excuse to go out there :)
I was a little nervous about travelling for almost 10 hours with Justin over night - but he did really well. He definitely didn't sleep his regular 12 hours, but he did manage to sleep several hours on the plane. And, even with this lack of sleep, he was a very well behaved, happy boy. I really didn't have to worry about anything.
We spent the first part of our trip in the town of Gander, where T & L got married. We had a most wonderful host family while we were there. We slept in their RV, ate a lot of our meals with them, and just really enjoyed being with this family! When I discovered a stain on Martin's shirt for the wedding the day before the wedding, C even took care of cleaning it for me! Justin also very much enjoyed this family - especially their 12-year old son, J. He took to him instantly. One night around midnight (since a 4-hour time difference affects a little boy's ability to sleep), J had Justin laughing harder than we've ever seen before or since. It was a real "belly" laugh - and one of the cutest things ever. Too bad we didn't get that on video. But that will always be a fun memory!! Thanks again L's for everything!!
When we weren't doing wedding-related things, we spent some time with my family just seeing some of the country there.

Note: Martin wanted to find a place with "open ocean" very bad. We missed the spot that was recommended to us to stop, and decided to stop here instead. Martin and Dad got some great shots... but the girls got attacked by hoards of crazy little bugs! Don't think we'll ever forget that ;)

Gander also had a new splash park there that Justin enjoyed very, very much! He had the most fun the first day we went there, but of course, I forgot my camera that time. He had fun this time too, though - so here's a few pictures of the fun he had in the water there.
Of course, meeting Uncle Thys & Auntie Leah was a highlight of the trip too. My picture with Justin & Leah didn't turn out, but as you can see, Thys knew how to win our little boy over: food :) This is them at the rehersal dinner.
And the whole reason for the trip:
Congratulations Thys & Leah!!
After the wedding weekend was over, we headed out with just the 3 of us for the rest of our time away. The first day, we spent some time in St. John's - we did the "touristy" things and saw Signal Hill and Cape Spear.

The most easterly point in North America

We stayed in the little town of Tors Cove in this house. The owner was very friendly, and when he heard we wanted to hike part of the East Coast trail, he offered to have us drop our vehicle at one spot and then he drove us to the next entrance point so that we wouldn't have to go back and forth on the same trail. That was great, because it gave us time to do another part of the trail a little further on that day as well! Here's some pictures of our hiking day. All that ocean air tuckered this little guy out.

He slept through the rest of the hike, getting transferred

into the carseat and then for the next hour or so until

we got to the next part of our hike.

Enjoying a campfire at the place we stayed.

The next day we headed back for home again. Again, Justin did super well - thanks mostly to Martin - I just didn't seem to have the right touch this time :)We chose a little longer layover in Calgary so that we could visit Martin's mom & dad for a couple of hours. Mom found a nice park near the airport and packed a delicious picnic lunch. It was so nice to see them and get to have a break in the long day of travelling.

Back at the airport, waiting for our next flight.

Coming home was so nice! It was especially fun to see Justin go check out his favorite play spots in the house. He has 3, and he raced (yes, he still crawls, but he's pretty quick) from one to the next to the next!

Thought I'd share...

Ever have it that you don't know exactly how or what to pray? I'm thinking I'm not the only one, so when I came across these helpful lists, I figured they'd be a good thing to share. There are at least 3 things I like to pray about and for everyday. One is to praise God; one is to pray for my husband; the other is to pray for my son. These links are 31-item "calendars" that list different things/ways to pray in these areas. Of course, we're not limited to praying only these things - but they are a great place to start. And I'm sure these lists can be used for others in our lives too - not just our spouse and children. Anyways, hope they are helpful for you too!

"Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Hebrews 4:16

Complete

Seven months minus one day since we heard about our precious boy; six months and sixteen days after he came home, we got that special phone call from the lawyer's office to say that the adoption order has been granted!! I nearly cried - got pretty choked up. I can't say I expected that response from myself, but I guess this is, and always will be a sensitive spot for me. Our sweet boy is now legally our son, and we are so excited that the process is complete! To set the record straight, it's not that as of Wednesday we view him any different, he's been our son in our hearts since day one, but there's just something special about it being finished!
Adoption has a bitter-sweet element to it though, and while we are thrilled to have this little boy and call him our son, we also remember his birthmom. {I once came across a blog where the writer beautifully acknowledged her daughter's birthmom, and (with her permission) I too want to do that - though I'm not such a skillful writer.} We think of her as we celebrate, knowing that she very likely feels her loss each and every day. We hope that she will always know that she is a very special and important part of who Justin is, and that she holds a special place in our hearts. We can not describe what an honor it is to be given a child through adoption; to have the opportunity to meet Justin's birthmom, and have her ask us to be the parents of her little boy. This selfless act of love that she made for him (and for us) is something we will always respect her for. Despite other "options" she chose to give Justin life, and we are forever grateful to her for that and for entrusting her son to us.

Again, we realize God's hand in bringing this all about, and we praise Him! And pray that He will help us to raise our son to His honor and glory.

We celebrated this special event in typical Martin-Wieska style: with ice cream. And, while Justin was and is completely unaware of the end of "the process" he thoroughly enjoyed the treat :)

Coming Home

We love coming home to this place. Especially after being gone for a while. The pictures are mostly for those who don't live close by enough to be able to come see us here.... I took them a few weeks ago now, and the wave petunias in the flower boxes have exploded! Hopefully the gazanias and geraniums planted behind them will catch up soon so that we can actually see them again :)We had two very good trips away - one at youth camp at BBWC, and one in Newfoundland to be at my brother's wedding and see some of the country there. Justin was a fantastic traveller. Got a bit of a cold the first trip, but otherwise handled the non-routineness and long airplane rides like a trooper. Will share more on those trips later.

For me, the week will finish up with the "regular" things around here. Laundry, baking, cleaning, work in the yard, etc. All the good stuff of being home :)