Christmas Pictures

The actual family Christmas picture

The rejected, but closer-to-the-truth family Christmas picture

Christmas is two weeks from yesterday.  I'm working hard this year at being spiritually and emotionally ready, but that doesn't make me "gift prepared." 
Whitney and Chase each want one, specific thing.  Both have asked for reasonable, useable things, but they aren't cheap things, naturally!  Dennis and I have talked about not buying for each other and being frugal with Daniel, who won't notice, anyway.  He'll be thrilled with the used WWE X-Box 360 games that are already wrapped and under the tree.  (Don't tell!)
Sunday night is our church Children's Christmas program.  Daniel has practice Saturday morning at 10:30.  He helped me write that on our kitchen message board so we wouldn't forget.  Forgetting isn't likely as he has told me "Saturday at 10:30" once a day for about a week.  The Christmas program is one of my favorite parts of Christmas.  Our church does a great job of letting the kids know that God has wired them with gifts and talents that build the church, and this is one way to use those gifts to shine a light on Jesus.  Plus, who doesn't love little girls in frilly, twirly dresses and little boys in ties and shiny shoes??? 

Birthday Boy

It's this guy's 8th birthday on Saturday.  He's just a little excited.  He begins each morning by counting from "today" until Saturday just to make sure he knows exactly how many days it is until his birthday. 
Last year he didn't really get the concept of celebrating a birthday.  That wasn't part of his past experience.  We went to the Ethiopian restaurant here in Lincoln, had a cake, and kept the day pretty low-key. 
Since then he's been invited to several birthday parties, so he has a better understanding of how things could be done.  He went back and forth on whether or not he wanted a party.  In the end, he decided to take one friend to Omaha to The Amazing Pizza Machine.  Sort of a "mini-party." 

Fall

October is my favorite month of the year.  This year it has come with a little bit of this:

We jumped off the cliff into the world of team sports.  I use the cliff analogy because it's a move from which it is difficult to back away.  We did begin with a relatively small step: YMCA Micro Soccer - a 25-minute practice followed by a 25-minute game, all on the same day. 
Daniel thoroughly enjoyed his soccer team experience.  He found it strange that everyone got a medal, but I think a lot of people find that strange, so he's in good company.
Fall has also come with a little bit of this:

Hayden (dead center) is in his fourth year on the UNL drumline.  This year he is the cymbal rank leader, and boy, can I see his influence in their drill.  You kind of have to see it to understand.

And some of this:

Whitney decided to go "all in" on the homecoming dress, pictures and dinner while foregoing the drama of the dance. 


I wish I could include a picture of Chase's college planning, but that isn't quite as photograph-able, is it?  Currently he's thinking computer programming.  He's re-taking the ACT next Saturday.

It's been since May that I last posted.  I guess that's because we're motoring along busily, as most people I know, and also with a sense of "normal" that doesn't seem very blog-worthy.  Normal can be very, very good!

Re-Adoption

Yesterday Hayden, Dennis, Daniel and I went to the Lancaster County Courthouse (Nebraska; not Pennsylvania) to appear before a judge to finalize in the U.S. our adoption of Daniel.  At the same time, we officially changed his name from the Ethiopian Court-ordered "Daniel Dennis Florom" to our choice of  "Daniel Tarik Florom." Picking a middle name was a months-long process.  We settled on Tarik after considering and discarding several other options.  Tarik means History, and is a form of Tariku, which means He has a story to tell.  We thought this was appropriate since he lived the first 7 years of his life in Ethiopia.  He definitely has a story to tell.  Sometimes he's in the mood to give us large glimpses of his life in Abi Adi.  Last week he told me he could pretty much sleep wherever he wanted to as long as it wasn't in the place where they parked the cars because the guy who guards that will hit you with a baseball bat.
At other times he acts like he doesn't remember a thing.  Storytelling is on his terms.
As he grows, I hope his story will include us, a family that dearly loves him and loves getting to know him, and also Jesus who knows his story from beginning to end. 

Early Spring Happenings

 Daniel celebrated his first Easter in America.  This picture sums up his cousin's and his thoughts on waiting for the little kids to hunt for eggs.  Once egg hunting began for these two, they perked up.

 Easter, for decades, has been a huge event in my family.  On the weekend we celebrate Christ's amazing, demonstrating-the-power-of-God resurrection, the Lackey clan gets together, and we do it right.  We've gone through two generations of Easter egg-hunting kids.  Now my kids are the hiders along with their grandparents.
Years ago dad began something that he may wish he hadn't.  He organizes and writes the clues for a scavenger hunt on the property of wherever we're celebrating.  He divides the family into three teams, dividing spouses and same-family adult children. (This year my team was Tyler, Chase, and we threw in Daniel, too.) We run, as a team, around the property collecting clues, this year nine clues.  Then we sort the clues to spell out a phrase. (This year: Empty Tomb)  The team that does it first wins the biggest prize and so on in descending value.  We act like kids and love it.  I hope my parents are able to help us celebrate Easter for years to come.

This is Daniel in farmer gear.  At the end of the farm unit in kindergarten, they were asked to dress like a farmer for show & tell.  Note also his new watch which he bought with his own money.  Daniel is funny about dressing up for school. We noticed this on Book Parade day, also.  He doesn't want to be the only one dressed up.  He asked if his hat would fit in his backpack, you know, just in case.

Ahh, prom.  Whit, never one to miss a photo opportunity, dressed up a little to have some pictures with Chase.

Elvis Sighting

I went to Elvis’s funeral on Monday. Probably not really, but you never know…

I actually went to Randy Levering’s funeral.  Randy and his wife Judy have been attending our church and the Masterpiece (adults with special needs) Sunday School class.  We see them in 2nd service; Randy and Judy were both in wheel chairs.  Randy loved to dress up as Elvis.  He brought scarves that he gave to children; sometimes he even wore a wig.  He made me smile about as much as does the stretch limo with steer horns that brings this special group of people to our building each Sunday morning.  Randy knew he was dying from the first day he started attending.  But I never saw him without a smile on his face.  From the reports of those who spoke at his funeral, I think this was his usual demeanor.  They spoke of a man who pushed Judy all over town in her wheelchair.  He had a 3-wheeled bike that he put a 3-person seat on so that he, Judy and their son could ride together. 

If you attend First Free and you haven’t already, I urge you to make it a regular practice to talk to “the guys” and Judy.  They fill our Worship Center with contagious joy that we didn’t even know we were missing before they came, but now I can’t imagine life without it. 

I was convicted by James 2 this morning.  The beginning of this chapter talks about showing favoritism based on how someone is dressed—social/economic differences.  We all notice differences, but in the church, we should see them as opportunities to get a little bit of heaven here on earth.  We think the USA is a melting pot?  Wait till we get to heaven! We’ll be floored by the beautiful uniqueness we see as well as the unity.

And Elvis is waiting for us.

 

Brilliant Thoughts

A few days ago I had some brilliant thoughts for a blog post.  Alas, however; I fell asleep and all is lost. 
This is Spring Break for LPS, and the weather is totally bi-polar.  We received about 6 inches of snow on Sunday, and it's supposed to be 70's on Friday.  I suppose that's the definition of spring.
We're at the nine-month home point with Daniel.  He's doing great.  This morning I told him it was "Dance While You Brush Your Teeth Tuesday."  He said, "Really?" in a less-than-convinced voice.  He's already learned to doubt a lot of what I say, so he definitely fits in with our family.  He did, however, spin in circles while he brushed.
A few weeks ago he told Dennis that he's scared to say, "I love you" to us.  I wonder if anyone else out there in adoption world can relate to that.  We keep saying it and trust that he will eventually internalize his safety in our family. 
He continues to make amazing strides in language and is doing great in school.  He's taking swimming lessons this week but says he won't go into the deep end until he's bigger.  It's always wise to know your limitations.

The Bible

The following is from my weekly newsletter for the Connecting Ministries team at our church.)

“Phew! That was close one!” 

As I shared on Facebook this week, that was Daniel’s response to the Abraham/Isaac sacrifice scene in the History Channel’s miniseries, “The Bible.”

I love his fresh perspective on this old story.  As he was watching, he would recount the details that he remembered from hearing the story in Sunday School or reading it in his Bible.  The next morning, he sat down with his picture Bible to see how many of the stories he could find.  He even said he had a dream about the angels (who came to Lot).

My reaction was more, not critical, but with a critic’s eye, maybe?  For example, I noticed in the Israelites fleeing Egypt scene that there weren’t nearly enough people in the Israelite camp (They were short about a million.).  Why did they include the story of Lot and not the story of Joseph?  Overall, I thought it was well-done and am looking forward to future weeks.

On the drive to work this morning, I wondered what it would have looked like if we actually had video footage of the biblical scenes.  I’m not one of those people who thinks heaven is going to have some cosmic movie screen, but I do think we’ll have opportunity for hearing stories from all parts of history.  Why?  Because they bring glory to the One who created everything; parted seas; spoke in whispers; brought fire from heaven; gave children to the childless, and on and on it will go.

This Sunday Ricky will challenge us to see that God’s goal is to reach people and we are the vehicle He is using in the current age.  Guess what.  If our neighbors are going to hear about Christ, someone is going to have to tell them.  I’m not saying a burning bush couldn’t appear in their yard, but I’m also not saying it’s likely. 

Because my current world is pretty Christian-centric, I’m challenging myself to develop more relationships with people who don’t think like me.  This week I started a beginning knitting class (much to my 14-year old’s horror).  I didn’t have a chance to do much more than introduce myself; I was too busy concentrating on the brand new method of knitting that I was being asked to learn.  But I hope I can use this as a way to just meet some people and be available to see what the Spirit would have me do with that.   If you live in a pretty small world, too, I encourage you to think creatively about how you also might broaden it.

Show Choir Season

Midwest Cup//That's What's Up

It's show choir season.  Chase's choir, "Resonance" competed last Saturday in the Midwest Cup at the University of Nebraska here in Lincoln.  We have this Saturday off, then we have or host competitions every Saturday through the end of February. Honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way.  I'm a wear school colors and a button with my son's picture on it-kind of mom.  We spent about 14 hours at the competition last weekend.  We came away with 3rd place and debuted a ballad that, quite literally, brought people to tears.  It's going to be a good year... if Chase can be a good sport!  Show Choir is an area where you can tell if even one or two people haven't put in the time in rehearsal.  When you get a group of choirs that are all within shooting distance of the Grand Champion title, you can't say, "Well, we deserve this because we work hard." or "We want it more!" They all work hard and they all want it, and they're all leaving it all out there on the stage.  So, show choir turns out to be a good place to learn life lessons like saying "congratulations" when someone else is walking away with the 6-ft trophy that you really wanted, OR smiling when they have to stop you in the middle of your show because the microphones aren't working.  It's a place where you join with hundreds of others in singing "Hey, Baby" and "Sweet Caroline" just because you have a few minutes to kill, and you know that everyone will want to join in singing.  It's a place where alumni of the group come to cheer this year's group, and moms from different choirs share stories of the costs involved in having multiple kids in show choir.  I call it the "Show Choir Universe" because it's a world all unto itself.  And, I love it.  Here we go.

Revisiting December

Here are a few of my favorite shots from December. 

 We enjoyed an evening hosted by a good friend for her Christmas album release.  Note to self:  Have a professional photographer at any future gathering.

Hayden and Julia pose after the football season wrap-up concert.  Or should I say, marching band season wrap-up concert.

 Daniel was thrilled by our first big snowfall, but I don't think he realized just how cold it could be outside. Once we had him outfitted in snow pants and boots, he ventured out. A few days later, however, he told me that he liked it better when it was warm. Snow is one thing, but he's missing out on a lot of neighborhood football games.

 We celebrated Christmas at my sister's house and Isaac was able to come home from Denver.  Here he's taking Daniel and Madyson through the "Food Network" magazine.  Later he impressed us with one of his own dessert creations.

A moment of peace and love between brother and sister on Christmas morning.  As Whit commented, "We really do love each other."
This has actually been a really cool thing about Whit being in high school.  We've seen a closeness develop between her and Chase. 
Next week we move into "Show Choir Mode" as the season kicks off with a competiton here in Lincoln.  I LOVE show choir season.  It will pass too quickly.  I take my knitting bag and settle in for a full day of watching choir after choir. 
I guess I have nothing deep to share today.  We've settled into a new normal since Daniel's arrival six months ago.  That, in itself, seems like a huge accomplishment.