Little did we know, three and some years ago, that when we took our sweet baby Iz into our arms, we'd be embracing much more than a wonderful little girl. We'd be embracing a whole extended family along with her - one that graciously extends the embrace back to us. This past week, we were blessed with the company of Iz's grandparents, along with Marie, Neil and Iz's birth sister. While Winnipeg didn't provide the warmest or driest weather, we had nearly six days to enjoy together. Some of the highlights were:
- just getting to know each other better. Our kids LOVED having all of them here and I loved the ratio of adults to children: 5 to 4 (as S was usually at work). The kids got lots of cuddles, stories read to them and playtime with each other. And I felt that I got a break. It was great!
- Getting spoiled by some incredibly beautiful and thoughtful gifts! Grandma Helen had made gorgeous bed quilts for each of the children, which they were rightfully delighted with. Wow! I'll have to take better shots of them, as they're absolutely lovely. Steve and I were also gifted with some special presents, which I hope to get photos up of later . . .
- On top of presents, they took care of us by doing all kinds of odd and ends around the house. Ai and Iz had long anticipated Grandma fixing up their special blankets,
A had her special pillow repaired, my sewing desk was organized, the sewing machine fixed, my desk moved upstairs and organized, a clothesline and bird feeder hung, swings hung from the rafters downstairs, the dryer repaired, etc. The list goes on (much to ours and our parents relief - less for them to do when they come visit!). A real bonus was finally purchasing a dining room table and having friends with a truck to help transport it! It feels so much better to have the dining room slowly become settled and it'll be great to be able to invite company over at last!
- Another bonus was getting to use the table together, for some yummy meals prepared by . . . our guests! We were able to celebrate both Neil and Ai's birthday together, thanks to all the goodies they brought along.
- We all took a trip to the zoo (on the day it happened to be 50% off, gotta like that!). Some of the highlights were actually the prairie dogs running every which way and seeing the families of Canada geese. One couple had 22 goslings (though most of those wouldn't be biological, but ones that had joined their brood)! We were lucky timing-wise that we happened upon a friendly camel and the kids got a few camel kisses. Is that not a cute face?
- Spending time with another sweet little girl who reminds us so much of our own. She's impish,
active . . .
charming . . .
ferociously cute . . .
helpful . . .
and a good friend to A . . .
We thoroughly enjoyed having her in the group.
This past Sunday, S walked into church just as the congregation was asked if they had any guests to introduce. Put on the spot, he wasn't quite sure what to say. "This week we've had the pleasure of having our . . . sort of parent-in-laws with us." Hmm. What was that? He quickly followed up to explain that Iz's grandparents were visiting us from the Lower Mainland, but he captured the essence of it: Iz's grandparents have become more than just that, Iz's grandparents (which would have been special enough). If there's such a thing, they've come to feel like our adopted in-laws who share their lives and love with our whole family. Many birth grandparents of adopted children and adoptive parents may feel that their relationship is characterized by underlying awkwardness. We can't say how thankful we are that the explaining of our relationship is the most awkward part. Of the many surprises that life contains, so many of them are really darn good. What a gift to have "extended family" beyond the typical extended family.
Thanks so much, all five of you, for coming to spend time with us . . . and please make sure to do it again!
ps - I forgot that last Saturday, my Aunt Edie and Aron from Edmonton also come by for lunch. I just love having out-of-town company! Thanks for stopping in!
4 comments:
Beautiful pictures, and the connection between you is beautiful as well!
Yes, we are fortunate the way things have worked out. I think we adoptive parents enter into relationships with birth families knowing that its the best thing we can do for our child, not comprehending heart-wise and support-wise how its the best thing we can do for all of us. It's such a welcome thing to have even more people who really have our family's back. I think beautiful is a good description . . .
Speaking of beautiful, congrats on becoming an aunt again! :)
Great pictures! Loved reading this post. It's so neat to see how everyone has bonded & neat for the kids to have so many grandparenty type people in their lives.
Definitely, a blessing. It was hard not to do picture overload again, as I had so many favourite pictures from the week. It went by too quickly . . .
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