marina + the beach + a marrying date

A little over a week ago, our family of three hit the road.
Oklahoma to Florida.
That's about 1,000 miles -- one way.
IN. A. CAR.

On our way there, we made a pit stop after 12 hours to spend the night at our dear friends' home in Birmingham. They, ironically, were in Florida at the time, but opened their home to us even in their absence. I cannot begin to tell you how thankful we were to have a free, cozy place to stay for the night as we rolled into their driveway after midnight.
(By the way, they even left sweet notes and chocolates on the pillows! Seriously, awesome friends.)

We were up a mere 6 hours later and needing to hit the road to finish our loooong journey.
But, before we left the Birmingham city limits, we stopped at a park to let Aubrey get some much needed energy out before the last leg of our trip.
And this particular park happened to be less than 2 miles from our sweet Marina.

Quick sidenote: I met Marina through Reach Orphans with Hope the Summer of 2007. She is from Ukraine and now has a family in Birmingham. We left for Cincinnati right before she was adopted, so I hadn't seen her in over 5 years. 

Words cannot describe how my heart felt when I saw her again. I think I cried an entire bucket of tears.

The last time we were together, Marina couldn't speak English. I used to have dreams that we were talking together in the same language, and on this glorious day...my dream became a reality. It was one of the most precious blessings God has ever given me.

When we had to say good-bye again, I got in the car and could not stop crying.
This adoption process has made me such an emotional mess, and seeing Marina -- the one who God used specifically to cultivate my desire to be a mother -- was so overwhelming. It all was such an experience of God's divine plan and call on my life.

So, leaving in a trail of tears, we made the last leg of our trip and arrived at the beach just in time to watch the sunset. Again, I just stared in wonder at another example of how amazing God is...

Yes, I'm blessed, that's for sure.

 

Oh, and guess who met us in Florida?!

ZUBIE!

After the sun went down, we all went straight from the beach to dinner at The Red Bar...

The band was just getting started, and Aubrey was working up an appetite after some serious dancing with her dolls.

The next morning, we were on the beach by 9 a.m.

Aubrey's favorite thing was building sandcastles and then knocking them down. 

P.S. Daniel and Zubie are similar in so many ways...

We decided to bury Aubrey in the sand.
She thought this was hilarious.
We regretted it after spending the rest of the day cleaning sand out of every crevice.

Then, the next day, Jacob came down to join in on the fun!

 

 

So, the WHOLE reason we drove to the beach for essentially two days, was because my wonderfully amazing friend from college, Ann Wade, was getting married!

Which also meant my lovely college roomie, Dana, would be coming too! 

ROOMIE REUNION!!

And! Cherry-on-top: she brought her new little man! CHARLIE!!

The wedding and reception: LOVELY.



I'm telling you what, it will definitely go down in my book as one of the sweetest weddings ever.
And I'm not even talking about the cake, which I looooved, by the way...

After we had been at the reception for awhile, Daniel and I scurried back to the beach house to pick up our little munchkin. This was her first wedding to go to, and she was SO excited.

She kept saying, "Ohhhh, I just cannot wait to go to the marrying date!"
My goodness, I could just eat her...

The evening took a chilly turn, but luckily we had this handsome fella around to keep us warm! :)

And the absolute highlight of the trip for Aubrey?
Getting to meet a REAL princess...

She seriously watched Ann Wade the entire evening -- completely mesmerized.

That night when we put her to bed she wanted to pray for the Princess she met at the marrying date. :)

The next morning, we woke up and drove the whole way home.
We left at 8:30 a.m. and pulled into our garage at 12:30 a.m.
That's 16 hours in the car.
Good Golly, Miss Molly!

I need to give a last little shout-out to Aubrey.
She was an awesome traveling cowgirl.

"Giddy up, Pony! We're headin' back to Oklahoooooma!"

Sunday Snapshots

Today is Orphan Sunday.
And the entire month of November is National Adoption Awareness Month.
*******The girl pictured with me is Marina, and she used to be an orphan in Ukraine.

Today, she lives in the US and has a loving family in Birmingham, AL.
God is so good.

*******

Those who know me (for at least 5 minutes), you know my heart for orphans.

God spoke to me in such a profound way on February 1st, 2007, regarding orphans that it literally changed the course of my life.

But that's a post for another day...

My Mini Melting Pot

So over the past couple of days, all my encounters have been with people from another country. You all know I love accents (#1 on my random list), so I've been in absolute heaven.

Here are a few scoops out of my life's melting pot lately...

::French Connection::

It was a gorgeous day, and Aubrey and I decided to take a stroll around the complex. As we headed out, I noticed a lady putting her son in a stroller as well. We were in front of them, and I kept thinking to myself, "Turn around and introduce yourself!" It was that awkward distance which is too far to just slow down and let them you catch you -- you'd pretty much have to stop and/or turnaround. I hoped they would speed up, but then, before I knew it, they were gone. Dang...must have taken a different street. Well, that's when Aubrey and I began "the hunt." We burned up those sidewalks trying to figure out their route so we could "accidentally" bump right into them.

After about 15 minutes of wishing we had that great BOB jogging stroller, I was profusely sweating. I sadly admitted defeat and just strolled nonchalantly with the babe. As we rounded the corner to head back to our place, we spotted them coming from the Leasing Building. Ah! Caught ya! I introduced myself and she did the same. I have NO idea what she said her name was, but I did catch everything else we talked about after the name exchange.

She's French and her little boy just turned one on Sunday. His name is George Edward {Umm...how cute is that!?}, and he's the most handsome little boy you've ever seen. Quick visual: sandy-blonde hair, drop-dead-gorgeous blue eyes, and a bit of a tanned face. The mom said her husband is from Italy {explains George Edward's sweet tanned face...}, and they're only here for two years for his job. {Amazing how this "hubby's job brought us here for a short time" theme keeps popping up around here...}

Anyway, as we chatted all the way back to our prospective homes {mainly both complaining about the noise, the dirt bike rider, the fireworks, etc.}, Aubrey and George Edward couldn't keep their eyes off one another. We agreed to take the babies to the pool once it gets a little warmer.

Poor Aubrey...I'm not sure she's ready for bikini season.

{What season?!}

::Hopping on the Ukrainian Train::

Our neighbors were extra noisy yesterday, and woke up my precious sleeping baby {I think God's really working me overtime with the whole "love your neighbor" lesson}. Aubrey was so tired, but couldn't get back to sleep {the CONTINUED noise wasn't helping matters} so I thought we'd go for a walk. Aubrey wasn't having it. So, after lugging a 20 lb. baby and pushing the empty stroller all the way back home, I remembered the little cat toys I bought to take to my new "Cat Lady"* friend. I had yet to visit and kept talking myself out of going over there. It's so hard to just knock on someone's door {I thought I could use the cat toys as an ice breaker}. I figured, well, this day can't get much worse...I'll just take Aubrey over there with me. If she gets fussy I'll use that as the reason to head back home. {Please tell me I'm not the only awful parent out there who uses their child as a quick exit strategy!?}

I knocked on the door and was greeted by the Cat Lady's husband. He said, "You must be Ashley! 'Cat Lady' talks about you all the time! She's going to be so glad you're here!" Out came Cat Lady, and the smile on her face made me wonder why I had waited this long to visit. She's truly a lovely person. Aubrey spotted the kitties {and their toys} and completely forgot about being tired. Cat Lady made some tea and brought out some cookies and Ukrainian chocolates. She whisked up Aubrey and said, "You sit, I want you relax...I take baby...you enjoy your tea." Bless that woman!

We sipped on our tea {out of the most gorgeous, vintage Russian tea cups I have ever seen} and just talked. Well, we would say a few sentences and then have to corral Aubrey out of the cat toys/bed/food. Cat Lady spoke Ukrainian and Russian to Aubrey while we were there, and Aubrey just soaked it all in with amazement. She even started jabbering in little words I've never heard her say before. It was so incredibly cute.

*I don't want to put Cat Lady's name on here...it just feels like an invasion of privacy or something. I will say, however, that it's a great Ukrainian name.

::The REAL Super Nanny::

This week, Aubrey and I went to the mall because the girl has literally outgrown everything she owns. I would bet money that her legs grow an inch overnight. Anyway, we were waiting for the elevator to take us to the children's department {I would swear they change the location of this department every time we go. I park on the second floor, Children's is on the first. I park on the first floor the next time, it's on the second. Ah!}, and an older lady came up to wait with us. She said {in the most wonderful British accent}, "Ah, love, must be teething, eh?!" talking to Aubrey as she was gnawing on her toy. I told her I think we've been teething for months and still no tooth to show for it. The lady said, "Well, I've been a nanny for over 60 years, and I'd say she'll get that tooth pretty soon!"

"Wow, 60 years! That's incredible!"

"Yes dear, been with the same family for 3 generations. Now they take care of me!"

I almost cried it was so sweet.

"Now, I'm not like those British super nannies you see on TV, oh no, I don't know where they did their training, but it's all rubbish I tell you. I started out in a maternity hospital when I was 16 years old. I've been around children ever since. I'll be 82 this year."

Thinking to myself, "I need to somehow suck all the knowledge out of this woman's brain," but all I could get out was, "So, what's your best advice when it comes to children?"

"Enjoy them, dear. Just enjoy them."

Priceless advice.

**********

Here's a little preview of what's been going on in our "American" household:

Daddy helping Aubrey try a Baby Puff for the first time.

Aubrey discovered our stairs. Mommy discovered new gray hairs.

Until next time...au revoir, paka, cheerio, and goodbye!

I Met the Cat Lady Today

{In case you don't remember the Cat Lady, you can go here to get the history.}

Well today, my friends, I met the Cat Lady.

I had just put Aubrey down for a nap and decided to pop outside to our mailbox. As I was halfway down our driveway, there she was.

Now, I had just written the post about Tomorrowland and felt compelled to make an effort to at least exchange "hellos" with one of my neighbors. But what do you say to the Cat Lady?

Well, I said the only thing I could think of, "You sure have a beautiful cat!"

"Yes, yes, sank you...sank you."

No way. I know that accent.

The Cat Lady started walking toward me, cat in arms.

I reached my hand out to pet the furry feline.

"His name is Regi. It's short for red in Russian. I am from Russia, well, Ukraine, actually. Kiev." she said in wonderfully broken English.

{As many of you know, a couple of summers ago while we were living in Birmingham, I helped with an organization that hosts orphans from Ukraine. I ADORE Ukrainians and Russians. Adore them.}

I know a handful of Ukrainian/Russian words. Cat and kitten happen to be two of them. When I told her my two choice words, her face completely lit up.

I told her I have a dear friend who used to live in Poltava (she is now adopted -- praise the Lord!). Again, her face just glowed as she said, "My brother lives in Poltava!"

She proceeded to tell me that this cat used to be her parents' cat and that there is another smaller kitten inside. Her parents recently died of strokes, one practically after the other, and there was no one to take care of the them. She flew to Kiev to bring the cats back with her.

My heart sank.

This incredibly sweet lady went on to open her heart to me about the struggles she’s gone through this winter. Her husband (an American) works quite a bit, and they are only staying here in Cincinnati for a short time with his job {Sounds familar, huh?}.

After her parents’ deaths, she felt so alone. She told me she’s been feeling so depressed lately, and her parents’ cats have been a great source of joy to her. They remind her of the good times she shared with them. She walks Regi as a reminder of the walks she used to take with her mother.

My heart hit bottom.

I had instant flashbacks of me sneakily peaking my camera lens through the blinds to take some pictures I so judgmentally labeled, “ridiculous.”

I felt horrible.

I proceeded to tell her how incredibly sorry I was for her loss, and that I too had struggled with loneliness this winter. I told her that my new baby girl helps to provide much needed happiness on these gloomy, rainy days that so often plague this city. She kindly invited us to stop by and visit her and her cats any time. She would love the company. I offered the same.

So there you go. That’s the Cat Lady. She’s wonderful.

Getting out of Tomorrowland has never felt better.

I'll let you know when I, along with my own little kitten, make our first visit.