Celebrations

Celebrations

It has been another long "break" since I last wrote on my blog and I apologize for that! I do plan on creating certain times per week to take a break, slow down and share about what God has been laying on my heart. I hope to share on a variety of topics that have grown in my heart or have been there all along. 

BUT today is a beyond special day for our family! 1 year ago today we met our son (in the flesh) in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It wasn't our official Gotchya day but we consider today our family day as we celebrate the journey of how we became parents to this beautiful boy. Today in Saskatoon it felt like it was going to snow and my husband and I were reminiscing and remembering how hot it was the day we got to meet our son. We arrived in South Africa a day earlier than expected and so we actually got to meet our son a day early which was an unexpected blessing. 

The day of meeting our Solomon Owami:
We woke up a little bit late as we were adjusting to time change and our gracious host at Heaton Cottage allowed us to have a late breakfast. I was so nervous and excited that I hardly had an appetite. We were then told a bit later what time our social worker was coming to pick us up. 3:00pm could not come soon enough. We wandered the grounds, read (at least tried to), chatted about how we were feeling, had some snacks and finally 3 pm arrived and we were on our way. With our camera in hand we took about a 15 minute drive and arrived at the home our son had been raised in for the first 14 months of his life. We got out of the car, walked up to the gate and this is what happened:

And now a year later he is the light of our lives, he makes us smile and laugh daily, he is so gentle, caring, affectionate, warm-hearted, funny, is quite the character and soaks up information like a sponge. He continues to love playing with balls, trucks, cars, airplanes, trains etc. and loves music (play, sing and dance). We are beyond blessed to have this little man as our son and we thank God for choosing us to be his parents daily. 

A year later this is our beautiful boy:

(Baptism and Birthday Weekend)

He LOVED camping!!

Thanks for sharing in our ups and downs when we started this journey 3 years ago and we are so excited to share our lives as we continue striving to live the life God is calling us to live. 

be blessed.

Shaeline

{summer fun}

Well, I think its time to catch you up on some of our summer activities we did as a family this year! When we looked at our summer in May it sure didn't look very busy, but then low and behold it of course got busy :) The business was all good but still busy. So to recap I will go back to July.

In July we had our camping trip as a family at the end of June, then I had the privilege of shooting a wedding on July 1! It was a beautiful day and a more beautiful couple! July was a bit quieter with doing yard work, getting our grass to turn green :), and enjoying some quiet time as a family. It was a busier month for Josh at work so evenings were often quick. At the end of July we had the RUN143 event of the year. It turned out to be a beautiful day! To see more about this event click here.

Then August hit-- the month of the countdown until I started work, every weekend we enjoyed something but it all started off with a wonderful family trip! We headed to Calgary to see my brother, sister-in-law and adorable niece. We enjoyed a few days with them and then headed off to Waterton for some family time in our favourite place! It was so great to be in the mountains on our son's 2nd birthday!!! We enjoyed every minute together and love seeing how our little man has flourished over the last 10 months!

{a little photo shoot with my adorable niece this summer}

  {They started to learn how to get along :) }

 {He's TWO!!!!}

{first of many family hikes!}

{Celebrated our little boy with pancakes, a family hike, spray park, pizza, ice-cream and throwing rocks.... an amazing "first" birthday with our boy!}

 {helping Daddy}

{Until next time Waterton} 

We continued our August with celebrating our little man's birthday with family and friends as well as his baptism! Such a special weekend to have family surrounding him and us and supporting our parenthood journey. We are so thankful for those who were able to be there and for those who were praying for us from afar! It's such a blessing to be a part of a family and friend circle that care and love us so much!

{Birthday Bash}

{Baptism} 

{Amazing friends, aunties, uncles and God-parents} 

 {Grandparents whom he LOVES}

{An amazing network of friends and family that came to celebrate Solomon}

We then had a weekend of visitors from South Africa and to continue our busy month I was heading to Black Diamond the following thursday to shoot a wedding. I can't wait to share some of those photos as I start to edit them! 

hen when I got back I started work the following tuesday. I can NOT believe how time flies when all you want it to do is slow down! 

Now we are starting to get into a routine with momma, me, being back at work and Solomon going to a few different places on those days. We have also been trying to simplify our lives with not only commitments but also with possessions. So speaking of that this Saturday my mom and I will be hosting a shared Garage Sale at my house, 1403 Korol Mews. If your around come check it out! Items that will be there: women's clothes/shoes (some hardly worn), home decor, useful house items, hide-a-bed couch etc. 

I hope life will slow down now and we can take time to just figure out our new life, routine and enjoy some good amazing family time. With a half marathon thrown in there at the end of the month. But taking intentional time to slow down, read a book, bake some muffins, go for a bike ride etc. These small quiet moments I am learning to appreciate more and more in my life.

What are you doing intentionally to slow down in life? 

~be blessed~

family camping trip

Josh had the last week off of work and its has been a WONDERFUL week! I love having my husband home and Solomon LOVES having his daddy home. He isn't going to know what to do with himself on Wednesday when daddy goes back to work. 

While Josh was home we had some time away as a family, tenting for the first time for Solomon and our first time with a toddler! Besides all the insane mosquitos / black flies we had a great time! Here are a few pictures to sum up our trip! 

Playing in the car while momma and daddy set up camp. 

Favorite past time- throwing sticks, rocks and sand into the "wa-wa" (water)

My little hiker!

Can I just say adorable :)

My family...

Beach day!!!

Such a great time to be together in the amazing creation of our God! Looking forward to many more camping trips and many more memories!

be blessed...
shaeline