A day at the park with our friends from Burma

For those of you who don't know...our church sponsored a refugee family from Burma. This amazing family of ten (whoa!) had to flee for their lives because of religious/minority persecution (they are a Christian minority called the "Karen". Pronounce Kar-EN.)and make their way through the jungle to Thailand so they would be safe. They lived in a refugee camp in Thailand for about 10 years and the US has recently agreed to take A LOT of these refugee families into America. The three youngest girls were actually born in the camp. I'm SO thankful that they are here and they are safe and free to worship. We have come to really love them all. They asked us a few weeks ago if we would come to the park with them and some of the other Karen refugees. It was really fun for us all. A tad funny, since most of them don't speak any English, but really fun! :)

The funniest part of the day was them watching Kris eat traditional Karen papaya salad. I though "mmmmm.... papaya salad", not remembering the fact that they make EVERYTHING super HOT!!! Kris took one bite and whispered to me to not try any. I'm a spicy food wimp! He on the other hand LOVES spicy food, but he said this was REALLY hot. They watched in awe as he ate the whole bowl (probably the first white American to ever accomplish such a task) and then made him another bowl which Kris said was actually even hotter. They were very impressed. :)

The kids ran around and acted like kids and I was really struck by what a great God we have to help these wonderful people come from a place of war and fear to a place of FREEDOM and JOY. Wow! God is good!!!

We love Pirates

I'm a little embarrased to say how much Kris and I LOVE pirates of the Carribean! I didn't expect to enjoy them so much and figured they would just be another "guy movie" that I would tolerate....but then again, I do LIKE a lot of those typical guy movies. Anyways, I LOVED both one and two and can't WAIT for three! We already have our tickets and we will be pre-screening it opening night to see if Katryna will be allowed to go see it. She is really hoping we will let her, but we took her to the second one and it was WAY scarier than the first (we covered her eyes through a majority of the movie. Despite her protests!) and I'm worried that this one might be even scarier. I just don't like her seeing anything violent. She wasn't scared at all about the slimy monster type creatures. She's pretty brave! :)

Katryna loved the movies so much that she decided to be Captain Jack for halloween. I asked her if she wanted to be Elizabeth Swann, since she was a girl pirate, but Katryna said Jack was cooler. Who can argue with that!?!

I hope there are a few people out there who are as excited to see it as we are. Maybe we'll see you there opening night!

Hidden Treasures

I'm still learning this whole blogging thing (mainly the inserting files part of it), but I figured I have to start somewhere.

We are so blessed to have 4 amazing children. I feel SO lucky to have them and we also are so thankful that we have experienced the miracle of adoption in our family. I can say now for SURE that God chooses every child for your family....whether they are adopted or biological. It's incredible to see his plans unfold. Sebastian is the greatest little boy I could have ever imagined and he is so loved and SO spoiled rotten by his three big sisters (and maybe a little bit by Kris and me too.) :)

We were given a grant by Shaohannah's Hope to help with our adoption costs. This organization was started by Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife after they adopted three little girls from China. They now spread the word about the miracle of adoption and they help raise money to make grants available to families that can't afford the high costs of adoption.

They recently made a video to talk about the many little ''hidden treasures" around the world that still need a family. It makes me cry every time I watch it. Please take a moment to watch it and I hope that someone might feel God tugging at their heart about the miracle of adoption and the thousands of kids around the world that are waiting for a family. Enjoy.

*The little girl at the beginning of the video is Steven Curtis Chapman's daughter Shaoey. Isn't she CUTE?

To Blog or not to blog

I've thought about writing about some of the happenings in our busy household for quite awhile, and finally decided it was time to begin. I hope to keep friends and family a little more up to date on the lives of everyone in the Vander Zwaag household. It's never boring here and we love every minute of it.

I will briefly clue you in to everyone's current happenings....

Roberta- busy constantly trying to keep the house clean in hopes that it will one day sell.

Kris- busy reading many, many, many X-rays.

Katryna- busy with school and always singing.

Sofia-busy with school and drawing lots of pictures.

Mia-busy keeping Mommy busy.

Sebastian-busy making a mess of the house that Mommy is constantly trying to keep clean.

I hope to have many adventures to share on here in the future, but for now I'm going to attempt to attach a picture. Until next time......