2008 Family Update

As I was thinking over 2008, the word that came to my mind was "wait". Waiting on God, for our daughter to arrive, waiting for a house to sell, for a new direction for our lives.
And instead of complaining, or allowing our patience to run dry, we instead choose to be thankful, and here's our reasons why....
~Connor, turned 9 a few weeks ago, but in 2008 had several firsts. First time riding a 4-wheeler, playing baseball in the spring, how to read music and play "Ode to Joy" on the piano. Tubing behind a boat on Lake Chelan, and experiencing summer day camp at Camp Berachah. He built and launched his first rocket, and then stepped into a 3rd grade class in September. He loves to build legos, ride his bike, and play with friends. If you know and love Connor, he's always going, always has something to say, and tries his hardest to do the best he can do. In 2009, he wants to continue saving for his dirt bike, learn karate, and play baseball again.

~Dave, continues to build and design decks for his company (Distinctive Deck) and is praying for what lies ahead in the new year, and beyond. He served on the youth ministry staff at our church this past year, and went to Tennessee last March to help a friend repair their home so it could be placed on the market. He loves a great laugh and a good cigar with friends. He's recently hooked up with some old friends from high school (thanks, Facebook), which he's enjoyed. He started his 3rd tattoo, a 1/2 sleeve on his L arm, which still has a few sittings to go to be complete. His goals for 2009 are to learn guitar, and is considering going back to school.

~Renee, enjoys life as a wife and mom. She works part-time as a nurse at an urgent care (mini-ER), and is challenged and grows more in love with nursing every day she's there. One of the true highlights was a fabulous trip to England with her friend Karen in August, 10 wonderful days of touring the countryside and coming home (officially) with the travel bug. She will continue back to school next quarter, and is hesitant about the balancing act once again with work, family, and school, (so just a head's up if you don't hear from her until March!) :) She loves time with friends, has recently reconnected with long lost family, and is anxious for the next season of life to start! Her goals for 2009 is to ride the STP (Seattle to Portland bike ride), try to curb her awful habit of procrastination, enjoy the small moments, and become better at keeping in touch.

The Adoption is moving along at a snail's pace, which has proven to be disheartening, discouraging, and a test of our patience and faith this past year. When we started the process (3 years ago this month), 'wait time' for a match was at 9 months. The wait has now stretched to 32 months, and continues to climb, for reasons no one seems to understand or can explain. We continue to be hopeful and pray for our daughter, whom we wonder if she is even born yet. We do not know what next year holds, but our (selfish) desires are to have her home with us. While we don't know what this looks like, all we can continue to do is pray for direction and continued perseverance. What joy it will be to someday meet her and from what we've been told, the wait will be worth it.

Our labs, Coda & Sophie, provide our nightly entertainment of wrestling, goofy looks & noises, and laughter. They add so much to our family and we take them where ever we can, camping, or to the lake in the summer. They are good dogs, we're thankful for them both.

As mentioned at the start of our update, "waiting" has been our theme this year. We welcomed January 2008 with the thoughts and plans of moving south to Oregon, to start a new season of our lives, only to sense God gently pulling us away from such a move as the year moved on. The confusion and grief was tough to process, but we are convinced that God will use us as He sees fit, and our only requirement is to be willing & ready. We are praying for where we are to go next, and are anxious for a change of scenery, having celebrated 9 years in our home this past year. Our goal for 2009 is to wholeheartedly seek HIM, and embrace all of the joy, and heartache, that may accompany what lies ahead. We are thankful for 12 years of marriage this year, which seems to get better as the years go by. :)

We are so thankful and continue to be blessed by our friendships & our family. For the joy of experiencing Connor's 'firsts' with him this past year ~ and all those 'firsts' to come this next year. We hope you know how special each one of you are to us, and how very much we love you.

May 2009 be overflowing with JOY and full of God's goodness for you and your family! Our hope is that you will experience the peace of knowing Jesus, and the eternal love that only HE can supply.

Many hugs & love,
The Gardenhires
Dave, Renee, Connor, Coda & Sophie
x o x o

Richards Family Reunion

The last few weeks have been beautiful... snow nearly every day (at least a couple of feet, total!), but also the opportunity to reconnect with family. The Richards family reunion was held at "The Bend" in Hood Canal - this gorgeous, enormous home that slept everyone comfortably and kept us nice and warm during a blizzard - where we were certain we were to be snowed in. :) Though not everyone was able to make it, primarily due to weather conditions, those that did had the chance to share - and laugh - at pictures and enjoy catching up. So far overdue, yet so meaningful. It felt like a fresh new start. Praise God! See pic's from the reunion at: www.richardsfamilyreunion.shutterfly.com

"Where there is lasting love, there is a family." - Shere Glite

Christmas 2008

She will bring a son to birth, and when she does, you, Joseph, will name him Jesus - "God Saves" - because he will save his people from their sins. -Matthew 1:21

Merry Christmas dear family & friends! May you experience peace today and are able to personally celebrate the significance of the birth of Jesus in your life today. We love you!

The Gardenhire 3 - Dave, Renee, Connor (& pups)

Happy 9th Birthday Connor!

Our big boy is 9 today... so hard to believe! Wasn't it just yesterday that you were lying next to me on the bassinet in the hospital, then running through the kitchen, able to clear underneath the island counter top? Now you are chest high to the counter, in 3rd grade, reading, running, full of energy and always ready to make a new friend. We love you and are so proud of you.

Below, celebrating with his best buds - Nathan, Cody and Jon. A full night of Wii games (thanks to all the boys for contributing their games, and Cody, the system!), pizza, cake, a nerf gun shoot-out, and staying up late watching movies. Good times. :)

Halloween 2008

Halloween 2008 - we trick-or-treated with a few friends from the Allison family - Cody & Maddy - Cody as Achmed the Dead Terrorist (for all of you Jeff Dunham fans), Connor as an "army guy" and Maddy, a purple-haired witch. :) The weather was cold, but clear. Cody's mask was a huge hit - it stood about a foot higher than his head (see his eye's peeking out of the mouth?)

glorious England!

I left for a trip to Southwest England, in Dorset, near Wimborne, with my friend Karen August 11th and was gone for 10 glorious days touring the English countryside. Truly the best part of the trip was our wonderful hosts and tour guides, Clare and her parents, Pete & Maggie, whom we stayed with. I absolutely adore them, and am so thankful for their willingess to entertain my love of history and put their lives on hold to drive us all over the place, cook, treat us to real fish & chips, a whiskey lesson, 'cream tea', and help us plan our few days in London on the way home. We visited castles, historic homes/sites, visited their favorite pubs, and celebrated with Clare and her husband Calum as they had a gorgeous reception in honor of their recent marriage and birth of their son, Thomas.

Karen and I braved London on our own... and we only got lost twice! :) We managed the buses, taxi's, the "Underground" or "tubes" and saw nearly everything. My favorite part of this day was walking through the Buckingham palace gardens, just taking it all in. The Tower of London and crown jewels were pretty amazing also.

Though I can't do my entire trip justice with this post - I thought I'd share a few pictures (about 1/3 of what I took), to get a taste of the fun we had. The memories and laughter were wonderful - thanks Karen for allowing me to stow away and be your companion for such a fun trip.

9 years ago....

We bought our first home in Black Diamond. Why Black Diamond? At the time, this is all we could afford. :) We had looked in Issaquah and Maple Valley, and found ourselves heading either farther south (or North, in relation to the more expensive areas) and decided on the south b/c we were expecting a baby and family was south.
Nine years later, we've done so many home improvements that our house hardly looks the same as when we bought it. I remeember the house was a horrible brown color with burgandy trim. Dave encouraged me to look beyond the paint color. We've lived through a family room addition, new flooring, doors, decks, landscaping, and so many paint colors inside (and out) that if you peeled the paint away you'd find a dozen layers - from bright green to navy blue, to red. I feel it adequately expresses how we have grown in this home - each paint color seems to define a different place in our lives. When we first moved in, I was so swollen and pregnant, but insisted on the navy blue/Victorian flowery border to be put up in the front room so I would feel at home. For those of you that know me, can you believe it? :)
Dave has done so much to this home... so many long days (and nights) finishing the next phase for inspection with the addition. The house is beautiful and complete (even though he wouldn't say so)... all thanks to his hard work and know-how.
We brought Connor home here - December 1999, to a freezing cold home because we thought it would be wiser to turn the heat off while we were at the hospital for 4 days, not thinking of how long it would take to heat up w/out a fireplace. It was like yesterday. Our navy blue sectional became our bed for the next week, we were both too exhasted and Connor would finally fall asleep I was terrified to move him risking he would wake up.
Now our big boy will be 9 this year, entering 3rd grade next week and while I'm typing this out I can't help but be totally overcome with emotion. He's grown so fast! The memories of him in this home... of his 1st birthday in the kitchen, playing outside in the yard, doing cartwheels on the new carpet, learning to ride his bike outside on the street, 8 Christmas mornings, walking him to school on the first day of kindergarten and terrified to leave him... crying all the way home. Playing with the older boys down the street, and being so excited when they would come over and ask him to come out and play football. Worrying about him when he insisted on playing in the greenbelt next door with a friend, as they worked on creating "fort 5" by cutting down bamboo with plastic swords dressed in camouflage.
We placed our home up for sale two weeks ago... as approximately 9 mo ago Dave and I began feeling like we needed a change. We pursued moving to Oregon, and were sad when we pushed on doors in this direction, and in doing so we felt resistance... almost as if a force not allowing us to move this direction, though we wanted to so badly. But yet we still feel unsettled. So, what seems like an act of obedience or trust in what is ahead for us, we placed a big red and white sign in our yard, with flyer's showcasing our beautiful home. Our home filled with so many memories, so many treasured moments, both together as a couple, then a family.

1 year down

Today is the 1 year anniversary of our log-in-date for adopting our daughter from China. We hope that the wait is not too much longer. Thankfully we've been approved again for our I-171 and our fingerprints have been updated. We dream of when we get to travel to China to meet her... to see the country she is born in. As of now, our agency reports that China is matching dossiers that were logged in February 2006. Now that the Olympics are over we hope that the match times will speed up considerably. We'll keep you updated, thanks for praying.

creation 2008

Dave took Connor and two of his nephews, Kyle and Drew, to Creation festival at the end of July. Held at the Gorge in George, WA - a big ampitheatre - it's four days of concerts and camping. Connor was excited to see Toby Mac, the Newsboys, and came home with an autographed poster from them.

camping in sunny chelan

What a wonderful time we had camping with our friends! The weather was hot, the lake was great, the Coleman's graciously shared their boat. It was wonderful!

Saturday night the Blankenships daughter Torrey accidentally swallowed a quarter, sending them to the ER in Chelan, then transferring to Wenatchee to have it removed. She did great and the first words out of her mouth coming out of surgery was "Where's my quarter?" :)

We celebrated Dave's 34th with a BBQ including his parents, sis/BIL & family, and our friends the Zegers. Dave celebrated with the boy's the Friday before - all of his friends showed up for poker & cigars. Good times.

11 months down - only 16 more to go (?!?!)

Today is the 11th anniversary of our log-in-date for adopting our daughter from China. Originally, when we started this whole process, we would have been to China and back already. Unfortunately, it isn't the case, but we are still convinced that God will place her with our family when the time is right. HIS timing is perfect! “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord." Isaiah 55:8

We'll enjoy our 11th Chinese dinner out tonight to talk about "mei-mei" and dream about when she's finally home with us.

Our (re)fingerprinting appointment is on July 7, to start that process all over again. Thankfully, we get to take advantage of our one-time renewal and it's free this time. Hopefully, we won't need to go through this again in 18 more months!

A great day!

What a great day! My mom's birthday, Connor's first piano concert (he did awesome!), Dave came home from a quick trip to California w/his buddy John, AND our softball team, Ground 'n' Pound, won our game against Smash & Dash, the other Commonground church team. And, the sun was shining! A great day.

our new blog design!

Hooray! Our new blog design is complete - thanks to Rebecca and her talent - we absolutely love it! Rebecca designs blogs as a means for helping to pay for adopting her son, whom is awaiting in China and will be joining their family soon! I believe she is moving on to a new venture opening her own graphic design business. THANK YOU Rebecca for capturing what we were envisioning!

Last week of school & rocket launch

In May Connor's 2nd grade class purchased and built rockets, and have been patiently awaiting the last week of school to launch them. Oh, the excitement!

"we are the champions"

After 21 games of leaving the field as the losing team, the Yellow Jackets (Maple Valley Pony League 2008) left as the winners of their last game. The 22nd time's the charm! What a fantastic way to end! To commemorate such a great season, I put together a short video of pic's for the families/players of the team. They worked so hard and what a fun time we had cheering them on! Connor's favorite part of the season was taking on the pitching mound and learning how to throw a fast-pitch ball. He's already excited for next year. We're so proud of you Connor!

Oh the places you'll go....

Congratulations to Bennett - our nephew in Oregon who celebrated his homeschool graduation on Sunday, June 8th. What a special moment for us to witness such a remarkable accomplishment! We are so proud of you and are praying for you as you pursue the path that God has before you.

Connor & Cody

Connor & his friend Cody, officially joint at the hip when together, are just too funny. We are so thankful for their friendship - they each have finally found a friend who can keep up with one another, their energy levels are equally matched - even until 1 AM, we've discovered. Cody has such a tender heart, and is such a good friend to Connor.

Here, on Cinco de Mayo, they were happy to pose as Harry Potter (Cody) and Super Army Guy (Connor). Prior to the costumes, Connor asked Cody's mom if he could draw the "Harry Potter scar" on Cody, to complete the outfit (of course). Can you guessed how hard we laughed? :)

Spring Break in Seabrook

What has now become a tradition for our families, we headed out again this year with our dear friends the Blankenships over spring break. Last year we went to Cabo, this year we opted for a shorter trip, and something that didn't require airfare, which led us to Seabrook, WA, a new little town about 10 miles north of Ocean Shores. We rented this cute little house and had several trips to the beach, a night of bowling, late night card games, a bike ride, scary movies, and just a lot of relaxation and fun.

tony hawk wanna-be

We're so proud of our little skateboarding nut .... he's mastered the ramps at the park across the street, but is still trying to tackle making it all around the bowl. Dave's been skating with him also, so it's been fun for them as well as fun for mom to watch. :)