THE KURTZ FAMILY........OUR ADOPTION JOURNEY

Legoland....everything is made of leg. They even have a minature city.....all made of lego.

We are heading to Disneyland. We are all so excited to be going. Denaye and Maya have been counting down the days......they have never been so this will be so exciting for them. We are going for 2 reasons...first because we want to and second because the repairs to our hardwood floors are being done the week we leave. Yes we planned it that way. We have to be out of the house for at least a week and I could not imagine trying to live a normal life in a hotel room for that long. So we leaving for sunny California...it is always easier to live in a hotel when you are NOT still trying to make lunches, do homework, go to work, get kids to school.....etc. We are all looking forward to getting away and experiencing Disneyland with the girls. Sam has been to Disneyworld, but that was a few years ago and he doesn't have much memory of it. He is pretty pumped!! We are also going to take in Legoland. It looks like a lot of fun. Here is a link to check it out. http://www.legoland.com/california.htm I showed the kids the website and they are super excited to get there. It is geared towards kids up to 12 years of age. They did however add on to the park and put in some monster rides as well.

Doug and Kada cutting the cupcakes.

Jesse made up a song to sing at Doug's wedding....I'm sorry I missed it. Brad played guitar and Jesse sang.

This is a family shot......the proud parents Brain and Renee

Rod and Jesse at Whiterock betwen the ceremony and the reception.

The happy couple....

Rod's dad and some of his grandsons. Jesse, Kyle, Elmer, Doug, Craig and Brad.

Last weekend Rod, Kyle and Jesse hopped in the car and drove for 12 hours to go to a wedding in Langley, B.C. Rod's brother, Brain's oldest son Doug...did you get that......got married. He married a lovely girl named Kada. We couldn't all make it, but the boys really wanted to be there to witness the event. Kyle was the assinged photogapher for our family and he had strict instructions to come home with pitures. Kyle did get the goods and so here are a few pitures of the celebration. We wish them all the best and a lifetime of happiness....God's blessings to them and we love them very much.

Debbie and gang

Sam, Maya and Denaye colored easter eggs...the finished product.

Easter morning...love the hair Denaye. She finally has developed a liking for cholcolate, so this is her fist big choclate bunny she ever got. She was very excited. Up until Christmas time Denaye would not eat choclate and then the taste buds kicked in and now everything has to be chocolate.

Maya has never had a problem with sugar of any kind.....

Denaye easter morning, on our way to church.

4 of our children on Easter morning....

My nephew Zach

My mom.....

Kyle and his friend Chase

Our friend Debbie

Glen and Shannon....Shannon and Debbie are sisters.

We spent this Easter with friends and family. We have made some new friends over this past year. My friend Debbie has a son that played on the same hockey team as Sam. The boys have become good friends and so have us mom's. Debbie's sister Shannon and her husband Glen and their 2 kids joined us for Easter as well. It has been great getting to know them.....their son Chase and our son Kyle are good friends from school...and so I suspect that we will be seeing each other a lot. This is a good thing as we have enjoyed their company. My sister Jody and Mike and their kids were with us and my mom too. It is always nice to spend time with family. We had a BBQ...the first one of the season. I love BBQ's!!! The weather was beautiful and the food was great and we enjoyed our afternoon.

The kids had an Easter egg hunt in the morning and filled their baskets with lots of cholocate bunnies and then we were off to church to celebrate the empty tomb.

Jesus has risen...Blessed be his Holy name.

Blessings to all

Debbie

Blessed be his holy name.......
The reason why our family celebrates Easter is because we believe that Jesus is the son of God and walked this earth some 2000 years ago. He died and then 3 days later rose from the grave so that we might live for all of eternity. He did that for us.
Romans 3:23 For all have sinned......
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only son......

Have a wonderful Easter and if you have not yet considered the truth behind Easter, I encourage you to find it.....it will change your life.
Blessings
Debbie

Our first morning in Vegas....the kids were excited to get going.

The kids went swimming almost everyday...it was 21-22 C everyday. Cold for Vegas...beautiful for us.

At Caesar's palace

Just outside the Coke store...Howard and Sue and the kids.

The M & M store.....can't believe it was 4 stories.

Playing the slots......not really....security came very quickly....we asked if we could just take a picture.


We were in Las Vegas last week. We took 4 of our kids with us and we had a blast. The girls were so excited to get on an airplane. This was the first airplane ride since Ethiopia. They were most excited about the TV's that they could watch. The weather was beautiful....it was 20-23 all week.....we came home to -20...what a difference.

Some highlights of the trip were the 2 story Coke store...got some fantastic glasses from there. Right beside the Coke store is the 4 story M & M store. I have never seen so much m&m stuff....it was unbelievable. They even had a 3D m&m movie playing on the 3rd floor. The shopping is fantastic in Vegas....loved the factory outlet mall. There was also a Ross store right across the street from our hotel...it doesn't get any better then that. Some good friends of ours went with us...Howard and Sue.....it's always nice to have friends to hang out with on trips. We saw Danny Gans...loved it. I took Kyle to see Blue Man Group at the Ventian. It is a great show and Kyle loved it so much he didn't want it to end. We did a lot in those 4 days that we were there and the kids had a great time. Denaye and Maya both love to travel.....they were fascinated by all of the lights and all of the action.....makes home seem pretty boring. Sam and the girls love to stay in hotels, so this was one of their favorite parts. I missed my bed, but it was a fun trip for all of us.

Debbie

I started another blog...can't believe I did that as there is no time to keep up with this one as it is. The reason I did is for Sam. He is quite simply a miracle. When he was born the doctors gave him about a 10% chance of survival. Sam asks me all of the time about what happened to him, so I thought I would tell his story so he could read and look at it anytime he wanted. There is not much there right now, but I will begin his story and you will see for yourself that he is very much a miracle. Here is the link. http://thelifeofsam-dkurtz.blogspot.com/

Blessings
Debbie

My mom had a birthday and we all got together to celebrate with her. I am so thankful that my mom lives in Edmonton, she is such a huge help and a great friend to me. She has only been here for about 6 years so now I am so used to her being around that I would be lost without her. Happy Birthday Mom...God Bless You
Debbie

Maya modelling her new clothes from E-Bay

So this is the new phrase from Maya....COME ON.....she says it all of the time. She says it when she's not happy with something, when she's happy with something, when she's mad at something.......well you get the picture. I am trying to explain to her that sometimes it can sound very rude....she has a tone about it when she says it when she's annoyed. I mention this because it appears that Maya is very much a Canadain girl. She doesn't talk about her country very much anymore and when she does it is just a brief sentence about something she is doing that reminds her of Africa. She says shes from Africa not Ethiopia...not sure why, but that's her story. Her English is coming along...she still doesn't put all of the ands and buts in their proper place, but it will come. Her class at school has gone skating a couple of times this year and she loved it. What a huge contrast from what her life was in Africa/Ethiopia or wherever. She is a control freak and she makes it her business to know everybody's business....Sam gets so annoyed with her. She still is growing at a rapid rate, not like she was a year ago, but still a lot. She recently asked me what a model was and I explained it to her as best I could, so now she does the 'walk' all of the time. I recently bought her some clothes fom a wonderful lady her sells clothes on E-Bay and she spent the evening modelling them for me.....she told me when she grows up she wants to be a cheerleader and a hairdresser. I have no idea what the future holds for Maya, but I know that whatever she does it will be done big and boldly...that's just who she is.

The other night I was putting Sam to bed and we were having a conversation...it went something like this. Sam when you get up and get dressed tommorrow for school, don't forget to change your underwear. Sam responds.....I did already.....I say "when"...his response, 3 days ago!!! After I chuckled I told him that it was a good idea to change his underwear everyday...it's good hygiene. His response "WHAT!! how about I change them on the weekends!!!!!" I still haven't stopped laughing...boys gotta love em!!

This year on December 27th we started a new tradition. Years ago my family (as many as could make it) used to get together at christmas every year and celebrate together. We played floor hockey opened gifts etc. Those years were some of the best memories I have. We decided to bring back that tradition with a few changes...the point of it though is reconnecting and being together with family.
So on December 27th we had the first Verity Christmas classic. It was held at our house this year. We had such a blast!!! We started the day off with some old fashioned outdoor hockey. The weather was perfect...it was the only nice day we had amongst the -25 degree weather we had before and since that day. Those who didn't play hockey went sledding...the girls thought this was great fun. Denaye even had a good time. Last year she only went once before she said she was too cold to continue. After the outdoor activities we headed back to our house for chilli and pizza and then lots of baking. We had a chinese christmas gift exchange that was a lot of fun....next year we are going to have a theme for that part. We then played games and had lots of visiting time to catch up with what everyone is doing. We learned that my cousin Chad is getting married next year and so is his brother Jeremy....what wonderful knews. Jeremy only just shared this knews with us after the event. We were sad that some couldn't make it, but there is always next year.....we all agreed that we will continue on with this tradition as it was so much fun. We have some great video footage that maybe I will post if I get around to it. It was good to reconnect with extended family and we all agreed that this is one tradition worth doing so mark your calendars for December 2009....................it is going to be a blast!!!!

My brother Don

Uncle Rae, aunt Linda and Nathan.....we haven't seen Nathan in years it was great to see him again.

chowing down on some chilli

Kendall and Shauna

Denaye and Emily running across the ice.
Getting ready for the big game

My 2 brothers, Rod and Sam
Heather, Mike and Kyle
Mike in a brawl with Matt the goalie......