Hollister Ranch

Last weekend we headed north to the Santa Barbara area to meetup with my family and my brother-in-laws family for some fun at the beach, also known as "The Ranch"! Mark's family owns some property within the Hollister Ranch cattle farm which boasts 8.5 miles of PRIVATE coastline!! 

It is SPECTACULAR and such a fun, fun trip for everyone!! We were last at the Ranch two whole years ago and it was so much fun to return once again. The treasures you can find combing the beach here CANNOT.BE.BEAT!!  More on that later.

As usual I took a lot of photos so prepare yourself for a photo overload...

You don't find beaches this empty everyday...

 My whole family.

 Mark's sister's kids came down as well with Mark's parents!

My sister and her adorable family.

Kaelyn made herself a little swimming pool and played in it all day. 

Brayden is impossibly cute!

And full on walking even though he's not yet one...

We roasted marshmellows and made beachside Smores.

 

Our beachcombing crew.

Just SOME of the treasures we found!

 There were giant sea slugs everywhere! The kids all enjoyed touching them and watching them very slowlyyyyyy move. This guy was probably 12 inches long.

To get to our preferred beach you have to drive about 20 minutes into the cattle ranch on winding roads. We had many encounters with critters like these along the way as they freely graze the cliff sides.

Day two started with photos of this cutie...she cracks me up!

 The beach was covered in seaweed so Bren and Savannah busied themselves cleaning it up. 

 

We stayed at a nearby hotel and finally discovered the secret to a successful bed sharing experience for these two. A pool noodle shoved under the sheet to divide up the space. No one rolled into each other, no kicked anyone, and everyone was happy! Including mommy and daddy!

Two years ago we discovered a "you pick" blueberry farm and the blueberries were divine! So we stopped in again this time to pick some more! Look how big these suckers are, the photo doesn't do it justice! We decided to have a contest to see who could pick the largest blueberry, there was some strict competition but I pulled out a WIN!!

Brayden was not a fan of picture time...

One of Brennan's giant finds!

Someone spilled her blueberries...

I'll leave you with some cuteness...on the left we have Kaelyn picking (or rather eating) blueberries two years ago at 1 1/2, on the right we have her this trip at 3 1/2.

Hooray for Social Media

Got to chat with this handsome dude via Facebook this morning!!

 

It had been way too long since we'd "talked" on Facebook. Sure we'd sent messages back and forth but it had been months since we'd actually been online at the same time and been able to carry on somewhat of a conversation. I was able to give him a tutorial on how to use some of the pictures I had of him and put them on his Facebook account as his own. He chose the photo above as his "profile" photo. I always LOVED that photo of him. He had so much fun at soccer camp, his first ever experience with an actual coach! He's so proudly tell me how many goals he'd scored at the end of each day, one day he even got a hat trick during their scrimmage, for those of you not in the "know" a hat trick is when you score three goals in one game. Needless to say he was stoked and I was too!! 

I just adore this boy! Chatting with him this morning brought back so many memories...what an amazing 5 weeks it was! I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat!! He was SO worth it!

We're still raising funds to bring him back to his adoptive family this summer, if you can help I'd be ever so grateful! You can find out how to do so here, be sure and follow the links to read about how to designate your donation so that it will go directly to his hosting fees!!

Calling All Dzintars "Fans"

Today I come to you with a need, not mine, but his...

 

I get asked about him often, many of you assume he's already "home", but he's not. Truth is he's still in Latvia waiting!! Adoption is HARD! And requires endless amounts of paperwork, never ending paperwork.  Adoptive families refer to it as "the great paper chase". Just when you think you have turned in every last piece of paper, they ask for yet another. 

Due to paperwork delays beyond their control, Dz's family won't be able to travel to get him prior to the summer hosting period like they had hoped. That means that unless they "re-host" him, he'll be stuck in Latvia at a summer camp rather than here being loved on by his family!! As Americans when we hear summer camp, we assume it's fun and kids actually LIKE going there. However that is not the case, it's survival of the fittest at these camps, kids are fighting, drinking, smoking etc. and it is NOT a place for a kid like Dzintars! A child who has only ever wanted a family!!

 

His family wants to re-host him but that comes with an additional cost that they weren't expecting and can't cover without help! They need to be prepared to travel to bring him home just as soon as the government will allow them and using their funds to cover his hosting fees may render them unable to do so! That's where you come in, will you consider donating towards his hosting fees?

I can't bare the thought of him spending the summer alone. He's already waited long enough, he asks daily when he'll be able to come home. Can you help get him here for the summer? I've seen recent photos of him and his smile is fading, he's losing hope :( Which is often the case for these kids, the longer an adoption takes the more they begin to doubt their families are EVER going to come for them. They've been let down by adults all their lives, why would THESE adults be any different. The carefree kiddo I know and love, the one you all fell in love with, is fading fast! A summer with his family will help restore all that, he'll be loved, he'll be safe, he'll be HOME!

If you'd consider making a tax deductible donation to help bring him here this summer I'd be ever so grateful!! It's going to cost roughly $3200 to get him here, and that would put a huge dent in their adoption fund!! Every little bit will add up! No contribution is too small!!

If you feel led to contribute to Dzintars account you can do so here. There are step by step directions that will walk you through how to designate where your funds go!! This is a MUST!!! If you don't state where you want your donation to go, it will go into our "general" fund and won't help get Dz here!! Please use the designated area and write "Donation for L97 Dzintars' hosting fees". If for some reason you forget to designate please let me know right away, you don't need to tell me the amount, only your first and last name and I can work with our accountant to get your contribution into his account, but please try and remember to designate as it will save A LOT of work!!

If you prefer to mail a check you can make it out to "New Horizons for Children" and mail it to: 3950 Cobb Pkwy, Suite 708, Acworth, GA 30101. On the memo line please write "Donation for L97 Dzintars' hosting fees"!

There was such an outpouring of love for him last summer, I KNOW we can do this! We CAN and WILL bring him home with your help!!

I look forward to see him smile like this yet again...

...because it's PRICELESS!!

What Love Can Do

Love not only CHANGES lives, often times it SAVES lives, literally. I've seen it time and time again, but this morning I saw a video a family had put together with before and after photos of kids who had been adopted from dire circumstances and I was blown away by what LOVE can do!! 

The children in this video all have special needs! You'll notice many of them have glazed over eyes and are extremely underweight...such is the life of special needs orphans throughout the world. Their countries see them as defective and attempt to hide them away in the worst of orphanages or even adult mental asylums where these poor little loves LITERALLY waste away to nothing. Often times spending nearly their entire lives lying in their cribs in their own waste. 

But look what love can do!!!

Love has redeemed them all and brought them from death to life!!