“Remember that children, marriages, and flower gardens reflect the kind of care they get.”
~H. Jackson Brown, Jr., American author, Life's Little Instruction Book
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Thriving Thursday, Greenthumb!
Have you wondered about us…?
Recently, a YouTube commenter said something about our son, Nikolai’s, appearance being different. It’s natural to notice and wonder about seeming incongruencies.
I mean… our family assortment is colorful! And while it’s normal to us, others may wonder. So in case you’re interested…
Today’s “snippet” is longer, but it’s a snapshot on the Alderson's:
THE ALDERSONS
COLEMAN
Coleman was born and raised in West Virginia, Montani Semper Liberi, on 7/30/53.
You can read his bio under any of his articles on GardensAll.
LeAURA
LeAura (pronounced Lay-OR-a), was born in Alabama on 4/6/59 and raised in Hawaii. Aloha nui loa! You can read her bio under any of her articles on GardensAll as well.
MARRIED 30 YEARS
Coleman and LeAura were married on his 35th birthday on 7/30/88. Now that LeAura has turned 60, we’ve been married exactly half of LeAura’s life. :-)
When we married, Coleman sold his home in Asheville, NC and moved into LeAura’s in the Piedmont of NC, along with approximately 125 trees, shrubs and plants! :-D
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DEVANI - our daughter:
Devani (pronounced Day-VAH-nee) was born in India on 2/17/95. Coleman and LeAura were there on a service trip with four teens, and ended up living and volunteering at an orphanage where we cared for her for the first 5 weeks of her life.
In our sixth year of marriage without biological children of our own, for no known reason, there we were volunteering at an orphanage. When we decided to pursue adopting Devani we were told, we could bring her home with us. Instead, it took three years to get her home.
If Devani were still in India living in the village of her birth mother, her life would be a world different than anything she now knows. Chances are she would’ve been married off before age 18, with several children. She would be carrying water on her head from a community well, and cooking on an open fire on the ground outside.
It’s a long story, but should you be interested in reading more, LeAura wrote about that here in one of the first websites she created.
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NIKOLAI - our son:
Nikolai was born in Russia, and we found him online. ;-)
All three of us went to Russia to bring him home 6 months later (and two years after we landed in the US with Devani). Nikolai touched American soil as a two-year old, on April 4th, of 1999. He’s 22 now, born 1/29/97.
If Nikolai were still in Russia, he may or may not still be alive. He’s a Native Russian, the Russian equivalent of our Native American Indians.
He’s from isolated areas of the Magadan region of Russia, where it’s so frozen, that it’s only accessible by snowmobiles or helicopters half the year. His tribe are called Koryaks and are nomadic reindeer herdsman.
Nikolai's birth mom took him to the local children’s hospital to be cared for until her health improved.
She never returned. Instead, she died at age 24.
Life is very, very hard there, with little hope for more, especially for the Natives.
Nikolai was malnourished with rickets, amongst other challenges, but fortunate to be cared for in that children's home.
And we continued to nourish him back to health once he was home with us.
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GRATITUDE
Fortunately, both Devani and Nikolai tend to have a solid understanding of the value of their privilege to be American citizens.
Collectively, we are all so grateful for each other, for family, and the privileges we enjoy each day, such as the freedom to:
- Live free
- Grow food, herbs and plants, tend land and create beauty
- Pursue creative endeavors
- Work together growing our family endeavors
- Support each other in our individual interests
- Learn and grow into better versions of ourselves
- Contribute, support and encourage others in our communities
We are also, so grateful for you!
YOUR TURN! :-)
Let us know if you enjoy these personal snippets, and we may sprinkle in a few more now and then.
We’re building a virtual gardening community, so please let us know more about you too if you care to. It’s great to get to know you.
Our goal is to grow while helping others do the same.
Growing gardens, business, beauty, abundance, creativity, goodness and positivity.
Come on folks… let’s grow great gardens!
The Aldersons for GardensAll.com
Coleman, for GardensAll
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