Jacob's loose tooth

So far Jacob has only lost one tooth but now he has a few more that are pretty wiggly. But there is one tooth in particular that is just cracking us up. It is not quite ready to come out yet but it is hanging crooked and is kind of sticking out. And sometimes when he smiles or talks it just sticks out of his mouth and hangs out on his lip! Hopefully it will come out soon but in the meantime we are enjoying some laughs!

A Beautiful Moment

I have to admit that sometimes I still worry about bonding with Naomi. I have read so much about bonding and attachment I feel like an expert. She has now been a Hays for 10 months but every once in a while doubt creeps in.

Tonight it was time for Naomi to get ready for bed. Darrick was helping her while I was with the boys. When Darrick said that it was time for Naomi to take off her Cinderella dress, yes she was wearing it again, she started crying. This sad crying, not a temper tantrum cry, but like her heart was truly breaking. It lasted through the whole getting ready for bed.

But then she came over to me and crawled up in my lap and hugged me so tight. I held her and hugged her back and she stopped crying. I comforted her. It may sound dumb but it was such a glorious moment for me and a reminder that we are bonded. It reminded me of when the boys were babies and they would cry when others held them but as soon as they were back in my arms they would stop.

At that beautiful moment, with Naomi in my arms, my heart swelled with love for her and my heart whispered "this IS your daughter".

Everett Community Church

This morning we tried our second church, Everett Community Church. We found it online when we searched on the Internet for local churches.



We have talked a lot about what kind of church we want to attend. Denomination is not top on our list as long as we agree with their beliefs. But what is really important is the type of people that attend. It is very important to us that Naomi is not the only Black person in the church. Last week there was one other Black person but they were an adult.



So when we saw Everett Community Church and that it claimed to be a "multi-ethnic church" we knew we had to try it.



It took us about 15 minutes to get there from our house. They started their church almost 1 year ago and share a building with the Baptist church. We were a bit early so they were still transitioning between the 2 churches. We recognized the Pastor, from his picture on the Internet, and went to introduce ourselves. We told him that we wanted to attend his church this morning and he seemed a bit surprised but gave us a very warm welcome. He has studied at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, IL and Southern Seminary in Louisville, KY.



The Pastor's wife took us under her wing and showed us where to bring Naomi. The older kids stay in the service during worship then go to their class. The Pastor and his wife are from Kenya and most of the congregation is from Africa. There were 2 other white women there besides us and everyone else was Black, I think that is why the Pastor was surprised. We had found what we were looking for.



The service was done in two languages: English and Swahili. The worship was beautiful and all in Swahili so we just clapped along and enjoyed the music. When the Pastor spoke, he spoke in English then someone translated into Swahili. There was a guest speaker this morning. He was powerful and preached the Word.



We were invited to stand up and introduce ourselves to the congregation. Darrick did a great job and everyone seemed excited that our daughter is from Africa. Many people came up to us after the service and welcomed us. They were shoving food and drink at us: a tea drink that was unfamiliar to us, African donuts and banana bread.



The boys liked their class and said they already made friends. It made us happy that the boys did not seem bothered that they were the only 2 white kids and they were running around playing with all the kids after church.



The Pastor and his wife kept talking about seeing us next week and taking us out to lunch. It was a great church so we have a lot to pray about. If this is where God wants us then we will follow!

Photo Shoot

The day before we left for Washington, we had a photo shoot with an amazing photographer, Tara Sos. Our proofs are ready if you would like to check them out!

Go to www.tarasosphotography.com
Enter the site
Go to Proofs
Enter the password hays

You can either just look at them or order some! Enjoy!

Yes, she still thinks she is Cinderella!

Our view

Every afternoon, since it has been sunny, the kids and I have been having our afternoon snack out on the deck. The deck is right off our dining room and on the second story.

We have our swing, fountain, hawaiian wind chimes and a plant from Ron and Rose out there. There is a greenbelt right behind our house and it is so beautiful. We were told that in the winter all the leaves fall off and it is bare branches so we will just enjoy it while it lasts!

Naomi turns 3

On Tuesday, the 22nd, it was Naomi's actual birthday, even though we had a party for her a few weeks before. Sine we did celebrate already we kept it pretty low key.

After dinner we sang "Happy Birthday" to her and ate sugar cookies with pink sprinkles that I made.

Then we started a new tradition. We each took a turn telling Naomi why she is special to us and something she is really good at. It was fun to hear what the boys had to say to her! Then we all laid hands on her and took turns praying for her and thanking God for her.

We also are about to hit the 10 month mark of having Naomi home with us! Time is sure going fast!

A morning walk

Today is such a beautiful day and the sun was warm and shining so after breakfast the kids and I went for a walk. Just about a block away from us are 2 cows that I wanted to take the kids to see. On the way we saw some wild blackberries and ate a few.

It is a nice walk a little down the hill we live on. Walking down the hill we have the most amazing views.


Naomi stopped often to pick up rocks or flowers.

When we got to the cows they were sitting in their field but within a few minutes they got up and came over to us.

Jake wasted no time getting to know them better and fell in love right away. The boys thought it was gross when they licked up their nose and one of them pooped right in front of us, which Naomi found very interesting. She kept asking "Mommy, why's he doing that?"

The kids wanted to try and feed them so they picked some of the grass along the fence. But they quickly discovered that the cows loved the purple flowers. They would follow the kids as they picked the flowers and then followed them back to the spot where they could reach to feed them. At first they were scared as their big tongue came out but they got use to it and had so much fun.

As we walk back home the cows followed us all along the fence, mooing very loudly, which the kids got such a kick out of. They can't wait to go visit them again and take Darrick. When we were almost home they found these huge leaves that were starting to change colors. How fun to see some signs of Fall!

We have some blackberries growing wild behind our fence so the kids wanted to pick some for lunch. We got a nice little bowl full, washed them and got ready for lunch. We were having Peanut Butter Toast so Jake put his berries on top of the PB. A few minutes later Jake said that there were worms crawling on his toast! Sure enough, there were some little tiny white worms coming out of some of the berries. We were so grossed out and threw them all away but we each had already eaten some...Yuck!

Turning Point Church

One of the hardest things whenever we move is trying to find a new church. We love our church in Hawaii, Hope Chapel West Oahu, and it was one of the hardest things to leave behind.



We saw some signs for a church in Marysville called Turning Point Church. We looked it up on the Internet and thought we would try it. It is held in Totem Middle School. It had 2 services 8:45 and 11:00. We opted for the earlier one.



The greeters at the door were very friendly and led us to the place where we needed to bring the kids. We got them registered and then brought them to their classes. Naomi was in the preschool class. She went in with no problem and no crying. It was a great set-up and even had a small bouncy house. The boys was the same but with a huge blow up obstacle course thing and they went right in.

The worship was great but there was an element that we had never seen before. In between where the stage ended and before the chairs started there was a space where a bunch of people gathered. They were dancing and jumping but it kind of seemed like a free for all. We were trying to be open minded but weren't sure we felt comfortable with this. The guy sitting next to me started reading from his Bible out loud during the worship and paced around. We looked it up on their website when we got home and this is what it said:

"Why are there dancers up front?

According to Psalm 149:1-3, we are to "Sing to God a brand new song, praise him in the company of all who love him.... Let them praise him in dance, strike up the band and make great music" (TMB). Turning Point's dance ministry is an extension of our worship and prayer ministries. Each dancer understands that the purpose of his or her ministry is not performance but the exaltation of God the Father and the drawing in of God's people to His presence. Each dancer is required to be involved in extensive weekly training and prayer."

The kids really liked their classes and the church has a Homeschool Co-op. We are going to try another church next week. Please pray for us that God will lead us to the right church and it will not take took long!

Washington

We finally have Internet and I have a moment to update our blog! Saturday morning we made our final drive into Washington. We were so excited to enter our new home state and cheered as we crossed the bridge, it could also be because it meant we were almost done riding in the car.

We spotted the Space Needle as we neared Seattle and the sign for the Navy Base.

The scenery was beautiful and it was an awesome sunny day.

Before we knew it we saw a sign for our new hometown: Marysville!

We finally pulled up to our new house and were greeted by our landlords, Ron and Rose. They are quickly becoming friends as well as landlords.

Saturday after seeing the house, Ron and Rose drove us around and showed us how to get from our house to the base and how to get to the exchange and commissary. They are retired military and it is so nice to have them as a resource. They said the commissary and exchange are not the cheapest places to shop and the gas is more expensive, which is so different then Hawaii. We stayed at the Navy Lodge that night and enjoyed a nice dinner out at the Golden Corral thanks to a gift card from Ron and Rose.

Before we knew it Monday was here, the day the movers came! It is such a good feeling to know you are getting all your stuff but not a good feeling knowing all the work that lies ahead. As the movers were getting started one of our neighbors came over and introduced herself and welcomed us to their neighborhood with fresh baked chocolate chip cookies. They are Christians and one of her daughters homeschools and the other teaches at a Christian school. Awesome!

Once things got started, it moved pretty quickly. We had a total of 8 crates!


We only had one thing damaged. One of the posts on our headboard, at the bottom got cracked and a long sliver came off.

I think the kitchen is always the worst to unpack so we do that first. There is just so much to unwrap, you end up with mountains of paper.

And then comes the task of figuring where everything goes and fits. I am happy to say that today is Thursday and we are almost totally unpacked. I can't stand dragging it out.

Darrick reported to work today and was home by 3:00! We are loving shore duty and it is just starting!