The sweetest Christmas List ever

Happy Adoption Day!

November 14th was the 3 year anniversary of Naomi's adoption day!  Our tradition is to bring out all of the stuff we brought back from Swaziland and display it.  She gets to invite two friends and their families over and we have ice cream cake.  We started the night watching a cultural movie from Swaziland and then some people tried the dancing.  Her friends all made her cards and we all sang "Happy Adoption Day to You".

Fall in WA

Fall has arrived with its cooler weather and beautiful colors.  Well it has been here for awhile but we just took some pictures of the beautiful colors in our back yard and wanted to show you.  One tree in our backyard has gone through a variety of colors from green to orange to red and now yellow.  We also have ornamental plum trees in our back that have turned from purple to red.  Among these beautiful trees we have big evergreen and pine trees too.  One night there was a beautiful full moon and Darrick took a picture.

Jacob wrapped up his soccer season with his last game yesterday.  It was a very chilly 38 degrees at his 9am game and the players and supporters were freezing.  Thankfully Jacob's team won which was a great way to end the season.  They had their party at the Everett Skate Deck and we all decided to roller skate.  Darrick and I have not skated since we were kids and Jacob and Naomi have never skated.  We had to so much fun and Darrick and I even got a few chances to skate holding hands.

Reformation Day

Case Closed

Today we got a call that we were not expecting.  It was from our social worker.  To get the story straight I had to ask her to repeat it to me and I still feel like I don't totally understand.  But here is what she said:

After she did our updated homestudy, she submitted it for us to get our license to adopt.  But because we moved she sent it to the old district and apparently because we are in a new city now, we have a new district.  So she got the old district to send it on to the new one.  When the new person in charge got it, it was past the 30 day time period you have to submit it. Our social worker asked her to overlook it and they would not and the district closed our case.

So what does that mean you may wonder?  Well we went from being licensed foster parents to renewing our license to now not having a license at all.  And as far as they are concerned we need to start the process all over again from square one.

Our social worker apologized over and over and said if we want to start again she will fill out all the paper work for us and all we have to do is sign.

We are still trying to get over the shock and decide what we want to do.  Is this God closing the door?  Is this Satan getting in the way?  Is this a test to see if we will hang in there?  Should we pick a new agency?  Are we supposed to adopt again?  Maybe not local, maybe international again?

Please pray with us as we try to hear God as He leads us.

Time to go Funky

BEFORE Front

BEFORE Back

AFTER

I like keeping my hair interesting.  Usually I just get different cuts when I feel like a change.  I have been wanting to add some color to my hair for awhile.

Before Darrick left for his deployment, he asked me to grow my hair, the whole time he was gone.  So I did and it got really long.  He really liked it when he got home.  He has been home about 6 weeks now and I was getting an itch to cut it.  Darrick said he was fine with that.

So I made an appt. and today went to get a new look.  I had a picture of a style I liked and a picture of hair with red highlights.  When the stylist showed me the colors I thought it would be fun to add other colors too.  So I told her red, purple and blue and let her do it how she thought looked best.  She first had to bleach parts to get the color to take.  Then she added the color and then she cut it.  She did not let me see it the whole time.  Then at the end she turned me around and I was shocked and happy.  It to me a bit to get use to but now I love it.  What do you think?

We are Addicted! Geocaching!

We just watched a show that we taped on DVR that was on PBS called Geocaching.  As soon as they started explaining what it was and how to do it, we couldn't wait to start!  If you have never heard of it, it is basically modern day treasure hunt with GPS.  You go to the website and make a username and password and then you are ready to go.  You then put in your address and you will be amazed at how many geocaches are right next to where you live

We found that there was a few right in Forest Park!  The kids were dying to go so off we went to try and find one before it got dark.  We had to follow the GPS.

We found it!

Log Books

Writing in the log book

All the stuff inside!

Annual Halloween Cookie Decorating



Before

Ready to be frosted

The Aftermath...

Happy 5th Birthday Naomi-The Party



House Decorated and ready to go!

Banner I made

Has to have glitter!

Pom poms I made

Craft time for the girls

Drink Station

Colorful straws

Lunch: Goldfish, Veggies with Ranch Dip, Jalepeno Popper Dip with chips, Fruit Kabobs with Dip and Hot Dogs

Dessert: Key Lime Cupcakes and Frozen Bananas

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl

Naomi and Nene

Naomi and Opal

Matching pajamas

Pajamas all around!

Returning Warrior Workshop

Two weekends ago Darrick and I were invited to attend the Returning Warriors Workshop.  It is held all over the USA but thankfully for us this one was held in Seattle.  It is fully paid for by the military and totally worth every penny.  We arranged childcare for the kids-Naomi went to Auntie Karen's and the boys and Oliver went to the Timmermans.  We arrived in Seattle Friday afternoon at our 4 star hotel and attended a buffet dinner.  We enjoyed our night relaxing in our room and watching TV. 

We had an early morning the next morning and had to sit at a table that we would sit at for the rest of the weekend.  Each table had one facilitator and then we had 2 other couples and one single sailor.  There was about 100 people total who have all returned recently from being deployed. 

There were presentations and workshops on the affect of stressful deployment situations, how to adjust back to life at home, but I think the best one was giving everyone a chance to share their story of what it was like for them.  This we did with the other members at our table.  They each could relate to one another and support each other.  The service members were called "warriors" and then they could bring a "Guest".  No one wore uniforms  or used their titles so that every one is equal.  Another meaningful event was the Banquet of Honor.  This was held Saturday night and we got to dress up.  As we walked in to the room we walked through a huge group of people cheering for the service members and thanking them for serving.  It was very touching.  We had a delicious dinner and were each presented with certificates of appreciation.

At the end of the dinner each service member was presented with a hand-made quilt made by a group called Quilts of Valor.  There was a huge table with so many beautiful quilts. Each person was able to pick the quilt they liked best.  Darrick picked a beautiful quilt that was very patriotic.  We all love it and it is very warm and cozy.

We are so thankful that we could attend and talk to others who are going through the same difficult transition as us.