Our Weekend

Saturday has become Hair Day for Naomi. We wash, condition and restyle her hair. The process has become so much more enjoyable once we started using Carol's Daughter hair products. They make her hair so much easier to work with.



Sometimes it still amazes me that I have a little girl and that she is SO girly. She wants to help wash her hair now and she likes to look in a mirror while she does it.

Also on Saturday we baked cookies. Last week in the church announcements we saw our name and that we were assigned to bring cookies next week. I wanted to try something new so I made some lemon poppy seed cookies, which were delicious. I have a dutch cookbook that my friend Becky gave me, and since we have a lot of dutch people in our church, I thought I would try a dutch cookie. I decided on syrup cookies. This was the first time I ever made cookies and the dough smelled disgusting. I think it was the molasses. So I only baked one batch of those. They did not taste as bad as they smelled but they were not great. Then Darrick made some chocolate chip cookies. It is fun to watch after church and see who is eating what cookies. There were 6 syrup cookies left but all the others were gone.

Saturday night we were invited to a house warming for our friends Pastor Peter and Martha, who bought their first home. It was nice to see the people from Everett Community Church and Naomi had fun playing with her friends. The food is always interesting. The main course was BBQ goat...enough said.

Then today was the highlight of our weekend. Our dear friends John, Kelly and Max are in the area. I met John and Kelly when we traveled to Swaziland to adopt Naomi and Max. They are an air force family and have left Hawaii and are traveling to their next duty station, Germany. Thankfully Kelly has family near Seattle so when she comes to see them, we get to see them too!

We met them for lunch at Alfy's which is a family pizza place and then they came over to our house to hang out. It amazes me every time we get together how Naomi and Max seem to share a really special bond. They act like brother and sister and never seem to forget each other. We love Max so much and he will always have a special place in our hearts.

And I cannot say enough about Kelly. She has become like a sister to me. We went through so much together and no one quite understands all my feelings about adoption like Kelly. I am so thankful they are in our lives and I can't believe they are going all the way to Germany! We will have to look and see if we can hop a Space A flight to Germany! They kids had so much fun playing together and got in a lot of wrestling time!

Kelly and Max

Today we were so blessed to see our dear friends from Hawaii, Kelly and Max. Kelly and her husband John traveled with me to Africa to adopt their son, Max. Kelly's sister lives about 20 minutes from us. Kelly flew out to see her family and celebrate her niece's birthday. We were invited to the party which was at the Everett's Children's Museum.

I think that Max and Naomi will always have a special bond because they shared some many experiences together. They were sharing food and Naomi was always making sure Max kept his mouth clean!

The museum itself was AWESOME, we will be back for sure. On the roof they had these cool play structures, dinosaur area and music making area.

Inside it is all interactive and hands on. They had an airplane, farm area, trains, restaurant, water play area and more!

We loved every minute of it and the time we got to spend with Kelly and Max. They are like family to us and we love them dearly. They are the first people we have seen that we know since we moved to Washington and it was so hard to say goodbye without any tears.

Memorial Day at Bellows

We spent Memorial Day relaxing with the Racela Family at Bellows. It was a nice day as far as weather goes, some rain and clouds and sun too. It is the time of year when the ocean is always warm and it is so incredible. We rented a 2 person kayak for the day, which is the first time we have ever done that in all our time here. Micah couldn't wait to go out so him and Darrick were first!

Everyone wanted a turn on the kayak and even Max wanted to check it out!

John and Kelly offered to watch the kids for a bit so Darrick and I could go out. We paddled out far and just sat and relaxed. It was so quiet and only the sound of the waves slapping our kayak could be heard. We just soaked in the moment and talked about how much we would miss Hawaii.

We stayed at the beach all day long-it was great!

What we've been up to...

To be honest, things have not been going so well. As of today we have 4 weeks left in Hawaii and we have 3 weeks until the movers come. I really like to go through everything before we move so that is a lot of work. It bugs me having the movers pack up stuff that we don't want or need anymore just to get to Washington to unpack it and then get rid of it.

We are nearing the end of the boys school year which means all kinds of activities and stuff.

And to top it off Darrick has hardly been around. He is either out to sea, on duty or getting home late. The kids are not handling it well and have been really acting out. Some days I feel like I can't hold on til shore duty any more.

But we are almost there and there have been a lot of good things happening too!

This week we made a hand print stone for Naomi. Micah and Jacob made one a few years ago so I wanted to have one to put in the garden for Naomi too. She is very proud of it and wants to show it to everyone who comes over.

I am starting to try some new styles with Naomi's hair. Now that it is getting longer it is easier to work with. I thought this week I would try braids. When I started I had no idea how long it would take. Well 1 1/2 hours later I put the last braid in. Naomi sat good for most of it. I buckled her in her booster seat and gave her snacks and put on a favorite movie. I love how it turned it out and we have gotten a lot of positive feedback.

Naomi and I were also able to go on a field trip with the kindergarten to the Honolulu Zoo. Jacob loved having us there and we had a good time. Jacob is such an animal lover and enjoyed when he got to pet a guinea pig (he said it made him think of Twinkle) and a skink. He stayed with the animals the longest just petting them and looking at them. Naomi did not mind the guinea pig but she was very unsure about the skink!

Thankfully it is the weekend now and Darrick has Saturday and Sunday off!!! Today we attended a Swazi Ohana Picnic for families who have already adopted from Swaziland and those who are in the process. It was at Magic Island and the water was awesome. The kids had a blast and it is so fun to talk with other families about how they are adjusting and to share stories. But the sad news is that it was our last picnic since we will be moving. It was a great day and so much fun!