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!

Day 3

Last night we stopped in Klamath, CA. Upon entering Klamath we crossed over the bridge which has 2 gold painted bears on each side. We had planned this as one of the stops on our trip because we wanted to see Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. We stayed at the Trees Motel which was right across the street and when we opened the door to our room, we were greeted by Paul and Babe, the kids thought this was so cool.

After breakfast at the cafe right next to the motel we planned to spend the morning at the "Trees of Mystery" but first we had to take pictures with two of our favorite tall tale characters.

Then it was on to the Trees of Mystery. We spent about 2 hours total hiking and observing the amazing trees and their strange formations.

Included in our admission price was a trip on the Sky Ride. It was an amazing view of the forest, way too high for my taste, but I did it.

Once at the top we arrived at a beautiful observation deck. One side was perfectly clear but the other side was covered in fog.


Then it was time to travel back down and hike some more. We went through a part of the forest that tell tale tales through pictures carved out of wood by a chainsaw.

Then after a quick stop in the gift store, where Micah bought a post card for his pen pal Jack, it was time to get on the road for the day.

In a few hours we crossed in Oregon and made it to our stop for the night Salem. We are staying in a Travel Lodge and had dinner at Denny's. Now it is time for bed so we can do the last leg of our journey tomorrow!