Fire

Today the weather was so beautiful! It inspired us to get out in our yard and do some yard work. We have a green belt behind us that needed to be trimmed back some, we had more leaves to rake and the grass needed to be mowed. We all pitched in and helped which made it go quicker.

When we moved into our house there was a fire pit in the backyard. So we decided that tonight would be a great time to try it out. The kids loved it and I had fun taking pictures of the fire.

We spent so much time outdoors that we pooped Oliver out. He crashed and didn't even care that Naomi was playing baby with him and covering him with blankets!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It amazes me how much has changed in a year. The day before Thanksgiving, last year, Naomi and I arrived home from Africa. The holidays were such a whirlwind last year. We spent Thanksgiving at our friends Pat and Carlos and the kids played in the sprinklers!

Now here we are in Washington, with new friends and sitting by a cozy fire. We decided to start a new tradition this year. I am going to start a scrapbook that is only for Thanksgiving. We will take pictures of the day to put in it but also have everyone we spend the day with write down what they are thankful for to put on the page too. Then before the meal Darrick read them all and then read Psalm 100.

The thing that I am most thankful this year has to be the plans that God has for my life. He has taken me places I never dreamed of going and it just gets better every year. It has not been easy because it seems like almost everything He asks me to do is opposite of the plans I have. I just want to keep following wherever He leads and live my life for Him. I don't want to live an ordinary life and I want to glorify and point others to Him.

One things about the holidays is that whenever I am hosting I use the tablecloth that my Grandma Vanderbilt embroidered for me and gave to us when we got married. Darrick always makes his Mom's homemade chocolate pie and we use some of her special glassware.

This year for the first time, we cooked our turkey in an oven bag. It was so moist, juicy and tender it was falling off the bone. Darrick did the carving and then it was time to eat.

We were joined by our friends Peter, Martha, their two girls Amy and Karis and Cucu and Candance.

After the meal we hung out and the guys got in some PS2 time. Everyone fell in love with Oliver and he was such a good boy. He even gave Naomi a special kiss I somehow captured with the camera!

Naomi loves spending time with Pastor Peter and Auntie Martha, they have a special bond together!

Naomi, Karis and Candance had fun dressing up like Princesses.

And then Darrick and the kids got in a good ol' Thanksgiving wrestling match before everyone had to leave.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

"Happy Adoption Day to you!"

"I feel good!"

Jim's Creek

This week flew by for us! We can hardly believe it is Friday again and time for another adventure. Today we wanted to go check out Jim's Creek. It is a navy base but also has hiking and camping. The boys were excited to take Oliver on his first outing and he was great in the car.

On the way we passed this beautiful covered bridge.

Jim's Creek was easy to find and took us about 30 minutes to get there. We got a late start because Darrick got held up at work so we tried to see as much as we could before it got dark. It gets dark by 4:30 pm.

The camp grounds were nice. They had sites for tents, RV's and cabins you could rent. They had this huge Alpine Tower that the boys can't wait to try when the weather is warmer.

We stopped at the playground to run around a bit.

Then we hiked a bit on a trail. It looks like we are hiking in the dark from the pictures but it was light enough for us to see!

Jim's Creek looks like a great place to spend some time this summer!

We also want to proclaim our love for Cadbury. Every Easter we cannot get enough of their candy they put out called Cadbury Mini-eggs. They are very simple milk chocolate eggs coated with a crunchy sugar coating in pastel colors.

The other day I was shopping in Albertson's and saw these:

They are the exact same things but in Christmas colors! Thank you, thank you Cadbury and now we must go stock up on them before the season is over, because we already finished the whole bag!

Oliver

If you know us then you know about our history with dogs. In short, it has not been good. Most of our problems have stemmed with discovering that Jacob and Darrick are allergic to dogs and not finding the right type of dog for us.

Since then we have been doing a lot of research. We discovered that there are just a few breeds that are hypo-allergenic.

We have visited the Everett Animal Shelter a few times but did not see anything that matched our need. You can also check their website to see what dogs are there. On Friday night we looked at the website and saw a miniature poodle named Caramel. We were excited because that breed is hypo-allergenic.

We had commitments Saturday morning but as soon as we could we got to the shelter hoping he would still be there and he was! He was a stray they found on the streets. We spent some time with him and were very impressed. We all agreed he would be a good match for us. After we said yes, two other families came to adopt him. It is so rare to find such an expensive breed at the shelter. We all decided to change his name to Oliver from one of our favorite movies "Oliver and Company".

It has been four days now that he has been here and it seems like he has always been with us. Jacob has such a love for animals and has always wanted a dog. We all decided that Oliver is a family dog but Jacob is the owner. He is a great dog! But the best thing is that he does not shed!

Yesterday we took him to get groomed and cleaned up. The groomer kept telling us what a great dog he is and that she is so surprised we got him from the shelter. Oliver is 2 years old and house broken and we are so glad we found him! He is a keeper!