Meet Yoda

For a few weeks, Micah has been trying to catch a frog. When we went to the park to pick blackberries, we saw a few by the pond, and the boys tried to catch them but were unsuccessful.

Then yesterday,out of the blue, in front of our stairs that lead to our front door, Micah spotted and caught a little frog. He was so happy and came bolting in the house with his find. With Nana and Papa's help they set up a temporary home for our frog.

Today we researched him on the Internet and found out he is a Pacific Tree Frog. We read all about how to make a habitat for him and headed off to the pet store.

Then it was time to assemble his home. First step was cleaning and putting the rocks in.

Then a plant and a water bowl.

Then some large rocks.

All done and moved onto the buffet in our dining room.

Micah then gently caught the frog and placed him in his new home.

We decided on the name Yoda. He seems to really like his new home!

One year and counting!

If you notice our ticker today, it marks one year until Darrick returns! One year from now we will be anxiously anticipating Darrick's Homecoming!!!!

Dream

Last night I had the strangest dream:

I was sleeping and our house alarm was going off. ADT was trying to call me to see if we were ok. I knew I needed to get up and check on everything but I couldn't move. It was then that I realized that it was Naomi's birth mom and she was standing next to my bed. I tried to scream and I couldn't. She told me that she was there to take Naomi back. I was trying to get Naomi to run away from her but I couldn't talk...

then I woke up.

I really have not spent a lot of time since we adopted Naomi thinking about her birth mom. I know the facts that we know about her but I don't like to think about her. I will talk with Naomi about her. Naomi knows that she grew in her birth mom's tummy. But the other day she was asking me if I held her when she was a baby. I told her that I didn't but I wished that I could had. She asked me who held her and I said her birth mom. I have pictures of Naomi with her birth mom and I told Naomi that she looks like her birth mom. Then she asked me what her name is. That took me by surprise. She is becoming more curious and trying to start to understand her story.

Send in the Reinforcements!

Yes! They are here! My parents arrived today to help me out with the kids for a few weeks. They are so wonderful and I am so thankful they are here. They are always so full of love and support for us as a military family.

Kayak Point

Wednesday we were able to spend another day with Jen and Len. We packed a picnic lunch and headed to Kayak Point. It was a warm 86 degrees and a perfect day to spend at the beach. The water was pretty cold but that did not stop the kids from getting in after lunch.

Most of the time, the kids were looking for crabs. They were so cute and little.

We also rolled an old piece of driftwood into the water, like other kids were doing, to use as a boat.

Naomi and Len had a great time playing together while Jen and I talked and caught up with one another.

The last thing we did was walk out on the pier to look at all the people crabbing. Crabbing is totally new to us and so I was looking for someone to explain it to us. We found a group of three guys who told us about it and it was all so interesting. They also showed us some crabs they caught and how to tell the difference between a male and female.

We will miss you Jen and Len and will be looking forward to your next visit!

Gymnastics Class Today

Naomi learning to swing on the rope

Micah tried out the rings and really liked them.

Park

I had big plans today to clean the house and get caught up on laundry but the kids were going stir crazy. Micah was in a bad mood and grumping at everyone. Jacob and Naomi were bugging each other. I was losing my patience. So I made some sandwiches, grabbed some water bottles and we headed to Jennings Memorial Park. For some reason when we get out of the house everyones moods change and we have fun.

We ate our lunch and played on the playground. We toured the garden where they grow food for the foodbank. We hiked a trail, walked around the lake and relaxed in the shade. It was a nice way to spend our afternoon.

Heart Stones

If you know me well, then you know that I LOVE hearts. Red is my favorite color, Valentine's Day is my favorite holiday and my kitchen is decorated with hearts.

Last year, when my parents were visiting, the kids and I took them to Kayak Point. It is a beach, but instead of sand, it has rocks. It just so happens that for a few days the boys had been asking me to buy them some new LEGOs. I was so fed up that I said, "If you can find me a rock that looks like a heart, then I will buy you some!" My Dad and I chuckled thinking I was so brilliant!

Micah bent down, picked up a rock and said, "You mean like this one?"

We were shocked! How did he do that? There are millions of rocks on that beach! So I said if Daddy can guess on the first guess what it is then we will get you the LEGOs. In the meantime, Jacob was frantically looking for one too. And sure enough, right before we went home, he found this one.

When we got home, the boys showed Darrick and he guessed "heart" on his first guess. So the boys got some LEGOs...

I kind of thought it was a freak thing. But then when Darrick and I went to Salish I found this book in the gift shop.

It is a book filled with pictures of heart stones. So I have now started collecting heart stones. While I was working in my garden last week I found another one.

So now I have 3!

So while you are out on your journeys or hanging out in your back yard look at the rocks lying around and if you see a heart stone send it my way and help my collection grow!

From my Garden

First Attempt at Cornrows

You may remember from before that Saturdays are the day we wash and restyle Naomi's hair. It takes a couple of hours but then it looks nice for church and is good for a week.

This week I decided to try something new-cornrows. She has had them done twice at a salon but this is my first attempt. I know they are not perfect and I need to improve but I am pretty happy with how they turned out!

It's Friday!

I cannot believe how fast the week went by! We kept pretty busy which helps the time pass.

Wednesday morning we awoke to the sounds of someone mowing our grass! It was Timmermans Landscaping! Our friend, Josh, from church owns his own company and offered to take care of our lawn while Darrick is gone. They mowed, edged, trimmed the bushes and sprayed the weeds all in about 20 minutes. So much faster then I ever could of done all that work. Such a blessing!

Wednesday night we were invited over to the Medema's house for dinner, along with Pastor Jim and his wife Pam. The Medemas live so close to us we walked. Debbie prepared for us our first really northwest meal. Her husband cooked salmon on the grill and she made a crab salad from crabs they caught and a cobbler for dessert. We have never been that big into seafood but I was surprised how good the kids did. Naomi ate everything up and asked for seconds. The boys each politely tried the salmon, and I liked it.

To be sure we didn't make a scene at the dinner table I role played with the kids. We all sat down and I pretended that I was serving them salmon and we practiced polite things to say and do and unacceptable things to say and do. I strongly believe that you cannot just expect kids to always know the right way to act. You have to model it for them. Now you know one of our secrets-we practice how to behave!!!

Thursday the boys played with a boy from Cadets and his grandpa took all 3 boys on a hike.

Today we were blessed to be visited by some dear friends of ours from Hawaii-Jen and Leonard. It has been a year since we have seen them and it was so good to catch up. Naomi and Leonard had a lot of fun playing together and we hope to get together next week again before they leave.

We have also had a rat fiasco going on the past few days. I'm not sure if you remember but we have a squirrel feeder in our back yard and one special squirrel, the kids named Jumpy, always eats from it. A few months ago we noticed a rat in our back yard eating from the feeder too. Usually we would see him under the feeder eating what dropped but one day he crawled inside the feeder.

A man from church offered to set a trap for us and catch it. So yesterday he set the trap and within a half hour we heard the trap go off. But the rat had escaped. So he came and set it again today. And once again it went off not too long after he set it. The boys ran down to check it and we got him. There was no way I was looking! Well I think Jake should not had looked either because he came back in the house looking so sad and he said he felt bad for the rat. I felt bad for Jake because he is such an animal lover. The guy came back and took care of the rat, thankfully. He set the trap again just to see if there are anymore. Man, I hope not!

Learning new things

It's official

Today I got the news from UJIMA, our adoption agency, that we are officially certified Washington State foster care parents.

The news is bittersweet. I am so happy that it finally happened and it is now official. But I am disappointed that we could be taking the next step, which is being matched with a child. But because of our current circumstances we are postponing the adoption until Darrick returns.

The worker told me that I could do foster care or respite care while Darrick is gone but that is just too much for me to handle right now.

We have also now officially decided that we will be adopting only 1 more child. We will be requesting a 4 year old girl. In this adoption, as well as our adoption with Naomi, God gave us the desire to adopt and it was a broad vision. With Naomi, our vision started with Africa. Then He narrowed it to Ethiopia, then to a certain agency, which led to a specific country, a specific orphanage and then to the right child.

My head and my heart are telling me different things. My heart tells me to accept a referral because it aches for our daughter. But my head tells me to wait. Adoption, for us, has definitely been harder then pregnancy!

Blackberry Picking

This morning our friend, Debbie, invited the kids and I to pick blackberries with her. Can you believe that the kids and I have never been berry picking?! The most amazing part was that we went to one of the city parks and they just had tons of wild bushes loaded with berries.

The kids had fun and tried to find the biggest ones! And while we were picking a blue heron flew over our heads and landed in the pond. They are so big and beautiful!

I think the kids actually did more eating then picking!

Debbie gave me a recipe to make a cobbler so after rinsing and drying the berries I wiped up an easy cobbler!

African Family Gathering

A few weeks ago, we were invited to an African Family Gathering. They meet four times a year. This would be their 3rd meeting of the year with the next one being in November. I thought it would be great for us to go to meet other families that look like us and share our experiences.

It was in Bellingham, which is an hour north of us. I wasn't looking forward to the drive with the kids but thought we should at least go and check it out. It was held at a gym in a park.

Most of the adopted kids were from Ethiopia, with the newest one arriving in the USA 3 days ago. I got to know one family that adopted two kids, 12 and 9, plus they have 4 bio kids that are older. It was nice to share our stories with one another.

There was also an African family there from Lesotho, which is really close to the country Naomi is from. They were so excited to meet Naomi and said she was a beautiful, strong African girl. They were all built exactly like Naomi (body). A lot of people from Ethiopia are built more slender and very different from our daughter.

Naomi enjoyed running around with the other kids. Micah and Jacob just hung out together.

As we were walking back to the car, with a huge smile Naomi said "Mom, those kids were all black like me!"

That made it all worth it!

Bad Day

Today was a bad day, as far as the kids emotions go. Jacob just woke up angry and mad. About breakfast time he had a complete meltdown. I tried to comfort him, but he just kept screaming "I don't want you, I want Daddy!" I said we could call Daddy. "No, I don't want to talk to him". We could Skype Daddy. "No I don't want to see Daddy! I want to hug Daddy!" What could I do? His heart was breaking and I couldn't fix it. I cried too. It hurts so bad to see your child hurting.

Then while I was doing Naomi's hair today, Jake went into the garage to get something and the door shut behind him and was locked. The rest of us were upstairs and after awhile I wondered where Jake was. We eventually found him, locked in the garage, crying for us.

Then tonight we were coming home from someones house we had dinner at and Naomi and Jacob were just fighting and bugging each other. I couldn't take it anymore and yelled "Stop it!" That started all of us crying. Yes, every single one of us cried the rest of the way home.

As soon as we got home I called Darrick and said that we needed to Skype him because the kids were freaking out. They saw him and cried for him, yes all of them. I'm sure it was hard for Darrick but they needed to see and talk to their Daddy. Micah asked him to get out of the Navy today and come home. Their Skype conversation seemed to help a lot. They were all able to calm down and went to bed great for me.

It is so hard because all of our emotions are crazy right now and we each deal with Darrick being gone differently. And it hits us all at different times. I'm really tired today.