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Saturday, August 30, 2008

Nathan Update!

We have an update! I didn't think we would be getting an update for SEVERAL months. We heard this morning that Nathan's dossier is approved and that we will be able to file our I-600 shortly. We are now waiting on travel approval and we are hoping this will come before the first of the year. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could celebrate his 2nd birthday with him?!!!! This is surprising and WONDERFUL news.

Monday, August 25, 2008

First Day of School

I woke up early because it was the girls' first day of school! When I woke up, this is what I saw out my window. What a gorgeous view. This is a true treat to waking up early. The girls were giddy with anticipation for school and very funny this morning.



Dave had the day off today and we walked the girls to school, just down the street.
Miranda is in third grade and McKenzie is now in Junior High! The individual picture of McKenzie is on her camera and I couldn't find the cord. I was pleasantly surprised that she wanted mom to drop her off and not dad. It lasted for a short moment. We went inside and I was helping her find the sign in table to pick up her schedule (she was strung a little tight because of the newness). Luckily she met up with another girl she knew from Maxwell a few years ago and she helped her out. That's when mom got the boot...quickly I might add. McKenzie's need for me lasted for a moment. She had a great first day. The highlight for her was Drama class.

Miranda made friends too. Dad was there to drop her off and help introduce her. He did a fantastic job of helping her come out of her shell and she has a new friend too! She mentioned that she found a new (name of really good friend here) for Andersen.


The girls have uniforms for the first time this year. I am relieved to not have fights over clothes for school. This is helpful if you don't have a Miranda. She refuses to wear anything "itchy" and this is a broad spectrum. If you know her at all, you know how she feels about jeans, socks and anything "itchy" Well, she has one skort that will work for the uniform and refuses to try the pants and handed me the shorts to return. I will be trying to order more of the skorts, of course there was only one in the store here on island. It will prove to be interesting.

Dave and I got a few jobs done around the house. I prepared and froze some meals and Dave worked on the yard and went out with our neighbor. Here he is using his new machete on the banana tree. Look how fast the shoots are growing back!

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Nathan Update

There isn't one! I have been asked for an update and I have no new news. Next month is official update month from our agency. I'll post pictures as soon as I have them. Continue to pray for fast approvals. The province that Nathan is in is known for being very slow. God is the one in control of our adoption timeline, so I am going to release the stress about that (I have to remind myself several times a day that I am doing this). We have done our part of all of the paperwork and now we are simply waiting.

The house is finished!







Front Room
Dining Room
Nathan's Room
Our Room.

Nathan's room is still a little bare....it is small. I still need to hang the valances and wall hangings in there. The kids' bedrooms are smaller here, but they each have their own rooms. I was going to put a border up, but realized it would be $60 plus shipping for the one that I wanted just for Nathan's room. I'll have to find another solution. The girl's rooms are finished, but not photo ready at posting time, KWIM? They were, but shortly degraded. I still owe each of them paint on a wall. I promised one wall of paint each....maybe next week when they are in school.

Chamorro Village

For my birthday, I asked to go to Chamorro Village. It happens every Wednesday and we haven't had a chance yet. It was island hot and humid.
The food here included squid and whole fried fish. We ordered a fiesta plate and shared. It wasn't my favorite, but enough to curb the hunger....I was holding out for the turtle cheesecake that I made at home.
Here is a coconut crab. These guys are pretty dangerous from what I have heard. He can bend a screwdriver in half with it's claws! There is a place in the southern part of the island that has a demonstration....we'll have to go sometime.
We found some rubber stamps too!

Monday, August 18, 2008

Phone, Internet and Cable!!!

Tomorrow, if everything goes as planned, we will have a phone, internet and cable! I am so excited. Hopefully in the process of waiting for the installer to arrive,(I have to be available from 8 am to 6 pm) I can get the last few jobs done that I wanted to finish today and didn't because we went to the beach. However, I did get my license! If we get our phone early enough, I may get to use it. I have sprung for unlimited long distance to the states. The only draw back is the time difference.

A little time off


Dave wasn't able to get his full CTO (comp time off) this week, but wanted to make the best of what he did have, so we took the girls down to the beach. McKenzie wasn't thrilled about going so she was our photographer. We went down to the tide pools and found some interesting stuff.
These are my favorite fish so far. They are bright turquoise.
There were eels too.
On our way out to dinner we were reminded of how wonderful it is here. We have beaches, palm trees, great family time, and lots of airplanes!

Coconuts!

Dave saw this coconut drop on his way home from work and picked it up. Who knew that they grew in a shell like this? I sure didn't. I'll also try to post pictures of how a palm tree grows. We just saw this yesterday...it's pretty cool. I may try to grow more palm trees with my pineapples. More to come on that later.
He was quite proud of himself to finally get it open! It took quite the time and MESS!!! I told him next time it would need to be done outside.
McKenzie decided to give it a shot.
Miranda is concentrating hard on getting her coconut open too.
After we went to the beach today, Dave took the time to help McKenzie crack it open. By the time we got to it, Miranda had lost interest.

Flat Monkey


Last week we were finally able to get another gift off to Nathan. This is his Build-A_Bear Monkey. Dave purchased a food saver for me just for this reason. I knew that I needed to get the monkey as small as possible to mail it. It turned out pretty flat didn't it?

We are almost all unpacked. I still have my stamping stuff to do and a few little odds and ends. Hopefully I can accomplish this tomorrow. The priority for tomorrow is to get a Guam driver's license. Mine expires on Wednesday and if I let it expire before I get a Guam license, I have to take tests and jump more hoops....no need for that :) We are all doing well. It is the girls' last week before school starts. I am going to miss having them around all day. They are looking forward to more social time!

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Necessities


I found coffee syrup today! I even found sugar free chocolate! No peanutbutter syrup, but I need to remember I am on an island in the middle of the Pacific. It was even a decent price. While I was at the store buying syrup, I was looking for the yogurt that I bought in Alabama. I didn't see it in stock at the commissary. I did find it, for $1.49. Let me explain that this is the small size, the kind that I pay $.55 for. I left the yogurt. I'll find a substitute on base :)

Professor Aha!

Dave enjoys acting and is very gifted at it. He has been a huge hit at VBS with the kiddos. They don't know who it is because he is new to the base.
Here is Dave and his supervisor. Aren't the chaplains such great sports?

Mini Crocodile


Miranda told me that this guy looks like a mini crocodile. I agree. His home is in our mailbox. I have spoiled his fun by leaving it open. I don't enjoy geckos popping out and scaring me!

Saturday, August 09, 2008

We are up to our ears in boxes!


Our HHG shipment arrived and we have been trying to get things somewhat unpacked and organized......it is a lot more work than I remembered! It has been crazy here. Dave purchased a second car. The guys at work call him El Presidente now. It is a dark blue Lincoln Towncar. It isn't what he was looking for. He was looking for a Jeep Wrangler, but there wasn't one available in our price range. I feel bad. I sure wanted him to get something that he really wanted. I am hoping he will be able to soon. Anyway, Our goods arrived LATE on Wednesday (we also purchased the car) and then on Thursday evening we went to the airport in his new car to pick up another chaplain flying in for a deployment. Our car wouldn't start! We ended up having a tow truck tow it to the shop here on base and then have it looked at. I was imagining thousands of dollars in work. At this point we HAVE to fix it. We can't sell it the way it is and we need a car to drive. It ended up needing 3 fuses. Thank God it wasn't more. The shop did say that it needed some more work, so we will go get the part today and have that fixed while we are at it. In the process of all of this, I found out that our Chaplain was at the Navy port and ready to be picked up.....couldn't be better timing, other than it is an ordeal to pick it up. We had to go to the DMV and get a Guam permit (HUGE LONG LINE!) then go get it, get a safety inspection and then back to DMV. Luckily DMV doesn't close until 6 p.m. here. Then back to the base. As I was stopping to get my permit for Andersen, Dave stopped too and the security guard checked his registration and insurance of our loaner car....it's expired. Why hadn't I checked this before? Anyway, no more driving our loaner car and hopefully Dave's new car will be back in working condition today! It has been an adventure!

We are making new friends slowly and have great neighbors. Dave will be putting the shed together in the back yard today. Wish him luck. It is a big pile o parts.

Monday, August 04, 2008

Handyman Dave

Dave put on the handyman hat this weekend and with the help of our neighbor I have a new storage shed!

Saturday, August 02, 2008

Painting





We have keys! I got a call at 3:00 on Friday that our house was ready. The office closes at 3:30 and I was half an hour away. I told the guy at housing that I was on my way. He was doing me a favor because if we take possession on Monday, I can have the key 24 hrs in advance, but because it is a weekend, I was able to get it on Friday! He was really thoughtful to remember that I wanted to paint and needed extra time. I rushed in to get the key and have spent all of Saturday painting.

Friday, August 01, 2008

Underwater World





We went to Underwater World in our hotel to see the shark feeding. I hadn't taken the girls yet because I thought it was more expensive than it was. They had a good military discount! I still need to do a little more reading on my camera. The pictures were blurry of the fish being fed. It was still fun to watch.