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Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Village Outreach

This is a short video I put together for church on Sunday. This is a glimpse of our village outreach just outside of the AF base gates. Some of the homes do not have electricity or running water. The community got together by word of mouth and donated LOTS of food and TONS of clothing. Oh, how we are blessed and what an honor to be a blessing to others. At the end, you can see Dave's 40th birthday present. This is what he asked for....a new basketball hoop for the village. He is not going to be here. He will be in Kuwait for his 40th birthday :( God is working on me right now. If you have leftover PowerLab supplies from last year's VBS, please let me know ASAP....I think He's calling me to use it with this village.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Nathan's Dedication



We had Nathan dedicated at church today. It made for an extra special Mother's Day! The kiddos and Dave were extra good to me as well. Dave purchased a new jewelry box for me and lots of fun hand-made gifts from the kids! The one thing that I have been asking for, we still haven't done. I want to have nice photos of all of us together at the beach. The girls moan and complain about the thought of it and Nathan still doesn't look and smile at the camera on command and Dave is just too darn busy with his job. Hopefully next week we can get this done! I want to have a really nice one for Dave to take and have it painted on canvas!

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Lots to catch up on

Nathan continues to be a wonderful addition and blessing to the Leonard Family! The girls are still enthralled with him! We all need a break from each other at times, just like a normal happy family :) He is understanding so much and saying new words daily. I think the best example of this is when he says yucky and uses it in the right context...who knew? That's a hard concept to explain to a little kid and he uses the word appropriately each time. However it sounds like yuck-eye.

Today I was driving up to Dave's office and we got out and he shouted "BaBa!" He knows this is his Daddy's office! When asked who his best friend is, he'll proclaim "BaBa!" Last night one of the children was being reprimanded by Dad and Nathan snuck right up beside him and placed his hands on his hips; just like dad was and continued to "help." I quickly removed him and the guilty party was not aware :) It was REALLY funny!

The biggest news weighing on our family is that Dave will be deploying in August for 4 months. It could be much worse and I am reminding myself that if Dave doesn't go, it means somebody else will and my situation isn't any different than many other families who have to be separated from new babies and leaving new mommies behind. We'll do just fine. God will be right here with us. He knew long before we did. I was just hoping that it would come after Nathan had been with us for a little longer. Dave will miss his first birthday with us, his first Christmas with us and Dave's 40th birthday will be while he is in Kuwait. We'll make adjustments and probably postpone Christmas and use the web cam a lot!

We are also getting a free little get-away. Our bathroom tub has never drained good and it has become a problem. The girls can't finish a quick shower without the water almost overflowing. We learned that the tub will have to be replaced and then last night were told that we would be moved out for 4 days to have the pipe jack-hammered out. So, we called and were able to get a room at the PIC (water park resort on island) at the expense of the AF! I think God was giving us a little break from the news that we had just received. What a great diversion! I can't wait to go pick up the girls from school so we can go play!

Here's proof....we were all greased up with sunscreen and ready to go. Nathan still doesn't have a grasp on looking at the camera and smiling. Hopefully soon!

Here are a few pics from our visit with Lily. I have many more from the last few days, but the internet is fighting me. I'll have to do it later, as the little man is now awake and hungry!


Friday, May 01, 2009

Has it already been a week?

I was hoping to stay more caught up on posting to the blog, but it looks like a week has slipped by and I didn't post! Nathan has been home three weeks and he is doing great! I took him out to Navy on Tuesday to have his other impacted ear dug out and my fancy work (along with the ear drops) has cleared up his ear and he didn't have to go through the cleaning out process! Yeah!!!! We are scheduled on Monday to get his eyes and hearing tested at Navy. Thursday we went in to get his first round of immunizations. The Dr gave us the go ahead when I took McKenzie in. She has had the flu the last couple of days. She is feeling better and back to school today.

Nathan is a brave little cookie! He was stuck 5 times! I was almost in tears. He did cry, and was grouchy the rest of the day, but I would have been too! We don't have to go back for more until the end of June.

McKenzie is entering her science project in the all island fair next weekend. The grand prize is a fully paid trip to the NASA space camp! She would LOVE to go! That means that I better get in gear and get her passport! I need to have the girls get theirs before this summer, just in case we do try to come home. If I do, we are going to take the "less traveled road" through Japan. There is a flight every Thursday from Japan to Seattle. It would make scheduling our trip a little easier. The details are only in my head. Dave needs more leave, is crazy busy with work and I don't want to bring Nathan home without him.....so it's just a wait and see kind of thing.

Nathan is doing a little better with eating, but YO-Gurt is still his favorite. He is starting to branch out a little and try new things. He has to be in a good mood to do it though. Dave and I took him to Vietnamese food after his appointment on Tuesday. He LOVED it! It was really funny to watch him. He didn't over eat, but you could tell that he was delighted with the familiar tastes and smells of his younger years :) I try...I just don't seem to get it right!

Nathan and I are settling into a good routine at home. I am finally getting showered and out the door before noon. It is so much like having a newborn home. It really surprised me that adoption and birth were so similar. He is getting more used to us and understanding a LOT of what we say. He isn't picking up too many more words, but we are getting along pretty good with the communication. We get frustrated with each other at times when we don't understand. If we don't understand he just whines....that makes it difficult. We'll get through this phase soon.

We had our friends over for dessert on Monday. They have an adopted daughter from China and have been home for 9 months. I see how well she is doing and how much she says and know that Nathan will be well on his way to 2 year old communication very soon!!!!

I'll try to get photos up here soon, but they are still in the camera and he is sleeping....that means I need to be sleeping!