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.

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!

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!

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!

Picking up more words!

Last night I took McKenzie to church and needed to go hang out somewhere with Nathan for a little bit, so we headed to Wendy's. I ordered some french fries and a frosty. He wouldn't touch the frosty...he still doesn't like anything cold except for an occasional drink of dad's smoothies or yogurt. He does eat french fries....with a spoon. We did resort to our hands; he's a funny kid. He poured out his french fries on the tray, looked in the box and without any prodding announced "all gone!" That's right...he's picking this English thing up! Miranda taught him "jump" today and I'm sure there are other words...I am just too tired to remember.

Bees and Wax

Nathan had an appointment at the audiologist today at the Navy Hospital. The pediatrician wanted him to have his ears, eyes and teeth checked by specialists. I knew that he had ear wax. We had drops to clear it out and even syringed it the bathtub last week. The audiologist took a look and said that he wasn't hearing us, except at a whisper tone because of all of the wax and that she couldn't do the test until he had this cleaned out by the ENT. So the ENT agreed to see us immediately....so nice! We trekked upstairs and Nathan was not too thrilled with the "straight jacket" sheet. He did allow the doctor to finish the left ear. We have to go back for the right ear next week. Unfortunately, this isn't enough time for Nathan to forget the experience!

So, not that getting ear wax dug out was enough for one day...We took Miranda to her Karate lesson and Dave picked up Nathan for a hug and Nathan began to scream and clutched his arm. I took a look and saw a small red spot. I looked at Dave's back and he had a bee on his shirt. He was stung by a bee! Luckily, it was a honey bee and not a boonie bee...they're B A D. So in a week's time he has had 5 viles of blood drawn, strapped down for ear wax removal a bee sting and will start immunizations when the blood work returns. It's pretty traumatic for these little guys coming home. He is such a trooper. The great news about all of this is that we can tell his hearing is better (we didn't know that it was bad) and he has repeated 5 new words today! Randa, Kenzie, yogurt, cracker and be nice!

Nathan's First Trip to the Beach!

Shouting out to his peeps!




Dave had his CTO today, so we took Nathan to Gab Gab Beach. He didn't understand that he had water shoes that were supposed to go in the water :)

Don't let the goggles fool you. He let us put them on, but don't get them wet!!!

Nathan shouting out to his peeps!
Miranda showing Nathan that the swing really is fun
He's not convinced.
I don't have photos yet, but he did have a smile on his face when he was on the horse swing yesterday!

Nathan's first haircut with us

Bumping before the haircuts begin!
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I knew that Nathan had experience clippers before. His hair is always short. Dave was excited to get his first haircut with Nathan. I pulled out the clippers and we tried to contain the giggles. He is especially ticklish on the back of his neck. Dave was getting impatient with me, so he grabbed the clippers and made a run for the top of his head....not knowing that I still had the back and side edge on. He got quite the short cut for his first cut with us!

The girls go back to school

Nathan LOVES his sisters and they love him just as much! He is a perfect fit for our family. Because of his love for his sisters and and wanting to do everything that they do, he is now loving his singing stick horse...and his horse swing too! Monday morning before school the girls played with him and his annoying horse, then they had to go. He knew what was up. He saw that they went for their backpacks and so he did too. He put his shoes on (nevermind the PJ's). This was his immediate reaction when the door shut and he was left behind. He loves his sisters! Poor little guy!

McKenzie won FIRST PLACE in the 7th grade Science Fair!!!!!

Way to go McKenzie! Your hard work has paid off. We are so very proud of you!

Finishing up the photos from Vietnam

This is the beggar that was just outside our hotel. He would yell at us every time we walked by.
Wallet or lighter?
Notice the lady driving the motorbike holding the baby.
Bikes are also recliners in Vietnam.
Snake, scorpion, spider wine anybody?

Yep, that's a whole chicken. Dave has the head in the chopsticks. Needless to say, he didn't eat much!



Lots of snails!




Our three Holt families right before we left for the airport.

Our very last moments in Vietnam!

Halong Bay II

Notice the goose egg. Nathan took a nose dive on the deck of the boat.
Me...trying to get fresh air on the top deck after getting sick from the diesel fumes.

The three new Holt babies together!
Sneak peak of the four Holt kiddos together
Nathan giggling from catching bubbles

Buying Oreos with Daddy