Adoption Update | Prayer for Guatemala

Hi Friends,
We thought that we would give you an update as to our adoption process. Max is growing well. He has visited the doctor and all of his updates state that he has "strapping growth". We pray that he continues to feed well and develop well. We have sent a package and are excited to see pictures of him with his foster family. While Max is doing well, the country of Guatemala is extreamly volitile at this time. There has been a surge in exteme violence in these last weeks leading up to the September 9th elections. This is a presidential and congressional election. We would ask that you add the safetly and stability of Guatemala and it's people to your prayer list. This violence and the new elections could affect the adoption process and current procedures. At this time we are not worried. We have had no indications from our agency that this will affect us. We do though feel a new sense of connectedness to Guatemala and would covet your prayers for this situation. Thanks so much!

Pirate Shenanigans

AHOY! This post is long over due since this event took place a couple of weeks ago. However I was very much at a loss for words as to how to explain what took place in front of my very eyes. On Saturday morning a small ad off to the side of the morning paper caught my eye. "Annual Puget Sound Pirate Festival". What the heck?, was my first response. However, because I am the proud mommy of an almost four year old boy I continued to read. After gaining details I set out with Jack and our friend Samuel ( an experienced pirate). We headed up north to Everret to the marina. We got out of our car to find a parking lot and boardwalk littered with FULL GROWN ADULTS DRESSED HEAD TO TOE IN AUTHENTIC PIRATE COSTUMES. What? are you kidding me. I could not keep from laughing. The boys were in absolute awe! They loved it. I put my snickering aside and we proceeded to play all manner of pirate games. Then on the hour, every hour we watched the fight circle. Here the pirates would work out their "grievance" with one another with elaborate fighting. Swords clanging, pirate jeering jargen... it was intense. Sam and Jack loved the action and at one point both boys were screaming and shouting "FIGHT!!!!". As I reflect on this experience I find that it easily falls into that category.."now that I am a mom". Before I had a child I would have never noticed an event like this....now thanks the miracle that is motherhood not only does my "mom-dar" draw my attention to this but I find that at the age of 27 I am wearing an eye patch, making swords out of duct tape and cardboard and standing by "real" pirates shouting "ARGGGGG!" Ahh..motherhood, opening my eyes to all sorts of things.

SEAFAIR- well practice at least

It has been a week of adventures and outings and this Friday was no exception. We woke up early and drove with our friends, the Woods, to Mercer Island. We went to watch the Blue Angels practice their Seafair airshow. We played at the park, enjoyed a picnic and then made our way onto I-90 to watch the show. It is a sureal feeling to be standing in the middle of a freeway with hundreds of others but it was really fun. The Blue Angels put on a fantastic show. They fly really close to spectators and to one another and they are incredibly loud. What amazing talent. Seattle is such a fun place to live with so many fun summertime activities.

Bremerton Bonanza

Bremerton Bonanza

6:15 this morning, my head began to spin as i heard that the weather was to be in the high 80's. What is a mother and child to do on a day like this to stay cool.
Drumroll please.........
10:15 we are boarding a ferry headed to Bremerton for the day. I did not now how long we would be able to entertain ourselves, I had not been for years and had no clue what we could do there...but wow what a day we had. The ferry ride was fantastic. Beautiful, warm and WINDY. Jack, in his current state of obsession with all things pirate, was so pleased to be on a boat and he spent most of his time looking for approachig pirates. We disembarked our vessel and set out to find a park. In no time we were swinging and climbing. Soon the sun became to warm and we headed just a few feet down to a rocky beach to go crab hunting. We were very successful. Just as we were running out of rocks to turn our stomachs began to rumble and we set out to find lunch. We found lunch at the local Taco Del Mar in the middle of the Bremerton "boardwalk". We played by the fountain and enjoyed watching other ferrys come in. We then set out to wander in seach of ice cream when screams and laughter caught our ear. Much to our surprise we stumbled into the most amazing public water park for kids. Despite not coming ready to swim, Jack ditched the shirt and jumped in. What a way to spend the day. After this we were toast...we headed back to the ferry and headed home. Well almost home. In Seattle we got stuck on a narrow oneway street waiting for the worlds longest and slowest train. After 35 minutes we finally pulled a u-turn and headed out to find a new way home. Ahhhhhh! It was a beautiful day. Fun times!

Jack's Seattle Adventure

Adventure Thursday

This week Jack and I had a special date day in the city. In one day we visited several of our favorite Seattle places. We spent the morning at Alki Beach. We dug big holes, made sand angels, sandcastles and ate the classic Spud's fish and chips. Then we got into the car, drove to Pike Place Market to watch the "fish guys" and pick up some beautiful flowers. As we walked back to the car we enjoyed the waterfall tunnel at Westlake Center. Jack and I ventured through the tunnel once and then Jack proceeded to go for a five. He was SOAKING wet by the time he was done. Finally we "rode" the pigs at westlake. Jack thinks that there is nothing funnier than these enourmous pigs painted and decorated by local artists. It was a great day!

Boys and Baseball

Today we had such a special treat. Morfar (Megan's Dad) took all three of his grandsons and their moms to a Tacoma Rainers game.The boys were so excited to be at a "real game" with "real players". Since this is a farm team, we were close to the action which was great for a clan of preschoolers. The boys enjoyed cheering on the players, watching for the mascot "rubarb the reindeer", chatting it up with those around us and eating game day snacks. What better way to spend a monday! Thanks so much Morfar! - Yeah to be be a stay at home mommy :)

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Family Camp | Good Times

Oh it was good to be back at Cascades Camp for the annual all conference church family camp this past week. Once again our church's worship band was invited to lead worship and it was amazing. The speakers this year were also fantastic. Lots of families from church attended and much fun was had. It certainly was a different experience to take along an independant 3 1/2 year old. We swam * Rode horses * Built a pinecare * Where in a parade * Played soccer * Played frisbee * Shot a BBGun * Hiked * Stayed up really late * Ate ice cream* and much, much more. Jack had a wonderful time. Camp has so many great activities and lots of his friends where there to share in the fun. The time at camp was also such a great reminder about how blessed we are to have a church home and spiritual family along with our physical family. Camp is a place where corporate and community parenting takes place. Everyone watches everyones elses kids. You all eat meals together, play together and worship together. We were so blessed to share in camp with our family and our friends. It is good be be part of a body of faith.