Geared up for School

We are trying to have as much fun as we can with our rainy, gray days until school sets in and our days will be filled with forced fun. :-) We got spoiled with nice hot sunshine on vacation and thought we were ready for some rain. Oh we got our rain and apparently are never content, as we are wishing for a little sunshiny vacation again. Needless to say, we've been playing lots of board games and doing lots of cheap crafts.

Tadd leaves tomorrow for California and we are trying to get back into some routine so getting up for school is not such a shock. Kenya and Elijah have been real troopers at getting back into chores and helping mom and dad around the house, now that we are off our extended vacation. Most of their time has been spent playing with and caring for the new puppy that Daddy just couldn't resist bringing home. He's hoping that who ever house sits for us for 6 months is O.K. with taking care of a pure bread Border Collie who is sweet as pie. There was a sign down the road for boarder collies $350.00 Then one day the $350.00 turned to free, which happens to be in our price range. I guess the pups were 6 months old and he just wanted to get rid of them and start fresh with the next litter. The kids were obviously ecstatic.

Tadd has been working a lot for friends and will probablly be working for one of them full time until we leave. Jennifer and Jarod have been doing lots of work getting our downstairs apartment ready in Haiti, most of that includes getting all of their stuff moved and constructed upstairs. We are working on getting all of the technical details worked out here in the states, so we can go forward with the move. Please continue to pray for the adoption as our papers that were lost are now "supposed" to be done by the end of August. We just sent off a package for Annecy's 8th birthday on September 1st. Time flies. Thanks for your continued prayers, it is the most effective and also the only tool we have in this neverending battle. God is so good to give us this tool, we just need to learn to pull it out of the tool box more often then we do. This adoption has been so good to teach Kenya and Elijah, and also Mommy and Daddy how we don't always know why God does what He does, but we do know He always does what is best for us and if we are continually praying and seeking Him, He will give us the peace to get through, until our prayers are answered.

Please Pray

We are back in full swing. Kenya and Elijah have been making a little extra cash by picking blackberries and selling them to mommy. Apparently blackberries have really gone up in price over the years. I guess that is the price you pay if you don't want to go pick them yourself. Unfortunatly, Elijah thinks picking them and then giving the profits to someone else, whether it comes with money or not is a cheap alternative to just stationing yourself at the bush and eating them until your sick.

Apparently the travels aren't over for my sweet husband.

Our previous pastor (Pastor Ken)

who I am sure is extatic that I used this picture, called and asked Tadd to help him out. Tadd had worked with Ken at our church until Ken moved to Costa Mesa, California and is now moving back to Washington to start a Calvary Chapel in Everett. Everett is about an hour south of us, by Seattle. Tadd will be helping him get the church in Everett started until we leave for Haiti in November. We are picking up his wonderful wife Lynn and their 3 kids from the airport next week and then at the end of the week Tadd will fly down to Cali and take a week to help Ken drive back up here. With a short pit stop in Jacksonville, OR of course as Ken is also a fan of Jon Courson, but I am sure not half as big as Tadd.

All of that said, we could really use some prayer for safety for Tadd and Ken as they drive back and also for protection and sanity for both of their wives and kids. If you could also really commit the church in Everett to prayer. The web address is www.calvaryeverett.com check it out and keep it in prayer.

Drained from Drifting

Well, we are finally home for awhile. We have visited and vacationed to our little hearts desire and we are now trying to cram our life into a box and head to Haiti. We are targeting the first of November as our departure date. We will be commiting to 6 months there and depending on how our adoption goes we will be back to show off our kids. Then we will seek the Lord and re-evaluate weither he takes us back to Haiti or in a different direction. We are just storing all of our thing now, so that we can use them when we come back to introduce Annecy and Isaiah to everyone and we will make a decision from there weither to continue to store or get rid of it all. We are so excited to go to Haiti and be with our kids, work with the Ebenhaaks and be a part of the amazing things God has going there. We will posting soon with more details and more direction. So stay tuned.

Meanwhile, we had a long, but fun 3 week vacation to say goodbye to family and friends. We started out in Idaho with Charity's family reunion which I'm sure you have already ooggled at that on our previous post, but hears a little follow up

mia and aunt charity

The sista's (4 outta 7 that is)

Sanfords & Scheffers @ museum

Next on to Saint George for lots of very Hot family fun.

Kenya and Elijah riding the kiddie go karts, they are not amuzed as the power wheels they have goes much faster.

So daddy let them ride on his go cart, much more amuzing, Dad hit the Lady in front of Him and make her do a 360 on the track.





The nice thing is the heat really wears the kids out.


We celebrated Kenya's 7th birthday on July 29th. Daddy took her on a date while Elijah and Mom stayed home to suprise her with cake and decor. It apparently worked and we got a snap shot as she walked in the door. She got to take a big bite right out of the cake, and then Elijah felt justified in doing the same.

Then off to Indio California to hang out with the Wheelers before they go off to Brazil.

We were afraid with 6 kids between both families we wouldn't get enough adult time together. We figured that out pretty quick and were able to go out with out the kids a couple of times.


The first night we just put them in front of the TV and told them not to make to much noise.


Then we took them to the beach and burried them in the sand, until we got back from surfing.



We had lots of fun at the beach and all the kids and guys got to go to the Pendleton Marine base in Oceanside. Since Billy is a Marine they got some special treatment when playing with the tanks. Then back home for some sweet snuggle time.



It seems that was the pattern for the whole vacation was, lots of play, lots of fun, then complete exhaustion.



Finally, we said good bye to the Wheeler's and on to our last stop in Jacksonville, OR for some borderline stalking of Jon Courson (a very gifted pastor that we love to listen to online). The reason I say borderline stalking is because every vacation we take, we end up stopping by to attend a service there and the kids love the kids museum and the camping spot we stay at.
We took a slight detour into the Oregon Vortex and found out that Kenya and Elijah are closer in height depending on where they stand. After satifying our obsessions, we limped our way home with excitement and exhaustion. Poor Elijah who was regularly deprived of his much needed naps was totally spent.


Thanks for keeping up with us and most of all keeping us in your prayers. We will try to post a little more frequently, now that we are a little more stationary. Love you all and we'll talk to you soon.