Prayers for Samoa

Today has been very difficult - we can't even imagine how all these people enduring the harsh conditions of these natural disasters are managing. Delvin has been on the phone the majority of the day trying to learn all he can about his families. Delvin has two families. Both his biological and adopted families have members on both islands. The village near where Delvin adopted father is from is completely destroyed. Several of his family members are still unaccounted for.

American Samoa:
Birth family - 1 sister unaccounted for
Adopted family - a cousin has been in touch with family in America via a satellite phone and reports that two cousins and an Aunt are reported missing

Samoa (Western) Where Delvin was born and lived until he was brought to the US:
Biological family - The only communication from this island we know of at this time is from the government. One of Delvin's cousins works for the government and called his sister who lives in Puyallup, Washington. He reported that his father (Delvin's Uncle) is missing and his house is destroyed. This Uncle was a 2nd father to Delvin, he spent a lot of time in his home and is very worried about his safety! We don't know anything about the rest of his family. Delvin has 2 sisters and a brother that live there with their families. The brother and one of the sisters live on the original family property which is on higher ground, so we want to assume they are alright. His other sister, however, we have no idea about her conditions.

Adopted family - Delvin's father is the High Chief of his village, which was completely destroyed - no immediate family members live there, however there are many cousins, aunts and uncles. Delvin's father will travel there as soon as allowed to help with the organization of clean up and rebuilding. As the High Chief it is an expectation that he comes to help. We anticipate he will be there for a long time and are already praying that he will be able to endure the conditions and return to us safely!

We are collecting clothing and shoes to send to Samoa. If you can help us out with this cause it would be much appreciated!! We will be sending the donations to the Samoan Federation of America, who has containers they will be sending to Samoa. Please help us out with all sizes, male and female, new or used clothing and shoes. Bring them to our home or contact us and we will come pick them up! Thank you in advance for your help!!!

Mason off to School???

While I was cooking dinner today I hear this clomping coming toward me. I turn around and there is Mason wearing Aidan's shoes, backpack and carrying his lunchbox. He was all ready to go to school!!! This kids cracks me up all day long!!!!!

Watch our Garden Grow - Carrots!!!

Aren't these hilarious? We just had to laugh!! We'll call them Aidan Carrot, Mason Carrot and baby carrot (anyone have name suggestions for the 3rd?)

3rd Grader!!!!

Can't believe he's in third grade!!! And yes the camera battteries died again and I couldn't get another pic, so his eyes are closed, but at least he's smiling!! We took him to school and got to go in the classroom for a few minutes, but we had to leave early because Mason was having a fit. . .he did not want to leave his brother there, no no, he wanted his brother to come home with us!! Mason threw a fit all the way until we were driving away and I was able to finally occupy him with something else.

It should be an interesting year! His teacher is EXTREMELY organized and I've never seen such a specific list of school supplies or such explicit directions of exactly what to do with the supplies! We took the supplies in last week at back to school night and got everything organized that night, she wanted everything to be ready to go when they walked in today. Each student has a very large, detailed planner. This will probably be really good for Aidan to learn since we are so laid back and not a very planned family. I've already gotten more emails from this teacher than from the last three years of teachers combined!!!! In many ways I really appreciate the communication, in some ways it's a bit over the top -but I think it will be really good overall!! Like I said, it should be an interesting year!!!!

"C" is for Cucumber!

Check out this funny cucumber that we picked from our Garden!!!!

Day at the Fair 2009

Thursday we made our Annual trip to the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe. We ventured into a few new events and happenings this year but still made sure to do all our favorites!!! I was bummed to not be able to go on any rides, but Aidan and Delvin had a lot of fun and Mason loved the Kiddie/family rides, but of course the camera batteries died before I could get a picture of him on a ride!
This turtle was roaming around while we were waiting for the Pie Eating contest - the boys loved following it around!

Another fun thing we saw while waiting for the Pie Eating contest!!
That's one TALL Pirate!
So I mentioned a Pie Eating contest. . .yes, Delvin entered! It was a lot of fun, however the contest wasn't exactly set up very fairly. . .Delvin got stuck with an apple pie, which means you have to chew the large slices of apples before you can swallow them. 1st, 2nd and 3rd places in all age categories had berry pies. Those with apple didn't have a chance. But it was still a good experience for him and fun for us to cheer him on!!!
Our annual favorites: the Lunberjack Show and the Alaskan Pig Races!!
This army guy walking around was hilarious! Of course we stopped by the Army tent, they made dog tags for the boys, which they just love - Aidan came home and put on full army attire with his dog tags and wanted to sleep that way. . .so funny!
I did something unusual at the fair too, I got my hair cut - I know what a strange place to get a haircut, but it was only $8 and I needed one badly!!! Nothing fancy or different, just a cut - it was just stange to get my haircut outdoors in the grass, but hey - it was $8 - score!

Overall it was a great day - only rained on us for 10 minutes and we were able to find shelter! Another fun year at the fair - the boys did really well, we look forward to trying to manage 3 kids at the fair next year. . .yikes!