School and Soccer

Soccer

These boys are fireballs! Of their team, they both put the more effort and focus into the game. They are awesome!

Package!

It's like Christmas. Thank you for the packages!!!!

School:

This is his school shirt. "Home of the Deer" WOW! They are encouraged to wear a school t-shirt everyday if possible. It's a public school so they can't require uniforms.

We were a little nervous to see how Luke would do in a new school, But he's going great! He seems very happy after school. We love his teacher. She's from Washington State. She has been teaching here for 4 years. She happens to be the only other Caucasian person in Luke's classroom. He doesn't seem to even notice that he is the minority. There are 18 kids in his class. They are mostly Filipino, local islanders, and a few Asians. The teacher has done a great job training the class. Luke is learning responsibility, and I'm practicing not hovering. My favorite part about the school is that they have a virtue of the week. Luke also takes 30 minutes of Chamorro lessons a day. That is the local language. He likes it and they teach him the history of the island.

Luke likes to trace pictures right now. This is a bat.

Gabe:

I started a Co-Op preschool with 2 other moms here. At first, Gabe was very grumpy and disappointed that he wasn't going to a "real" preschool. But lately his tune has changed. He really likes the other mothers and his favorite part of school is Mandarin lessons. The mom teaching Gabe says he is a natural learner of speaking Chinese. He knows all his letters and sounds. He is working on writing his lower case letters and pre-reading. He loves homework. He demands homework when Luke is doing his.

Clark is a sponge. The kid is learning so fast. He knows all his colors and shapes and some letters. He like preschool too. He is also learning Chinese and the ladies in Nursery speak Filipino to him. I also had a mom that wants to trade me piano lessons for Spanish lessons. A language that would actually be useful when we get back to Idaho. He has noticed the different languages everywhere. We where visiting a Filipino couple from church, and as he was talking to them he suddenly declared, "I speak Spanish. HOLA!" He's been watching to much Dora. He's still so cute and I can't believe he will be turning 3 in three months.

Scuba diving date! I held another octopus. It was so fun!

The Richards

I have to put a plug in for an amazing adoptive family:

Dustin and Darci Richards

They happen to be best friends of ours, but I'm not over exaggerating when I say that are one of the GREATEST adoptive couples I know. There family is currently made up of two boys that they adopted. They are such great parents and spend lots of fun family time together. They are so thoughtful, laid back, and fun. They are such a great example of how healthy open adoptions should be. Their family and their birthfamilies are lucky to have each other.

Darci and Dustin have been patiently hoping to adopt one more time to complete their family. Please remember them if you hear of someone experiencing an unwed, unplanned pregnancy that is considering adoption.

To see more about there family look:

At their Blog OR At their adoption profile

Mid September?

Hair cut: long hair was to heavy for this hot weather.

See these beautiful blue eyes. They are rare in Saipan. When we are in areas with Japanese tourists they are aren't afraid to walk up and take a picture of my kids. My kid's pictures are probably on many Japanese facebook pages. And Clark is adored by everyone at church. They love little kids here.

I'm surrounded by animals. I am squatting down gardening and Clark jumps on my back like a monkey. Gabe insists on peeing in the jungle instead of the bathroom. And when Luke is angry he acts like a gorilla. Ben is just a grown up with boyish behaviors.

For the first time ever, I have finally felt like we may need a little girl to complete our family. I wonder what God's plan is.

Ben and the boys cut down a coconut tree that was blocking our view.

Outdoors: You've been asking, so here is what a banana tree looks like. We are still waiting for this one to be ready. Then we will cut down the whole tree, and eat the bananas.

Cool green gecko

Clark is such a character:

He really likes to wear costume everywhere.

Made our own water table to play in.

The boys all had Strep throat last week. The fever cause a very bad rash on Clark and Gabe. They looked like they had the chicken pox, except it didn't itch.

Gabe riding a two wheeler bike: Gabe came inside one day and declared that he was ready to take his training wheels off. So Ben went out to help him learn to ride without them. Gabe figured it out on the first try! Way to Go!

Sunburns from Managaha

The Island of Managaha

This is our spot for a "stay"cation (vacation). 10 minute fairy ride from Saipan to the little island of Managaha. The snorkeling was awesome! The Beach was beautiful. Unfortunately we enjoyed the sun a little to much. We love experienced our first MAJOR sunburn. Need to reapply the sunscreen more often.