It's been a while...

Wow, it's been a long time since I've last posted. Sorry! I guess I'll start by giving a little update on the kiddos. Cole is finishing 2nd grade in a few months. He's been struggling quite a bit lately with anxiety about going to school. Once I get him in the door, which can be quite tough, he seems to do fine. Things are getting better. Baby steps! He recently got a new bike and has really enjoyed riding. He is also learning piano, taking tennis lessons every Saturday, and just started swimming lessons yesterday.

Jack cracks me up. He smiles so much his face must hurt. He recently decided to learn to ride his bike after Cole bribed him with marshmallows. Now he wants to ride his bike all the time (that is, when he's not playing lego star wars). He enjoys preschool and is all smiles there too. When he's home he loves to play on the playground across the street, and with his friend Avery.

Haven is my haven. Her name is so perfect for her. I love having her with me as I go about my days. She is very easy going and no matter what we do she always tells me "I had fun" when we get in the car. She'll walk up to anyone and ask them "what's your name?" (though I usually have to interpret for her). Her response to how old are you is always "I four". I smile every time. She is potty training and has had a few dry days over the last week. She and I take an sign language class together and it amazes me what she knows.

Tom already has one foot out the door already of Naval Hospital Guam. Though this has been a good life experience for him in many ways, professionally he is ready to move on. He has many stories to share and I tell him he should write the book he's already titled "Ships ahoy, man overboard". We sure have enjoyed having him around over the last 20 months and will miss that. He's anxiously awaiting orders to Jacksonville and also starting to think about his orthopedic oral boards which he'll be taking in July.

Though I'm ready to get back to the states I sure am going to miss this little island, and my wonderful friends. Though there are days I miss working and I think about what my future might have in store for me career-wise, I wouldn't trade this season of my life for anything. We've grown so much closer as a family here in Guam and I am thankful for this time. Lately I've been getting involved in a few new activities here. I've always wanted to learn sign language and now thanks to my close friend Jeni who teaches here, I am getting started. When I worked at Westborough State Hospital a few years back I had to visit the deaf unit often and really wanted to be able to communicate with those patients. I also started a moms group a few months ago. We originally met in navy housing but we quickly grew too big and now we meet in the hospital chapel every Thursday and are an official moms group/playgroup there. On alternate Fridays I am involved in a local MOPS program which also started a few months ago. I'm hoping to get some more diving in before we leave here. Time is passing so quickly and before I know it I'll be starting the packing-out process. We'll be on "boonie furniture" by mid-April. The boys finish school in May and I'll have to say goodbye to all of the staff at Southern Christian Academy. That will be one of my most difficult goodbyes.

Holiday Pictures

Here Jack is acting silly with the girls at Tirague beach. No we didn't get any snow this year!
Below is a picture of a sweet little girl living in the village we brought gifts to. Below that are some pictures from the Christmas walk up at Anderson Air Force Base.






A Christmas Feast Chamorro Style

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from Guam! We've had a wonderful few days and the kids are anxiously awaiting Christmas Day. This time of year we miss friends and family back home, yet our Guam family has brought us much comfort and joy this season! It's hard to believe that we'll be heading home in under 6 months. We anticipate a move to Newport, though we won't know for sure until Tom gets orders. Say a prayer for us!

We want to share a few pictures and a video from our recent holiday activities. This year I organized the 2nd annual Holiday Blessings Outreach. For weeks we collected clothing, toys, stuffed animals (new and gently used), and wrapping supplies from members of the Oakleaf Club, neighbors and friends. On Friday many people donated their time to sort and bundle clothing, wrap gifts, and prepare for the delivery. It was a tiring but great day. Cole was a good sport through all of the preparations. On Thursday evening he helped bring presents across the street to my neighbors garage (on his Healys of course). Jack was completely confused and kept asking when he was getting his presents. When all was ready we loaded 8 cars with gifts and on Saturday afternoon we drove up north to a impoverished village and distributed the gifts. Kids were involved with all aspects of this outreach and I think that made it extra special.

From there we went with friends to Bamboo Willies, which is a restaurant on the water close to Anderson Air Force Base. The kids had a blast playing on the playground and in the sand. They got nice and dirty so luckily we had a change of clothes for everyone as we were heading next to the Christmas walk up at the Air Force Base. There is a neighborhood there that is decorated to the max for Christmas and families walk up and down the street enjoying the sites and festivities. The kids stood in a snow shower (bubbles blown from a huge fan), collected goodies, saw at least 2 santas (how confusing is that?!), and so much more. We lost Jack for about 10 minutes in the huge crowd and boy was that scary. Apparently he saw a plane down the street that was rigged up to fly across the street dropping candy (watch the video!). When we turned our heads he bee lined to the plane. He eventually realized that we weren't there and got scared and thankfully walked back up the street in our direction. When I picked him up he started sobbing and I shed a few tears of joy.

Yesterday we were invited to the church Christmas celebration at the school that the boys attend. We all had a wonderful time and I will have to post a picture of the food table to give you a sense of what "fiestas" in Guam are like. Earlier in the day Cole had some friends over, including two boys that live in a shelter up north. Sernes is 8 and attended Southern Christian Academy with Cole after his family was discovered homeless at Chammoro Village. (On a side note, Cole sang for the homeless at Chammoro village last Tuesday night, and boy was that memorable). Sernes is such a sweet boy. His family now lives in a shelter and both boys attend school. His parents are trying to break free of drugs and alcohol. When we left last night AJ (Sernes' older brother), asked if he could "come with us tomorrow". My heart broke.

Today we plan to hike with our close friends and then make Christmas cookies and get ready for Christmas. Sorry this blog was so long but I have a lot to say this year! We wish you and your family a wonderful holiday and we can't wait to see you in 2008! I will post video here, and then pictures separately in the next entry.

Thanksgiving and address change

We hope you had a nice thanksgiving. This year we had some friends on our street come to our house. They have a little daughter that is close to Haven's age. The boys were excited because they brought their Wii over. Believe it or not we actually decorated our Christmas tree on Thanksgiving Day. Only in Guam! We got our tree once they arrived at the Navy Exchange because we wanted to get it while it was "fresh" and get it into water. Once it was up Cole was so excited to decorate it that we went ahead and got the ornaments out in the morning. This apparently confused Jack, who woke up the following morning thinking it was Christmas and wanted to rush downstairs to see the presents.

Here are some recent pictures of the kids. We are all doing great and looking forward to a three week stretch with Tom not on call. His partner has been off island and Tom carried the beeper for the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving. By the new year we're hoping to have a better idea as to our next duty station.

For those of you that don't have it, we have a new address. It's 23 Plumeria Street Santa Rita, Guam 96915. Happy Holidays!

Halloween 2008

Hello everyone. It's been a while since I last updated our blog. Unfortunately I dropped my camera on halloween night and haven't had any phone calls from the person that picked it up :( I'm still hoping someone will respond to my newspaper ad! I do have some recent pictures from Tom's camera that I am posting here. Though we have no photos of the kids in costume or from the underwater pumpking carving contest that Tom and I did we were fortunate that Tom ended up on the front page of the local newspaper. It was VERY difficult to get our pumpkin to the bottom (we carved at about 15 feet) and Tom had to find a cement block to put on his legs to keep him down. He says he'll never forget the moment when he got the top off the pumpkin and the bubbles rushed out of the pumpkin and rose to the surface. It was a once in a lifetime experience. Here is a photo of our finished product. While we dove, the kids participated in a pumpkin/orange hunt and had a great time.

Ko'ko fun run

I had to post some pictures from the Ko'ko fun run the kids did today. The ko'ko bird is one of the few birds left on this island. The run was a one mile loop for Cole, and a shorter one for Jack. They both did great and the weather was beautiful. Cole came in second for his age group. Jack ran some and then decided to walk. However, when he saw Tom cheering for him at the finish line he ran so fast with such a big grin on his face. It was priceless! Haven enjoyed playing in the sand before the race and seeing a ko'ko bird for the first time.

Fall

The other day I got an Email from our friend and old neighbor Sandy. She talked about the Red Sox and how they spend their afternoons watching it outside with their outdoor fire going. It brings me right back to fall and old times with friends. It's strange living in a place like Guam where there is no real change to mark the seasons (our seasons are typhoon, rainy, and dry and right now it's just sticky and rainy). I get homesick this time of year, especially with two new cousins Molly and Lauren that I don't get to hug. Just know that we are thinking about you all even if we don't get a chance to call you. Tom remarked yesterday that when we move stateside it'll be hard to get used to the fact that we don't have to calculate time difference. I'll just be excited that you are awake when we are! Here are a few pictures of our Orton Street friends from this summer. We're wishing we could enjoy your fires with you this year!