Nat's green thumb.

This seems to have been a year in which all that's green, grows well under Natalie's care. Her flower boxes are really in great bloom right now. I wish I had a picture of the snowball bush on the west side of the house from about a month ago, it had a great year too. For Mother's Day Natalie got to pick out some items for her garden. What I didn't realize was that her little shopping spree meant tearing out some of my yard for her garden. Oh well, give and take right (less grass to mow I suppose). So now we have an arch shaped garden plot instead of the small strip it was before. Oh, our strawberry's are doing well too. The only thing I can't put my finger on is exactly which one of Adia and her Strawberry russling posse are responsible for the extremely low yield on such healthy plants. I'll have to get to the bottom of this. I think it's going to be a tough case to crack though. I'll keep you posted.

Seattle Day Trip.

Well, we had the chance to take a quick day trip to Seattle this weekend. We left Adia with Nat's parents and went up to do some Seattle stuff. We of course had to stop at Krispy Kreme on the way in. I can't really resist those glazed creme filled doughnuts, or their coffee for that matter. Then it was on to Pike Place Market for some people watching and tea shopping. We would have hit our favorite Sushi spot in Fremont next but somehow we came into Fremont right in the middle of a Parade. We decided to hang out at Half Priced Books on Roosevelt while we adjusted our lunch plans. After about an hour of browsing we left having decided on Indian food. So we ate lunch at Cedar's on Brooklyn. Excellent Indian food, the Paneer & Spinach Nan was great. Afterwards we went down to Tukwila to check out HobbyTown USA. Didn't end up buying anything but what they can do these days with R/C toys is amazing, but also expensive. We happened across yet another used book store while we were down there, so there went another hour. Finally, it time to get going home. Overall a very fun trip. Unfortunately when we got to Natalie's parents' house to pick up Adia we locked ourselves out of the car. Eventually we got home, late but home. What a weekend.

New Pet...

Well, Adia's been asking for a pet for awhile. I guess she doesn't really appreciate that I never liked the stray dog, Jake, that we took in for about a year. She was having a hard time with the loss of all of her fish. I think we must have gone through about 7 fish total. It seems like they passed on for a variety of reasons, some we are sure were sick when we got them. In fact Adia calls WalMart the "Sick Fish Store". Anyhow, we now have a snow white little kitten. Her name is Emily and she is a cuddler. In fact we now have three cats, the two others are siamese. Adia has done a good job of taking care of and feeding the new kitten. She's also learned that cats don't sleep the same hours we do and has expressed some frustration with little kitty's midnight antics. Oh well, welcome to reality. But nonetheless, she loves this cat. I think she's pretty happy.

Life is (can be) absurd.

Ever look back on something in your life and feel both disconnected from it and at the same time remember it like it was yesterday. Maybe, like it really was yesterday, but in somebody else's life. That happens to me, and I know it happens to Nat. I suppose that it's really just a sign of healing, that you can look back on it and remember what happened, but not have to relive the feelings. I'm starting to wonder if I take for granted the healing God has done in my and Natalie's life. Maybe I'm too averse to thinking about what really happened to reflect long enough to realize, and be thankful for, how far God has brought us.

I was going through some pictures today and found one that we hadn't destroyed yet. I don't think we really have any pictures of when Natalie was sick, but something about this picture triggered an old memory. A memory that for the most part is best left in the past. When they do surface though, it's best just to be thankful that it's just a memory and not the present.

So, without trying to be too cryptic or confusing, I'm thankful. I'm thankful for the work that only God was capable of doing in our lives. Please know also, that such a big part of God's healing in our lives has been our friends. To anyone reading this that has ever known us, in any depth at all, know that you are part of the fabric that has holds us together. Thank God, and thank you too.

Summer in full swing.

Looks like it's going to be a hot and sunny summer over here. Adia's having lot's of fun. With 3 kids right next door and such a big back yard they're always outside now. Trying to keep the sun burn protection on is going to be a challenge to remember. If any of you moms out there are reading this, maybe you could drop a comment off. Nat's really trying to come up with ideas to stay busy with this summer. She's afraid of being bored or running out of things to do. Well, I hope you all enjoy the sunshine out there.

Pre-School Graduation

Well, I don't remember graduating from pre-school to begin with, but I'm sure it wasn't the Hollywood production that Adia's was on Tuesday night. They had brought in a choir from one of the local churches. They had a profesional photographer. All the kids were escorted one by one by previous graduates of the pre-school. We also found out during the ceremony that her teacher "Miss Mary" has just recieved both a Master's and a Doctorate this year. So I guess that makes her Dr. Miss Mary. I didn't really expect such a ceremony but it was good. Really twists the knife of knowing they don't stay kids forever to have such a big production though. Made it a bit emotional to tell you the truth. That goes for Adia too. She cried the whole way home saying how much she's going to miss pre-school and Miss Mary.

Gymnastics Program

Last night we went to Adia's end of the year gymnastics program. She's really progressed over the year and is doing hand stands, back bends, begining cart wheel, forward dive roll, backwards summersaults, and is as limber as all get out.

Big Week.

Well, it's graduation week here. Adia is graduating from pre-school (after 3 years) on Tuesday night. Tonight she's doing a graduation program for her Gymnastics class. We got her into pre-school one of the years Natalie was sick, she wasn't yet 3 but they took her anyway. It was a real good experience she's had the same teacher the whole time too. Being a single child it really helped her be around a lot of friends, she's learned a lot. She can do some basic reading and writing now. She writes us letter all the time, and for the most part we can read them. Sometimes she'll get real creative and write us a story. She's lots of fun, and creative. The last few days she's been waking up and going straight to the craft room. Yesterday she made Nat a bracelet out of beads and string, the day before that she made collage by herself before we woke up, and the day before that I think she was in writing stories. She's growing up fast and has no intentions of slowing it down, I guess we'll just do our best to remember everything along the way.

Please Pray...

We have two people in our lives that really need some prayer right now.

My old room mate Jason's Father was diagnosed with cancer recently and has just finished his first treatment of chemo. It came as quite a surprise and I know the whole family needs your prayers for strength and for wisdom on the doctors' part.

Also, last week the newest member of our extended family was hospitalized. Micah Carter (my cousin's newest baby boy) was taken by ambulance to the hospital over in Bremerton. While in the hospital his heart stopped and his body temperature had got down to 93. He'll be in the hospital for another week at least, maybe more. If I understand right it sounds like although he was feeding regularly, his body wasn't getting the nurishment he needed. They are doing some metabolic tests on him to try to find out more. This has been a scary week, if you could pray for us all. Thank you.