Swimming

Today, after a fun time with friends then a few errands, we cooled off by spending some time in the pool. We were so glad that Isaac enjoyed it. He doesn't like taking a bath at all!!! But the pool was fun for him and all 4 of the kids had a good time splashing and playing. I love summer :)

Sheri

Cherry Festival

This weekend we headed up to Emmett, Idaho for the annual Cherry Festival. It is a small town affair that we really enjoy. We have often been ridiculed for "camping" in Emmett for the weekend. We have driven up with our 5th wheel trailer and spent two days enjoying the festival and "camping" overnight. We have just stayed in the middle of town at a tiny campground, and we do not in any way think we are camping, we just enjoy the laid back schedule when we can drive up Fri and have all day Sat for the events. Also, we can go back to the trailer if someone needs a nap or just for some quiet down time. Then at the end of the day when everyone is tired we are not immediately driving home but just back to our home away from home. This year though we decided not to take up the trailer, just more work to get it ready then we cared to commit to. So, we drove up early Sat morning instead, worked out great because of the weather.

We arrived in time to find some spots on the sidewalk for the annual firefighters contest. We watched many teams of two firefighters, some with two women, one with a father/daughter team, compete against one another. At the sound of the buzzer they have to get dressed in their gear, hook up several lines of hose, one person turns the water on while the other mans the nozzle. With the water pressure the team needs to knock down the stop sign set up 15 feet away, then fill two buckets with water and walk them back to the "station" to empty while the other unhooks all the lines of hose. Several teams completed the tasks in just over two minutes. It was fun to watch and exciting when one hose got away a little and sprayed us all. Camryn and Isaac got the worst of it and were drenched for a little bit, but they weren't too upset.

After the competition we drove to an orchard and picked cherries until we had our fill to take home, everyone enjoyed this activity and Isaac popped the first one he got ahold of into his mouth. He seemed to enjoy it too :) After some yummy carnival food for lunch, the big kids enjoyed a couple of the carnival rides and we checked out the military jeep. Finally we got some funnel cake to share, wouldn't be right to miss that :)

At this point it was raining a bit harder than any of us wanted to deal with so we cut the day short and headed home. We wanted to stay longer at the booths and see the parade but with no cover and the rain not looking to let up we felt better getting dry in the car and going to Rio at the dollar theater to end our day.

We had a good time and just enjoyed the day together. Another fun tradition we now can enjoy as a family of 6. Here are the kids waiting for the firefighters competition:

And ready for picking cherries:

Yesterday we got the pool up for the summer, so I am sure we will have pictures of swimming very soon, just waiting for the 90 degree temps forcasted for Wed!

Sheri

Homesick

I don't know for sure but I think it is probably a combination of things; following the next family in our group as they are in Rwanda to bring home their 2 new boys, being home for 4 weeks today and feeling settled in so much more. I just know that I am missing Rwanda right now. I think it is partly the fact that after some distance you remember things differently. You know how when talking with others remembering a vacation or something and everyone remembers different things and has seemed to forgotten the awful delay or problem that occured as well? Or at least your perspective is so different, like laughing at the 3 day delay, stuck in a small town in Utah, unable to get home while you wait for the car repair, not funny then though. I think we have had enough distance from our trip that the hard, very hard, stressful parts are fading quite a bit. We are not talking much about the times when we had difficulty imagining we would ever actually get to bring Isaac home. I am just thinking so fondly of the wonderful times we had those 3 weeks. Watching our friends meeting theirs boys for the first time takes me back again to when we first met Isaac and when we were there when our friends first met their daughter, just picturing Home of Hope and the wonderful ladies there. Missing all our friends so much, we had some of the best times of our lives together. I don't know when or if we will see all of them again, but I do know we will have a wonderful reunion in Heaven and enjoy reminiscing about our trip. I am sure we will really only remember the great times then. I am so thankful for these 4 weeks, we are truly a family of 6 now, just all settled in together. The kids just play together all day long. If it weren't for the 20 or so hours to fly to Rwanda I would just scoop them all up and head there for the weekend, maybe enjoy some Sole Luna or Africa Bite for lunch. But we will just day dream of Rwanda while we enjoy our day together at home. Here are the kiddos playing outside, all 4 of them!!

Sheri

Last Day of School

With the theme of covering the latest goings on way past when they happened, because we are so behind, I want to go back to the last day of school. The kids have now been out for a week and a half. We are really loving the summer, it is such the perfect time to have Isaac home as we don't have any other set committments, and we can just get settled in with one another.

The first big event of last day of school was Kindergarten Graduation. Camryn had such a good time that day. They all met their teachers for 1st grade and visited their new rooms, then the went on to Graduation, then snacks and games to end the day. Perfect for Camryn.

The decorations:

Camryn's fans:

Papa, Cousin Peyton, Auntie, Isaac, Nana and Bailey

The Big Moment (sorry about the distance, I was trying to video at the same time)

The new graduate

That evening we went out for our traditional last day of school activity, Ice Cream for Dinner. We actually have real dinner, we just have the ice cream first and the kids like to call it ice cream for dinner. It was so much fun to have all 4 kids together enjoying this regular tradition. And this was Isaac's first time to taste ice cream, of course he loved it!

We also hit a first last night, the first time to eat pasta since we came home. In Africa we had a lot of Italian, African inspired Italian. It was usually very good, but we had a lot! So, last night pasta actually sounded good for the first time and the kids were so glad to have their favorite again. We haven't done pizza yet though :) We had pizza every day, sometimes twice, our last week in Rwanda.

Sheri

Camryn turns 6

So, on May 24th our sweet oldest girl turned 6 years old! We are so glad we made it home in time for her birthday, by 4 days, and so was she. Camryn missed us a lot but only wanted us to get Isaac home in time for her birthday and party. We haven't actually had a birthday party for her yet but she did get some gifts and a special dinner at Red Robin, because they give extra balloons on your birthday :) Here are some photos:

Some gifts

And at Red Robin while the staff sang to Camryn

We love our sweet 6 year old!

Sheri

*Sorry, I am not technical at all, so not sure why a couple pictures are little, will have Jeff fix if he can :)

The Inevitable

I have run into the inevitable over this last few weeks, and it is a bit difficult for the do-it-all dad. There are well-meaning comments and questions from wonderful friends and family members. There are those looks. The question is: "Are you okay?" The comments are: "You look very tired." and "You look exhausted." Very pride vanquishing, but certainly well-intentioned.

Then I remember that there are times when I really cannot do everything that I think that I can, and that I need to be open to help. Help from my wife, help from the kids, help from the in-laws, help from my parents, help from friends and help from God. I was reminded by one of the wonderful families that we traveled with to Rwanda and back, that "bonding is exhausting." Especially when you miss out on the first part of that child's life, and you are cramming so much into a short time. However, I know that I need to be carried at times, and I am darn heavy even for myself.

Each new week is better than the last. I know that bath time will get beyond screams at some point (mine, not his). I know that I will get to sleep before midnight someday soon. I also know that as we get through this Isaac will continue to be a beautiful, cute, wonderful boy who has a loving family that is working through being complete. And like other things, I cannot do everything all by myself. Time to reshuffle the goals, the expectations and the patterns that have become routine over the last nine years. Time to appreciate what is happening and be present with our family. Time to pray that I am strong enough to work through this daily.

Thank you friends and family for being so wonderful to our family over this last couple years and few weeks. I hope to be back to my normal, excitable self at any time now. Thank you God for a child that is wonderful.

Jeff