Visiting in Washington & Oregon

What fun it was to get together with a group of people whose connection is adoption from Sierra Leone! We all went to Deanna's house Sunday afternoon and got to reconnect with some friends and meet some new friends too for a mini All As One reunion! The kids had a lot of fun playing for the afternoon and into the evening while the adults got a chance to visit and get to know other families whose lives have been touched by children in Sierra Leone. There was one special little Sierra Leonean baby girl there who is 6 months old and is here on a medical visa to get her cleft lip and palate repaired. I enjoyed feeding baby Mariama with her special bottle and seeing her suck on her finger tucked up in her lip. It was fun to see what Adams would have looked like as a baby...I have a picture of him sucking on his finger as well! I was holding the baby and Adams came up, pointed to her lip and said that is what his lip looked like. I thought he was such a smart little boy until Steve told me someone else had told him that's what he had looked like as a baby! It was still great to see him maybe understand a little and then to hear him talk about having surgery on the big ship! We all had so much fun at our mini All As One reunion!

The reunion was in Spanaway, Washington (for those of you who are keeping track on the map), and that's as far north as we traveled before heading back down south. Let me back up a little, Sunday morning we went to a small Foursquare church in Rochester (we filled up one side of the church and maxed out their Sunday School!), Sunday afternoon was the reunion, then Sunday night we parked in a Fred Meyers parking lot in Spanaway to spend the night. Monday morning we headed south but first we made a stop at a Harley Davidson store to do some browsing! :) Our next stop of the day was at the Mt. St. Helens visitor center so that we could learn a little about the volcanic activity of Mt. St. Helens (gotta get our schoolin' for the day!). Then we got back on the road and made our next stop in the city of St. Helens to stay at Jenn's grandma's house for a few days. It was a good place to relax and not have such a busy schedule for the end of our big trip. While in St. Helens we scheduled some time to visit with a few friends that were close by. On Tuesday we visited with Stephanie (friend and neighbor of Stacey's back at home in Alaska...during my grade school years), she lives in St. Helens with her husband and three boys. We hadn't seen each other since we were newly married, so it was fun to catch up a bit and introduce our children. Stephanie's mom Peggy also joined us and we caught her up on the happenings in Homer. Wednesday we drove to Portland and visited with Chuck and Nancy Chapman over lunch at the Wycliffe office where they both work. We got to tour the office and see what their part is in Wycliffe these days. Thursday we were supposed to meet up with the Lyda's but their kids got sick so we had to cancel. When we were not catching up with friends in the area the kids were busy helping the Germain kids put together their many new Lego sets that they had gotten for Christmas. They were very busy with Legos for several days, but we were very thankful for the many Legos since it happened to be pouring down rain and not good weather to be doing much else!

Friday morning we said good-bye to the Germains(they are headed north to do a little more visiting before traveling back to Homer) and headed south again...our destination is Oakdale, California at Aunt Janet's house to pack and clean up the motorhome. By Friday night we made it to Anderson, California and spent the night in a WalMart parking lot. Saturday morning we did some shopping and then continued our travels south. Sunday afternoon we plan to go to Aunt Janet's to begin our packing and cleaning. Monday will be more of the same while the kids run and play outside at her house or next door with the cousins. It sure was nice this morning to wake to sunshine and warmth, not too sure we are ready for snow and cold again! Tuesday evening we fly out of Sacramento, California and get into Anchorage at 1am on Wednesday Thanks to those of you who have been praying for safe travels for us...we have had a great time and a very refreshing time for us as a family. Some probably thought our motorhome would get small after six weeks with eight of us, but we have done great (yes, we have had our moments of frustration and needing a little more space)and have thoroughly enjoyed our time together seeing new places and visiting so many people! We are so thankful for the opportunity that we got to take this BIG TRIP with our family!!