Hays Family Adventures

Happy Adoption Day!

2009-11-14T05:12:00.006-10:00

It is hard to believe that a whole year has gone by since we adopted Naomi! God has blessed us so much as a family and we can't imagine life without our sweet girl. She brought "more girly-ness" to our family and has brought out the softer side in all the boys. Finally having a daughter is better then I imagined! We love you Naomi!

Here are some of our favorite pictures of Naomi from the past year!

These next few pictures were taken at the orphanage before we adopted her. They are so precious to us because they are the only pictures we have of her before she came into our lives.

Friday Exploration Day

2009-11-13T18:13:00.004-10:00

This Friday for our exploration day we decided to head to Whidbey Island. But our first order of business was to get the kids some winter gear. It is getting pretty cold and our even our warmest Hawaii sweatshirts are not keeping them warm. We went to JC Penney and were so excited when we walked in and discovered they were having a 50% off winter gear sale!!! The kids were so excited to get their coat, beanie and mittens. The sales lady even commented on it and we had to explain that we lived in Hawaii the past 5 years and these were their first winter coats! The sales lady cut all the tags off so they could wear them right away.

Then it was time for our adventure! We had a beautiful drive through a lot of farmland. When it was time to go over to the island we first had to travel over Deception Pass. It was stunning. The water flowing under it was rushing pretty fast and the views were awesome.

Then it was time to drive over it! I don't like heights at all but the view was so awesome I didn't even think about how up we were.

Our destination was Oak Harbor. But when we got there it was SO freezing with the wind coming off the water. We just took a few pictures, checked out a cool windmill and jumped back in the car!

We drove from the top to the bottom of Whidbey Island. It got a little long for the kids but Darrick and I enjoyed it. We had planned a surprise for the kids at the end of our journey so that helped them stick it out. The surprise was that we were going to ride a ferry back home! When we got there we had about 20 minutes before we could get on the ferry so we took a few pictures. Cars had to wait in different lanes until it was our turn to drive onto the ferry. A big storm was coming so we were glad to get going.

The kids loved driving the car onto the ferry and the boys couldn't wait until we could get out and look around. Naomi was scared and held on tight to Darrick.

We went to the front of the Ferry to watch us leave but soon went inside because of the cold.

The kids enjoyed looking around and out the windows. It was only a 15 minute ride. Then we drove back off and traveled home.

Andrew and Cheptoo's wedding

2009-11-07T18:58:00.004-10:00

Today we were able to attend the wedding of our friends from church, Andrew and Cheptoo. They will be having a larger ceremony when their families from Africa can attend. Today was small and intimate. It took place in their home. It was a beautiful ceremony and afterword we all enjoyed a huge African feast!

Friday Outing

2009-11-06T19:19:00.002-10:00

Today Darrick was in training today to be Command Duty Officer so he did not get home as early as he usually does. So we thought we might go for a drive to check out a hike. But as we got closer the temperature started dropping and it started raining. The higher up we went the colder it got until it was 35 degrees and there was a little bit of snow on the ground! The surrounding mountains were so beautiful with snow on them.

The kids wanted so bad to get out and feel the snow so we pulled over and let them out. They were so excited. The boys started to try to make little snowballs. Naomi has never felt or seen snow before and she could not wait to get at it!

She loved it and kept saying "This is cold!" She wanted to take it with her so we let her take a little piece but of course it melted.

Then on the home we saw a big fat raccoon! It was a great time!

Kayak Point

2009-11-03T20:04:00.012-10:00

Before we get to Kayak Point I have to tell you about Sunday morning. We had been having lots of rain during the week so it was so awesome when we woke up and the sun was shining. We looked out our bedroom window and noticed that everything was steaming. We called the kids and we just all sat there and watched it. It was really cool!

Now to Kayak Point! Today after Darrick got home from work we took a drive to find Kayak Point. Someone told us about it and said we should check it out sometime. It took us about 20 minutes to get there from our house and the drive was stunning. The whole way we traveled through forest. When we got there the kids were so excited to see a huge playground and Darrick and I were excited to explore!

The views were so gorgeous!

While the kids were playing on the playground Darrick and I took a few moments to walk down the pier by ourselves holding hands.

Once we got to the end we could look back to where we started and what was around us.

When we got back to the playground, it was so nice to see the kids playing happily together! (Which is not always the case!)

Then it was time to do one of my most favorite things: explore! The kids love it just as much as I do and we love to see what treasures we can find. There were a lot of shells and the shore was all rocks, no sand in sight!

Naomi loves sticks! There were so many in fact that she kept trading the one in her hand for another one she found on the ground. One of her favorite things to do with them is pretend that they are vacuum cleaners. Is was too cute to watch her vacuuming all along the rocks!

We saw some geese flying!

Naomi also enjoyed standing on the logs and singing her heart out!

It was a really cool place but before we knew it, it was dusk and it closed, but we enjoyed it while we could!

Happy Halloween

2009-11-03T19:22:00.004-10:00

Happy Halloween from the Hays Family!

We started our morning with homemade orange colored chocolate chip pancakes. They were a big hit!

After lunch, and while Naomi took a nap, we carved two pumpkins. Micah and Jacob both designed the face for one of them.

After the pumpkins were carved it was time to get into our costumes. The town we live in was having "Trick or Treat on 3rd street" which is one of the main streets in the town. You could go trick or treating in all the shops. I let Naomi wear some make-up which she loved.

It started raining when we were going into all the stores but we hung in there. We were surprised to see how many people came out, it was really fun. This was Naomi's first Halloween but it did not take her long to get the hang of it. Micah and Jacob were so sweet coaching her what to do.

Naomi was Cinderella, Micah was a Mad Scientist and Jacob was Frankenstein that Micah created.

After going to the stores we met up with some neighborhood friends to trick or treat around our neighborhood. We were all amazed at this huge leaf that Naomi found! It was pretty cold and a little drizzly. All the kids had an undershirt, shirt and sweatshirt under their costume. People in our neighborhood were very generous, giving each kid 3-5 pieces of candy. Before we knew it their pumpkins were full!

One thing that was new here is that almost all the houses in our neighborhood are split level which means you have to walk up a flight of stairs to get to the front door. Naomi really had to work to get to each door to get her candy and she was wiped out by the end.

Our friend let Naomi hold her flashlight and she was fascinated with it. She spent a lot of time in one spot examining things on the ground. We had to teach her not to shine it in people's eyes. At one point we told her put it on the ground, meaning the light, but she stopped walking and put the whole flashlight on the ground!

After we got home and warmed up with baths it was time to sort through our candy. We got 2 big bowls full!

Hope you had a great Halloween!

Happy Halloween

2009-10-31T19:25:00.002-10:00

Naomi's First Caramel Apple

2009-10-30T20:27:00.002-10:00

Jake finds his pumpkin

2009-10-30T20:20:00.001-10:00

Naomi finds her pumpkin

2009-10-30T20:08:00.002-10:00

Pumpkin Pickin'

2009-10-30T17:33:00.005-10:00

Today it was time to go find our pumpkins! We first went to Foster's Produce. It was a pretty run down looking place and dirty but we got a few pictures. The highlight was definitely the fuzzy caterpillar that we found that is now in our living room in a glass jar.

We did not get any pumpkins there and decided to drive down the road to another farm called Garden Treasures. It was so much nicer and had an added bonus-it was an organic farm.

We were also very excited to find out that we could go out to the field and pick our own pumpkins, just what we wanted. So we found a cart and headed out to the fields!

Everyone found exactly the pumpkin they were looking for. When we got to the check out they were so cheap, we got a few more plus some gourds for $.50 each. We spent a total of $11.50.

We have been having a lot of rain lately so we were so happy that we had a chilly but dry afternoon!

Caramel Apples

2009-10-28T17:18:00.005-10:00

Today the kids and I made Caramel Apples for the first time. The turned out great and it was so fun watching Naomi eat her first caramel apple and Jake trying to eat it with all of his teeth missing!

The tree in our front yard

2009-10-26T07:20:00.000-10:00

Kelly and Max

2009-10-17T17:48:00.005-10:00

Today we were so blessed to see our dear friends from Hawaii, Kelly and Max. Kelly and her husband John traveled with me to Africa to adopt their son, Max. Kelly's sister lives about 20 minutes from us. Kelly flew out to see her family and celebrate her niece's birthday. We were invited to the party which was at the Everett's Children's Museum.

I think that Max and Naomi will always have a special bond because they shared some many experiences together. They were sharing food and Naomi was always making sure Max kept his mouth clean!

The museum itself was AWESOME, we will be back for sure. On the roof they had these cool play structures, dinosaur area and music making area.

Inside it is all interactive and hands on. They had an airplane, farm area, trains, restaurant, water play area and more!

We loved every minute of it and the time we got to spend with Kelly and Max. They are like family to us and we love them dearly. They are the first people we have seen that we know since we moved to Washington and it was so hard to say goodbye without any tears.

Bake a treat with Mom

2009-10-17T17:40:00.003-10:00

Here are the finished products of Jacob's reward of Baking a treat with mom. We used Grandma Cowherd's sugar cookie and butter cream recipes. She is my sister-in-law, Laura's, mom. We made pumpkins, ghosts and bats. They are delicious!

Another tooth gone

2009-10-17T17:31:00.004-10:00

Tonight Jacob lost his 3rd tooth! I love that toothless grin but man is it hard sometimes to get a good picture of Jake!

See what I mean?

Kindness

2009-10-16T17:19:00.002-10:00

One thing we want to teach the boys is Kindness. We talked about it all the time with them but we were not seeing a whole lot of kindness going around. So I came up with an idea called Kindness Cans. I spent one evening making and getting everything together and then we introduced it to the boys. We wanted to see how it would work with them first and involve Naomi when she is a bit older.

So each boy has a can and then there is a Kindness Can. Anytime we see them doing something kind, say something kind or think of someone else before himself they get to make a deposit into their own Kindness Can. We be sure to say "That was really kind!"

The things they put in are little scrap booking shapes that are pretty sturdy that I wrote "Kindness" on.

The goal is for them to earn 10 pieces of kindness. Whenever they earn 10 they get to pick a prize. Darrick and I had fun thinking up the prizes and we wanted them to not be a toy or something like that. The boys were excited about the prizes which was a good start.

It is interesting to watch the boys because we can see that kindness comes more natural for Jake then it does for Micah. But when Micah sees Jacob getting pieces of kindness he kicks it into gear and starts earning them too.

Here are some of the things they have done (and they have to be done without us asking):

Micah read a story to Naomi
Jacob opened the car door for me
Micah got drinks for everyone at dinner
Jacob gave Micah and Naomi the last two pieces of his snack
Micah cleared the dishes after a meal

So during this week they both got to 10 twice. We want it to be sort of instant gratification to keep them motivated which is why we picked 10. For their first prize Micah picked 30 extra minutes of DS time and Jacob picked to play a game of HORSE (basketball) with just him and Dad. For their second prizes Micah picked (what else) 30 extra minutes of DS time and Jacob picked to bake a treat with me. Tonight we are made Halloween sugar cookies and tomorrow we will frost them.

Let's hope it continues!

Jennings Memorial Park

2009-10-09T16:05:00.007-10:00

Today for our Friday Home school outing we went to Jennings Memorial Park. Yesterday Jake woke up with a 101 degree fever and the stomach flu. It only lasted 12 hours and he was fine today but we didn't want to over do it for him so we picked somewhere close to home. The park is only 9 miles from our house.

It was another beautiful fall day in Washington. Where is all the rain we heard about? The air is crisp but the sun is warm. We started out with a snack at the picnic tables.

Then it was time to explore. It is so fun when you move somewhere because you have no idea what lies ahead for you when you go somewhere. But we saw a trail and decided to walk on that. It led us down to a lake that was for kids 12 and under to fish at.

We wandered through trails and over bridges enjoying the beautiful scenery.

We wandered into a part of the park called Dinosaur Park. It had a few dinos to ride and climb on. Naomi wanted to keep trying to feed the dinosaurs.

Then it was down a trail and up a hill.

Then down another trail...wonder where this one leads?

We found some benches that overlooked a beautiful meadow. We found mushrooms and Micah climbed a tree, sort of. Then down a big hill to another bridge.

We found a stream and the kids had fun throwing sticks in and watching them float down. Naomi tried to sneak her foot in the water but Micah was quick and caught her!

Back up another hill! We saw the cutest squirrel eating a nut. We could actually hear him crunching and cracking it, very cool!

There was a part of the park where people could have their own little plot of garden and we saw this gorgeous flower.

There was a cool machine that use to be used for logging and a renovated pioneer house. It was closed so we could not got in but we peeked through the windows.

Then it was finally time to play at the playground! Naomi's favorite thing was the Marysville Express and the boys favorite thing was pretending they were train robbers so Darrick and I chased them around and put them in jail, when we could catch them! It was a great afternoon!

It fell out!

2009-10-08T10:04:00.002-10:00

Wrestling with God

2009-10-04T17:58:00.003-10:00

Maybe you are familiar with the story in the Bible where Jacob wrestles with God. It is found in the book of Genesis, chapter 32:22-32.

This story explains exactly the type of week that we have had spiritually. It had to do with the church that we visited last week, Everett Community Church. Darrick and I did not sleep well, we talked a lot, got frustrated, left the subject alone, prayed a lot and read our Bibles.

There was something about Everett Community Church that we could not let go and we were confused if that is really where God wants us to go and have as our new home church. Read last Sundays post if you would like to be reminded what the church was like.

We felt God leading us somewhere we are not sure we are ready to go, way out of our comfort zone and very unfamiliar to us.

At the beginning of 2009, during a Fast I heard God telling me that I needed to not be so selfish and to put aside my wants and take up His. The direct result of that is our homeschooling. And again this week I felt God saying that His ways are higher then mine and He has a great plan here.

I have to admit, that God had a much easier time convincing me then Darrick. So I will turn it over to him:

What can I say, Everett Community Church is not what I thought I was looking for. For the past five years I have been at sea duty. Every time Hope Chapel had a men's breakfast or meeting or anything I had to work. So what I really wanted was a Church that had a strong men's ministry because now I would actually have the time to attend. Everett Community Church does not have any of that so I was fighting with going there. We actually went back to the Internet looking at more Churches and wha they had to offer. But when Jacob referred to Everett Community Church as our church and said he was glad he already had friends there after one week I got the point that we needed to go back there today. I am so glad we did because it was just what we need. No frills just straight forward preaching from the Bible and exactly what believers need to hear but the Pastor was still able to wrap up with the opportunity for anyone who was not a believer to become one.
Back to Jenn:

So today we attended our second Sunday at Everett Community Church. The Pastor was very surprised but excited that we came back. We are going to have dinner with their family this week.

The service was great and the Pastor's preaching was on fire! Incredible and we both learned a lot. The kids love their classes and we got to know more people.

God is doing something and we have no idea what, but Lord, where You lead we will follow.

Langus Riverfront Park

2009-10-03T13:59:00.008-10:00

We really enjoy our mornings since we do not have to rush out the door to get to school. The house is chilly in the morning when we get up so I turn the fire on before I get the kids up at 7am. They love to roll out of bed and sit and cuddle by the fire while I get breakfast together.

On Fridays, as part of our curriculum, we have Exploration Days. It is really nice for us since every place is new. So in the afternoon we headed to Langus Riverfront Park. It was a beautiful Fall day. It is fun to see the trees changing colors and a nip in the air.

We walked on a path that was right next to the river. A few times we went down to the water, and of course the kids wanted to go in. We have tried many times to explain to them that we are not in Hawaii anymore. But once they felt the freezing water they changed their minds. The water was very clear and beautiful.

They collected rocks and walked on logs.

We saw some nice looking flowers and berries.

There were quite a few people out fishing so we walked down by the dock where they launch the boats. There were also teams of teenagers practicing rowing. They were fast and we had no idea that there is one person laying down in the front of the boat directing them, we learned something new!

Today we went to the library because they were having a free puppet show for school-aged kids. It was called "Jack the Giant Killer". The boys really liked it. After the show the man came out and showed the kids how he does all the sounds effects and switching of the puppets with only 2 hands, it was amazing. One of his puppets was 300 years old.

From there we went to get Naomi's hair cut. Last night doing her hair was a nightmare and it is just too long. So today we got it cut short. It is a little longer then when she came home but it is really short. I was able to wash it and comb through it all with no screaming or crying. For right now it is just the best decision for us and it looks really cute on her. When she is older and can understand that she needs to sit still for a few hours while I do it we can grow it longer. It is not worth all the tears, hers and mine. What do you think?

Jacob's loose tooth

2009-09-28T16:22:00.002-10:00

So far Jacob has only lost one tooth but now he has a few more that are pretty wiggly. But there is one tooth in particular that is just cracking us up. It is not quite ready to come out yet but it is hanging crooked and is kind of sticking out. And sometimes when he smiles or talks it just sticks out of his mouth and hangs out on his lip! Hopefully it will come out soon but in the meantime we are enjoying some laughs!

A Beautiful Moment

2009-09-27T21:35:00.002-10:00

I have to admit that sometimes I still worry about bonding with Naomi. I have read so much about bonding and attachment I feel like an expert. She has now been a Hays for 10 months but every once in a while doubt creeps in.

Tonight it was time for Naomi to get ready for bed. Darrick was helping her while I was with the boys. When Darrick said that it was time for Naomi to take off her Cinderella dress, yes she was wearing it again, she started crying. This sad crying, not a temper tantrum cry, but like her heart was truly breaking. It lasted through the whole getting ready for bed.

But then she came over to me and crawled up in my lap and hugged me so tight. I held her and hugged her back and she stopped crying. I comforted her. It may sound dumb but it was such a glorious moment for me and a reminder that we are bonded. It reminded me of when the boys were babies and they would cry when others held them but as soon as they were back in my arms they would stop.

At that beautiful moment, with Naomi in my arms, my heart swelled with love for her and my heart whispered "this IS your daughter".

Everett Community Church

2009-09-27T19:26:00.004-10:00

This morning we tried our second church, Everett Community Church. We found it online when we searched on the Internet for local churches.

We have talked a lot about what kind of church we want to attend. Denomination is not top on our list as long as we agree with their beliefs. But what is really important is the type of people that attend. It is very important to us that Naomi is not the only Black person in the church. Last week there was one other Black person but they were an adult.

So when we saw Everett Community Church and that it claimed to be a "multi-ethnic church" we knew we had to try it.

It took us about 15 minutes to get there from our house. They started their church almost 1 year ago and share a building with the Baptist church. We were a bit early so they were still transitioning between the 2 churches. We recognized the Pastor, from his picture on the Internet, and went to introduce ourselves. We told him that we wanted to attend his church this morning and he seemed a bit surprised but gave us a very warm welcome. He has studied at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, IL and Southern Seminary in Louisville, KY.

The Pastor's wife took us under her wing and showed us where to bring Naomi. The older kids stay in the service during worship then go to their class. The Pastor and his wife are from Kenya and most of the congregation is from Africa. There were 2 other white women there besides us and everyone else was Black, I think that is why the Pastor was surprised. We had found what we were looking for.

The service was done in two languages: English and Swahili. The worship was beautiful and all in Swahili so we just clapped along and enjoyed the music. When the Pastor spoke, he spoke in English then someone translated into Swahili. There was a guest speaker this morning. He was powerful and preached the Word.

We were invited to stand up and introduce ourselves to the congregation. Darrick did a great job and everyone seemed excited that our daughter is from Africa. Many people came up to us after the service and welcomed us. They were shoving food and drink at us: a tea drink that was unfamiliar to us, African donuts and banana bread.

The boys liked their class and said they already made friends. It made us happy that the boys did not seem bothered that they were the only 2 white kids and they were running around playing with all the kids after church.

The Pastor and his wife kept talking about seeing us next week and taking us out to lunch. It was a great church so we have a lot to pray about. If this is where God wants us then we will follow!

Photo Shoot

2009-09-26T19:04:00.001-10:00

The day before we left for Washington, we had a photo shoot with an amazing photographer, Tara Sos. Our proofs are ready if you would like to check them out!

Go to www.tarasosphotography.com
Enter the site
Go to Proofs
Enter the password hays

You can either just look at them or order some! Enjoy!