EMP/SciFi

We bought a membership to the EMP/SciFi Museum in Seattle on Groupon. I love that they have a display of the original Planet of the Ages moive. And that they have life size Charlton Heston. So fun!

I have to have a picture everytime I'm there!!

Pray for Zimbabwe

Today is the international Pray for Zimbabwe day. Waymond and a friend Brian did posters to hang around Tacoma. We have several churches in Zimbabwe and a couple from our church here in Tacoma are helping with a church plant in Kezi.

For more info:
http://ncctacoma.org/zim/
http://www.lovezim.org/

We've painted

We've finally painted the room that we are planning on making the kid(s) room. This isn't the best picture, but it was the best one I took. The queen bed won't be in there forever, but in the meantime it stays until we know if we need a crib, toddler bed or both!

Sailing

Some friends got a sailing trip at an auction and they were nice enough to invite us along. I was a bit worried about the weather due to the fact we had a cold rainy week, but I cannot begin to tell you what amazing weather we had today.





























Our friend Whitney was sitting in the wrong place when they went to put up the sail! She just waited buried under the sail until it was up!














I know you can't really tell, but we are sailing at a crazy angle!





























I cannot stress how beautiful the weather was today. Not a cloud in the sky and that's saying something in September in Seattle!

Tomatoes

Our summer has not been exactly hot and sunny. I would have enjoyed a few more 90 degree days and I think our tomato plants would agree! Here it is September 4th and we have TWO tomatoes that have turned red. Out of our three tomato plants - two red tomatoes. Crazy. On a good note, our yellow pear tomato plant has mature fruit for the last couple of weeks. Last year at this point our freezer was full of tomatoes and this year, ONE bag. Just not a good summer for tomatoes in the Pacific NW!































We have a few friends who've moved into our garden. This is the biggest

Wednesday

Tonight we decided we would hit up the new Sonic in town (they have finally made it to Tacoma) for a Cherry Limeade. However we both wanted tacos from the taco truck on 6th AVE, so we decided to go to Sonic first for Cherry Limeades and tator tots and then go to the taco truck for tacos. Wise, wise decision. We had the best dinner ever!





























This is the taco truck, it's on 6th AVE and Prospect (I think, or at least close). If you live in the area you should go and try their tacos.














Waymond's dinner. Leigh's was similar, but chicken and no jalapenos.














Waymond enjoyed his tacos a lot. You could even say mucho.

Jeny's moving

Sadly our friend Jeny will be moving to California for grad school next week. We hosted a going away party for her. Sadly we slacked on the whole picture taking department. Somehow we did get a picture of the desserts, funny that there weren't many other shots taken!












After everyone left Jeny stayed around for a couple of rounds of Settlers of Catan. We had a great time although we are super sad to see Jeny leave the Pacific NW! We'll have to visit her in the sun sometime soon!

Pandora - One

So, I just splurged a little and upgraded my Pandora to Pandora One. It's $36 a year and I had some birthday money and let me tell you...No adds, no interruptions (other than the normal work ones), no commercials, skip as many as you want...well worth the $36 in birthday money! Well worth it. Just not having all the ads on the side is worth the $36! Since I sit at a desk all day I'll enjoy it all the more!

the Ice cream

The lavender ice cream was amazing! We let the lavender flowers steep in the milk all day in the fridge before making the ice cream. We put the lavender in empty tea bags that are normally used for whole leaf tea so there wouldn't be lavender "floaties" in the milk. It worked like a dream! It flavored the milk without having to have the flowers in the ice cream. Waymond's getting good! Real good!


We bought some Starbucks coffee from the Galapagos Islands (online; we didn't actually go to the Galapagos Islands - too bad we would have a good time). We tried it this morning and it was surprisingly smooth. Not sure what I was expecting, but it was real nice. If you see some at a store near you, pick some up!

Our Weekend

Friday night we celebrated my birthday by having some Indian food before we went to a marriage seminar our church was hosting. The seminar only lasted until 12:30 today so we had 1/2 a Saturday to chill. After watching a few cartoons (yes, cartoons we needed a little veg time) we picked some blackberries from our back yard and alley. I made a pie even though it was a hot day and I really didn't want to turn the oven on.

After the day cooled we did a little gardening. Our tomato plants have loads of GREEN tomatoes! Well, we have a few of our yellow pear tomatoes. According to the weathermen we are going to have some warm weather this next week so I'm hoping our tomatoes will get red!

I am excited about our peppers. I'm looking forward to making some salsa once our tomatoes get going.
















And right now, Waymond's making some lavender ice cream! I'm super excited to give it a try, but it's still going in our maker.

It's Leigh's birthday

Tomorrow is my birthday! Here's a nice photo my aunt sent me along with a birthday wish. Can you tell which one is Leigh. Somehow I don't think I've changed at all over the years. Just gotten taller!

New show

I'm taking some down time this Sunday afternoon and I have just found the tv show Hoarding on TLC. It makes me want to clean my house! :o) I'm not sure I could watch it on a regular basis but super interesting!

Crafty Waymond

So Waymond's been talking about building a pedal board for all this guitar pedals. After work today he built it and built it so it would fit into a metal case he already owns. He's so crafty!

Empty case & pedal board:















Closed case:















All together:

An opportunity to help

Just wanted to give everyone an opportunity to help. I know that money has been tight for everyone over the last several months, but we could all spare a little. And, every little bit helps. This is part of an email we got from our adoption agency, Adoption Advocates International (AAI) a month ago. As things are taking longer for the adoption process it is putting a strain on the financial side of things for the agency.

"We are sending this special communication to all of our adoptive families and supporters to let you know of a concern that has been impacting us for over a year now. Because of changes in Ethiopian adoption procedures and court requirements in that country, we currently have about 35 children in our care at Layla House who are "caught in the middle". Most have been with us longer than a year because their paperwork is not yet complete. A few already have adoptive families because the paperwork requirements changed after they were referred but most are still waiting to be referred when their files are complete. They have now been in care many more months than "average" and at approximately $150/month per child, it is becoming a significant financial burden for AAI. We remain confident that we will be able to place these children and are committed to caring for them until that happens. Most are babies and very young children that we expect to find families for quickly as soon as the paperwork issues are resolved.

Most of the funding for Layla House comes from the fees that adoptive families pay to complete their adoptions and these "caught in the middle" children are severely straining our budget. We have never been an agency that charges "monthly foster fees" as we think that is unfair as most adoptive families need to make very specific budgetary decisions during their adoptions. We are reaching out to our friends and supporters and asking you to think about making an unrestricted donation to AAI to help us with the extra care that these children are requiring. We are very grateful to many of you who have helped us in the past when issues such as this one have arisen."

There is a link to AAI's blog in our "blogs we visit" section on the right. Please continue check out what they are doing! Waymond is working on a design that will most likely become a poster and may become t-shirts. Our hope it to sell some and the proceeds go to AAI and the kids. Keep an eye out for a post!

On a personal note, our dossier is in Ethiopia and we are awaiting our approval to adopt there. We continue to trust in God's timing!

If you want to give, even a small amount, click on the link "unrestricted donation to AAI" above and it will take you to their secure donation site.

Blueberries

We have a blueberry! I was thinking we wouldn't have a single blueberry since we planted in the spring instead of last fall. But, we are going to have a handful! Here's our first one! I'm so excited about having blueberries!

I think our raspberries will develop next year. No blooms this year, but I'm super hopeful that next year will be plentiful. Of course we have blackberries! They grow wild and like crazy.