Good night!

Oh my, I have stayed up way too late and nothing to show for it! I really need to get to bed! (Just thought I would at least get a post out-ha!) Night night, I need to be ready to chase after Mr. Mischief tomorrow!

Rib Shack 7

Yep, we decided to get into the rib business!!! To be honest, I am not sure how much we are going to do this (insert: hard work, long hours, hot!hot!hot!) but, we thought we would give something a try that we have tossed around for awhile.... The company is called Rib Shack 7 and we were food vendors this past weekend at Silverdale's Whaling Days.

How did this come about? My dad is actually a supplier for Hickory House Ribs , which is based in Colorado and they have the most amazing ribs and jalapeno cheddar sausages! We (read Daron and my dad) thought we could start a small side business that the kids can be a part of as they get older and they can learn how to run a business. In theory, it is great, in reality, it will take a lot of time that we aren't sure we have...we'll see. On the upside, we did have a lot of fun as we got started. It was neat to people watch and see the camaraderie amongst the vendors (ie: free funnel cakes, chicken skewers, cotton candy, etc....). We did have to slow down on the bartering though as ribs for cotton candy started to lose some of the appeal (and money!). On Saturday, it took a lot longer to set up in the morning than we figured and we didn't get started until around noon. Thankfully, people had already smelled the ribs and a few came back right as we opened that were waiting.

This is a picture of our first customer at the Rib Shack! She didn't get ribs, she bought lemonade, which was definitely the biggest seller of the day as it was SO hot and sunny outside! I think we sold 5-6 coolers of Lemonade on Sat. Those of us working probably drank one whole one though, so I should account for that!
Friends from church stopped by and they were our first ribs customers! (not technically, but I didn't get a picture of the first one-oops! I snooze, they lose!) Scott and Annie said they LOVED them and we were happy to appease. I should mention that earlier in the day we had two family friends stop by (thanks Walls and Cullens) to support us, but we didn't have our act together yet. We also got to see Greta's teacher from last year and a few others-that part was really fun. Most were surprised to see us behind the booth, so that was fun!
On Saturday, Justus, my dad, Daron and I worked at the booth until 10:30PM! It was crazy! I think I mentioned we were hot, right? ;) Anyway, for Sunday, Greta came to work and we begged some friends to come and help so that my dad didn't need to work and so that Justus & I could take off some time too. It meant a lot that we had such great friends to come and help share the load with us-thank you Darrence, Fran, Rich and Josh! We really couldn't have done it without you. Special thanks to Darrence's niece and nephew who came to support us and play with Justus and Greta during a break-thanks!!

All in all, it was a fun time with family and friends and after a few days we will probably forget how hard it was and just remember the good times-much like labor, right???!! ;) We were also able to learn alot the first time around and we are hopeful that the next time we will do it all that much better. Lastly, (sorry if this is starting to feel like an acceptance speech) thanks to our friend Thys for all his hard work on our logo design. Pretty cool sign, huh? I like our shirts too! Thanks also to Matt and Michelle (my poor cousins who were lucky enough to stay with us Friday night-the eve of our first gig-ha!) for all the prep you helped us with for Sat.-hoped the mojitos helped! And I saved the best thank you for last, thank you to my mom, Brad, and Ingrid for watching the younger three kids so that we could make this happen-you guys ROCK!!

So...if anyone would like to try out our fixins', the Rib Shack will be serving up ribs and sausages at Kingston's music in the park this Sat. night.

Happy 10th Birthday Justus!!!

Today my oldest just hit the double digits!! I can't believe that my little preemie baby is now a ten year old and healthy and happy as ever. Justus is such a joy to us and we are so blessed to have him as a son. God gave us a very special gift 10 years ago today and we are so thankful!

The last couple of days, Justus has been at 'golf camp' with his friend, Nick, and today was their final day. They had so much fun and it is so special to me because it is also time that they get to spend with my parents since they live on the golf course. My dad has always been a big golfer, so it is fun to watch Justus take this sport up too. Naturally, I think he is gifted! ;)

After we picked the boys up, a friend of my mom's opened her pool up to us for Justus's bday (thanks Nancy!!). The location is just picture perfect; set on the bay overlooking the ferry coming and going. The pool and grounds were also amazing and the kids (and especially the adults) were in awe.

Next, we came home to dinner with the family, my parents, and our good friends to enjoy a menu chosen by Justus: BLT's, nachos, Coca Cola, and ice cream sandwiches made with real chocolate chip cookies. The company and the weather all day was just perfect and I think Justus had a great time and felt loved and celebrated!

Happy Birthday Justus-We love you and are proud of you!!!

Yea for Camp!

Nick and Justus

Justus and Greta got to go to camp last week with some of their friends from church. They had so much fun at Cascades Camp and are already planning on going back again next year! Justus's camp was at Brightwood Station where there have at least twelve train cars that have four sets of bunk beds and a bathroom in each. There is also a real engine that they can hang out in, as well as a caboose. All of their meetings are either held outside or in Brightwood Station, which is a replica of a train station. It looks like so much fun and SO creative.

Greta and her counselor, Soleil

Greta's age just went for half of a week and she is all excited for next year when she can go for a full week. During their week they had devotions, singing, campfires, building of rockets and cars, horseback riding(they also have a separate full week of horse camp that two kids from church did), swimming in the lake, buying food at the snack shack, being taken away by the Brightwood Safari tours and sleeping for a night in tee pees and roughing it even more than they were at the cabins. I am sure they also just loved being away from mom and dad for a few days and getting to decide for themselves if they wanted to changes clothes, brush their teeth, or shower! We asked the boys (Justus and his friend, Nick) what their favorite part was and they loved the night in the tee pees they said and sitting out by themselves on a field and talking to God. Their counselor, Godfather, said that the boys were both so great in helping some of the other kids when they were homesick and that they also had great discussions during devotions. Pretty cool experience it seems!

The boys and their counselor, Godfather

The closing ceremonies of Greta's camp-right before they found out who had the cleanest cabin and therefore getting to pick which counselor they wanted to throw a pie in their face. Greta and Mackenna's cabin won for the girl and Garrett's for the boys!! We have the clean kids at our church!!

There are still openings at camp for the rest of the summer if anyone is still interested, otherwise our kids would love for more to join then next year! Now I have Ella counting down to her turn!!

A Romantic Get Away with Jerry Springer

This week I got to get away to Ocean Shores for a belated anniversary weekend with my hubby! Greta and Justus were both at Cascades camp (more on their fun time later) and so Daron begged and pleaded with my parents to take the youngest three so he could surprise and steal me away! Luckily, my mom and dad obliged (THANK YOU!!! YOU ARE THE BEST!!!) and we took some wonderful friends (you know who you are-THANK YOU!!!) up on their offer to use their condo.

I can't tell you how wonderful it was that we had two full days all to ourselves!! It was SO nice!! We were able to get up when we wanted, eat when we wanted, go for a walk when we wanted.....can you tell I was enjoying some time away??? Just a bit??? We played games...(ha! ha!-get your minds out of the gutter) and Quiddler was a new favorite that my Aunt Lola had given us. We had a good time playing until Daron started making up his own spellings for words. Unfortunately we didn't have a referee or bring a dictionary or our computers, so the next best thing was texting my sister to see if we had real words(kind of like Scrabble). I knew it was going to be long when we started our competitiveness right from the beginning (oh, and Daron, CAD is a word and your word, which I won't print so as not to embarrass you, was not a word). Fortunately for Daron, he proved he was a better Quiddler and won 2/3 times.

The real excitement happened outside the small town's market as we were dropping off our movie rental. All of a sudden it looked like an episode of Jerry Springer was being filmed with four women in a cat fight!! We looked at each other (this was seriously happening RIGHT outside of the grocery store within feet of us) and we tried to figure out how to interfere (or not). Of course, there was a slimy older man sitting on a bench by us, laughing away! Long and the short of it, Daron tried to yell at them to stop and then tried to move them away after two started grabbing each other's long hair and dragging the other's face on the gravel(again, seriously!!) I ran into the store and told them employees there was a fight outside and soon the whole store was out, and the cops soon followed. Daron had to stay to give his eye witness and I was worried that in a small town we would have to be put into the witness protection program since we took sides. All in all, it was very eventful and the next day we were welcomed back into the store with open arms. :)

Happy 13th Anniversary Daron! Thanks for being a romantic and surprising me!

Welcome (Akwaaba) to Ghana, Obama Video

My friend, Anita, found a video that some of the popular musicians of Ghana have put together to welcome President Obama as he visits Ghana soon. It is pretty eye opening how much our President has made an impression on the Ghanaians, as well as others abroad. Check out the video here.

Oh, and here is the reggae version that another friend just pointed out. Kind of fun!

Watch out, you may just start singing about Obama soon!

Ghanaian Field Trip Anyone?

For those of you in WA that would want to take a field trip tomorrow to Port Orchard, there is a fantastic Ghanaian group that is going to be speaking at the local library there. I have seen this group before and they are great at storytelling and drumming. Not sure what exactly their plans for tomorrow are though, so I can't promise drums. I thought this would especially be interesting to those of you with connections to Ghana. Just FYI

EVENT:
Ocheami: Deep into the Riches of Ghana's Traditions
Tuesday June 30, 2009 10:30 AM
In Ghanaian history, the person known as the Ocheami was the one who spoke on behalf of the king in the ancient courts. The group Ocheami uses the arts to speak for the cultural legacies of this West African country. Led by Kofi and Amma Anang, Ocheami's programs engage audiences of all ages.
Location: Port Orchard Library -- 87 Sidney Avenue, Port Orchard 98366-5249, 360-876-2224

Cyber Friends

Got to meet another adoptive parent from Eban house today when we were visiting Portland. Unfortunately, her son is still waiting for a passport in Ghana before they can bring him home(pray for a passport, please!), but we had a great time meeting another family that will only be a couple hours away from us. How cool is it for our two little kiddos that they will have friends from their orphanage within driving distance?!

The funny thing about today though, was that I kept telling people I was going to meet my cyber friend and it sounded so weird to everyone and I had fun playing it up! ;) After starting this adoption process, I have developed so many friends through our chat groups/agency/blogs, but for obvious reasons, it is kind of crazy to outsiders that we develop these friendships with others that we have never met. Anyway....this week we are at a conference for our Evangelical Covenant Church's Annual Meeting and we are surrounded by friends from college and seminary, as well as family and many other pastors/long time friends. Today we were at the pool and I kept looking around and saying that my cyber friend was coming. Because of traffic, she was here later than I told people and they started leaving and giving me glances like I got stood up from my cyber friend!! Ha! It was so funny. I did end up meeting my cyber friend, Dana, and I can't wait to hang out with our kiddos when she gets her amazingly cool son home with her! Thanks for meeting us today, Dana, and good luck on your triathlon!

Ghana Get Together

Today we got to visit with a family that we became friends with through our adoption; it was so great to see them again(but we missed you-Amanda)! These guys were one of the first to adopt from AAI's Ghana program and their twin girls were at the same home as our kiddos(Eban), but at different times. Last fall we got to meet them as they were passing through town and we picked their brains over breakfast on EVERYTHING Ghana since they had already lived next door in Togo and had been to Ghana numerous times. Today, Cort and I got to swap stories and watch our eight kids play together at a park- it was so much fun! The only bad thing was that our better halves had to work, so we missed them and they missed out! ;)

School's Out(sorry I got off topic a teensy bit)

School was finally out for us this past Wednesday! Gosh, I remember being upset in my IL grade school for not getting out of school at the end of May like my friends in MN and I think we got out around the 5th. Now in WA, we are lucky to get out of school before MN schools start back up in August! ;) (okay, I now see where my daughters get some of their drama queen-isms).

To be fair, we did have our share of snow days this year, which is supposedly uncommon for WA, but we have seemingly needed them every year since we have moved here in 2005. And for real?? Can you honestly tell me that MN didn't have many more snow days then us?How do they still keep getting out so early? (Disclaimer: I don't have much against MN except that the Vikqueens Vikings are from there; I really love the rest of the people). One of these years I am going to pencil in the snow days at the beginning of the year so that I just plan on getting out late..or that would be on time then, right?

Speaking of the weather....did you know that we just almost went 30 days without rain in the Seattle area? I mean really, I laughed when we bought a home with a sprinkler system in our yard; kind of seemed like an oxymoron. I have to tell you though that we have been happy we have had it each summer. I have also been happy that we have snow gear!

All this to say.....school's out! ;)