4th of July Highlight

We were invited to a fair put on by the company that friends of ours work for to celebrate the 4th of July. Renatah had a fabulous day - just hanging out.

The highlight of her day was a turn on the bouncy castle right before they packed it up - we convinced the person running it to let the little ones have a little 'bounce' for a few minutes. We were very glad we did ... she LOVED it. When bigger kids bounced around her sending her nose into the bump she pushed her head back up - laughed - and crawled towards 'more'.

Sisters are great

Renatah loves her big sister Sha-Sha. Its the beginning of a beautiful friendship we think!

Life with Gramps and Nonny

mowing the Sandy lawns with Gramps

coming in for a kiss

catching a nap in the bookstore

lunch after a Costco shopping trip

playing with Nonny

playing with Gramps

They're Here!

Gramps and Nonny have been here for almost two weeks already! Time has flown by so fast. We have had lots of fun doing life with them. They have had some special moments with Renatah and are tackling all facets of grandparent hood with joy! (even the nappy changes!)

Here is Renatah holding a welcome sign at the airport on Monday June 18th. We captured the first meeting on video - we will endeavour to upload it onto here soon!

9 More (night time) Sleeps...

...till I meet my Gramps for the first time and see my Nonnie again! The last time I saw Nonnie was the two weeks after I was born. She gave me lots of cuddles and took good care of mumma and me as we got used to life together! Mumma doesn't think I know that they are coming but I have figured it out by how excited she is.

I can't wait to give them hugs and kisses and show them my new tricks!

I'll give you a hint Nonnie and Gramps - I'm seeing the world differently these days - there are alot more things below me and I accessing my world at greater speed!

I love my Papa

I love hanging out with my Papa.

I love it when he throws me in the air - it makes me laugh and my laugh makes him laugh!

I love it when he tickles my feet.

I love to give him kisses - though he says I'm still perfecting that skill - they are rather sloppy.

I Love Elephants Too!

Auntie Di - Look - I'm wearing the funky Elephant booties you sent me. My favourite thing to do with them is to pull them right off my feet ... mumma plays this game with me for a little while - putting them back on my feet so I can pull them off again. But after a little while it's not so fun any more - so I just hold on to them and suck on their noses! mmmm good for my gums!

It's Over!

Renatah and I just returned from our trip to Ohio. We had a wonderful time visiting with Sarah and Benji and Sarah's family. Unfortunately I forgot to take the camera and their camera went out of action - so - no photos to share ... bummer!

Just before we left we had the interview for my green card. It was pretty much a non-event. Just a casual chat with the DHS guy, a browse through our photos and ... I got the stamp of approval. Because of the timing of it all - I am not getting a 'conditional' status as I thought was the case - but rather - I'm 'permanent'! Well - it is valid for 10 years.

So we praise the Lord for going ahead of us in all of this and for bringing us to the end! The card will arrive any day now and I can sit back and relax! Well - in terms of immigration hassles! There's always lots to do around here!

Thanks for journeying with us!
Naomi

Immigration Update

Hopefully there won't be too many more of these needed! On Thursday May 24th at 3pm I am secheduled for an interview for my green card. Tim and Renatah both have to be there with me along with many pieces of paper and what ever 'evidence' we have of our relationship!! Have you ever seen the movie 'Greencard' with Andie McDowell - I wonder what kind of an experience this will be! We haven't been 'studying' each other ... so we'll see how it goes!

The appointment is in Seattle (as our mailing address was Vancouver Washington for the past year or so) ... so it will be quite the adventure. I hope I will be posting news of celebration soon.

Oh - the day after the interview Renatah and I will be off on another practise plane ride to Ohio to visit my dear friend Sarah and her family for a week. We are so excited to see them again and for Renatah to meet them for the first time.

Thanks again for your continued prayer and support over the past 2 1/2 years - crazy isn't it!

Naomi

Exploring the world of FOOD!

Renatah is thoroughly enjoying dinner each night exploring the vegetable world. She is quite eager to 'feed herself' but is working on which end of the spoon achieves the best results!

Happy 6 month Birthday Renatah

On May 2nd we had a tiny celebration of Renatah's six month milestone. She loved sucking on her 'cake' - a granny smith apple with an unlit candle! Fun times!!!

Visits from Michelle

At the beginning of this month we had a visit from my friend from uni - Michelle. She was here the day Renatah was born so it was rather fun for her to see our little girl again six months later.


We love that Michelle's work brings her to the states and that she squeezes in a visit with us before returning to work in Hong Kong. Thanks Michelle!! We miss you.

This photo was taken at our favourite restaurant - PF Changs in down town Portland. Renatah has an odd expression because she has been sucking on a wedge of lemon!

Men at Work

The first project for our new house was to build a fence so that we could keep a dog in the back yard. Chuck, our next door neighbour, is a God-send! He's a 'you-name-it-I-can-do-it' kinda guy and absolutely loves doing things with his hands. With his knowledge and skills and Tim's muscle they put this beautiful fence up in two days. We are so blessed and grateful for God's provision of our handy and delightful nextdoor neighbour!

We've Moved

The past week and a bit has see us in the midst of moving out of the lovely Sandy Mansion into our very own duplex in SE Portland. As moves go this went very smoothly. We praise God for good 'moving weather' - it rained in the morning right up until we started loading up the truck. Then it started raining again when we returned the truck!! Talk about perfect timing!!

We are rather excited about being in our own place and being alot closer to 'life' here in Portland. Tim can now bike to work in 15mins!! (as opposed to an hour drive or an hour and a half on the buses).

We are living in between the two houses as we slowly move things over. We stay most nights at the new place though. When boxes and things are all put away we will take some pictures and put a little slide show up here for you!

I won't post our new details up here but keep an eye on your inbox over the next week or so - we'll send out a little 'moving announcement' with all the info.

Going to LA - Riding on an aeroplane!!

From March 28th til April 9th Renatah and Mumma went to LA to visit with Tim's sister Barb and Renatah's 5 cousins.

Barb is in the middle of chemo treatment for colon cancer. You could pray for her and the family as they journey through this treatment process and pray with us for a miracle of healing!

Renatah did very well on her first plane ride. It was a practice run for our planned trip to Australia at the end of the year - that will be a long one!!

First Easter

Renatah's first Easter was in LA with her cousins. It was a special weekend but we missed Pappa. Here she is in her little Easter outfit playing with her special 'easter bunny' from Aunt Judy!

Hunting for Eggs

A little too little to hunt herself so mumma helped Renatah find an egg in the bushes and put it in the grass for her to pick up. She was rather thrilled with the event and showed off her new skill of sitting by herself! Fun 'first Easter' memories. We were sad that her Pappa missed sharing the occasion with us though.

Sharing

Vivienne and Renatah were fun to watch together! Vivienne is three weeks older than Renatah and we got to delight in them having their first easter together.

Renatah's First Feeding

After getting the go ahead from her doctor at her 4 month wellness check to start Renatah on solids ... we finally give it a go! As instructed we started with rice cereal. She seemed to like it ok and it has since been a joyful nightly routine - it is the time when she laughs the most - perhaps it's at her mumma making strange faces and noises as she encourages the eating process?!

my heart's delight in a little thing

I just got home from a night of scrapbooking with ladies from the mom's group I've been going to here in Sandy ... I am so energised and happy!! This feeling doesn't come all that often! I have so many little projects I want to do and that many more that I have started - I've been feeling rather stuck. With a new baby at home - there just isn't much time for crafty ventures as you can imagine. A group of 4 of us brought all our 'stuff' and sat and talked and worked and decided to make it a fortnightly event!! I'm so thankful for some people who want to make this a regular thing - my one little outlet and a chance to get some projects done. Woohoo!!

I just wanted to share my little piece of delight with you!!

I will admit that when I first got the phone call from a lady I met at the tree-lighting ceremony in early December, inviting me to the mom's group at her church, I was hesitant and reluctantly said I would go. I didn't think that I would keep going - but - this time on a Thursday morning has been such a blessing and encouragement to my heart. God works in ways we often don't anticipate. God is good!

Have a great night/day which ever it is for you where ever you are! Look for the blessings that are in your day - they are there!!

love,
naomi

Finding Her Voice

Renatah has found her voice. She has learned that she can squeal and make all kinds of wonderful squeaky noises. She loves to make mummy and papa laugh with her wonderful new sounds.

Uncle Cammy

Hi Uncle Cammy!

Thanks for playin wtih me the other night when you came to have dinner with my Mumma and Papa!

Your hairy face makes me smile!!

Can't wait to play again soon.

Love,
Renatah

Immigration Update

On February 20th I had an appointment to get my 'biometrics' taken - a big word to mean the fingerprint of my right index finger, my signature and my photo. All this had already been taken for my 'change of status' to conditional resident back in December ... but this was now for my 'permission to work' card that I applied for in April '06.

On March 1st my 'permission to work' card arrived in the mail and it's validity dates are from April 27 '06 to March 10 '08. Craziness! The thing was valid a year before I actually got it - something is not quite right in their system!

All that being said I was able to go to the Social Security office and apply for my number. So it has achieved it's purpose. Now Tim can claim me as a dependant on his tax return and if something just so happens to come up - I could get a job. I won't be actively seeking anything at the moment though. I have actually been able to pick up some baby sitting here and there that is providing a little extra 'spending money' which is nice! We thank the Lord for those provisions. I don't want to leave Renatah in day care - so doing something where I can take her along is just perfect!

Thanks for your interest and prayers - we now await the infamous 'green card' which will signal my change of status to a 'conditional resident'!

Naomi

A few THANK YOU's, from Renatah

Aunty Joy,



Thank you for the SUPER CUTE bonnet and sweater you knitted for me. With my very white skin I look like a little Scandinavian baby!

Aunty Sarah,

I love the giraffe bib you got for me! It's so colorful and covers me almost head to toe!! or I guess it's more like neck to knee!

Mrs O'Dea,


Mum tried to dress me in the hat and t-shirt you gave me - the hat was a little hard to keep on my head - but will sure be useful when my head grows bigger!!

The Koala has sparked my interest already!

Papa and his girls

When Papa's away the girls do play

In the last week of February Papa spent a week in LA for work. Renatah and Mumma had a few tentative plans to leave home as well - but instead they ended up taking day trips and a few over nights at Aunt Judy's. One of our day trips was a drive out to Cannon Beach (a favourite hang out spot for Papa and Mumma) with our friends Brooke and Adelle.

On the drive out to the beach we were surrounded by the magificent beauty of snow on the trees and side of the road with a bright blue sky and streams of sunlight. Not terribly common this time of year - the snow or the blue sky!! It's usually just rainny and overcast! It was quite magical.

We took a walk along the beach. It was rather cold and windy so Renatah stayed bundled up close to Mumma in the Ergo baby carrier. The object in the back ground is called 'Haystack Rock' - quite well known in these parts.

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4 Months Old Today

Renatah is 4 months old today.

At her 4 month wellness check with her doctor ... Dr Hero

she weighed in at 12lbs 6oz,

measured 24.5 inches.

Our little girl is healthy and happy.

Her 'new' things lately are

• grabbing toys and pulling them into her mouth - though she often gets frustrated because she can't hold them in there for as long as she wants. Her mouth wants to chew but her coordination won't allow her the satisfaction for to long
• she is making new sounds (hard to explain in writing!)
• her hair is starting to grow back - lighter and more red!!
• almost sitting without support - she has the strength - she's just working on the balance
• she has discovered that there is a world beyond the ceiling when she's laying on her back - she tilts her head back as far as she can and arks her back so see whatever is behind her
• she now rolls onto her side when she is on her back loving the freedom especially when her bottom is bare

I'm sure there's more but that's all I can think of for now ... oh ... just remembered one more ... she's now laughing without being touched!! It makes me wonder what goes on in that brain of hers - what prompts the laughter - are we really that funny looking?!

Tasty Fingers

At 3 months Renatah started finding her fingers. Now they are a constant feature in her mouth.

She has started teething more intensely and thus the fingers in the mouth help channel the puddles of drool that come with the whole teething process.

She has a favourite finger - hopefully we'll catch it on camera soon so you can see!

Our little friend Violette put together this ensemble for Renatah to wear today. She loves to dress babies! Here is Violette "making a baby" out of Renatah's clothes when she came to visit at the hospital the day after she was born.

Poppy at the Park

The North West of the US is known for its many months of rain. I'm learning just how true this is. It's not all that bad though - it certainly keeps life green - a welcome change from the greyness we grew up with in Manila!

After a period of wet days the sun came out on a Saturday. We took full advantage of the magnificent weather and took a trip to the park with our friends 4 kids that were staying with us over night and Shalom.

A great wooden play structure has been built in a park just up the road from our place. We should have got some more pictures but we just took this one of Poppy's first swing!!

As she lapped up the sunlight we realised that it was one of the few times since she has been born that she has actually been out in the sun - not because we keep her couped up inside all day - but because there just hasn't been that much sun since November 2nd!

We look forward to more play days at the park as Spring brings in the Summer months.

Shoulder Rides

Our little Renatah is so very strong!! She can hold herself up enough to have shoulder rides with papa from time to time!!

Aunties - I Miss You

It was so wonderful to meet my aunties when they came to visit. But I am so so so sad that they are gone. I think mumma and papa are sad too.
I love my mumma but I sure do miss my aunties. They cuddled me lots and played with me and took me on outings. Mumma says I was rather spoilt! I can't wait to see them again hopefully at Christmas time!



I loved my play times with Auntie Anita ...


and my sleepy cuddles with Auntie Karina.

Aunties Visit

We were delighted to have Karina and Anita come from warm sunny Perth to spend about 3 weeks with us. We even took them up to the snow Papa and Renatah had fun watching and staying warm.