culture shock

(my new toy)

(view from my parents deck)

On Monday Ivan and I went to go and pick up my new car. Afterward I wanted to stop and get some groceries and a few other things. So we stopped at Fred Meyer.

Ivan, because of good behavior on the plane, was allowed to pick out a Lego set. We started walking into the store he asked me if this is where we got Legos. I said yes. Then he asked where we had to go to get food. I told him in that store also. He looked at me like I was from Mars.

In Guam, the BX and the commissary aren't next to each other. So you have to drive from place to place.

Then as we were walking into the store, Ivan stopped and said, "Mom! They have phones outside!!" Apparently he had never seen a pay phone before!

As we were grabbing a few groceries, Ivan was looking at all of the different choices and said, " I like the food here better than the ones on Guam."

The cutest however, was on our drive home. We drove on a highway next to a damn. His eyes were huge as he asked what it was!

Then he was so excited to see a train! He hadn't remembered ever seeing a train in his whole life.

The best was when he was able to go in 2 tunnels!

My son who has seen carabou's walking down a highway, many, many different cultures represented at his school/housing, wild boars being chased by boonie dogs...had never been in a tunnel.

It is like he is discovering a whole new world!

Pink Sunset

The other night, I was trying to rock Mason to sleep. Harmony & Ethan were watching tv. I looked outside and noticed that the sky was almost completely pink. We all jumped up, grabbed our cameras and got some pictures of a cool pink sunset!

Bye bye

(Stephanie, Line and I)
(so cute! Harmony and Freddy were wearing matching shirts...and they are the same height!)

(Line and Grace..." we only sing at church"

(singing Livin' on a prayer!)


(I can't get my pictures to rotate! This is our total island baby, rockin' out to the music!)
( 2 of the Moran boys rockin' out!)

(ok so not the best picture of Stephanie! lol She is Mason's "Phillapino Mom")

( I interrupted them mid conversation!)

(Such a fun group! Love you all! )

I wanted to have a going away party, but decided it wouldn't be good manners to throw a party for myself. Luckily, my friend Stephanie had one for us! We had a great time, laughing, talking, eating pancit, and doing video-karaoke. The kids had a blast staying up late running around with their friends. By the time we got ready to go, Ivan was half asleep on their couch! We are going to miss our fun Guam friends! Thanks for the memories! (:

9 years old!

Now that our time is down to a week, I have found a little bit of time to update my blog. Amazing isn't it?!

This week my "baby boy" turned 9! I can't believe it. Ethan is such a sweetheart and he just melts my heart.

So here are 9 reasons why my 9 year old is the BEST!

1. He has no problem admitting that he is a Mama's boy!

2. He is an amazing big brother.

3. Even though at this age, he finds church "sooo boring", he goes because "I love you Mom and I will do what you ask me to do"

4. He is very, very smart.

5. He is a fabulous artist.

6. He has a tender heart.

7. When he gets in trouble for something, he cries more about what he did then about getting in trouble.

8. He is very responsible.

9. He writes me the sweetest notes!

Ethan decided that he didn't want to have a party, but just to go to Tarza ( a local waterpark) with his best friend. So we arranged for a babysitter for Mason, and spent the day having fun in the water. We came home extremely sunburnt, but we had fun. It was a great way to spend one of our last weekends on Guam!

The Waiting Place

You know the book "Oh the Places You'll Go"? It just happens to be one of Ivan's favorites.

Lately I have been feeling like I am in a waiting place.

We haven't left Guam, although life as we know it here is wrapping up fast! I filled in my calender for the next 3 weeks and it is filled with lasts. Last Cub scouts, last Girl Scouts, last Achievement Days, last beach trips, last days of school, going away parties and dinners...On and on. So we are just kind of "waiting" for this time to end.

But we are also waiting for our new life to start. One at "home" and one in CA. So we are just waiting for our itinerary. Waiting to pack our luggage.
Waiting to fly out.

I have been feeling a bit...well melancholy about it all. I am starting to feel very sad at the thought of leaving what has become our second family. But I am looking forward to seeing biological family. Such a mix of emotions.

3 weeks left in the "waiting place"

avoiding housework

(the water buffalo shared by our neighborhood. Nothing like having a "block party" while filling buckets of water!)

( just so you know, the boys LOVED the porta potty.They thought it was great to not have to come all the way inside! Ivan used it and said, "Mommy, we have a potty OUTSIDE!)

There are piles of neatly folded laundry sitting on the dining room table...being completely ignored! I will get to them...eventually!

Remember when Guam was on all of those typhoon/tropical storm warnings? Well I made a vow then that I would get my food storage/emergency preparedness up and going so that I wouldn't be one of those crazy people in huge long lines getting last minute supplies?

Well the storms passed with nothing but some rain and wind. So I...well...put off getting anything. I figured I had prepared for the storm (candles, batteries, flashlights etc)and so would be fine. We are near the end of the typhoon season and so I felt that I could relax.

I had set out a plan to get items, and Ben reminded me of our upcoming move. I didn't really want to go all out buying stuff, but then again, what if there was another storm?

The weekend before Thanksgiving we were given a notice that we would be having a 9 hr. water outtage the following Tuesday. I groaned but honestly, this wasn't our first one. However, I forgot about it. So Tuesday when Ivan was trying to wash his hands and no water came out...well I remembered. We have a water cooler, but the jugs are rrrrreally heavy so Ben has to change it. I had forgot to have him change it and ours was empty. I realized that I had no way to make Mason a bottle!

I had a few errands to do, so I hopped in the car and went and bought a gallon jug of water. Crisis diverted right?

Well that 9 hour outtage...turned into 36 hours of no water. I had only bought one gallon jug. And using it to make mac & cheese, used up over half. The water did come on for about 5 minutes, so I filled some pots and boiled them. I sent Ben to get more water.

Wednesday, they let us know that they weren't sure when the water would be back on, and they brought us...A PORTA POTTY. Yuck. And our whole cul de sac got to share. They also brought in a water buffalo so we could fill jugs & buckets.

Can I just say, that it was the dirtiest, nastiest 36 hours? Yuck. We all stunk (except Ben who went to the gym to take a shower!!)Harmony & my hair was greasy. The kids had to use wipes and sanitizer everytime they went to the bathroom. And the toilets were not flushed.

I can tell you that this was the first Thanksgiving that I had been so grateful for water!!

So what did I learn from this? Be prepared. No matter what. I found some awesome food storage/emergency preparedness sites and have begun to get some food storage. I have decided every time I go grocery shopping, to use $20 to buy essentials. I have a notebook where I keep all of my menus/shopping lists. That way I can keep track of what I bought the previous trip.

Yesterday I bought flour, sugar, water, tuna fish and top ramen. Not much, but it is a start.

So are you prepared? Do you have any ideas or suggestions? I would love to hear 'em!

Our first last

(The graveyard cake...what do you think?

(Ivan won the cupcake walk, and chose one that he and I made! Awww)

(as soon as Ben heard "family picture" he was out of there! Stinker. He said he didn't hear me say it, and just went out to get the trunk ready. Hmmmm...)

( Harmony went as Marie Arnold. Don't know who that is? It is the main character in the book she is writing!!)

( the older kids hamming it up)

(Expecto Patronum!!)

(One of our Indy's. Connor was also Indiana Jones)


(arrrgh! Hanging out in the carrier. I bought this for $1 at a yard sale and I have to say it was worth every penny!)

( me with some friends at the trunk or treat)

With just a little over six months left on our sentence...I mean time left on Guam, we are starting to experience some lasts.

As we walked around housing for 2 hours last night, dripping sweat in the 80+ degree weather, trick or treating, we thought about the fact that this is our last Halloween on Guam! It was the first of many lasts that we will be experiencing. It is amazing how fast time really does fly!

Friday night was a busy day. I sent the kids off to school with an orange & black lunch (mac & cheese, oranges, orange juice, purple grapes and oreos) with Halloween stickers and jokes. I also placed a spider ring in their mac & cheese. They told me that their friends were fooled...but not them!

After picking up Ivan,I spent the day baking. I made a graveyard cake as a treat for the trunk or treat. I wasn't very happy with how it turned out but Ben told me to "let it go, it's not important". I am not sure if I agree or not. But, it doesn't matter anyway because it was devoured 48 hours ago!! I will try again next year and see what happens!

The kids had fun doing their usual thing. Playing games, making crafts, eating way too much sugar etc.

Saturday we went around housing and filled buckets. Mason was in his carrier and so we forgot the stroller! By the end of the night, I was carrying Mason, 2 Indiana Jones hats, 1 "leather" jacket, and 3 treat bags. Ben was carrying Ivan.

As the kids complained about the heat, and how far they had to walk, I just laughed! Our kids have it made. In White Salmon, homes were not that close! We had to walk a lot farther than up and down a few streets! I told them they would not have cut it as trick or treaters "way back then".

And of course, they were all up at the crack of dawn, counting, sorting and trading their candy. Let the teeth rotting begin!

Not done yet...

( Housing did this, I don't know about you but I am not sure duct tape is going to stop winds at 30+ mph...)

(Grey sky in the morning, sailor take warning)

( Our "backyard" in the first storm)

The last storm blew by us without any problems. I felt like I had panicked for nothing.

However, we knew that two more storms were coming.

While at the commissary, I got a call from Ben letting me know that the base was going to go to TCOR 2. This is how they measure how high the winds are and how far away the storm is. I can't remember exactly what it stands for though. The last storm, the Gov. of Guam went to TCOR 1, while the military stayed at 3.

Now the military is going to 2 by three o'clock and 1 by midnight.

The typhoon is( according to local news) will be reaching Super Typhoon status. Also according to local news, the storm is starting to move to the south west. It WAS moving up North and out of our way.

We are bracing to get hit, and hoping to get lucky like we did last time. There is one more storm coming up right after this one.

Keep praying for us as we face this.

Also, many of our Guam friends have lost loved ones in the storm that hit Samoa. Others are still looking for their families, both in the Phillipines and Samoa. Keep them in your prayers also. I can't imagine what they are going through.

I'll keep updating as long as we have power.

Sept. 17, 2003

**************UPDATE*******************UPDATE***********
According to our local news, we are now on a tsunami watch also. They are already opening up shelters across the island. As all of you as my witnesses, I will never again ignore the prophet's counsel to get a food supply and 72 hour kits. As soon as this passes, you better believe that I am getting my emergency preparedness kit READY!

Step back in time with me for a moment...

The weather was bright and sunny. The humidity was relatively low.Not a cloud in the sky. Nice beautiful day in Norfolk, VA. My sister Susan and her family were visiting. It was also Harmony's first week of pre-school.

Sept. 18, 2003...Hurricane Isabel hit. Power lines were down. Trees were knocked down and floating down the street. Rain and strong winds. Our family sat in a 100 yr old home, and watched as the water poured from the sky.The wind gusts were so strong that our gate was knocked over. Huge limbs were literally floating down the street. We were one of the lucky ones that didn't even lose power. It was a crazy storm.

The weather yesterday (our Tuesday) was bright and sunny. White puffy clouds in the blue sky. By afternoon, it had started to turn a little grey and windy.

The storm has now changed direction and we are expecting to get hit early tomorrow morning. There are also two storms coming up right behind this one.

I spent Monday fighting the crowds at the commissary and gas station. But I feel that I have everything I need. We have batteries, candles, canned food, water,paper products, clothes etc.

Our home is made of solid concrete. Ben describes it as " a concrete bunker". We honestly don't believe that we will suffer any damage. We figure we will lose power and that is about it.

As for now, our kids have a half day today. We will find out today if school will be in session for the rest of the week.

Although we don't feel like anything will happen, we ask you to please keep us and our family and friends in your prayers. Guam hasn't seen a typhoon in a long time and it looks like we are going to get hit.

Not to alarm anyone but, with the loss of power, we also lose our phones and internet. So if that happens, we will not have a way to get a hold of you. We will keep you posted as much as we can. We appreciate all your thoughts and prayers!

SOAKED

Guam is currently bracing itself for a Tropical Storm. The sky is dark and we had a nice down pour as I dropped the kids off. The toys are all put away. Ben is filling up water jugs. I am charging DS's, ipods, etc. I don't know if anything will happen but you know what they say..."If you are prepared you shall not fear". That is the mantra we are going with.

I think warm homemade bisquits and soup are in order! We are supposed to have 6 inches of rain by the end of the day!

Oh and can you believe that this is MY 900th POST!!!!

One day at a Time

The words "I hate Guam" were muttered (ok yelled a couple of times) a lot during this weekend. We have endured no water pressure, so many gnats we can't even count, maps that aren't labeled correctly...it goes on and on. Some people think that living on an island = paradise. Let me tell you, it's not true.

A lot of our friends moved away from Guam this summer. Almost all of them talked about the things that they would miss. After this weekend, I racked my brain but really couldn't come up with anything. It's sad I know. I will miss friends that we have made, but other than that...hmmm.

This morning, I got up to go walking. It was not quite 6am and the sun was coming up. The moon was shiny and bright, but the sky was pinks and oranges. The palm trees were swaying in the breeze, and I thought, "well this isn't so bad."

So I decided to take it one day at a time. Find one thing every day that I appreciate about this island. I am still counting down until the day we go home, but maybe I just have to adjust my attitude a little. So while I didn't have my camera with me on my walk, this is one of my favorites while I have been here.

random

(There is a whole lotta this going on around here!)

(the cute little toothless wonder)

(How adorable is this kid? Thanks again for the outfit Beth!)

Here is a random list of what's going on in the Turner home...

**Connor lost his other top tooth! Too bad the tooth fairy forgot! I told him the tooth fairy was confused because Connor lost his tooth on Wed but it was on Guam. In the states it is still Wed. So I am sure she will be coming tonight!!

**Harmony is having a blast at camp! She has made lots of friends, is Liesel in the Sound of Music, wrote a script for a skit they are doing, and is having a fabulous time. I am so happy to see her come out of her shell! It just makes my heart happy.

** The boys have named our house/van etc as the "boys club"!

**They are also pretending to be characters on movies and tv shows. In the car, they were watching Tom & Jerry. So they "called" the character that they want to be. It is cute but annoying when they fight over who gets what character.

** A long time ago, I participated in a lot of homemaking meme's. I kept putting them on this blog but I didn't want my followers to have to read them if they didn't want too. I created another blog as a place to put them. Well after I got preggo, I stopped updating it! Too much work. Now that I am back in the swing of things, I have started updating again. If you want to read it the site is here

**Mason does what Mason does best. Eats, sleeps, poops. But oh how cute is that little boy! The kids and I can't keep our hands off! :)

**Oh and the bugs are gnats. They are attracted to water and light. So with it being the rainy season here, we just have to wait it out. The pest control guy told me that we don't have as much as other people. Gross. So I just get to sweep up bugs 10 times a day. OH joy!

And that is it! You are updated!

Poor Flat Heather

(At the beach)
(Getting out of the mailbox...STRETCH!)
(You have to wear a seatbelt, even if you are flat!)
(This is a caribou that was on the side of the road. He was tied up but I wasn't getting any closer! So the actual "Flat Heather didn't get in the picture!"


My niece Heather, chose me to send her "Flat self" too. If you have no idea what I am talking about...There is a popular children's book right now called Flat Stanley. Stanley goes all over because his parents can just pay for postage instead of airline tickets! So Heather made a flat version of herself and sent it to me. I feel bad because I had sooo many good ideas and than...I would forget to bring her along! In the end I really wish I had done more! But Flat Heather is headed back to Mesa, so I figured I would show Heather some of the pictures that were taken! I hope she likes them!

Home

Today has been a little emotional for me. I am so anxious for Ben to come home (bright and early in the morning). But while I am here, my heart is at home. At my parents house. With my brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews and everyone else who has gathered. Yep, a family reunion without me. I wish I would have been able to go. But things didn't work out the way that I expected.

I started thinking about, what home is. There is a saying that goes, "home is where the Navy sends you". And although they are talking about your station...I think there may be a little bit more meaning to it. Let me take you back to the year 2002...

I was sitting in my parents basement watching JAG ( it was the one when Bud lost his leg) and I got a phone call from Ben. "Well Marie, I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is that I got my orders. The bad is that we are not going to any of the places we picked. They are sending us to Norfolk."

I was kind of in shock. But I told him that as long as we were together, any place was home.

So we moved to Norfolk. We made new friends. We found new schools. We found new stores to go too. We found a new ward. We started all over again. And then in what seems like the blink of an eye, 4 years had passed. Our time was up and it was time to move on. We were anxious to go somewhere new, but part of our hearts stayed in Norfolk.

We moved here to Guam. We made new friends. We found new schools. We found new stores to go too. We found a new branch. And now a year has flown by. We have said some goodbyes ( miss you Tiff),we have had new experiences, we have lived our life.

While Ben was in Afghanistan, I got one call from a member of his wardroom, asking if I needed anything. Just one. This time,Ben has been gone for a little over a month. I have had 4-5 phone calls, countless emails, my neighbor has stepped up numerous times to help me. Our branch at church, has totally stepped in and supported me. It has been amazing.

I don't have family here. But in a way...it feels like I do. So am I home? Is Guam home? My kids consider Norfolk to be home. I consider White Salmon to be home. And Ben...The Dalles.

I don't know where I am going with all this. I have just been thinking about home and family. And I think whoever said, " Home is where your heart is" was right. So part of my heart is in White Salmon and part is here on Guam.

So while everyone is having fun laughing, talking,eating, teasing Darla, playing with kids, having a talent show, working on crafts and all that...don't forget about the Turner family. We miss you all and can't wait until we can see you again!

TarZa!!

Whenever Ben deploys anywhere, we try to do something fun with the kids before he goes. Sort of like one last hurrah! We had heard from several people, that the TarZa water park was an absolute blast. So I went and picked up the tickets to go. Now you have to know, my kids are not exactly fearless when it comes to the water. So I was worried that I had paid for tickets that wouldn't really be used. The kids were excited though. So much so, that they started to drive me nuts! I finally sent them outside to get in the car while I rounded up the last few towels etc.

We got there, and the kids headed straight to the Lazy River. It is this pool that has a current that kind of pushes you around the whole thing. They loved it. I think that was their favorite of the whole day! I was worried they were going to stay there and not go to any slides. So we forced them out and started out on a small slide. Once they had conquered their fear of that, they were more than willing to try the bigger ones. By the end of the day they had gone on almost every single one. Ethan even went down the "Super Chute". Ben and I did too. BUt I think we are starting to get old as we complained about it hurting our backs, bums etc.

We ended the day with Ivan throwing up in the lazy river (twice!), a lost pair of sunglasses, a lost pair of goggles, 4 exaushted kids who had HUGE smiles on their faces. We will definatley be going back. Ben actually wants to go back when he gets home! It was such a fun day. And the bonus? No one complained. Not even once! Now that is what I call a good day!

dinner time

While Ben's parents were visiting, we took them down to the Chamarro village. We were there early in the evening and so we missed out on a lot of the hustle and bustle of the Chamarro village on a wednesday night. However, one of the things that really sticks out in Connor's mind was the "chicken on a stick". He absolutely loved the shish-kabobs and has asked me for them almost every night since.

Well with school being almost done,and homework is lacking, I decided to take the kids down last night. The kids were so excited to go down there. The food is cheap and you get a ton! I snapped some photos but I don't really think I did the place justice. I did find some local rubber stamps, so that was fun.

As we were driving home with our "chicken on a stick, red rice, lumpia, and another dish that I can't think of the name, the boys kept saying, "look how beautiful the sunset is" and "look at the water, it looks so pretty!" Finally they asked me why I didn't stop and take a picture. So I did. I am glad I didn't miss it!