Drew's First Day of School!

Well, it was Drew's first day of kindergarten today and he was so cute when I dropped him off. I could tell he was nervous but didn't want to show it. He smiled and found his seat and was just as cute as can be. I did catch him looking around uneasily a few times. I think he'll love it though. Two in school! Liza will go on the fourth.

Jericho Road Groupies

For all of you Jericho Road groupies out there the Arrington kids have something to brag about! James and I along with our kids attend a group called the Genesis Group. It is church organization catering to black or minority members of the church (but anyone is welcome). We go once a month for a program and refreshments. So far it has been a lot of fun and the latest thing that we have done in connection with Genesis is that the kids performed with Jericho Road. One of the members of Jericho Road attends Genesis and invited the children to sing as a choir for their recent benefit concert. All of our kids did it except little Si. The kids sang "This Little Light of Mine" and they were also back up for Jericho Road on "Like a Child". It was really fun and they put on an excellent show along with several other performers which included but was not limited to, break-dancers, some divas from High School Musical 2, Jenny Frogley, Alex Boye (thats Abinidab on David and Goliath for all you Liken fans out there) and my personal favorites for the evening, Jacob Lutrell and the Divine Heritage Choir. The concert was held in connection with Reach the Children and 100% of the money made went straight to children in Africa. Fun fun fun. Anyway, I've included some pictures. Enjoy.

First Day of School!

Well, it's that time of year again, School, yay! Here is a pic of Madison with her friend Madisyn on their first day of second grade. I can't believe I have a second grader. Eeeeek! Andrew starts kidergarten tomorrow and Eliza starts preschool on the fourth. I will add their pictures soon.

Last Thursday our family had a little adventure. My side of the family decided that for our family reunnion this year we would go to Lehman Caves in Nevada and camp for three days. James and I were dreading it a bit because the last couple of times that we have tried to camp with the kids it's been a nightmare. We were optomistic however hoping that it would be better since they are a bit older than the last time. It was a little over a four hour drive and Mills started throwing up when we were about an hour away. She remained a bit sick the rest of the time but took it well. It really was pretty good except at night. Bedtime was nuts and I seriously wondered what we were doing there. The first night in poured all night long. We were in a summer tent and therefore got a few drips. But all in all I am surprised we stayed as dry as we did. It was pure providence. We had decided to let the kids sleep in the van that night. The idea was to crack the windows and pitch our tent right next to the van so we could hear them just fine and they would have good ventalation. Problem was, due to the rain we couldn't crack the windows. We cracked one and draped plasic over it to keep the rain out which sort of defeated the purpose of ventalation. So all night James and I slept uneasy worrying that the kids would be short on air. We got up a couple of times just to open a door and let fresh air into their steamy abode. The next night they slept in the tent with us and we were spared the rain, though there was a lot of really loud wind. And Mills woke up to a false throw up alarm. All in all, we had Andrew pee his pants twice, something he had been doing really well on until the camp out, Liza pooped her pants a couple of times, something she'd been doing extremely good on until the camp out, Mills being sick, along with two other cousins, and James getting diarrhea, a raccoon or skunk padding around our tent door due to me totally forgetting to put Lily's dog food in the car, Eliza falling directly into the fire. She was walking backwards and fell right in bum first. Monte and I grabbed her and pulled her out and amazingly she was o.k., all except for a blister burn on her hand where she grabbed the metal edge of the fire pit. Christian sliced his finger nearly to the bone with his pocket knife while carving. He passed out a bit and that was quite exciting. My mom had to drive to Baker (about 20 min.) and buy some super glue to patch it up. Due to it being a cut that really should have had stitches, they couldn't just bandage it. Hooray for super glue. It was quite an adventure. Next year will be better. On the upside, we saw lots of deer, went on a fun hike, the stars were amazing, the mountains were beautiful, and Lehman Caves was just as cool as I remembered it. Ta ta.

Little Un's

Here's some pics of our kiddies in no particular order.

Mills' Art

Maillie and Snotty Si

Super Si


Shy Girl

Watch out Ladies


Eliza and Drew

Birthday Boy's Night on the Town

Reflections

Happy Ones

Chili Man

Lofty Aspirations

Birthday Boy

Well, yesterday was James' 30th birthday. We had a fun little date thanks to my mom watching our kids for us. We decided it was high time that we had a little bit of tourist fun right here in S.L.C. and let me tell you people, we had a lot of fun. I decided to take James to Salt Lake and let him choose his own adventure since usually when we are in Salt Lake it is during Christmas season and there are hoards of people, not to mention five little high-need creatures tailing us and we really have a hard time doing much. I took him to temple square and gave him some options of things to do. We ended up going to the Joseph Smith movie and crying our eyes out. And I am not just talking about me either. Yep folks, James had tears gushing down his cheeks just like every other time that we have seen it. I should have taken a picture, but you know there's that darn "no pictures in the theatre" rule. Before and after the movie we meandered about looking at the gardens and historical buildings, being able to take time to enjoy them right down to their ionic columns and roaring lion heads. What with the little creatures being absent it was easy to do this. For those of you who don't know, I am a sucker for historical stuff. Seeing old buildings or artifacts is Disneyland for me. I know, many of you are thinking right now that I am a total geek, but there you have it. We then went to dinner at the Garden room on the roof of the Joseph Smith Memorial building. It was delicious despite its early nineties decor and it had a great view. After dinner we became real tourists as we toured temple square, took borderline disrespectful pictures (which I have added), and were actually able to listen to the presentations and such. Anyway, it was a lot of fun. And I highly recommend it for all of you home grown or foreign folks, with out the little creatures that is. Ta ta.

Girls Camp!

Hey folks. I am the Secretary for the Young Women in our ward and I just got back from girls camp a few days ago and thought I would share a bit about it because it was SO MUCH FUN. I wasn't aware that you could have so much fun at Girls Camp. Every one of our Young Women loved it too, and many of them said it was their favorite yet. We went to Beaver High Adventure Base which is a Boy Scout camp. They worked us from morning to night doing very rigorous activities. We sawed wood (with the old fashioned two-woman saw as we called it), chopped wood, made old fashioned candles, shot black powder rifles, 22's, shot guns, and bow and arrows, went rock climbing and rappelling, learned to sword fight and waged a full on battle, with foamy swords of course, and made some excellent tie tied shirts. In between all of these seriously fun activities, we hiked, and hiked, and hiked some more. Even the biffies (the outhouses) were a jaunt across the field. Being a leader, I suppose I could have sat back and enjoyed the relaxing mountain air but for some odd reason my old "conquer all" nature came out and I ended up doing everything. It was a good workout for my now ageing, post-childbearing body, but I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it, and it made me feel like a teeny bopper again. I unfortunately forgot my camera so I will post pics if I can get some from the girls. Ta ta!

General Authority Sightings

Since this is something I get really excited about, my latest experience meeting Elder Kerr has given me the idea of cataloguing my "General Authority sightings" here on my blog so you can all share in the fun!



Thomas S. Monson, First Counselor in the First Presidency- The first I have met. I met him at the airport when one of my best friends was heading out on his mission. He was wishing departing missionaries good luck. We were able to shake his hand.

L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles- James and I had not been married long and were walking down the street on our way to do a session at the S.L.C. temple when striding down the sidewalk was an enormous man with an enormous smile. He strode right up to us and shook our hands and said with vigor "Good to see you holding hands!" We talked for a minute and then he was off. He was such a nice man.

Boyd K. Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles- James and I, along with our kids were able to meet him when James' dad was set apart as a counselor in the Stake Presidency. What I remember about him was that he gave an excellant talk and was the steadfast immovable type.

Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles- James and I met him at the same time that we met Elder Packer. He was very tall, very gentleman like and fun to listen to. Later on, when it was time to fill the positions in the Quorum of the Twelve all the Arrington's made their guesses as to who they would be. It just so happened that one of my guesses was Elder Uchtdorf. My other guess was Cecil Samuelson just in case your curiosity is eating you up.

Henry B. Eyring of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles- One of our favorites if you're allowed to have them. We almost didn't recognize him because he and his wife were dressed in civilian clothes and we met them at Walmart. We were so excited and talked to them for quite a while. We had Maddi, Eliza and newborn Silas with us and they got to meet them as well. Drew and Maillie weren't here yet. We have a dream of having a nice picnic with Elder Eyring and his cute wife and talking to our hearts content. James Also saw him at the temple but didn't go and talk to him.

Robert D. Hales of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles- I was jogging up the steps to the A.F. tabernacle in order to meet for a choir practice proceeding our Stake Conference with Cecil O. Samuelson when down the very same steps I was jogging up came Elder Hales and his body guards. We made eye contact and he stopped and shook my hand. His hand was warm and soft and felt so comfortable. He had such a nice, kind face.

Cecil O. Samuelson of the First quorum of the Seventy- We met him after he spoke at the before mentioned Stake Conference.

Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles- We met him when our good friend Nathan got married. He didn't tell us who the sealer would be so we were delightfully surprised when in walked Elder Scott. We were able to shake his hand after the ceremony and he said to me "Thank you for your beautiful smile". What I remember most about it was that he looked like an angel. He definitely had the glow. Of course they all do.

M. Russel Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles- James was able to meet with him in his office due to Daily Dose foundation connections. James sits on the board for of the foundation and a couple of the Apostles were helping out with it, getting a division started within the church to teach English to immigrants. It is now called the Mali Rising Foundation.

Joseph B. Wirthlin of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles- James was able to meet him while on his mission in Korea.

Elder Rolfe Kerr of the First Quorum of the Seventy

Monday July 9th. Yesterday I had a fun little experience. James and I went to the baby blessing of one of my friends and Silas was being a terror. I was therefore spending a great deal of time out in the lobby. While there I was subconsciously watching people as they were coming and going. A little game that I sometimes like to play is to see if I can discern what kind of person someone is just by seeing them. O.k. so I am a weirdo. Whatever o.k. Well anyway, I wasn't actually playing my game at the time but out walked a group of people. They were all talking and I was just observing them nonchalantly when I picked out an older man in the group and thought, "huh, he's got that glow. Hmm. Ya, he really has it. He's a good one!" I then couldn't stop watching him and I watched as he stood in the foyer and folks came and went and he talked to many of them. Pretty soon a man and his two sons came along and were talking with him and the dad said to his sons "This is Elder Kerr of the First Quorum of the Seventy". I was quite taken back and I chuckled inside. It was fun to have the chance to confirm my suspicions of his good character and see that they were right on the money. The meeting then ended and Elder Kerr exited the building and I joined the rest of the zoo animals and told them who I had seen in the hall. We went and talked to Brooke for a while then headed out the door only to find Elder Kerr still there joined by his sweet wife. We were walking by when he and James made eye contact. He smiled and shook James' hand and asked his name. I then mentioned that I had overheard that he was a Seventy, and we were pleased to meet him. He took time and shook each of our kids hands and talked to them and asked them their names. He was in no hurry and He and his wife were so nice.

Haiti Day 2007

Here are some pics from our get together with some of the other adoptive families. We just met at a park and played and talked. The Knowles were there with their kids Austin, Allissa, Sylverta & James (Maillie's future husband).

The Gardener's were there with some of their kids but not all. Guenda and Vanessa were there (the two from Haiti) as well as Chase, Trevor, and the older son who just got his mission call (sorry, can't remember your name). Miss Megan was able to come. She was a volunteer in Haiti and is now a local celebrity due to everyone pasting her pics all over the Internet, in videos, and magazines without her express permission. Sorry Megs. Myself included.

One fun surprise was the presence of Max. He worked at the orphanage in Haiti but was gone by the time we went to get our kids. He ended up coming to the states and will by applying to go to BYU. Andrew recognized him and went running to him to give him a hug.

We had lots of fun in the sweltering Utah heat. But hey, it doesn't hold a candle to the Haitian sun.

As you can see in the pics, Maillie warmed right up to her future husband James Knowles.

Us parents joke about a future arranged marriage for the two but in reality it doesn't look like we would have to arrange much. Shauna says James talks about his girlfriend Maillie a lot and was excited to see her.

How cute they are. Ta ta.

Cruise On!

O.k. folks, since it's booked and therefore pretty much official we figured it's time to tell you about our exciting upcoming adventure. We have our great friends/neighbors to thank for this because if it weren't for their prodding with a red hot poker we probably wouldn't have ever gotten around to doing something like this. As you may have guessed from the picture we're going on a cruise!

We planned it for next year so that we'll have all the expenses saved. In addition we booked early and therefore got really great rates. With five small kids to wrestle with every day we are excited for the break. We will be going to Costa Maya Mexico,

Grand Cayman Island,

and Ocho Rios Jamaica.

We'll be cruising along with our good friends (the afore mentioned neighbors) and eating, drinking, and being merry to our hearts content. James will hate that I put it into those words so just to make sure there is no misunderstanding, we will NOT be wearing spaghetti strap dresses to dinner, drinking alcoholic beverages, or playing the slots. We WILL hopefully be visiting Mayan ruins, swimming with stingrays, basking on white sand beaches lined with tropical vegetation, and sleeping in as long as we please. We will be going in February, over Valentines day. Ta ta.

Haiti in a Nutshell

Andrew's first days at the Creche

There may be many of you who have not seen too many of our adoption photo's. As a result we will occasionally post some of them. This is a photo of Andrew when he first arrived at the orphanage in Haiti (the Creche). He was two years old and in very bad shape. He was given a blessing at that time by a man from Alpine, Utah, which is another story and that is where he got the name Andrew, prior to that his name was Gaillard (pronounced Guy-art). We were not given any photo's of Maillie when she first arrived. But here's one after she packed on some pounds.

Maillie after being fattened up at the Chreche

UN trucks are a common sight in this country of unrest.

Food line.



The common area in the Creche. As you can see it is much nicer than the world around it.

Plantains 'a' Plenty

In Creole "Banan"

I don't know what is so unusual, that's how I transport mine. Don't you?

Meat Sale!

From goat-truck to market fresh! Yum

The Tire "Store". No there is not a better one.

Hillside Villas

A typical village home

Inside a village home.

The "Bathtub"

This canal runs from the mountains to the sea. It is used for

a variety of purposes. Most of which you wish you hadn't seen.

Market Day

The Creche

Andrew and Maillies orphanage

School Children "the lucky ones"

kids rooms at the Creche

Juice Lady

This Auntie made the most delicious juice

that I have ever tried in my life. I will never forget it!

Laundry Lady

I wouldn't be smilin' neither!

I have added a bunch of Haiti pictures courtesy of Megan Swalberg. Kudo's Megs. She was a volunteer at the creche for about two months so her pictures rock. They are much more extensive than the ones we took while we were there for a week. I will be adding some of ours too though. You can see a bit what Haiti is like. Traveling to Haiti is something you never forget. I had seen pictures prior to going there but no matter how many pics you see or stories you hear nothing can prepare you for what you will see when you get there. The first shock I received was the view from the airplane before we landed. The entire city was covered with shanty huts and buildings we would consider condemned by our standards. Just in the short drive from the airport to the orphanage (about 30 min.)there were a few vignette's that I can't forget: A Man missing two limbs standing by a chain link fence begging for food or money, garbage piled in the streets everywhere you went, a man bathing in a large brown colored river right in the middle of the city, Lots of folks bathing in canals and large wash tubs right out in the open, two women holding a boy, one by the arms and one by the legs while one of them beat him with a thick reed, children wearing rags for clothing, I could go on and on. I looked around and was truly surprised that anyone was alive in this country. I still just can't describe what it was like to see Haiti. Having said that, there is a beautiful underside to Haiti. If you can get past the shock of what is on the surface you will see that it is a beautiful tropical island. It has been heavily deforested and littered with signs of a failing government, but it is beautiful none the less. The people are beautiful too. These are strong people. For them death and disease in abundance is a part of life. They are stronger than you and I. They would beg you to take their child from them to give it a better life. Could I do that if it came to it? They live with bacterias, virus', and parasites in their systems pretty much all the time. They see people die often whether it is by disease or violence. They live hard lives and die young. They smile, and listen to music, and make the best of what they deal with. They survive in a situation that when I saw it, I couldn't believe anyone could live. You hear many people speak of the poor in third world countries and how they have nothing, yet they are happy. But in Haiti I saw something else. I saw people laugh, play soccer, and dance. I saw their smiles glow when we met them. I realized that most of the happy faces that we saw were that of the youth. As I observed the adults and the young adults I saw that those that were happy were happy on the surface. But it is not hard to miss what is underneath, a deep painful need for a better life, an obvious awareness that there is something better out there and that they do not have it. It became evident in every person we met. The glow that I saw was the glow of opportunity. Those that we met with all seemed to see us as "their chance" on varying levels: Their chance to get a new hat or pair of sunglasses, their chance for a bit of cash, their chance for a piece of candy or some food, their chance to get some guns from America, their chance to find a way to come to school here, their chance for some new clothes. These people are uneducated but they are not dumb. They are happy but they are not satisfied. There is a better life. They know this. The people amazed me. Even though I felt as if I was viewed only as a means to a handout much of the time, I did not blame them one bit. It is a matter of survival. For the poor in Haiti (which is just about everyone, they have a very small very rich upper class) there is no other way to live but to survive. They are oppressed. Their government is corrupt. I truly feel that to fix Haiti it would take either a miracle, or hundreds of years of reform. What do the people of Haiti need? The true gospel and education! Not to mention some sort of functional government that had the country's interest in mind and not their own agenda's. Haiti had a rhythm and a flow to it that was beautiful though. It was noisy, vibrant, and colorful. People were everywhere sauntering along with baskets on their heads and wares to sell. The jobless sat in the shade and listened to Haitian music (which I loved). There were a lot of jobless. Cars bounced along on the dirt roads weaving in and out in a manner that makes you unsure that you will survive the car ride (no seat belts either). I loved the way they drove. It was hard to go back to the slow, patient way that we drive in the U.S. Well, I need to wrap it up, I will write more later and post some more pictures. Ta ta.