Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day have been wonderful so far, though we do miss being with our families. On Christmas Eve, Samuel got a couple packages in the mail. One was a Santa outfit from Rudi's mom (his GrossMama), which he tried on (see pictures). The second was a gift from his MiMi and Grandpa, which he had to wait for Christmas Day to open.

Christmas Eve was eventful. In the morning we went to a tire store to replace our spare tire...Did I mention that I shredded one of our tires by "grazing" a fire hydrant on Dec. 22nd?

Rudi then did some last-minute shopping and I did some last-minute baking, and then we headed off to church. Our church service was nice.  The people are so wonderful to us as usual--we got cards from several families, and a couple families even got Samuel presents!! After the church service, we hung out for a while (eating refreshments), then went over to a friends' house for a dinner, which was fabulous. We stayed too late (9 pm, 2 hours past Samuel's bedtime), and paid the consequences with about 30 minutes of crying from Samuel before went to sleep. Rudi and I both then collapsed in bed and that was that (we are pretty lame now, at least more often than usual).

Christmas morning was, I believe, more exciting for Rudi and I since we had the joy of watching Samuel "open" his presents. Besides loving the wrapping paper (which we expected), Samuel also seemed to enjoy playing with the toys inside (which we had not expected). After

presents, Samuel took a great nap while Rudi and I enjoyed coffee, opening our presents to each other, and eating gingerbread muffins. We then did Advent as a family, which brings us to the present. This afternoon we have dinner with neighbors, and then Rudi has to go to work this evening.

We do praise God for coming to be with us as Jesus, thus allowing us to have eternal life with him!

Rudi with his new golf shirt

Samuel tired after opening gifts

Rachel with her new picture frames from Tropical Living, our favorite local home store

Like father, like son

Rachel with her childhood stocking, made by her Grammy Coe

Rudi with his childhood stocking, made by his Memo

Samuel waiting to open his big present from MiMi and Grandpa

Samuel in his Santa outfit, given to him by GrossMaMa

Samuel trying to open a present on Christmas Day

Chamorro Santa and my thoughts

Samuel had his first picture with Santa this year, appropriately so since it is his first Christmas. As you can see, it is not your typical Santa picture, since this Santa is Chamorro, and also dressed in tropical garb.

Anyway, it made me think a little bit. At best, the Chamorro Santa picture is fun, an entertaining reminder of our first child's first Christmas. At worst, though, it represents the invasion of Western culture throughout the world, often at cost of other cultures. Also it could represent how this Christmas icon often replaces the celebration of the birth of Christ, even in the far reaches of the Pacific.

Anyway, I didn't perseverate on this too much because I know the event was harmless in itself. However, I did feel the picture deserved at least a little reflection rather than simply posting it saying, "here is Samuel with Chamorro Santa!" The picture is pretty cute, though, don't you think :)

Learning Guitar from Daddy

Here is a video of Samuel doing what he loves most: playing guitar with Rudi. Samuel loves to sit and watch Rudi sing and play to him. He could be fussing, crying, but when he even sees the guitar, a smile comes to his face. So it was so cute to watch him try to touch and play the guitar today. Please excuse the fact that Rudi has no shirt on.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We put our Christmas tree up a few days ago--we decided to go with a fake tree. They do ship real trees onto Guam, but they have to be fumigated and quarantined for a while, so they are a little pricey. Plus, we heard that even after all of the processing, the trees sometimes introduce non-native animal species to the island. So when we decided to go with a fake tree, we put up our old fake tree, which we got a few years ago--the cheapest we could find at Target. Below is a picture of it. We decided this year maybe we would do a little bit better since we have more time to be at home and enjoy it.  Below is also a picture of the new fake tree.

Along with putting up the tree, we have been doing Advent this year. The last few years we have been unable to find a good Advent guide. My dad used to make great ones each year--more elaborate with different colored candles instead of the traditional 4 candles of the same color plus purple in the middle. The different colors stood for different Advent themes. Well, this year my dad made another Advent guide. My parents promptly sent one to us, and it got here just in time for the start of Advent.  

The outside just doesn't feel like Christmas, but when we look at our tree and do Advent as a family, it definitely feels like Christmas is coming soon.

our old fake tree in our messy living room

the new tree

the new tree

Samuel is 6 months old!

Our little baby is 6 months old already. 

Some of his developmental milestones at 6 months:

He babbles mamamamama, dadadadadada, among other things. He sits alone. He is trying to crawl--he puts his face on the floor and gets his legs up under his body and pushes. Sometimes he's up on his hands and knees but hasn't gone anywhere yet. He is not eating any solid foods yet--I have tried a few times and he doesn't like it yet. Oh well, he's clearly not starving!

Here is a new picture.

Thanksgiving

Samuel sitting. He can actually sit independently...the boppy pillow is there for backup
Samuel and Mommy after bedtime bath
Learning how to get places. It won't be long before he's crawling.
Samuel doing one of his favorite activities...watching Daddy play guitar to him. This is one of the sweetest things I have ever seen.

Well, we had our first Thanksgiving on Guam. We actually had two Thanksgiving meals, thankfully separated by more than 6 hours, so plenty of time to digest!! We managed to forget our cameras for both 'Thanksgivings,' so we have no pictures to share of this monumental event :)

I will post pictures of Samuel, though (looking at his pics would be the only reason to visit this page anyway, right?).

We did have a great day. We were never lonely for company, but it didn't really feel like Thanksgiving. Maybe that was because it never did get cold here (I kept thinking that it would somehow be cold on Thanksgiving day, even though the weather's been in the 80's every day, just like usual), or because we had no out-of-town guests and were not with family. Either way, it was different but still good.

We had Thanksgiving with our church first. We had the meal at church, and everyone brought food to it. To that we brought a turkey (yes, a turkey...we did it!! We are now officially grown-ups!), gravy and cranberry sauce. Along w/ all of the traditional Thanksgiving fixings, we also enjoyed a lot of local fare that some brought. After the meal, we all sang Christmas carols. How fun!

Then in the evening, we had Thanksgiving with our neighborhood. This one was held outdoors between two of our neighbors' homes. There was a bounce house for the kids, so again, not your traditional Thanksgiving! To this we brought mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. 

Samuel did well today. He did seem a little bit scared of the large groups of people we were in at first. I had to comfort him for a little bit before I entirely released him to be held by the girls at church that love to carry him around.

Well, we have so much for which to be thankful! Happy Thanksgiving!!

Spam

Please read below for my comments about Spam and other stuff. I couldn't cut and paste them to the top of this post for some reason and the pictures look like they don't make sense!

Rudi jumping off of Rock at Sigua Falls
Rudi during hike to Sigua falls. You can see it in the background.
I thought this was a nice picture that Rudi took.
Grumpy baby didn't sleep well the night before this picture was taken :(
Happy baby!

I just have to make a few comments about the Spam problem on Guam. No, not email SPAM. I'm talking the canned meat kind! There is Spam everywhere here. The Japanese love it apparently.  There grocery stores here are deeply stocked with variety of Spam: garlic spam, low salt spam, lite spam to name a few. You can even buy 'single serving' packets of Spam. I have never seen so much in my life! I went to a brunch buffet on Sunday, and amongst the sushi, shrimp, fish, and miso soup there was a dish that you put over rice that I assumed was also seafood. Not so. I took a few bites and realized the meat in it was Spam and Vienna sausage! Yuck! I mean, it tasted ok overall, but I couldn't bear the thought of knowingly eating Spam (or Vienna sausages for that matter).

Rudi is done with his written boards. He doesn't find out results for a while, either. He and one of his co-workers celebrated by taking a hike to Sigua Falls, which is just an hour or so hike from our back door.  I'll post a few pictures of that trip (it almost ruined our camera as Rudi returned with a soaking wet camera and cell phone...camera dried off and works, cell phone does not work still).

Well, you all know the real reason for posting on our blog is to show pictures of our sweet little boy. So we will also post a couple recent photos of Samuel.

Gab Gab Beach

We went to Gab Gab beach twice in the last week! The beach is on the naval base here and it is a "safe" beach as far as the currents are concerned  because it is in a natural harbor (Apra Harbor) on the southwest side of Guam. Last Saturday, we went briefly as a family and just walked around and waded in the water. On Tuesday (which happened to be Veteran's Day, and the beach was packed that day...who knew?), we went with a bunch of neighbors/co-workers of Rudi's and their families. We got to go kayaking (or should I say I went...Rudi stayed on shore to watch the baby and then didn't get to go out later) and snorkeling. I was really impressed with the snorkeling--lots of corals and fish. I was out snorkeling with one of our friends, Margarethe, and at one point we became surrounded by a bunch of these little needle nose fish. It was kinda scary because they were circling us and when we tried to swim away, they kept following us.

Anyway, it has been fun to enjoy the beach here. Isn't it true that we often do poorly at enjoying the natural resources around us--we take them for granted. I don't want that to happen here, and it shouldn't, because there isn't much else to do!

Rudi is currently studying for the written portion of his boards (oral portion is in May, I believe). He doesn't have the same test anxiety that I do. I look at him and how relaxed he is and it is just funny how I must look to him when I get all wound up about tests.

And in case anyone is wondering, I don't have a job yet. I am currently working on my Guam medical license application, which happens to be 19 pages!! Doesn't make sense, since they need physicians so badly here! I am thinking about working for public health, just seeing patients. I think I would be a help if I worked for them, and I like the idea of helping out. The other job possibility is MAYBE the Navy creating a job that I could apply for (this is a huge maybe). Either way, Rudi and I have talked about it, and we think 2 days a week for me is the max that we want for our family.

Daddy and Samuel at Gab Gab
Samuel trying on a friends crazy swimsuit (Samuel, if you read this later, this was not your swimsuit....sorry for putting you in it)
Samuel and Mommy
Cutie
"playing" in the sand

Hawaii & Boards

Well, we are back from Hawaii.  This is a long post, so if you want to skip reading most of it and just see the pictures below, feel free! The summary is that we went to Honolulu, Rudi's mom and my mom met us there. I took my boards, and we hung out and relaxed on the island of Oahu for several days afterward. Now we are all back at our respective homes!

The reason we went to Hawaii was to take my pediatric boards, since Honolulu was the closest place to Guam that the test was offered (still a 7.5 hour flight, though!!) The test is offered only once per year and Oct. 27th was the big day this year.  Rudi and I had a difficult time deciding whether I should go alone or if he and Samuel should accompany me.  We went back and forth for months, but I decided that I couldn't be away from my baby for 4 days (pretty much the minimum amount of time I'd need to be there if I went alone). But the thing that pushed us over the edge was that staying in Hawaii for 7 days meant that the plane ticket was half as much as if I stayed 4 days. So we realized that Rudi, Samuel and I could all go to Hawaii and stay for 7 days for the same price as me going alone for 4 days. So we all went for 7 days and made a vacation out of it.

Anyway, my first order of business needs to be thanking God for answering my prayers. Anyone who knows me, and especially anyone who has lived with me, is aware of my test anxiety. It is pathologic. I have been praying every day for a few months that I would have a more normal level of anxiety about this test. God granted me that request and I am very thankful. I won't say I wasn't nervous before the test, but I was normal (at least for the medical type). So, whether or not I pass (we don't get results until January), I did meet one of my goals, with God's help.

The first few days on Oahu were mostly dedicated to me being able to have a little time to study/review. Thankfully, Rudi's mom was there and was able to keep Rudi company and help with the baby in order to allow me to have a little time to study. I think they had a little fun, but they didn't really do anything because they hung around close to the hotel so I could feed Samuel.

On the day of my exam, my mom flew in from Pennsylvania. Rudi and his mom picked her up while I was taking the afternoon portion of the test. It was awesome to be taking my exam thinking, 'I get to see my mom when I get done!'

Then, the last 4 days of the trip, we hung out on the beach, went snorkeling, and saw some of the sights on Oahu. It was great having Samuel's grandmothers there to help so that Rudi and I could actually swim and snorkel together! I would say one of the highlights was seeing a sea turtle when we were snorkeling. Another swimmer said that he got a picture of Rudi and I underwater swimming with the turtle. He gave us his number so that we could call him and he could send a picture to us. If we get the picture, I'll post it later.

                                                        Close-up of Samuel--almost 5 months.

    I took my mom out snorkeling in Hanauma Bay...it was her first time and she did very well!

                                               My mom, Samuel, me and Rudi's mom

                                           Rudi and I prior to snorkeling at Hanauma Bay
                                                            Family picture at the beach

New Pictures

                                              Samuel can already read :)
                                               After bedtime bath


I don't have time to write much, but here are a few pictures of Samuel at 4-1/2 months.

Going to Hawaii

Just wanted to let everyone know that we are leaving for Hawaii a week from tomorrow so that I can take my peds Boards on Oct. 27th. We are very blessed in that both Rudi's mother and my mother are coming to stay with us. They are going to watch Samuel for periods of time while Rudi and I get away. We can't wait to do some hiking and snorkeling--both things we have wanted to do here but haven't because Samuel is still young and not very able to stay with babysitters. The only bad thing about the trip is that I have to take the Boards...what a bummer! The test is one full day (8-5 pretty much), but we are staying in Hawaii until the 31st, so we should have some days of fun that are not tainted by the upcoming exam. We will post lots of pictures when we get back.

Make sure to check out the previous post, it's new also!

A week or so ago, the three of us walked about a mile down the road from our house to a short trail that leads to a waterfall on the grounds of the resort. As we were going toward the trail, we ran into some of our neighbors who had just finished bathing their kids in the waterfall (for fun...we do have showers here). We did not bathe Samuel in the waterfall this time, though.

Rudi protecting Samuel from the sun.
Waterfall (obviously)
Walking on slippery rocks.

A semi-naked Samuel at almost 4 months old. In the last few weeks, he has really started to enjoy tummy time more.
Samuel at 4 months

Always slobbering....

Samuel talking

I tried to add a link to a video of Samuel cooing, but I can't get the video to upload.

We had a doctor appointment today and Samuel is 15 lbs, 1 ounce and 25.2 inches. He's a big boy, eh? Well, I'll try to get videos up, but it seems like it's a problem w/ blogspot in general.

Today Samuel and I also went to the driving range to watch Rudi and a co-worker hit some golf balls. I tried hitting a few as well, which didn't go very well.

Samuel Talking

Blackie

Well, I just wanted to write about a dog we sponsored here who has been named "Blackie." Please don't get me wrong, we are not trying to toot our own horn, but Blackie has been a big part of our lives the past couple of weeks.

For those of you not living on Guam, there are a lot of "Boonie dogs" here. These are stray dogs that just run around the island. A lot of them get hit on the road. Most of the dogs I've seen are in a group of 2-3 and look pretty decently fed. However, one day about 2-3 weeks ago, we drove by a black lab-looking dog a couple miles from the house. The first time we saw him he was lying down and we saw his head and neck--complete with collar--and he looked ok. We figured he had an owner. The next time we saw him a few days later we saw his body--I have never seen ANYTHING that thin before in my life.  When I saw how thin he was, I screamed, had Rudi pull the car over and we fed him (we carry dog food in the back of the car for the boonie dogs). There was some other food around him, so it was obvious others had started feeding him too.

Well, afterwards, Rudi and I couldn't stop thinking of him. We cannot have dogs where we live (in a condo, where we agreed to no pets upon signing the lease), yet I didn't feel right not doing anything. We brought food & water to him multiple times a day, but it became obvious that he needed some medical attention. Plus he was all alone on the side of the road, and obviously had no where to go since he pretty much stayed where we found him. 

Rudi and I prayed a lot about it. Our hearts were just so heavy for this dog. We know there are tons of dogs on Guam that need a home, but this one was all alone, and so, so thin, and something just seemed different about him. I truly felt like God was calling us to help this dog (why this particular dog, I am not sure).

I decided to make some phone calls, though I thought no one would be sympathetic since there are so many strays here. The humane society here definitely would have euthanized him due to his condition, but I figured as a last resort, that would be better than letting him languish by the road. However, I ended up talking with a local woman who is employed by a kennel--she said if I could get the dog healthy, she would board the dog at her kennel (we'd have to pay), and she is connected with lots of people that foster dogs. She also gave me the name of a few vets.

So we picked him up and drove him to the vet. There they determined he had heart worm, so he'd have to be treated for that. They wanted him to stay there to be treated due to his poor health condition, and they gave us a good deal on the nightly rate. Besides heart worm, they determined he had hook worms, other intestinal parasites, about 50 ticks, and was about 20 pounds underweight (or more).

Today we picked him up from the vet a lot heavier, healthier, and happier. He has so much more energy, but is still just as sweet as the day we found him.

We drove him to the kennel today, and the lady at the kennel thinks she will just keep him, so long as he gets along with her dogs! She also said we could visit him, which is exciting for us  since we hope to see him when his fur coat and skin are healthy again. He still has 15 lbs to gain (my estimate), so we'd like to see him with that weight on as well.

Rudi and I are so overjoyed that Blackie is taken care of, healthy, and no longer homeless.  I still do not know why we felt so strongly that we needed to help this dog...it was as if we HAD to and we didn't really have a choice. We are also thankful that we were in the position of being able to "sponsor" this sweet animal.

The first picture is when we first picked him up before he went to the vet. It is hard to tell how thin he is because he is on the pillow. The next picutures were taken after he gained a little weight during one of our visits to see him while he was an "inpatient" at the vet. When we picked him up today, he was even more filled out and his fur looked even better!