Before and sweat-of-the-brow AFTER

After searching for 3 months, we finally found a home we could work with. WORK is the opportune word here.We loved the Spanish style home and from a distance it appeared so cute and welcoming. A closer inspection revealed tons of work. We were willing to roll up our sleeves and get to work (Not quite Dan and Sarah style building a home from scratch!)

Steve really impressed me. He has always been a great problem solver/repair guy, but he has truly earned his Handyman Merit Badge. He charged up his drill and put a peep hole for me so I could see who was at the door (paranoia left over from Rome on my part.) He fixed leaky (ok more like gushing) bathtubs and improperly wired circuit breakers. He calmed me down after we found termites had eaten the wood at the base of my kitchen window, put in weather stripping to keep geckoes, grasshoppers and heat out, and put in shelves as I wrung my hands due to lack of storage space inside.

Our hydraulic hinges on the cupboards seized up. He searched all the hardware stores and no one carried these. So he drilled holes and installed new hinges so I didn't smack my head on every half open cupboard door.
The garage had no shelves either, and because he knows I hate a messy garage, he installed heavy duty shelves so I could overload them Katherine style with Christmas bins, camping gear, dive gear, chairs and golf clubs.....you name it.
So now I can get my car in the garage. Happy Day!! (The other side of the garage can be the boys workout room with weights and benches and the elliptical machine that won't fit in the house.)
(It needs tidying but it will have to wait until after Christmas decorations come down)

There were no lights in any of the rooms so he installed ceiling fans. In fact, he was so thorough he made sure they were silent and balanced. The water heater busted, and we have had to take cold showers for the last 2 weeks while we wait for parts (BRRRrrrr but at least it's not like growing up with cold showers when it's 30 below zero). Steve took apart the heater and pilot light and scrubbed off all the debris so we could take lukewarm showers for a few days) .

For the backyard, he bought Trevor and Brendan a little used Ford Ranger so they could quit their city boy ways and haul debris. He wanted them to sweat out in the sun and get callouses from shovels and rakes -- not just from lifting weights at the gym. They have been good sports. While all the neighbors used companies to cut out all the weeds and vines the boys just used their muscles.

They made a 5 ' x 15 'pile of jungle debris over a 3 week period between sports and homework.
They had lots of frogs, centipedes, shrews, lizards and gargantuan spiders to keep them company.
The worst part was the sleeping grass with huge thorns that go right through the gloves.

They hauled off 7 loads of trees, rocks and weeds and vines. (Of course, I had to help-- you can take the girl off the farm but can't take the farm out of the girl. The Micronesian and Filippino workers gawked at us in amazement--along with our Asian neighbors)

It is rewarding to look back at how far you have come in any venture....
BEFORE
And AFTER
Side yard BEFORE
Side yard AFTER.

Steve leveled, seeded the lawn and we have the first buds of grass growing! (Lots of weeds too--that will be a continual work in progress.) Work never ends but it is satisfying on an elemental level to see progress after gallons of sweat. I am proud of my dirty grimly husband and sons. Now I just need them to tackle washing the windows that are 30 feet off the ground and dig holes in the limestone underneath the dirt for me to plant shrubbery and palm trees. I can hear the groans already.

"Natalie-Locks" and the Three Chairs...

One day "Natalie-locks" visited the FBI office. It was a special holiday, and she wanted to see what her dad, the boss, did everyday at work because he was gone from 7 am to 7 pm everyday.
There was a special celebration meal going on. Natalie locks was invited to sit and eat the Guam delicacies. She chowed on the lumpia (spring rolls) and declared them "Too Fried." She ate the finadene sauce (soy sauce, peppers and onions) and kelaguen (shredded chicken, coconut milk and peppers) and waved her hand in front of her mouth and declared them "TOO HOT!" She leapt from her chair and served herself red rice (from achote seed) and happily ate that to cool her mouth. She declared it "Just right."

Next Natalie-locks went into her dad's office to look around. He was busy being summoned by his 2 hip holstered Blackberries with some ever present emergency or situation. Natalie-locks's knew her dad, the boss, was very good at putting out fires, so she entertained herself while he worked.
First, Natalie-locks tried out the bosses chair....
She declared it "Too hard."

Next, she tried out the bossesRoman Centurion helmet and declared her head "too soft" to hold up the heavy helmet.

Finally she sat on the comfy couch and tried out the view outside the bosses window and declared it "Just right!"

Some fairy tales and lives no matter how hard or soft---turn out just right....

The happy gene

Steve came home from VA this past week and said something to the boy who wouldn't smile-- "this crease under your eye, above your cheekbone, is an indicator of your happiness. Boy you genetically have a predisposition to be happy." And the boy who wouldn't smile said " I am happy-- I just don't smile."

Well the past few weeks, the boy who wouldn't smile was found smiling on more than one occasion... without any cajoling to show his pearly whites.This first happy smile was documented on the night of the Marine Ball. Trevor had pinned his competition on the mat, quickly showered in the locker room and jumped into his dress uniform.
As he handed his date and girlfriend Allison flowers, there was a sweet boyish grin lighting up his face.

The morning of the Army Encampment, the boy who wouldn't smile, grinned from ear to ear as he DROVE to the Orote Navy base. He passed his driver's test, had a learner's permit in his pocket and freedom at his fingertips. And I realized for the first time that his 'soldier face' showing no expression was a poker face masking his true joy.

This 17 year old boy, with his best friend Micah, was like the ocean behind him, hiding truly amazing things under the calm surface.

And after a good tussle this past weekend, the All-Island competition, where he cradled and pinned the competition,
the smile came out and just got bigger as the day worn on.




Trevor took gold at the All-Island competition for the 171 lb weight class.


Suddenly the boy who wouldn't smile was the boy who couldn't stop smiling.

His school, GHS took first place! Now they are on track to attend the Far East Competition. They will switch from collegiate wrestling to Free Style wrestling. The have one month to learn the moves.
This was one happy team captain! Look at him smile. Yep science doesn't lie---
the boy is truly happy. He has that happy line. And that is all a mother could ever want.

In the jungle

One of the benefits of living on Guam is getting to run near the jungle, where green stretches to the horizon like the ocean. Yesterday afternoon, six middle schools met up to run at Okkodu High School to compete. This is a great course. 4 years ago the Middle Schoolers ran at Tyjan, which had sharp metal poles hiding in the overgrowth and Continental 747 planes overhead preparing to land-- which is what Trevor did when he ran for Anderson AFB Middle School at the North end of the island. Natalie is running for the "rival" Navy as she attends McCool school at the Southern end of the island.

I know that nervous look on Natalie's face. My mom took a few of those fretting/anxious photos of me before my races. I think Natalie has learned to calm herself better than I did.She looked like such a natural when she was running. I knew she'd be a strong runner.
She is right behind the 3rd runner in the gray shirt. Takes after my own heart-- overtaking people on hills.
When she hit the straightway on the last 300 yards, she dug deep and gave it all she had. Despite the noise, she said she could hear us in the background yelling for her. I've always hoped that in times of trials and exhaustion, my kids could hear their earthly and heavenly cheering section encouraging them to press on.
Her goal is under 12 minutes for the 1.8 miles. She ran a 13:30--which is a great starting place.

The sun always starts to set around 6 pm year round, and the runners had a nice sunset over the jungle to enjoy while they waited to turn in their race numbers.

Everyone was accounted for and loaded up on the school busses before the 10 foot monitor lizards, wood spirits (duendas) or wild boars came out of the jungle. Locals will always laugh at their superstitions and fears, but then they get serious and say "it's always good to have the children in out of the jungle before dark--just in case." Oh the fun of living on Guam :0)