2007 has been an interesting year for the Smith family. Kevin, our eldest, decided to join the United States Air Force and left for basic training in Texas in January. He is now stationed at Travis Air Force Base in California and is studying and working in the field of Power Production. Concurrent to his training and work, he is taking classes that will earn him an Associates degree in Power Production Engineering (at least I think that’s what it’s called). The military life seems to agree with him and he is doing well in his new career.

We think it is funny that our only full Canadian child is now serving in the United States Armed Forces. For those of you who know our immigration saga, our other two Canadian children, Adam and Stephanie, became United States citizens this year and are now dual citizens of Canada and the US. This was accomplished via acquiring their US passports thanks to a wonderful lady that worked at the passport office here on Guam. Considering the horror stories we have heard about that office, we were truly blessed. The lady was a Christian and we later found out she was transferred a week after our children’s passports had arrived. So God surely had His hand in the situation.

Our driving school continues to do well in supporting our family. Both our Yigo and Barrigada offices keep us busy. Adam and Stephanie are wonderful helpers in both offices and we are thankful that at 19, Adam has chosen to stay home and help us in our business. Les continues to officiate at Japanese weddings (and the occasional local one) and this “side” job has helped pay for medical insurance, among other things.

On top of our regular jobs, Les and I both continue to volunteer our time at Guam International Christian Academy. From January to May Les and I both taught a few classes in the high school. Les taught Guam History, and the senior Bible class and I taught a combined 11/12^th English class and a 9/10^th Bible class. After a too short summer break I returned to GICA to teach the elementary class – this time bringing Cassie and Eric with me to join my class which is a K3-3^rd grade mix, and Stephanie joined the middle school class taught by our pastor, Mr. Calkins. It has been quite the experience going from teaching high school students back to the younger group, but I have been enjoying myself and blogging about the experience on http://tropicalmom.blogspot.com .

In October we decided to pull Eric and continue to homeschool him, as he was having a difficult time settling into the classroom environment. He is excelling back at home and still visits the class on those days when we need him to. Stephanie too, has chosen to attend school part time due to some social issues we didn’t like to see happening in the school. Though GICA is a Christian school and teaches from a biblical foundation, the students are often from troubled backgrounds so there are many “issues” to deal with. But it is a wonderful ministry opportunity for me and I am thrilled when I see God’s hand at work in the students.

Stephanie has been learning piano this year and entertained us last night with her dad’s favorite Christmas Carol – O Come, O Come Emmanuel. She did a fantastic job, despite a nervous stomach.

This year, Stephanie and Adam were able to attend a wonderful production of Les Miserable put on by St. John’s Private school. They had read the novel by Victor Hugo and were intimately familiar with all the songs in the musical. We were also able to take them to a medley of Broadway shows, and another of Jesus Christ Superstar – both performed by the Guam Cantata. Stephanie is showing interest in wanting to perform in theater next year and hopefully will be able to join Guam’s GATE program productions which are open to private and home schooled students.

Adam has wowed us with his first CD – over 20 instrumental songs that he wrote himself. This explains what he’s been doing on his computer, with those headphones on, guitar in his lap, and keyboard at his side all year. We have enjoyed several evening concerts with Adam and Stephanie sharing their musical talents with us. Cassie has obliged us by dancing along to the music, while Eric occupies his time drawing and illustrating his comics. Our children have shown us some incredible artistic talent and proven our method of homeschooling has merit.

We continue to enjoy our beach house and Les has cultivated a beautiful outdoor garden area for our relaxation pleasure. We have witnessed many beautiful sunsets and had front row seats on our private beach to the New Year and Liberation Day Firework displays. 2007 has also been our “get fit” year and Les and I have been actively working on extending our life by losing weight and exercising more. Les is down 20 lbs and I have lost 30lbs. Still a long way to go to reach our goals, but we are feeling better about ourselves and our lives. We celebrated our 25^th Anniversary this year and have agreed we want to make it to our 50^th together.

Our pet menagerie has continued to flourish. Currently we have 11 cats, a rabbit, a guinea pig, a finch and a parakeet. The animals are a constant source of entertainment for us, as well as a lesson in responsibility for the children.

2008 promises to be another good year as we continue to work our business and seek the Lord’s will in our lives. Who knows, maybe this will be the year we can do some traveling! I sure hope so! As always our door is always open for those who want to come and enjoy our tropical paradise.

Love Colleen, Les, Kevin, Adam, Stephanie, Eric, and Cassie.