Thanksgiving and Wedding

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving weekend. Really, one of the best ever. We left for Ft. Worth Tuesday evening to stay with Michael's parents and see some of his siblings and their families. It was in the 80's on Tuesday in Tulsa and DFW, but by Wednesday morning the weather was acting more like it should for late November. We even had light snow flurries Thanksgiving afternoon, which made it feel more festive. The kids had a blast playing with 7 of their cousins at Papa and Nana's house.

Michael and I were able to get out a couple of times and hit the local malls to do some Christmas shopping and clothes shopping. We discovered a little retail secret.... The stores have the same sale prices the Wednesday before Thanksgiving that they offer the Friday after (with the exception of the Early Bird/Door Buster deals) and you don't have to wait in line. So, we've got the kids and most of the family covered for Christmas, and a few new things hanging in our own closets. The real bonus was getting out with Michael and having some couple time while the relatives watched the kids.

We returned home Saturday night for the wedding rehearsal and for Michael to finish preparing his sermon for Sunday. The girls did such a great job coming down the isle Sunday night. I wish I had it on video to share. The girls, in theory, should have come down side by side....but Sarah sprinted out in front sloshing her basket of pedals from side to side. She was giggling so hard and the peddles were flying everywhere. She was followed by Lucy who was carefully dropping the peddles along the way. Just short of the end of the isle Sarah stopped in her tracks, aware that everyone was laughing at her. She got the most serious look on her face. She cut her eyes to both sides. Then she took off running and finished the job. Trying to get both girls to smile and pose and stay in place at the same time for the wedding pictures was a lot like trying to herd cats. But, since they are 2 and 4, expectations are pretty low. Plus, they were just so darn cute. The wedding was packed with youth and their families (Josh and Jaclyn are our youth directors at church). The reception felt oddly like Sunday Night Live, one of our big youth programs. :) It was so fun to see all the mid-high and high school students out there dancing and having a blast with Josh and Jaclyn. I know these kids will remember this forever and it was and is a great witness to them of Christian marriage. So awesome! Well, enough writing. Here are the pictures!

Cousins Dalton and Andrew

Two of my cuties!

Sarah with Aunt Danni

Andrew's Thanksgiving meal of 'Pumpkins with Pears'.

What's so funny?

Sole-mates!

Sarah with the groom, Josh.

Lucy with Jaclyn

Sarah with Jaclyn

Heather's parents with the kids after the wedding.

Teaser....

Sarah and Lucy about an hour before the wedding. They did an awesome job as flower girls. More to come later....

Can it really be?

Can it really be the holidays again? Last year, when we were with Michael's family in TX for Thanksgiving, Sarah had been home with us less than 2 months -and we first learned of Andrew's existence (in the womb). The adoption conversation began the Friday after Thanksgiving 2006. Wanting to see how Sarah was adjusting (and us), we didn't make a firm decision for another two months and didn't tell friends and family for another month after that. Now he is 7 months old and growing up so fast. We can't imagine our life without Drew. Indeed we have much to give thanks for this year and we give God the glory.

"Look Mom, no Bumbo!" :)

We're looking forward to a fun Thanksgiving this week with some of Michael's family - and just kicking back and enjoying a break from the daily usual. A week from tonight Sarah and Lucy will be flower girls in Josh and Jaclyn's wedding (our church's youth directors). You can say a little prayer that Sarah cooperates (or that I just relax and let her be a two year old). At the very least, she and Lucy will look precious in their red and black dresses.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!!

Trip to Osage Hills

This weekend we took a short drive to a state park, Osage Hills. Although the foliage wasn't quite as lovely as the New England foliage of my youth, it was still pretty....and it was a beautiful day. We met our friend Charity and her 2 year old daughter (her hubbie couldn't make it). The girls had so much fun getting all muddy together and our dog, Rosie, had a great time swimming in the river.

Cheese!

Like father, like son.

Charity and me

Dirty britches!

Our faithful lab Rosie

On a lighter note....

The kids have been up to so much lately, so it's time for an update. A week from today Andrew will be 7 months. I haven't weighed him recently, but I'm pretty sure he is pushing 20 lbs if not already over that. He is wearing all 9 month clothing and even some 12 month sizes. His lower gum is starting to swell and we are going through multiple shirts a day (from drool), so I think teeth are on their way. We are working on getting Drew to sit up on his own and I think we are fairly close. He definitely likes attention and he has even developed a fake cough to get our attention.

Sarah is 2 years and 4 month old and I just can't believe the difference between age 2 and 2.4! She has gone from sitting in a highchair to using a booster seat at the table. She even eats her breakfast at the kitchen counter sitting on a barstool. The great thing is she can get herself up and down from both seats. She is in a climbing stage right now, so she loves it. Sarah has also gone from just a handful of words to using 56 words (that we can understand). Naturally, the word we hear the most at home is, "No, no, no!" She can be quite sassy when she says it to us. Ugh! The interesting thing is that Sarah likes to keep her language a secret from most people. At school, her teachers thought she could only say 3 words (hi, bye, eat). I'm not sure why she won't speak in front of others, as she is really outgoing and silly in public. I guess that it must be a confidence thing. Despite this sudden improvement in language ability, she has some pronunciation issues, so it won't be a surprise to us if she ends up needing speech therapy later.

Sarah thinks she is such a big girl now. Here are some funny (albeit frustrating) things that she has done lately.

• Swiping my diet Dr. Pepper off the table (gotta be just like mommy) and finishing nearly the whole glass before I caught her. The most surprising thing is that she barely spilled, because she still uses sippy cups.
• Swiping Michael's Starbucks coffee (gotta be just like daddy) that he brought home. He set it on the counter top and she got up there and finished it off.
  
• Pouring herself a second bowl of Raisin Bran cereal (yes, she actually likes that stuff)
• Changing her own diaper. She had the old one off, wipes everywhere, and had a new one halfway taped on. She is nowhere skilled enough to accomplish this successfully, but you gotta applaud the effort. Of course, she won't potty train....

But, Sarah is still enough of a baby to climb into Andrew's exersaucer and put his pacifier in her mouth. Or, crawl into my lap and want me to hold her sippy for her while she drinks.

Sarah continues to be a really good helper around the house - helping unload the dishwasher, wiping up spills, and throwing away Andrew's and her own diapers for me. Here are a few of the latest picture of the kids.

(We had a guest, Gabriel, from Malawi, Africa. Sarah was in love with him.)

Ethical Adoptions

Since there has already been so much good stuff written in the past few days on the current situation in VN, I'm not going to go into detail here. I do want to express my deep sadness and frustration that some people do not take the lives of children and birth mothers seriously enough to conduct adoptions according to laws established by our own government and the Vietnamese government. If you are reading our blog because you are interested in adopting a child from Vietnam, I urge you to read as much as you can on the current situation and select an agency with your eyes wide open. I'll give you a few links to check out that have covered the topic well. I will say that we have great confidence in our agency (Dillon Int.) and I don't believe that I am just pulling the wool over my own eyes or being prideful. I am aware of the circumstances that led our daughter to be relinquished and I will be able to look Sarah in her eyes when I tell her the story.

http://goodhappenings.com/
http://tovietnam.blogspot.com/2007/11/scary-stuff.html
http://vietnamlucy.blogspot.com/
http://www.adoptionintegrity.com/

Halloween Pictures

Here are a few pictures from our church's Fall Festival, staff Halloween lunch, Trick-or-Treating at the Dillon Int. office, and Halloween night.

Sarah at Fall Festival

Drew at Fall Festival

Even clergy and church staff can have a little fun!

Seriously, how are we supposed to get any work done?

Meredith and Me

Asian beauties??

The real Asian beauties! Avi Joy and Sarah at Dillon Office.

Jynger, Drew and Me

Katie and Sarah

Ready to go out Trick-or-Treating

Andrew and Papa Roy