DTC!!

Yes, that's right!! got the e-mail today... totally wasn't expecting it! I just know... God is so good. I was driving in to the city to meet some friends (THREE PEANUTS) Kim and Kate (more on that) and decided to check my e-mails... there it was... DTC today! So now we wait for our LOA and then the I800, then Article 5 followed by TA (travel approval) sounds like a lot still has to happen, but things move a little quicker in this phase (or so we hope!!) I am praying for January travel... I know it's a stretch, but God is BIG. He can open doors no one can! Please join me in prayer for everything to move swiftly here on out.

So... it was a good (great) day. I met a sweet friend for lunch with her precious little one. We had such a nice visit and miss Kate showed me her room!!! You know I was in awe! It was even more beautiful in person. I can say the same for Kim and Kate... more beautiful in person. God is doing amazing things in their family and I can't wait to see how He works through Kim. She is truly a gifted beautiful Godly woman and I am so thankful to know her! She has a calm way of sharing wise counsel and well... it's easy to trust her... some people are just gifted that way. Lunch was great and the company was better! Kim took a photo of me and little Kate so I'll have to share later!

Delays

Our little Hoot is getting so big. He had his first field trip to the Museum of Fine Arts last week. Lambert got to go with him. He loved it! (not Lambert). More below!

They learned about color, space, line, texture form! He soaked it all in.

But most of all... he was so proud Daddy was with him.

Delay has been the underlying theme of our family adoption! If it's not one thing.... it's another.... I sent an updated birth certificate back in May... it needed to be certified by the Secretary of State and then sent on to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago. All of my docs came back, the home study was completed the last thing our agency was waiting on was my birth certificate to come back from the consulate... At the beginning of September, I asked our agency if there was a problem and why they hadn't received it... I was told it takes time and that it would surely come by the time we received all of our Texas docs and not to worry... So after our Texas docs all came back.. my birth certificate was still MIA... I asked if someone could please look into it and see if there was a problem.... Last week, I finally asked for the tracking number so I could look into it myself. Well, it was Thursday and the person in charge of that area was going to be out Friday so it had to wait until Monday.... As my luck would have it, I received an e-mail from the person in charge informing me that she had made a mistake and sent it to the Secretary of State (again I guess) instead of the Consulate's office.... she sent a courier to pick up the birth certificate and have it delivered to The Consulate... It's supposed to take 5-8 days to be returned... were on business day 4.... Can you tell I'm offended/frustrated??? I can't even tell you how long it's taken us to get our dossier to China (well its not there yet) but lets just say.... a LONG stink'n time!!! I'm trying to be merciful and I know mistakes happen, but come on... I asked 3 times for someone to look into it! Okay, I'm done being Debbie Downer... I'm praying that it comes this week and we will be DTC the first of October. I have read other blogs that have been really encouraging. People have received TA within 3 months from DTC... So that's the prayer request... We want to travel in January... This will be before the Chinese New Year so hopefully costs won't be so high! I can't think of a better way to start the new year than with our family all together.

Proverbs 19:11A man's wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense.

On another positive note, Hoot is doing great in school. He loves his new school and he is having a really great year... Lambert took him on his first field trip to the Museum of Fine Arts last week... Hoot loved it and Lambert was bored out of his mind!! I wish I could have gone, but I'm a working momma!

I'm Bringing "Dixie" Back....

Dixie is back, like she never missed a beat!!! Thank you Lord!! It was a crazy week to say the least, but Saturday she was fully alive again!! She certainly gave us a scare, but after a series of antibiotics and a little TLC, she is back in action! Saturday night we went into Houston for dinner and afterwards we hit The Chocolate Bar and Candylicious. We're working on our first care package to send to Libbie and we scored some Hello Kitty items at Candylicious!! Get ready Libbie.

A sweet friend from our Yahoo group is going to take a photo album to Libbie when she visits her orphanage in the next couple of weeks. We are THRILLED! We are still waiting on the CCAA approval before we can officially send our care package to our baby girl. We wanted to send her some current photos of us and what better backdrop than the candy store??

You know my Hoot loves all things creepy... he thought these vampire teeth were great in the package.... they didn't taste so great though...

So he shared a cup of ice cream with dad from The Chocolate Bar next door. I couldn't get his human teeth brushed fast enough when we got home. I envisioned our next trip to the dentist...

It was so nice to have a quiet weekend. I'm going to take a Sunday nap and then were going to church. I only committed to bring drinks.... that's it... no cooking for me today!

Dixie and Matilda Jane...

Lovin Matilda Jane,but after the recent Vet trip.... not getting to love as much Matilda Jane!!

First please be praying for Little Miss Dixie...I know that sounds weird to pray for our puppy, but I am a believer in prayer. Dixie has had a rough couple of days. She started vomiting Friday evening and then all day Saturday and Sunday. By Monday morning she wasn't even able to walk. We took her to our vet first thing and he indicated she appeared to have Parvo... I informed him that she has had all of her vaccinations and didn't know how this could be possible. He asked me to bring the front page of her records so he could contact the vet who administered the vaccines. I raced home and the clinic ran a few tests and took some x-rays... when I got back to his office he told me that the X-Ray showed a 2 inch sewing needle in Dixie's tummy.. TEARS.... I have told Hoot a million and one times to make certain he picks up all his Legos, small toys etc. so that Dixie didn't choke on them. I was sewing some bows some time back and I dropped the needle while trying to thread it. I had completely forgot about this!!! I was in the kitchen and I heard it hit the floor... I looked and couldn't find it so I went for my Oreck to vacuum it up.... I never in a million years would have thought she would have chewed a needle.... so we took her to a specialist in Houston and they removed it. However, she didn't get better after the procedure. Our Vet said she did test positive for a mild strain of Parvo... The vaccination records were accurate.. I learned that the Parvo vaccine is only 96% effective.... there is a chance that even with the vaccine... a dog can contract the virus. We picked her up from the specialist yesterday and continued to give her fluids via an IV... we took her back to our vet this morning and they observed her all day. she is better, but really really weak! Hoot is so sweet and he's going to be such a great big brother... he lays on the floor next to Dixie and prays for her. He'll sing and talk so sweet and gentle. He's just a wonderful kid. I am truly blessed. He takes after his daddy.

WOW that was a lot about Dixie and Parvo.... maybe TMI, but she's family.

I hosted a Matilda Jane Trunk Show... it was fantastic!!! This is such a cute line of clothes for little girls. I had bought a few items for Libbie on E-Bay so I decided to host a show. I have GREAT friends that came and shopped. It was hard to decide what to buy. EVERYTHING was so stinkin cute. Matilda Jane is based in Ft. Wayne Indiana near my folks.. It's a relatively new small business that started as a home business. The rep informed me that it's a booming business that recently grew out of the family home and now has it's headquarters in a studio called 435. Congratulations Matilda Jane family... you guys are awesome and sell a top quality product!

Sundays

Cheesy Potato Soup... It's 95 degrees outside. I want some fall weather... I want Indiana.... REAL BAD!!!!

Am I alone on CRAZY Sundays??? It seems like we're up as early as all the other days of the week. We rush to dress, eat breakfast, run by Snowflake (the best donut place EVER) and then make it to church to teach... we catch the second service then go out for lunch... we get home around 2:00. We need to practice for Awana's, prepare something for small group, do any weekend chores that we haven't done during the week. Shortly after 4:30 we race out the door to take Hoot to Awana's throw him out on the curb and race across town to our small group.. We pick Hoot back up around 7:30 and come home to start preparing for Monday... I used to catch a nap on Sunday's but who can do that these days?? I'm tired.... Today I made a cheesy potato soup for small group. I hope everyone enjoys it. Seems kinda warm for soup, but it's football season and we eat soup during football season.... it's what we do... Dixie is sick... really sick... we're taking her to the doctor first thing in the morning... we have a lot of Nerf wars around our house and I think she's eaten her fair share of Nerf bullets. I don't know how she gets them.... we always pick them up... but I have found two or three rubber ends- minus the foam bullet shaft....

I hope the rest of you enjoyed the Sabbath.. Next week, I'm taking the afternoon off. i'm going to cook Saturday night so I won't have to cook Sunday after church. I love my Sunday afternoon naps!!

Spur of the Moment Road Trip

Sorry the pictures are all over the place... I'm not thinking!

Outlets!

Walton's. I fell in love with creamy colors and vintage look before we even walked in. I didn't want to leave.

Hyatt on the way home..

Thank you Lord that he was asleep... it could have been bad!

Yummy Rice Crispy...

Dreamy

We don't usually do well with spur of the moment (ANYTHING). Lambert thoughtfully plans every detail when we travel. He knows where were going to stop and eat along the way. He plans out what activities we'll do when we get there and fun stops along the way home.... The last time we made a spontaneous road trip, we traveled to San Antonio for the weekend after work one Friday. (this was pre-Hoot). We arrived in San Antonio around 9:00PM, tired and ready to find a room... We pulled into the River Walk Hyatt (w/o reservations)... the reservations clerk looked at us like we had lost our minds... It was George Strait Weekend...Need I say more?? We drove until about 2AM WAY past Austin before we finally found a (MOTEL) to sleep in... We were so exhausted we didn't care where we stayed. Here's a little secret about Lambert... He doesn't recover quickly. The weekend was a disaster!!! He was so cranky, the only thing I wanted to do was get back home. So Saturday when he said, "let's go to Austin." I flashed back to 1997 ( I remember this because it was the weekend Princess Dianna died). I wasn't sure I wanted to go there again. However, I knew Hoot would love to get away. We drove up 290, hit the Outlets, drove through Brenham (Blue Bell was closed... not good) and then headed to Austin. We had lunch at Sandra Bullock's, Walton's Fancy and Staple. I LOVED it. I had a Cesar salad and Lambert had the Monte Cristo... (TOO DIE FOR) It was served with a Strawberry Onion relish that was out of this world. Hoot had the biggest Rice Crispy Treat I've ever seen. After lunch we hung around the park and then decided we would drive back via Hwy 70... We couldn't decide if we wanted to stop in Columbus and go to Splashway Water Park the next day or just come back home... Along the way we passed Hyatt Lost Pines ... Lambert made a U-Turn to see if there was any possible way they might have a room... NO Luck. Thankfully Hoot was asleep or he would have lost it when we had to drive back to the interstate! I must say I was a little bummed too. We stayed the night in Columbus and planned to get up early and hit the water park. We didn't tell Hoot what the plans were (THANK THE LORD). When we woke up the storm clouds were on the horizon so we decided to head back to Houston. We got back home early, lounged around the house, watched Nannie McPhee, played Chutes and Ladders, ate a little home made pizza and now were winding down! I hope everyone had a restful Labor Day weekend with the ones you cherish most.

1 Corinthians 15:58Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.