A Good Way to Start the Day!

You know it's gonna be a good day when you get a package like this in the mailbox.... I woke up early to walk and checked the mail on my way in... lookey lookey (I know that is not a word, but I like it) a package from Granna... This was great bribing material for me this morning. I told Hoot as soon as he dressed and brushed teeth hair etc... he could open "The Package". that's what we've come to call them... They usually arrive close to Halloween, Valentines Day and Easter... Hoot's favorite is Halloween because there is usually something creepy to be discovered inside... Hoot was dressed in record time and ready to open "The Package" before school. Granna delivered the goods once again... a ooeey gooey slimy finger... just in time for Halloween...

He can hardly stand the anticipation and wanted to open it before school... he had to wait until after school.. We do have nutritional breakfast standards around here!

Granna... he did ask... "where are the tattoos???"... HA HA ! The kiddo has a memory. Last year he got some wicked pirate/shark tattoos so he wondered where they were this year. I had to explain, each year it's a surprise... it won't be the same thing as last year...

Hoot looks forward to "The Package" each holiday and knows he is loved by his Granna and Papa in Indiana.

Fall Festivities

Flashback to circa 2007.. Hoot was Elvis and stayed in character ALL night at our party. Thank you, thank you very much... how about those side burns?

Next year I am investing in a battery operated pumpkin carver... very very nice

Yuck.. pumpkin guts!!!

Hoot's Pirate Pumpkin Head Pumpkin... very easy and no guts to clean up.

Let the carving begin

Lambert found a friend...

We had so many pumpkin seeds left after the party that we are sure to have our own pumpkin patch in our front yard next year.

These carvers were serious... they had sketches of their designs to lay over the punkin as they carve.

Hoots Aniken costume... it's a little creepy. too realistic for me.

Pretty funny kid...

These were the pumpkins the moms painted this morning at Hoot's class party we had at our house. We didn't have a great turnout, but we sure had a good time. I think the moms painted more pumpkins than the kiddos!

A Fall party is not complete without the traditional sack race! I love the way the girls costumes were hanging out the back.

Yes he is a lady's man... so he thinks

We have been very busy at the Lambert Casa. We've had lots of friends over to celebrate the coming of fall. We've enjoyed the cooler weather and were looking forward to the upcoming season. It's hard for me to believe that next year we will be celebrating the seasons with Libbie. Hoot and I visited the pumpkin patch this week and I got a little teary eyed when I thought about Hoot and Libster riding the train together. Hoot can't decide what he wants to be for Halloween so he wore is Aniken Skywalker costume today and Nana is working on his bat costume for trick or treating. More photos to follow.

And he said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into his harvest. John 10:2

Camp Eagle

Wow, I can't believe a week has flown right by... I'm still recovering from last weekend. We took a road trip to Camp Eagle outside of San Antonio with about 80 kiddos. We serve in our church's Student Ministry and had the opportunity to attend this amazing leadership camp. The GPS couldn't even locate it... the camp is 8 miles off the beaten path on a BUMPY dirt road. It took us almost 30 minutes to go 8 miles... BUMPY...

It had several large trees like this one... perfect for climbing... which was good because we took Hoot with us...

We weren't sure how he would do....

Now he thinks he is a teenager... well.. he did before too.

He did everything the big kiddos did... ALMOST... this water was FREEZING!!

Dad did the blob, me and Hoot elected not to. First... you jump onto the blob... then you climb to the end of the blob and the next person jumps onto the blob. when this happens it sends the person at the end of the blob sailing!!! This is Lambert upside down... he's really too old for this kind of adventure.. He's still complaining about aches and pains.... it's Thursday...

Did I mention it was a great tree climbing camp??

Hoot and I elected NOT to participate in the Extreme MUD PIT Games.... I can't explain. it was NASTY and we didn't want any part of it... but we did get some great laughs.

Our students (and adult sponsors) all climbed in, stirred the mud up and then played several extreme team events... not for me... or my Hootster

The facility was awesome, but the content of the camp was truly challenging. I know the students walked away with a deeper understanding of what Christian Leadership looks like. They know that as leaders, they should never be satisfied with where they are spiritually. Leaders are always looking to grow and change. Christians (speaking for myself ) too often become complacent and long for the way things used to be. Many times I find myself wishing things felt the way they used to... but that's not what God has for us... He wants us to be spiritually uncomfortable... When we become comfortable, we become complacent, apathetic, and spiritually weak. We depend on the Holy Spirit when we're called out of our comfort zones. That's right where He wants us... totally dependent Leaders... Leaders face trials for many reasons

James 1:2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

Feeling Like Fall

Fall Decorating!!

Lambert is out of town so Hoot and I pulled out the Halloween boxes this afternoon. I did a little furniture/clutter editing and then a quick cleaning... We were ready to put out the fall garb! Hoot's favorite holiday (if you can call it that) is Halloween! He loves all things creepy. He thinks he's really brave, but we put on some creepy music and he got tears in his eyes... SCAREDY CAT!!! (just like his momma). Hoot and I had a date night tonight. We went out for dinner, picked up a pumpkin and some halloween cookies. We came home, decorated the pumpkin with his "potato head" kit from last year, now were having cookies. I want to start date nights now so we can continue when Libbie comes home. I think it's important to have one on one time with him. He uses his best manners, says the prayer and acts like the perfect gentleman.

I have only stayed alone in my house one time and it was 10 years ago... last night was my first night and I thought I would be terrified...I fell asleeep at 9:30 and didn't wake up until 7:00AM!!! Tonight is a different story... I am not tired AT ALL!!! So it will be more cleaning and organzing until I just fall out!

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!