Orphan Sunday

Tomorrow is National Orphan Sunday.  We have had a small recognition at our church each year, but we decided to try something bigger this year.  I talked to all the other pastors in our community and we have joined together to host a donation lunch and speaker.  We will be serving chili and stew.  Then a representative from one of the agencies that J.J. and I worked with (two agencies work together on the Russia program, one in Dallas and one in Tulsa) will share about their agency's work and adoption in particular.  I actually have no idea how this is going to go over.  We've never done this before, but some year has to be the first annual, right?  I am so excited to share our passion for adoption and orphan care with whomever is willing to come.  So many babies, kids, and teens that need homes.  If you live close enough please join us at the First Baptist Church fellowship hall tomorrow at 12:30pm.  Thanks!

Sweet Potato Cupcakes

I will have to confess first about how I got this recipe.  I was riding with two other coach's wives to the last out of town football game.  When we got back to town one of them left some magazines in the vehicle saying she was just going to through them away.  Well I scooped them right up because I saw this recipe and was really excited to try it.  Whew!  Don't you feel better already?  Now on to baking.  I actually baked the sweet potatoes the night before and kept them in the fridge until we were ready to bake.  Xavier is my ever ready baking assistant and quality control expert.  He found this particular batter to be fantastic.  I think he actually liked the batter better than the finished product. 

  The really fun part for me was tucking the Hershey's kisses in after the cupcakes had baked a few minutes.  I had another handsome assistant who came home for 2 seconds on his lunch break help me unwrap the candy, but he didn't stick around long enough to get his picture taken.

                      The cupcakes turned out so well and this chocolate frosting was wonderful!

                  I won't even tell you how much butter the whole thing required.  It was just worth it.

"Pumpkin Patch"

Notice the quotation marks.  We set aside a Saturday to visit a pumpkin patch in a town far enough away you don't want to drive that far unless you have fairly big plans.  Saturdays during football season are hard to come by, but the team was playing in another town about an hour and a half south so Xavier and I made the drive together.  We got to the pumpkin patch town (much bigger than the location of the football game.  We play 6-man football.  That means all our games are in tiny towns like home) really early so we could do some shopping.  Xavier had received some birthday money so we had fun picking out books and clothes together.  First, though, we ate lunch at McAlister's Deli. Yum! Daddy doesn't like that place so we have to save it for Mommy/Son dates.  They have great kids meals and some locations only charge 99 cents! We made it to the football game in time and J.J. drove us back to our hotel on Friday evening.  Well, it has not rained here in ever so long.  The summer just stretched on and on with heat and drought.  I was never so happy to feel the arrival of Fall as this year.  Needless to say the weather was perfect this Saturday morning for rain and who was I to complain when we needed it so desperately.  Both pumpkin patches in this town were closed due to the weather.  We ended up visiting a stand near a grocery store.  Xavier didn't know the difference and he did get to pick his own pumpkin and ride in a wagon.  I guess we'll try again next year.  On a side note, our own little pumpkin patch that I had written off as a beautiful mess of huge vines is actually producing some pumpkins now.  Stay tuned for more adventures as we attempt baking from our own garden!

Lunch at McAlister's

Being pulled in the wagon

Pulling the wagon

Choosing the perfect pumpkin

I love this picture! We didn't even tell him to grab the pumpkin.  He did it all on his own.

Picking out some baby pumpkins

Taking the wagon back to the lot

Snoozing on the drive home with bear

Homecoming

Homecoming week was a very busy time at the school.  Since Xavier and I only stop by the school once a day to bring Daddy tea, we missed out on most of the excitement.  I mean I probably did wear pajamas on Monday, but that isn't too much different than any other Monday. =)  We let Daddy have all the fun of dressing up, decorating the school, and painting the football field until wee hours of the morning.  We did attend the parade and the football game so I got a few pictures.  Congratulations on another win Panthers!

 Daddy and Xavier at the parade

 Momma and Xavier at the parade

 Having fun at home waiting for the game to begin

Reading a book with Grandpa and Granny at the game

Projects: Fall Tree

Warning: This post contains pictures of my child using scissors.  Okay, now you have been warned.
I don't know if it is my innate need to teach or how long the afternoons stretch before J.J. gets home or maybe another factor, but Xavier and I have begun doing projects in the afternoons.  Just one a day.  We've painted with leaves, made a moon out of wax paper/foil, and other things.  I started a longer project this week and decided to take pictures.  Why not?

 We actually started this project yesterday by making the owls.

 Thanks to this tree Xavier now says "owl" and "hoo" multiple times in the day.

 We are just getting started with all our supplies.

Xavier is cutting out the faces for the kitties.

 Getting ready to glue on the eyes. (This is not an ad for Elmer's glue, but if they want to send me some money I won't object.)

 Gluing on the eyes.  Xavier came up with the idea to cut the whiskers in the sides of the faces in the way only little kids can, by just doing it himself.

 My help got distracted mid-project so I cut the legs myself.

 Pressing the faces into the glue

 A fun side project of cutting string.

 We played with play dough while the glue dried.

 A finished orange kitty..

And a finished and still happy helper.  This project is almost complete.  Tomorrow we are going to add bats.

Just Thinking

We got some pictures developed yesterday and they got me thinking. During the waiting period in between trip 1 and our court date we felt pretty stuck not being able to see our little guy. We had some friends that got an earlier court date and as things began looking slower and slower for our own travel time we asked them for a big favor. We asked them to purchase a disposable camera while they were in the country and send it back to the baby home so we would at least have some pictures from that waiting time. We knew full well we would not see the pictures until we brought Xavier home, but it would at least give us an idea of how his days had been spent. The caregiver that traveled with Xavier brought the camera to us along with one of the books we had left on our first trip. It got shuffled into a suitcase and I found it again while cleaning the bedroom. The orphanage workers had only taken a few snapshots, so Xavier and I had the fun of taking pictures of ourselves to use up the film. Yesterday we dropped the film off at the one-hour place during a fun family evening out. I really wanted to rip that envelope open as soon as we picked it up an hour later, but I waited until we got into the truck so J.J. could give his full attention to the unveiling. We pulled some grainy pictures out and held our breath. Sure enough there was our son sitting at a table with some of his little friends. The caretakers had taken about 6 pictures and it appeared that they were not all taken the same day. Most were not good quality (I don't think they realized there was a flash button), which is while you will have to wait for the computer touch-ups for most of the pictures. Don't hold your breath until then! We did get a few pictures though and they made me think about all those babies still waiting in orphanages. I wondered if any of the babies in Xavier's group have already been adopted. Our region seemed very active. We met several families all working with the same baby home. I truly pray they have found homes. There was one little girl we will never forget and she is sitting next to Xavier at the little table in the photograph. She was wearing a little purple dress the day we visited and she waved "Paka" to us long after our son had gone back to playing. I'm almost crying just thinking about her little life. Jesus really does love the little children. Please keep praying that all these precious babies will find a home.

We have a two year old!

Xavier has actually been two for over a week, but we scheduled his party strategically so my sister could come for the celebration. We actually had two parties the same day. We had a lunch for my dad's 60th birthday before the cook-out for Xavier. Here are some fun pictures our neighbor and good friend took. My camera did not even make it to the party, but at least at an event like this you have people to back you up in the photography department. Oh, that's not entirely true. My sister used my video camera so we could get some live action shots of the fun.







I was able to pull off the Dr. Seuss theme. I didn't get everything exactly the way I wanted, but I still think it was a success. Our guests seemed to enjoy themselves. The weather was fabulous! Xavier just ran around playing and enjoying life. Since I did not get the labels made you will get to be the privileged ones to know that the cupcakes are Star-Bellied Sneetches (yellow) and Thing 2's (red). I think that point might have been lost in the process of the party, but they at least tasted good. I told J.J. that we could never celebrate enough for all the joy we have received, but he was quick to point out that in reality we had reached our max for cake baking, decorating, and party planning. I guess I'll have to save up all my planning ideas until next year. Well, there is always Christmas!