Tick Tock

Not much to tell on the adoption front. We did get an email from Holt this week with updates to the Thailand program. Seems as though things are running smoothly. There is still a 6 to 8 month wait from the time you submit your dossier. Their next batch of referrals (babies) will be coming in Sept./Oct. We will be at month 6/7 since we mailed them our dossier. That is very exciting as I believe that we really will be matched then. Their travel dates are still running around 7 months. This means that we will more than likely travel in April/May if we are matched in Sept./Oct. We will stay around 10 days. We are praying now for our baby, the mother, and the foster family. Thank you Lord for this wonderful opportunity.

My Frappr Map

When you live in one place all of your life you tend to become sheltered. I have only traveled to a few states and have only been out of the country to the Bahamas. That was when I was a senior in high school so it's been a while. After Joel traveled to Thailand it has been like a whole new world has opened up for me. I would love to travel to other countries. I have installed a Frappr Map on my blog that tells me where someone lives when they look at my blog. It is just AMAZING to see all of the countries with yellow dots. It is like I am now part of the world community. If you have a minute, would you mind introducing yourself by leaving a comment?

1st Day of 2nd Grade

I keep thinking about the Veggie Tales song in the movie "Jonah and the Whale". Here's part of the song:

Oh Billy Joe McGuffrey
Was a really clumsy kid
On the 2nd day of 2nd grade
I'll tell you what he did

He slipped on a banana peel
Flew up in the sky
Landed on a chimpanzee
Who poked him in the eye

He needed
1st aid (clap) in the 2nd grade (2claps)
1st aid (clap) in the 2nd grade (2claps)
1st aid (clap) in the 2nd grade (2claps)
You could a buy a zoo
With all the doctor bills he paid!

OK, now back to the blog. Kara started school on Monday. She was the cutest little thing. We of course planned out her wardrobe, bought a new back pack w/matching lunch box. Friday night was open house and we met her teacher. Mrs. Smith. Isn't that a great teacher name? She is probably in her 40's. This is her first year to teach. I love it because she has the enthusiasm of a new teacher yet she is wise and mature. Plus, she is friends with Kara's first grade teacher whom we adore. I am going to be the home room mother again. I really liked it last year and it is a way to feel like I am a part of Kara's education. I am also chairing the PTO desk. The ladies on the board this year are so nice and approachable. We only have had a couple bumps in the road. There is a child in Kara's class that I wish wasn't in there. Kara is just going to have to over come this situation. The other bump in the road is that they are re-drawing the district lines and we might be in another school district next year. Hopefully not. We will find out in September.

Kara has really grown this summer. Literally. She can hardly wear any of her clothes from this summer. We are having to go out and buy pants that she can wear. I just can't believe how big my baby is getting.

Frog Jumpin Champ

Announcing the Frog Jumping Champ!!

Froggy goes for the championship

Getting Ready for the finals

The Winner of the qualifying round

Kara and Will getting ready to let 'em jump!
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As soon as we started planning our vacation I told Kara and Will about all of the things I did as a kid on my Branson trips in the summertime. One of the highlights was winning the frog jumping contest at The Shepard of the Hills. It is part of their pre-show activities. I remember it being a big deal for me. They gather all of the children in the audience and give them a frog. The kids get in a circle with their frogs and race them across the finish line. The winners of each race face off for the championship. Now, it was just purely coincidence that Kara got a frog with legs that were two feet long! That sucker could jump like you have never seen. Will was distraught not because his frog didn't win but because he had to give it back. Most people that talked to Kara after her win were surprised that she would even touch a frog. Oh no, she quickly told them that she caught frogs at home every night. One person told her that she looked like a city girl. Well, you can dress the tom boy cute but inside she's still a tom boy. I am proud of my girl and that we now share the same memory.

Chez Ami Show

My sister-in-law, Jamie, and I are having a Chez Ami childrens clothing show at my house Tuesday night. It is from 4 to 7. Click on Chez Ami above to see their online catalog. If you are interested in purchasing anything or need directions to my house, please let me know. Tracymcgal@yahoo.com. Chez Ami has a really cute colorful line of clothing. I like them because they carry bigger sizes and have brother/sister matchy matchy stuff. They also have holiday clothes and matching pajamas. I only had children so that I could dress them and have them match. :)

New! Our flip flop blog

Hi Everyone, take a look at our new flip flop blog. Click on the link at the top right corner of this blog page. What do you think of the new styles coming out this fall?

Vacation in Branson, Missouri

Here we are at the lowest point of Marvel cave - 500 feet!

Entrance to Kara and Will's favorite ride - The Flooded Mine

Entrance to "Grandpa's Mansion". This would be favorite attraction #2 for the kids. Mommy cannot go into the mansion as it makes her motion sick.

The kids were scared at first to get their picture made here. You can see Joel in the back ground holding Will. There is a dummy prisoner in the bed snoring.

Our train got robbed!!

Frogger - Kara felt like such a big girl.

The poor man had to take like 5 picture to get Will to cooperate. Mental note - take family photos early in the day.

The theme at Silver Dollar City was "Kid's Fest". They had these adorable clowns throughout the park as well as carnival tents w/ kid's crafts.
Kara was able to participate in the opening ceremonies. She wanted to make sure that I was taking pictures!! The man on the left was a veteran that carried the flag into the park and helped raise the flag. The entire park stood and said the pledge to allegiance.

We took a little trip to Branson last weekend. We left on Sat. and returned on Tuesday night. It was kind of a goodbye to summer trip. When Kara and I went to Spoiled Rotten Kids camp I upgraded our Silver Dollar City tickets to season passes. Will is free so all that we had to pay for is Joel. We rented a very inexpensive room on Table Rock Lake. It was not the condo that my parents usually rent but it was great for just us. The kids loved it. There was a playground right behind our room and the pool was right next to us w/ an old fashioned slide.

It was HOT, HOT, HOT. The food at Silver Dollar City doesn't taste the same when its 100 degrees outside. We arrived on Sat. and went to White Water. We stayed until they closed at 8 and then ate at B.T. Bones. Nice steaks with great atmosphere. Sunday we went to SDC ALL day. Not that crowded. My kids love "The Flooded Mine". It's a simple ride where you are in a prison mine that has flooded and you have guns that you shoot targets with. We rode it over and over and over. Monday we went back to SDC to see the opening ceremony. They honor veterans, it was touching. We went home early so that we would be rested up for Shepard of the Hills. It is an outdoor play about the book that made the Ozarks famous. Again, the kids just loved it. There was gunfire, animals, fighting, fire, etc. Lots to keep their attention. The best part of course was the frog jumping contest held before the show. I will post about it separately. Tuesday we checked out of our room and went to SDC - again. This time we took the Marvel cave tour. Now, I used to be so adventurous but as I am getting older and now that I am a mom I am such a weenie!! I was so scared of this tour that my legs shook like crazy!! We were 500 feet below the earth's surface. There were 600 stairs!! Joel and the kids liked it but I was just glad that it had ended. It was 60 degrees down there which was a welcome relief. The park was crowded so we only rode one ride - you guessed it - "The Flooded Mine".

I was so happy to have my husband and kids to myself for a few days. I treasure these moments because I don't get them that often. Plus, I cannot tell you how happy it made me to take my kids back to where I enjoyed my summers. They loved doing the same things as their mommy did when she was their age. I love being a mom!!

The Snake Brouhaha

It's Friday and I have finally found a moment to blog. I love blogging and sharing my thoughts and daily living. When we prayed during the holidays we really felt like this adoption was so much bigger than us. This blog and our fundraiser has already proven that. I pray that we can be an encouragement to others. We are just normal people called to travel across the world to bring a baby home. If God can use us then he can use anyone.

Before we left for vacation we had a "Steve Irwin" situation. William had finished eating and went outside to frog hunt. We could see him out the window as we were still at the table. He went by our little pool and lifted a plastic bench that we have to hold chemicals. He has learned that frogs hide under there. He quickly put it back down and ran to the door. He busted in saying that there was a snake under the bench.

Joel hopped up and started out the door. He loves critters as much as the kids do. At first Joel thought it was a water moccasin. Well, we were scared to death. I got a plastic tub and Joel worked on getting him into it. Needless to say the snake didn't want to go. I'm sure that you would be in the floor laughing as you watched us trying to wrangle the snake into the container. I'm hopping all around because I am scared of snakes. We finally got him in the box and took him next door. Steve said that he wasn't a copper head or water moccasin. What could he be? Joel then got the computer out and started researching what type of snake it was. Come to find out it was some sort of non poisonous water snake that is endangered. So, Joel insisted that I take him to the ditch while he cut grass. I have no idea why I agreed to do this but I did. I took him to the end of our street and was about to dump him into the ditch. Just as I was about to open the box our next door neighbor's drove up. Mrs. W rolled down her window to speak and when she saw the snake she hollered out "go, go, go". Mr. W took off. That was a little comical to say the least. I let the snake go in the culvert and then went to apologize to Mrs. W. I certainly didn't mean to scare her.

I am just so proud of Will for letting us know about the snake and not attempting to touch it.