Gotcha Day!!!

So Saturday we celebrated Samuel's Gotcha Day! Jim had Guard Duty this weekend so we went to Atlanta with him. We went to a car show where Jim was "working" for the afternoon and once he was dismissed we headed for Asia town. It's a small area on Buford Hwy that has anything asian. The great thing is that all the signs are written in at least two languages. We first visited the market where we bought several things (mostly sweets). We visited a few other shops. In the bookstore they had a video playing of VN and Jim and I got excited when we saw places we had been. They also had a child's language program that I am going back to get. Then we headed to a restuarant. All day Samuel talked about going to eat. I think he really remembers some stuff and this was exciting to him. So we walk into the place and begin the picture taking. I think people thought we were crazy. We ordered several different things. Jim, Blake, Grace, Uncle Binh and I all order Pho. We ordered chicken with rice for Sam and a few other things to share. Well Samuel ate a bit of his rice and then decided he wanted Daddy's pho. Being the great dad Jim is he traded with Samuel, but I don't think he knew how much Samuel would eat. The kid ate more than I did!!!! Samuel is a drinker and we always have to tell him to put his drink down and eat. This time he didn't even touch his Sprite! So we ate and then headed to another market to look around and then went back to the hotel.

Yee-Haw!!!

The girls lovin' the Pink Caddy!

Uncle Binh and Daddy working hard (wink, wink)

The dream restuarant!

The bowl of Pho.

I promise these are mixing bowls!!!

Samuel enjoying every bit!

His finished product! The boy ate a ton!

Sunday we relaxed and enjoyed the day. I had promised Grace we would see the sky-scrapers so off we go. We ride up I-75 thru Atlanta, get off, turn around, and come back thru. This absolutely amazed her and made her happy. I don't know what I'm going to do when the cheap fun wears off! We then visited a mall to kill a few hours until Jim was finished and we could head home. Overall the weekend was wonderful!

Just a quick side note for anyone who may know him, Dr. Michael Guido, from a Seed from the Sower, passed away this weekend. He has lots of material and shows and commercials and such. Anyway, he is a local icon and man of great faith.

Hurting Hearts

Tonight I left the house of friends of ours, from church, with a heavy heart. This couple had three wonderful children and then unexpectedly became pregnant with number 4. He was a precious baby who just celebrated his first birthday. Sadly God called him home today. His family is heartbroken and really in need of our prayers. They had just bought a new house that is absolutely gorgeous and moved in a few weeks ago. Now the house holds grief and sorrow. I ask that all of my blogger friends please pray for this dear couple and their children.

For Sale:

So the housing market is depressed, but we get the idea to put our house on the market. This is house number 4 in 9 years of marriage, but what's one more =) Anyway, we have decided that even though this is my dream home (100+ years old, wood floors, wrap around porch...) it still has entirely too many fix-up areas. The yard is huge with 5 pecan trees, a real red barn and within about 500 steps of Jim's school! So why are we doing this again? We have decided that we want to downprice ourselves a bit so we can save money and do the traveling we want to do. We want to visit Japan, of VN again and hopefully adopt more international children. I have been the most torn about this house than any of the other three. I know I will miss it greatly, but I do look foward to being able to see more of the world with my family.

In other news (only slightly related to the former): Jim's school system is trimming their budget by $1 million between now and July and another $1.4 million next school year!! That is a lot of money. This does make us step back and say "Hey, how can I make myself more valuable!" Anyway we do hope to still have a job next year or even the year after.

Today Samuel went to the dentist. We have one more trip before we are finally finished. He has done so well with all the stuff. Today they filled the little gap between his two front teeth. Now I don't look like a negligent parent who never brushes teeth (until he opens his mouth) HeHe! Okay I have included a couple of photos to mark our upcoming (Saturday) one year anniversary. The first one is a shot we got while he was still in VN. I think the pic is about two years old. The second one was taken over the summer on our trip to Bama. Wow at the difference a little love and comfort from two parents can make. Enjoy.

Reflections...

It's hard to believe that one year ago I was preparing to board a plane for the other side of the world and bring back a child who didn't even know me. I am afraid we may have forever scarred this little three year old who was taken from his comfy little life =) No really, I think Samuel has adjusted well. It's like he has always been here. God truly blessed us when he gave us Samuel.

In other news: Uh, nothing. We lead such boring lives. Anyway, hope everyone else is doing well.