Fun with Friends

Today we had the great pleasure of hosting our friends the Tolberts. Sabrina and I grew up together in church and have been friends for years. Today she brought her three sweet kiddos to play. The big girls and boys played well together while Samuel and her son Levi (from the Philippines) bounced between the two. Sabrina and I spent the time catching up and discussing the next possible adoption for the two of us. We had such a great time I forgot to take any pictures.

The Tolberts were also a great break from my canning. Since Jim left Monday I have put up 6 pints of pickles and 53 quarts of green beans. Tomorrow will be black berry picking and jamming day. Then hopefully the weekend will bring corn and Monday will bring peas. It takes alot to feed this family of five. I really don't know what I will do when the boys reach teenage years.

Life here is going great and God is good!

Missing Jim already...

Well, tomorrow wraps up two weeks of VBS for the kids. This equates to two weeks worth of dates and uninterruped time. He leaves Monday for two weeks of annual training with the military. I really don't think I can handle that! The kids and I may be traveling to see him.

Oh, I have to share a funny. The other day Samuel was trying to get out of finishing his supper. He told me that his tummy was full. I said "Your tummy is all full?" He said "Yeah and the ants were full." I just about died laughing. Now we don't have ants so I am assuming he is referring to ants in his tummy?!? What kids come up with.

Our weekend

My litte VN kiddo

Well, let me say for those of you who don't know the kids and I flew to Tulsa, Ok for VN heritage weekend. It was an absolute blast. We went down to Savannah Wednesday night to spend the night because our flight was 6:40am on Thursday. We got up and got ready, but while I was waiting for the kids, I went and checked my email only to find that the flight had been delayed. We would now not depart until 4:40pm. So Jim and I laid back down and let the kids watch tv. After lunch Jim dropped us at the airport as he had to go report to duty. So the kids and I had 3 hours to kill in the Savannah airport. For those of you who don't know, the airport is not very big with nothing to do. However, I have to say my kiddos did really great!! So we finally make our way thru security and to the gate only to find that weather has halted flights to and from Atlanta. So we wait some more.

Finally we arrive in Atlanta and rush to our next gate where they already have a flight ready for us. That was great that we didn't have to wait too long. We finally made it to Tulsa around 9:30pm EST, 12 hours later than planned.

This was the first flight for Blake and Grace and they did wonderful. Each time Grace held her hands up like she was on a roller coaster! She liked it so much she actually slept all the way thru landing in Tulsa. Samuel fell asleep during take-off from Atlanta and woke-up after we got in the air. He was disoriented and crying so I put him in my lap. The flight attendant asked why this big baby was sitting in my lap. I really almost came unglued! I so wanted to give the lady a piece of my mind. For all I knew this kid was having flashbacks to his trip home. Anyway, we made it.

Friday we went to the aquarium. Tulsa is a vey easy city to navigate. So we hop in the rental and are on our way. Well, I get off the freeway thing only to find a toll booth. I pull up to pay. It's $.30 and only takes change. I have no change and there is no one in the booth to break a dollar bill. No change machine, nothing. So I sit for a minute and then someone pulls up behind me so off I go. The Oklahoma State Police may come track me down, but what was I supposed to do? Really, if I get ticketed or something I will fight it. How was I supposed to know.

The aquarium was fun. The kids really enjoyed that. After the aquarium we went back to the hotel (the long way down city streets, no expressway) and I let the kids play at the water slides in the hotel. Here I began to meet new people and we also met up with Tina, Alex and Addie. At first Samuel was a little shy around Alex, but soon they warmed up to each other.

Friday night was the first night to officially meet folks. We went to the event center and watched an amazing dragon dance and then ate a great supper. After supper we took the kids to different play rooms while we parents got to visit. It is during this time that we met the fourth Santa! Now for those of you not familiar, one of the first pictures we received of Samuel was him dressed in a Santa suit with three other kids. We knew that one was Alex and another was Maile, who came home a year earlier than Samuel, but we didn't know the other one. As it turns out his name is Kien and he lives in Tulsa. I can't remember when he came home, but it was much ealier than Samuel. So we were able to get pics of them together and enjoy fellowship. Come to find out these kids are all about the same age and were real buds in VN. Another family showed us pictures of them together when they traveled. Blake also made some good friends this night.

Saturday we got up and had breakfast with Alex and his family and then went to the event center. We did crafts and activities with the kiddos and enjoyed meeting a few other families. After our Vietnamese lunch we then took to kids to activity rooms so we could listen to Kim-Lan, an adult adoptee and mother of Maile (who she adopted), tell her story. It was great. After that we went back to the hotel and the kids played in the pool.

During this time I was able to sit and talk with Stormy, Josiah's mom, and Tina. We really got to know each other better. Josiah was waiting for his mom when we went to pick up Samuel. He would come up to us and want us to take him home. He was so precious then and still is just a riot! Blake also hooked up with Chanz, Josiah's brother, so I think this may be a pen pal friendship in the making.

Sunday we flew home. Jim was actually in Atlanta so he picked us up there rather than flying all the way to Savannah. The trip was good and already I miss hanging out with the great friends we made. I hope to be able to return again next year.

Blake and a couple of his new buds.

Josiah, still a ham

Alex and Samuel

A few of the Ninh Thuan kiddos.

The Dragon Dance
Samuel and Alex met up like they had never been apart.
The four Santas.

Samuel, Kien, Maile, Alex

VN Weekend

This will be a short post because I am exhausted, but we are now home from VN weekend in Tulsa. It was absolutely fabulous and the kids had a blast. There were some really great moments and I will try to share those tomorrow.

Summer treat

How many of you got the pleasure of waiting for the ice cream truck to come by? I only got that pleasure a couple of times in my childhood. We lived out in the country, but I do remember visiting my grandmother and listening for the delightful chimes of the truck. Once, a few years ago, the truck came by my in-laws and we got ice cream. Blake is the only one old enough to remember and just this week he asked about when it might visit again. What do you know, this afternoon after coming home from supper, but what do I see: the ice cream truck! I had dropped Jim and the kids off at the park so they didn't see him. When he got close to the house I rushed out and stopped him to ask where he was headed. I told him I had 5 kids at the park who would love ice cream (we had our niece and nephew). He told me he was headed that way. I hoped in the van and headed for the park. It was hard to keep my face in check. However, when he rounded the corner and Blake heard those chimes his face lit up. "Momma, the ice cream truck. Can we get some?" To my delight I said "Sure, run to the road." Aahh, the memories we make. So what is one of your favorite summer memories? Leave a comment and let me know.

Week of Nothingness...

So the family and I have traveled to Jim's parents' house for the week. This means a week of not cooking and vegging in front of the tv. My brain will be mush next week. Last night I got to watch the Duggars and absolutely loved it. That woman amazes me!
Today the two big kids and I went and shopped around Valdosta. Basically it was just time for us to hang out together. We had a really great time. Later after the rain we are going to the country club and go swimming. It's funny, we're members of the country club that we may go to twice a year. Thanks to Jim's dad. Anyway, just wanted to do a quick update.