Been stuck at Nana, Papa, and Aunt Jen's...

...and it's not a bad place to be stuck. I think Luke and I both agree on that, but we are both very glad to be home now with Daddy.

Our adventure began on Thursday when Luke and I headed to Nana and Papa's house to celebrate Nana's birthday. Daniel couldn't go with us since he had homework - he is working on his master's degree. Our trip really became an adventure. Luke had started running a fever on Wed. night. He was still running a fever on Thursday so we gave him more medicine and I took him into the chiropractor to get adjusted before we left. About half way the poor little guy started throwing up. I didn't know if I should turn around and go home or just keep going. He ended up throwing up three separate times and by the third time I was closer to Nana and Papa's than home so I kept going. I cleaned Luke up as best as I could. It was so sad and sweet. Everytime I cleaned him up I would ask him if he wanted to go home to Daddy or go to Nana and Papa's house. He would tell me Papa's house. So I would put him back in his seat and head out. He would tell me, "Mommy, I happy". Just about break my heart. Anyways, we made it on Thursday.

On Friday, we went to eat for Nana's birthday. We were going to go look at the lights at Rhema, but that is going to have to wait until little man is not under the weather.

On Saturday we had Luke's Christmas pictures taken and saw Santa Claus. Luke asked Santa for a McQueen shake beep beep because his is broke down. (Yes, we had coached him.) Santa told him that he would see what he could do. We were supposed to head home then. It was already freezing at home so I was afraid to head out just the two of us, especially after our trip going there. Hence the part about being stuck at Nana, Papa and Aunt Jen's.

Nana's birthday wish was that we would be able to go to church with her on Sunday. It came true. On Monday Nana and Aunt Jen didn't have to go to school because the school didn't have any electricity. We went to the grocery store (which was running on generators) and bought stuff to bake. We made Peanut Butter Smore Bars, Reindeer Cookies, Sausage Balls and fudge -that never got hard, but is still really good). Mom and Jen are still out of school due to power outages.

Can you tell that Luke really likes the icing? He was eating it off of Nana's cake and licking it off of his cookie!

We headed home yesterday and made it without any problems. The falling trees in Tulsa are so sad. There are a lot of trees throughout mom and dad's neighborhood and lots of them have broken. It is going to be a mess to clean up.

The highlight of Luke's trip...He loves the movie Cars - Well, he's been coughing through the night and would cough so hard he would throw up. The first night we were there we were sleeping on the couch sitting up to help the drainage. He was coughing and Nana was trying to take him from me so I could get up for a minute. He wouldn't go so she asked him if he wanted to watch the beep beep movie. He immediately said yes and went to Nana. Every night after that Nana and Lukas watched the beep beep movie around 2 a.m. Luke slept through the night without coughing on Monday night, but he still woke up and asked Mommy if he could watch the beep beep movie. Mommy said no. But it was absolutely amazing how the movie would take his mind off of the drainage and he wouldn't cough as much!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This post is a few days late! Sorry! We hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We went to Nana and Papa's on Tuesday. We left on Wednesday and went to Ada. We had two Thanksgiving celebrations on Thursday.

Luke enjoyed playing with all of this cousins.

Aunt DeAnn brought Luke a bus. He loves buses!!!

This boy absolutely loves cars...

We left Ada on Thursday evening and went back to Mom and Dad's. We got home at about 10:00 and looked at all the sale ads. On Friday we (Mom, Jen, and I)headed out to shop at 6:00. I was completely worn out when we got back a little after 4:00. We unloaded, ate dinner, and headed back out for one more hour of shopping. I am pleased to announce that my Christmas shopping is finished.

We came home on Saturday. When we got home we put our Christmas tree up. Luke had a lot of fun helping us decorate the tree. I also got all my wrapping finished!

Can you tell where he liked to put the ornaments?

He liked this snowman also.
It is my prayer that our son also learns the REASON FOR THE SEASON!!!

Misc. Happenings

Things have been pretty calm here lately. We've made a trip to Nana and Papa's house for Aunt Jen's birthday. Other than that nothing has really been going on.

Here is a picture of Luke with his friends Kori and Trevor. I got in trouble for not including this picture with the Halloween post - so Kori here it is!!! :)
Luke and Papa hanging out and watching cartoons while we were in Tulsa. (Luke had just woke up.)
Happy Birthday, Aunt Jen!!!
Daddy and Lukas tonight as the OU game was starting. Daniel doesn't look quite as pepped up now. The game isn't over, but.... Last but not least, here is a picture of some cute cookies that I made tonight. Our women's group at church is making baskets to take to emergency personnel of the area to thank them for serving us. I had thought that these cookies were really cute. Well, I still think that they are cute, but I have a serious pain in the neck from decorating them. And, I'm not so good decorating with icing.

I'm really excited about Thanksgiving next week. We have so much to be thankful for. I'm ready to see my aunts, uncles and cousins. I don't think that I've seen them since Memorial Day Weekend, so it is definitely time.

On a different note, please be in prayer for the Vietnam Adoption Program. Goodness, I don't really know how to explain what's going on. Here are a couple of links:

http://www.goodhappenings.com/

http://www.adoptionintegrity.com/

In short, there has been unethical behavior proven in two provinces in Vietnam. Our agency doesn't work in either province. Just please pray that the U.S. and Vietnam will agree on a measure to help make adoptions ethical and not close the program altogether. It breaks my heart for the children and the birthparents. I am so thankful for our agency and their work in Vietnam.

Now I must go make my dish for the potluck lunch tomorrow. Cooking on Sunday mornings before church makes me even later to church...

Luke's Big Boy Room

As promised, here are pictures of Luke's big boy room. Luke loves his new bed. Here is a picture of him sleeping in his bed the first night.

Luke and his Daddy love making forts on Luke's bunk bed.
We have already made several memories with Luke's new bed. All three of us slept on the bottom bunk one night. A couple of times I have slept on the bottom bunk with Luke and Daniel has slept on the top bunk. Fun times...
A funny thing is that Luke has only gotten out of his bed once in the five or six weeks since he's been sleeping in it. That time was this week. Daniel was putting Luke to bed and I was watching TV in the living room. Daniel was putting Luke to bed because for the past four or five nights I have managed to fall asleep in Luke's room. I was just sitting there watching TV and out walks Luke with this big ol' grin on his face. I was kind of shocked that he was up. I took him back to his room and guess who was asleep in his bed! Pretty funny!

Happy Halloween 2007

Lukas and Elmo LOVE Parties!!!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Lukas!!!

Our little guy turned two on Tuesday! To celebrate we went to McDonald's and played on the Play Place. It was so funny to watch Luke. There are big windy stairs that lead to this tunnel of netting that leads to the slide. Luke would start up the stairs and stop and yell very loudly "Mommy!" and "Daddy!". Then he would come back down and over to our table. Then he would do this again, except go a little higher. He did this until he climbed all the way across the stairs, through the tunnel and down the slide. We were so proud of our big boy. That is a pretty big accomplishment for your second birthday.
This little boy never ceases to amaze me. I am so honored that he calls me Mommy.
We are having Luke's birthday party on the 19th. So stay tuned for a fun post on that. As for the big boy room post - I wanted to have it completely finished when I posted pictures and I'm having a very difficult time finding curtains that I like to match. Hopefully I'll find some soon.

Weekend In Review

On Friday we went to Nana and Aunt Jen's school and talked with their fourth graders about Vietnam. They have been studying culture so we talked about some differences between our culture and the culture in Vietnam. The kids were really interested in learning about Luke's birth country.
We met Sarah at the Pumpkin Patch on Saturday. They have so much fun playing together. After they ate lunch they had a great time climbing on the pumpkins and riding around in a wheel barrow.
The OU-Texas game was also on Saturday. Daniel informed me that we couldn't leave to go home until after the game was over so we watched the game at Mom & Dad's. Ever since he has come home Luke gets all decked out in his Sooner clothes and Daniel rubs him down before each game and they generally win. So Luke is the source of Sooner Magic. Well, since we had been to the Pumpkin Patch I had Luke dressed in a fall looking shirt. It had burnt orange on it. The Sooners weren't doing too great at this time so we realized it was time to put his OU shirt on. After he got his OU shirt on and rubbed down the Sooners started playing great. So he really is the source of Sooner Magic.
If you don't believe this, last week when OU lost Daniel wasn't at home to rub Luke down and I didn't do it. So to all you Sooner fans we are so sorry that we let you and the team down by not doing our part!:)
A funny/sad side note about our weekend - I had decided that we weren't going to board our dogs to save some money. I got this brilliant idea that we would take our miniature dauchsand with us and leave our Labradoodle at a friends house. Well, when our friend got home from work Lap was out of the pin. Lap is a really big chicken so when our friend yelled for him to come he ran off. So Lap was missing for about four hours Thursday night. Daniel and Jessica are such good friends. They looked for our dog for four whole hours. Lap is Daniel's dog and Rocky is my dog. So Daniel was pretty upset there for a little while. He was very relieved when they called and said that Lap had been found. I guess I'll have to come up with another brilliant idea for next time...
Stay tuned for posts regarding Luke's big boy bed and his birthday on Tuesday!

Oh, the things that they say...

**Update 9/29/07 - Luke tooted this morning and blamed it on Elmo. I wonder where he learned that from - Daniel?

While this almost two year old stage is bringing lots of challenges it is so much fun to see Luke grow up. The latest hilarious thing that he did was to tell on his Daddy! Yes, he told on his Daddy. I was cooking dinner in the kitchen and cutting up pepperonis. Luke was coming in and asking for some so I took Daniel a handful to give him. I went back in the kitchen to continue cooking and Luke runs in and says "Daddy eat". I called out to Daniel that he had just been tattled on and asked if he had ate Luke's pepperonis. And he had. Daddy you'd better watch out!
Another thing that I think is absolutely adorable is that Luke has started singing his favorite song - The Wheels on the Bus. Our video camera is broken. I need to get it fixed so I can video that.
We're still working on the potty training. It is going pretty good. Now when Luke toots he says "I toot". Daddy is going to have to watch it on this one also because he has also told me "Daddy toot".
Just had to share some of the funny things that our little guy is doing. I'm sure there are more but I can't think of them right now.

A Great Day

We had a wonderful day today! It was nice and relaxing. I was ready for a day that we didn't have to do anything. School is going well and I also started to work for 12 hours a week (3 days a week in the afternoon). Luke gets to go with me. We are working for baby money for Sweet Baby #2! Luke woke up around 4:30 this morning so he spent the early morning hours in bed with us. He woke me up this morning around 8:00 and informed me that it was time to get up. I tried to get Daniel to play me paper, rock, scissors to see who had to get up with Luke but he acted like he didn't wake up. So we got up and had a nice, long, relaxing conversation with the cell phone company. Do you sense the sarcasm? The day did get better after that! Then we watched Sesame Street and Walker, Texas Ranger. Luke and I were both happy since we were able to watch our favorite shows! We met Daniel for lunch at McDonald's. It had been a while since we had been in and I was thinking that Luke might be brave enough to really play on the toys. He was and he had SO much fun! He would look up at the big toy and say "Wow"! This afternoon Kori came to get Luke and took him to the park and to get a snow cone. She said he had a great time. I can believe it. That boy loves to swing and slide. While Luke was gone Daniel and I had a couch date and watched X-Men 3. That is a really good movie. Now Daniel is watching the OU game and I'm about to go to bed! Enjoy the pictures!!!

Fun With Family and Friends

We went to Nana, Papa and Aunt Jen's this past weekend. It is always fun to be able to go home. Although we never get to stay long enough. Luke was able to meet Nana and Aunt Jen's new students. I think he passed the test. On Friday night we were able to have dinner with the Homan's and Perryman's. It was their Forever Family Day. We ate at a Vietnamese restaurant.
After dinner Michael and Daniel went to the Jenks-Union football game. You would have thought that Daniel was in heaven. He has thanked me profusely for allowing him to go. He said that was the best HS football game he has ever seen. The game went into overtime. Luke and Sarah were both up past their bed times, but they had fun playing.
We got Luke's 2 year old pictures taken on Saturday. He did a really good job. I can't wait to get the pictures in. We left to come home Saturday evening. Luke gets so upset when he has to leave. It is so sad it makes me cry every time. He cries for Nana and Papa. He cried for about 20 minutes so we called Nana. He talked to her for a long time. After he hung up he went to sleep. He slept for a couple of hours. When he woke up it wasn't long before I heard - Nana! Papa! I wished we were able to live closer to them. I know he would be more spoiled than he already is if that was the case though. Jen - He loves you too!

Our Labor Day Weekend

Our Labor Day Weekend was a busy one. Dad, Mom and Aunt Jen came in on Friday night. We hit our first Friday night high school football game. Our team lost... I meant to take a picture but didn't.

On Saturday morning Dad and Daniel went to work on the toilets in our new house. We ended up getting a new toilet in Luke's bathroom and new insides in the toilet for the teen room (Why we have a teen room at our house is for another post!). So now we have three working toilets! Yay! When we downgraded our TV we lost Fox Sports so we had to go to a friends house to watch the OU game. Luke is still the source of Sooner Magic! He got a new OU t-shirt on Saturday too!!!

Hey Heather - Are you sure Andrew can't wear my OU clothes? -Lukas

On Sunday my dad got to preach and I had to miss it. I've been filling in for the 2 and 3 year old class. The boys got the utility room tiled to Sunday though and finished it up on Monday. I didn't get my cabinets painted like I wanted to so if anybody wants to come help....

I didn't do good about taking pictures this weekend. Here is a few...

This boy likes to be like his Daddy!

A Visit from Granny

On a more positive note - Granny came to spend the weekend with us. This was the first time that it was just Luke and Granny around. Normally there is Aunt Jen or Nana also so Granny doesn't get as much one on one time. Luke loved her being here. They played and cuddled. It was pretty sweet.

I may get in trouble with Granny for posting a picture of her eating, but here is Luke and Granny eating at Pizza Hut. Luke learned that if he would sit with Granny he would get away with more than if he sat with mom and dad. We were going to go to the County Fair after we ate but couldn't find anything at the Fair Grounds. That was pretty weird. We'll have to see about taking Luke to the State Fair.In other news - I started back to school last week. You know I would really like to have a degree without working for it. That sounds pretty lazy, doesn't it. I'm only taking one class on Tuesday and Thursday mornings so it's not too bad. Luke goes to work with his Daddy. I'm really not worried about finishing until we are finished having kids. We don't want me to go back to work full time until all our kids are in school. My major is Early Childhood Education. I'd really like to teach K-4. Then I will have my summers off too!

We also have more exciting news...Lukas is learning to potty in the potty!!! He thinks it's great fun. He has an Elmo potty seat that he enjoys sitting on. When we flush he says, "Bye! Bye! See ya!"
Luke has also decided he doesn't need to be rocked to sleep anymore. Last week he was squirming when I was rocking him to sleep and I asked him if he wanted to lay down in his bed. He said yes. He has gone to bed on his own ever since then. I think he is pretty amazing!

I'll end with a slide show of us celebrating Luke's Forever Family Day. Keep in mind we had closed on our house the week before and were in the midst of major renovations. We didn't get to go to dinner as we had previously planned but we did have cookie cake and ice cream.

Happy First Forever Family Day Lukas!!!

What a special day! I can't believe that it has been a whole year since Luke was officially ours! In some ways it feels like it was only yesterday that we were in Vietnam picking him up. And then there are other days that I don't remember what it was like to not have him around. He is such a special little boy. It is amazing how much he has grown and changed this year. He has gone from a quiet baby boy that wasn't so sure of things to a confident toddler. He has blessed us so much.
Over the last month I have been reflecting a lot on our journey to become parents. I was remembering one of my lowest moments when we were doing infertility treatments. I had just found out that a friend was going to have a baby. I remember crying and crying that night - not because I was bitter that my friend was pregnant. I just wanted to be a mother to a child so badly. I was thinking about that night a few weeks ago and remembered that my friends baby was born three days before Luke. And I realized that at the same time this was happening to me there was a brave, loving woman half way around the world that could have been scared and confused as she was finding out that she was going to have a baby. I thank her so much for giving our son life and for loving our child so much to make an adoption plan for him. She is definitely a hero in my book.
Lukas has brought us so much happiness and joy. We are so thankful that God blessed us with him. He is definitely the right kid for our family.
I chose some pictures to do a Year-in-Review slide show. Enjoy! And for your viewing pleasure a little video clip. Most of you know that we were sick the night that we got Luke. Well, Daniel did a Luke documentary while we were in Vietnam. So here is Day 7's video clip. It is so funny! Note for future travelers: Please do not get scared about getting sick. We ate grapes and shouldn't have. Just make sure that you don't eat any fruit that was rinsed in the water!

Vacation Bible School and Other Stuff

This was the last night of Vacation Bible School. We had a great time. The crafts all turned out great and it was lots of fun watching the kids make them. Luke had an accident on Tuesday evening. He fell and busted his lip really bad. It bled and bled and bled. Now he has a really fat lip. He still enjoyed his first Vacation Bible School though.
Every night of Bible School the largest class got to throw water balloons at Daniel and another Daniel. The first night it was so funny because they were holding themselves. (See the slide show for a picture). They got smart and every other night put a blow up tube around their middle.
Tonight I was getting Luke's clothes changed to go play in the water. I put a swim diaper and swim shorts on him and we were walking over to the water. I felt all this water on me. I asked my mom if it was raining. Well, the swim diaper leaked and I was covered in pee. We got a kick out of that. I had on the same shirt that Luke pooped on almost a year ago! Fun times!
Dad, Mom and Jennifer came in yesterday. We aren't able to close on the house until tomorrow so we are going to try to get as much done as possible while they are still here.
In other news it was one year ago yesterday that we left for Vietnam to pick up our boy! Tuesday is our big day! Stay tuned for the blog update. I hope to have something for your viewing pleasure (if Daniel has time to do it)! Enjoy the pics from this week.

Crazy! Crazy! Crazy!

Okay, this is one of those things that I think could only happen to us. This morning I got a call from our loan place reminding us that we have a closing today. A couple hours later I got another call saying that the mortgage company our loan was going through was filing bankruptcy and we were not going to close today. The lady is locating a new lender and hopefully we will be able to close next week. So hopefully we will be home owners again next week!

The Dillon Run & A Visit to Nana & Papa's House

We went to Nana, Papa and Aunt Jen's this weekend for the Dillon Run and our monthly haircuts. When we got to mom & dad's they had gotten a slide for Luke and had it set up in the living room. His eyes lit up and that was the first place that he went. He slid and slid and slid some more. It was a hit!
On Friday we met some friends at the Dillon Run. We walked the 1K Fun Run/Walk. Daniel and Dad ran in the 5K. Dad ran the 5K in 25 minutes. Daniel ran it in 33 minutes and some seconds. He hadn't ran all summer. His face was as red as his shirt when he crossed the finished line but he did it! I was proud of them both.
In other news- We close on our house tomorrow. Mom, Dad and Jennifer are coming in to help us paint and lay tile. Before I knew we were buying a house I volunteered to do crafts at Vacation Bible School. So VBS is the following week. I am scrambling to get everything together. Some very nice ladies met at the church today and got one of the crafts all ready to go so I just have two more to go. You might pray that we stay sane through this process. I don't even have one box packed!!! I'll keep y'all informed as to how all this goes!
Oh, something else funny happened. Mom bought Luke an Elmo backpack for his birthday on Saturday. She made the mistake of showing it to Luke and couldn't get it back. So he has a new backpack that he has to take everyone. He looks pretty cute with it on his back! Pictures will come!