Happy Halloween-y!!

We have had a fun day so far. We went to the zoo, which puts out quite a spread for All Hallow's Eve. Zeke got to feed a cracker-thingy to a giraffe (no kidding!) and we saw lions. We told him those were lions, like he was pretending to be for Halloween. He wasn't too interested...after all, the lions were pretty uninterested in us. We saw 4 or 5 kangaroos lying in the grass and honestly, they were lying there the same way Little Buddy does when he sprawls out. Too funny. We had lunch at Maria's (Mexican). Now we're back home so Z can take a little rest before the trick-or-treating. This will be round 3 of trick-or-treating for Zeke. Want to hear a fun story about what's meant by trick-or-treat in the Ozarks? Click here.

We Intrerupt This Blog to Bring You Some Exciting News...

I'm so HAPPY to tell you that our dear friends Greg and Laura have been matched to a BEAUTIFUL baby girl in China!! I can hardly type this without tearing up. They have a series of formalities to go through but expect to bring her home in January or February. We pray it's sooner!! Pray for them as they prepare for Anna's arrival and pray for Anna as she waits for her mom and dad. You can follow their journey here. Praise God for His faithfulness to Greg, Laura and this precious child!!

The Pa-pa

That's what Zeke calls the potty. We had a major potty victory last night. Don't want to go into the details here but any of you who have gone through the potty training stage with your kid know all about the major and minor victories. We celebrated by letting Zeke enjoy half of a little bag of M&Ms. (I hear many parents use M&Ms as the potty reward...maybe there's a new marketing campaign in there for the candy?)

I took Zeke trick-or-treating last night in one of the dorms on campus where I work. It was the annual "Halloween in the Halls" event. Zeke happily wore his lion costume. He seemed very intrigued by all the costumes he saw on the little kids and college kids. He even got to meet Batman and the Joker who were handing out candy on one of the floors. Zeke acted pretty stunned to see Batman in person! That was the real treat! It was also fun to hear all the female students oogling over Zeke and his cute costume. Zeke started to get the hang of things after the second floor. He would march up to the candy bowls and reach right in. He did really well when I said, "Only pick one please." He seemed to pick out mostly suckers, which I won't allow him to eat yet. He got some other candies though that are ok by me. His favorite was a little piece of chocolate in a foil wrapper with a football printed on the foil.

Moving Up the List

We are now 6th for a baby girl on the unofficial list of waiting families with our agency. Let me reiterate...this is an UNOFFICIAL list so there are definitely families waiting ahead of us who are not on this list. Still, it's fun to see our name move up the list as families at the top get matched to their babies. We love rejoicing with them as they see their baby's face for the first time. I still expect to wait the full 9-11 months for a referral. That puts us at next May, June, and July. Before we know it, we'll be MATCHED to OUR GIRL!! WOOT!

Pook

A few days ago, Zeke was with me in my bedroom but was calling out for Da-Da. I told him daddy was busy at that moment cleaning up some "cat puke." Yeah, not a very ceremonious way to describe it. So, Zeke, who is now repeating everything started saying "cat pook." It was quite funny! Cut to last night...

Zeke woke up crying around 11:30. Even after Da-Da went in to check on him, he was still howling. I got up and went in. He was a little sweaty and very upset. I took him from Da-Da and brought him into our bed. More crying. I wiped away his tears and asked him what was wrong. Well, it wasn't long before Zeke's dinner re-appeared. After the drama of the moment and after the elaborate clean-up which involved a bath for me and Zeke, we were sitting in bed. Poor Da-Da was cleaning up residue from the carpet. Zeke pointed and said "cat pook." I said, "No. That is Zeke pook."

Happy Birthday Brad/Da-da!!

Happy Birthday to the love of my life!! Zeke stayed up "late" last night so he could give Da-da his birthday cards. Brad's got a really busy week at work and I wasn't sure when he'd be home tonight so Zeke and I gave him our cards last night. He's got a surprise coming at work today...should be fun!

Fair-Trade Coffee=Adoption $$

We signed up for an adoption fundraiser recommended by our adoption agency and at last, the program is up and running! Basically, if you buy coffee from the grocery store or coffee shop, we'd ask you to consider buying fair trade coffee through our online store: http://www.justlovecoffee.com/BradandMissy

It's a great deal for us because we don't buy any coffee or pay anything to participate. We just had to sign up for our store. The creator of this program adopted children from Ethiopia through our agency. We're thankful to have this opportunity to raise money for our adoption. And hey, you're going to get some great coffee...what's better than that??

Going Whole Hog

Yep...we now have a mini-van. We are now full-fledged members of the Parents Club. I confess that I really didn't want a mini-van. When we went to look at vehicles at a car lot last weekend, I said, "No mini-vans." God put a mini-van in front of us this week and it was just too good of a deal to pass up. In buying it, we were able to meet our need for a vehicle that will be reliable on long road trips and the need of another family that needed to sell it. As my sister said, "God has a reason for giving you guys a mini-van. Just wait and see!"

Contagious Revelation

A few notes on what we're doing at our church...

Our pastor is wrapping up a series on being a Contagious Christian. Yes, the theme comes out of all the attention being paid to H1N1 flu...While we don't want to spread illness and germs, we DO want to spread the love of God. It's really focused on equipping people with ways to witness. It's been an excellent series of sermons.

I led a 5-week study of The Shack in our Sunday School class, which concluded last Sunday. So today was the first day for our class to study the book of Revelation. The guy who is leading our class is a scholar who once taught at a Christian university. I love what his handout said across the top:
Revelation-The book of encouragement for Christians. (God has everything under control.)
I have never looked at this book that way. To me, it contains all the wild imagery that struck fear in my heart as a young child. So, I am really looking forward to learning more about a book that God intentionally included in the canon. By the way, if you've never studied the canon--how we got the books of the Bible that we have today, you are really missing out. We did a big canonical study earlier this year in our Sunday School class. It's one of the best and most eye-opening studies I've ever done. It gave me a new and fresh way of looking at the entire Bible. We explored why we have these books and not others. We started with the Old Testament and examined the early Jewish texts and how they were used. And finally, we looked at how we got the New Testament, who wrote the books, for whom and why. Eye-opening, indeed. Which brings me back to Revelation. We will be studying the book, as best we can, from the perspective of the early Christians in an attempt to better understand the book. I have no doubt that in hearing God speak to the early Christians through this text, we will also hear God speaking to us.

Vegas Pics!

Photo credits: Thank to Kel for taking these and sending them to me!!
Hot mamas and cute babes!

Zeke and Mom in the gondola at The Venetian.

Yummy times at P.F. Chang's.

Baby Love!

Waiting to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower at Paris Casino.

The Letter Two

We have now been waiting two months for a referral. Two down, 7-9 more to go. I really hope and pray our referral comes sooner than that but I'm fully prepared to wait 9 more months, if necessary. Thanks for your continued support during the wait. Quilla is going to be the best dressed girl in town...it's hard to resist buying A FEW cute things for her as I come upon sale items. I did the same thing for Zeke and he's still wearing clothes bought by me and others before he came home!

Note: "The Letter Two" is a reference to an SNL sketch in which David Duchovny plays Jeff Goldblum on an episode of Celebrity Jeopardy.

Doodle Baby

Thanks to a recommendation from my dear friend Kelley, we got Zeke one of those magnetic doodle boards for his birthday. It's got little "stamps" in different shapes and a "pen" that he can use for drawing. While he enjoys doodling himself, he also likes to have me and Brad draw things for him and then he guesses what we've drawn. This requires considerable talent on Zeke's part, considering I can hardle draw a stick figure.

Another Zeke anecdote...about 3 months ago, I took him to a playground near our house. He was playing on the little kids jungle gym. There are two slides. He saw a small bug on the yellow slide and yelled, "Bug!" Well, he has not forgotten that incident and even this weekend at his birthday party, he refused to go down the yellow slide because of "Bug!" We tried to explain that there was no bug but he still wouldn't go down the slide. Oh well...

Happy Birthday Zeke!!!

Zeke had a wonderful birthday yesterday!! He basically just played his little heart out with some of his buddies from church at the playground. He got to eat more sugar than normal (not a lot but still more than usual). He conked out early last night and then woke up at 9PM wanting milk (it sounds like "mirk" when he says it...adorable!) and a bite of his cake. Too sweet! After that, he slept the rest of the night.

Today is a big day because he moves up to the 2 year old class at school. I think he will do just fine with the transition. He knows most all of the teachers at his school and seems to like all of them. And some of the kids in the 2's used to be in his 1-2 year class. I think it will be so good for him to be around older kids who are talking more.

Missy Decided to Mad Men Herself

Car Shopping

We're looking for a new-to-us car. We found a 2008 Equinox we liked but when we brought the price quote home, we found it was about $2000 too high. We're going to keep looking.

Update

Sounds like the statement from the US State Department isn't going to cause any drastic changes. I'm rejoicing at this news! I know God is going before us on this adoption journey and will move mountains for us and our child. God's done it before! Please continue to pray. We're nearly two months into the wait for Quilla...only 9-6 more months left to wait for our referral! Praise the Lord!

*sigh* Here We Go Again?

The US State Department issued a statement that sounds eerily like the one it issued for Vietnam. Basically, it sounds like the US is going to start conducting "field investigations" on Ethiopia adoptions. I am angry, sad, and frustrated because Ethiopia has a more rigorous investigation process than Vietnam had. At the very least, this could delay bringing Quilla home. Now, I just hope we can bring her home before next Christmas (2010). I don't have any answers yet. We're supposed to have a conference call soon with our adoption agency. I'm hopeful we'll learn more about the implications of all this during the call. I will keep you posted. In the meantime, PRAY that God will clear the way for us to bring home our baby girl. After this adoption, I'M DONE.

Zeke Photos!

Nerdy Zeke...just like his Dad! *smile*

An early birthday gift arrived recently...

Zeke enjoys his new goldfish container.

Because we just can't get enough of the "first haircut" cuteness!

Waking Up in Vegas

"Get up and shake the glitter off your clothes now
That's what you get for waking up in Vegas."
-"Waking Up in Vegas", Katy Perry

Zeke and I had a wonderful time in Vegas!! It was a great chance to bond and spend time with an amazing friend who has been such a support during both adoption journeys. And her daughter is so smart and communicative. Zeke really started to step up his game in terms of communicating after seeing how much my friend's daughter was talking. I have also increased the amount of signing I'm doing with Zeke. That's helped a lot.

Because we had to be at the airport around 4AM yesterday, Zeke and I both took long naps once we were home. Still, he slept through the night and didn't make a peep! It's hard to go back to work after spending so much time with my baby.

My friend took photos during our trip (my bags were packed to the gills so I didn't bring a camera). As soon as I get some photos from her, I'll post them here.

Viva Las Vegas!

Zeke and I are heading out at 2 this afternoon for VEGAS! We are really looking forward to this mini vacation. Don't know how much blogging I'll be able to do while we're away but if I can, I'll post and let you know how it's going!

Good Breakfast Eats

Have you tried Panera's egg and cheese sandwich? The white cheddar cheese is fantastic! Delicious! One of my guilty pleasures that I rarely indulge in is the Cinna-melt from McD's. I tried it for the first time when Brad and I were in Vegas one year. We always stay at Circus Circus, which is practically next door to a McD's. Those Cinna-melts are out of this world. If you haven't tried one, don't because they're TOO GOOD and TOO FATTENING and you will have a hard time staying away from these babies!

While Zeke and I are in Vegas, we'll get breakfast at our hotel, included in our room price (sweet!). It looks like we're going to get rain tomorrow of biblical proportions. At this point, the rain should move out by Friday afternoon, when we fly out to Vegas. Please pray that we will have clear, smooth skies for our trip. I'm really hoping for an easy flight. I'm even considering buying a new portable DVD player. The one we have is no longer portable. The battery dies after 3 minutes. We've tried TWICE to order a new battery but no dice. While cold is supposed to settle in here on Friday, it's going to be in the mid to upper 80's in Vegas. WOOT! Can't wait!!!

Crazy Busy

Things are crazy busy for us right now. Lots of things are going on for me and Brad at work. I'm also getting ready for our trip this Friday to Vegas. Looks like we're going to have excellent weather for lazing by the pool. Can't wait!

First Professional Haircut

Zeke received his first professional haircut Saturday. We had previously trimmed him up in the kitchen, but with a big trip next weekend, we wanted to spruce him up. The highlights:

Let the Fasting Begin

I'm going to start fasting weekly, like I did when we were waiting to bring Zeke home. Truthfully, I didn't succeed every week but I did most of the time. I fast Thursday night 8PM to Friday 3PM...I'd love to have you join me. Why am I fasting? To focus on my prayers that God will match us with the baby girl who is meant fo rus, that God will watch over Quilla and will keep her safe and healthy before we get there, while we're there and after we get her home. There are some other things I'll be praying for too but for now, the main thing is Miss Quilla.

By the way, we are rejoicing with other families who have recently gotten referrals!! On the unofficial list (let me stress...this is unofficial), we are ninth for a baby girl. We are hopeful that things will move along. Another thing I'm focusing my prayers on is that we might get matched and pass court before the court closures next year in August/September. I admire the families who have waited through the closure with such patience and grace these last weeks...Once the courts re-open, they'll get their court date and after they pass, they can go get their baby. I know they are eager to get it done. We pray for them too.

On a much lighter note...Zeke and I will be in VEGAS next weekend! Yes! The very first time I went to Vegas with Brad (pre-Zeke), I said, "I will NEVER bring our children here." Since then, we have come to appreciate some things about Vegas (the weather, the shopping, the food) but mostly, it lives up to its reputation as Sin City. Zeke is still little enough that he won't "get" all the adult junk that goes on. In a couple of years, I definitely WON'T be bringing him. So, why am I going? We're going to meet up with my amazing friend and her daughter...She has been a super support through our first adoption and now is cheering me on as we are waiting for number 2. She adopted her daughter from the same orphanage where we got Zeke. So, it will be the moms and the kids. What FUN! Pray for safe travels for all four of us and that we'll all have a BLAST!

Tonight is the Mid Autumn Festival. We're looking forward to that. Zeke had his first "big boy" haircut today. He's cute with his new 'do. We took him to a place called "Cookie Cutters" where he got to sit in a CAR while the gal cut his hair. And he had his very own TV screen where they showed Disney's Cars so he could focus on that and sit quasi-still for the trim. He did an excellent job! Pictures are forthcoming!

Mid-Autumn Festival=Moon Cakes!

It's time to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. Click here for a wiki entry on the holiday that's celebrated by the people of China, Korea and Vietnam. Our local international adoption group will hold a celebration Saturday evening. It will involve a potluck dinner, eating "moon cakes", and having the kids participate in a paper lantern parade by moonlight. We will dress Zeke in one of embroidered Vietnam t-shirts and a dark blue Vietnam-style jacket we got him in Hanoi. We will definitely take pictures! And if you'd like to join us in celebrating this festival American-style, we invite you to eat some moon pies in the moonlight!