The Party was a Success!

Jachin and Kimberlyn had a joint birthday party this past weekend. We did a cowboy theme, which they both were excited about. We rented two ponies which the kids could ride and brush. They had so much fun! We were a little worried that the party might be rained out, but the weather cooperated at the last minute. I don’t know what we would have done if there were no horses. They were the main attraction. We had hot chocolate and cupcakes. Yes, I made 40 cupcakes! But the main success of the party was the gift. It sounds strange, but we chose to have everyone bring donations for a pig instead of presents. World Vision is an amazing Christian humanitarian organization that fights poverty all over the world. You can get a Christmas catalog from them that lists things like a goat, a cow, a pig, or a fishing kit. They basically provide a needy family with this gift, that keeps on giving. With a simple barnyard animal, a family will have a way to feed and provide for themselves year round. We were hoping for around $50 to pay for a share of a pig. However, we received $173 from around 20 children. We were able to buy an entire pig from the party donations. So not only did we have a great time, but we were able to give to someone who is in need. And Jachin and Kimberlyn were great about the whole thing. It is truly amazing to see a 4 yr old and a almost 6 yr old say it is ok to not get presents. They had to work through the initial idea, but by the time the party came around, they were excited to be giving to someone that had nothing. I am so proud of them!

Bo's November Update

Our boy is so handsome! We are still waiting for his passport to be printed. If you would like to catch up on all the details, check out our adoption blog. We cannot wait until our family is complete....and together!

Keenon and Jesse

Keenon and Jesse have been home now for almost one week. Mom, Dad, and I drove down to see them in the NICU on their birthday. They are running the house already, Jenny tells me. We are so excited to spend time with them over Christmas. Hopefully Bo will be here, so that we can get all the cousins together.

Here I Am to Worship

Jachin is a pastor’s son. That means at some point in his life he will have to be called down for talking in church from the stage and that everyone always knows most of the embarrassing moments in his life!

It also means that he will be given a mic and required to sing at his father’s whim. A few months ago Jachin came to praise band practice and impromptu we sang “Here I Am To Worship” and the whole band joined in. Amy Nichols thought it was cute and took this picture.

Well, this Sunday I thought that it would be great if Jachin sang for the Satellite Service. He got all dressed up in his chord jacket and jeans (his father’s preferred Sunday attire!) and sang for all the kids at the Satellite Service. He did a great job!

Andy

Halloween 2007

This year Jachin was Johnny Storm, The Human Torch, from the Fantastic Four. (Of course he was a superhero!) It was great because he already had the Fantastic Four costume thanks to Aunt Meredith last Christmas. So all we needed was boots and orange hair dye. Kimberlyn decided she wanted to be Super Girl. This surprised me. I expected a princess. But every Super Girl costume was pricey, so we went creative. We used Jachin’s Superman cape (with muscles and all). I did search Norman for a red skirt. The only skirt in Norman was $12, not bad. THEN....Kimberlyn decided the day of the Family Fun Fest at church that she wanted to be Cinderella again (like last year). This is just like a girl, changing her mind at the last minute. I did talk her into being Super Girl at church, as long as she could be Cinderella on Halloween. She was adorable. So on Wed. Jachin dressed up for his school party, and Kimberlyn (Cinderella) went to her Dance party and her school party. Jachin’s hair was out of control! He loved it, but me...not so much. We kept finding orange on things, even after washing his hair one million times. His pillow case was orange, the back of the car seat, etc. Keep in mind this happened twice--Sunday and Wed. Jachin’s hair was slightly orange for a few days. Needless to say, everything is back to it’s original color. We made it out this year for a reasonable amount of money. Now next year we have three CREATIVE costumes to come up with.

Road Trip 2007

This last weekend was the first College Ministry Trip that Jachin went on with me. We loaded up the charter bus on Friday and headed up to Ames, IA. So, how did Jachin do on a bus full of college students for Twenty+ hours over 48 hours and attending his second college football game?

First I need to give some background information, Cody is a college student at OU from Tulsa, OK. He is a great guy. He just got into Med School (congratulations, Cody) and he is a leader in our college ministry. None of this matters.... to Jachin. Jachin likes Cody because Cody came over and played Star Wars Lego II with him. This gesture has created my son’s first man-crush. He thinks Cody is the coolest. Jachin asked if Cody was going on the trip, and became giddy when I said yes.

On the way to the church to load up for the trip on Friday, Jachin asked if he could sit with Cody on the bus. I told him that he could play with Cody every ‘once in a while’, but that he couldn’t be with him the whole time. We got on the road to Ames around 1pm and about 1:20 (we had made it from Norman to Edmond) Jachin turned and asked, “Is it every ‘once in a while’ yet?” Jachin wanted to play with Cody!

The bus trips were full of Jachin asking to play with Cody, Cody graciously hanging out with a five year old, and Jachin playing SuperMario cart on Cody’s Nintendo DS (guess what is on the Christmas/Birthday list now!) and Jachin sprawling out to sleep over our two seats leaving his dad standing in the aisle.

My favorite part of the trip happened about an hour before kick-off. We were at the stadium early and watched the teams warm-up. We took some pics with OU’s pig-horse and then the place-kickers started to kick FGs into the stands. Jachin and I started to shag some of the kicks and then he would throw them down to the trainers on the field. We had a blast.

OU on the other hand, did not have a blast once the game started. This was supposed to be a rout and we were down 0-7 at half. Jachin watched the game, cheered for OU (He loves kick-offs “OOOOOOOOOOOOOO U!”) and of course, made a friend with the drunk ISU fan sitting across the aisle!

‘Chris’ had obviously started ‘enjoying’ the game a while before kick-off. I was leary, but Jachin was as friendly as ever. Chris ended up being really nice (whether that was artificially induced or natural, we may never know) and when asked by his Papa what happened on the trip, Jachin’s reply was, “I met a new friend (Chris). He was from Iowa State.”

Choose what you may from RoadTrip 2007. Cody is much cooler and more fun than dad -or- There are some really nice people who are Iowa State fans. I will personally remember shagging FGs with my son and praying that he will stop catching the ball like his mom.

Andy

Orr Family Farm

Kimberlyn and I had a mother/daughter weekend. Andy and Jachin took a roadtrip up to Iowa to see the OU vs Iowa St. game this past weekend. They had a blast! Kimberlyn and I had fun together too. We went to the Orr Family Farm on Friday night. Kimberlyn rode a pony, train, carousel, and hayride. She loved the petting zoo where she pet a llama, pig, rabbit, sheep, and guinea pig. We each picked out a pumpkin at the pumpkin patch. We had a great time together just being girls.

Sunflower

I have such a sweet husband! He is a great daddy too. Kimberlyn and Andy were spending time together. She loves going to lunch every Wed.--just the two of them. It is their special time. Well, they were driving down a back road that has fields on both sides. The fields were full of beautiful sunflowers. Kimberlyn pointed them out. Andy, being the hero that he is, pulled over. He went out into the field and picked his daughter a flower. He went back to the truck and handed his princess her prize. She was all smiles. And then---SCREAMS!!! I guess there was a little stowaway on her beautiful flower. She screamed bloody murder because her daddy had handed her an ant. So her knight in shining armor grabbed the flower and shook the ant off. Happy ending after all! It figures that when you try, it never works out. :) I laughed for hours when Andy came home and told me about his botched attempt to woo his daughter. I guess she will be hard to please in the dating world--when she’s 30! But she still talks about the flower that daddy gave her everytime we drive down that road. I guess her memory is selective.

Bo's Sept Update

Look at those teeth!

Bo is as cute as ever! We are still waiting for Bo’s passport. We hope to hear something soon, as always. You can check out our adoption website here. We will keep you updated. Don’t worry, you will know when we find out we can go to Haiti!!!! I think the whole world will hear our shouts. Again, it could be any day or several months. Such is the way of international adoption. :)

I am reading a new book

I have been halfway researching the AIDS epidemic for the past year. It is fascinating how a virus can change entire countries. I try to read books that are aimed at Christian responses to this crisis. The AIDS Crisis What we can do by Deborah Dortzbach & W. Meredith Long is a unique book that lists facts while capturing your heart. They present the prejudices that we have against people with this illness. It is nice to read a book that stretches you, and makes you reexamine the assumptions you live by. I have had the attitude for so many years that they get what they deserve. Is that what I think of all sin? I surely have never wanted what I deserve. I want mercy. I have mercy. And then there is the issue of the innocent--faithful wives and children. What do they deserve?

Now just because you reexamine doesn’t mean you change your beliefs, but it is refreshing to know that you have consciously decided to gauge your life by those principles. Should we as Christians proclaim that sin is sin? Yes. But we should be proclaiming that their is freedom from sin just as loudly. I think we tend to forget that part because we want to feel better than everyone else.

Why should we mess with other people’s sin when we don’t have our own under control? You always gain more love for people the more you learn about them. I think is the main point of God calling on us to “visit the orphan.” How can you physically see their plight without becoming moved and compelled to action. It allows you to change your actions along with your heart. So when I confront my ignorance in any area, I gain perspective. And when I seek out the mind of Christ, I gain His perspective and love. And God’s perspective always involves action.

So that is the main point I am taking away from this book. The Church should be acting, not ignoring problems. How that plays out is different for every ministry. But something should be done to show Christ’s love to these hopeless and shunned people. We need to give them hope. Now your passion may not be AIDS, but what is? What people are you loving and showing hope to? Are you ignoring those around you? Are you too comfortable? I have been for so many years. I thought smiling at people was being kind. Loving people is hard work. And I have to have constant reminders to propel me out of my temporary relapses of selfishness.

So here is my own reminder to myself. Look outside your paradigm for needs. When you find them, don’t just read about it, do something. While you are at it, don’t just do something, love....

because needs are people, and people require love.

We knew it would happen someday--Kimberlyn cut her hair

Honestly it is not that bad. I have a hard time finding the little lock of hair that is now bangs. Kimberlyn was up at the college building with her Daddy. I worked the night before, so I was at home sleeping. Andy was painting the building, one of the million remodeling projects in his career. He took the kids up there with him and let them watch movies. We have had instances with glue...I won’t go into that...but the kids are generally well behaved up at the building. But this time, Kimberlyn decided she needed a haircut. She found some kiddy scissors and took a chunck off the front. Her hair is so curly that it is not obvious. Well at least we have that out of the way. Doesn’t every kid try to cut their own hair at some point?

Jachin's 1st Soccer Game

Jachin had his first soccer game today. He is playing with Upward Soccer through Crosspointe Church. It is so cute to see his coed team of 4 & 5 year old kids running around the field. The field is tiny and they play with 4 players at a time. They make sure and rotate so that everyone gets equal playing time. They are clueless. Half the time they are running the wrong way. They just herd around the ball. Jachin was probably on the ground half the time. He growled at several players because their team name is the Lions. We had to tell him that is not part of the game. They all prayed together before the game and at half time they had a small devotional thought. It was cute to see them all bowing their heads and praying. Norman is such a competitive soccer town, that we thought Upward Soccer might be the route for us. Jachin loves wearing his cleats and shin guards.

Lelli Kelly

Kimberlyn is such a girlie girl! I don’t know where she gets it. I was a tomboy growing up. It was a fight weekly on Sundays to get me to wear those itchy dresses and tights. Kimberlyn wants to be a princess daily. She wants to wear her clicky shoes with everything. She loves wearing her leotard and tights for dance class. She loves anything pink and anything with the word princess is the best. We were at the church block party last night and they had a snow cone stand. She asked for a Strawberry Princess snow cone (they had strawberry), because princess would make it better. Don’t get me wrong, she has her tough moments. I have to tell her to not hit her brother more than the other way around. She wanted to do the zipline at the church because Jachin did it.

So what is this Lelli Kelly thing? When any commercial comes on TV that shows little girls being girly, she is all over that. Lelli Kelly is a british company that makes girls shoes. They are covered with beads and sequins. And now for the kicker----they come with a small purse and nail polish. The commercial is full of girls dressing up and being girly. So Kimberlyn is hooked! She has asked for “Kelly the pretty shoes” for her birthday. I thought it was cute and started searching for these shoes. I was in for a shock. This little girls shoes are $50-75!!!!! I don’t even spend that much on my shoes. Kimberlyn is only 3. That is not ok. So Andy told me to go buy some shoes, glue sequins on them, and buy some nail polish. That wasn’t a bad idea (and I may do that), but I felt like I would be lying to my child, when she opened the box and said “My Kelly the pretty Shoes!” So I started my online search for these ridiculous shoes, hoping to find a deal somewhere. I cannot believe parents actually buy these things for their children. I could find them on sale for 5-10 dollars off, but they were all still over $50. I was getting discouraged, when I hit the jackpot. I found clearance Lelli Kelly shoes on amazon.com. I found a pair of pink high tops with beading for $20 with free shipping! I was so happy. Finally I had the best of both worlds. I could give Kimberlyn the one thing she had asked for her birthday (which is just insane that a 3 year old is asking for shoes, but that is our daughter) and not break the bank. The shoes are not that cute, but they are pink! She is going to love the nail polish. Andy tells me that I am creating a monster. He thinks I am teaching her that she can get whatever she wants. I think I am teaching her if mommy can find it on sale, she can get something she wants on her birthday. The one thing I am not happy about, is that when Kimberlyn wears her fancy shoes out, the other moms will think, How could they spend that much money on a toddler? I know I would think that!

The Best News of Your Life

“Jachin, do you sin? Do you ever do things you aren’t supposed to?”

“Yes” he replied

“The Bible says that the wages of sin is death. Who is Jesus?”

“God’s son”

“Did Jesus ever sin?”

“No” Jachin said emphatically

“Then why did He die on the cross?”

“Well Daddy, He had to die for my sins...”

That is a snippet from the best conversation I have ever had. Jachin has been talking about God, Jesus, and salvation for the last year. I remember his Nana sitting down with him at Ted’s Mexican Restaurant. She was so excited and so wanted him to say the prayer, but Jachin wasn’t ready yet.

A few months ago, Jachin and I had a similar conversation and right before I asked him if he wanted to pray a prayer and ask Jesus into his heart, Jachin looked at me and said, “Am I going to go swimming with Brooks tomorrow?”

Christy was not exempt for this saga, she recently gave me a ‘to do’ list that included:

Custom Water Bottles for College Promotion

Cross for entry of the College Building

Jachin’s baptism

Haiti video

Babysitter list

We were all reacting to Jachin’s openness to talking about God. He is very in tune with spiritual matters and he loves talking about it. We didn’t want to push him, so we tried to be patient and give Jachin the opportunity to work it out with God.

Last night the PM service started with a baptism. Jachin asked me if he could do that. I told him that baptism is a way that we show everybody at the church that we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Jachin said he wanted to do that. So after the music part of the service, and the sermon, Jachin was waiting for the invitation. Because we had the Lord’s Supper, we didn’t have an alter call, we just started the Lord’s Supper.

Jachin asked if he could take the Lord’s Supper and I said no, because it is for those of us that have accepted Jesus and we do it to remember what Jesus did on the cross.

The service ended and then Jachin’s buddy Brooks came up to us and asked us what we were talking about, and I said, “We are talking about being a Christian”

Brooks said, “I am a Christian, I just haven’t been baptized yet.” Jachin then said that he wanted to be a Christian, then he saw another of his friends and ran off to say hi.

Christy asked me after the service if Jachin had become a Christian because she and Susan had heard us talking and Susan was diligently praying for Jachin the whole service.

The aforementioned conversation happened as Jachin went to bed. He prayed and asked Jesus to come into his heart and he thanked God for forgiving his sins.

I was saved when I was five and watching Jachin take this step was so encouraging to me. I don’t remember the details, but I got to be a part of the details of Jachin. He may not remember all the conversations, but he will have this blog to remind him and see how many people were praying for him and waiting for the day that he asked Jesus to save him.

Today was great. Jachin walked into our room singing a song “I am a Christian, I am a Christian”. He made it up himself. When I took him to school, he told me he will always be a Christian because it “doesn’t wash off”.

He talked to his Mimi, Pa, Nana, Papa, Grandmother & Papa Cross, Jeremy, Melissa, Jenny, Jacob and apparently everyone in Mrs. Hughes class!

I’ll end this blog with Jachin’s first sentence to all of them...

‘I have the best news of your life....”

Andy

First Day of School

What a big day! Jachin started Kindergarten today--all day Kindergarten. He is so excited to eat lunch at school. He has been talking all month about how he is a Kindergartner now, so he can do anything. He thinks he is all grown up now. We have to keep reminding him that a Kindergartner is not an adult. That surprised him. He suddenly wants to take showers. He didn’t want Andy to kiss him the other day. He asked what else Kindergartners do, and of course we used that to our advantage. We told him that they take out the trash every Monday (that is our trash pickup day). Three of the kids that were in his Pre-K class last year are in his class this year with Mrs. Hughes. One little girl lives across the street from us. I know Jachin is going to have a blast, but I am a little sad. What am I going to do until 2:45?

Kimberlyn has open house today to meet her teacher and look around the preschool. Her first actual school day is Tues. She is so ready to make friends of her own. She has been making up friends names and stories. We really do know one little girl already. Kimberlyn can’t wait to see her. Last night when Jachin and I were making his lunch for school, Kimberlyn wanted to make her lunch too (she doesn’t eat lunch at school). She wants to be just like her brother. She will only go on Tues. and Thurs. for 2 1/2 hours. I thought Bo would be here by now, so I never prepared myself for two mornings a week by myself. What am I going to do? I am sure I can figure something out! :)

God Rocks

God Rocks is the cutest kids show about the Bible. Usually I think the shows are great for the kids, but are a little annoying. Well, with God Rocks I have learned something. They basically make bible verses into songs (BibleToons) and then do a little show about it. Some of the songs on their CD are done by a guy doing an Elvis impersonation (I could do without those). But for the most part, the songs are catchy and well done. Most of them are rock style, but a few are Elvis, Beetles, MoTown, or Beach Boys. I have learned more bible verses in the past year than probably ever. And it is so nice to hear the kids singing away in the car. They are at the perfect age to memorize and soak up anything they hear. Why not bible verses?! Maybe when they get older they will remember these cheesy songs. And hopefully they will understand what they have been singing about for years.

Fun Memories

2000-Don't we look young?

I thought it would be fun to start our family journal with a brief history. Our family began in 1998 when Andy and I were married in Norman, OK. We graduated from OBU, got married, and moved to DFW. I started working as an RN for the first time in the NICU at Parkland. Andy started seminary. We lived in a little apartment for way too much rent. I worked nights and Andy went to class/work during the day. But really it wasn’t so bad because we didn’t know what married life was like anyway. It was all so new and exciting. It is funny to think back on the emotions and perspectives. We thought we were busy, tired, and poor. Little did we know that parenthood would later change that paradigm. We lived in the DFW area for a year and a half. We moved back to Norman and Andy became a college ministry intern and commuted to DFW for school. I worked at Baptist Hospital in the NICU. Soon Andy was hired as the college minister. When we received the wonderful news that Jachin was on his way, we bought our very first house. We moved when I was pregnant, so I got out of the heavy lifting. Jachin was born on Dec. 26, 2001. He was an easy delightful baby. I enjoyed going part-time at work to stay home with our beautiful boy. Kimberlyn came on Nov. 29, 2003 a few weeks early, but healthy. She was just precious. Although not as easy, she was such a joy. And then in 2006 we began the process of adopting our adorable little boy, Bo, from Haiti. To be continued....

Bo's July Update

Doesn't Bo look adorable as always? There is a new adoption coordinator at GLA. Her name is Lea and she has been at GLA for less than a month. She took over for LaDawn. She has such a heart for the children at the orphanage. We feel blessed again to have such wonderful people taking care of Bo.

Weight 22lbs 12 oz

Height 32 inches

We are still waiting for Bo's passport. We will let you know if we hear anything.