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.