A Day with PaPa and the Route 66 Museum

I do not know how many times we have been to Clinton since the Route 66 Museum opened (obviously none in the past 4 years), but we had never visited the museum until today. It is rather nice, inexpensive, a little small, but definately worth it. The kids had fun looking at the old soda machines, early gas pumps, diner replicas, phone booths, and vehicles. It was a nice way to spend the afternoon. Not to mention...there was a visit to Sonic afterward. Oh, how I have missed Sonic!

Hannah posing as a "driver". Notice Jeremiah on his hands and knees so Hannah could have a boost!

Jeremiah and Hannah at the diner.

The kids.

Later that day, we were back at PaPa's. He had a surprise for Hannah after nap...fingerpaints!

David "helping" Hannah

Off to PaPa's

Where was my camera today?? Not a single picture to show for our first day at PaPa's house. What was I thinking?

Is God amazing or what??!

What an awesome day! We all got up this morning and went to Wildwood Community Church in Norman. This is where we all attended church when God first called us to adopt Hannah. We still keep in touch with many of our friends from there and were eager to see them again. However, due to our schedule, we had not let many of them know that we were arriving this Sunday.

It was so incredible to see everyone! We saw our old friends, their kids, who have grown 4 years older, and don't look a thing like what they did when we left. At least the adults haven't changed a bit, and the kids look more and more like their parents. What was even more amazing is seeing all the babies that have been adopted and born since we left. Let me just say that Wildwood's people are committed to adoption and having babies! What a blessing! It was Halli's first Sunday at church (She is a 4 month old, beautiful baby adopted by our friends the Lentzes), and we got to see Weston, adopted by the Greene's from the Ukraine just a couple of months ago. Awesome, awesome, awesome. Did I mention how AWESOME this is?? Well it gets better...

After service, we met up with some of our very best friends, the Herberts. Oh how I have missed them over the years, but the busy-ness of life keeps us from keeping in touch as we should. Anyway, we decided to go out for some Mexican food. Tarahumara's was our first choice, but we decided that it was too busy on Sunday to attempt to go there, so we decided on Los Dos Amigos. The kids piled in he cars and off we went. Fortunately, immediate seating was available; we were STARVING! (I think it is still a jet lag thing) We walked into the dining area where they have pulled two tables together and look over and saw our very good friends - the Martins - who have just moved here from GERMANY. Did I say Germany??!! Yes, indeed I did. They had just gotten to the restaurant and hadn't been waited on, so we introduced our old friends to our older friends and pulled up another table.

Now, we knew the Martins were moving to the Tinker area and were looking at Norman as a place to live. We had told them about Wildwood, but in the midst of moving, they had lost the information and had been visiting some churches looking for a church home. But how much more wonderful was this that they could come visit WITH us the next Sunday and we could introduce our friends to our church personally? Not to mention, Jasmine, the Martin's daughter and David are both going off to college in a couple of weeks, and they will have a chance to hang out before Jasmine leaves for Liberty.

Ah, old friends, older friends, and a meeting that could have only been orchestrated by God. I can bask in this all day!

Uncle Lance and Aunt Barbara's

Hannah and Joshua painting together. Water was all over the table, they painted about 10 pictures (all the same green/grey color), they had an awesome time, and it all washed out!

Jeremiah was whipping Uncle Lance on the Wii (or was it the other way around?) Depends on who is telling the story!!

Hanging out with family!

Hannah and Joshua met when Hannah and Judy came to Oklahoma in Sept 2007...but that was a long time ago. Now, it only took a few minutes for them to become as thick as thieves!

While the little ones are occupied Kobe takes a minute to watch TV - alone!

David - posing in front of Circle K...there is some significance to this, but what??!!

We made it! Now, on to the important stuff!

We made it in LATE last night, or was that early this morning? That last 45 minutes or so was nearly TORTURE!! Jet lag coupled with 2 very long days of driving is not a good combination. However, we are so glad we are finally here.

Our first Oklahoma breakfast...Krispy Kreme!


Watching the doughnut making - fascinating!

We do have an interesting story from yesterday afternoon. We were driving through Missouri, when Keith decided that we should call our friends, the Busseys who are moving to Whiteman AFB in Missouri. Now, best we knew they were staying in either Mcalester or Sapulpa in Oklahoma. I had to call a couple of numbers, but finally got in touch with Steven's brother who had them call us. But...they weren't in Oklahoma :( INSTEAD they were just outside of Springfield, Missouri on their way back to Oklahoma. Well, guess where we were??!! Just outside of Springfield, Missouri on our way to Oklahoma! God is so good :) We met at a roadside restaurant and had dinner in Missouri with our "Germany" friends! No coincidences with God.

Making our way across the US

On the road again...but I'm ready to be done! Glad to be in the USA, but ready to be in Oklahoma! Already driving across the US is taking its toll. The kids are "DONE" being in the backseat, Keith is done driving, yet still insists on doing it all :), and the kids have already watched more TV in a day than they usually do in a week.

Keep on trekkin', we still have over 900 miles to go!!

We are off to the states!

We are braving space available travel and are off to the states for a few weeks to get David settled in for school and to go visit family. We are so excited to get to go home for a while. We have a whole list of who we want to see, where we want to go, and what we want to eat! Right now, we are headed to Dover. Looks like we will have to rent a car and drive for a couple of days to get to Oklahoma. Such fun!! At least we are making it out the same day that we first tried for travel!

Waiting for our flight to leave. We are already tired and we haven't even started!

Ride 'Em Cowgirl!

OK, we won't buy Hannah a pony...so she makes "ponies" out of everything. The strap on her purse are "reins" and she loops them around anything to make a pony. She thinks that if she tucks in her shirt and puts on a belt, she looks like a cowgirl. Add the hat and the boots, and "Woah!" the transformation is complete!

So You Wonder What I Do All Day?

This is my normal morning routine...get Hannah breakfast, make coffee, catch up on the "news", take a leisurely shower, get dressed, then start the day. Yeah, right! However, I do occassionally get a moment to hang out on the compute for a few minutes.

Schoolwork

Any of you who know Hannah knows how much she loves, loves, loves her schoolwork. Every day she asks for some kind of work to do. She wants scissor work, color work , letter work, number work or just plain schoolwork. She will color, cut, paste, write up to 15 pages a day. I have to stop her there or she will use up her entire schoolwork workbook in a day! It is amazing. Now she wants to learn how to read. Crazy little lady!!

Chalk

Hannah likes to color with chalk on the back patio. Ms. Beth gave her the sidewalk chalk for her birthday, and it has provided many hours already of outside entertainment. Today, Hannah decided to make a picture of David. He is the circle with legs and other features. Then she added Mommy, Daddy, Jeremiah, Hannah and Chris (David's best friend). As you can see, we are all just floating heads. Guess we just didn't stack up!

Packing up

Hannah was watching over David's packing. I don't remember getting old enough to have a college student for a son. The movers will be here tomorrow to collect his stuff. I guess there is no turning back now.

OK, I just have to tell this story...

It was almost 5:30. I was just getting ready to start dinner. Hannah was already hungry and had been eating some almonds. I gave her a few, then she came back for some more. Next thing I know, Hannah is crying and Jeremiah is saying something quite hysterical.
"What?!" I yelled from my position in the kitchen. They had been arguing all day, certainly this was just a matter of who was sitting where on the couch...again!
"Hannah just put an almond up her nose!" was the reply. Now that had me hopping. I grabbed Hannah and looked up her nose...nothing. I brought her into the light...still nothing.
"Are you sure?" I questioned Jeremiah.
"I put an almond up my left nose," Hannah replied through her tears.
Being that I could not see the almond, I had to assume that it was way up there, so I figured that she could try to blow it out. I held a tissue over her nose, pinched the right side closed, covered her mouth and...nothing. No air flow at all. Try again...same thing and I still can't see it. Great.
Keith is not home yet, so I call his phone. "Are you still at work?" Kind of a silly question being that I called his work phone.
"I'm leaving now, " he replies. Hannah is still hysterical while I explain what has happened. It looks like a trip to the ER for us. (There is no urgent care or after hours clinic here.) It only takes Keith about 10 minutes to get home. I have put Hannah's shoes on, given instructions to the older boys and tried again to have her blow the almond out of her nose. Still nothing.
We pile in the car, and head for LRMC. Keith explains to Hannah why she should not put things up her nose, and I try to calm her down. I try again to get her to blow it out again...still nothing.
Once at the ER, we check in and are advised of a "very long" wait. By now it is nearly 6:30. She still can't breathe out of her left nostril and I still cannot see the almond culprit. Minutes tick by. Some patients come and go while we wait. Almonds are a very low priority. Seems stitches are too. We meet a young girl who came in about an hour after Hannah who hit her head on the bed and has a cut about an inch long. Well, at least they have each other for company. They gladly trade stories as we wait.
At about 9:30, we see some friends from church with their newborn (another victim of lack of urgent care and the fact that it takes a couple of days to get kids enrolled in the system). They just need a bilirubin level checked. After keeping us company and seeing how long the wait really is, the decide that he can wait until tomorrow and take their leave. Alone again and Hannah is really getting grumpy. The almond is still not to be found and she still cannot breathe out of her left side. We begin to wonder if we are ever going to be done. I have heard of these extractions sometimes taking hours and we have not even started.
Finally, it is our turn and 10:30 at night. We are 5 hours post almond stuffing. We make our way to the ER stretcher. "The doctor will be with you in a few minutes." I am glad to be here and not in the waiting room, but am not looking forward to what lies ahead. The lighting in here is pretty good. I have Hannah tilt her head back so I can see. Sure enough, there is an almond visible. Visible! Wait...I hurredly grab a tissue and have her blow again. Viola! An almond!
Now I feel a little silly, yet relieved at the same time. I carry the almond to the front desk, and explain to the staff what happened. The doctor comes in to check he nose and all is clear. We sign our discharge papers and are led out of the ER. At least we have cleared the room for the girl who still needs her stitches...

Legoland - Day 2

Wow! What a day! God provided us such awesome weather these past 2 days. Today was bright and sunny - downright hot! At least it was good for the water rides that it was really too cool for yesterday. Betwen the two days, we managed to see and do everything at least once.

David and Jeremiah on the rope-pull ride. Notice who is doing the work and who is messing around! Just kidding, JB was just taking a break to pose.

Hannah and Jeremiah in the water at the SeaLife exhibit. OK so, it wasn't as cool as Underwater World on Guam, but hey, we are in the middle of Germany!

David being a good sport about holding Hannah's bag. Not every young man has the confidence to sport a Dora backpack!

Legoland!

I feel like we are in a picture of "Where's Waldo?"

Hannah and Mommy on the airplane ride. Hannah insisted on the green airplane. Good thing we were first in line!

Can Jeremiah pull the sword from the stone? Not when it is bolted in. Hey that's cheating!!

David and Jeremiah by Einstein. Yes, everything here is REALLY built out of Legos!

Hannah! This was at the Lego factory where we got to see how Legos are made.

It was a great day. A little cool - I didn't even get to take off my sweatshirt. Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer, so we will see. Keith and the boys rode the Bionicle and a few of the roller coasters. They are not exactly my style, so Hannah and I saw some shows and played on the playground. We did go on one water ride, and were thoroughly drenched! Hannah went with us and once I looked over and both David and Jeremiah were hugging her to protect her from the onslaught of water. What awesome big brothers!

Mamma Hannah

Hannah loves to play Mommy to her babies. We are in a hotel in Leipheim, Germany waiting to start our 2 day excursion to Legoland. Hannah packed a few toys and of course, her baby was one of them.

Aye, Aye, Cap'n!

Congratulations, Keith! As my wonderful husband recently said, "I will finally have the respect I once had as a Tech Sergeant!". Let us just say that life in the military as a prior enlisted Lieutenant is interesting...

Pinning on his Captain's bars

Cutting the cake

Graduation Night

There are a few moments in your life that you will never forget. Certainly one of them is graduation night. I can recall the anticipation of my name being called, moving my tassel over and finally being a high school graduate. Now, our oldest son has had the opportunity to do the same. We are so proud of him! He did a great job in high school taking 4 honors classes, 6 AP classes, and receiving an AFROTC scholarship. His Senior year he had nearly a 4.0! He did all this while obtaining his Eagle Scout Award, participating in Cross-Country and Track, playing on the praise team at church, and overall being an awesome guy. Who could ask for more. God has totally blessed him and our family!

As far as college plans, he intends to go to the University of Oklahoma and major in Computer Engineering. Lofty goals indeed!

Receiving his diploma!! (Sorry about the grainy photo - we had seats in the nosebleed section)

David and Chris (his best friend)

You know Hannah has to be in at least one picture!

The whole family

Practicing for College

When the sign says, "Free". Doesn't that mean I can have it all??