Halloween 2010

It's been a marathon of a Halloween weekend!

Friday: Halloween party at Calvary Day Care in Jack's class. 20 3-year-olds all hopped up on sugar! It's always fun to see Jack and his friends interact and go through their routines in their classroom.

Saturday: Blake Bartney's birthday party in the afternoon. That family really knows how to throw a birthday party! They had a carnival theme in the front yard with games that you could earn tickets for. They also had a jumper and some fabulous food (including homemade Kool-Aid all the way from New Orleans)!!
Sydney enjoyed bouncing on the jumper.

Saturday evening was the Woodworth Trunk or Treat. Our church had a fall backdrop set up for family pictures. We had 80 families that took pictures that are not familiar with our church, and we will be hand-delivering their pictures over the next few weeks and meeting some families in our community. This will be a great way to invite people to church. So fun!
A real, live fire truck!! Our little fire fighter was SO excited to be up close and personal!



Sunday evening was the actual trick-or-treating event. Oh my word. We went to the Walsh's house for hot dogs, then we ventured into West Point subdivision for some serious candy. WOW! There were SO many trick-or-treaters....by the trailer-fulls! Thank you, Walshes, for inviting us to your Halloween party! We definitely need to make this a tradition!!


This is my favorite picture of the night!

Foster Care Status

We have almost completed the certification process! We will be certified and licensed by November 17th.

Prayer Requests:

• That God would prepare our hearts for the child that will be a part of our lives.
• That we would know our boundaries. We know we will have to say no much more than yes.
• That school zoning/daycare issues would be worked out. I know God is so much bigger than paperwork.
• That God would prepare Jack and Sydney for another sibling to share their home and their parents.

We are accepting children ages 2-7, with no known aggressive/sexual issues. Honestly, I am praying for a 2-year-old that would be able to attend Calvary Day Care. If we ended up being able to adopt, I would like to adopt a child younger than Jack.

We are becoming very excited and very nervous! Can't wait to see what's in store for us!

Guatemala Trip

Clint had a wonderful time on his trip to Guatemala! We have loved looking at all the pictures he and his teammates took, and hearing all of his stories!

Here's the rundown:

Clint was on the construction team, and they worked really hard to build a greenhouse. They also went to a primitive Mayan village. The medical team treated the people and the construction team painted some houses.
These are two ladies in a primitive Mayan home.
Clint, Seth, Jared, William, Jonathan, and Charles were all there without their wives, and they all slept in this bunkhouse (which they called the frat house). They thought it would be awesome to sleep in hammocks in the jungle one night, but after a night of no sleep, they moved on to the more practical bunk beds. Typical boys.
This little boy became very attached to Clint. This is the river outside the village where the guys went swimming. This is the bunkhouse - frat house - where the guys stayed.
The Mayan village had running water that was pumped straight from the river. Clint said the showers were COLD! The boys also went swimming in the river.

Jonathan Hunter gathering some coconuts.


Thank you all for your prayers! He had a fabulous time and we are so glad to have him home!

8 Months Old!

No eight month old pictures until Clint gets home with my camera - he comes home tomorrow night. We cannot wait!!!

At eight months, Sydney Kaye is:

• eating like a champ! She takes three-four bottles and three containers of baby food daily.
• still sleeping wonderfully. She will go to sleep anywhere, anytime! The past two nights we have been at friends' houses during her bedtime. No problem! Just put her in the middle of a big bed and she'll suck her thumb and go on to sleep.
• not mobile yet. I'm seeing some progress, though! It's so hard to not compare her to Jack, who was a champion crawler at 8 months. She's just not interested in moving around (plus she's a little....rotund :)
  
• sitting and playing very well. She likes to look at toys and turn them over in her hands very intensely. Ha!
• extremely fussy in the evenings. Poor thing has been at daycare from 6:45- 3:00 and when she gets home she demands her mommy! Can you blame her? This may be another reason why she's a little behind on being mobile....she screams every time I put her down, so I am guilty of holding her too much. Oops!
  
• still the sweetest baby girl there ever was. I'm so blessed to do life with her!

Sunday I'll post Guatemala pictures. Can't wait to see Clint tomorrow!!

No Pics, just bullet points.

• I don't have pictures because Clint has my camera in GUATEMALA!! He is gone for a whole week and I cannot WAIT to hear all of his stories.
  

• I guess you gathered from #1 that I am on my own this week. Whew! I will make it through with Chick-fil-A and a half-gallon of Blue Bell Cookies and Cream.

• Jack was a beast for his second race today - ran every single step and got a thrill from passing other kids up. Where oh where does he get his competitive nature?

• Sydney is starting to get mobile, little by little. I mean, those thighs are ginormous and quite cumbersome. Plus, Jack brings her everything she needs and I carry her everywhere she wants to go. What's the point of crawling? :)
  

• Our home development worker is coming on Tuesday afternoon for our safety visit and walk-through. She'll be checking out the square footage in the foster bedroom (which is no longer pink, by the way), the fire extinguisher, and the smoke detectors. We will also be talking about the type of child we are willing to accept and sorting through our million questions.
  

• That last point makes me nervous. We could possibly have a child by the holidays. Holy moly.

• I think I need another half-gallon of Blue Bell.