Weekend Recap

I feel like I spent the the entire weekend at the ballpark.

Saturday Josh's team played football at our park instead of Ashland City because their field was holding water from all the recent rains. I was bummed early on in the game because I started having lens/camera issues. My camera reported "communication errors" to the lens and finally the auto focus just gave up the ghost. I had a "short" lens to work with but the picture quality just isn't the same. Oh well.... I got some pictures, at least.


Ellie with the grandparents having a snack


Josh assists in a take-down.


Josh at half-time


Josh has several friends who go to school with him that play on the opposing team. I said a few years from now when they are all playing high school ball, this will be a nice photo to have of them -- looking back.




DeeDee entices Ellie with the keys. She loves to "drive".


Ellie showing Austin her Vikings crocs.

After the resounding 35-0 win over the Titans, a large portion of the kids, coaches and parents took off for the scheduled camping trip. Out in the middle of a cow pasture, the parents set about setting up camp while the boys rode dirt bikes and four wheelers until it got dark. After that, we all ate and sat around a camp fire for a while. By this point Ellie was getting antsy and not wanting her to fall smack dab in a "pile", I decided it was time she and I leave. Many moms didn't spend the night -- pansies that we all are -- and I was certainly one of them. While I laid it on the fact that I didn't want Ellie to wake the entire camp up if she woke up crying, the truth is I don't like sleeping outside when it's COLD. Now, you Northern folks will laugh when I say 46* is cold, but down here in Tennessee, that's COLD to me. :-) So, Ellie and I went home and slept where there was heat and soft beds. I'm told there were snipe hunting outings, a hay ride, some "haunted" woods and lots of play time before folks started drifting off to bed in the wee hours of the morning.


Josh on Bailey's bike -- I'm still not sure why he preferred Bailey's bike to his but he rode it more than he did his own. None to worry, someone else rode his.



Ellie trying on her first motorcycle helmet -- isn't she cute?


Ellie "riding" her first dirt bike - ha! Rest assured someone was holding her, the bike was not running and she did not seem the least bit interested. I'm hoping she'll stick with something a little less nerve wrecking on her mom!




Cooper -- the dog of the man who let us use his land to camp. Cooper was the BEST dog and I'm told he ate so many "droppings" and "leftovers" that he couldn't move on Sunday morning! Is anyone surprised that I took pictures of the dog? Seems I've passed my "animal whisperer" title on to Ellie who loves animals just like her mama.



Ellie sporting her "new" coat. If I'm not mistaken, this is one I bought a year or so ago from my friend Mayme who realized that many of the clothes she'd gotten for Emma were too small. We, however, are CERTAINLY enjoying it. Isn't she cute??


This was another "accident" photo because the light was fading fast, but I LOVE it. It seems to magnify the movement of the dirt bike riding.

Sunday morning brought some more bike riding, breakfast and breaking camp to return home. The Latham family then got showers, all took naps and then this afternoon headed BACK to the park to work concessions from 2:30 - 6:00 as part of a fundraiser for the team. Afterwards, we let Ellie and Josh play at the playground at the park. Ellie went down the slide for the first time by herself tonight. GRANTED, she goes down backwards on her stomach, but HEY! it's a start.

For Andrea - Priceless

Andrea, who has the most wonderful business making customized items, With Sugar on Top, made Ellie this cute little shirt a while back. She also gave us these sweet blue jeans that were Ellie's Kyrgyz buddy, AP's when she was little. Kevin picked this outfit out all on his own this morning and I thought it only appropriate to take a picture of Ellie in them.

Customized shirt from With Sugar on Top - $15

Squeaky shoes from Ms. DeeAnna - Free

Blue jeans from Kyrgyz friend - Free

Smile on sweet baby girl -- PRICELESS

Random

Took some pix today because I haven't in a while. Nothing spectacular or posed -- just life.

Josh and Ellie have fallen into a routine that every night before Ellie goes up to take her bath, they spend 15-20 minutes in wild, loud, raucous fun. They wrestle (as much as a boy Josh's size can wrestle with a girl Ellie's size -- she's going to be one tough little cookie later on!!), chase each other around, play tug of war with her blankie, play hide and seek and pet the dogs. It's hard to catch a photo -- much less a good one -- of them playing, but it's so sweet to hear Ellie laughing with Josh. It's not so sweet, however, when she starts to get all whiny, and Josh certainly knows how to push her buttons to get her angry. All in all, though, they do pretty well and seem to enjoy this time and this ritual.

Ellie loves pizza. However, tonight, she discovered she adores black olives, mushrooms and sausage. That's predominantly what she picked off her pizza. She does not like green peppers. She also loves soda. [Yes, I know, save the comments on how it's not good for her because I probably will just ignore them. *smile*] She is now drinking from a cup with no lid and typically never spills a drop. This girl is so very coordinated that I'm amazed. She also loves using a spoon and fork to eat and does really well with those as well. We've been working on learning to bow our heads, fold our hands and pray. That is not going nearly as well as the cup drinking. *smile*

I tell everyone about the cute thing Ellie does (and has done for a long time now) with purses. She'll see one, pick it up, put it on her shoulder and then STOP, look at you, wave, blow you a kiss and then walk to the door as if she's going out. It's a riot. It's the same every single time too. So funny!!

And for some reason I've never thought to give her a whole apple. Today she saw them in the fridge and wanted one so I gave her one. She had quite a bit of fun with it.

Funny story on Kevin. He went to get a hair cut and his regular guy was out. He says he told he guy to take off 1/4". What the guy heard was cut it down to 1/4". Basically, he's bald, er, shaved, um, without hair. Josh told me to take a picture so we could share it with Uncle Steve because he said that's who he reminds him of. Kevin said he thinks he looks like Corbin Benson on Psych. It has taken a wee bit to get used to, but I don't freak every time I look at him now. ha!

I am hoping for some positive news from K'stan soon. Word has it that there is hope that the 65 waiting children might be coming home soon!! Continue prayers for these children and their families. On a sad note, my blogger friend, B. recently got the news that her referred son's birthmom returned to claim him and parent him. Please remember B., her son B. and his birthmom in your prayers. It's a hard time for her as you can imagine.

Flying' in an Airplane

Since a year ago I was on a plane, it seemed appropriate that I document Ellie's FAVORITE song: Flyin' in an Airplane, on the Barney DVD she watches. She sets mesmerized and then as soon as they start to sing this song those arms get to flying around everywhere. Here are some cute poses we see regularly.

Note the dog in the background? I can assure you he is rolling his eyes. *smile*

Hiatus -- Over?

Yeah, that lasted a long time, didn't it? I didn't get to soak in the tub, paint my finger/toe nails, but I did get to read a bit of a book before I fell asleep each night. Whoo hoo.

Anyway, it was a FORCED return to blogging because I realized that a year ago today (well, date-wise tomorrow, but day-wise today), Jennifer and I were scurrying around like mad dogs getting ready to leave Nashville on planes bound for K'stan to pick up Ellie.

I called Jennifer today and we had a few moment reminiscing and she was certainly glad she was not getting on a plane today but was, instead, shopping. She did wear her "K-stan" shoes today in honor of the day!!

A year -- unbelievable. The excitement of getting on that plane knowing that I was going to finally get to walk out of the orphanage with my baby girl and never have to go back was preeminent on my mind. The fact that God had orchestrated this union over a period of four years (from the beginning of time actually) and through various countries, trials and disappointments has remained in my heart since that time. It has given me a greater faith-base to trust Him -- even when things seem dismal and hard (like right now in the job arena for Kevin).

For anyone who wants to go back a year with me, the posts are here, here and here.

I will now return to my self-imposed hiatus (until tomorrow when there will be football pictures and the football team's campout-dirt bike riding adventures to post -- see, never any rest) :-)

Blogger Hiatus

I am going on a blogger break for a little while. I have become a bit overwhelmed with life and all the things I need to be getting done right now AND with some things I want to do (oh, I don't know, read a book, clean my house, wash clothes, take a hot bath, paint my toenails).

I am trying to keep up three blogs right now (this one, my coupon one and Josh's football team blog), finish 10 baseball photo books (yes, from spring/summer baseball) and need to begin on the 24 football books I'll need in November/December.

As a quick update on our lives, I'll leave you all with this:

Kevin still has not found a job. We have not lost hope as he's had a second call back from one of his resumes, but the headhunter indicates they are checking into what positions he fits within the company. He got a tip today (from my mom, no less) of a company that has four open positions and he's made a phone call to them and left a message. We are hopeful to see movement soon.

There is nothing really new with Josh, Ellie or I. We are all doing well. We are battling bedtime issues with Ellie again -- much screaming crying, waking up at night. I think she might be cutting some more teeth. However, it's causing much loss of sleep.

Sunshine is still with us. Yes, we need to take her, but she is still not dire yet so we haven't. Selfish, I suppose.

Our heat/air has been fixed -- yay. There is a long post in there about what warranties should cover but don't but I'll leave that for another time.

We are coming up on our one year anniversary for picking up Ellie -- October 14 is the day I left the orphanage in Tokmok with her and the day we will celebrate. I will certainly post then about what we do for that day.

So... don't fret if you don't hear from me for a bit. Know that I'm alive, well, kicking (and screaming) and will return full of stories of life at the Latham hacienda and photos of the wee monkeys that fill our lives with such fun and give us the stories we share.

We hope you all are well -- know that many of you who are reading this are certainly included in our prayers.

Ellie and DeeDee

MeeMee and DeeDee came to Joshua's football game on Saturday. After the game, Ellie "took up" with DeeDee (because she wanted to "drive" his truck and he had the keys). These are a couple of sweet pix of them.




I'm sad that this one was blurry -- I wanted a good one of it -- maybe another time.




Ellie "drove" with MeeMee and DeeDee for a bit before we left.

Joelton Vikings Rock on Saturday

This past Saturday Josh's team, the Vikings, played against the South Cheatham Indians and played awesome. They won the game 36-3 in the third quarter, and the second string even got to play a lot.

After the game, our dear friends from the Vikings presented us a gift and we were so moved at both their sweet genorosity and sacrifice as well as God's provision for our family. Every day God continues to remind us that He will take care of us until the time He has Kevin's job ready. And while I'm very impatient and would certainly like for it to be today (as I'm certain Kevin would like as well), we are reminded of our wait for Ellie and how much more she is than we could have ever expected. We are also reminded of all the events surrounding Ellie's adoption and how she almost wasn't our sweet daughter and how God worked that out. It helps me to remember that something as simple as a job is something we don't have to worry about. BUT... that's not about Josh's football, so I've gotten a little off task.

Josh was one of the three captains for this game.














Only two more regular season games and then we head to play-offs! Go Vikings-Go Josh!!

Tweeners

Tweeners are always fun to have around the house -- if you need proof of this, imagine getting this response when you try to take their picture (yes, that IS chocolate in his mouth):

Who Wouldn't Want to Smooch this Face?

Tonight, when Kevin picked Ellie up from her class at church, our friend D. was there picking up his son C. Our friend, L. who was watching the kiddos tonight told Kevin and D. that while they were in there C. kissed Ellie on the cheek. She said, "It was so sweet!" I'm sure it was. C. was my "practice" baby while I was waiting for Ellie to come home.

Who wouldn't want to kiss this sweet face? And she is, after all, wearing her "foxy" shirt (that she thinks is a dog)!
Clapping to the "Wheels on the Bus"

Sunshine

Unfortunately, Kevin was busy helping a friend yesterday and did not get to take Sunshine to the vet. She is still here with us and doing fairly well -- she is not in terrible distress, so we felt it would be ok to wait until Monday.

When Josh got home on Friday he had a funny look on his face when he looked at Sunshine. I told him Daddy didn't get to take her today. He said, "Thank goodness!" Then he added, "Well, not for her, but for me." Bless his heart.

Will this year END already???

Ok, I'm still working hard on keeping my positive attitude ... but I will certainly tell you that I'm ready for 2009 to end -- and soon.

It appears that we will have to put our dog, Sunshine, to sleep tomorrow. We've known it was coming for a while. In fact, I thought I'd have to do it before we picked Ellie up last year when she started acting a bit, well, off -- think doggy dementia. But, other than following us around where ever we would go (think doggie velcro), and wanting to staying inside instead of outside, she did pretty well.

Christmas - 2008

Fast forward to about a week ago when I noticed a sharp increase in her fluid intake. Since we have a relatively small water bowl, I noticed I was filling in multiple times a day for her while she stood by waiting. She's been sleeping a lot more, not hearing us when we call her (of course, she's been hard of hearing for a long time) and I've noticed her back legs are struggling to lift her up. She's had some quiver in them as well.

Then today, she went out, went across the street to the neighbor's yard and crawled up into the culvert under their drive. Thank goodness Kevin and Josh were leaving for football and saw her or we might never have figured where she was. They managed to call her out and she was having trouble walking. I got her back home, she drank and is now napping. I suspect she is likely in end stage kidney failure.

So, we have decided that it is not in her best interests to keep her here. Tomorrow we will have to take her to the vet's office. I can't/won't be there for her departure. I've had to do too many as of late and she was literally Kevin's dog. I probably should be there, but I just don't have it in me to do. I will say my goodbyes before she leaves -- unless Kevin tells me he can't do it or can't do it alone. *sigh*


I will do a tribute post with photos of her soon.


Can this year be over now??

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances,

for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

-1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven.

A time to give birth, and a time to die; A time to plant, and a time to uproot what is planted.

A time to kill, and a time to heal; A time to tear down, and a time to build up.

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; A time to mourn, and a time to dance.

A time to throw stones, and a time to gather stones;

A time to embrace, and a time to shun embracing.

A time to search, and a time to give up as lost; A time to keep, and a time to throw away.

A time to tear apart, and a time to sew together; A time to be silent, and a time to speak.

A time to love, and a time to hate; A time for war, and a time for peace.

~ Ecclesiastes 3:1-8