Great Day in Calgary!

We had an excellent day today with The Bridge International Baptist Church. It was an wonderful congregation. I took this picture from the podium this morning of the congregation. We were able to attend the adult Sunday School class which was a blessing. Abbey and I rarely (Never) attend an adult Sunday School class because we are always teaching our classes.

It was a nice refreshing time. We also had a great night's sleep last night in our room. Although we miss our baby boy terribly, we are realizing how important it is to take time out for ourselves. I hope that maybe some of you who read our blog, will also understand that you and yours need time away from the kiddos. It has been our experience that the hardest thing about finding someone to keep Reed is choosing who! We are so blessed with family and friends who just love to keep the Reedster.



I am not a preacher (although several people told me that I was a great preacher), and so I was a little troubled about how I should plan a sermon. God led me to a passage in 1 Kings this past week talking about Elijah running for his life in the desert. I chose to focus on rest and chose a few verses to help drive home the point. Imagine my amazement when our Sunday School lesson this morning used the same verse and even talked about finding rest in God. It never ceases to amaze me how God works.

At the end of the sermon, I had a picture of our family on the screen and I related to them, how I viewed our adoption experience similar to Elijah's experience in the desert. The congregation cheered when I explained that Reed's tribe was most closely linked to the Filipino bloodline, since most of the congregation is Filipino.

We had a great attendance for our conference which also included a local Chinese Baptist Church.



Here we are pictured with Pastor Johnathan and his wife Anita. They were very gracious and took us to a wonderful Italian restaurant this evening along with two of the ladies from the church, Prima and Goodwill.

We have had a great trip, but are looking forward to holding our son again.

Pray for our travels tomorrow and have a great Memorial Day! I, for one, am proud to be an American and am thankful to all of those who serve in our armed forces.

Country Meets Calgary!

Well, we woke up before the roosters this morning to get ready to travel to Calgary, Alberta. It was a fairly uneventful ride to the airport, except that I got off at the wrong exit and I drive to the airport at least once a month.

Abbey read "Mistaken Identity" on the way to Calgary, but she is a speed reader and was done before we ever left DFW. That was good because I was able to work on reading it. Very interesting.



We made it through customs and got our rental car pretty easily. It's a pretty sweet Dodge Avenger with 350 miles! Then we made it to our hotel in a roundabout way and were happy to learn that we'd been upgraded to a suite!



Next, we headed to IKEA for Abbey's first trip to such store! It was incredible to see the light in Abbey's eyes. Around every corner it brightened her day like a child in a candy store. We found several must haves which we plan on purchasing when we go to Atlanta next month.



On our way to find a place to eat, we saw this sign for "Rent a wreck". The funny thing is that GOLD JEEP is exactly like my Jeep, but I don't consider it a wreck!



There are lots of these evergreen trees around here and we think they are really neat.



Our hotel has all of these "Minimenus" which we thought was a neat idea. We went looking for some of those restaurants, but well ... couldn't find them.

So ...



We ate at Chili's. We have decided that people in Canada must not eat out as much as they do in America, but restaurants are HARD TO FIND!



Here's pretty shot of the fireplace in our hotel. It's hard to believe it's in the 80s at home and there's a chance of snow here tonight.

Pray for us tomorrow. I am preaching (scary I know) and Abbey and I are both teaching conferences tomorrow afternoon.


We got to Canada and through customs with no problems. Then we got our rental car, a pretty smooth Dodge Avenger. Then we got to the hotel (in a roundabout way) and we were upgraded to a suite!

Picnic with Mama

Reed and Mama went to the park today for a picnic lunch. I think that Reed had a great time.



Reed discovered mulch last night in our flowerbed, so he was thrilled to see that the park had plenty!



Lola and Pop Rox came in tonight to keep Reed this weekend while Abbey and I go to Canada.



Mommy took the time to explain at the picnic that we would be going out of town. He was not really thrilled with the news.



But a few fruit puffs and he was a happy camper.



This is the first time that we have left Reed overnight.



Although I have had several business trips since Reed has been home, this is the first time that Abbey has not been with him overnight.



We had barbeque pork for supper and I grilled some corn. This was Reed's first experience with corn on the cob.



I think that he liked it!



What is up with those eyes?





"MMMMmmm ... this is good!"

Two Days' Recap

Yesterday, Reed decided that he wanted to play with some pony beads. Unfortunately, he didn't realize what a mess they would make. Unfortunately for us, he didn't care!



Reed has adopted this photo as his own. He likes to point to his family and say, "Bibi."



"This is MINE!"



"I love my family!"



Yesterday was beautiful, so we ate on the deck. Reed likes to eat out there. Reed has gotten really good at feeding himself. He really doesn't like it when we try to help him.



He loves green beans!



He also loves to feed Daddy!



He was telling us a really great story in this picture.



I threw this one in just in case you all had forgotten that Reed isn't perfect. He does cry, sometimes.



And really loudly!



I had to go to a meeting last night at church, so Mommy and Reed went to walk at a park with Mr. Danny and Mrs. Megan.

Today was not very eventful. Abbey had to work, so I met them at the Catfish house and Reed and I came home and played. We ate some supper and then we went outside to go for a walk. We walked all the way to Britton's new house that is being built in the subdivision next to ours. We played outside for a while after the walk and then we came in. I had to vacuum and then it was time for Reed to get ready for bed. Reed went to sleep and I cleaned the bathrooms. Then, I cut coupons. Now, it's past my bedtime, so goodnight!

Prayer

I'm not going to blog with pictures tonight as I have just heard some very sad news. Maria Sue, one of Steven Curtis Chapman's daughters was killed tonight when she was accidentally hit in her driveway by one of her brothers who was driving an SUV.

Please pray for the Chapman family as they cope with this unbelievable loss. Reed actually had played with Maria Sue at the Asian Invasion Playgroup the Chapman's host at their home.

I would ask that you pray specifically for the Chapman's son, who was driving the vehicle. I am sure that he will take this especially hard and I am sure he will need much support throughout this time.

I believe that God is good, right, and perfect. I cannot understand this tragedy, but I trust that God has a plan. Maria Sue was His from the beginning and she is now with Him in perfection.

Pray for peace for the family. The Chapman's have been such leaders in the International Adoption platform and their organization is has helped many people bring their children to their forever homes.

Here is a link to the story on the Tennesseean.

Go give your children an extra hug!

Meet Grace and Water Day!

When we suffered our first miscarriage, we built-a-bear lamb in memory of our first child. We named the lamb, Grace, a name which we love but could never name our child that. You know, naming a child Grace Land would just be mean!



We hoped that one day our children would play with Grace. Recently, Reed has realized that Grace was his for the taking. He has really come to love Grace.



This morning, he took her everywhere he went.



He gave her hugs and kisses.



This morning, he was in a really happy mood. Last night, he was not in a good mood. I think that his teeth bother him at night. Tonight, we remembered to give him some pain medicine, so hopefully he will sleep comfortably tonight.




I think that his smiles are so cute. I love how toothy they are.



Reed was excited about water day at school today.



He was not excited about wearing a hat, though!



He loves to get his hand in everything!



After school and work, I mowed the yard while Reed watched. He was very interested in watching me get ready to weed-eat.





When I cranked the weed eater, Reed was mesmerized.





He got really sleepy while I was mowing, so we didn't get to go on a walk as we had planned.



Doesn't he look like he is walking confidently in this picture. "Here I am World!"



Look at his foot.