Introducing...Hugo & Charlie...PandaPuppies!!!

Yep, these are our new "little" darlings! PandaPop has been wanting a dog for over a year and we have been trying to decide when, what, etc. We have been looking online on occasion and yesterday found these muts and completely fell in love! We drove 20 minutes to get ONE and ended up with TWO. They needed each other. Sure. Actually, it has been a good move because they keep each other company and don't whine. I LOVE how wide and stocky they are! No wimpy dogs 'round these here parts, no siree! I can guarantee you'll be seeing more pics with our Hugo & Charlie (LOST fans are smiling right now) and the adventures that ensue...not to leave out PandaKitty who just rolled his eyes when we introduced them


This is a very happy PandaPopwith his "boys".

Charlie

Hugo


Boys will be boys...I'm sure we have lots of this to get use to.

Thursday Thirteen #25-Late 80's Nostalgia

PandaPop and I have been having a really fun time on Facebook this week. We have both connected with lots of friends past and present. I have had fun connecting with some "old" high school buddies and strolling down memory lane a bit. Hope any of you who were in high school in the late 80's enjoy this little memory clip. I graduated in '89 and always come across others from that year. Parents must have REALLY been enjoying their relationships in 1970 because we 89ers are a HUGE bunch!

1. Friday Night Football! The cheerleading, football players, band, bus road trips, late nights, after the game stuff, pep rallies, homecoming....all of it was so fun and a BIG deal in Texas small towns!


2. Reebok hightops---you either had them or you wanted them. These were going to be great in Aerobics! ; )


3. Any decent 80's kid rocked out to Def Leppard. However, after seeing them on VH1 as an adult and seeing their past ways??? Oh--MY--GOODNESS! They were sex-crazed maniacs! Music AWESOME---lyrics..BAD.


4. Remember these?...For you young 'uns, they were called "cassette tapes" and once they unraveled and you couldn't use your finger to roll them back up...well, you just chunked 'em!


5. POOFY...METALLIC prom dresses...two years in a row. Let's pick blue first, then green. Oooh-lah-lah.



6. I had an adorable '78 blue mustang which was lovingly referred to as "The Smurfmobile" because my long blonde hair looked like Smurfette's. Loved my car!


7. George Strait....oh my! When I was 16 I went to a concert and was forever in "love"....my red ropers were my other vice at the time...yeehaw!


8. Small cuffed jeans...couldn't find a pic, but you know if you folded and cuffed your jeans...admit it.

9. Big Hair Bands


10. Pop Rocks...came out in the 70's, but I remember eating alot of these in high school. YUM!


11. Ray Ban sunglasses. I never had the real-deal, but these fakes are just lovely, don't you think? (Never mind the white leather fringed jacket....can you say, "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"?)


12. Teen Movies...now I have seen them as an adult and they were HORRIBLE for us! Not very moral or value oriented for church-going girls, huh? Though fun at the time, these movies are FILLED with less than appropriate material for young minds!!

......and I saved the best for last:

13. Even better than a side ponytail is a side BRAID with some mighty POOFY bangs! Yes, I am actually holding Little Foot from "The Land Before Time". Don't know why or whose it is or what stupid photographer would have handed it to me. Apparently, I agreed. Oh, thank God, I'm almost 40 in a few years!


If you were in high school in the late 80's, I hope you got a giggle or two from this....I know I sure did! ; )

Three Meme

Three names you go by:
1. PandaMom
2. JC
3. Mrs. C.

Three things you are wearing right now:
1. yellow long sleeve tee
2. PJ bottoms with pictures of chocolate (even my clothes have it!)
3. speckled socks

Three longest car rides:
1. Durango, Colorado back to Arlington, TX after a ski trip
2. Baytown, TX to Oklahoma City, OK for a funeral
3. Sante Fe, NM back to Waco, TX after a ski trip

Three of your favorite things to do:
1. playing with PandaPop and PandaGirl
2. scrapbooking
3. blogging

Three things you want very badly at the moment:
1. to be ready for the children coming into our life soon
2. for the children to be safe in our care...now
3. to be a size 6! ; )

Three animals you have or have had:
1. Worf (cat--gone to heaven)
2. Geordi (Worf's little sister--same place)
3. Miao (current cat who is completely spoiled!)

Three things you ate today:
1. milk
2. 2 crunchy granola bars
3. that's it for now...it's morning

Three people you last talked to:
1. PandaPop
2. PandaGirl
3. friend's husband asking us to a hockey game which we had to decline

Three things you're doing tomorrow:
(I am assuming I'll still be here...ya know, we can't all count on that!)
1. checking out the school for PandaGirl's Kindergarten registration
2. running by the library for new books
3. stopping in at the doctor's office to pick up paperwork done for us for the adoption process

Three favorite holidays:
1. The whole fall season! (I know that's not a holiday, but it's my favorite time!)
2. Christmas
3. Valentine's Day

Three favorite beverages:
1. Sweet Tea
2. Dr. Pepper
3. Caramel Frappuccino

Three places you'd like to visit:
1. Jackson Hole, Wyoming
2. Hawaii
3. New England in the fall

If you are reading this, then consider yourself TAGGED! ; )

Guatemala Trip-Part 2

Here are a few more pics from the mission trip. I am adding just a tip of the ice-berg of what we did. More to come, so keep watching! ; )

PandaPop led the kids in Bible Study while one of our precious translators, Heidi, conveyed everything to the kids in Spanish. I love this pic because the sun is reflecting off the page and illuminating his face. Isn't that just like God to be cool like that?!
Part of our team putting together a small library for the kids. My GREAT friend Abby --are you reading that, Abby? ; )-- is getting her Master's in Library Science and was perfect for this trip. Her skills were awesome! Now we all just hope that the library stays put together! LOL! The kids couldn't keep their hands off the books. They LOVED them!

I LOVE this pic because every church we have served in PandaPop somehow gets all the kids to "high-five" him up and down the halls. This was long before he was a Children's Minister. He just loves making kids feel loved and visible. These kids were no different. They all loved giving him their high-fives many times.

Kids will be kids...no matter their geography. ; )

One of my good friends with her digital camera and some of the boys. All the kids wanted their picture taken over and over! Sounds like American kids, too! They would see one of us get out our camera and start yelling, "Un foto, un foto!!"

Everyday we were at the orphanage we had to leave to eat so we went to the same restaurant and had really great food for hardly any $$$ at all. I had a problem with this at first because I felt badly that the kids didn't get to eat as well as we did, but then our guide told us that by us doing this we were really helping their economy. That made me feel ok in doing it, plus what else were we going to eat? NOT the fresh veggies or fruit! This meal was sooooo yummy! Over the course of the week I seriously downed at least FOUR whole avocados! They grow there and are divine!

This is one of the orangeade-slushie things I told you about in the previous post. The lemonade one was really the BEST!

This was ACTUALLY on the door to one of the restaurants on our way to Zacapa. I just HAD to take a picture!!! If you can figure out if the animal on the bottom is a dog or a goat...please let me know. ; ) Whatever it is, just don't take it IN the place, OK?

Guatemala Mission Trip-Part 1

Hi everyone!! Sorry it has taken so long to get these on here, but I am up and running now so---

Before you just scan through everything PLEASE take note of the first picture. The reality of what is in this picture ROCKED MY WORLD!!!! To all my fellow-adoptive-parents-of-children-from-an-orphanage: nothing could have prepared me for what I experienced when I realized that my daughter had come from a place like this.

Our church has partnered with Buckner Missions and had the plan of teaching the children about God, facilities maintenance, and just playing with the kids.

I expected God to do something in me by the end of the week on mission. Little did I know He'd move me profoundly the first day there. I have always "prided" in the thought that PandaGirl's orphanage was "clean" and somehow sugar-coated her life there. After being in the baby room pictured below, I saw that the floor was just as "clean" and the cribs were very similar to the pics I have of PG's cribs. It dawned on me that outside the room was this "home" for orphans where it was literally survival of the fittest, dirt, concrete and no parents. Outside the walls of the baby room was such a contrast to what I know as comfort that I just couldn't understand how I had been so blind to PG's reality. I didn't have time to process it really until Monday night at our reflection time...then I just lost it. I cried over my baby's first 15 mos. of her life being lived in the conditions of an orphanage. No matter how much the nannies loved her she STILL lived there among other orphans. I can't even explain it now. Just know that if all you have is a picture of your adopted child's previous life in an orphanage then you can't even imagine it. You HAVE to experience it first hand. Sunday night I just sat in my bed and bawled my eyes out for 20 minutes to the point of almost throwing up at the reality of my daughter's life before us. Can't even explain it now. Just know that God moved in my life to understand more fully James 1:27..."God considers pure religion to take care of orphans and widows in their distress."

Our group eating at a restaurant. We had to MAKE SURE we DID NOT drink the water, or eat fruits and vegetables that were not cooked. The water is not purified and has parasites. We had lots of bottled water, Pepsi---which they call "Coke", and these orangeade and lemonade slushie drinks.

A fabulous surprise for PandaPop and I was meeting Christian music artist Geoff Moore!!! He was really popular in the early to mid 90's and we have everything he's done. He is great friends with Steven Curtis Chapman, who is one of the reasons we chose to adopt from China. Geoff also has a daughter from China and was on mission with another Buckner group and happened to be in the same hotel. GREAT TIME!!!!!

ONE of the courtyards in our hotel the first and last night of the trip. Every single doorway was sculpted like these archways, the floors were stone and marble. Just beautiful!!!

Our luxurious hotel room on the first night and for the last night in Guatemala. It was by far the most gorgeous hotel I have ever been in. Complete luxury. A far cry from the orphanage.

This is the image we left daily. The gate to the orphanage has to be locked up so that no one gets in who isn't welcome and so the kids just don't leave and never come back. It's not a prison, but seems that way at times. I even felt weird when I was on the other side having to squat to see out of the gate. Notice they do have smiles. They are amazing kids.

The girls dorm. Zacapa is VERY hot and there is no A/C and the darkness falls just like it does here only there's no "nightlight", parents "tucking in" or comforts we take for granted.

One of the darling little babies that we so lovingly cared for when we could.

Sweet and precious boys that I think about everyday!

Coming Soon!

I am just swamped with things to do to get back in the swing of things. I promise I have pictures and stories to share of the mission trip!

Just Like He Said They Would...

Where do I start without sounding like I'm ranting? I am cringing at the latest "Oprah" junk. She sooo claims to know God, but her foundation has cracked so much that I honestly question her salvation. May I be so bold as to even DO that? I am not being arrogant, just watching the fruit growing off her tree...and it shows NOTHING of being of the God of the Bible.

Now she has the whole world at her fingertips and spoon feeding them a book called, A New Earth. I looked it up for my own research to see what all the hooplah was about and sure enough---the author is a New Age dude who throws in some Bible lingo and a few Scriptures here and there with his ways to better yourself and become the person you are supposed to be...blah...blah..blah.

In light of heading out for a mission trip where the TRUTH of God will be lived out, talked about and proclaimed, I just can't shake the eerie feeling of how the words of the Bible ring true in our day and age of Christians being dissuaded from the Truth which saved them in the first place. How SHALLOW have we become?!!! It is so scary when I hear very public pastors missuse Scripture by twisting and turning the real Truth into something to fit their agenda or WORSE---flat out teaching heresy (false teachings and calling it from the Bible). Then what REALLY gets my goat is the born-again believers
F-A-L-L-I-N-G
for all the crap and lies like cows to the slaughter!!!!!! Can I SCREAM THAT ANY LOUDER THROUGH THIS BLOG!!!!!????? Why, oh, WHY are believers led astray by false teachings? I am NOT claiming to be perfect by any stretch, but I do believe that I purposefully keep my eyes and ears attentive to any false teachings which go against the teachings of the Bible.

After clicking through a few websites and after watching Oprah yesterday (I never even watch TV during the day, but I clicked it on yesterday and listened to the most ridiculous hoo-hah ever!), I find myself more-so-than-ever wanting to live out TRUTH in my life. God is who He says He is. Period. The "Law of Attraction" was a phrase thrown around on the show about how whatever "vibes" you put out in the "universe" is what the universe will give back to you. So all these people (half were believers in "God") started thinking happy thoughts about themselves, made posters or lists about things they wanted in life and BOOM! A while later these things came true for them. Hear me, I believe that we can change our life experiences and emotions by focusing on our blessings rather then what we DO NOT have, but God is the One in control of those things not the "inner-self" of our wicked and depraved selves.

Think for a minute if you have personally "fallen" for false teachings. Ten years ago I did and it made me SICK when I realized it. I was dumbfounded that "I" was deceived. We HAVE to be watchful and careful about EVERYthing we allow into our mind and heart. Has anyone ever read a popular book about your "purpose" in life? I cringe at the very thought of how many people are being fed such shallow and sometimes twisted theology. There are so many to name and I don't want to look critical or hateful. I just hope that believers will stop falling for every little new thing that comes out as a "self-help" device.

My heart was sent straight to Scripture to see for myself what God has to say about these kinds of things. Well, whatayaknow, He has ALOT to say about it. Here are just a few:

Jeremiah 23:16--This is what the LORD Almighty says, "Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD."

Matthew 24:24-25--"For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect--if that were possible. See, I have told you ahead of time."--Jesus' words

II Peter 2:1, 18--But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They secretly introduce destructive heresies even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them--bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. V. 18--For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error.

I John 4:1, 5-6,--Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. V.5-6:They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

Now for the BEST part!

I John 5:20--We know also that the Son of God (Jesus Christ) has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true-even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

John 8:31-32: To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free."

John 14:6--"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."--Jesus

I will be gone for a week. All of these Scriptures have happened just like God said they would. Think about these things and rant all over the comments if you want. I WANT to know what people think about these things. I walked into my church building yesterday and was overwhelmed with thankfulness for a Bible-believing, God-fearing, people-loving body of Christ followers. We are not perfect, but PRAISE GOD--Truth is being taught here. Amen and Amen. To God be the glory!

Gotcha Day Update...

Woohooo! Celebrating FOUR years of PandaGirl's "Gotcha Day"! Four years ago on February 2, 2004 we first got PandaGirl in our arms. Fun to celebrate via cyber space with all the families with whom we traveled. I love that the girls are all connected by that day and that they are from the same orphanage. We had a blast going to pick out charms for PG's bracelet. We do that every Gotcha Day and then we headed to Chuck E. Cheese. Not my fav but she adored it and had a blast!

PG and I looking at all the charms from which to choose for her bracelet. She chose a castle and a horse. Perfect!


No celebration is complete without a little ICE CREAM!

Two of PandaGirl's Chinese friends from church. We are sooo blessed to have them since we don't get to see our old playgroup much anymore. They are celebrating Chinese New Year which starts Feb. 7th!


We are headed out on our mission trip to Guatemala this Saturday, but first have a preteen retreat on Friday night and Sat. I am asking for prayers for our health and safety. Can't wait to fill you in on all the amazing things GOD does on this trip! Be a blessing today! ; )