a slap on the hand

I got a little slap on my hand last night from a friend who said that I should blog every day! I should have gently reminded her that SHE doesn't blog every day :)

A few random happenings from the past few days...

Wednesday night at YAC (Youth After Christ - our youth group) the kids played the "Dating Game". The kids aren't dating - it was just a fun way to end a series on love and relationships. One of the questions Jim asked the girls was who their hero was. They had three choices 1) Hannah Montanna 2) Hilary Clinton and 3) Tami Lakey. Awwwwwwww. All 5 girls said me! I didn't really NEED the ego boost, but it was sweet. Although, I maintain that if Miley Cyrus had been in the room the answer would have been different :)

I made spaghetti the other night for dinner. Actually, I think Chris made dinner that night... Anyway - this is what Chris thought he should do with his spaghetti:



Amy celebrated her birthday at preschool yesterday and she wanted chocolate cupcakes with pink frosting. Well - far be it from me :) to make a boxed cupcake or purchase the Hostess variety... This is what I made:



They actually had the frosting *inside* the cupcakes, too! Talk about a sugar rush!

Well, the birthday-palooza continues tonight with a little party with a few friends and then tomorrow (her actual 4th birthday) will be spent together - going to dinner and playing.

John Piper on the prosperity gospel

Whoa.
And THAT is why I think Osteen is full of crap!
(pardon the terminlolgy - but I think he is)
Do you wanna be the one who tells the Asian Christian - who is in prision, suffering for his faith - that God wants him to be rich and prosper? I didn't think so.

laid back weekend - so to speak!

It wasn't really a "busy" weekend - as some understand the word "busy" (that sounds a lot like Paul, huh?!). We didn't have a lot of activity, but we did have to clean the house for our open house Sunday.

Saturday brought some very, very interesting weather that I believe even took the forecasters by surprise. I sent Chris, Ash and Austin to go to a Grand Prix workday for the kids AWANA cars and they left in a mix of freezing rain and rain. By the time they came home we had some pretty ginormous snowflakes falling. Ash had a small ensemble performance that night and I ventured to take her to that. The ground was pretty covered by that point and the snow was increasing.

Sadly, none of the guests that Ash's small ensemble were supposed to sing for attended the event, but I was able to enjoy a small concert for the parents :) Driving home was CRAZY! By that time, there was a good 6 inches of snow on the roads and it was coming down THICK! We poked along at 30 mph on the interstate and it took us 25 minutes to make the otherwise 6 minute drive.

Sunday brought a huge melt and by the time our open house was over (4 pm) there was very little evidence that only 12 hours earlier snow fully covered everything!

One couple attended the open house. Chris couldn't really read their intrest level. Starting today, we have an ad running daily in our local newspaper and I am sure we will do an open house at least every other weekend from here on out.

Last night, we had our traditional homemade pizza night. The kids love making their own pizzas and adding toppings to their liking. We also watched "Mulan" for the first time last night. Amy was very, very interested in the story and was in tears by the end. I told her when it was over that Mulan is the BEST Disney Princess because not only was she a princess, but the was a hero! As she was falling asleep last night, she was pretending to be Mulan :)

Here's a picture of my four peeps; snuggled down to watch "Mulan"...
(Ash is on the couch in the background)

 

(Anna doesn't really suck her fingers like Amy; she just likes to copy her!)

Proverbs 19:21

Many are the plans in a man's heart,
but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails.

Well,
our plans to close today have gradually been re-puposed by God.
Not only are we not closing today, but we found out last night that our contract (from the buyer) has fallen through.

We are so disapointed.

And yet - we know that when God brought this buyer, he knew that this contact would fall through and he STILL KNEW WHAT HE WAS DOING.

So we are back to square one and I am going to clean the house like a mad woman in order to have an open house on Sunday. Funny thing about a contract is that you kinda QUIT keeping the house super-clean and relax. Big problem now? The house needs cleaned really bad!

I will unpack a few boxes so this feels more like home for awhile longer.

"Trust in the LORD with ALL your heart and lean NOT on your own understanding..."

so in love...

 

I must confess...
I am falling more and more in love every day.
It has been hard.
It has actually been "harder" this time than it was last time.
But -
it is happening.
I think she is falling in love, too.

another chinese new year celebration

We celebrated the Lunar New Year again this past weekend - but this time we celebrated with the FCC (Families with Children from China) group locally. We enjoyed a night of food and fellowship at a local Chinese restaurant. We kinda forgot to take a lot of pics, but here are a few...

Here is the tiny table our family sat at :) I don't mind sitting so close... except when Anna's eating. She kinda gets messy!

 

My littles LOVE noodles!!!

 

 

Many have asked about our house. We were supposed to close this Friday (the 22nd) on both homes. Our buyer is still dealing with financing stuff and we won't be closing this week as hoped. The truth is, closing on the 22nd was ambitious. We wanted to close this weekend (and move) so that we wouldn't be busy moving next weekend (which is Amy's 4th birthday) or the next weekend (I am taking a group of 8th graders to a conference).

Last week was pretty stressful for me. I acted pretty darn ugly towards a lot of people (and I am still in apology mode to those people). I think the move and selling the house just got to me. It's my need to control everything. I know I can't, but somehow I think I should.

Quite frankly - I don't know how all this moving stuff is going to work out. From my limited perspective, there isn't a good time if we don't do it this weekend. At least not a good time until the weekend of the 14th of March. I know that God knows the PERFECT time for our family to move and he will give me the grace to do it whenever he deems best.

my funny valentine

To know him is to love him.
:)
Chris sent me on a roller coaster last night when he began giving me my gifts. First was the card. I open up the lovely, heart decorated envelope to reveal one of those 3-D cards that "moves" when you slightly move it. Ahhhh, Napoleon Dynamite. I am serious. I am "flippin' sweet".
Then I open another envelope. More on the contents later; but you just need to know that I was bawling like a baby!
Then a few dvd's. I am NOT even kidding - these are two movies that just Wednesday night I was talking to my jr high girls about and saying how much I liked these movies. Chris promises that he bought them on Tuesday.
A book that I have had sitting in my Amazon cart for a long time on hospitality...
and
a gift certificate for a one hour massage and facial!!!
As my sweet hubby says "Tami - you need professional help!" (He says that his hands hurt after rubbing my shoulders for only a minute)

precious Anna

 

 

 

Thank you, Lord. How could I ask for more?

amy and katherine

I love, love, LOVE these pictures!
We celebrated the Chinese New Year this past Saturday with our Dillon Family. We always enjoy getting to see our friends - especially our friend Katherine.
Well - as these photos prove - Amy and Katherine have finally "discovered" eachother! After being reunited almost 2 years ago and seeing eachother several times since then, the girls actually PLAYED together! They were absolutley adorable and their interaction was a blessing to Katherine's parents and Chris and I.
Enjoy!!!

in the blog-o-sphere

I just wanted to pass along a prayer request for a sweet little girl names Ashley. I linked onto Ashley's blog (maintained by her parents) some months back when I saw it on my sis-in-law Laura's blog.
Ashley is a very, very sick little girl who was transported via ambulance to Shreveport, LA last night and then to Omaha, NE, too - all last night. She is a transplant patient and that is why she ended up in Omaha.
Please pray for her family and her little body. They aren't sure what they are dealing with right now, but she is very critical.
Thanks.

busted, more snow and the "twin"

Amy and Anna found a way to get ice all by themselves...
SO busted!
(Wendy - notice that Anna ALSO got her first haircut and it looks just like J's!)

 

Here's a picture of our 5-6 inches of snow...

 

I mean absolutely no dis-respect and am merely quoting a line from one of my favorite movies - My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding. You know - that part where the aunt introduces herself to the non-meat eating in-laws? She tells them about her "twin"?
Well, Chris had a twin. Kidding - really. But he had this "bump" on his arm (and I forgot to take a before picture) and it has been growing and growing. I continued to be perplexed at what it could be and wanted it gone. Chris had a little minor, outpatient surgery yesterday and had it removed.
Funny thing. When we first noticed it - maybe 15-17 years ago - Chris said it looked like he got stabbed by a pencil. Well, come to find out - the doctor thinks it WAS a pencil and his body rejected the miniscule amount of lead in his arm and basically - well, Chris made a "pearl"! :) LOL!!! I saw the mass yesterday and I kid you NOT - it looked like there was a pearl in the middle of it.
The doctor is sure that it is "nothing", but sent it off to pathology to make sure.
Here is the "after" pic of my hubby's arm. He has some dull pain today. I hope he is all better soon!

 

did you hear that???

That would be the sigh of relief from these parts that the inspection of our home (ordered by the buyer) went well! Yay!!!
You know - I wasn't *worried* as much as I wondered if my perception of the house was reality or my invested time, effort and heart :)
It's snowing.
Again.
I love snow. I love how beautiful everything is after a good snow. What I am growing tired of is washing the van after I drive in slush and salt. I am tired of what gets tracked in the door when we come in after trudging in the slush.
Spring?!
Where are you?!
Great news the other night!
My sister in law called and said she was sending an email that I needed to read. It was taking forever - so I assumed it was a picture. Sure enough! It was a picture of my nephew Tate. Tate was wearing a new shirt. The shirt said "big brother". Ummmmm. My nephew Grayson is 3 and Tate just turned one. No other kids.
You know what that means?!
I am going to be an aunt again!!!

they're next!!!

Our original DTC (dossier to China) group with Dillon is next in line for referrals! My heart hurts as the time they have waited continues to drag on. One of the gals in the group emailed me the other day (as we wondered if 12/28/05 LID - log in date - would be included in this batch) and said that regaurdless of what the cut off was (already rumored to be the 27th) that they knew they would be next! What a great attitude she has.
(You know who you are and I just wanted to say that you are an AMAZING woman and you are going to be an awesome Momma!)
Here's praying that as the next days may be the longest of the wait so far, that God's grace will surround you and that the anticipation will create some of your fondest memories!

a peek at the new house

I got permission from the sellers of our new house to post a pic of the house so you could see just how amazing it is...