More AFAA kids coming home!

Sharon and Jessica arrived safely in Liberia last night and met their kids today. This will bring Jemama and Princess (Sharon) and Diamond and Florence (Jessica) home leaving only two more of my MUAA sister's children at the AFAA house. Assata will be coming homing with Jody January 25th and if all goes well Jody will escort Gormah and Kurker who got his passport today! Finally a big step forward!

"Mommy it's no dark"

Today began like most weekend days. Akins wakes first and immediately states "Mommy it's no dark". Today he proceeded to get up, go over and turn off the closet light as if to prove the fact that it is no longer dark and therefore we should not be sleeping. I look at him and said "where are you going"? He says "Doria" this means Lorea and he is off to wake her, as once again I have been summoned to his room sometime in the middle of the night. I crawl out of his bed and follow him and find him peering outside to which he immediately states "I want to ride the snow". All very cute in his Liberian accent. I said "well go tell her". Off he runs and as I climb back into my bed he begins waking Lorea. I said "well tell her". "Doria, I want to ride the snow". Now that got her attention. "What"!? she says. Needless to say before it could even reach 8am we were bundled in snow gear and bouncing around the backyard on the sled.

Santa Claus is coming to town!

Today has been a pretty fun filled day. It started with a big breakfast to prepare for the meeting with Santa Claus. There is an advantage to being the boss sometimes like when you want to coordinate a Santa Claus at your district office and personally choose who plays Santa, then planning the timing just right so your child gets really good one on one time with Santa. On the way home from meeting with Santa it started to snow for the first time this year - big flakes. It was not enough snow to make a snowman or even really good snowballs but it was good enough to hook up a sled behind the Quad and have some real fun!

When Akins heard Santa coming ringing his bell and saying HO HO HO he took off running and about bowled Santa right over.

Santa offered up some candy canes - Akins calls them "pepamilk" Pretty cute!

Santa let Akins ring the Christmas bell.

Then the conversation began. First order of business a train.

Next a bumble bee for the boy next door to replace the one the dog chewed on.

Then an important man - he wants a GI Joe or action figure who looks militant like a police officer. Still a very important part of his daily thought process.

Then another train for Kurker and friends in Africa! How cute is that.

Then gifts for Mommy, Lorea, my dogs.

Then gifts for Grandma and Grandma's dogs

First flakes

Ready to ride!

Let's go again!

I like it!

Always the good little helper - putting the sled back up.

Well I spoke too soon...

"So far no power issues"...wrong thing to say. The power went out at 2am Monday and came back on yesterday at about 2pm. Fun times were had by all - NOT! Being holed up with a toddler and 6 dogs not necessarily a good time. At one point the neighbors came over to get warm (we have a generator) so there were 4 adults and 4 children plus the 6 dogs in a 400 sq foot room.

Funny comments over the last few days:

"Mommy, I can eat all of the ice".
"Mommy, I don't like the ice". (statement made after falling and cutting his hand)
"Mommy, tell that man to turn my light bulbs back on". (after seeing the power crews in the neighborhood).

Here are some photos from around the neighborhood.

A tree hanging over the road on the way out of my neighborhood.

One of the neighbors yards you can barely see the house for all the trees that fell down.

A tree top split right down the middle.

The tree in our front yard after the ice is pretty much melted.

Ahhh lights on again - Akins trying to feed the reindeer ice.

1st Ice Storm

It started raining last night and then temps dropped to below freezing. Oklahoma is known for ice storms rather than a ton of snow. The ice tends to wreak havoc at times downing power lines and putting 1000's in the dark for days on end. Today we woke to a sheet of ice on everything, so far no power issues, but Akins is puzzled by the whole event and eating most of it...off the car, the leaves, and well most anything else he can put in his mouth before I can stop him. Since he often is a little sweaty it seems he is never bothered by the temps in fact seems more comfortable with the cool weather. Ice is one of his favorite things - perhaps because he was deprived of it for the first 3 years, so he thinks this is the best thing. Yesterday unrelated to the ice we had a power outage (no idea what happened) but I was reminded of Mom and I holed up for two days without any power except for the generator I was advised to purchase, I was motivated to get it fired back up. Having grown up on generator power Akins was totally excited when the thing finally started to roar. I guess he will be pleased if this storm lasts and the power goes out so we can use the generator! I on the other hand do not think it is such a cool thing.

Photos from Africa!

The moment all the Mom's have been waiting on. Photos from Karen, currently in Liberia working on bringing Ishamel and Diamond (Angeline) home. Karen also on a crusade for Kurker's passport for Shelby and Lori and some relief and plan of attack for Jessica in the final stages to get Diamond and Florence home by Christmas!

A full day of holiday festivities

Yesterday we started off our Saturday like any other breakfast at Walker's in town but then we were off to get all the holiday stuff going. First stop the Christmas Tree Farm to cut down our own tree and enjoy some hot apple cider.

Ringing the bell on the train

It's cold outside - burrrrrr

Running through the rows

Tasting each tree is the true test of picking the perfect one!
This is it!

Then it was time to bring it in and set it all up. Including the clean up process. Akins loves to vacuum so this was not a problem for him.

First step take off the net

The clean up

Mommy they're stuck!

Pay dirt from Grandma - "these are all mine"! Oh and Santa's list a work in progress.

Decorating with Dolly

Finally, it was time to trim the tree while listening to some Christmas music. Akins said he wanted to sing. Let me just say that Christmas carols by Dolly Parton make this Liberian child go bonkers!

Got to get them just right

This one goes here

The tinsle is a little tricky and sticky!

The final touch...a homemade star!