Akins Says a Prayer

God is good, God is Great, thank you for this food Lorea made. Thank you, praise Jesus and Santa Claus. Amen!

Big Boy Stuff

I have been traveling a ton. I left last Monday early early and did not get back until Friday at 8:40. Now I leave here again in a couple of hours go to Atlanta turn around tomorrow pm and then fly right back out to Orlando again on Tuesday am where I will be until Thursday night. The last time I went only for two days Akins wet his bed every night and got in trouble at school. This being such a long stint and so many back to back I sat him down and asked him to tell me about his feelings. He told me he was mad and it made him feel like a "bad guy". He is obsessed with the bad guys - African rebels. Nearly every movie, story, or whatever he asks if the people are bad guys. I think he finds it unsettling that the "bad guys" in America can not be seen, thus preferring Africa where at least you know who they are. In any event our talk seemed to help. He and Lorea had a good week with only one bed wet night and no trouble at school. Now if only we can make it through to this Thursday we should be in the home stretch!

Oh and my first parent teacher conference delivered rave reviews. He is on target or above average. They refer to him as the papa bear with the little kids as he enjoys teaching and helping them. He is social and outgoing and freely asks questions when he does not understanding something or why? They also thought his age was spot on despite his height. All in all it was a great report. In the fall he will go to pre-K at the elementary school and will get to ride the bus. Which he is so looking forward to. We're pretty proud of our boy!

Valentine's Day and Girlfriends

Yesterday Akins school had a little valentine's party. He came home with a ton of cards and candy. One of the cards prompted him to say that it was from Wyatt's girlfriend which prompted us to say "do you have a girlfriend"? He said "no".
Well Sue and I joke (or possibly plot) about the day Akins will marry beautiful little Annie. So I said "what about Annie, I thought she was your girlfriend"? He said "No, I can not see her". To which I replied "that is because she is far away". He says "she don't wear lippy (lipstick)". Akins has a thing about lip stick. I explained to him that little girls don't wear lipstick but when Annie grows up she probably will. BIG SMILE. Very cute!

American Idol Oklahoma Style

Okay, some might say we have too much time on our hands but tonight American Idol presents in Oklahoma USA!!!

Long delay - lots to say!

I have been remiss in my posting of late. I guess life gets in the way at times. Work is more stressful than ever, the economy wreaks havoc everywhere it seems. The fiscal year ended yesterday and what was to be a successful month was slammed to the ground by the ice storm causing a severe loss in calls and now what is left is a ton of customers who got cancelled and need service right now! I also was traveling and will be doing more of that in the coming weeks making it tough to stay on top of all duties work and home. Yet in the middle of this Akins always has a few jewels to make me smile that I wish to share.


GUYS AND GIRLS...
Akins: Hey Guys?
Lorea: Hey? What is that all about? And guys we aren't guys.
Akins: Hey Girls?

Okay that makes us laugh.

SIR, MA'AM', MAN, MAY I
Akins: Hey guys, want to play WII?
Lorea: Hey guys, again?
Akins: Hey girls want to play WII?
Mommy-O: How do you ask?
Akins: Man, I play WII please?
Lorea: Man???
Mommy-O: I think he is trying to say may I.
Akins: I said May I.
Lorea: Man????
Mommy-O: Say Ma'am'
Akins: Man
Mommy-O: No, Ma'am'
Akins: Ma'am-a!
Mommy-O: Okay close enough

EVERYONE IS CUTE...
Akins: Dolly is really cute, Zachy is really really cute, Mommy-O is cute, Beans is only a little bit cute....

Ahhh, poor Beans.

IT'S BECAUSE OF MY AFRICA...
Akins was attempting to say something that was not coming out quite right. Lorea is trying to teach him the correct pronunciation.
Akins: It is because of my Africa.
Lorea: What is?
Akins: I can not say it because of my Africa.
Lorea: You mean because of your language? The way you speak in Africa?
Akins: Yes, I can not say it because of my Africa.

Interesting, he actually knows that the language is challenging him.

The Homeless Man

You have all seen him the man in the tattered clothes with the handwritten sign usually saying "will work for food" in a crooked scrawl that suggests a life of misfortune. I'm not talking about the guy who chooses to just not work but the one who rambles to himself, can't sit or stand still and when you see him you wonder what happended to him. It is obvious that he suffers from a form of dementia whether from a mental wire that has misfired or from alcohol abuse or worse. While in Cancun we decided that Akins mimics this type of person aside from being much better dressed when he becomes overly tired. On several evenings he was so tired from no naps and hard play in the sun all day, that he would venture off into the land of seemingly dementia, rambling nonesense, in and out of clusters that ranged from hysteria to anger and back again all within moments making no sense at all, leaving Lorea and I staring and wondering what was happening. Today reminded me as he began this again while ramped up in anticipation of a friends birthday party. We called it his homeless man state and now have coined it HM seems more politically correct. Now that we have realized that is from lack of sleep and not dementia or something else it's pretty funny to watch. I tried to capture it on video in Cancun so I could share but did not exactly capture the essence of it. Another time as I am sure there will be more.

Cancun 2008 - Akins the Mexican Celebrity and More

Our trip was mostly perfect. The weather was great, we had no delays in airports in fact even caught a standby and got home 3 hours early, had no major meltdowns during the entire trip and most importantly our 15 year old dog Zach survived the week and has entered another year (a major milestone considering his age and health issues). Akins loved vacation and when asked what part he liked the best he answers "lots". Okay, so no favorite parts just lots of good fun. To lay the trip out would best be done in segments, as it was really quite interesting for several reasons.

Segement One - Akins is now a Mexican Celebrity
Our trip included all inclusive food, activities and drinks at four different resorts, so on night two we decided to venture over to one of the other resorts and attend the weekly welcome show. This happened to be a night of Mariachi music and dancing. Well, at the end of the show they began drawing room numbers for some fairly cheesy prizes for which the winner was to come on stage and in some cases be asked to be a bit silly. The last drawing was you guessed it... our room. So, I shoved Akins off to the stage and he took off running up the steps onto the stage and then "freak out", everyone is looking at him... the music is playing and he is asked to dance. He is frozen in space. "Would you like different music"? the emcee says. Akins nods "Yes". The music stops and "Who Let the Dogs Out" starts pumpin' out very loud! We are thinking, okay he knows this one, but he is still standing frozen and then all of a sudden he busts loose and completely goes crazy on the stage. The crowd goes wild and he continues to dance wild for quite some time! For the rest of the week we were approached by people in large quantities, on the bus, in different resorts, everywhere we go, asking for him to dance, people shaking his hand, women asking for hugs, kisses, you name it! He is the talk of the town. It was unbelievable.

Frozen and Terrified!

Who Let This Dog Out???

Segment Two - The Stalker
Okay, for the first time Lorea and I actually entertained the "notion" of Akins needing a sibling. You know someone to play with while on a trip like this. Ahhh, but not a problem for our kid, he has become a stalker who masterfully has figured out how to join other kids games and make those kids like him so much that by weeks end they are in tears over having to say good-bye. Actually, we were quite pleased to see him figure out how to overcome shyness and socialize on his own. It took a bit of prodding but he figured out how to do this with the boys. Now girls, well next time!

Horning in on a game of basketball with the big boys!

Playing with Antoine!

Antoine and his brothers before saying goodbye.

Playing with Alex from Canada.

Playing with Indy from Sydney Australia

Segment Three - Swim Up Bars
On day three we were laying around one of the pools and all of the resorts have swim up bars so Akins had witnessed this whole thing of swimming up and ordering a drink. He is off in the pool and I said to Lorea "You know I picture him swimming up there and ordering a drink". Well, not more than five minutes later she says "Oh, my God he is up there" I look over and there he was ordering drinks and kickin' at the bar".

The bartender yelled to me "he's asking for Tequilla" (true story)

After placing his order for a Coke.


Segment Four - Church (Scott this is just for you)
Some of you may recall the post a while back where Akins pointed at a Hooters bar and asked if it was a church, to which we said no and Scott (another adoptive parent) had a response that had me dying laughing and I am certain should be a published work. These photos are just for Scott!




Segment Five - The Ladies
It is often we get compliments by people especially women on how beautiful Akins is, but in Mexico it was almost unnerving. The women are completely in awe of him. Touching, hugging, kissing it was crazy! All I can say to really explain this is if I were Akins and I were all grown up I'd move to Mexico!


The working on a free massage.

Getting a free massage.

Segment Six - The Shark
On one of our outings we had the opportunity to meet and well...greet a real live shark. Akins was bounding down into the water before I could even get my shirt off only to nearly change his mind once getting closer and realizing it was big and real. He did it though...

The fear is over!

Belly up!

A little timid here.

Segement Seven - The Yatch
We had the opportunity to go out on a Yatch.

Captian Knupp

Segement Eight - The End
A few extra shots of the fun and adventure!

Water slide - big fun!

Good times!

On the way out to Isla Muerelles (Woman Island)

Snackin' on a lime.

Hey where's my sand castle?

This was a cozy thing to lay out in on the beach. Akins called it a dog bed!

And a beautiful sunset!