Popcorn Anyone?

Here are Henry and Owen dressed in their scouting uniforms. This is Owen's first year as a cub scout. He is a wolf and has several friends in his den full of other 2nd graders. This is Henry's 2nd year and he is a bear. They are both very excited about cub scouts. The very first thing that cub scouts do during the school year is sell popcorn to raise money to support the pack (and pay their dues so their parents don't have to!). If you are interested in knowing more about popcorn and how you can support Henry and Owen, send me an email and I'll give you the scoop.

So far the entire family has spent two 108 degree afternoons knocking down doors in Lake Highlands and selling to our neighbors. Of course, the cub scouts make it into a huge competition with all sorts of prizes to win. Meghan, Mommy and Daddy are currently thinking that we deserve a portion of any prizes earned because we have to stand out there in the heat while they charm their buyers.

Enjoy the pictures.

New Sarah Pictures!

We received new pictures of Sarah this morning.... isn't she cute! Looks like she is standing and crawling and her smile will melt your heart. Can't wait to bring that girl home!!

As many of your know, all of our original paperwork (called our "dossier") was lost in the process this summer. The entity within the Ethiopian government that lost it was willing to write our opinion based on a copy of the dossier and therefore our case was able to be closed before the court closed for the 10 week rainy season. But they are requiring us to create a whole new dossier. Originally, the new dossier had to be completed in time for us to bring it with us when we travel.

Last week, however, things changed a little and now the government there is no longer willing to move forward with processing our case until we fedex them the new dossier. So we are scrambling to collect all the necessary pieces we need. We are almost done gathering up our documents and hope to begin the authentication process tomorrow or weds. Our dossier has to be sent several places to be authenticated. I don't know a whole lot about this because it is all handled by a woman that we hired who specializes in preparing and authenticating dossiers. She helped us the first time we did this (2 years ago) and she is helping us again as we do our "dossier do-over."

Anyway, after we get things to her this week she estimated about 2 weeks until our new dossier is in Ethiopia. Please pray that things go smoothly and that it gets there as quickly as possible. Within a few weeks of the dossier being received in Ethiopia, Sarah's papers can be released to Gladney and submitted to the embassy. Then we wait for the embassy to approve us and give us our travel dates.

Sled Hockey

Owen tried sled hockey for the first time tonite. If you have never seen sled hockey before, it is basically ice hockey played in narrow sleds on skates. The players sit in the sled and use short sticks to propel themselves across the ice. It is ALOT of work. Owen did so well and really seemed to enjoy it. There were several older players there who helped him along all evening and gave him lots of encouragement. I was just so proud of him for trying something new. It was very fun and we are hoping to do it again soon. Enjoy the pictures.

O_skates from Eric Lakey on Vimeo.

Gulf Shores: Sarah!

Next year, can I come too? Here she is, our sweet baby girl who is patiently waiting for us in Ethiopia. The news of our finalization came while we are in Gulf Shores. I suppose since she is officially part of the family now that we owe her a return trip. :)

Gulf Shores: Part 3

Even more pictures!

Gulf Shores: Part 2

More pictures!

Gulf Shores: Part 1

We enjoyed a week away on the gulf coast in early August. The average temperature was about 10 degrees cooler than here so that was a nice change. We had so much fun as a family for a couple of days and then the extended family arrived and the week just got funner by the minute. We enjoyed playing in the sand, riding the waves, playing in the pools, taking a boat ride in search of dolphins, eating in some new restaurants and spending time together.

In the pictures you will see Owen's "beach wheels" which we rented for the week. This made getting on, off and around the beach so easy. The wheelchair was basically a power chair with huge wheels. He had so much fun driving that thing around..... it was a real highlight for him.

Also note in the pictures that we "dug a hole to China" right there on the beach. We also created other sand animals.

We had alot of fun playing with Uncle Chris, Mimi and Papa, Bret, Brooke and our sweet 1 1/2 year old cousin Elizabeth. When asked about the best part of the trip Henry said "all the time that we spend with family"..... and boy, was he right.... it was a blast!

Of course, the week was made that much better by the fact that on Wednesday (8-10) we heard news from Gladney that our adoption was finalized and that Sarah is officially a Lakey.

Enjoy the pictures.

Lake Highlands Spray Ground

We have a spray-ground or spray park (whatever you want to call it) nearby. One morning this summer we decided to go to do something different other than just the pool. When you live in Dallas and you want to play outside during the summer, it almost has to involve water. Anyway, the kids had fun and we had the place virtually to ourselves for the first 45 minutes or so. We played for a good 1 1/2 hours and then what did we do? we went to the pool, of course!

A Somewhat Shorter Perspective

Meghan loves to get ahold of my camera or phone and walk around the house and take pictures. I usually know she is doing this and tell her it is fine but ocassionaly she will get sneaky and take some pictures without me knowing. It is always funny to download the pictures from the camera and phone and find some unusual ones taken from her perspective. She has even managed to capture herself in many of them... enjoy! You can tell she is roaming the house with the camera by all the clicking sounds and also the faint "cheese, say cheese, cheeeeeeeeese."

4th of July in Tyler

We spent a 4 day weekend with Nana in Tyler over 4th of July. It was so much fun and we all came home exhausted from all the fun we had. Included here are pictures of playing at Nana's kitchen table, swimming at a nearby lake and playing on the beach, picking blueberries in nearby Edom and fishing. Unfortunately, all 3 kids came down with a stomach virus. Meghan got it on Saturday night and kept Nana up all night- Eric and I were conveniently sleeping in the other cabin :) Both boys got it on our last morning in Tyler and Henry had it the whole drive home (about 1 1/2 hours). He really got the worst of it.... poor thing!