ADOPTION UPDATE

If you are wondering why we haven't had any news about our adoption, it's because there hasn't been any. In fact, today was kind of a hard day around the house. We are getting tired of waiting. A few people we know have recently had court dates, and we haven't even gotten a second picture!

You know how great it is when you first get engaged after you've been dating for awhile? And then you realize that being engaged really is pretty awful -- it's awful because in your mind you have committed yourself but in the real world you aren't any closer to being married. Well, that's where we are with this adoption. It is wonderful to have a picture of this little girl and know her name, etc. But it is also more difficult because we actually have a picture of her and we know her name.

If you think of it, please pray for her and us. Pray that we'll wait well. Pray that God will keep this little girl in the palm of his mighty hand. Of course, we will share more when we can.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

It was a smelly Halloween at the Dunn house this year. Both girls talked about being butterflies, fairies, princesses, unicorns, etc. But for some reason, they decided to be skunks. We're not quite sure where that came from but it was super fun. If I can brag for a second... Lee Ann made their costumes without a real pattern!



Like many rodents, skunks are hard to get a good picture of. Here is an action shot as one skunk darts through the bushes.

Oh, and Frank was a zebra.

Holy MOLE-ee!

Tonight the girls and I went for a nature walk... they have been watching a show about baby animals and as we gear up for a camping trip the animal craze is hitting a fevered pitch (as an example, they will both be skunks for Halloween). So we go on this nature walk and on the way I meet an old man who was a delight to speak with. For the entirety of our conversation, the girls were playing with something that I couldn't see. After about 10 minutes of playing, they come up to me with a dead baby mole in their hands -- a DEAD. BABY. MOLE. It was probably about two to three inches long. I knew it was dead because it wasn't breathing/moving, and because the mortal wound was there for all to see (and hands to touch). Meanwhile, that dear older man was sharing some spiritual experience that might have led me to talk about Christ, but I simply couldn't get over the horror of the dead mole, my two girls, and an empty bottle of Purell in the van.

I am not sure how we got everything straightened out. I do know that I officiated my first funeral and both girls prayed and sang as we buried the dead mole by the trail. Both girls prayed earnestly for God to heal the baby mole, so I felt a little bad burying it immediately following their prayers, but, I assume, if God can bring the baby mole back to life he will also be able to pull him from the two-inch deep grave.

In case you were wondering, this is about what the little mole looked like.

LET'S HOPE "THEY" ARE RIGHT...

Are dogs' mouths really cleaner than humans?
They say so... and we hope so.

Tonight we saw Adeline use her own toothbrush to brush Frank's teeth. And before we could get her toothbrush from her she proceeded to give her own teeth a once over.

CUTE PICTURE

The other day we walked into the girls' room to find that Adeline had lined up a few of her favorite animals on the bed... when we asked her to be in a picture with them, well, things just got too cute.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Today Jennalee turned 5! We are so proud of her. She is definitely growing up... she is working hard on her violin, she is going to preschool, and she has a crush on Ethan Hawke of all people -- she recently watched the movie "White Fang" as part of her obsession with the poem about Sam McGee.

One of the most intriguing things about this little girl is her mind. On this birthday we thought we'd share a little bit of her perspective with you -- the following are all pictures that she took. Taking pictures with our old camera is one of her favorite pastimes and we must have hundreds of these priceless pictures. She is the consummate observer (one thing she wanted for this birthday was a pair of binoculars).

GOOD ADOPTION NEWS!!!

The courts reopened today!!!! We were expecting them to reopen mid-October and for some reason they opened early!!! This is good news because we should find out soon (I'm thinking a few days) when little sister has her court date. After she passes her court date (please pray she will pass on the first go-around) she will officially be ours and we will then book our plane tickets to go get her. We are so excited and just can't wait to bring our sweet baby home to her family. She is so beautiful. She looks just like a Dunn. :) Once she passes court we'll get to post her picture--so stay tuned!