Turkey Tales

I'm finally getting around to telling our turkey tales and posting pictures! I killed my very first turkey last Saturday - the first day of the season! It was unbelievable! Jake and Olivia spent the night at JuJu's and they did great! Jake of course loves staying at JuJu's but it was Olivia's first time and she did really well. I was super proud of her and so grateful to my wonderful mother-in-law for taking such good care of my babies. I am BEYOND LUCKY to have such an awesome MIL. She's fantastic in every way. I love her to death.

Back to my hunting story... Mike and I got up at 5:30 that morning and headed for the woods. I should mention that the weeks leading up to turkey season have been both exciting and emotional for all of us, but especially for Mike. He and Daddy Don always went hunting together during turkey season and it was the favorite season for both of them. I love their turkey hunting stories the best. So because of this Mike was missing his Dad even more than usual. We knew from the get go it was going to be a tough season. Anyway, we get up and head for Munn Hill which is about a mile from our house. We were driving Daddy Don's truck. This is completely coincidental. We've only had it a week or so while JuJu uses Papaw's black truck to haul gumballs from her yard. It was definitely emotional driving to Munn Hill that morning in Daddy Don's truck. That was the beginning of what would become a VERY emotional day. So we get on a bird really early and head in his direction. There is nothing in the world like hearing a turkey gobble. Nothing. It sends chills up your spine. If you're not a hunter this means nothing to you, but if you are, you know exactly what I'm talking about. It's an amazing feeling. So we get out into the woods off the highline and set up by a tree to wait for him to fly down. The goofy turkey flew down into the highline instead of to us, so after calling to him with the sweetest hen purr my husband could muster (he's incredibly good at calling turkeys - and all animals for that matter) the gobbler still wouldn't budge. At some point I realize that Mike's shotgun has a scope on it and mine doesn't. I always hunt with Mike's Benelli, but we borrowed one of Daddy Don's Benelli's so that we could both hunt with our favorite shotgun. I ask Mike about this and he reluctantly offers to trade with me. I said no, that it was fine - which is was of course. No big deal. After a moment it occurs to me what my husband had going on in his head. So I said to him, "you want me to kill the first bird of the season with Daddy Don's gun don't you?" He said yes. Holy cow. NO PRESSURE here people. I was already emotional and here I was with this new weight sitting on my shoulders to kill a turkey on opening day with DD's gun. Oh dear me.

We start slithering on our bellies towards the highline. We end up getting about 45 yards from the bird. I think this is too far. Mike is sitting next to me and we're not leaning up against a tree or anything. I'm up on my knees waiting for - heck I don't know what. The gobbler comes around a tree and all of a sudden he's just - THERE. He sees us. Mike says shoot. Shoot. Shoot. I froze. I was completely frozen. I thought he was too far. PRESSURE. He was already moving because he had seen us. His head was going back and forth. He started to run. Shoot!

I shot. I missed. The turkey flew away.

Mike stood up and he was irritated. That's actually putting it mildly. He was mad at me for not shooting the first time he said shoot. I had ruined it. I had this perfect turkey on this perfect day and I ruined it. I didn't kill the turkey. I ruined the idea Mike had in his head of this kill in memory of Daddy Don. In all actuality, I probably had this way too built up in my own head by this point. I am not an overly emotional person. I don't generally cry. I am proud of the fact that I'm not one of these girly girls who worries about their nails and how their hair looks. I'm just one of the guys. I was NOT myself that day. I started balling. Not crying - balling my eyes out. I couldn't fix this! I screwed up the entire "moment" and there was nothing I could do to fix it. Mike thought I had lost my mind. For those of you who know me in real life, this is completely out of character for me. I was SO upset. Mike told me it was ok and all of that nice stuff that he's required to say as my husband. I still felt terrible about the whole thing. I wanted to go home. Unfortunately this is not an option. You don't go hunting with a Munn and leave because things don't go just as you'd planned. JuJu would back me up on this point. No matter how irritated you may become with the Munn man in your life, you're still hunting and that takes priority over pretty much anything else. Mike wouldn't have taken me home even if I had REALLY wanted to (which I didn't.) So I blew my nose and we hiked on.

We try to get another bird a couple of hills away to come visit us, but he wasn't budging. We continued on and heard a bird in a cutover not far in front of us. We set out out a hen decoy and found a nice tree to sit against. Mike called and he gobbled. This went on for a few minutes but he wasn't moving closer. I suggested that we gobble at him. Mike gobbles and that's all that was needed. The next few minutes seemed like 15 seconds. It all happened SO quickly. I'm excited even typing about it. It was so amazing! So the turkey comes around the corner and Mike asks me if I was on him. I said I was. He said shoot. I shot. Down he went. Mike jumped up this time absolutely yelping. He was as excited as I have ever seen him! It was hysterical. We were like two little kids. It was one of the neatest moments of my life. The first thing I wanted to do was take it home to Jake. He was SO EXCITED to see my turkey. Jake is obsessed with turkey hunting (all hunting actually - I wonder why.) Olivia was excited too despite the look on her face in this picture.

So we hunted a bit longer after I killed my gobbler, but I was so anxious to get home to show Jake that Mike had to wait a couple of days to get a turkey for himself. He killed this one Monday morning. He then tagged out on a limb hanger he killed this past Saturday morning. I haven't downloaded those pictures yet though. He's rightfully proud of it with a 9 3/4" beard and 1" spurs. That's pretty good for an Arkansas bird.

I love that this is something we can do together. Mike and I love each other so much and it's really neat to be able to share his love of hunting with him. I'm glad that we can also share this with our children and pass on our love of hunting that we've inherited from both his side of the family and mine.

I sure hope I made Daddy Don proud.

BREAKING NEWS!!!!!!!

ANNOUNCING:

Ouachita Baptist Church
Pastor - Bro. Mike Munn

I am SO EXCITED to announce that my most wonderful husband is now the PASTOR of Ouachita Baptist Church near Sparkman! It's about 25 miles south of Arkadelphia. Their pulpit committee came to hear him preach last month at New Hope where Mike has been the interim preacher since October. We went to lunch with them and had a really great time. They were "very impressed" with him and invited him to preach for their congregation. He preached a.m. and p.m. last week and they invited him back this Sunday in view of a call. He preached this morning and then this evening we answered questions from the congregation. We then left the sanctuary and in private ballots, they voted UNANIMOUSLY to call him as their pastor! We have been praying about this for several weeks now and Mike felt called to Ouachita so he very happily accepted their offer! We are SO EXCITED!!!!

For any of you who have known me forever, the idea that I am now a PASTOR'S WIFE is absolutely insane! I am completely amazed at how God can use the least of us to do His work. Mike and I both feel like Paul. I guess we are co-chiefs of the sinners. God can see things in us that we can't even see ourselves - and isn't that an amazing blessing?!?!

I am so unbelievably PROUD of my husband. He is an awesome, Godly man and he is a fantastic preacher. I am very proud to be the pastor's wife! I can't wait to see how God uses him, and us, at Ouachita. Please pray for us! Pray for Ouachita, too. They don't know what they've gotten themselves into! :<)

Empty Nest

We picked Jake up at noon today from preschool so we could all go to Texas to purchase our new pets. He goes to preschool two days a week and absolutely loves it, but he was elated to go on what I call a "mini-vacation." I love day trips. I also love week long trips. I love all trips actually - as long as we're ALL together. I could live in Vietnam as long as the four of us were there. We absolutely love Vietnam and I really would have loved that trip so much more if Jake had been with us, but I digress. Jake has been bugging Mike for the last couple of weeks about going camping and canoeing. It's slightly possible that I may have put him up to it, but Jake loves camping too so I think it's alright. This goofy cold weather we're having is not making me want to camp right now though. I can't believe some of you out there have had snow! I am beyond ready for spring to come and actually stay, but I would always welcome snow. All of our vegetable plants were killed in the frost last week. We had to buy new plants, but I'm going to wait a couple of weeks to plant them. Mike's corn is looking great but essentially everything else is going to have to be replanted.

Let's see... what will we have have growing out in the garden? TONS of tomatoes for sure. I am not Rachael Ray by any stretch of the imagination. I don't really like to cook, despite the fact that I cook at least 2 and sometimes 3 meals a day. I am a southern girl though, so I learned to cook early in life. If it's edible, I can fry it. Teeheehee. There is one thing that I'm particularly proud of though. I make the best fresh salsa this side of Mexico. I drove myself crazy for at least 2 weeks a couple of years ago trying to come up with a perfect salsa recipe and I finally succeeded. I can pretty much cook anything, but I'm known for my salsa, my homemade Chinese food and my fudge. I asked Mike if there was anything else I'm known for. He said my green bean casserole. I use the recipe from the side of the fried onion can, so I don't think I can claim that one. He's so sweet though! Back to the vegetable garden - we'll also have sweet corn, field corn, okra, cherry tomatoes, squash, peppers, cucumbers, radishes, turnips, sunflowers, and potatoes. I think that's it. It keeps getting bigger every year. We love to garden.

As for the empty next title, our children are NOT HERE!!! Very bizarre. JuJu picked them up about 45 minutes ago and they're spending the night with her. This will be Livi's first time to spend the night away from home and we're all very nervous about that. I pray she'll be fine, but there's always the possibility that I'll be going to pick her up at 2 in the morning. We'll see how it goes. Tomorrow is the first day of turkey season, and we have to be in the woods before sunrise, so we can't very well wake the kids up and take them over to JuJu's at 5 a.m. while she's still fast asleep. Well, I guess we could, but I don't think any of them would be very happy! Livi loves JuJu and JuJu is the most wonderful, amazing grandmother in the world, so I feel certain Olivia will be fine. This is Jake's first time to spend the night since we've been home from Vietnam, so it will be really strange not having anyone to tuck in tonight. I don't look forward to getting up at 5:30 a.m., but I'm very excited about turkey hunting tomorrow! This is without a doubt Mike's favorite hunting season. It will be hard this year without Daddy Don though. It's bringing up lots and lots of memories. He has on one of Daddy Don's camo shirts today and he smells just like him. It's strange to have his scent around again - but calming all at the same time. We sure do miss him.

We're going to watch the new James Bond movie tonight so I should probably be popping some popcorn. Oh! We have two very smelly pet turkeys now and 4 baby ducklings. They are so cute!

Sad news

Our sweet little puppy, Lightning, got out into the road early Tuesday morning and was killed. At this point I'm mostly wondering how much God thinks Jake really needs to learn about death at the ripe old age of 4. I know God knows what He's doing and to many of you losing a puppy may not seem like a big deal, but my animals are my family and I'm unhappy. It's difficult explaining to Jake about death again so soon. I'm worried that he'll start thinking that he may die too since Daddy Don recently died and now his puppy. I should also mention that Monday afternoon Phideaux managed somehow to catch our greenhead (that's a mallard drake duck for those of you who may not know) and kill it and brought it to the front yard for me to find. Good grief. Olivia seems to be oblivious to animals coming and going but Jake is very aware and I really am concerned that he may start thinking he's next, or me or Mike or Olivia. Explaining death to a 4 year old may be the very hardest thing in the world to do. I explained of course that Lightning is in heaven and that we'll see him again just like we'll see Daddy Don again one day. (Yes, I most certainly do believe that animals go to heaven, too!) I used the opportunity to talk to Jake about salvation and how to get to heaven. I also used the opportunity to reiterate how dangerous the road is and how he and Livi should always stay away from it.

We're driving to New Boston, TX tomorrow to get some baby turkeys and ducklings. Perhaps that will cheer us all up. I'll post pictures of our new babies next week.

SCATTERGORIES
(an interesting game sent to me by my friend Rebecca and I hope to see it on my other friends' blogs next!)

Rules: Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following...They MUST be real places, names, things...NOTHING made up!

My Name: Casey

1. Famous singer/band: C.C. Deville (from Poison - telling my age again! I had a poster of him in my locker in 7th grade!)
2. 4 letter word: call
3. Street name: Chinquepin (my mother-in-law lives on that road)
4. Color: Cadmium Red (Mike assures me this is a color - this game is harder than it looks! Mike has since come up with cobalt blue but I like his original answer, so I'll leave it. As a side note, I used to collect cobalt blue depression glass, but I don't anymore.)
5. Gifts/presents: CHOCOLATE!!!!!!
6. Vehicle: Cabrera (as in Porche)
7. Things in a Souvenir Shop: Coloring books (Can you tell I have children?)
8. Boy Name: Chase (my nephew!)
9. Girl Name: Carolina (my niece!)
10. Movie Title: Cool Hand Luke (I have never seen this movie, but Mike thinks it's great. It's also mentioned in the movie Serendipity with John Cusack - another great movie.)
11. Drink: Coke (This was my Mama's very favorite drink)
12. Occupation: Caricaturist
13. Flower: Carnation (I hate carnations)
14. Celebrity: Carrot Top!
15. Magazine: We can't think of a single magazine that starts with a "C"
16. U.S. City: Chicago (I had a layover there on my way to DC when I was 17. I went to DC for Clinton's inauguration. Wow. That was a long time ago. I've since gained a few brain cells. Vote Mike Huckabee for President!)
17. Pro Sports Team: Colts (I have no idea what sport they play, but I know they're a team)
18. Fruit: Cherry (I LOVE fresh cherries! I also love cantaloupe and clementines. We ate lots of those in Vietnam. Actually - I love nearly all fruit.)
19. Reason for Being Late for Work: Car broke down (This never happened to me, but I was always late for work when I worked outside of home.)
20. Something You Throw Away: Celery (I absolutely, positively DESPISE celery)
21. Things You Shout: Cheers!!
22. Cartoon Character: Chicken Little (I was not impressed with this goofy movie at all, but while I'm talking about movies again, I would like to recommend The Illusionist with Edward Norton. It's one of the best movies I've seen in a long, long time.)

MIKE is sitting over there on the couch helping me think of stuff for a "C" so we'll do his name now.

1. Famous singer/band: Metallica (how old are we anyway?)
2. 4 letter word: milk (Jake's favorite drink - and the one Olivia won't touch with a 10 foot pole)
3. Street name: Main St. (something we used to drive up and down listening to Metallica)
4. Color: Magenta
5. Gifts/presents: Money
6. Vehicle: Mercedes (I suspect Mike has never sat in a Mercedes.)
7. Things in a Souvenir Shop: Map (something my husband would never look at because he's a MAN)
8. Boy Name: Miguel (this is what Mike calls himself when he tells me stories in his Spanish accent about Miguel & Casena (what he calls me in the story.) These are very funny, ridiculously exaggerated, off the wall stories that he's been telling me since we first started dating that are all about us.)
9. Girl Name: Michelle
10. Movie Title: Men in Black
11. Drink: Mt. Dew (we drink the diet version)
12. Occupation: Male stripper (Isn't my husband a preacher? Ok. I came up with that one. Mike actually said machinist, but I didn't think that was nearly as interesting.)
13. Flower: Mum (good grief)
14. Celebrity: Meredith Viera (Mike has a little crush on her.)
15. Magazine: Men's Health (Mike would never read this magazine.)
16. U.S. City: Magnolia (where Mike is from!)
17 Pro Sports Team: Magic (Mike thinks this may be a basketball team. (I happen to know it is. I used to love the NBA.) We don't watch sports unless it's rodeo.)
18. Fruit: Melon (I love watermelon. Mike likes it with salt. Yuck.)
19. Reason for Being Late for Work: Making out with my wife. (Oh! What a sweetie he is and a very good kisser, as well!)
20. Something You Throw Away: moldy cheese (so that's where that smell is coming from...)
21. Things You Shout: MOMMY!!!! (we hear this ALL DAY LONG)
22. Cartoon Character: Mickey Mouse

This was actually a lot of fun! We've had a good time laughing about our answers. I expect to see these on your blogs in the coming days! If you do play along, leave a comment so we can get to your blog and check it out!

A few pictures of my sweet babies!

Daddy's boots are awfully big shoes to fill, but I think he's up to the task.

Is that Olivia or Debbie Gibson?

Jake and Olivia with their cousins, Emma and Amy. When these four are together, it's wild!

Jake and Olivia on a VERY windy day at Lake DeGray a few weeks ago.

and now a little something to lighten things up...

I have a very good friend who I would love to cheer up right now in person but she lives too flipping far away! These ridiculously corny jokes are for you my beautiful friend!

* WHY DON'T BLIND PEOPLE BUNGEE JUMP?
It scares the crap out of their dog

* WHY DOESN'T SMOKEY THE BEAR HAVE ANY CHILDREN?
Because whenever his wife gets hot he beats her with a shovel

* WHY DO THEY CALL IT PMS?
Because "Mad Cow Disease" was already taken

That last one is Mike's favorite. Can't imagine why. I hope you're smiling!!!

For the rest of you in the universe, I ask that you pray for my friend and her family. You may not know her name, but God does and He'll know who you're talking about.

War & Peace (& everything in between)

I would like to believe that no one is actually FOR this war or any war for that matter, but I am most certainly FOR my fellow Americans fighting in the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. I am incredibly proud to be an American and all of the rights and privileges that entails. I am also incredibly proud of the men and women who have fought all these many years throughout every war to give me the freedoms I enjoy - and generally take for granted.

Whether you are opposed to this war or not isn't really the issue. The issue is whether or not you support our brothers and sisters who are fighting. Our family supports them and prays for them daily. I had a really interesting thing happen to me while we were in VIETNAM. On one of our last days in Saigon, Mike, Olivia and I went to the War Remnants Museum. I should mention that it used to be named the American War Crimes Museum. I have obviously seen pictures and footage of the Vietnam war, but to be in that country and feel so much love and respect for it's people and THEN see the pictures and actual guns and clothes of the soldiers and the remains of the innocents caught in the middle of it, is a very different - and sobering - thing. There were actually two babies in large jars that had been born and consequently died (or were born dead) due to the affects of Agent Orange. I'm not going to pretend to understand anything about Agent Orange and or how it was truly used, but I can't ignore having seen those two little babies forever frozen in time - one with two heads and another so grossly disfigured that it was hard to distinguish it's parts. I'm also not going to pretend to understand anything about the Vietnam war in general. I was born in 1975 when the war was ending. No one in my close family was in the war, so I don't even know any war stories. I know that the US made mistakes, but they also did a great service there and we never felt anything but love and respect from the Vietnamese people while we were there adopting Olivia.

One of the things at that museum that struck me the most was the award winning picture of the little girl running naked down the middle of the street because her clothes had literally been burned off of her. To me that little girl was Olivia. All of those children are Olivia. They were all innocents trapped in a country at war. I can't help but think of all the little children in Iraq that have lost their lives. There are thousands of children who live in fear of death every single day while my children run and play with their endless supply of toys believing that everything in the world is good.

My life changed when we visited the Navy museum in Pensacola last September. There was a room set up to look like the cells where our troops were held at the "Hanoi Hilton" prison during the war. We visited the real Hanoi Hilton while we were in Vietnam. John McCain is the most well know soldier who was held there. It was in that moment last September, when I was first surrounded by these images from my daughter's birth country, that I realized that without the sacrifices of those thousands and thousands and thousands of soldiers who lost their lives fighting in Vietnam, I may not have been allowed to adopt from there. Because of the course history took there many years ago, doors were opened that allowed me to bring my beautiful daughter home in 2006. I am not usually a publicly emotional person, but I openly cried that day in Pensacola with strangers all around me as I thought about the men and women who died to make it possible for me to have a daughter from Vietnam. I have been to the Vietnam memorial in D.C. and I know how far the names stretch. I had no idea when I was there at 17 years of age that one day those names would mean so very much to me. They are to be partially credited for helping us bring our precious Olivia home. I thank the soldiers who fought in my daughter's country and their families. I thank my government for standing up for what is right. I thank GOD most of all for peace in a place that many thought would never be peaceful. I love VIETNAM and I love AMERICA and I'm so grateful that Olivia gets to be Vietnamese American. Just for the record, we now consider ourselves to be Vietnamese Americans as well. Her flesh may not be my flesh nor her blood my blood, but she is in my heart and she courses through my veins.

I believe that peace can be found in Iraq as well. I have faith in my GOD to heal that country. Pray with me and support our troops. Who knows. One day you might have a child or grandchild adopted from Iraq. If you are in the military - there isn't a big enough font for the THANK YOU that you deserve.

Lightning McMunn

Despite the fact that my good friend Jennifer voted for Riblet all the way from Lebanon, my puppy name wasn't the winner. We had to take the puppy to the vet on Tuesday because he had a large, infected area on his left shoulder. Luckily it wasn't a big deal and we're treating it. Apparently he had been bitten by something but he's doing much better now that he's been on medication for the last three days. He's also not looking much like a Riblet anymore! He's packing on muscles! He's so cute!!! Anyway, Jake finally decided to name him Lightning. SHOCKING I know! So his name is Lightning McMunn of course.

Redneck Recreation

In case you've ever wondered what people who live in the country do to keep themselves occupied, here's your answer! We participate in REDNECK RECREATION! Jake came up with this little gem all by himself. It's amazing what you can do to entertain yourself when you put your mind to it! Jake attached a ratchet strap to a creeper and started pulling Olivia all over the drive way. Of course she had to return the favor. This was good for at least 20 minutes of hysterical laughter on my part. The kids had a pretty good time too!!!

PUPPY LOVE!

We were driving on a dirt road near our house this past Saturday when I spotted this sweet little puppy in the ditch. You can literally see every bone in his poor little body. I spent 10 minutes climbing through briars to get to the little fellow when I finally had to enlist Mike's help. Of course it took him all of 20 seconds to catch him. Good grief! My inability to pass by a stranded dog is not one of my better qualities in Mike's eyes, but even he couldn't argue with the fact that we had to bring this puppy home. It irritates the heck out of me that people throw puppies and dogs out that they don't want. We have an animal humane society in our county for goodness sake! Regardless, God allowed our paths to cross and we now have a new - yet to be named - doggy at our house. We've been discussing names. For now the kids are just calling him Puppy. Our friend Robby thought we should name him Spuds McKenzie for obvious reasons. I want to name him Riblet, simply because you can see all of his little ribs, but so far I'm not winning the name contest. Perhaps Jake will come up with something soon so our new pet can have a much deserved name. In the meantime, Jake and Olivia are having lots of fun playing with their new friend and even Phideaux likes him! He's a sweet little guy and we're happy to add him to our family.

Puppy cuddling!

Olivia isn't usually all that fond of dogs (especially Deacon since he outweighs her by about 75 pounds) but she loves our little puppy. Perhaps it's because she's actually bigger than he is!

How cute is he?!?!?!?!

Yep, this definitely looks like puppy love!

Olivia as Buzz Lightyear and Jake as Spiderman!

Where in the heck is Nemo?

Nemo was all the rage in our house just two years ago. We've loved Elmo, Bob the Builder, The Wiggles (Mike has since exiled our 4 colorful friends from our house completely), Barney... you get the idea. Now all of a sudden our house is filled with Spiderman, Batman and Superman (are you seeing a trend here?) Then two or three weeks ago, completely out of the blue, the Power Rangers took over my 4 year old son's interest and it's all I hear about. Lightning McQueen is about the only animated character that is surviving at our house these days. So again I ask, where in the heck is Nemo? Where is lovable old Barney or ticklish little Elmo????

My point: my baby is growing up, but let's not go crazy yet. I'm very pleased to say that Jake is still a Mama's boy. I can see him growing though right before my eyes. If he's given the chance to go out and work in the shop with his Daddy, he's out the door faster than you can say, "to the Batmobile!" For the last week or so he's been working on his "web throwing." Olivia doesn't have a favorite character. Although she looks awfully cute in a Buzz Lightyear costume as you can see! She can generally be seen with her Barbie cell phone though. It's rarely out of her hand for long.

My children aren't even in school yet and already I'm mourning the passing of their childhood. They are just growing up too quickly!!!

Four Months Today!!!

Olivia has been an official member of our little Munn family for 4 months now. In some ways it seems like it's been two weeks and in others it seems like years. 1/4 of a year down! I can't believe how much she has changed in that short amount of time. I was tucking her in for her nap and she asked me to sing "little star" as she calls it. Usually half way through the song she says, "WAIT!!!! ME ME!!" and she'll sing it so beautifully with her sweet, soft little voice. Of course only a few of the words are right, but it's still absolutely beautiful to this Mommy's ears. She just takes my breath away. Both of my children do. Oh my goodness. I just can't tell you what these beautiful babies mean to me. They are so so precious. God loves me SO SO SO much to give me these sweet angels. Time is flying though. They won't be my "babies" for much longer. Olivia will be 3 in just 3 short months. Jake is 4 but that 5 looming in December is awfully foreboding. I certainly want him to grow another year older, but 5 isn't a baby anymore. 5 is a big boy who will go to school next year. 5 is big enough to play league t-ball. 5 is too darn old, too darn fast. Where did the time go? My days and nights keep zooming by, but I'm loving every single minute of it. Again, I am so blessed!!!

Speaking of loving every single minute of life, Mike and I actually had a date night last week!!! That is the first time the two of us have been away from Olivia at all since she's been our daughter. She and Jake stayed with JuJu for about 3 hours while we went to El Dorado for dinner. We also went by to see our friends Mary and Bobby and their new baby boy, Landon at the hospital but he was being poked and prodded so we didn't get to see him that day. We were able to visit with our good friends though and that was nice. Mostly it was nice going out with my husband!! The nicest part of the whole evening were the quiet rides to and from El Dorado. It was so strange being in the car for 30 minutes without hearing Mommy 10,000 times from the backseat. It was strange having a conversation without being interrupted. It was also very strange eating an entire meal without having to take someone to the bathroom, cut someone's food up, or wipe up a spill. Very strange - and very wonderful! I'm also thrilled to say that Livi did GREAT at JuJu's!!! She has really taken to JuJu over the last month or so and we are so happy about that. They all went to my sister-in-law's for supper and then back to JuJu's and Livi never cried one time all night long!!! JuJu said she asked about us once but that was it. I was so proud!! I'm also excited because that means we can go out again! More importantly, it means I won't miss the first day of turkey season. I thought for sure there was no way I would get Olivia to spend the night away from us, but I think it's certainly possible now. I'm so excited!!!!!!!!!

Other excitement at our house is my new landscaping project in the front yard. I planted three new flower beds yesterday and Mike made me a beautiful new path from the driveway to the front door. It's made from cuts of cedar trunk and it's really neat looking. I'll try to get pictures posted when we're all done. It's looking really good!

We like MIKE!

In case you haven't noticed, my blog is now wearing a nifty new presidential campaign "button." Please click my lovely campaign button to read more about former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who this family sincerely hopes will be the next President of our GREAT UNITED STATES!!! Ok. I'm done talking politics for now.

jewels from JAKE & OLIVIA

* So the other day I was standing in front of the sink in my bathroom. I had just gotten out of bed and wasn't dressed yet. Jake came up to me and said, "Mommy, what's your booty doing?" To which I aptly repled, "growing." Jake said, "Mommy, you have a little booty." I love this kid!

* Occasionally Olivia comes to me while I'm in the middle of something and says, "Mommy, potty." She also holds her little girl "area" with her hand at the same time which is super cute. Depending on what I'm doing, sometimes I say, "Ok. Wait just one second and I'll take you." Then she goes into whatever room Jake is in, wailing to her brother, "JAKE!!!!!!!! POTTTTTTTTYYYYY!" She adores her big brother and he LOVES helping take care of her. He takes her to the potty, picks her up, puts her on the toilet and gets her some toilet paper. It is the cutest thing you've ever seen. Then he comes back up there with her and says, "Mommy, Livi teetee'd in the potty." He just wants to make sure I know he's taken care of it. He's such a good boy!

* Olivia loves to dress up. Not necessarily in her "dress up" clothes, but just in her everyday clothes. The other day she came into the living room wearing panties, pants over them, then shorts over the pants, then more panties over the shorts. Did I mention she also loves shoes? Oh dear.

* I bought the soundtrack to Walk the Line back several months ago because we all - especially Jake - love Johnny Cash. Walk the Line is one of his favorite movies. It's the only thing he wants to listen to in the car and he has memorized nearly every song on the soundtrack. There are a couple we don't listen to. One is about cocaine - we don't listen to this for obvious reasons. The second is an Elvis song about his "milk cow" referring to his significant other. Hmmm. Wonder why Mommy isn't crazy about a song referring to women as milk cows. Anyway, if you're ever around Jake, ask him to sing his favorite Johnny Cash song and if he's not feeling terribly shy he'll start belting out "It ain't me, babe" which happens to be #11 on the cd and our family's favorite secular song. There's a song by TobyMac that I love called Gone that Jake also has started asking to listen to and he's learning the words to it as well. I LOVE that my children love to sing!!! I should also point out that Olivia likes to sing along, too. She doesn't know the words but that doesn't keep her from mumbling loudly!

* The beginning of spring is apparently a time for babies! Three of my friends have had babies in the past three weeks and another good friend of mine just found out that she is very unexpectedly, but happily, pregnant. I sure hope there isn't something in the water. I better quit drinking from the tap just in case. We went to visit my friend Jennifer yesterday who just gave birth to a beautiful baby girl named Kalli three weeks ago. She was a preemie, but is doing great. Jake just loved her to death and wanted to take her home with us. I asked him if he wanted a new baby brother or sister and he said yes. I laughed and told him he would have to pray about that. Mike wasn't amused. Hmmm. We're planning to go see our good friends Bobby and Mary's baby this evening. He was born on Monday night. I can't wait to get my hands on a 3 day old baby! I've seen pictures of little Landon and he's absolutely precious!!!! A couple of cries and a dirty diaper later though and I'll be completely over my new baby thoughts. Mike will be pleased.

* There have been a series of mishaps at our house lately. I'm sorry to say that Jake seems to have inherited his father's proneness to accidents. Mike tried to cut the end of his finger off with a table router last week and nearly succeeded. This is one of MANY MANY MANY accidents he's had in his lifetime. Back to Jake's story now. Daddy Don's four wheeler trailer is at our house and the ramp on the back is held up by two large pins. Jake decided to load his Lightning McQueen car on the trailer last week - by himself. This is what happens when you take your eyes off your children for 15 seconds. Jake let the pins out and the ramp (which ways 40 or 50 pounds) FELL. We can only assume that it hit Jake's car on the way down because something broke it's fall a bit. Regardless, it hit Jake on the side of the head on the way down, knocking him onto the concrete and pinning him between the concrete and the ramp. Mike got to him seconds after it happened and ran him into the house to me. I've never seen Mike so panicked in my life. Jake cried for a few minutes then I washed him face and put a bag of frozen veggies on his scrape and waited to see what would happen. Luckily he was fine and it ended up just being a couple of bumps on the head and a scrape down his cheek. It could have been MUCH worse. I was definitely thanking God that it wasn't as bad as it could have been. If you have a trailer with a ramp, PLEASE either leave the ramp down or take the ramp off. The ramp is off Daddy Don's now and it will remain that way.

* Jake has a Pirates of the Carribean parrot that repeats what you say. Right this second Olivia is holding it saying, "bubble gum." It's repeating it back to her. She thinks this is fabulous. She is so precious!!

* Speaking of Olivia talking, people often ask me if she can talk yet and if so what can she say. The question isn't what she CAN say, but what CAN'T she say?? She talks all the time. It's amazing!!!!!!! She can ask for essentially anything and lately her favorite word is "alright." She says this in answer to all of my questions. I like that word. It's much better than, "no." Ha! She's also a good whiner which isn't a good thing. We're working on it though. Maybe that's just a girl thing. Regardless, it's incredibly annoying and it's certainly not something we tolerate at this house. Unless of course I'm the one doing the whining then it's okay :<) Mike would argue with that point, but he doesn't write on this blog (or even read it for that matter) so he doesn't get a say! This will be the one time he reads it and he'll give me a stern look. Even Mike's stern looks are adorable though so I'm not too worried. Have I mentioned how crazy in love I am with that man? Just thinking about him now makes me smile. I'm the luckiest girl in the world.

How do you like my new hair style? It is compliments of Princess Olivia. I've waited my whole life for a daughter who wanted to fix my hair, and here she is! I personally think it looks lovely, but I am a bit biased. I happen to be crazy in love with the stylist! My Mom was a hairdresser for many years before her hands became to crippled by rheumatoid arthritis to work in her salon. Then she became the secretary at the elementary school in the small town where I grew up. She would be proud to see Olivia playing with my hair. Of course she's got a great view of it all from heaven. I can't wait until Olivia's old enough to actually fix my hair. It's a pain to flat iron the back. It will be most helpful to have a daughter around who wants to do it for me!

Who is this kid???

Olivia is fast asleep in my lap with her head on my chest as I type this. I remember very well the very first time I blogged with her asleep like this. I was sitting in a fabulous resort hotel on the beach in Phan Rang, Ninh Thuan, Vietnam and it was November 21, 2006 - the day Olivia officially became our daughter.

More than three months have passed since that day and it shows! Everynight, Mike and I sit with the kids in the living room and we sing two lullabies and then say our prayers. Then we tuck Jake in and say goodnight and then it's Livi's turn. She climbs into her little toddler bed and I sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to her. I've know from the time Jake was four months old that we would one day adopt and I chose to save that song just for her. If I ever sang it to Jake it wasn't very often. He has his own special songs, but Twinkle Twinkle Little Star belongs just to Olivia. It's our song. I rub her back and then she puts her arms up in the air for a big hug. I hug her tight and give her a kiss on the lips and she puts her index finger up and says, "one more!" She does this 5 or 6 times before I finally quit giving in. She blows me a kiss goodnight as I walk out the door.

That's where my blog title comes in. Who is this kid??? This is definitely not the same little girl we met three months ago on the other side of the world. She's not even the same little girl that we knew on Christmas. She's changing everyday. It's just amazing. She has become more and more comfortable with us as time has gone on and just in the last couple of weeks it seems like she's finally decided that this is her home and she feels safe and free to do whatever she wants.

She is talking up a storm, too. I was so worried about the language barrier, but it really hasn't been an issue at all. She picked up English SO QUICKLY! She even said her first 5 word sentence last week. Our neice Emma gave her a shamrock pin (actually JuJu gave it to Emma to give to Livi) and later at the house I asked Olivia where she got it. She said perfectly clearly, "Emma gave it to me." I was SO PROUD!!!!!!!!!!! She is just amazing!

She and Jake are - in the words of Forrest Gump - like peas and carrots. They are just best friends and it's absolutely awesome. They fuss over toys sometimes but that's it. They are crazy about each other and love to play together. I'm so glad that they are so close in age. They are 18 months apart and it's perfect.

There were days in the beginning that I thought we would never mesh as a family. It's amazing what a little time, faith and hard work will do! I honestly can't imagine life without Olivia now. She is the funniest, sweetest, most beautiful little girl in the whole world. Mike and I are so blessed to have these two precious children!!!

The last day

What would you do if it were the last day of your life? I've been thinking about that a lot over the last few weeks since Daddy Don died. He woke up like he did every other day. He went to work, but for some reason he went around and visited with people he hadn't seen in months. After work instead of washing the mud off his always clean truck, he spent his afternoon with JuJu visiting Rhonda, Lance and the girls and then coming to our house to visit with us. I wonder if he would have done anything differently if he had known it would be his last day. He did the things that were most important. He spent time with is wife, his kids and his grandkids. That's really all anyone could wish for on their last day of this temporary life, isn't it?

I started thinking about what I would want to do on the last day of my life which took me back to that day. I took these pictures of Jake on January 10, 2007, the last day of Daddy Don's life on this earth. I spent the morning with my children and had lunch with them and Mike. After naptime, the four of us went over to some property near our house where Mike duck hunts on a beaver pond. Mike had found some flint there a few days before, so we went to look for arrow heads. That's a favorite pasttime of our family and something handed down through the generations of the Munn family. We didn't find any but I found a piece of flint that had a rounded out place in it. It's still in the pocket of the camo jacket I was wearing that day. Jake was dressed head to toe in camo. He really is starting to look like a big boy. He and Olivia had such a good time scouring the ground for arrowheads. We walked about a half mile down from the road and on the way back Olivia rode on Mike's shoulders. Jake and I took our time as we always do, much to Mike's dismay. Jake and I tend to lollygag. We get very caught up in our surroundings and what we're looking at and forget the rest of the world exists. He and I are so much alike in that respect. It had been raining for days and the logging road we were walking back on was muddy and of course had huge mud puddles. Despite the cold weather, Jake wanted to walk through the puddles. I would say that's what little boys do, but I'm a girl and I still love to play in the mud myself. Jake meandered around and laughed mischeviously and then ran right through the first mud puddle we came to. It was hysterical. Mike was yelling from around the bend, but he couldn't see us, so we continued to take our own sweet time. I was laughing at Jake and taking pictures of him and he was lost in his own little boy world. Life was just as it should be. Easy and full of laughter. We managed to finally make our way up to the road, but not before stopping at every mud hole along the way. By the time we got to the car, Jake was wet and muddy from the waist down, but he was smiling from ear to ear and so was I! I stripped him down to nothing but a shirt and we headed home. As soon as we got home, I gave the kids a bath and they were just getting out and toweled off when Daddy Don and JuJu arrived to visit. Jake and Livi were running through the house naked just as cute as could be.

If that had been my last day on this earth, I couldn't have spent it in a better way. I hope when I get to heaven, I have mud on my boots and kisses on my cheeks.

Olivia is such a GIRL!!! It's still so bizarre to have a little girl in the house. I've been surrounded by boys for so long! Even our two dogs, Deacon and Phideaux, and our cat, Crookshanks, are boys! Our house has been swallowed by pink! It's everywhere! Even though Olivia is a girly girl, she's still a girl after her Mommy's heart. She loves Hotwheels, she loves playing in the dirt and she loves being outside. She also loves pretending to hunt, which is a good thing since she'll be going hunting with me this year. Jake has been hunting since before he was born so she has a lot of catching up to do! I killed a nice 7 point buck that hangs over my computer desk when I was 8 months pregnant with Jake. He loves that the name plate says Casey & Jake Munn on it. Maybe this fall we'll have a new one to hang somewhere that says Casey & Olivia Munn. Jake has moved onto hunting with his Daddy most of the time now and he has two European deer mounts hanging on the wall in his room to show it. Jake LOVES to hunt. I can't wait for him to actually pull the trigger on his first deer, then duck, then turkey. Those will be proud moments for this Mommy. Mike once held the record for the youngest child in Arkansas to get the triple trophy award. That's a deer with a bow, a muzzleloader and a rifle all in the same season. I'm hoping Jake will be getting the triple trophy award in the next few years. I'll be equally proud if Olivia chooses to continue to hunt as well. If she doesn't, at least I'll finally have someone to shop with! She'll be awfully bored through the end of fall and winter though!

Here are a couple of pictures of Princess Olivia. Please note her earrings! She is so PROUD of her earrings! She shows them to everyone we see, even strangers. We went to Wal-Mart right after I took these pictures and even though it was dark, she insisted on wearing her sunglasses the entire time we were in the store! She's so beautiful and I wouldn't trade this girly girl for anything in the world.

Happy Birthday, Mikie Poo!!!

Today is Mike's (aka Mikie Poo, Daddy & Michael - I'm the only one who calls him Mikie Poo and Michael though - and I often call him Daddy along with the kids despite the fact I said I would NEVER do that) 31st birthday! For the next six months we will be the same age, but he'll continue to remind me that I'm his "old lady." Hmmm. I would post a picture of my husband, the most gorgeous man on the face of the planet, but of course my computer isn't allowing that this evening. Ugh. I get to look at him face to face though which makes me the luckiest woman in the world! I would just like to take this opportunity to tell everyone in the world that my husband is an awesome man and an unbelievably wonderful father. He's as good as it gets. I am blessed to be married to a man who also works from home, so I'm with him nearly 24/7 and believe it or not, we actually think that's a good thing! Maybe sometime when I'm not so tired I'll tell the story of how Mike and I came to be. It's a fun story. Tonight though, I'm going to retire from the computer, snuggle with my hubby on the couch and watch a movie. Happy Birthday to the love of my life - the greatest blessing I've ever received from God!

I'm feeling old

I can blame fellow Dillon adoptive Mom, Rachel for the last ten minutes that I spent at retrojunk.com. Thanks Rachel! I feel awfully old now though.

I thought, hey I'll look at the 80's movies. That was a fun decade. Then I started looking specifically at movies made in 1987. That was 20 years ago. TWENTY years ago!!!!! That sounds like a million years to me! Ok. Get ready for the titles:

Can't Buy Me Love - This is one of my favorite movies of all time!!! I still have every word memorized. Not to mention this was the future McDreamy's debut. I even own this one on DVD!
Adventures in Babysitting - I used to watch this while I was babysitting!
Dirty Dancing - need I say more???? My best friend Jenni and I still sing the Sylvia and Mickey song.
Overboard - who doesn't love Goldie Hawn?!?!
Some Kind of Wonderful - gave us all hope for true love even when it's hiding in unsuspecting friends.
The Lost Boys - yet another of my favorite movies of all time. I love love love Keifer Sutherland and he was beyond hot with his blonde mullet :<) Ah... those were the days. I can't believe though that these movies came out TWENTY YEARS AGO!!!! If you know these movies as well as I do then you are probably feeling a little bit old now, too. Be thankful that I didn't post a list of all my favorite 80's movies! I'll give you clues to a few of them though. Enjoy reminiscing!

Bueller. Bueller.

Who ya gonna call?

Best Prince soundtrack to a movie - EVER!

Ralph Macchio (I had a poster of him next to my bed)

Yee haw!!! Jester's dead!

Freddy Krueger

Fast Times at ????????

Gizmo

Tuesday, February 13th - the day of flowing bodily fluids

Poor Jake. He has had a terrible cough the last few days and at times he coughs so much that he throws up. Well, last night we added diarrhea to the mix and he had an accident on the way home from town last night. He also had an accident first thing this morning. So all of the sheets, etc. have now been washed. Then Olivia wakes up and is wet. This is highly unusal for her. The day goes on. Jake hasn't had any more accidents but he feels so terrible that he actually fell asleep on the living room floor. More unusal stuff. I tried to get him an appointment with the doctor (I just took him last week) and of course there are none today and his pediatrician is out the rest of the week. We can see a different one tomorrow but we have to call between 8 and 8:15 am tomorrow to get an appointment. We will probably get a 9 am appointment and we live an hour and fifteen minutes away. Fun. Regardless, I just want him to see a doctor. Then Olivia wets herself again, but this time just a little bit. Again, unusual. We all eat lunch - did I mention we have NO food in the house? I have to go shopping this afternoon. Jake had corndogs and strawberries. Not so unusual - but still weird! Olivia had rice with soy sauce. Her most favorite thing in the whole world. Mike and our friend Robby had bologna sandwiches. (I'm such a good wife! I did cook pancakes for breakfast though, so that should count for something.) I had instant mashed potatoes with ketchup. Again, not so unusual, but still weird. I bet you couldn't spell unusual in a Scrabble game. Are there 3 u's in the box? Hmmmm. Then, Olivia for whatever reason wasn't wearing clothes - she does this somewhat regularly (taking her clothes off for no reason I mean) and she peed on the living room floor. On the carpet! I was two feet away from her so it wasn't that she couldn't find me for help. She just stood there and peed on the floor. I had to call Mike to come wrangle the kids long enough for me to get the steam cleaner out and clean the carpet. UGH!!!!!!!!!!! I am either going to strangle the kids or myself. I haven't decided which yet. Anyone want to come over and eat chocolate by the pound???

Together again!!!

We drove out to Dallas on Saturday to see our good friends, Mandy and Arnaud who we traveled with in Vietnam! It was exciting to see Olivia and Anna together again and Jake and their son Louis were finally able to meet. It's funny that like us they have a biological 4 year old son and then we both adopted 2 year old girls from the same province in Vietnam. It was meant to be! I can't imagine having traveled for three weeks with anyone else. God blessed us so much by putting us with this amazing family. We had SO much fun together while we were gone and being together Saturday was just like old times - well except for the insane motor scooters and constant worrying that we dealt with in Vietnam! All four of the kids got along famously and we were so happy to see Mandy and Arnaud again. To be able to spend three entire weeks with another couple and still be able to call them great friends says something about a relationship I think! They are a wonderful family and we are so blessed to have them in our lives.

The only bad part of the day was that my wonderful friend Erin was supposed to drive up Saturday with her family as well and her son came down with the flu and then her other son got sick as well. Send up a prayer for them! Erin no doubt has her hands even more full than usual. Erin also adopted a little girl, Selah, from Ninh Thuan and we really really wanted to be able to finally meet her in person! I talk to her on the phone all the time and she has become one of my closest friends and I haven't even met her yet! Perhaps over the summer we'll all be able to get together. Mandy and I were both so sad that she wasn't able to come.

Anyway, we spent the day at Mandy and Arnaud's house and then went to the Dillon International Lunar New Year Celebration (TET). It was also great fun and we were finally able to meet another Ninh Thuan adoptive Mom, Kim-Lan and her beautiful family and a couple from Oklahoma who are just beginning their process to adopt from VN. Christi - it was very nice to meet you!

Here are a few pictures from the day.

Here are our four beautiful children playing at Mandy's house.

L to R: Louis, Anna, Jake & Olivia

I love this picture! Here we have Mandy & Anna along with me and Olivia. Mandy has become such a good friend of mine. I couldn't have made it through Vietnam without her and I depend on her just as much now as I did then. We'll get through the terrible two's together!

Here is a cute picture of Anna and Olivia with their balloons. They are so adorable! Little Anna is just precious and I can't believe how much they have both changed in the two months since we've been back. It will be so neat to watch them grow as friends here on the other side of the world from where they were both born.

Your mission... if you choose to accept it:

One of my very best friends is opening a catering business. I'm so excited for her!!! She's going to be fantastic. Anyway, she's having trouble coming up with a name. I've thought of several - two of which I personally think are just right - but I thought someone else out there might have the perfect name for her new business! I won't tell my ideas just yet so as not to clog your thought processes! Let's brainstorm people! I welcome any and all suggestions!!!

earrings, green bean casserole & assorted ramblings

Well, I like to keep you guessing. No, there weren't earrings in the green bean casserole, but there may be soon enough because Princess Olivia had her ears pierced yesterday! Mike has been bugging me to get them pierced since we returned home from Vietnam, but I wanted to let her settle in to life at home before we put her through the trama of having holes put into her baby earlobes! Incidentally, I was two when I had mine pierced as well. Anyway, Olivia has been irritated the last several weeks because I put on earrings and she can't. She pulls on her earlobes and points to the earrings and says, "Mommy!" with her 'I want them, too' look. She's so cute! So, I relented and we took her yesterday. They did both ears at the same time and I was so glad of that. She cried for just a couple of seconds but as soon as we put her in front of the mirror and she saw her earrings, she was smiling from - well - earring to earring! She was so happy! She looks absolutely adorable. I'll get a picture of her up sometime this week with her fancy new look. Have I mentioned how cute she is?

Ok. Now for the green bean casserole. Olivia hates fruit. She also hates all varieties of milk. She is just not a healthy eater which is not something I'm accustomed to! I have a house full of fruit and veggies! Vegetables are another thing she generally dislikes. I am thrilled to report though that she LOVES green bean casserole. As she ate her THIRD helping of it yesterday, I couldn't help but think of that old Saturday morning commercial where the celery stick (or whatever it was) sings, "Don't drown your food!" Perhaps the green beans are still healthy even with mushroom soup and fried onions mixed in. At this point, I'll take what I can get.

We had dinner with part of my family tonight and it was so much fun. My Aunt Judith and Uncle Jimmie were visiting from Texas and were very excited to meet Olivia. We had dinner at my sister Cathy's. Her family was there, my sister Caren and her family and my Dad and stepmom. I am the youngest of five. I have three sisters and one brother. Oddly enough, my brother is one of my very best friends. I'm closer to him than I am any of my sisters although I certainly love all of my sisters, too. It was nice just being with some of my family. Lots of adults and 7 children under the age of 12. It's always fun when we get together. I just wish we did it more often. Life is too short not to make time for the ones that matter in your life.

Oh I nearly forgot! It snowed Thursday night!!!!!! Of course by Friday afternoon it was all gone, but we took advantage of it while we could. We all got up Friday morning, bundled up and went out to play in the snow! This was Olivia's first time to see snow and Jake hadn't seen it since he was 14 months old. He was SO excited!!! It was so much fun. Jake and I had snowball fights and he, Olivia and I attempted to make a snowman. Attempted being the key word. We rode the fourwheers all over the place and then came in for hot chocolate. I would give anything for a few days of good snow! Jake would have such a good time. He's finally old enough to really get our and play in it. Olivia is still adjusting to the cold weather much less snow! She still had fun though. I made snow ice cream Thursday night and we all enjoyed it. My Mom always made snow ice cream. She loved snow even more than I do and that's saying something! I love living in South Arkansas, but I wish we could see a bit more winter weather.

I'm done rambling now.