The End of the Blog?

I am trying to decide what to do with the blog. I have not posted much over the past several weeks and thinking about ending the blog, or at least scaling back/restructuring the blog. I am convinced it’s a great way to stay connected with friends and family, especially as we have gone through the adoption. But the reality is that our life’s pace does not allow for alot of extras right now. Twitter/Facebook have served us well in staying connected with those who don’t live close and are much easier to update.

I will decide something this week. If I keep the blog I definitely want to restrcuture the site and add a section for my Twitter updates.

Vacation Pics

Here are some pics from our fmaily vacation in Texas.

Compassion Millionth Child Video

Here is a great video that was shown at Compassion International’s millionth child celebration*.

*Compassion has ministered to over 2,000,000 children in the history of the organization but this is the first time in 57 years that we have had 1,000,000 sponsored children at the same time.

Celebrating 15 Years

This is the entire family (minus me) tonight at our local Olive Garden celebrating 15 years since the beginning of this family.  For the last several years our wedding anniversary has been about celebrating the starting point of our family, not just our marriage.  Amy and I still celebrate together (date last night) but we try to make it a big deal with our kids so they understand what it means, as well.  Explaining this concept to Yeneneh and Sosy today was a bit of a challenge but they had no issues with a meal at a restaurant.

You need to understand, we have been to very few full service restaurants since we expanded to a family of 8 and this was the FIRST time we did so without ordering for the kids to keep the price down.  Tonight was a celebration so they got drinks and an entree off the kids menu (except Olivia – she is too old for the kids menu).  We were such a large party that they assigned 2 servers to us!  When the bill came I held my breath, did some quick math, and threw the debit card down to pay for a meal that cost…78.70!  That’s with no appetizers or desserts and 2 of us getting water!

We are finishing packing for our bi-annual trip to Texas – we leave tomorrow.  This week we will spend 4 days at a beach house in Galveston with my side of the family (30 of us!) and then a few days at Amy’s parents house in Sugarland before returning home next weekend.  I won’t blog much but will send some twitter updates from the road.

Korean War Memorial

I flew into DC yesterday for a Hillsong United concert in Maryland.  I spend the night in alot of cities each year but rarely see much of the local flavor.  Washington DC is a rare exception to this rule.  You might remember when I saw DC in 63 minutes back in 2007.

Yesterday, I had about an hour and was focused on seeing the Korean War Memorial. My grandfather, Earl Martin Seay, was killed in the Korean War and this was a way to honor and connect with his memory. I was disappointed the memorial does not list the names of those who were killed in action but it was powerful anyway.

All I had was my iPhone camera so these are not professional grade photographs.

Honest Abe was right next door so I had to run over and see how he was doing.

Happy Buhrsday 36

Here is a photo of me wearing the Seay Family birthday hat. Amy and the kids made me a french toast birthday breakfast and the kids bought me a basket full of all of my vices (Mountain Dew, Caramello, and Blue Bell ice cream). Sosy knows her “buhrsday” is next (even though it’s 2 and a half months away) so immediately after we finished breakfast she moved on to making plans for her big day.

We just finished Yeneneh’s last soccer game and now Amy and Olivia are downstairs making my Grandmother’s recipe for caramel cake – sclhammy! After that, Amy and I are headed out to see Star Trek, eat a quiet dinner, and relax.

I share a birthday with my sister, Jenn, and Charlie Hall. You might remember last year for my birthday I was in Uganda with Charlie and I convinced him to don the Seay Family hat.

Compassion Ethiopia

We spent time as a family at a couple of Compassion International church projects when we were in Ethiopia in January. I was looking back over those photos this week and these two are burned into my brain. I have spent alot of time traveling to see Compassion’s work all over the world (yes, it’s the best job on the planet) but experiencing this with my entire family was a life changing experience.

Adoption Isn’t Easy…

I am a big fan of the Ivey family. I spent some time in Haiti a few months ago with Aaron and was able to meet his amazing son, Amos. Today is Amos’ birthday and the only problem is he is not home with his family. Amos lives in Haiti and the Ivey’s are in a marathon process to bring him home to Texas. Go over and read Aaron’s painfully honest post about this birthday. After you do that, say a prayer for the Ivey’s and hundreds of other families that are battling long delays in the adoption process.

Sosy’s Personality

I realized today I have not done much of an adoption update in a while. Life is still moving at a fast pace but we are slowing down, especially now that school is out for the summer. I’ll take this post to update you on Sosy. The pictures below will tell you everything you need to know about her personality. She is fully aware of the world and assumes it revolves around her. She is fun beyond words and works a room like a professional networker. Here are a few highlights now that we have passed the three month mark here at home.

-language is improving but still combines words (uh-bow-whack = “I’ll be right back”) and misses words (kitchen is consistently pronounced “chicken”)

- every statement she makes is always presented in the affirmative form and you have to wait a split second at the end of every sentence to see if she throws a negative in there. For example, “Daddy, Sosy eat broccoli…me, no”

- she has fallen in love with her Mother – she wants to do everything Amy is doing and thinks her Mom is the greatest thing in the world (pretty observant child)

- every morning Sosy dresses herself and it almost always is a combination of jeans, a dress, socks, pink dress shoes, and the optional component is a shirt (that may or may not be too small) over the top of the dress

- hair is the blessing and curse of this child – she has amazingly beautiful hair that is also high maintenance that is also attached to the world’s most sensitive head

- she talks and prays for her “burhsday” every few hours. If we are praying over a meal, the “buhrsday prayer” has to be thrown in there for good measure. She announces to anyone who will pay attention to her that she is going to have her “buhrsday three” (she will actually be 4) and will go to Yeneneh’s school after that.

- she has “it” – nobody really knows what that elusive “it” is when it comes to vibrant personalities but this girl has it. She is constantly stopped by strangers in the grocery store, doctor’s office, soccer fields, etc. just to be asked, “Do you know how beautiful you are?” – FYI – the answer is yes, she is fully aware of it

- if you pull out a camera, Sosy assumes you want to take a picture of her. It doesn’t matter if you are a complete stranger taking a photo of the Statue of Liberty or maybe the Grand Canyon. If you have time to take one picture, you surely have time to take one of her also.

We are an incredibly blessed family to have such an amazing little girl with us. (Yes, she is wearing what used to be a Darth Vader mask)

Slip N’ Slide

We pulled out the Slip N’ Slide over the weekend and introduced Yeneneh and Sosy to the fun that is sliding on your stomach down a long piece of plastic into semi-muddy water. It was fun!