Happy MLK day!!

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day! This has always been a great day and a day of service and celebrating freedom and equality for all people, a day for coming together and seeing each other through one another's eyes. Our country still has room to grow and inequality to overcome but we are a better people today than yesterday and a better tomorrow is ahead if we continue to work hard for the betterment of all people. This year MLK day hits a new note of significance in our family's life. Please read Dr. King's speech all the way to the bottom, it won't take long and it might just make your day!


"I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."
But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.
The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.
We cannot walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.
We cannot turn back.
There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."¹
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.
Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.
And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."2
This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.
With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:
My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,
From every mountainside, let freedom ring!
And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.
And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.
But not only that:
Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.
From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:
Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"3

Technology!

The orphanage director has the two documents we have been waiting on!!!! YEA!!! The only problem now is that she has to email them to Dallas and it is not working! They tried last week and no luck. They tried to day and evidently, no luck. As soon as our agency in Dallas gets these documents we can have a match meeting and find out who this little girl is, we will get pictures and infomation and possibly even video of her! Needless to say, we are excited and ready to find out who she is! If y ou get a chance, say a prayer that the internet will work and those papers will get to Dallas!
On a very happy note, another family from our agency is in Africa meeting and getting to know their two new kids! They have adopted a brother and sister and they will be bringing them home in a few weeks. They asked that everyone pray today because they have to make a special request of the US Embassy there to meet earlier then is scheduled so that they don't have to change plane tickets, etc. (very expensive). It is complicated but just pray that everything works out for the Seays to get their appointments tomorrow or Wednesday. To see a picture of their kids just check out our other friends blog.

Christmas plays!

We also had two wonderful Christmas plays this year! Carter was a toy soldier in the Nutcracker! He loved it! He has the best music and art teachers. They get amazing work out of these elementary students!

We also went to Dakota's Christmas play at his preschool. He was Joseph (for the second year in a row)! They acted out the Christmas story and then they sang and recited things they have been learning all year. Dakota also got to saythe prayer into the microphone after the show. He was very cute!!

No news

Still no news from Africa. We really have no idea when we will get matched. It could take months. They are having to file papers to meet new requirements and I think there is a back log because they are doing this for all the orphans up for adoption, so it really could be a long wait. Blah!

On a much more fun note, Christmas was great! We had wonderful times with both sides of our family and had fantastic travel! We have great travelers. Both boys do so well that even long trips (12 hours) are a breeze! Here are some pictures from Texas and Alabama.Christmas p.j.s!! Aren't they cute!!

It wouldn't be Christmas with out some Dallas Cowboys stuff!

Stockings!

Playing Santa with Uncle PaulBug glasses from Grandma and Grandpa Kirk!

The Felton Grandkids! Olivia (in the middle) is my new best friend! We painted fingernails and made an easy bake oven cake, I have to get ready for all the girl stuff!!

Keith's mom and the top of his brother's head!Dakota and his Great Grandma who will be 95 in February!! She is amazing!

Well . . . .

Well, I was hoping to be able to post sometime in this last month and tell you we had a match and knew who our daughter was going to be. Not yet. We are waiting on documents from the African government before our agency can make the referral. If you want to do something, pray! Pray that the documents are ready and that the orphanage director can email them to our agency. Pray that the internet works so that the documents come through! Just pray that it happens this week!! Meanwhile, another family has passed court! Congratulations to the Seays and their two new beautiful children! They will be traveling sometime in the next three weeks to bring them home!

In the meantime. . .

We had a great time at Thanksgiving with our family in Arlington and we are looking forward to a wonderful Christmas break with both families in Alabama and Arlington. Here is a picture of Carter with my bothers dog, Luke. The boys love him and he is the best dog!

She's home!!!

She's home!! Ella is home with her mom and dad and doing beautifully!! I had the wonderful opportunity on Saturday to welcome them home at the airport, along with many, many other family and friends! It was so wonderful to see them walk through the doors! Ella kept waving to everyone and smiling, like she knew all these people were here for her! She is absolutely beautiful and so happy! It was great fun also to meet other families who had adopted from the same orphanage or who were waiting as we are. Here are some pictures of the welcome party! mom, dad and Ella!

Minte and Ella were good friends in Africa at the orphanage

Sweet little girl, being very patient with all of us who wanted to love on her!

Pirates!

Today we had Dakots'a fifth birthday party! The boys dressed up as pirates and everything was pirates from the cake to the treasure hunt! I made a treasure map cake, they played pirates outside, went on a treasure hunt for their party favors, and busted the largest piniata ever created!!!(thanks to Mrs. Sarah Killian, Betsy's wonderful mother) Mrs. Killian lives inthe valley and was headed to Hamilton for the weekend. Betsy said my mom will bring your piniata ( I was having trouble finding a pirate one). Great! Friday after school Betsy walks over to me with the biggest piniata I had ever seen! It was big enough for Dakota to get inside it!! It was great and the boys went crazy when they saw it!! Don't believe me?

It was awesome!! I put a tone of candy in it and it barely filled it a quarter of the way up! Anyway, the party was a huge success and the boys played pirates until time to go home. Dakota has some wonderful friends and it was great to watch them run and play and laugh all afternoon. Here are some pictures from the day! Thank you Mrs. Killian, Betsy and all of the pirates who came over today, we love you very much!!

Happy Birthday Dakota!

Today Dakota turned five years old!!! I can't believe it! He already thinks he is a teenager! I can't imagine what this year will hold. He is an amzing kid. I've never known a five year old who was "cool" but Dakota is cool. I told one of his friend's mom the other day as he walked by in long baggy jean shorts, a bandana on his head, with is electric guitar, "He's such a dude!" He makes me laugh every day. It is official now that he's five, he wants to be a Dallas Cowboy football player when he grows up, seriously! It's been the same now for two years so I guess he's for real! Yea, good seats for mom!!
Here are a few other pictures to make you smile as you say a prayer for Dakota today on his birthday!

Happy Halloween!!

Too much Candy!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Amazing and Wonderful!

Our friends have just spent the whole day with their new daughter in Africa!! Here is an excerpt from their blog:

"What an amazing morning . . . There, sitting in the floor among three other babies, was Eleanor Yanet. We spotted her from the hallway and our hearts instantly melted. She was wearing the dress we had sent for her birthday, her beautiful curly hair lovingly braided by one of her caregivers. Such an incredible sight…our daughter, sitting on a play mat looking up at us. We could see all the caregivers watching from the hall. They were all smiling and were very excited for Yanet. The caregivers obviously love her very, very much, and Yanet loves them, too.

The other children are so amazing and sweet. We hugged and loved on them all. Our friends who already have referrals are in for a treat…and our friends waiting for referral: we’re trying to figure out which one she is…but they are all amazing. One came up this afternoon and in his broken English said “Yanet…plane…you.” I said, “Yes, Yanet is going home with us.” He clasped his hands together and held them to his chest and smiled. I thought I might fall over…his sheer joy that Yanet has a family, now, while he doesn’t…how amazing. Seriously, several of you reading this now need to call Buckner and get an application packet. You thought I pushed it before…just wait till we get home."

Thank you Amy and David for loving on all the children there, one of whom is our little girl!! I am with David, there are many of you who need to contact Buckner and start the process of bringing one of these children home! I am also very thankful for the wonderful caregivers who are loving and caring for our little girl. God is amazing to put all these people in just the right place!