Wesley and Baba spent some quality time over the weekend making a Cub Scout Pinewood Derby car. This is Wesley's first time after so many years of watching Parker and he was very excited. He went with a superhero theme and so we have the Batmobile.
Baba's learned a thing or two over the years in car design and we were all very happy at Monday night's test run to discover that Wesley's car was the fastest one there. We know there will be additional cars at the actual derby on Saturday, but Wesley is thrilled for a good chance at doing well.
This morning at BUMC we welcomed one of our clergy couple friends to preach on prayer. Charissa spoke about "A Well-Watered Garden: Cultivating a Life of Prayer."
After worship there were opportunities for folks to explore different ways of praying in some open prayer stations and also a prayer painting class led by Charissa. Parker opted to be with me in the Brokenness Being Transformed class which involved praying while tearing paper and then creating a new picture.
Wesley wanted to go to the prayer painting class (he's sitting in the back right corner). He really enjoyed painting with watercolors in his new journal.
The boys were fascinated by the idea of the portable prayer labyrinth. They helped before worship setting it up, and spent some time exploring it before helping to put it away after the workshops.
We picked up Daryl and took Charissa to lunch. It was good to get some time with her again.
Wesley spent his afternoon continuing to paint in his prayer journal. Here we have "Communion," a campfire and a beautiful tree outside.
Thursday night we were all able to eat together at FAD Night at Druid Hills and then participate in the workshop afterwards with Dr. Lois Lin. Lois helped us all use polymer clay to make prayer bottles. She was delightful and we had a lot of fun molding the clay around the small bottles with different designs and patterns. Dr. Lin was also very generous in sending home a lot of extra clay with our boys so they could continue to create new things.
Wesley has had a big couple of days. On Sunday morning he was recognized by his Sunday school teachers in worship for memorizing all of the books of the Old Testament in order. They showed this neat video of him reciting the books and then he was presented with a special certificate. They even had cake in the Fellowship Hall after worship for him.
Then on Monday evening Wesley had his Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet. He received four patches as well as eight belt loops - bicycling, bowling, family travel, flag football, hiking, reading & writing, soccer, and video games. He's got just a couple of requirements left before he will have earned his Tiger badge too.
This weekend we spent some family time celebrating Lunar New Year, which fell on Thursday February 19. It's a holiday celebrated in China as well as Japan, Mongolia, Korea, Tibet and Vietnam. In most of these countries the celebration starts about five days before the holiday and goes for a whole week after New Year's Day. One of the things we talked about when we adopted Davis was finding ways to incorporate his Chinese heritage into our family life. Celebrating holidays like this is one way we keep that heritage alive. Our Families with Children from China group met today for their New Year Celebration and we invited Uncle Nam and Uncle Kelly to come up and share the experience with us. They came to Ocala Saturday evening and toured town a bit before we all headed to dinner at Mojo's.
Then today Kelly and Nam went with Daryl to worship at Druid Hills before meeting the rest of us back at the house. The five of us had been practicing a surprise for Uncle Nam - learning how to say Happy New Year in Vietnamese: "Chuc Mung Nam Moi!" After saying their special phrase, the boys were happy to receive these traditional red envelopes from their uncles with money inside.
There were more New Year's presents for the boys as well - plenty of special sweet treats to go around.
Our FCC celebration took place this afternoon at Chop Stix Cafe in Gainesville, a great little restaurant with all kinds of different Asian foods on the menu. They're normally closed on Sundays and opened up just for our group's celebration.
Davis' name was added to the map this year for birthplaces of all the kids in the adoption group.
The big craft today was fancy decorated zipper pulls for backpacks. The boys had fun making them.
There was time for traditional music and dancing and the dragon parade.
These two guys had different Vietnamese soups for lunch. Uncle Nam had Hu Tieu Nam Vang (noodle soup with chicken pork and shrimp) and Davis had Pho (pronounced Fuh) with meatballs.
I tried something completely new and loved it - Pad Thai with Pork.
Daryl and Parker both got General Tso's Chicken.
Dessert was these super cute cupcakes - It's the Year of the Sheep (or Goat or Ram depending on who you talk to!)
And afterwards, we went outside for fireworks - this was a huge string of firecrackers ties together!
Some family pictures rounded out our time together.
Crazy uncles are lots of fun.
Wesley was given several of the extra craft bags and made a whole set of the backpack pulls.
We're so glad that Uncle Kelly and Uncle Nam made the time to come up and celebrate the Lunar New Year with us this weekend. It made our celebration that much more special.
The Allen Family was established in 1999 and currently resides in Ocala, Florida. Debbie and Daryl are both ordained pastors in the United Methodist Church. They have three sons: Parker, Wesley and Davis. Rounding out this family are two cats and a fish. Join us for our Allen Family Adventures!
