WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Christmas is just around the corner. I hope you are all having a great Holiday season. We are heading to a Christmas dinner today with extended family. We will celebrate Christmas Eve with a special service at Church. Christmas day will be here at home for the morning and then head to Grandparents for the rest of the day. We will then follow up with another Christmas with my side of the family on the 29th. We always keep very busy during the Holidays.
We are hoping and praying that our little guy will be here to share in the Christmas season next year. We know God has a plan and we have to keep the faith!!

I thought I would share a funny little story with you all...This is from our youngest daughter, Emilie. Anyone who knows our Emilie knows that you just never know what is going to come out when she speaks BUT this was so funny!!

This happended last year...I have this little singing hamster (my nephew got it for me a few years ago) that sings We wish you a Merry Christmas. Emilie loves to push the button and sing along. We had never really paid attention to what she was singing before. One day I was standing near her and listening to her sing. I realized she was singing the second verse: Now bring me some granny panties, now bring me some granny panties, now bring me some granny panties and a cup of rootbeer!! I laughed SO hard!! Aren't kids GREAT!! Do you know Santa found the humor in it also and she received some granny panties and a can of rootbeer in her stocking!! What a great family memory. Hope you enjoyed it as much as we have!


Have a Wonderful Christmas! And remember JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON!!!!

The Hubbards

SURVIVING THE ICE

We really did not get a lot of ice. The kids were home for 2 days and that was more challenging than the actual storm. We watched a movie and decorated a gingerbread house the first day. That entertained the kids for a few hours!! The second day we watched a movie and tried to keep everyone from attacking each other. BOY--am I looking forward to Christmas vacation! Hopefully, Santa brings lots to entertain them!!



I have been frantically working on Christmas cards. If you are reading this and have yet to receive your card, they are being mailed within the next day or so!!



No major news on the adoption. We are just praying that referrals will come soon. And trying to remember GOD IS IN CONTROL!!



Hope you are all having a Blessed Christmas Season.



Don and Tina

WHY ADOPT NOW??

December already?? This year seems to have flown by. It seems like we were just discussing adoption and all of the details.

Today it seems that many have the question, Why would you adopt now? Well...not that I feel I must justify the question with any other answer than: because we want to. BUT...we feel like we were called to adopt. We decided many years ago that adoption was an option that we would pursue when the time was "right". At this time in ours lives we have a child getting ready to graduate from High School another one has entered High School and our youngest is 9. And we are so thankful that they all agree that the time is right to add to our family through adoption.

Last December we were looking at possibly trying to get 2 little ones from foster care. We discussed this option with the kids and they were ready to bring them home. Unfotunately, this fell through. The kids were very sad and concerned for these 2 youngsters. They worried about whether they would have a Christmas or not. I feel so blessed to have children who feel empathy for others. We knew then that we were ready to start the adoption process. We prayed and prayed and prayed about every detail. We feel God has lead us to a wonderful agency and to the country from which we are adopting.

We are very thankful and feel very blessed that we are able to adopt. We are looking forward to having another little one running around.

Lately, it seems that the adoption process is moving very slow. Through all of this we remain hopeful that God will bring our baby boy to us soon. We have Faith that God is in control of our adoption and that gives us peace.

We continue to ask for prayers as we continue "the wait".

We pray that you all have a Blessed Christmas!

Don and Tina

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

It is hard to believe that it is already time for Thanksgiving. We would like to wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving.

No new news on the adoption. There is a meeting on Nov.28th so we will wait and see what we hear after that. We are thankful that we atleast already have all of our paperwork done and over there.

Today is my birthday. We went out to lunch. While we were there we saw a little boy who is from Vietnam. He was so cute and such a happy little guy. Maybe by next Thanksgiving we will be able to be thankful for our little one. Right now it just did my heart good to see this little guy.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Tina

Conference call today...

Today we had our first "group" conference call. They wanted to go over some changes that are going on within Vietnam. What we were told was what we really already knew. The changes about the I-600 within Vietnam. These changes will be happening soon and will be happening as families are already traveling. Noone knows what to expect and how long it will take to perfect these changes.
We were also told that the treaty will need to be renewed by June '08. We did not know about this. This may be the time when intercountry adoption fees may be more. We will just have to wait and see. God is in control!
Mainly, they asked all families to be patient and flexible. As we all know, sometimes that is very hard to do.
SO...we really don't know much more than before but that is ok. God is in control and we will trust HIM!
Today...I spent the morning in the baby's room going through some wonderful things given to us from a great friend! That is always fun to do and kept my mind focused on our little guy and not other things.
Again, we thank everyone for their prayers and good thoughts during this time.

Until later...
Tina

Another Month

It is hard to believe that we are already into November. It seems like this year has flown by.

Last night was Halloween and the kids were busy. Donald took Emilie out. She was Frankenstein's "wife". She got a lot of candy and now I will have to toss it away a little at a time so they don't notice it.

The baby's room is almost completed. We just need to finish painting the letters for his name on the wall and get the dresser. It looks really cute and can't wait to share photos with everyone.

Things seem to be moving slowly right now for the adoption process. It looks like there may be another change coming but we are waiting to hear details from our agency. I am not sure whether this will slow things down even more or speed things up. We are just trying hard to keep the Faith. We know that God has a plan to bring our baby boy and us together.

Please continue to pray for us as we continue "the wait".

Until later...
Tina

UPDATE

It has been a few weeks since we have posted. We found out last week that our dossier has been submitted to the international agency in Vietnam. So we are making progress. We are still just waiting for the phone call. I still think it will be awhile but we are leaving it in God's hands.

I finished the winnie the pooh mural on the wall in the nursery. It turned out pretty good. Donald has been working on some of the furniture that he has built for the nursery. It is beautiful. He has really done a great job. We can't wait to get it all put together and take pictures.

Please continue praying for us. We do really appreciate it.

Blessings,
Tina

DTV--TODAY!!!

We just heard from our agency that our dossier is being sent to Vietnam today. We will not hear anything from Vietnam until we get a referral. The referrals seem to be slow right now and we know that there are 4 families ahead of us for a baby boy. We know this could take time and are trying to leave it in God's hands. Our biggest concern is that our daughter, Tifanie, graduates this year and we don't want there to be a conflict with any dates! Please pray for us.

Thanks so much!! You are ALL appreciated!

Tina

Back to school...

Today was the first day of school for the kids. This is Tifanie's Sr year so I was a little sad to see her go. Randy is now officially a freshman and Emilie is now in the 3rd grade. They grow up sooo fast. Emilie was so funny this morning. The school did not want the parents to walk in with the kids but I have always taken them on the first day. So as I was driving her, I reminded her that I could not walk her in. When we got there she saw a large group of people waiting for the doors to open. We both commented on how some people must not have read the note. Then Emilie said, "I guess some people just can't let go!" It was so funny. But as I drove away with tears in my eyes I thought...how true!

No baby news yet. We are hoping that the paperwork is in Vietnam within the next few weeks. We are leaving it in God's hands. Please coninue to pray for us and the adoption.

Thanks so much!

Tina

Next step...

We heard from our adoption agency today. They let us know that they sent our dossier(paperwork) on to authentication and translation today. This process could take 3 to 6 weeks. But from this process it goes straight to Vietnam. So...we are getting there. They gave us a tracking number and said they would let us know as soon as it is there.

School starts in 13 days. I went with Tifanie yesterday for enrollment and will go with Randy on Monday. Then Emilie has her back to school night on the 13th. We will be busy with Vacation Bible School this coming week. Randy and I are taking on the young ones. Donald is working and not sure about what Tifanie is doing!!

Please continue keep us in your thoughts and prayers. We appreciate all of them.

Until later...

Tina

Paperwork is sent!!

Well...we mailed in ALL of the final paperwork needed for our dossier. As long as everything is done correctly,we are about on the last stages of our journey. This will be the hardest part, though. Once all of the paperwork gets in Vietnam we will just be waiting for the referral. There is really no set time when that will come so we will just have to be patient and trust in God's timing!!!

We just arrived home from our last summer getaway! We spent a few days in Eureka Springs at a place called Spider Creek. We all enjoyed our time away and had fun on our little canoe trip. I even fell out of the canoe at the end!! Emilie thought it was quite funny. I wasn't really laughing about it!!

The kids will be back in school in just a few weeks and we plan on working on the baby's room and getting things organized for when we will be traveling to Vietnam. We are very excited about traveling but I am very nervous about leaving the other kids. We have great friends and family that are taking on the kids. GOD BLESS THEM!!!

Until later...

Tina

IT'S HERE!!!

After a long 44 days, our approval came today from immigration! YEAH!!! We are very excited as this is one more major step done. Now we will put together the last of our paperwork and submit it to our adoption agency. They will then do their part to prepare it for Vietnam and send it on its way. This was NOT the longest waiting period but when it is the last piece of the puzzle, to finish the paperwork, it was very important. My friend got to see my "happy" dance!! We are one step closer to our baby boy.

Emilie is gone to Branson with Grandma and Grandpa. She is having a wonderful time, from what I hear!! The guys will be home tomorrow from their High Adventure trip. They seemed to have had a wonderful time, also. Tifanie has been doing her own thing and working. I spent today doing some antique shopping and looking for a dresser for the baby's room.

Thanks for ALL of the prayers. I know they are being heard. Please continue as we are preparing for the "BIG" wait next!!

until later...

Tina

4th of July!!

Well, I think we have recooperated from the 4th of July activities. We only had a few minor injuries and of course those were the "BIG" kid!! Don loves the 4th. I think it is one of his favorite holidays. He loves to tell stories about his friends and Dad shooting bottle rockets at each other. Yes, I know--this is very unsafe and I try to remind them of this!!!

We went to the farm to shoot our fireworks. (Mammy and Grandpa's) Although, everyone else in our neighborhood shoots them here, it is still illegal,so we head to the farm. We had a great time. Our friends, Debra and Trey went along with us. We also had the boyfriend and the girlfriend!! I think they all had a good time.

We helped at the North American Christian Convention yesterday. We went on the field trip to Paradise Park. Don had a small group of 4 or 5 (Emilie went back and forth between us) and he got the wild boys. We were very tired last night, especially Don as he had not had any sleep for a few days. Emilie did make a friend from California. She was very excited.

We are still waiting on our I-171H. It has been 29 days so we are praying it arrives very soon. I would be so happy if it is here within this next week. The guys leave on the 13th for a Boy Scout High Adventure in Minnesota and will be gone until the 22nd. But...God is in control and we will follow His plan for us!!

So...until later...


Tina

The adoption process

If you are reading this blog you know that we are in the process of adopting a baby boy from Vietnam. We began this process at the beginning of this year and have gotten quite a bit done so far. We are through the finding an agency, most of the paperwork and the homestudy. We are now waiting on the I-171H to come in so that we can get all of our dossier to our agency for all of their special touches and then on to Vietnam. We are very excited about all of this and have, with God's help, been able to do things in a timely manner. The passports were the hardest things to wait for but after 12 weeks they finally arrived. We just had to remember that God has a plan and sometimes we are not in charge of the time!! Hard for us to remember. We are now filling our time with all of the fun summer activities!!

Tifanie finished summer school today. Hard to believe she will be a Senior this year!! She is also spending her summer working at Perkins and hanging out with friends, and oh yes!! The BOYFRIEND--
Randy is filling his summer with baseball games and practices, football practice and boyscouts. He and Don just returned from boyscout camp and will leave again in a few weeks for their High Adventure. He will be a freshman this year. And yes, he also has a GIRLFRIEND--They grow up too fast!!
Emilie has spent a lot of her time this summer with Grandma and Papa. Papa even took her to garage sales recently--she found lots of stuffed animal treasures, as if she doesn't have enough!!


I have just been keeping busy with the kids. They keep me so busy that it makes the time fly by. I did finally start the painting on the baby's room wall. Well, actually, I have only drawn the Winnie the pooh on the wall but I am getting there. I will take pictures when I get it done.


I will post more when I have more information to pass along.



Tina