Tuesday night our first child graduated from High School. How did I get old enough to have a HS graduate? Where did the last almost 18 years go? How did my baby girl grow up so fast. It seems like only yesterday she was the little 5 pounder sleeping on Daddy's chest and now she is this beautiful young woman heading out into the world.
Today is her reception. I have been preparing food for a few days. I am so thankful for everyone who has helped me with all of the shopping, setting up the tables, preparing the food, and decorating. I was up until 2am this morning getting things ready. I hope Tifanie enjoys the party and everyone eats a lot so I don't have to shove it all back into my frig!
Randy has his first ballgame of the season TODAY! He is in a ball tournament this weekend so will miss his sister's reception. He did go to her graduation so I figure that is good. I hope he does well and wish I could be there to watch but can't be 2 places at one time!!
I am off to get ready to go decorate for the reception! I hope she waits a long time before she gets married. This is all so stressful for me!!!!
Until later~
Tina
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Friday, May 30, 2008
FINALLY!!! We are approved-again!
We have been approved to move forward in the Ethiopia program. There were a few bumps but we have made it to the starting point, again! Now we will work on getting our homestudy updated and changing some paperwork items. I am praying this will be done easily but truly nothing has been too easy with this adoption. God is teaching me many things. There are days when I need to just stop stressing and listen to God! We are praying to have our little guy home by next year at this time. As hard as all of this has been with Vietnam and now switching to Ethiopia we know that God is in control and has a plan to bring us together with our little guy. I am looking forward to seeing my little guy's picture for the first time!
Thanks for your continued prayers and support as we begin again.
Until later~
Tina
Thanks for your continued prayers and support as we begin again.
Until later~
Tina
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
19 YEARS!!!
Wow, 19 years ago today I said "I do" to the best guy in the world! We were married a week after I graduated from High School while he was on leave from the Army for 2 weeks. He wanted to be able to watch me at my state track meet (Yes, I did run at one time!)and be there for my graduation and then 6 days later we were married and a few days after that he left to go back to Germany. I joined him there 2 1/2 months later. We spent the first 3+ years of our marriage there. We have had an amazing 19 years. We have lived a few different places in our 19 years and our oldest, Tifanie, was born in Germany.
I am very proud of my husband as he has served our country for more than 19 years and still continues to do so. He has seen several parts of our world and many times I have begged him to just get out but I know his heart is in it way too much to walk away. I just hope he doesn't have to go anywhere for a long time!
So...we celebrated Memorial Day and our anniversary with a trip back to Eurekia Springs, where we celebrated our honeymoon. We had a nice relaxing time ALONE!!
And today...we are preparing to watch our firstborn receive her diploma! Where did the time go?
Until later...
Tina~
I am very proud of my husband as he has served our country for more than 19 years and still continues to do so. He has seen several parts of our world and many times I have begged him to just get out but I know his heart is in it way too much to walk away. I just hope he doesn't have to go anywhere for a long time!
So...we celebrated Memorial Day and our anniversary with a trip back to Eurekia Springs, where we celebrated our honeymoon. We had a nice relaxing time ALONE!!
And today...we are preparing to watch our firstborn receive her diploma! Where did the time go?
Until later...
Tina~
Friday, May 16, 2008
BUSY BUSY BUSY!!!
Well...we have been very busy the last week or so. We are working on getting bids to fix the damage from the storm. It looks like we will be fixing the fence and roof and completely re-doing the siding and deck. All of this just in time to also be getting ready to update our homestudy. UUGH!!!
I had a very nice Mother's Day. We went to Church and then out to lunch. Then we took the kids home with their promise that they would clean up a little for me. Then Donald took me to buy a new bench to replace my bistro table and chairs that were damaged by the tornado. We also bought a new grill and replaced some of my other things that were damaged. Then Donald took me to Kohls because I got a gift card for Mother's Day from Tifanie (our oldest). It was a very nice Mother's Day and I am praying that we will have our little guy by next Mother's Day!
I am working on getting things prepared for Tifanie's graduation reception. She will graduate on the 27th (our 19th wedding anniversary!) We are having her reception the 31st. We were going to have it here at our house in the backyard. Now we are doing it at our church which will require a little more planning and decorating. Thankfully, my Mom and Mother-in-law have been very helpful in the planning and getting decorations! I am trying not to get too stressed about it. Anyone who knows me knows it may be too late for that. I tend to stress over everything!!
ADOPTION NEWS: We are still waiting on approval from the agency that we have chosen. They said it takes 2 weeks and that will be this coming Tues. I am getting anxious. It is going to be a very busy summer and with everyone's camps, Donald's National Guard school, and our vacation we are going to be pressed to get all of the paperwork complete and switched by the end of Aug.(this is my goal) We will see if we make it. I am praying for it.
Please keep us in your prayers, also.
Until later~
Tina
I had a very nice Mother's Day. We went to Church and then out to lunch. Then we took the kids home with their promise that they would clean up a little for me. Then Donald took me to buy a new bench to replace my bistro table and chairs that were damaged by the tornado. We also bought a new grill and replaced some of my other things that were damaged. Then Donald took me to Kohls because I got a gift card for Mother's Day from Tifanie (our oldest). It was a very nice Mother's Day and I am praying that we will have our little guy by next Mother's Day!
I am working on getting things prepared for Tifanie's graduation reception. She will graduate on the 27th (our 19th wedding anniversary!) We are having her reception the 31st. We were going to have it here at our house in the backyard. Now we are doing it at our church which will require a little more planning and decorating. Thankfully, my Mom and Mother-in-law have been very helpful in the planning and getting decorations! I am trying not to get too stressed about it. Anyone who knows me knows it may be too late for that. I tend to stress over everything!!
ADOPTION NEWS: We are still waiting on approval from the agency that we have chosen. They said it takes 2 weeks and that will be this coming Tues. I am getting anxious. It is going to be a very busy summer and with everyone's camps, Donald's National Guard school, and our vacation we are going to be pressed to get all of the paperwork complete and switched by the end of Aug.(this is my goal) We will see if we make it. I am praying for it.
Please keep us in your prayers, also.
Until later~
Tina
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
AND SO WE BEGIN AGAIN...
Today we sent in our application for the Ethiopia program to a new agency. We will wait to hear from them about approval. I think they said it will take a few weeks. So once again we will wait. It is hard to believe we are beginning all over again. I am at peace with our decision to move on but I am still sad to say good bye to our hopes of a little guy from Vietnam. We keep thinking that maybe someday...so we will wait and see on that, also.
STORM NEWS: We are still waiting on our adjuster to give us the final tally on the damages to our home. We will need to buy a new grill before Tifanie's graduation party. She wants Bbq'd chicken.
It is hard to believe that Tifanie will be graduating from High School in 3 weeks!! I finished her announcements last night. The frustrating thing is I keep thinking of people I have forgotten and now we are out of announcements so I am just sending invites to her grad party. I feel so bad but just did not tally quite right on how many we would need!! I am thankful to everyone who is helping me get things together for her party. Since we have had to move it from the house there are more things to prepare for and buy. I have some great friends and family that are helping me prepare the food and buy things to decorate with. ****THANKS****
SO...Until later~
Tina
STORM NEWS: We are still waiting on our adjuster to give us the final tally on the damages to our home. We will need to buy a new grill before Tifanie's graduation party. She wants Bbq'd chicken.
It is hard to believe that Tifanie will be graduating from High School in 3 weeks!! I finished her announcements last night. The frustrating thing is I keep thinking of people I have forgotten and now we are out of announcements so I am just sending invites to her grad party. I feel so bad but just did not tally quite right on how many we would need!! I am thankful to everyone who is helping me get things together for her party. Since we have had to move it from the house there are more things to prepare for and buy. I have some great friends and family that are helping me prepare the food and buy things to decorate with. ****THANKS****
SO...Until later~
Tina
Saturday, May 3, 2008
GARAGE SALE CANCELLED DUE TO WEATHER!
Well...our garage was cancelled due to some scary weather!! I think they have finally decided it was a tornado that hit our community and caused so much devestation. We are thanking God that we are all safe and the damage really wasn't as bad as it could have been. Other families were not so fortunate. Several have lost their homes or just roofs.
The story as it unfolded in the Hubbard home: At about 2 something a.m., I sat straight up in bed. I realized it was very windy outside and raining really hard. I was concerned about Tifanie's prom dress hanging in the window, in what will be the nursery. I thought I had not shut the window and was worried it was getting drenched from the rain. SO...I got up and went to open our bedroom door. It was like a thriller movie and I had opened the door and let the demons out. SCARY!!! Donald jumped out of bed. Randy ran in to our room, as we were trying to get some decent clothes on we yelled for him to go get Emilie and get to the basement. (we had no electricity). We finally all made it down to the basement with the our dogs and the kids were safely in the storage room. Randy had carried his sister 2 flights of stairs. ( He does love her!! :) ) By the way, Tifanie was already down in the basement as that is where her bedroom is.
Donald and I went back upstairs to look outside into our backyard. We quickly realized that 2 sides our deck was missing. The large swing and playhouse was busted and laying on its side. We had our neighbours huge playhouse in pieces all over our yard and on the deck. Our fence was leaning to one side and missing patches of it. At that time what really freaked me out was that the big grill was laying very close to the window which is where Tifanie's bed is. Thank you God!! She could have been hurt very badly.
Donald ended up going into to work about 330 or 4. He is a police officer and since we were all ok he knew they would need him. He called to tell me about all of the other damage to our neighborhood. There are several houses without roofs and one that is several feet off of its foundation and one that is just gone! I, personally, had never seen so many trampolines everywhere. Some in yards where they shouldn't be and some just wrapped around poles.
After surveying our own home it looks like we will need new siding, a new deck and the repair work on the fence. They still need to look at our roof and see how much damage was done to it. We will need to replace the play house, the bbq grills, and a table and chairs. There are a few other minor things also.
Tifanie's graduation party was supposed to be here on the 31st. We have found another place to hold that. I don't think our home is safe enough for that right now and we are not sure how long it will take them to do all of the work.
As you can imagine...we cancelled the garage sale and hope to do it again the first weekend in June.
ADOPTION NEWS: We did get our paperwork for the new agency and I got all filled out. Due to the weather it was also delayed in being sent. We will hopefully get it sent on Mon and then will wait for approval.
Until later~
Tina
The story as it unfolded in the Hubbard home: At about 2 something a.m., I sat straight up in bed. I realized it was very windy outside and raining really hard. I was concerned about Tifanie's prom dress hanging in the window, in what will be the nursery. I thought I had not shut the window and was worried it was getting drenched from the rain. SO...I got up and went to open our bedroom door. It was like a thriller movie and I had opened the door and let the demons out. SCARY!!! Donald jumped out of bed. Randy ran in to our room, as we were trying to get some decent clothes on we yelled for him to go get Emilie and get to the basement. (we had no electricity). We finally all made it down to the basement with the our dogs and the kids were safely in the storage room. Randy had carried his sister 2 flights of stairs. ( He does love her!! :) ) By the way, Tifanie was already down in the basement as that is where her bedroom is.
Donald and I went back upstairs to look outside into our backyard. We quickly realized that 2 sides our deck was missing. The large swing and playhouse was busted and laying on its side. We had our neighbours huge playhouse in pieces all over our yard and on the deck. Our fence was leaning to one side and missing patches of it. At that time what really freaked me out was that the big grill was laying very close to the window which is where Tifanie's bed is. Thank you God!! She could have been hurt very badly.
Donald ended up going into to work about 330 or 4. He is a police officer and since we were all ok he knew they would need him. He called to tell me about all of the other damage to our neighborhood. There are several houses without roofs and one that is several feet off of its foundation and one that is just gone! I, personally, had never seen so many trampolines everywhere. Some in yards where they shouldn't be and some just wrapped around poles.
After surveying our own home it looks like we will need new siding, a new deck and the repair work on the fence. They still need to look at our roof and see how much damage was done to it. We will need to replace the play house, the bbq grills, and a table and chairs. There are a few other minor things also.
Tifanie's graduation party was supposed to be here on the 31st. We have found another place to hold that. I don't think our home is safe enough for that right now and we are not sure how long it will take them to do all of the work.
As you can imagine...we cancelled the garage sale and hope to do it again the first weekend in June.
ADOPTION NEWS: We did get our paperwork for the new agency and I got all filled out. Due to the weather it was also delayed in being sent. We will hopefully get it sent on Mon and then will wait for approval.
Until later~
Tina
Thursday, May 1, 2008
GRADUATION & GARAGE SALE !!!
A weird title for my post, I know! Last night Tifanie graduated from her skills USA class. We are very proud of Tifanie for this achievement. It gives her a little head start into the working world and college. We took her out to one of her favorite restaurants afterwards. (Chilis) Her grandparents came to watch this ceremony. We did decide that we would need to find a sitter, for Emilie, for Tifanie's HS graduation. She had a rough time making it through a 2 hour ceremony.
Tomorrow and Saturday we are having our garage sale. We are hoping to make enough money to update our home study. I would even be happy if we made enough to pay for half of the update. I am really not sure how much it will cost since there will be some changes needed as far as country and agency goes. We are praying for 2 good days so we can sell both days. We are also very thankful for those who have donated items, are offering to help me out during the day, or are praying that it goes well. We are truly blessed by all of you.
I will let you all know how we do.
Until later...
Tina
Tomorrow and Saturday we are having our garage sale. We are hoping to make enough money to update our home study. I would even be happy if we made enough to pay for half of the update. I am really not sure how much it will cost since there will be some changes needed as far as country and agency goes. We are praying for 2 good days so we can sell both days. We are also very thankful for those who have donated items, are offering to help me out during the day, or are praying that it goes well. We are truly blessed by all of you.
I will let you all know how we do.
Until later...
Tina
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