HAPPY BIRTHDAY HEIDI!!

Two years ago God sent Heidi to this world. She is the most precious gift to any of us. We have been so blessed by this little girl. Her Mom had a kidney transplant a year ago and we got to keep Heidi while she was recovering. I think God sent her to us to help us deal with all of the waiting we have done for our little guy. We love her like she was one of our own! She calls me "Ina" and has just started calling Don...Don instead of Dah. She calls Randy...Ranry and Em...emi. We have been blessed by this little girl in so many ways! She is such a ray of sunshine while she is here and we love her. I call her an angel with an attitude! She will definitely tell you how it is... :)

SO...HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY GIRL!! THANKS FOR BEING SUCH A BLESSING TO THE HUBBARD FAMILY!

WEEK #44...

AND NOTHING TO REPORT...NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING!!!

Right now I wish I could predict the exact date the call will come...the exact date that court will be...the exact date that we will leave to get him...

I know people are wanting to know...I wish I knew!!

Trying to still stay positive. Not really feeling it today, though!

Hope you all have a good weekend! (I'm going to try! :) )
Tina
***GOD IS GOOD!

10 MONTHS...

Today marks 10 months of waiting- WOW! As I have struggled lately, I have had constant reminders that we are NOT walking this path alone. I am thankful for that because...this is a hard path to follow at times! When things don't go the way I want or think they should I tend to start looking for an easier "better" way. I start looking for better solutions to what we want. I keep reminding myself that this path was not necessarily a path that we chose but was chosen for us. We are not walking it alone but are carried through most of it! Do you remember the footprints poem? I feel like that is us right now...we are being carried through this most difficult waiting part! I do love getting those gentle reminders that the path we are on is the right one. Like sitting in Church yesterday and hearing the sermon knowing God planned that just for us! SO..even though my heart aches for our little guy, I know that God's plan is going to be wonderful and we will be so blessed by it.


Have a blessed day~
Tina

FOOTPRINTS

One night a man had a dream. He was walking along the beach with the Lord and across the sky flashed scenes from his life. In each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand; one made by him, and the other by the Lord. When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of his life there was only one set of footprints. He also noticed that it happened at the worst times in his life.
This bothered him very much, so he asked the Lord about it. "Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you, you'd walk with me all the way. But I've noticed that during times of trouble, there is only one set of footprints. I don't understand why you left me when I needed you the most."
The Lord answered, "My precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial, when you see only one set of footprints, that's when I was carrying you."

WEEK 43...

So...another week passes and we are still waiting! I am wondering if the waiting will ever end???? No referrals this week, again! I think we are in the"dry spell". I shouldn't be surprised that we are caught up in it!! We were told this week that courts will close today and re-open the first week in Oct. (I thought they had already told us this but I guess they confirmed it again.) One family passed court this week before the closure so they will be traveling in Sept and others that have referrals with no courts dates will most likely get assigned dates when courts re-open. With each week of no referrals our hopes of having him home by Christmas are crushed a little more. In fact...when we are asked, I am now telling people it will be the beginning of next year before he will be here. When I figure it up it just doesn't add up any other way. NOW...I do know that nothing is impossible with God. So...I am still praying for Christmas! :)

Kids are back in school and we are trying to get into a new routine. It has been rough but it usually takes us about a week to get the new norm going. Em is doing pretty well in the mornings but the evenings are a little rough.

Headed to the park and then to Walmart this morning.

Have a blessed day!
Tina
**With God ALL things are possible.

FIRST DAY BACK....

TO SCHOOL...

All three kids headed back to school today. Tifanie to college classes, Randy as a JR and Em in 5th grade. The only pictures I got were of Emilie and she was not real happy about it. Her school is new and so they had traffic issues this afternoon. She was supposed to get home at 430 and arrived home at 530. That is a long time when the school is only about 5 miles from our house!

She did have a good day and from what I have gathered from the others did as well.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HONEY!!!

Today is hubby's birthday. I called him an old man this morning and he just said not this year! Since I am only 3 months younger than he, I have to be nice! This is our last year in the 30's!!! I keep telling him I am going to start going backwards this year. :)

Our plans are just to take him our to dinner...with all of his kids present! He will get to choose where he wants to eat and then we will come home and watch a movie and have cake. Em and I are in the process of making it.



Hey Babe...thanks for all you do for our family! We love you very much. Hope you have a great day!!



Love,

All of us

THE NEW 5TH GRADE HAIR DO...

Emilie got her hair cut last week in preparation for her new school year. She was so funny when she climbed up in the chair she looked at the hairdresser and said, "I want it cut like my sister's hair." (We just go to Great Clips to get our hair cuts.) SO...I looked at the hairdresser and smiled and she said to Em, "Well...Honey, I don't know your sister." She wanted it VERY short but we convinced her to just let the hairdresser cut it at her chin and go from there. When she was finished Emilie said, "Wow, that is short." And the hairdresser's response was, " Can you imagine what it would have looked like if I had cut it as short as you wanted?"

Em is very proud of her new hair do and I finally got some pics of it before Church yesterday. It makes her look a little older but so very cute. She already looked a lot like her sister but now does so even more. I am very thankful God gave them different colored eyes so we can tell who is who in pictures.

They start school on Wednesday. She has her back to school night tonight so I need to get all of her school supplies together today. This will be her last year of Elementary school...where does the time go??

42 WEEKS...

Can you believe it??? We are at 42 weeks of waiting for "little guy". I woke this morning feeling a little bummed! I took my shower, got dressed, and was making the bed when I turned to hubby and just said it...42 weeks! And he says...is that how long we have been waiting?? WHAT??? Like you do not know...the exact amount of time we have been waiting...what is wrong with you? :) I did not say this to him...but I did think it! He doesn't know these details because he is not obsessed with it. He just works and works to make sure when the time comes we are prepared! Me?? I know the details...I know the exact dates of most everything we have done in the past 3 years for this journey. If he wants to know he will ask, otherwise I keep him informed. WEEKLY...Just like you. :)
So...we met our new consultant via email this week. The change is hard and a bit frustrating but we truly were not even close to bonded with the last one so really NO BIG DEAL! We know we are getting close to the top end of the list and that makes us happy! We know there could still be a bit of a wait and that makes us sad! But hey...there is nothing quite like an adoption roller coaster...RIGHT?
I got to watch a baby boy this week. He is SO SO SO sweet! I really enjoyed it! :)
The kids start school in just 5 more days. I think we are ready. Emilie has her back to school night Monday. She is headed to a new school that they are just opening due to over crowding! (AGAIN) The bad thing is she will start a new school next year as well. (middle school) I am hoping for an easy transition for her. She does not deal well with major changes so we will see. I am sure it will take a few weeks to get in a routine.
Emilie is having a sleepover with a friend tonight. We are hoping to go to a waterpark tomorrow but will see if the rain will hold off. We do have a backup plan.
Hope you all have a great weekend!

Blessings~
Tina
***He that handles a matter wisely shall find good: and who so trusteth in the Lord, happy is he!
Proverbs 16:20

41 WEEKS...& BACK TO SCHOOL SHOPPING!

We are now over due! :) We have been waiting 41 weeks to see our little guy's face. We are so hoping and praying that we will have him home for Christmas this year but...I am trying to prepare myself that it will not happen. The thing is I do believe in miracles and maybe we will get one soon! There hasn't been any referrals this week. We did find out that the baby boy referred last week had a DTE date of late Aug so that is good for us. We may be closer than we think! Wouldn't that be a GREAT surprise.

This weekend is tax free weekend for school shopping in MO. I took the kids this morning to get their shoes, and Em the back pack she wanted. We are going to do some more shopping tomorrow at the PX as it is ALWAYS tax free for us. I was wanting to get to the commissary so we will do that as well tomorrow. I am hoping to stock up on things. Emilie chose some cute shoes that are white and one of her favorite colors, blue. She, also, got a backpack that is blue with white polka dots. She will be heading to 5th grade this year and Randy will be a JR. Tifanie is in her 2nd year of taking classes at the community college. UUGH- I am SO old! Don took Randy to get signed up and get his parking yesterday. That was a nice chunk out of the acct. These kiddos aren't cheap! :)

I had the joy of watching one of Don's soldier's little ones this week. He is around 4.5 months old and so cute. I would rock him to sleep and just hold him for a while as he was sleeping! TOO SWEET!!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. It is supposed to be VERY hot here.

Blessings~

Tina
***I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. Philippians 4:13 (EVEN continue this waiting thing!! :) )

GOD IS GOOD...

Thank you, God, or allowing the many court dates to pass today! What a wait they have had...many since the end of January. What a blessing to see all of these babies today.

SO...CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WHO PASSED TODAY!

Blessings~
Tina