A LITTLE SLOW DOWN AND A BIG FRUSTRATION

Weird title?? Well...I went to pick up our letters from our Dr office for our homestudy and our agency last Thur. When I got back in our van I thought I had better read them. When I did I discovered that they had gotten Randy and Don confused!! NO I AM NOT KIDDING! They had listed Don as a healthy sibling and Randy as the adoptive father. SO I marched back in and told them about their mistake asking them to correct it. They looked at me with strange looks on their faces. Then they said well she is on vacation until the 30th. All I could say was of course she is because why would ANY of this be easy!!! They saw the tears and said they would see what they could do. That evening I got a call and was told there was nothing they could do and did I want them to call on the 30th when it was done? WELL DUH! I was very angry and I did voice this. We have been going there for over 7 years but hey what is another 2 weeks in our already VERY LONG process to our little guy. I promise that I am much better today than I was on Thur! I just have to remember God is in control and that our little guy will be here soon.

I picked up Emilie today from Girl Scout camp. She had a wonderful time and talked non stop all the way home. She has been eating since I picked her up so I think they may have starved her. JUST KIDDING!! She did come home a little injured. When I pulled up to get her she ran to me for a hug and then went to get her things. The leader of her group came to me and said they had one problem and I immediately thought "oh no!!" but she bumped her eye into another child's head during an activity and she has one heck of a shiner! Wish I could figure out how to post pictures because it is a big one! They said she didn't even hardly cry. They said it was much better today.

I went to scout Sunday with Randy yesterday. He got his warrior. I am very proud of him. He was glad to see me. I know he wishes his Dad were there with him. I got to dance with him for a ceremony and that was interesting. I was just glad I didn't fall down. He was glad too!

Tifanie turned 18 last Friday! I took her shopping on Thur. She got a printer for her laptop and some clothes. It is hard to believe I have an 18 yr old.

Don is still at his school in Texas for another 9 days! YUCK-- but it was good he
got it out of the way so that next year we are not tied down and are open to travel for our little guy when needed.

We still have 2 extras in our house. Things seem to be going well. We are going to go to the zoo tomorrow if it does not rain. We will see.

Please continue to pray for us as we wait for things.

Until later~
Tina

CRAZY MONTH

Wow...I just realized it has been 2 weeks+ since I have posted. SORRY!! We have been so crazy busy! Our siding is on and our deck and fence is done. Now all we have to repair is the roof. We were told that since ours is not leaking that it was not priority. So we will see how long it takes them to get it done. We still have several in our neighborhood who are waiting for theirs to be fixed also.

We have had our caseworker to our home for our homestudy renewal. We had a lot to accomplish for this and are working on getting the final needed items for this.

We had our meeting with the new agency and that went so well. We were very pleased with the communication and feedback we got. I pray this continues. We are very excited about moving forward and can't wait for the arrival of our little guy.

Randy left Monday for boy scout camp, Emilie left today for girl scout camp, and Don leaves tomorrow for Command Sgt Major school with the National Guard. I thought it was just going to be me and Tifanie for a week. BUT...

Our friend, Debbie, finally received the awaited phone call last Fri morning. They had a kidney for her. PRAISE GOD!!! I got a phone shortly after that because we have agreed to keep their two youngest children. (9mos and 4yrs) SO...now we have 2 extras for 6 to 8 wks. I am a little nervous about doing this alone for 15 days without Don but I have done it before for several months when Don was in Somalia and Cuba and Iraq so I am sure I will survive. The plus is I know they will be going home and can spoil them!! And it gives me more practice for our little guy!

So...if I don't post much over the next few weeks just know that I am very busy. Please pray that our homestudy will get completed while Don is gone so that we can get our fingerprints redone and the change of country done soon.

Until later~
Tina

GRADUATION & RECEPTION

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

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

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~

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

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