Changes

Well as many of you have probably noticed I haven't posted in a while. To tell you the truth I just haven't had time to post. No internet connectivity and way to tired to post when I did find time.

I'll post the high lights of changes...

• Kids are doing great. Growing like weeds. I'll post updated pics soon.
• Business is going fairly well. A tad bit slow thru the holidays but overall going well.
• Decided to go back to work at JBHunt this week. My first day back was yesterday. Things are going well on that front.
• My sister-in law is running the cafe. She enjoys it much more than I do! She's going to pick up the torch and keep things going on that front with my help from time to time.
• We had a wonderful Christmas. The kids received A LOT of presents and we are truly Blessed.

I hope each of you had a wonderful Christmas and I wish each of you a Happy New Year.

Blessings,

Tina

I live

For those of you that are my regular readers I aplogize for not posting in so long. I do not have internet connectivity at my work so I'm borrowing someone elses computer.

Things are going fairly well. Business is good. I'm a bit stressed and ask for your prayers.

I wanted to wish Ashton, Alex and Joseph Happy Birthdays! The first will be Johnny's birthday so if you see him wish him well also.

Gotta go clean out the deep fryer. It was fish day and it'll be a job to clean.

Keep me in your prayers as I make this transition.

My love to each of you!

Tina

First Day

Hmmm today is the first day of my new life beyond my career at JBHunt. I'm really not sure of what to think about the day. I did sleep in which was nice and I know something I won't be able to do once we get the cafe open. Last night at church I caught myself not checking my phone during service to ensure I hadn't missed a call from work. I also caught myself parking differently at church. I always parked so I could get out if I got called away by work. Little things that don't seem like much but little things that make a big difference. I loved my career at JBHunt but I feel like this is the time and the hour for me to move on. It's difficult to leave co-workers I love so dearly but I am determined that good friendships only die if you let them.

My co-workers gave me a wonderful going away Friday. I had cards, a signed jbhunt truck, a photo album and a digital photo frame. I also had many hugs, tears and joy that day. To my co-workers I saw thank you FOR EVERYTHING. You each have been a blessing to me and I'm a stronger person because of each of you.

So I'm going to head out the door this morning and start my new career. Keep me in your thoughts and prayers!

Tina

2 Years Ago

Two years ago today a little boy by the name of Nhat Hung Nyguen took my hand and walked away from the only home he had ever known! He was such a little man. He didn't cry or wimper and really didn't look back. He just took my hand and walked away from the orphanage and forever became our Alex Scott. We love him so dearly and have been so blessed to have been chosen to be his parents. I don't want to over look the opportunity to let everyone know how blessed we as parents are. Many people tell us how blessed our children are. But I have to say I think Johnny and I and are families are truly the ones that are blessed to have been chosen by God to raise these two wonderful children.

Alex has been such a joy to our family. Just this morning he crawled into bed with us and snuggled up tight and looked up at me and said "I love you too!" and in reply I said I love you to my little man.

Here's a picture of us leaving the orphanage. You can tell he's concerned but what a big boy.

and here's our little man today. What a beautiful smile!

Be Blessed and be a blessing!

Tina

It's Official

We're officially new business owners. We signed the paperwork on Saturday. We invited our church to come down on Sunday after our morning services to anoint the building. We had about 20 people come down and anoint us and the building and pray over our new business. It was such a blessing to have everyone come down and support us. I have two more weeks here at work. Needless to say things are busy! My mom, brother and Joseph went down this morning and planted new flowers next to the building. I'm anxious to see how it looks. Of course I won't be home until dark so I'll have to wait until morning to check it out.

I'm looking for volunteers on Saturday. We're replacing the septic system on Saturday and while the men work outside I plan on cleaning inside. If you feel led to come help us I'd be tickled to see you there.

Keep us in your prayers. The next few weeks/months are going to be busy!

Blessings,
Tina

Business Owners

For those that have been patiently waiting to hear our good news and for those that have heard rumors thru the grape vine. Johnny and I are planning to purchase the Valley Inn Cafe! We're really excited about the change in our lives and feel like God has orchestrated it to glorify Him.

For those of you that are not in the local area here's a picture taken from one of the web map sites.. It's not the best picture but it'll have to do for now.

We hope to finish up the paperwork this week. My last day at JBHunt is scheduled for October 2nd. Keep us in your prayers as we make this new transition in our lives.

Blessings,

Tina

Wonderful Birthday

I had a wonderful birthday. I took off work on Friday and spent the day working on my deck. We're approximately 99% done with painting the trim. Then we'll start on the actual deck itself. That should be as tedious and we should be able to finish it much quicker. I received several great birthday cards, Joseph bought me some new perfume and Jonathon bought me some new candles (both of which I really needed) Johnny took me out to eat and Jonathon and Shawna and Joseph and Ashton plus Addie and Alex joined us. It was a blessing to be able to share by 40 th birthday with all my kiddos. Jonathon normally has to be at work at 2 but on Friday was working 3rd shift so he was able to eat dinner with us.

Here's what I found upon returning home from dinner. Special thanks to the "unknown" coffin giver! Anyone need a Coffin?

40

Yep 40. I will turn the big 4 0 tomorrow. Does it bother me. Nope! Doesnt' bother me at all. I'm taking the day off tomorrow to hopefully work on painting my deck. It's raining today so hopefully it'll clear up tomorrow so I can work on it. If not I'll shampoo my carpets. Doesn'ts sound like a fun birthday but I always feel so much better after doing home improvements or seeing my clean carpets (which doesn't last long with two 4 year olds and two dogs). Since I'm taking tomorrow off my co-workers decorated my desk today and brought in food to help me celebrate my 40th. I am blessed to work with a great group of people.

Alex is healing well. He has to wear his shoulder brace for about 2 more weeks. Each day he's moving his arm and shoulder more and at times he forgets he's hurt. He was in time out Tuesday when Johnny picked him up at preschool for throwing rocks. Yesterday when I left for work he told me he wouldn't be throwing rocks anymore. Last night when I got home Addie informed me that she didn't have to go to time out all day. I guess the two of them have become quiet the handful at daycare and they have been spending too much time in time out. I've been telling them they should never have to go into time out if they do what they are suppose to do and listen to their teachers. Oh what a fun age!

Joe is starting his 3rd week of college. He's really NOT enjoying it. I hope he sticks with it and gets in the rythm of everything soon. Jonathon came by and ate dinner with us on Monday night. We don't get to see him often but do enjoy it when he comes to visit. Alex and Addie both love thier big brothers so much and you can see the feelings are mutual.

I hope each of you have a wonderful weekend filled with many blessings.
Tina

Before...

After...

Here's my flowers I planted in hay bales. I haven't messed with them much and would do it different next time but over all I think it was a good change up and I'd do it again.

Before
After! A big difference huh?

Here's Miss Addie. Yep she fell asleep in the toy box last night.

And here's our little man poising with his baby. He's doing well but his shoulder does hurt him from time to time. Keep him in your prayers.

Blessings to each of you!

Great Lil Sis

This morning when Alex woke up he was laying on his stomach. I could see he was struggling to get up so I told him to roll over on his back and set up and it'd be easier. I watched for a minute to see what he did. What I saw was Addie rolling Alex over and helping him situp. I then watched her help him take his pj's off. I told her what a great sister she is to Alex. It was just so cute to see her taking care of him. She can tell he's not himself and is really being so sweet to him.

What a blessing!
Tina

Broken Bones

Well Alex has his first offical broken bone. Last night I went downstairs to get their clothes for today. When I came back upstairs he was laying on the couch with tears in his eyes. I asked what was wrong and Joe responded that they'd been playing bucking bull and Alex had run to jump on his back and missed and hit the floor. Joe thought he hit his back but apparently he landed on his shoulder and broke his collar bone. It happened a little after 9 last night and he didn't act like he was in too much pain and I really wasn't sure it was broken so we waited until this morning to see if it was still bothering him. Yep it was so off to the doctor we headed. It was a clean break and went all the way thru. They wrapped him up and sent us home. Said it should heal in 3-4 weeks. The first x-ray they took wasn't strong enough so you can barely see any bones. So the x-ray technician gave it to Alex. He thought it was cool. Hopefully he'll heal quickly and be back to his normal self again in a few days.

Other than the broken collar bone both kids are doing well. Both kids really like to sing lately. They also like to color and cut things with scissors. I really have to watch what I leave out on the counter because I've had a few things destroyed! Joseph started college last week. He said he is not liking it. Hopefully that'll get better. Jonaton is getting ready to go to school in September to become a part time deputy. He's really looking forward to that. We still have no news to share with you guys on our front but hopefully we'll hear something tomorrow.

I hope each of you have a great week.

Blessings,
Tina

End of the week

Well I know many of you are still wondering what our news might be. Some have questioned if we are adopting again. The answer is that we do not have any current plans to adopt. I will not say that we would never adopt again but at this time it is not on our radar. But sometimes God changes the radar signals so we'll wait and see what he has planned for our family on that front. I still am unable to share my prayer request with you. Things have progressed along and we feel like we're moving in the direction God is leading us. We hope to know something early next week and believe me I will share just as soon as I can. I ask each of you to continue to lift us up before the Lord that we will follow his guidance in this matter. This is not something we're considering lightly and desire as much prayer and support as we can get. I do thank everyone that has been faithful to keep us in your prayers.

I found this verse earlier in the week and it really spoke to me and I wanted to share it with each of you.

Hebrews 13:21
Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

I do have a prayer request for Haley (Rowlins) Baker and her family. Haley lost her 2 month old daughter yesterday. The only thing I know is that the baby quit breathing. I saw Haley in the break room yesterday morning around 10:30 and she was so excited about the baby and telling me how much she had grown. We ended our conversation with her telling me she was going to email me pictures of the baby. About an hour later the babysitter called to let her know the baby had quit breathing. Please lift them up in your prayers. I know they are really struggling right now.

Blessings to each of you,Tina

Long Time no post

Last week I took some vacation days and including the weekend had 5 days off! Boy was it nice. I worked really hard while off but got so much accomplished. Joseph and I worked on our front and back decks. He and my brother replaced several boards and I sprayed the decks and cleaned them. We then cut several hanging limbs out of trees left over from this winters storm and cleaned them up out of the yard. Whew! Then on Sunday Melissa and Susanna came to visit us. Susanna is Addie's friend that we traveled home from China with. They stayed the night Sunday and we took the kids to Chuck-E-Cheese on Monday and then ate Chinese food. The time with them was short but we enjoyed it greatly. The are from the LR area so coming to our house is a big environmental change for them. They get to see our chickens and horses and dogs. The kids wanted to go swimming and Melissa said she didn't bring Susanna a swim suit. I told her that was ok they could swim in their underwear! After all we do that most weekends at Grandpas. The joy of living where we do. No one thinks twice about seeing kids swimming in their underwear. I just really enjoy living in the country.
This morning Johnny and I were laying in bed. It was time to get up and here comes the thumping of feet in the bedroom. Before you know it we have both kids in bed with us. We both just layed there with the kids a while and soaked in the goodness of God and thought about how blessed we are. Sit back and enjoy the small things. Those are the little things you'll remember most one of these days when your kiddos are grown and out of your home. Yes I can give this advise..My oldest is 23!
I have a special prayer request. Johnny and I have an opportunity to make some big life changes. I won't go into details but this is something that will definitely have an impact on our family. I ask that you pray for us that we will listen to Gods calling in our lives. It's so easy to decide on what I want to do or what Johnny wants to do but I want to ensure this is what God has planned for us so I ask that you uplift this request in prayer. We're hopefully we'll have some details to share over the next few days but we don't want to share to quickly and be out of God's will.

Babies

Here's a picture of the two babies my grandmother made for me and my brother when we were kids. Notice the one on the right. It's mine. It had more wear and tear. Also notice the eyes. My grandmother didn't do that intentionally and didn't even notice it until I pointed it out to her. How blessed I am to still have my two grandmothers still with me.

Well it started!

Yep Friday afternoon I went to my lovely "Red Lemon" and it started! I haven't had any mechanical issues with it since. I'm hoping and praying that all those issues are now behind us.

Been a busy week. The kids are doing well. On Saturday the kids visited Mom while I stayed home and worked on cleaning the house. Boy you wouldn't believe what all you can accomplish during a couple of hours with the kids not in the house. While the kids were at moms they played upstairs and found some old baby dolls my grandma made for me and my brother 30 some odd years ago. They are black babies wearing overalls and they are way too cute. My brother and I were really too old to play with them when she made them for us so they don't have much wear and tear on them. When we left I asked mom if I could take them home. I thought I'd put them up for safe keeping. Well the kids have really gotten attached to these two little dolls. They've carried them around all week. They take them to bed with them and even took them to preschool one day this week. I tried to take a picture of the kids holding them but the battery in my camera was dead so no luck. I told my mom to let my grandma know how much the kids like her dolls. I know she'll get a kick out of it and I know I've enjoyed watching them play with them also. Alex named his Mikey and Addie named hers also but I'm drawing a blank on the name right now. So stay tuned for updated pictures of the kids with their babies. I'm hoping the new wears off of them soon so I can put them on a shelf for safe keeping! Oh well they might as well enjoy them.

Have a blessed week.

End of the week update

Here's a review of the week so far.
Sunday flat tire
Monday dead battery
Tuesday bought new battery.
Wednesday Johnny tries to replace battery and realizes the battery cable is corroded into.
Thursday Johnny replaces end to battery cable
Friday drive to work and go into Parts store to return battery. Leave my lights on and guess what.. yep my battery is dead!

Not complaining at all. Actually now that the week is over I find it kind of comical. Aaron the guy that sits next to me said he was going to buy me a license plate for the front of my car that says Red Lemon.. I've been joking with my co-worker that sold me the car that he sold me a lemon. I told Aaron he couldn't leave work until he makes sure my car will start when we leave. He keeps singing over the wall. Tina's lemon isn't going to start. Tina's lemon isn't going to start.

Well it's Friday, it's the weekend, I'm blessed with a wonderful family, a good job, a good Christian church to attend and I'm going to put the last 2 weeks behind me and move on. I was listening to a program last night on the radio and the guy said you can always look forward to looking back on your history. So that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to look forward to this being my history and tomorrow being a new day. After all it's a new day the Lord hath made and we should rejoice and be glad in it.
Blessings,Tina

Happy Birthday Addie

Our little Jewell turned a big 4 yesterday. We celebrated at Grandpa's on Sunday with her cousins and then last night at my moms house. She is growing by leaps and bounds and we love her dearly. Happy Birthday sweet Addie.



Over the weekend we made cookies. The kids loved decorating and eating them. Alex said they were the best cookies ever.

Struggles with emotions.
Do you ever go through spells where you just seem to be struggling so hard to stay a float. You cry at the drop of a hat and you know how blessed you are and you know God's love and strength are with you but you still continue to walk through a valley you just can't seem to get through. Well that's where I am right now. I feel like I'm walking through a valley. I'm praying, I'm relying on God's mercy and strength to see me through. I know He's hearing my prayers. I know he's answering my prayers and yet my heart just feels broken in two.
So you ask why do I feel this way? As many of you know Ashton has lived with us for quiet some time now. We've (I've) grown very attached to her. She decided last week that she needed to make a change in her life and chose to move out. She left on good terms and I have talked with her almost daily since she left. Still there is an empty hole in our family. Last night little Addie cried as she went to bed that she wanted Ashton. I tried to explain to her that Ashton no longer lived with us but bless her heart she just really doesn't understand. I have to say I don't understand either. I think if I could comprehend on some level what her reasoning for leaving was or if she left on bad terms I could understand her leaving but to not understand why she chose to leave makes it even more difficult. I can see her struggling greatly and I want to reach out and tell her I feel like she's made a really BAD mistake. I know Joseph is hurting very deeply also and I know for his best interest I need to leave things alone and ensure I don't overstep my bounds. However that doesn't keep my heart from hurting or make the pain I feel any less real. I'm trying to encourage the two of them as they choose to go their separate ways. I'm trying to let my light shine and help them make it through this difficult time in their lives. So I'm holding up a big front. I'm smiling when I don't want to smile and I'm doing what I can to ensure I'm being a Christian mom to Joe and a Christiian friend to Ashton. I ask that you lift our family and Ashton up in your prayers.

Ephesians 6:10
Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.
With Love,Tina

pics

My brother Ricky was in on leave visiting a few weeks ago so I was able to get a picture with him and with Jonathon.

My oldest son Jonathon. Such a great young man. He works for

our local police department and we are so very proud of him.

Rick is 4 months older than Jonathon. He's also a great young man that's

serving in the U.S. Marines. We are so proud of him and his service to our country.

Reunion

We headed to Tulsa to reunite six out of seven beautiful little girls that we traveled home from China with. Larry and Shyla were so gracious in letting us meet at their house. The girls were able to swim and play with one another. It was such a blessing to be able to see so many of the girls together again. I'll attach a few pictures from our trip.

Left to right: Erica, Kailey,Charlotte, Gentry, Addie, Susanna

Handsome man by the pool
Susanna and Addie

Daddy and Alex

Big buds ready to go swim

Heading home

Independence Day

I hope everyone had a Happy Independence Day. I know our family is so blessed. The kids learned to say the Pledge of Allegiance last week and it was great hearing them saying "One Nation Under God". This is especially great since both my kids are now U.S. Citizens and can enjoy the freedoms we are all able to share here in the U.S. Friday we went to a Safari park. The kids had a great time during the drive thru but the main attaction was being able to pet the rabbits. On Saturday we celebrated Independence Day at my mom and step-dads. Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

Lake

Joe and Papa

Jennie and Alex
Addie and Ferba

We went to the lake this weekend and had a great time. The kids did very well on the 3 hour drive there and back. My step sister Ferba lives on the lake and there's a resort just a few minutes from her house we we're able to rent a room for the night and a boat for the day. The kids were leary of the deep water and enjoyed playing on the boat ramp MUCH more than being on the boat and getting into the DEEP water. Saturday night we went to a fire works display and saw one of the best displays I've ever seen. It was crowed and Addie didn't like all the noise but the display was pretty. Of course I had to forget my camera this morning so I don' t have it with me to post any pictures of the kids from this weekend.

My vans in the shop this morning. It's been such a good van and has 150,000 miles on it now. it started making some ticking noises this week (no it's not out of oil) so I took it in this morning. Hopefully it'll be a quick fix that won't cost too much. The tire on Johnny's truck went flat yesterday and ruined the tire so we have the addede expense of a new truck tire on top of my van repairs. Pray it won't be too bad. I'm wanting to hang onto my van until the kids are in school and we're no longer paying preschool expenses!

Have a blessed week. I'll try to post pictures from the weekend one day this week.

Big Kids

So Sunday morning the kids decided we needed to move the twin bed from our bedroom into their bedroom. I didn't have time on Sunday so yesterday morning Alex reminded me and then when I got home he reminded me again. So Johnny and I moved it to their room. Both kids slept in their own beds last night like big kids. Our bedroom just doesn't look right without the spare bed in it. After 3 years of having it our room it just seems odd not to have it in our room. They are getting so big so quick. I am really amazed at how they just did this on their own without any prodding from us to sleep in their own room.
This week my Aunt and cousin came in for a visit. My Aunt comes in every few years but her daughter hadn't come to visit in 9 years. We were looking at pictures and found a picture of my Granny's 4 granddaughters standing in the river. The date was June 23rd 1984. Twenty five years ago! So Sunday the 4 of us headed back down to the river and took a 25 year picture. We then framed them for a before and after look. It was fun. Wonder what the 50 year picture will look like? Yikes I'd be 65! The kids enjoyed playing at the river so I'll attach some pictures of them. I didn't get a digital print of us 4 girls to share with you all.
Have a great week.
Give a blessing and be blessed!
Tina

lyrics

Thanks to Amy for the lyrics to Alex's throw up song. Here's how it goes.

I think I'm gonna throw up, I think I'm gonna throw up I think I'm gonna throw up my hands to the Lord.
Next verse: I think I'm gonna hurl, I think I'm gonna hurl, I think I'm gonna hurl my sins out the door.

Too funny I guess he new more than what I thought he did about the song!

Two Big Kids

This week Alex mentioned several times that he was going to sleep in his own room. So last night I put Addie to bed and hollered at him to come get in bed. He hesitated because he was playing with Joe. I told him he was either going to bed in his room or going to bed in our room so he went ahead and climbed in his own bed and went to sleep and stayed there all night. Last week he tried it one night and stayed for about 15-20 minutes before beating a path back to our room. So this morning I made sure I bragged on him and Addie both for being such big kids and sleeping in their own room. I'm hopeful it's just a matter of days before we can move the twin bed out of our room and into their room. I talked about moving it once before and Alex assured me it was way to heavy to move!
Addie is truly a girlie-girl. She likes to have her hair done, she like her nails painted and she likes to primp. She doesn't really like to wrestle or play ruff and really prefers just to snuggle in the evenings. Alex on the other hand is all boy. He likes to wrestle, be loud and play video games with Joe. They both like to sing and often compete to sing alone. The other day Alex came home singing "I want to throw up... and praise my Lord". Well I think he forgot the part "my hands". He was raising his hands but only saying I want to throw up and praise my Lord... too funny. I asked Addie if he was singing the song correctly and she said no but wouldn't sing it for me so I'd know how it went to correct him. Last weekend on the drive back from Tulsa they sang the song I shall not be moved over and over. It's funny how much music they pick up from church and from day care.
Well have a great week.Thanks,Tina

Great Weekend

We had such a great weekend. The kids really enjoyed themselves so much. They didn't understand why we had to come back to the real world yesterday. Both asked to stay another night. I told them we'd be able to come back in July for China camp and that seemed to have done the trick. Alex got up this morning wanting to wear a hat he'd made at Vietnam camp.
Alex and Samuel picked up right where they left off last year. Within a few minutes they were holding hands as we walked in the parking lot and playing like old pals. We were so blessed to be able to meet so many families we'd only known thru blogs. All the kids were just too sweet and it was so good to see them with their forever families.
I'm going to post a few pictures from the weekend. Some will be before and after pictures. Look what a dfiference a year/two make!

We found all 4 Santa's this weekend. In order Sameul (Tam), Kien (Kien),Maile (They Trang), Alex (Hung)

and now..Samuel, Kien, Maile and Alex

Moms and kids. Samuel and Amy, Kien and Cynthia, Maile and Kim-Lan, Alex and Me!
Alex, Samuel and Maile then

Samuel, Maile and Alex then

Samuel, Maile and Alex now - with Maile's big brothers

Miss Addie hanging out at camp

Mr Alex enjoying camp.

Well you can look at the pictures and see that camp was a succss and you can see the wonderful kids and how happy they are no.

Have a great week and make it count for the Lord.

Busy week

Boy how the week has flown by. Monday started out fairly normally with not much to do then things started changing quickly. Tuesday afternoon Miss Addie came down with a 104 fever at 4 in the afternoon. Johnny took her to the doctor and he didn't find anything other than a runny nose and he thought she might possibly have something on one ear but wasn't sure. Gave her antibiotics and she came home. By the time she got home she was back to her normal self and doing well. Wednesday morning she got up feeling well but by noon preschool was calling saying her fever was 102. I brought her home and again she went back to her normal playful self. Then by evening she was running a fever again. It soon went away and she hasn't had any more issues. Praise God she's feeling better.
I'm on call this week. So I've been dealing with on call issues each day. Well Tuesday night I basically had little to no sleep. I got paged twice to work on issues then my boss called me at 1:40 AM letting me know that lightning struck next to our Dual Data Center and the electrical backup failed to kick on so the hardware in that entire building was off line. So off to work I headed to help recover about 400 systems. I finished up my part around 8:30 AM and then came home and slept for about 5 hrs. Talk about a bad on call!
To top that off the Kirby salesman came by Tuesday evening. I thought oh boy a free carpet cleaning. You know with 6 people and 2 dogs in the house I can always use a free carpet cleaning! Well... Yep I'm the proud new owner of a Kirby! I've been looking at vacuums lately and my steam cleaner recently went out on me so when it was all said and done we decided to go ahead and break down and get it. The living room looks great by the way.
If that doesn't sound busy enough we had 12 baby guineas born this week also. I guess 2 dogs, 2 horses and 23 chickens weren't enough to care for. Johnny decided to incubate guineas. We've had guineas before and enjoyed them. As long as Johnny is able to keep them in the chicken pen I don't really mind. But if they start getting into my flower beds I'm going to have a fit. I've really been working hard on planting flowers and trying to make the yard look presentable and chickens and guineas just scratch and dig way to much to have a nice yard. So here's hoping the guineas behave themselves when they get older. It's a good learning experience for Addie and Alex. They like watching them hatch and getting to hold them.
Tomorrow we're heading to Tulsa to meet up with Alex's travel buddy Binhson and his good friend Samuel. We'll also see several other Dillon friends that we've never got to meet before. Our agency (Dillon International) is holding a Vietnam Heritage weekend for the kids and I'm really looking forward to the weekend.
Oh one last thing. I'm officially old.. Yep you heard it.. I went to a dermatologist on Saturday for a spot on my leg. He looked at it and told me it was an old age spot and froze it off. So yep I'm officially old. Not to mention the Kirby salesman asked me if Addie was our granddaughter. What's the saying? You're only as old as you feel. Hmm after 24hrs of no sleep I kinda feel old right now.. LOL
Well enough rambling. Just hadn't posted anything all week and thought I'd post an update.
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend filled with many blessings..I'm planning on it.
Tina

23 years

Wow how time flies. Johnny and I celebrated our 23rd wedding anniversary on Sunday. We went out to eat on Saturday night and enjoyed a quiet evening alone. We don't know what to do with ourselves when it's just the two of us! On a serious note I can't say that everything has always been roses but I can say that I am married to a good man that loves me and loves our family very much. I am truly blessed!
Last night Johnny came in and said Alex had one the good citizenship award for the day at preschool. He had helped another little boy get water at the water fountain. Now if you know anything about Alex you know he's not the biggest of fellows but he's got a big heart and is very strong. We told him what a good boy he is and how proud we are of him. He's been eating like a horse lately so I'm thinking the growth spurt will be kicking in soon. Addie outgrew him just shortly after he came home and continues to be bigger than he is. She reminds him about it from time to time. She'll stand there real sassy looking on her tip toes and say "mom I'm bigger". Alex will look at me and say "mom I'm bigger too!" With which I respond yes you are Alex. You are a big boy! Joe and Ashton took them swimming Saturday and Sunday and they both started learning to dog paddle a little bit. They've both come a long way in their swimming efforts this year so far. Last year I could barely get them in the water when we went to the lake so dog paddling in the river is a really good start.
Well it's lunch time and my tummy is starting to let me know about it.
Have a great week.
Be blessed and be a blessing!Tina

He's not finished with me yet

I've had the song "Wait and See" by Brandon Heath on my mind all day. I couldn't remember all the words but the lyrics He's not finished with me yet keep going threw my mind. So I thought I'd search google to see what the remainder of the lyrics are and to see what God might be trying to tell me. Below is what I found. A lady by the name of Cindy posted this on her blog. Wondering does she read my mind or what??? Sounds like my life and the things I feel.

Here's a link to her blog.. http://cindysinspirationalmoments.blogspot.com/2009/05/hes-not-finished-with-me-yet.html

I too often worry about: accepting myself the way God does and trying not to be a perfectionist. I get so caught up in pleasing people and forgetting that the one that I need to worry about pleasing is the one who created me in the first place. When I look in the mirror, I don't see perfection. I see someone who is too lazy, lacks discipline, gets too upset with her kids, doesn't fit into her favorite jeans any longer, tries too hard to fit in, a sinner....just not perfect. The song "Wait and See" by Brandon Heath speaks in it's lyrics: "There is hope, for me yet, because God won't forget, all the plans he's made for me I have to wait and see, he's not finished with me yet, he's not finished with me yetStill wonderin' why I'm here. Still wrestling with my fearBut oh….He's up to something,And the farther out I go, I've seen enough to know that I'm not here for nothin'He's up to somethin'..."I think God is trying to show me that even though I continue to be a work in progress, He created me just the way He wanted me to be, with a purpose. He's still chipping away little by little to form me into a perfect diamond; clear, beautiful, full of luster. I know that I will never achieve perfection this side of heaven. Paul states very clearly in Romans chapter 7 how He continues to work on us and form us into the person He wants us to be: "For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." Phil 1:6. He was also very aware of how much he WANTED to do and say and be all the right things, but in the flesh was so unable!! "We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am!" God's word has come alive to me more than ever before in my walk with Him. The awesome thing is that when we confess these things, our imperfections, our sins, all those things the enemy uses to drag us down, there is no longer any power behind those lies. Romans 8:1 goes on to say "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." I am able to leave all those things at the foot of His Cross and know that when I confess, and those things are brought out into the light, they evaporate and become powerless against me.I'm still working on me day by day. It's a long, arguous process, as I am sure many millions of people have dealt with; change takes time. I heard something kind of cool last night when I was at a church small group. When we are looking at our past, beating up ourselves on our past failures, we need to remember that God didn't say I WAS, He said I AM. When we are looking to the future, striving to change and hoping for the time when "X" will happen, we need to remember that God didn't say He WILL be, He said I AM. I want to rest in the lap of I AM, and know that He accepts me just the way I am right now.

Made it threw yesterday

Never did really figure out what was up yesterday but today is a new day.

This weekend will be a big weekend. Friday will start out with an Informational Meeting on adoption. I will be assisting our agency Dillon International. The meeting will start @6 PM at the Jones Center in room 113. If you know of anyone that's interested in learning more about adoption please send them our way.

Sunday Johnny and I will celebrate our 23rd wedding anniversary. He's scheduled to take care of his dad that day so I'm hopeful some of my bigger kids will volunteer to baby sit for us on Saturday so we can go to dinner. I can't believe we've been married for 23 years. It seems just like yesterday that we were married. I know the old saying Time just flies and oh how it does.

Our church recently created a website where we post weekly devotionals. Here is this weeks devotional if you would like to take a look. http://valleylighthousechurch.com/pennedby.html I found this devotional on my friend Connies blog and asked her if I could share it on our church website. If you have a devotional or testimony you would like to share post it on my blog and I'll try to get it added to our website.

Tina

odd day

Have you ever had one of those odd days where you just feel like you should be somewhere else doing something else but you don't know where it is or what it is your suppose to be doing..? Well today is one of those days for me. I really don't feel like I should be at work today but I really don't know where I was suppose to be if it wasn't at work. odd yes I know but I just keep having this odd feeling something is different about today.

Some of you may be wondering how the graduation dinner went. Well we got up early and scrambled around the house all morning trying to ensure I packed everything we needed to cook and server food with. We got down at the river around 12:15 and started the grill around 1:15. My sister-in law and I cooked until 4:45. Guests were suppose to come at 5. But at 4:45 the rain started and there didn't appear to be an end in site. Guests started coming to our surprise and sat in their cars waiting for the rain to clear. A few minutes after 5 we decided to recoop and figure out a backup plan. Yeah you'd thought we'd already had one of those wouldn't ya! Deb suggested that the barn up the road was mostly empty and we could move up there. So with the help of several people that jumped out of their dry cars to help us move stuff we relocated everything to the barn. When it was all said and done we had plenty of room in the barn and had about 50 people show up. So all in all it was a long day but well worth it AND by the way the food was good!

Pray for Joseph and Ashton. They are both looking for jobs right now. Pray God will lead them to the perfect job that will meet their needs as they start school.

Well guess I'll get back to work and try to figure out why this day seems so odd.

Happy Gotcha Day Addie

Tomorrow will mark the 3 year anniversary of the day Addie was placed in my arms. Wow has it been 3 years already?

It all seemed so surreal at the time. I really don't think I let myself believe that she was our daughter until we were in the U.S. with her. She was so cute and such a sweet baby. The first day we had her we decided to go out for a walk and see Nanchang. So off we went. TinaH and I walking and Addie in the stroller. We stopped to talk to another family along our way and as we turned to walk on I thought I'd check on Addie. There she sat hands clutched to the stroller setting straight up fast asleep. Bless her heart I had to pry her hands off the stroller. That scared little girl quickly became a shining spot in our lives. She has a deep down belly laugh that just makes you smile. We are so blessed that God saw us all the way across the world from Addie and picked us to be her parents! Yes God picked us to be her parents and we are truly blessed. As we've adopted many people will say how blessed our children are. I always think about how blessed we have been to be chosen to be their parents.

This morning as I was combing Alex's hair he said mommy you know what? I said what Alex and he said I haven' t had kisses yet today. Too sweet! Of course he got hugs and kisses. Every morning as I head out the door he says hurry mommy, hurry and come home from work, hurry.

This evening their preschool will be holding a graduation for the kids going to Kindergarten next year. Alex and Addie get to join in on the activities. They've been learning a song that names each state in the U.S. I've been very impressed and can't wait to see what other songs/surprises are in store.

Here are some before and after pictures.

Before May 23rd 2006

What a smile now!

Before on September 30, 2007

And again what a smile!

We're blessed beyond measure.

Tina

Yard work and Graduation

Here's the flower pots Johnny made for me for mothers day. The flowers are a work in progress. Hopefully they'll come out of it soon.

Here's a flower bed I put together yesterday. Yes the ground around it really is that bad! But I thought the flower bed turned out well.

Jonathon and Grandma Lola

Our graduate!

2 good looking graduates!

Graduation

Joseph and Ashton will be graduating tomorrow night. God has blessed us with 4 wonderful children and the opportunity to have Ashton as part of our family also. I'm sure tomorrow night will be filled with many emotions but one of the biggest emotions will be those of a very proud momma. Please pray for Joe and Ashton as they begin the next chapter of their lives. Pray for Johnny and I that we will always follow Gods guidance in everything we do that He may be glorified.

Tina

Graduation Party

As many of you know Joseph and Ashton will be graduating on May 19th. My nephew Kyle will be graduating on May 23rd. We're combining the graduation celebrations for the three graduates and celebrating on May 23rd at 5 PM. We will meet down at the river on Johnny's brothers land. Meat will be provided. We ask that you bring a covered dish and lawn chairs. If you need directions please respond to this post and I'll send you directions.

Thanks,
Tina

Is 8 enough?

My friend Connie has adopted from China several times and currently has 6 children. She just finished up her paperwork to adopt again. God has blessed them with the opportunity to adopt 2 more children from China. Kooper and Kinley will be joining their forever family soon! If you would like to check out Connies blog please visit http://www.k6comehome.blogspot.com/

Connie is selling candles to offset some of the adoption costs. These are some of the best candles I've ever used. If you need a candle or two or three please remember Kooper and Kinley and help bring them home.

Tina

He Came!

For those of you that were wondering... He came! For those of you that helped me pray. I think you from the bottom of my heart. Jonathon and Shawna came yesterday morning. Shawna talked like they might come back next weekend also! Please continue to pray for them that they will get into church. They both use to attend church regularly so I hope this is the start of getting them both back in church.

I had a wonderful Mothers Day weekend. Saturday I went and ate lunch with my mom, my brother and my grandmother. We had a very relaxing lunch and then went shopping for a little while. When I got home Johnny, Joe, Alex and Addie had fixed a cascading flower pot for me and planted flowers in it. I tried to take a picture of it this morning but the batteries on my camera were dead. I'll try to get a picture updated later. I think it's one of the best most thoughtful presents I've ever received. Now if I can just keep the flowers alive! Saturday night we went to Johnny's moms and spent the evening with her. Yesterday morning I called my mom and she came over for breakfast. After breakfast Ashton gave me a framed picture of her. She'd asked me what I wanted for mothers day and I told her a picture of her so she gave me a great picture she had taken a month or so ago for graduation. After breakfast we went to church and I received flowers for being the mom there with the most children. We then went and ate lunch with Johnnys dad and his Aunt Fern. I feel so blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful women in my life.


I look back at the weekend and how blessed I am. Again I thank everyone that prayed that Jonathon would be in service with me and I ask you to continue to pray that he'll continue to come.



A few weeks ago my brother Ricky came home after a military stent on a ship for 6 months. Rick joined the Marines almost two years ago now and we are very proud of him. He was only able to be at home for 4 days before he had to head back out but we were tickled to spend time with him. Please add him to your prayer list. Our military can always use your prayers and support.

Handsome young man! And girls he's single!