Happy Anniversary - NUMBER 25!

Happy Anniversary to my sweet husband of 25 years. We woke up in West Yellow Stone, Mt this morning. The weather has been great today.

We stopped off at Mount Rushmore on our way here. On Sunday it rained and snowed on us the entire drive. We got her late Sunday night. Small quaint little town. Monday it snowed some and rained some but the majority of the day the sun was out. It's been cold but not too cold. Today we saw 2 waterfalls and hiked a bit in the park. It's a beautiful place. Really not what I imagined but beautiful none the less.

Yep that's a bear back there.

Corn Palace

On a side note I ask that you continue to uplift Johnny's Aunt Fern in your prayers. She is coming home today but from what I understand they are going to have hospice come in. She's very weak and not eating. Please keep Fern and Johnny's family in your prayers.

Blessings,

Tina

It's 1AM and I'm still at work

I've been at work since 8 this morning and it's now 1:15 AM. Needless to say I'm starting to tire. I'm having a system problem that I can't seem to resolve and IBM support has been of little help. I have the ticket opened to a Sev 1 for system down but they sure aren't in any of a hurry to get it back up. I hate nights like this. Tonight and one day last week I missed seeing my kiddos. Most days I enjoy my job but the last few weeks have been hard.

Moving on..

In other news Fern fell last Wednesday and broke her hip and her arm. They did surgery last Thursday and replaced her hip and fixed her arm but while replacing her hip they broke her leg. She had been in severe pain from the broken leg until yesterday when they finally went in and repaired the break. I spoke with her this evening and she seems to be doing much better, Praise God! For those of you that might not know. Fern is Johnny's Aunt and she helped raise him. We help Johnny's other brothers care for her now that Johnny's dad has passed on.

Here's a picture of Fern and Bentley. She thinks Bentley is JUST IT!

Please keep Fern in your prayers. She has a long recovery ahead of her.

Johnny and I will be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary next week. If all goes well with Fern we'll be headed to Yellow Stone with Addie and Alex. Please pray that we have a safe trip and some much needed rest and relaxation.

We still have the Valley Inn. Please continue to pray that God will bring us the right person to buy it.

Many blessings to you all.

Tina

Gotcha

Yesterday was Gotcha day. For those that have not adopted Gotcha Day or Forever Family day as some call it is the day you receive your child. Since Johnny did not travel with me our Forever Family day and Gotcha days are different days. Five years ago yesterday I stood in a hotel room waiting for a precious child whom God had born in my heart. Needless to say the anticipation was great as I waited for the first glimpse of the little girl I'd only seen in in pictures from afar.

Needless to say she stole my heart from the minute I laid eyes on her picture and was so truly blessed when they placed her in my arms that day.

She is growing into a beautiful young girl full of energy and joy. She lights up our world each and every day and we are so truly blessed that God chose us to be her family. We are so blessed to be the adoptive parents of two of the sweetest children in the world and we praise God for His many blessings upon us each day. We will celebrate Alex's Gotcha day on October 1st.

Happy Gotcha Day Addie. Mommy and Daddy love you very much.

Pics

OK I haven't posted pics in a while and I've been promising I would so here ya go. Several taken over the last month or so.

Our trip to Silver Dollar City... gotta love the expressions!

Addie enjoyed Cheer Camp
Addie and Bentley at Easter

Baby J this weekend

Jonathon and Shawna this weekend

Alex and his friend at his last soccer game.

Mid May

Well it's already mid May and the month has flown by. In less than two weeks our family will be heading to Yellowstone! I'm looking forward to it. We should go thru 2 state parks and to Mount Rushmore on our way to yellowstone so we should have some good breaks along the long drive there. Then upon our return I'm hoping to be able to go the Colorado and see an old friend for a tad bit.

I ran across a scripture the other day that hit me right in the middle of the forehead. A week or so later I saw the same scripture again. I want to share it with you and see if it touches you like it has me.

Proverbs 24:12 Once our eyes are opened, we can't pretend we don't know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows that we know and holds us responsible to act.

wow.. Has God opened your eyes no matter how big are small to something that you have not acted upon..

Proverbs 3:5,6 says.. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, but in all your ways acknoledge Him and He will direct your path.

So why do we know our eyes have been opened, and know God has plans for us, and know that He will hold us responsible if we don't act, and then not trust him when he asks us to do something?

What is God asking of you? I know what He's asking of me. You will just have to wait and find out..

Blessings,
Tina

Happy Mothers Day

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day. I was blessed to be able to spend Mother's Day with my mom, my kiddos and my grandkids. I had a picture I was going to post but haven't been able to get it off my phone so I can attach it here.

I heard something funny this weekend. When we go out to eat my kids order water a lot or tea or maybe sprit. This weekend we were at McDonalds and I heard this probably 8 year old boy say to his mom, "I'm not drinking that." She responds, "Don't have an attitude." He says, "I'm not drinking carbination!" I've never heard a young child blatenly say they weren't drinking carbination. Thought it was funny. Most kids beg for pop when they are out like that.

Kids are doing well. Alex had his last soccer game on Saturday. He really enjoys playing soccer so we'll probably play again next season. Addie did cheer camp a few weeks ago and cheered in the alumni football game and made the sports section of the local newspaper last week. Her teacher at afterschool care laminated it for her. Thank you Miss Rachel.

The basement at the Valley Inn has been flooded every since we started getting all this rain. We've been pumping and pumping water. Last week it was over my head. That would probably be the amount of water in two regular size swimming pools in the basement. The rain gutters next to the building are stopped up and the water has no where to go but into my basement. Pray for us that we can get all the water out and that God will send us a buyer soon.

I hope you all have a wonderful week.

Be a blessing to someone!
Tina