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