Wow where has the month gone!

Whew the month of October and the start of November have been beyond busy. We celebrated 3 birthdays in October. I need to wish Ashton, Joseph and Alex all Happy Birthdays! Ashton turned 21, Joseph turned 21 and Alex turned the big 7. Then Johnny turned 46 on November 1st. We basically celebrated one birthday a week for the entire month!

We have officially remodeled our new home and moved in last weekend. We had so many family and friends that came and helped us paint, clean, remodel and just do odds and ends things. We are so truly blessed to have such a support system.

We celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday with Johnny's family. We had 40 people come visit and celebrate Thanksgiving with us. A truly blessed and thankful day.

Joseph and Ashton are expecting a baby girl. They're trying to come up with little girl names now. They are wanting to incorporate Fern's name as the middle name. If you come up with anything that goes well with Fern let us know.

I need to take some new pictures of the kids and some pictures of our new house so I can share them with you all. As you can tell we've been a tad bit busy lately!

Now we get to start cleaning our old home so we can prepare to put it on the market. Please pray with us that it will sell quickly. We also have someone coming to look at the cafe this Sunday please pray that goes well also. It'd be such a Christmas Blessing to have that off our shoulders.

Happy Holidays to each of you. I hope you each had a Happy Thanksgiving and I wish you and yours a Merry Christmas.

Tina

3 Years ago!

3 years ago a cautious little boy wondering what just happened to him.

Now a little boy full of spunk and personality!


Can you believe it's been three years! Yep three years ago today Alex came home. We got off the plane surrounded by family and friends and Alex met his daddy, his sister and his big brother Joe for the first time. Upon arriving home big brother Jonathon came by to visit. It seems like yesterday the scared little boy that didn't speak any English came home. He quickly picked up english and quickly adapted to his sorroundings. Adoption of an older child is something you can not explain to someone that has not been there. There are many days of struggles and trials along with many days of overwhelming joy and happiness seeing the progress being made. Alex is now a full blown American boy. He really does not remember much about his home in Vietnam or much before coming home. He's an amazing, happy, smart little boy that loves to talk. Just last week week his teacher told him she could hear his voice anywhere. His reponse was if I was in Texas could you hear me! Yep that's our Alex. We wouldn't trade him for a millon dollars. We're so blessed and so glad that we were called by God to be the parents of "Nhat Hung Ngyuen" Our Alex Scott.

Happy forever family day Alex. Mom and Dad love you so much.

Progress

This past weekend we were able to go thru all of Ferns household items and most of Grandpa's household items. Ferns brothers and sisters came and went thru her items on Saturday and made a pretty good dent in moving many of her belongings to their homes. On Sunday Johnny and I and his brothers and sister-in laws went thru the majority of the items belonging to James. The house is in a big disarray now. Hopefully I can spend some time this week cleaning and organizing what's left. Johnny is wanting to start on the shop next. I told him that was his arena and he needed to organize that with his siblings since me and my sister-in law Debbie took care of the majority of the house. So far things have gone smooth. I ask you to continue to pray for all involved as we continue to make this transition.

Work is busy, home life is busy, overall we stay on our toes most of the time trying to get things accomplished. I'm hoping to have time to start painting, cleaning and organizing both homes soon. One in preparation to move into and the other in preparation to sell. Pray we'll have enough time, money and resources to get things done quickly so we can get this all behind us.

The kids are doing great. They had school pictures taken on Monday. I'm anxious to see how they turned out. First grade seems to be agreeing with them both. I'm anxious to see what their grades look like. Addie's teacher seems to be somewhat ahead of Alex's teacher. Addie's bringing home books to read already and Alex hasn't brought home any. I may have to message her to find out what's going on since I thought the majority of the time the teachers try to stay on the same learning path.

The kids and I are going to Gamelia, AR this weekend to visit my step sister. Looking forward to some down time of just relaxing. Sure hope it turns out relaxing and not a big chore. I really don't need anything else to do right now and I sure do need some time away.

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

Loss, Changes and Misc things

A year ago in June we lost Johnny's dad and then Sunday before last we lost Johnny's Aunt Fern who has been like a mother to him. Over the last 3 years Johnny and his brothers and their families have cared for James and Fern in their home. Johnny's dad and his Aunt Fern were the glue that held Johnny's family together. Not just Johnny and his siblings but his cousins, aunts and uncles and extended family. The home stead has been the go to place for family gathers for as long as I've been in the family which is now just a little over 25 years.

This weekend we will be dismantling the home stead. It makes me sad to have to do this and it makes me sad that they are gone. Johnny and I inherited the home a year ago last June when his dad passed away and we have plans to sell our home and to move into James and Ferns home. I've told the family that everyone is always welcome but as with everything all things change, people change and lives change. I hope everyone understands the situation Johnny and I are in and I hope everyone understands that we will need to make the house our "home" now. I ask for you continued prayers as we move forward in making this our new home. I ask that you pray that Johnny and I will be kind, considerate and thoughtful to others needs and desires when making decisions about the house and about the changes that are going to be made. I ask you to also pray for the other family members that they will also be kind, considerate and thoughtful in the decision that Johnny and I need to make. This is not an easy task and not a task that we asked for however it's something we need to move forward with.

Alex and Addie are doing well in school. Both appear to be excelling in their classes. They seem to be growing leaps and bounds before my eyes. It won't be long until I won't be able to call them "my littles" much longer.

Joe and Ashton are expecting their second child in April. Bentley is now walking and Jaylynn is starting to really show her personality and showing signs of being ready to start getting into everything so she can keep up with Bentley! Next Christmas should be a fun one at the Cornelison househould.

I hope you each have a great week. Don't forget to make it count for the Lord..
Tina

Fern

Fern and Bentley

Fern 5 years ago
Fern a tad bit younger

Fern just after her fall.

Fern just before her fall.

Fern looking at a book with Addie.

Our family lost a very dear woman this week. Fern was a woman everyone loved dearly and a woman that I deeply admired. She was a righteous, virtuous, and a true woman of God. Her love for her family never waivered and we will greatly miss her.

1st Grade!

We have two official 1st graders. Addie and Alex started first grade yesterday and enjoyed the day.

We were blessed to raise $15,000 at the benefit Auction for Jake on Saturday! Yes that was $15,000! God is good.

Bentley celebrated his 1st birthday on Thursday. He got lots of new toys including toys he can walk behind. I have a feeling he'll be walking on his own soon.

Going to be another busy week.

Have a great week. Be a blessing and Be Blessed.

Wow has it really been over a month since I updated my blog?

I keep thinking I need to update my blog but it seems to be taking a back burner to the many other things going on in our lives.

Update on Aunt Fern. Fern is holding her own. Her blood pressure hovers around 85/55 most of the time. She's in pretty good spirits and eats well most days. She has some dementia but overall doing well. God has blessed us with some more time with her.

Next this is Jacob. Jake is a dear friend of our family. On the weekend of the 4th of July Jake had a 4-wheeler accident and was paralized from the chest down. He is in Denver at a rehab facility there. He's been in severe pain and we ask that you uplift him in your prayers. We're having a pie auction for him on August 13th at 6 PM. If you need more information please let me know.

Lastly this is what we've been battling for over a week now. Poor Addie had an allergic reaction to either poison ivy or poison oak. The doctors think she got it from the dog. Her legs are starting to clear up now but as you can tell she had a severe case of it. Four doctors trips later we finally have her on the mend.

The kids start school next week. I hope and pray they got good teachers. We should be able to find out today who thier teachers are. I hope and pray they get good teachers and enjoy 1st grade as much as they did Kindergarten.

Bentley will be "1" this week. How time flies! He learned to say "AD-DE" last week. He loves his Aunt Addie. Bentley and Jaylynn are both growing like weeds and doing well.

Well I'm still at working waiting for a support person to call me. Hoping they call soon so I can go home.