Happy Gotcha Day Addie

May 23rd marked Addie's 4 year Gotcha Day. Boy 4 years has flown by. Addie is such a joy. She still enjoys being rocked each night before bed and DOES NOT like to share moms lap with brother! She will pout if he's in her spot when it comes time to rock. She'll back up and stand in front of me and wait for me to pull her up in my lap. she's tall enough to do this on her own but if I don't reach and out grab her she'll turn and give me this look that only she can give and grunt like ok already! Johnny stayed with his dad last night and on the way home from Alex's ball game they wanted to call him. As Addie was talking to him she said. Daddy when you get home in the morning can you give me a kiss? Now how sweet is that? We are truly blessed that Addie Jewell calls us Mom and Dad.

Alex has six more t-ball games to go. He's really enjoying t-ball and really doing a great job. As most of you know he's rather spastic or at least I call him spastic. Last week his pre-school teacher caught him mooning the other kids.. Yep my son was mooning the other kids. The teacher said I don't know where he got that? Well I don't know either.. Like we walk around our house mooning each other! I probably need to have a conversation with big brother Joseph. He'll be home 3 years in October. He often tells me " I love you soo soo much mom ". What more can you ask for than to be blessed with 4 wonderful children?

Both kids are doing great and are getting ready for Kindergarten. I can't believe they'll be in school in just a few short months. Where has the time gone? It seems like yesterday we were in China receiving Addie and now she's been home for 4 years!

Blessings to each of you.
Tina

Sorrow

Yesterday Ashton's brother Sam passed away. He was logging and the tree he was cutting hung in another tree and the second tree fell on him. Sam was 21 years old and leaves behind a 2 year old son named Braxton. I ask that you remember the Starnes family in your prayers. I know his family would appreciate you lifting them up in prayer during this difficult time.

Thank You,
Tina

Back Pain

Well I feel like I'm on the mend however today has been a bit of a set back. Yesterday I went to Sams and pushed a heavy cart around the store and then vacummed last night so I think I over did it. I'm paying for it today. My back is reminding me that it's not well. I'm usually pretty busy and being down is not fitting into my schedule! I'd appreciate it if you all keep me in your prayers.

On a side note Johnny and I learned we are going to be grandparents last weekend. Jonathon and Shawna are expecting. I ask you to uplift them in prayer. Jonathon is still in Camden attending Police Academy. He just finished up his 7th week today. He has 5 weeks left before graduation.

Continue to pray for our new business. We continue to need more business to stay a float. Business has picked up this week but we need it to continue to pick up.
Thanks to everyone for thier prayers and support for our family. I do appreciate it so very much!
Blessings to each of you,
Tina

PAIN

Yep that's the key word on my tongue this week. PAIN, PAIN and more PAIN.
Starting last Saturday my back started feeling not so well. By Sunday evening it was worse and by Monday morning I was in so much pain I was barely able to get out of bed and walk. I went to the Chiropractor on Monday. He asked me about my back history and I told him that I'd broken my tail bone ice skating a few years ago. So he decided to do an x-ray to determine if there were any other issues he could identify. He came back in the room and said. Well I think at some point in your life you've broken your back. He wanted to do an additional x-ray to get a better look at it and came back and said yep it's been broke before. Well the only time I can think of is when I broke my tail bone. So I guess I ended up braking my back when I broke my tail bone. So you'd think a broken back and a broken tail bone would be a lot of pain right? Well yep it was painful but I was always told they couldn't do anything for a broken tail bone and that it was going to be painful so I didn't grip I just dealt with the pain. But the pain I've had this last week has been way far worse than the pain I was in a few years ago! He feels like when I broke my tail bone and back that I also did some damage to the muscles and things surrounding that area causing scar tissue and the pain that I'm having now. Good news is I am feeling much better the last two days. I'm still moving rather slow but I am moving! I'm not in constant pain anymore and I praise God that I'm feeling improvements in my body. Johnny and the kids have been catering to me this week which I've much appreciated. Johnny tied my shoes for me the last two days and has done several other misc things to help me out. Shh don't tell him I've bragged on him but he has been great. I am blessed.

Alex and Addie are doing great. Alex had 2 t-ball games this week and is doing really well. We signed miss Addie up a couple of weeks ago for dance and she didn't want to but last night decided she would. So I guess I'll see if it's too late for her to join dance now. They visited kindergarten the last week and both seem to be looking forward to going to school. Johnny and I are looking forward to having the extra day care money back in our pockets! Time has flown by so quickly and I can't believe that they're getting ready to start school. I was looking at pictures of both the kids last night and how much they've grown and changed over the last 2-3 years. Time just flies!

Blessings to you all. Have a wonderful weekend.
Tina

Prayer

You know I don't consider myself to have a good prayer life. I do however try throughout the day to have conversations with the Lord. I'm trying to be better at praying more intently and focusing more on renewing my prayer life. I know this and studying the word is how I gain strengthen, knowedge and fellowship with the Lord.

The next few things I'm going to tell you about my prayer life are not an attempt to brag about the way I pray or how I pray. Because I know I fail to pray to the extent that I should. I do however want to share these things with you to open up your mind regarding things you might pray for that you overlook. I'm also in hopes that some folks will follow up and encourage me with comments to this posts on things they pray about and how they focus on having time to pray.

As many of you know I spend about 40 minutes each morning on my commute to work and then another 40 minutes returning home. This is generally the quiet time I have to spend and focus on the Lord. In the mornings I listen to Focus on the family. It's such an encouragement for my drive in. The last 15 minutes of my drive I try to spend in conversation with the Lord. Here are a few things the Lord encourages me to pray about on my drive.

• I pass two liquor stores each morning and evening. I pray for the owners of those stores and I pray for the people purchasing alcohol. I pray that they will no longer have a desire to drink and that they will turn to the Lord instead of turning to alcohol.
• There are 3 specific cars I meet on a regular basis. I call these my car buddies when I pray for them. I may never meet these 3 gentlement and they may never know that I pray for them each day. Regardless the Lord has called me to pray for these gentlemen so I do.
• I pass through a community with several elderly people. I pray for the community and the elderly in that community.
• Of course I also pray for my family and the situations we face and turn those issues over to the Lord.
• I also pray for my co-workers at JBHunt and at the Valley.

Again I don't tell you these things braggingly cause I fail to pray as I should and I know where my failures are. However I want each of you to think outside the box when you pray. Do you have complete strangers you pray for? Do you have communities you pray for? Has the Lord given you a specific cause to pray about? If so share them with me. I'd love to hear about your prayer life and the things God has placed on your heart to pray about. We get so tied up in praying for me and my 4 and no more as the old saying goes that I think we forget about the millions that are lost and dieing that don't know the Lord. It's our job to be a light to them not only in deed but also in prayer.

Blessings to you.

Tina

We Are the Truth!

I was suppose to post this yesterday and I let it slip my mind so I wanted to ensure I posted today. Joint Council has asked adoptive families to join the "We Are The Truth" - an adoption blogger day: To ensure the world knows about every successful adoption, on Thursday, April 15, 2010 they ask that adoptive families blog about our adoptions or the adoption of someone we know. It doesn't matter if your adoption is with Russia, domestic or otherwise international. Let the world know your truth!

So here is the truth. Many people are called to adopt. Many people are NOT called to adopt! Our family answered the call to adopt and we have been so truly blessed for answering that call. Most of you that follow our journey already know our adoption stories but for those of you that don't I want to share.

On October 19, 2004 a little boy was born in Vietnam to a young mother that could not care for him. After 10 days of I'm sure heart wrenching thoughts and prayers she decided to give her son Nguyen Nhat Hung the opportunity for a better life. She in turn placed him in the care of the Social Center of Ninh Thuan orphanage Province.

On July 23rd 2005 a little girl was born in China. Her mother must have also felt the same heart wrenching pain and in four days after her birth she placed her little girl in at the gate of the Civil Affairs bureau of Shaggao County.

In November 2004 Johnny and I finally answered the call to adopt and began the process to adopt. We visited our agency for an informational meeting and decided we'd adopt from China. We started the adoption (labor) paperwork and began the long wait to bring our daughter home from China. As we waited to receive our referral from China the adoption process in China slowed way down. What was a normal 6 month wait turned into 9 months. During that time frame Vietnam re-opened for adoptions and I felt a tug at my heart that there was a child waiting for us in Vietnam. After careful consideration I felt we needed to move forward with our adoption in China so we processed with China. In March 2006 we received the long awaited call from our agency that we had a daughter! Her name was Shangguan Xin Jing and we immediately fell in love. 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.

Six months after returning home the thought that we had a child in Vietnam was still very much real in my mind. A few months later Johnny and I agreed we'd check into adopting an older child. I'd already secretly been online checking out waiting children on our adoption website. I'd found a little two year old boy on the site and had brought home his picture for Johnny to see. After a few days I asked Johnny again if he'd made a decision on the little boy. He picked up his picture and looked again and said "Yes". That was it! I knew from that minute that Nguyen Nhat Hung was our son. Tears came to my eyes and I rejoiced all the way to work knowing that God had just given us a son! I contacted our agency and was told that since Hung was older than Addie that we had to go before the adoption board to be approved to adopt him since our agency does not allow out of birth order adoptions. A week later the board made the decision and we received the call that Nguyen Nhat Hung was now our son "Alex Scott". We'd already begun the paperwork to bring him home so we continued down that path to bring him home. In September 2007 Tanis and I traveled to Vietnam. Where an almost three year 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 our family are truly the ones that are blessed to have been chosen by God to raise these two wonderful children.

Blessed beyond measure to be an adoptive family! "We are the truth"

Silly