Bella

Isabella is back to her bossy self...LOL She is still walking with a slight limp but she is at least walking. I took her to school today and she was so excited to be there....first time all week.

We dont have school on Monday due to the Holiday but will resume next Wednesday.

giovanna and Gabby had a great day again.....they both seem to like school....Thanks Mrs. Smith, Mrs Johnson, Mrs. Landry, Mrs Knowles, Siri and whom ever we are forgetting.....thanks for giving my girls a enjoyable day while away from home. Giovanna is doing very well being in total inclusion.....PTL!


Well my big babies are coming home this weekend so I will once again have all 6 of my "babies" in one house.... Lyndsey and Michael will be 19 in just 4 short weeks....WOW Where did my time with them go???? Lily is turning 5 yrs old on the 9th and she is just too thrilled to be having her special day soon!!!!

I hope everyone has a nice long weekend in case I dont get to update you all on our family weekend....

RITA

Talk about HUGE relief!!!

Yesterday Isabella decided while I was doing house work, she was going to as well....Well what kind of house work is standing in the trashcan once emptied????? I dont know but it doesnt work welll.....lol....she crashed down and wouldnt get up!!! She had hurt her foot somehow and would not put any pressure on her feet at all!!! I watched it, gave her motrin, fed her and put her down for a nap....when she got up, she still didnt want to walk. She crawled any where she wanted to go, and still at bed time she would not put pressure on her feet....so this morning off to the DR we went. We spent 3 hours in prime ed and then had enough time to eat and head to the orth Dr. They wanted to make sure she had not broken it....i think she just has a good sprain. She still doesnt watn to add pressure to it...but no swelling or reddness.....so i guess we will see.

For all the time we waited in the ortho's waiting room and when they called us back to the room.....oh talk about a long 3-4min is all he seen her!!! URG! Cant wait to see that bill. What a mess!!!!!!

I will let you all know how she does latter tonight.....

Im going to a moms night out for dinner!!! Yippy!!!

Dont forget to go vote for REECES RAINBOW!!!!

All,

Meredith over at Cornish adoption journey totally says it so well on both of these projects so please click on the above links and go to her posts about them....
thanks Meredith for the reminder....I wanted all my guests to remember as well....

Don't forget...
To hop over to two places and put your nomination in. See this post: http://cornishadoptionjourney.blogspot.com/2008/08/i-know-someone-who-could-use.html

and this post: http://cornishadoptionjourney.blogspot.com/2008/08/members-project.html

Just 2 minutes of your time to help Reece's Rainbow out in 2 different ways!

Tornado's in the area.

THE BIRTHDAY GIFT

All weekend we have had yucky weather, 3.5 in of rain on Satuday and Sunday if rained off and on...not sure how much! So I figured all was well and ok for school......NOT! AFTER, we got up and got G & G ready and on the bus, I turned on the TV.....man I wish I had done that BEFORE they left! There was terrible weather all around! I just thought our Monday was just starting out really GLUMMY! As soon as the bus drove away, i find out their are tornado warnings and watches all around! UGGG Can you say Im worried to pieces!!!! I wanted to go get them, but William says to leave them there....I hope the siren doesnt go off while G & G are at school because Giovanna will go NUTS!!!!

Well I stayed up late last night getting the girls things ready for school. Lily was invited to a birthday party for Saturday, BUT IT RAINED ALL DAY and the party was outside...so needless to say, we didnt go. I finished making one of the birthday gifts... and she was so excited to take it to school today along with all the other cute things we got her.....and school was cancelled. So, both Lily and Bella are home for the day.....

OH I forgot, LILY is student of the week this week, and she is so bummed she will miss the very first day of her activities.....

HAve a good day! I will post later on the cute project William and I had to do for the girls for schooll.....too cute!!! Keep a watch out!

LOVE

love

Ingredients of love:

Patience love suffers long
Kindness is kind
Generosity love does not envy
Humility is not puffed up
Courtesy love does not behave itself unseemly
Unselfishness love seeks not her own
Good temper love is not easily provoked
Guilelessness thinks no evil
Sincerity rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth

Family Tree Update....where to find it...

Several of you emailed me about our Family tree post below....here is the link to get one yourself...Its at PYZAM. I have this for my Suburban and when I seen it listed here I knew I wanted one. However, I cant figure out how to make it larger....anyone know?

Angel Food Ministries

If you havent heard of them you should listen up!!! I had bought food from this ministry about a yr or so ago and then just really forgot each month until it was too late to order....well since prices are going up I thought I would get started with it again. This is a great program for ANYONE to purchase a great deal of food for ONLY 30. You then can buy add on specials and they are really cheap too. I got a whole slew of food today for my Aug pick up and it was only 66. I am so very excited about the September menu and I hope you will be too.

Here is the link http://www.angelfoodministries.com/menu.asp

Well have a blessed Sunday.

check this out!

http://grosgrainfabulous.blogspot.com/2008/08/garden-party-frock-giveaway.html

You gotta check out this too cute dress....but remember we are gonna win....lol! Feel free to see all her beautiful creations...that is one talented woman.

our Family Tree

Oh my what a day!!

Giovanna and Gabby finally got to do something they have dream of for a long time......

ride the school bus! I cant believe I let her do this....but they were both ever so excited!! I had tears in my eyes...After the bus left, I loaded up Lily and Bella and headed to G & G's school. I wanted to be there when they got of the bus, but i just missed them. I walked to their class room and they both were excited. I asked if they wanted to ride the big bus home and they both yelled....YES! So there ya go....they rode the bus home as well and I met them at the end of the driveway once again camera in hand.

I will post pics later tonight. It really was a help with them riding the bus... I didnt have to fight the traffic. Bella started back all her early intervention services today...she did great!

Rita

Trying to be patient for someone to buy my home!

See we are more alike than different...

click on this link. I think we need to put one of these together for our children. It would be a awesome thing to play in the schools for children of all ages, K-12....now especially since this movie "Tropic Thinder " is out. WE need to let people of all ages know that our children with Down Syndrome are more like them than they are different.

Scroll to the bottom of the page and you will see the links to watch the video's. These are so good!!!

This poem came just at the right time!!

I just found this on Renee's blog and thought this was the perfect time to add it for all my reader's as well. I was just talking to Giovann's teacher on the phone about this very thing. I want the kids in her and Gabby's class to see, they are just like them.

"Like Me"

By: Emily Perl Kingsley

I went to my dad and said to him,

There's a new kid who's come to my school.

He's different from me and he isn't too cool.

No, he's nothing at all like me, like me,

No, he's nothing at all like me.

He runs in a funnyish jerkyish way

And he never comes first in a race

Sometimes he forgets which way is first base,

And he's nothing at all like me, like me,

No, he's nothing at all like me.

He studies all day in a separate class

And they say that it's called "Special Ed."

And sometimes I don't understand what he's said,

And he's nothing at all like me, like me,

No, he's nothing at all like me.

His face looks kind of different from mine,

And his talking is sometimes so slow

And it makes me feel funny and there's one thing I know;

He is nothing at all like me, like me,

No, he's nothing at all like me!

And my father said, "Son, I want you to think

When you meet some one different and new

That he may seem a little bit strange, it's true,

But he's not very different from you, from you,

No, he's not very different from you,"

Well I guess, I admitted, I've looked at his face;

When he's left out of games, he feels bad.

And when other kids tease him, I can see he's so sad.

I guess that's not so different from me, from me,

No, that's not very different from me.

And when we're in Music, he sure loves to sing,

And he sings just like me, right out loud.

When he gets his report card, I can tell he feels proud,

And that's not very different from me, from me,

No, that's not very different from me.

And I know in the lunchroom he has lots of fun;

He loves hot dogs and ice cream and fries.

And he hates to eat spinach and that's not a surprise,

'Cause that's not very different from me, from me,

No, that's not very different from me.

And he's always so friendly, he always says hi,

And he waves and he calls out my name.

And he'd like to be friends and get into a game,

Which is not very different from me, from me,

No, I guess that's not different from me.

And his folks really love him. I saw them at school,

I remember on Open School Night --

They were smiling and proud and they hugged him real tight,

And that's not very different from me, from me,

No, that's not very different from me.

So I said to my dad, Hey, you know that new kid?

well, I've really been thinking a lot.

Some things are different . . . and some things are not . . .

But mostly he's really like me, like me,

Yes, my new friend's . . . a lot . . . like me.

Please pray for a buyer to be found for our current home!

Hello all, We have once again found a house the totally meets the need of our growing family. We have made a offer, and it will be accepted...however we MUST sell our current home.

It is 2300 sq ft, BRAND new air conditioner unit (end of June) all new 6 panel interior doors, carpet, counter tops, tile, paint, appliances, hot water heater and many more upgrades. The home is brick and a Tri level home. The home has 2 master suites. We have drastically reduced it to our rock bottom This home is smoke free, on a quiet cul de sac fenced in yard, nice covered back porch with fans, and a oversized 2+ car garage with a huge storage room off garage, and a shed out back. 4 BR 2.5 Bath, large eat in kitchen, dining room, family room with new gas logs ventless fireplace, living room seperate, seperate computer room off dining room and it a Tri level brick home.

We dont want to miss out on the possibility of getting this home....So if you know of someone wanting a nice home in Millbrook have them email me at rlba272@hotmail.com. We want to move this quickly. We have pictures to intrested parties and are eager for them to come out and take a look.

Waiting for the Lord to do His will, even if that means we stay right here!

I have some smart girls on my hands....

I was so happy when Giovanna's teacher shared this with me on the first day of school.

I called her to ask how things went and she informed me I had a very smart girl! On the first day, the kindergarten classes are all given then Dibles test. Giovanna's teacher informed me that there were only one or two students that scored higher than her in the whole class. I thought well great...she said NO EXCELLANT! SO I was a very proud momma! She is in totally inclusion Kindergarten with an aide. Did I say how much I really like Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Siri?? I am so glad she got in this class.


I dont know what Gabby scored on this test, but I did get a email from her special ed teacher (she goes in there for just shy of 2 hours each morning) and said that what she did with her, she passed as well.....So yeah for my girls!!! Gabby's teacher Mrs. Smith and aide Mrs. Todd are really sweet...also the sp ed teacher Mrs. Landry all seem to be on top of things for my girls... So far Im happy!!!


Lily is in private school kindergarten using the Abeka program and this is so good for her. She loves school and her teacher says she is a very smart little girl. Noone can believe she has only been speaking, hearing and using the whole english language for only one year. She understands it all and uses it so well. she comes up with the craziest things sometimes. She loves doing her homework....oh I hope she keeps that up!!!

So there is my shout out for all 3 of my new kindergarteners.....

Our morning routine....

A few friends emailed me about our daily routine and crazy schedule in the mornings before school, so i thought I would post it here too!

Since school started last week, we are nuts in the morning..... here is just a small glimpse into our morning routine....

I have to do all lunches, all drinks, snacks, juice boxes, dressing them all, feeding breakfast, brushing hair, and teeth and getting out the door by 7am!!! Can you say im pooped before 830!Giovanna and Gabby has to be seated in their class by 7:45 and then I have to drive to the next town to get Bella and Lily to school by 8:30. I am so ready for 8:30 each morning...LOL

I have all 4 girls dressed, pottied and hair brushed BEFORE we leave the bedroom to go upstairs.... then they eat. We then head back downstairs to brush teeth. While they eat, I finish making lunch boxes and packing up their backpacks......put them all by the front door, then we come up from doing teeth, everyone gets shoes on and we head out the door.

At night I will fix their juice sports cup for their lunch the following day and make all 4 milk cups for breakfast and put them in the frig so that makes it go easier....

I am completely showered and ready before i get them up. It does make for a crazy morning now with having to be out of here so early, but I think once I get the routine down pat, it will be so much smoother. Also, on Monday's I will volunteer at Gabby and Giovanna's school because I have to pick them up early for speech and then head to get the other girls and to speech all by 2:00....

On Tuesday's Lily and Bella dont go to school so Bella will have all her early intervention on this day. When we take Giovanna and Gabby to school we will stay there and Bella will start all her services at 8am. She will be finished by 9:30, and then we will head home for about an hour and then to private speech for her at 11. WHEW..... what a crazy, hectic way to start my week!

I would not trade this life for anything....I am so thankful for the blessings I have even when it gets nuts... Honestly though, if you had told me 5 yrs ago this would be my life, I would have laughed hysterically at ya!

Life is good in the Andrew's home....even if we are alittle nuts!

Guess who lost thier 5th tooth??

Giovanna lost her 5th tooth last Sunday night before she started Kindergarten on Monday!!! I cant believe it!

Communicating with the teachers...

Hey all
I am working on putting together a new system for my girls to take to school. They all see several people throughout the day and I need a GOOD way for communicating with each teacher...since you dont have any time really to talk to them in the afternoons. I have an ok system, but want to improve it, thus searching for other's ideas. I would like all of your ideas for this, such as what sections you have for different teachers, do you use folders for each one or a 1" binder for all... Thanks so much!!

3 Kindergarteners in one house.....

Lily showing off her very first night of homework. She loved writing her letters and drawing a picture of her new teacher....Mrs. Jenny.

Here are the girls on their first day of school. They are all so very excited!

Well this week all 4 of our little girls started back to school. Lily, Giovanna and Gabby are in Kindergarten and Bella is still in preschool. They all love school. Giovanna cracks me up with saying who everyone's teachers are...she makes sure she knows them all by name... I have worked on these questions and answers with all the girls but moreso with both her and Lily for the last few weeks and they both now have them all down pat..

1. What is your name? (Giovanna says it and sign's it... too cute)

2. What is your Mommy's name....

3. How old are you?

4. When is your birthday?

5. What grade are you in?

6. What is your teacher's name?

Giovanna of course wants to tell you everyone's answers as well as her own....

Here are a few pictures of them going back to BIG GIRL SCHOOL...

Tropic Thunder

This is by the chairman of the Special Olympics, writing for the Washington Post. As a mom with three, what the world calls disabled/mentally handicapped children (who were almost aborted instead of welcomed into life), I am absolutely disgusted that they would even THINK of making a movie this offensive and nasty. Please join me in NOT going to see this piece of trash.

What 'Tropic Thunder' Thinks Is Funny
By Timothy Shriver
Monday, August 11, 2008

I've been told to keep my sense of humor about the film "Tropic Thunder," which opens this week. Despite my requests, I have not been given the chance to see the movie. But I've seen previews, read about it and read excerpts of the script. By all accounts, it is an unchecked assault on the humanity of people with intellectual disabilities -- an affront to dignity, hope and respect.

Consider this exchange:
Ben Stiller's character: "There were times when I was doing Jack when I actually felt retarded. Like really retarded."
Robert Downey Jr.'s character: "Oh yeah. Damn."
Stiller: "In a weird way, I had to sort of just free myself up to believe that it was okay to be stupid or dumb."
Downey: "To be a moron."
Stiller: "Yeah."
At another point, about acting like a person with intellectual disabilities, they say:
Stiller: "It's what we do, right?"
Downey: "Everybody knows you never do a full retard."
Stiller: "What do you mean?"
Downey: "Check it out. Dustin Hoffman - "Rain Man" look retarded, act retarded, not retarded. Count toothpicks to your cards. Autistic, sure. Not retarded. You know Tom Hanks - "Forrest Gump" Slow, yes. Retarded, maybe. Braces on his legs. But he charmed the pants off Nixon and won a ping-pong competition. That ain't retarded. You went full retard, man. Never go full retard."

I worked with the Farrelly brothers on a film on this topic. I know about edgy comedy. I'm also told that movies are equal-opportunity offenders.

So here's an equal-opportunity response to the equal-opportunity offenders:People with intellectual disabilities are routinely abused, neglected, insulted, institutionalized and even killed around the world. Their parents are told to give up, that their children are worthless. Schools turn them away. Doctors refuse to treat them. Employers won't hire them. None of this is funny.

For centuries, they have been the exception to the most basic spiritual principle: that we are each equal in spirit, capable of reflecting the goodness of the divine, carriers of love. But not people with intellectual disabilities. What's a word commonly applied to them? Hopeless.Let's consider where we are in 2008. Our politics are about overcoming division, our social movements are about ending intolerance, our great philanthropists promote ending poverty and disease among the world's poor.
Are people with intellectual disabilities included in the mainstream of these movements? For the most part, no. Why? Because they're different. Their joy doesn't fit on magazine covers. Their spirituality doesn't come in self-help television. Their kind of wealth doesn't command political attention. (The best of the spirit never does.)
Sadly, they're such an easy target that many people don't realize whom they are making fun of when they use the word "retard." Most people just think it's funny. "Stupid, idiot, moron, retard." Ha, ha, ha.

I know: I could be too sensitive. But I was taught that mean isn't funny. And I've been to institutions where people with intellectual disabilities are tied to beds or lie on concrete floors, forgotten. I've heard doctors say they won't treat them. I know Gallup found that more than 60 percent of Americans don't want a person with an intellectual disability at their child's school.I've talked to people with intellectual disabilities who cry over being insulted on a bus. I've received too many e-mails from people who are devastated not by their child's disability but by the terror of being laughed at, excluded and economically devastated.It wasn't funny when Hollywood humiliated African Americans for a generation. It's never funny when good and decent human beings are humiliated. In fact, it is dangerous and disgusting.

This film is all that and more. DreamWorks went so far as to create a mini-version of Simple Jack and posted it online. The studio has since pulled it down, realizing it had gone too far, even in an age of edgy, R-rated comedies.

So, enough. Stop the hurtful jokes. Talk to your children about language that is bullying and mean. Ask your friends, your educators, your religious leaders to help us to end the stubborn myth that people with intellectual disabilities are hopeless. Ask Hollywood to get on the right side of dignity. I hope others will join me in shutting this movie out of our lives and our pocketbooks. We don't live in times when labeling and humiliating others is funny. And we should send that message far and wide.

School has offically begun...,

Lily and Isabella are now in school....Lily is an offical Kindergartener...she loved it!! She wasnt nervous at all today going off to a school she had yet to attend....Im so proud of her! In her 13.5 mths since she has been home in the USA she is totally fluent in english, non stop talking may i say, matured so much, rarely talks of her days at the orphanage and a big helper....oh and smart as a whip!!! I know the Lord is going to use her in a mighty way in her life...I feel so honored to be the mom to these 6 AWESOME kids. To see the 4 younger ones come so far, it just brings tears to my eyes, a skip in my heart and a HUGE smile on my face,....

Thank you Jesus, for helping William and I hear your calling to step out in TOTAL faith and adopt these beautiful girls. I know we are doing this for you and to see our girls grow, change, develop, mature, and learn of your love is just priceless!!!

Giovanna and Gabby will start school on Wednesday!

Precious give away.....go check it out.....oh i would love this...it would be used by all 4 of our girls...

http://grosgrainfabulous.blogspot.com/2008/08/nantucket-weekend-shirt-and-short.html

Well its Friday .....

Today is the last day all 4 of the girls will be at home. Lily and Isabella start school on Monday. We are gonna celebrate by going to their favorite Play place today....House of Java. Its always fun for them. Tomorrow we have open house for Lily and Bella and Lily will finally get to meet Mrs. Jenny her teacher.....she has asked about this non stop for about a week. Gabriella and Giovanna will do a staggered start for kindergarten and will start on Wednesday and then everyone will come on Thursday. They are also excited.....new friends, new school and new teachers! Mommy and Daddy on the other hand are scared to death!!!! I am just so worried to trusting my girls to people I know nothing about! WE don't have experience with public school, so this is nerve wracking none the less! I do like their teachers, so this does give me comfort!



On the house front......we are so praying for a quick sale since we have lowered the price of our home. It is official...we have a offer in on the big house in Prattville, so depending on what the home inspection reveals, the sale of our home, we may just be moving within the next few months........I am worried about all that as well....I hate packing, moving, painting the new house, unpacking and getting settled in....its just so stressful for me to even think about......BUT it will be so worth it when totally finished... We will finally have 3600 sq ft to spread out in...and best thing of all....I GET TO HAVE MY OWN SEWING AND SCRAPBOOK ROOM!!!!


Well I need to finishing cleaning, we are showing the house this afternoon....wish us luck!!!

You all must go check this news out.....

Go see Meredith's blog to see what an AWESOME Jesus we serve! Her sweet Emma is the one I have asked prayer for on many occassions....she is truly a total answered prayer!!! It amazes me every single time i see such a healing.......If people dont believe in this awesome God, this should be a eye opener! He is the almighty healer!!!! He has brought this little orphan from Ukraine, to a family that loves her exactly for who she is.....who has stood by and prayed for God to direct their way, who listened to a God that gave them HOPE for the future for their daughter... and for a set of parents who are totally obediant to Christ.......Life for her just cant get any brighter!!!!

Emma Hope Cornish.....you are a blessed child, and a blessing to many...I pray that your future will now be one full of MANY MEMORIES!

Please remember Kennedy agian in your prayers..

http://www.myspecialks.com/

Kennedy is back in the hospital. Her halo maybe infected...please jump over to their blog and check it out...and pray for her!!!

Praise be to our Lord!!!

Check out http://cornishadoptionjourney.blogspot.com/ to see how precious EMMA HOPE is coming along after her open heart surgery. What a miracle child she is. I know Mike and Meredith are so thrilled for their daughter. She has now been given the chance to lead a happy and long life....her heart surgery today, thus far has been a total success! Waht a miracle worker our God truely is!!!


He is Good all the time!

Well this morning I loaded up all the girls and we headed out to Coosada Elem. where Gabriella and Giovanna will be attending. They liked the room and liked seeing toys and of course the crayons. I got to talk to each teacher and one of the Aides. I so hope that this works out for them. I know they are eager to start next week.

We will have their open house tomorrow night and Lily and Bella have their open house on Saturday afternoon. Starting next Monday my house will be alot quieter...I dont know if thats good or bad......I will miss them thats for sure!!!!

I have several pictures to upload when William gets home, so be on the lookout.

Prayers for Sweet EMMA CORNISH

This is Emma Cornish. She along with her new brother Micah were adopted from Ukraine in the early spring. she is 5 yrs old. She was born with a severe heart condition, that if born in the US, wold have been repaired as a infant. She will undergo this surgery Monday morning. Please pray for the DR and all the medical staff that will literally be holding this angel's heart in their hands. Pray that the Lord will guide their each and every move.....pray that she will be healed and can for the first time in her life, have a chance to a awesome HELTHY future with her new Mommy and Daddy and 3 other siblings. Emma was born with the extra special Down Syndrome enhancement....and we lift her up to our Heavenly Father! I will try to update as I get them...but please also feel free to check out the Cornish blog as well.....

http://cornishadoptionjourney.blogspot.com/

Prayers for the Stallings Family

For all you non football fans, Gene Stallings is a former coach for ALABAMA!

Saturday morning, Gene Stallings son, John Mark passed away.....he was 46. John Mark lived, breathed and loved the Tide.......he was always on the sidelines or in the box with his Momma. The Tide was his true love....John Mark never played a snap. Never made a pass. Never took a knee.....John Mark had Down's Syndrome and was everyone's "little brother" even though he was quite a bit older than some.

John Mark was his Daddy's heart. Any time he spoke of John Mark, there was a certain sparkle in his eyes that can only come from a Daddy that loves UNCONDITIONALLY! I imagine that it's the same look God has for us. Coach Stallings and Ruth Anne are going to be going through the motions for a long time.....John Mark was their world. They even wrote a book about raising him in a time where most people wouldn't even give him a look. I imagine that raised Ruth Ann's hackles on more than one ocassion but knew that they were the ones missing out.....

Our prayers go out to the family of Coach Gene Stallings and all the people that were touched by John Mark...........To read more about John Mark Stallings, click here:

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20080802/NEWS/263431468/1007&title=John_Mark_Stallings_dies
http://www.rolltide.com/genrel/080208aaa.html
http://www.rolltide.com/view.gal?id=31342

We need a BUYER THIS WEEKEND!!!

The large house in Prattville I told you all about a few weeks ago....well we are gonna put in a offer! ITs 3600 sq ft and has a pool. We dont like the yard, but what better time to redo it than the winter. So if we do get to buy it....we will be BUSY this winter,building a retainer wall,, having soil brought in and doing some minor other things...but the yard will be the biggest thing!


I dont want to move to another town, because our girls will already be in school, and its just 6 miles down the road but in another county. someone told me that you can wright a letter to request your kids stay in the same school as long as you provide transportation, so we will see. We have looked and looked and there just isnt anything else out there that is gonna meet our needs......so we will do our offer, based on selling our home and the home inspection....he is doing tons of repairs and upgrades that will be very nice. I so love knowing that we will have room for our family to spread out when we want to or grow even more if we want to....Lyndsey and Michael will still have a room for them when they are home visiting and that was the biggie for me...William said at what point do you say, you have had to make other arrangements to their room.....I told him that until they are both settled down somewhere, I want them to know they always have a room at home...

We pray that the one major thing we are worried about with this house, turns out to be something not all that major...... that will be the only way we say absolutely no to the house.

So all you prayer warriors.....PRAY FOR US TO HAVE A BUYER!!!!!!! WE WANT TO DO THIS SOON. I so hate that we missed out on the other house a few months ago, but if we miss out on this one...I am done looking until i have the paper on my dining room table that says here is your offer to buy your home!!! No more MLS looking for us!!!!! William and I are both getting frustrated with the whole thing! So if we dont get a buyer soon, we will not loook anymore! I know if this house gets put on the MLS with a Realtor it will go quick for the price he is selling it to us for!

Guess who is coming to our house tomorrow??

All you RR friends.....its Shelley and her crew! It is so neat to meet my online friends in person. Shelley and I met back in March right before they traveled to Serbia to pick up Grifyn...so we havent met him yet. Robert wasnt there either, so we will get to all meet, husbands, all our kids and all. They will be here for a few hours....we are gonna cook out, and socialize....something I think Shelley and i do well. ...

So look for pictures of all of us together!! She will have 4 of hers with her, 2 adopted and also have DS and all my 4 little ones...a FULL house!!! Oh this is gonna be fun!

Ok, sorry its been so long!!! We have been busy!

Lyndsey and Michael come home last weekend for a few days. William's sister, Karen, also was here...so we had a full house. It was fun! the kids left on Sunday and Monday and Karen was here until Thursday. It was a nice visit. Her and I had a few days where we were able to get out and do some fun things without all the girls....its nice having a babysitter handy.....too bad she's heading back to college next week!~!!

On Wednesday I cut Giovanna and Gabby's hair. Both of them lost almost 6 inches EACH! Their hair is now up to their chin/shoulder...It is too cute on them both! I figured with school starting they both needed a new do! I had been dying to get my hair cut as well, and well lets just say....I GOT IT CUT! It is now sitting on my shoulders with tons of layers in it. I like it. I wore it like this about 8 yrs ago....light, fresh looking and no troble with all the girls. I will have to upload pictures later when William gets home....im on the laptop and the other computer isnt hooked up.

Giovanna and Gabby have their orientation for school on Tuesday night....they are excited to start school. Well Giovanna is...I dont know what Gabby thinks....she tells me yes so we will see! Lily and Bella have their open house next Saturday. They as well are very excited to start back. We went and bought new backpacks and lunch boxes for the 3 older ones and they are getting their names embroidered on them right now...we pick them up on Tuesday. They are gonna be so cute! Im hunting for Bella a new one...she needs a smaller one...we got one from Gap last year...we may jsut use that one again.

Well......I hope everyone is doing well....I will update with pictures later tonight.