The Andrews Crew

Lyndsey

2011-10-02T18:53:00.002-05:00

I didnt realize it had been so long since I posted......SORRY! Gesh, the whole summer I didnt post anything!

Well I just had to share the most awesome news of the day............

LYNDSEY IS IN THE UNITED STATES! NO MORE IRAQ (FOR NOW)! SHE JUST LANDED 20 MINUTES AGO IN KANSAS! William will fly out there this week to see her!

2011-05-30T12:42:00.002-05:00

Today we want to take a moment to remember all those who have fought for our FREEDOM and the families that were left behind. Today we are free to do what ever we want, we have the right to read our bibles, to share about JESUS and so much more...it is ALL BECAUSE of the men and women who gave their lives to allow us to be FREE. So today while you are out at the lake, laying by the pool, enjoying your cook outs, say a prayer for the families left behind, thank a friend for their military service....thank the LORD for ALL HE DOES FOR YOU!

2011-05-04T17:10:00.001-05:00

Hello All.

I went to Eclectic today to help in any way I could for the tornado support. At the Warehouse down town and I visited First Baptist church as well. I wanted to know what the greatest need was and how my family could help. WE took alot of supplies and want to take more. I would like to open it up to our local church and any of your friends you want to share the info with.

At the warehouse downtown they are in need of:

NEW socks for men and woman,

Bleach,

mops, brooms,

buckets,

hand sanitizer,

clorox wipes, and any other cleaning type needs,

towels and BED PILLOWS. She said people are asking for NEW pillows.

At the First Baptist Church they are in need of:

non perishable foods

can meat like chicken, spam, vienna sausage

individual bags of chips, cookies, crackers

little debbie cakes

bananas

individual applesauce

Diapers and pullups

cereal bars and or energy type bars

toilet paper, and paper towels

She said that everyday they make lunch sacks and take them out to workers...about 150-200 bags each day. Inside they include: TWO sandwiches, 3 little debbie cakes, 1-2 packs of crackers, a banana, applesauce pack if they have it and two cold water bottles. This sounds like alot but when you are out there working for 8-12 hours you want energy and to have something to snack on when you are hungry. She said bananas are something they all ask for.

I know this list is long but we as a whole CAN HELP! With the economic times it is tough right now, but the Lord continues to bless us and supplies all our riches...we as a body can help be Christ hands and BLESS someone as we do it. SO, if you can come together with me, lets show the people of Eclectic, we care!

I will take another load on Tues of next week and will even another load the following week if there is more donations. Anyone want to come along and see the blessing at the church and warehouse, just let me know.

Oh and at the church they cook hot meals on the weekends for the volunteers and residents. This Saturday as you have heard is going to be a huge community work day. They are looking at feeding over 400-600 people. If you want your socks blessed off, show up...help serve...help prepare....love on someone....show God's GRACE

Love you all,

2011-04-30T16:48:00.002-05:00

On Friday Giovanna and Gabby went to the new Intermediate school on a tour for THIRD grade!!! Can you believe it???? I cant believe that my two. I mean three girls will be in third grade next year.....Both of Giovanna and Gabby enjoyed us being there and seeing the new school. When we got home, William took out the convertible and we went on a afternoon date together.....lunch at Tokyo which was so yummy and a nice ride in the car on a beautiful day. It is so nice to spend the day with my man!

2011-04-30T16:45:00.001-05:00

After church on Easter Sunday we took the girls to Bass Pro shop to see the Easter Bunny. They loved it.

2011-04-30T16:13:00.004-05:00

As many of you know we live in Alabama and were buckled down for the awful tornado that ripped through the state. We were all in the laundry room as the siren's were going off. I was a nervous wreck. The week previously we had another horrible storm/tornado that hit just 10 miles NW of us. Not good! It demolished a church and killed three people...friends of a friend of mine. Just horrible. William was out of town for that storm, but thankfully he WAS here for this last one. All of us, including lyndsey were in the laundry room/bathroom. We were listening to the news and following along with our laptop. When the siren's kept going off, and they were telling our area to take cover, I was just a mess! I am so sad to say that it totally destroyed the town just past us, this time to the NE of us about 12 miles. So many dead. So many friends of friends of ours....gone! Homes gone, family heirlooms gone, lives lost! Tuscaloosa was also hit so terribly hard, along with Birmingham and Culman. I just cry for all the lives lost! Terribly lost and such a horrible devestation. A young girl from our town had moved to T-town to start college in the fall...she and her room mate were sucked out of their apartment and killed. She was on the phone with her mom, while her mom watched the news coverage and telling her daughter to take cover.....while on the phone, Loryn told her mom she was so terribly scared, all the while her mom said I love you , it will be ok....and when the phone went silent, she knew at that moment her daughter was gone. Gone to heaven and no longer where her mom could hold her. Lyndsey, our daughter knew loryn...alot of folks around town knew her....everyone is so sad.... Please pray for the Brown and Mims family as they are mourning the loss of their daughters, and all the many friends of theirs.

We are all safe, no damage at all to our home and now we stand together as a community to see what and how we can help others, rebuild and get some kind of normalcy to their lives....

Im so glad Im alive and can type this....after seeing this video and watching the news, you can really see just how much this horrible storm, changed the lives of people in ALABAMA forever!

If you click on the words underlined they are links to take you to the video's or stories to what Im talking about.

2011-04-19T06:51:00.003-05:00

William has been gone the last two and half weeks. I am so over being a single parent already!!!! He will be home on the 22nd and then will leave again the first week of May for another week. GESH! He is in Denver currently and seems to be enjoying his time there...skying, nice restaurants, nightly drinks with friends, casino time etc.... can you tell im just alittle jealous?????? Of course he is going to conferences and hanging with work peeps.

I have been doing projects around the house to keep me busy so that does help!

The girls are doing great, growing, getting even more sassy and excited to see their big SISTER LYNDSEY! She will be home in a week... we are so excited to see her...

Have a blessed day everyone

2011-04-14T19:10:00.002-05:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the BEST husband in the world! I love you William to the moon and back! I sure wish we could be with you today on your special day!

He is currently in Denver for a work conference, so we arent able to surround him with BIRTHDAY fun/wishes Andrews style

We called Daddy early this morning before the girls got on the bus, so it was 6:30 our time 5:30 his time...Good morning Baby!!!!

WE LOVE YOU!

2011-03-31T15:35:00.004-05:00

Today, SIX years ago William and I were at Spence- Chapin in NYC awaiting the arrival of our new baby girl....ISABELLA FAITH! We were so excited for the day to finally arrive. We had no clue what our girl would look like until about 18 hours before we arrived.....and boy was she just a precious little porcelain doll. She was perfect!!!

She has brought us so many laughs over the last six years..we are so honored to be chosen by GOD to be her parents forever! Bella you were a answered prayer!

I love you forever,

MOMMY

2011-03-29T08:40:00.002-05:00

March 25th was the mark of TWENTY TWO YEARS that I have spent married to my best friend! On this date in 1989, I was a nervous wreck....I was about to walk down that "short isle" in the store front new church and marry the guy God had created just for me! My life had been such a crazy whirlwind the past few years with moving from south FL to northwest FL and leaving my high school behind....Well God sure did have a plan for me! I would meet my future husband in the 11th grade, while we both worked at Hardees, the only fast food restaurant in town....and marry him when we both graduated high school.....WOW what a wonderful surprise.

I LOVE YOU WILLIAM ANDREWS! HERE'S TO THE NEXT 22 YEARS!

2011-03-29T08:15:00.004-05:00

Our spring break 2011....spending a day at the zoo

Two peas in a pod! Gabby and Giovanna and of course the groovy girls! If you see one of the girls, the other isnt far behind! They sure do love each other! This is exactly what we prayed for when adopting the girls, that they would always have a best friend-sister by their side, when they grew up....Lyndsey and michael and Lily, would by far pass them up....but they would ALWAYS have a sister going through the same thing as them!!! Thank you Jesus for the miracle of adoption!

Bella loving the train ride...I think this is one of her favorite things to do!

During spring break, I took the girls to the zoo....here we are! Lily enjoying the train ride.

2011-03-29T08:06:00.003-05:00

Good morning all!!!!

Sorry it's been a few weeks since I wrote. Life is good right now...the girls are doing great in school, spring break is over so the down hill race to the end of the school year is on!

Construction is STILL going on in the back yard...the new garage and storage shed are still going up...they are finishing with the vinyl hopefully today (if it doesnt rain again) and then the garage door...laying the new sod is the last thing they will do. Im ready for this to be done...Monday started the third week. I dont think I would have the patience to ever build a house from start to finish! I guess that's why the Lord blessed us with our new fantastic home....nothing to build!

Gee has her travel dates home...June 4th. Boo hoo we are going to miss having her around! The girls love her! and well so do we!!!

Lyndsey has her R & R travel dates home from Iraq!!!!!!!! She leaves Iraq around April around the 20th and gets home around the 24th and leaves somewhere around the 14-15th. She is trying to cram alot into her time home, but we will enjoy as much as we can get. It will be so nice to have her in OUR home out of harms way!!!! WE are not telling the girls she is coming until she arrives home...they will drive us crazy waiting on the day! This will be a great surprise!

Michael will be in California doing his Army Reserve training, getting ready for a possible deployment! Oh this is going to be hard if he too goes! My Momma heart is going to go CRAZY!

Sorry its short, but I must get to the grocery store before the rain comes in.....

Blessings and happiness for your day!!

Celebrating World Down Syndrome Day 2011

2011-03-21T07:42:00.000-05:00

Groovy girl books/dolls

2011-03-09T09:28:00.003-06:00

I know I have mentioned this before but I must do it again........

Our girls are IN LOVE with these toys! Giovanna will not go anywhere without her "Vanessa" and it is just so sweet. I discovered these little dolls about a year or so ago and they have been the best thing ever! They are soft, almost like a infant soft baby doll, cute and stylish for the older girls and each have a cute "personality" that is fun and appealing to the girls. You can purchase different clothes for them, cars, scooters, animals you name it...They are very cute, but so hard to find!

Giovanna and Gabby are turning NINE in May and I think we are going to have a Groovy Girl party! But I am in need of some more Groovy Girls and different accessories. I thought that giving each girl that comes to the party a Groovy Girl would be a perfect and practical thank you gift....and even better, we can spread the "joy" that these little dolls bring to our girls each and every day. If you come across any of these dolls, books, or any of the accessories please let me know!

2011-03-05T09:27:00.003-06:00

WEll today we are hosting a get together for the ETC Exchange students at our house. There will be 14 students from our town and about 10 adults....this should be fun!!! Im so bummed out because when we planned this we had planned on grilling out, making smores and doing some games as well all outside on a gorgeous day....and well now...we are all inside!

Thanks to God for blessing us with our new home that does have room, but now Im trying to get board games together for us to play. All the kids are excited about the get together so either way, no matter what we do, Im sure they will all enjoy! In June we will be loosing Gee, she will return home to South Korea....we will so miss her. She has been a joy to get to know and we pray one day that our paths will cross again.

I will post pictures later this weekend of all our students. If you have any ideas of things to do ...send me a comment so I can have some more good ideas...

Have a blessed day.

2011-03-02T07:53:00.001-06:00

For those of you who dont know...the "R-word" is "retard(ed)". PLEASE think before you speak. Using this word not only makes fun of our girls but anyone with a disability!

2011-03-02T07:48:00.002-06:00

Today is Spread the Word to End the Word Day. I ask you to please think before you speak. Using the word "retard(ed)" is using someone's disability as an insult whether you are speaking to them or not. It is not about being politically correct. It is about speaking with respect and treating all people with dignity.

2011-02-24T08:08:00.002-06:00

I AM SO READY TO START MY GARDEN. I THINK THIS WEEKEND I AM GOING TO START BUILDING IT AND THEN I CAN START FILLING IT ALL IN.....It sure is going to take some time and money to fill it all in with soil and compost but I cant wait. I love planting bell pepper, banana pepper, tomatoes, strawberries, and this year Im gonna try cantaloupe, sunflowers and some herbs. I cant wait. Any tips out there, please do share. I have always had a SMALL spot off my back deck and did tomatoes in containers, but this year Im going somewhat bigger....William doesnt want me too, he thinks I should just buy it at the store and not worry with it...but I enjoy it!

2011-02-24T07:20:00.006-06:00

Bella-Gabby-Lily and Giovanna on Valentine's day. They come home from school and all their "prizes" were waiting on them...can you tell their excitement?
William and I took all five girls to the mall last Saturday for a fun day out of the house. Here we are riding the carousal horse.
Lyndsey sent me these yummy cake balls on a stick. They are so yummy!
Gabby made this for my Valentines day gift at school...Mom's Memos!
Bella showing me her "groovy girl horse"....they so love their groovy girls!

2011-02-22T15:59:00.002-06:00

things have been going well. The girls are really enjoying school and Gee is doing well too. Life is good. WE are still "slowly" unpacking boxes and finally hanging pictures on the walls. It has just taken a while to get to that point...still a work in process.

WE are trying to find a contractor to build us a shed, that has been a process for sure! It has to be on a concrete slab and has to be approved by the homeowner association...so we are still working on it. WE originally thought we wanted a larger size but yikes $8-9K is not what I want to spend...I could use that to adopt again!!!

The weather has been wonderful here in AL lately...I can just feel spring..however I think it will get cold again before we are into spring....I have got to start the building process of my garden. I am going to raise it about 8-10 inches above the ground and pray that it all works out. I am getting excited to start my inside seeds and watch them grow. We are going to try this year to do everything from seeds. I have always planted from small plants purchased in a six pack and this year I am going to try and do it all myself. This should be fun!!! I cant wait!

If any of you have hints of doing a small garden please fill me in.

Have a blessed day

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T08:13:00.003-06:00

Just wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Valentine's Day! I have been blessed with the best Valentine ever and after 24 years, still going strong. Happy Valentine's Day Willaim!!!! WE have been blessed with SIX awesome kids and life couldnt be happier.

I am home from PA. It was so nice to see cousin's I havent seen in 15 years but sad under the conditions. I enjoyed my time there but was happy to get home to my real life and kids.

The girls all have parties today so i will be running around trying to make them. Sadly I cant make all of them due to time restraints.

Michael is home for a few days this week. Lyndsey hopefully will be coming home in April for a week.

Im sorry i am such a poor blogger and writer...this really is to help help memories straight and to briefly inform family and friends of our everyday happenings.

2011-02-04T20:10:00.003-06:00

Today is a sad day for us, happy for her....my Grandmom went to heaven today. On Wednesday they found her unconscious and barely breathing. Apparently she had a massive stroke and collapsed in the living room floor where she layed for about 12 hours (midnight till noon) before they found her. She lives alone and my Aunts were calling her to make sure she hadn't lost power during the bad snow storm. When they couldn't get her after several tries the went to the house. House completed locked up and she didn't come to the door. They busted in the back door and found her. They called my mom and Dad and they packed and started the long 18 hour drive. They arrived in PA late last night and went to the hospital right away. My Dad talked to the Dr's and they said there was nothing else left they could do. Her body was shutting down, she wasnt breathing on her own at all, was paralyzed on her left side and more than likely would not come out of it. All children talked and knew this is NOT what Grandmom would have wanted. She was very independent.

So at this time we are all sad that she left this world, but know she is in a better place. We love you Grandmom!!!!

This was my last surviving Grandparent....so only parents are left now....I pray its MANY years before we face this again!

Attached is a pic of Grandmom with the girls almost a year ago...this was the last time we all saw her.

I know its been a long time....

2011-02-03T16:40:00.002-06:00

I have been so very busy for the last several months.

Back in October I started having alot of pain in my stomach....after several trips to the Urgent care and medicines...I finally asked them to run tests to see if it could possibly be my gall bladder...Well WAA LAA! It was. The Dr. at the base said she didnt see any gall stones but wanted to me to go right then over to the surgeon's office so he could take a look. My mom was here, so off she and I went to the surgeon's office to take a look at my ultrasound. He right away said I had a few hundred "tiny stones" and possibly a few larger ones. I told him that we were moving and I needed him to do it right away or give me medicine to help with the pain and I could do it over Christmas break. He told me he had a appointment open the next day.....now how's that for service???

I took it! So on Dec. 1, I had my gall bladder taken out. I was so sore, but recovered nicely! I was ever so happy to eat SALSA again! LOL.

We did FINALLY SELL OUR HOME on Daffodil Ct! It was totally a GOD THING! We were going to take it off the market so we didn't have to deal with it over the holidays and plus I had been so sick and a realtor kept calling.....she said these folks totally wanted to see the house...we agreed and the next day we had a offer...just 500.00 shy of asking price. Can't say that the closing went smoothly, because it was changed THREE times but the end result was all the same...we closed. Two days before Christmas we slept in our new Dream home! We were so HAPPY!

Our new house is exactly what we had wanted!!! Its in the neighborhood that we wanted, it is only 5 yrs old, one owner and 3100sq ft. I will upload pics soon. IF your on my FB, you can see one on there.

Just five days after moving into the new house, we got another surprise....A EXCHANGE STUDENT FROM SOUTH KOREA. This was not something we had really ever explored, but it too was a GOD THING! Her name is Gee Eun, she is 15 yrs old and fits totally into our family. We are all going to be sad when school is out at the end of May, because in June she will be leaving. I know her time with us, has not only changed her, but our family as well. God really does work in awesome ways.

Lyndsey is still in Iraq. For those of you who didnt know she started her ONE YEAR deployment to Iraq in October. She is staying busy with a large client load, college, and friends. She is getting homesick and ready for her R & R in sometime in March or April. We all cant wait for her to come home. It really hit home this week, when a fellow friend, 22 yr old young man from Millbrook, was put to rest. He too joined the Army and was serving in Afghanistan when his unit was attacked. He was killed Jan 18. What a sad day. I so pray we never get that knock at the door, that phone call,have to make those arrangements....PLEASE stand with us in prayer that ALL the soldiers come home to their families!!!! Pray our Lyndsey is safe, she feels Jesus surrounding her and she can be home safe on American soil QUICKLY!

ALl the girls are doing great! They love school, so far this month we have been able to dodge the stomach bug and the flu. December, Giovanna has strep and the flu, so they treated all the girls with Tamiflu.....so far January and February has been good. I pray it stays that way.

In January, Isabella got glasses. She now is wearing them, AND KEEPING them on. She looks adorable in them.

I am so sorry for taking so long to update my blog. Will for sure try to get better

2010-11-05T09:27:00.003-05:00

Want to change the life of a little child??? What better way than to visit Reece's Rainbow and look at the 2010 Angel Tree....I will post more on this later.

Enjoy all the beautiful faces!

2010-11-05T09:06:00.002-05:00

I know I haven't posted in a long time.....excuses.....excuses! Facebook makes it so easy to do updates and upload pictures that I just forget to come and do it here....I am once again so sorry!

I would love to draw your attention to this little family in Romania. Please read this and see what you can do. Go through your childs toys, visit the dollar tree, send a few bucks, whatever you can do but most importantly PRAY for them! Pray that they are able to continue this HARD fight in a country where there is no acceptance for thier sweet little man.

I have a PLEA!!!The other night I got a phone call from a military friend stationed in Romania. His daughter's teacher has a 5yr old son with Down Syndrome. The medical staff, therapist, schools all are rejecting giving him any service! This just BREAKS my heart! They are UNABLE to get any therapy type toys, items etc..

- My friend is coming to the states in a week and can take back anything we can give her! If you are willing to help either with mailing me used or new items, or donate money for me to pick things up here...please contact me! I am just heartbroken that a child with Down syndrome is shunned by society....but thats our mission at Reece's Rainbow...to help raise awareness and encourage families to keep their children and then to help provide any "learning-therapy" item we can....its not that the parents dont "want" their child...its that society will not accept them...wont you "PLEASE" help me, help this family!!!!

IF any of you can help with anything that would be wonderful! I was in contact with the Mom today and she told me they are able to "BRIBE" the Dr's into seeing her son...but money is tight! PLEASE lift this family and many others like them up in prayer. This is one family we are able to help, if we all come together we can show them that we CARE! He is a fun loving little almost 5yr old who just wants what everyone else wants.......ACCEPTANCE!

If you want to mail anything such as NEW OR USED puzzles, therapy items, money, etc please contact me asap AT RLBA272@HOTMAIL.COM . I have alittle over one week to get this Box together for thme! His name is Andrei and he will be turning 5 soon.

Thanks so much for reading this and for those of you who are willing to stand with me and show them we do care I appreciate it more than you know....and I know this family will be forever grateful! We can just run to the dollar tree and pick things up here....the convience of helping our kids learn, well in other countries they just cant do that!

2010-09-29T19:59:00.002-05:00

Today is Lyndsey and Michaels 21 birthday! wow time flies. I remember the week building up to their birth...wow what a week! I was so eager to finally meet these little babies who had made my little body GROW way more than I ever thought it could.....

they were the most precious gift that the Lord gave me.....well besides my loving husband (up to that point).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LYNDSEY AND MICHAEL. WE hate that we cant all be together today but know each of you have had a good day. I pray that the Lord will continue to put good, loving, christian people in your path. I pray that you both will continue to fall on your knees in front of Him seeking guidance and direction. I love you to the moon and back! Your birth changed my life forever and I am so happy that you were born! I love you so much! I am so proud of the young man and woman you both have become!

2010-09-15T08:04:00.005-05:00

Good Morning all...I so have totally stunk at my blog for the last several months and Im sorry! IT is so easy to update photos to Facebook from my iphone and well thats what Ive been doing. If you are on fb please look me up " Rita Bowden Andrew" and you can see all the pics there....

I once again am on the way out the door, but wanted to send out a huge HELLO to you all and let you know I have not forgotten about you.

Here are a few pictures of Lyndsey when she was home last week. The owl picture is a owl that keeps showing up at our house. He flew down to the ground right behind William as he was watering the grass one night. When the owl flew back up to the roof we took the picture. It was almost 9pm and look at the window in the picture...who do you see? She was suppose to be asleep as she went to bed at 7pm!

2010-08-30T08:34:00.001-05:00

This morning before 6:30 I had: 4 kids up and dressed, 4 girlies fed, 4 lunches made, 4 backpacks ready,4 mouths brushed, 4 faces washed, 8 shoes on, 4 heads brushed and one tired momma. Bring it on MONDAY! Thank you Jesus for the ability to do for my family!

2010-08-26T11:53:00.002-05:00

Hey
sorry I havent posted in over a month! Life has just been crazy. The girls strted back to school and love it. We have had William's sister here with us for a few months now and its been nice seeing her again. She is currently back in FL visiting her family....we hope she will return soon.

Lyndsey will be home Sept 4th for a about a week and then will go to FL. She will be deploying to Aphganistan in OCT so please keep her and our family in your prayers...This Momma is sick at the thought!

I have been having some pain in in my head and neck and have had tests run, blood, CT scan and xrays....so far nothing, but they are insisting I do a CT with contrast to do further in depth. Today I have woke up with some pretty nasty pain....so I think Im gonna go for it....Ive put it off a week, hoping that it would get better...but no such luck so far.

Lily is so excited for her birthday...Sept 9 she will turn 7 and she is THRILLED...and then on Sept 29 the twins will be TWENTY ONE 21....i cant believe it!!!

Gotta run, but I promise to upload some pics soon...

Orlando, we are here

2010-07-14T21:10:00.002-05:00

We got here on Monday. William has a work conference and it couldnt have fallen at a better time. The down syndrome conference is this weekend here in Orlando as well so we are staying here till Sunday...woo hoo!!! the hotel we are at is the caribe royal and we love it! We have plenty of room, in the suite, and we are overlooking the huge pool from the 10 th floor. William's sister Karen came with us as well I'm sure she is rethinking that....she isn't used to having four little active excited girls running around all day...we stayed in the large kiddie pool all day yesterday and when William got off work we hit the family pool with the large slide. the girls were in high heaven. There has been so many people watching our every move, kids and adults alike, and last night a lady finally got up and come to the edge of the pool and introduced herself to me. She was so amazed with the girls and was shocked that they were so close in age, three having down syndrome and then that they were all adopted... I love sharing our story, brining glory to God each time of his grace and mercy. Tonight a couple also just loved watching us in the pool. She kept saying...y'all look so happy and are having so much fun....well yes we are and yes we are, then the lady who approached us last night, told her twin sister about us and they were in the pool again tonight with their kids. They sat there and watched us and then she finally got up and come over to us...she said again that we look happy and she said that we are such special people...I told her prompty that we arent anything speical, just the average American family doing our calling from God. Why don't people get that?

Well tomorrow we are finally hooking up with some of our online down syndrome friends...we have followed each others blogs and watched kids grow through photos and a lot of us aree finally getting to meet.....I just can't wait! I'm on the iPad so I can't upload photos until we get home, or will had some periodly on my facebook page....

Here is a fun filled nice day signing off...

2010-07-04T21:43:00.000-05:00

Happy 4th of July everyone! Im so glad that we have the FREEdom that we do...thanks to the MEN AND WOMEN WHO FIGHT FOR OUR FREEdom and because of that we now have four little girls that are now FREE too! Thank you America! Enjoy your day everyone....its just my little family spending the day together.....

2010-06-22T14:09:00.003-05:00

Well today Lily went to CAMP! She is gone until Friday....I just know she is going to love her new independance and I pray she can learn to enjoy her time while at camp. The girls woke up asking where she was....But now, after the other three are home from VBS, my house is so quiet...they are playing so nicely together..and there is no fighting!!!! AWH this will be good!

WE love you Lily...have lots of fun at church camp. This is the first time she has ever been away from us in the three years she has been home!!! Oh boy!!! I hope she does ok.

2010-06-15T15:55:00.004-05:00

Hey all...we have had a busy week. The girls loved bible school this week. They went to a morning one and a evening one...They loved it! Then Saturday we had our bowling day again and then headed to Lowes for our building project....I am so glad Lowes does this for the kids....and my girls love it...its free and fun and in the air conditioner!!! Cant beat that for a fun Saturday treat.

I am looking for two more TAG pens made by Leapfrog. Our girls love these and we have two...but with four little girls, well two sometimes just dont cut it! So if anyone reading this has one they are willing to part with for a reasonable price...PLEASE leave me a message! the girls love to read and have stories read to them...these are the perfect educational toy that i have seen in a long time from Leapfrog.

Will post more pics in a bit, its starting to lightning here, gotta shut down for now.

2010-06-06T22:05:00.003-05:00

This weekend was so much fun.

Ace Bowling Alley here in Montgomery has partnered with the Miracle League Baseball and started a bowling league just for the children with special needs. All the Miracle league kids are now invited to take place in Ace All Star Bowling. This Saturday was our first of eight weeks to bowl. We will be there every Saturday morning from 9-11 and the girls are so very excited! Thanks Ace for a fun filled time. They provided the players with a bowling shirt and the girls were thrilled to put it on. they so badly wanted to even sleep in it....can you tell they are excited??

After bowling, we come home and enjoyed a lazy rest of the afternoon. The girls played and we just chilled out. To finish the night off I cooked a "breakfast" for dinner. We love pancakes at night with a tall glass of milk. While we were eating Casey showed up to come hang out with us (our babysitter) and then a hour or so later, April and Wade showed up...so we had a fun night at home.

Church this morning was awesome. Mike finished preaching a series on "how to hear from God"...it was so good and has really challenged me in my own prayer time and conversations with my God.

This afternoon after church William had to go help a friend lay tile in his bathroom while the girls and I played in the pool and then we finished our night with four haircuts. They love me to do beauty shop with them and well tonight was the night. We painted fingernails and then I got out the scissors to give our summer haircuts. Gabby would not stop moving so her hair is MUCH shorter than I wanted but hey it will grow back right??? Summer is already so hot here, the humidy it killer!

This week the girls will be going to TWO vacation bible schools. A morning one from 9-12 and then our church at night...6:30-9. They are gonna be so tired each night! Wish us luck.

I hope everyone has a blessed week.

2010-06-03T09:23:00.002-05:00

Summertime is here! We bought the girls another pool this year, this time its a 12 ft round by 30 inches deep. They love it...we love it! yesterday I was able to work out in the yard and they played in the pool for THREE hours or more! In this picture Bella isnt there, she got out because she wanted to "go night night". She never fell asleep but instead decided to help Daddy work in the yard. WE put down the red concrete stepping stones to form a small patio off the pool because the dirt was so muddy....we may end up carrying it around the front and other side too...not sure yet. We have already put more money into setting this pool up and stones than we wanted too, because remember the house is up for sale........so if we dont get any offers soon, we may just go ahead and finish it the way we want... Its nothing fancy, but it sure gets the job done when you have little ones who want to play in the water! Best money we spend every year!

2010-06-03T09:09:00.003-05:00

I just love CVS. I love following their specials, the extra bucks you get back and the awesome clearance specials. Well if you want to catch up with the "fun" you can go to this site who is a huge help....www.iheartcvs.com and she is awesome about updating every few days on new specials.

Here is a special i found the other day and called everyone i know who has a child in diapers. They are changing out their packaging and their diapers were 3.99 for the jumbo 40ct packs....AWESOME! Then a few days later they put there wipes on 75% off....so for 13.98 I got a whole stack! Thats SEVEN of the large packs of 150-216 per pack....woohoo! WE use wipes to clean up the girls after a messy dinner, eating popcicles outside and you know all the school supply lists ask for baby wipes at the beginning of school so stock up now...

2010-05-28T07:21:00.006-05:00

I could add tons of pictures here and I will upload more I promise...but wanted to start today out with a few special pictures. Today is a VERY speical day. Today is Gabby's 8th birthday and also Gabby and Lily's FOREVER FAMILY DAY! Today, three years ago, in Bogota Colombia, we were blessed to become the parents of two little girls. They were shy, scared, and not exactly sure what these people were doing there. WE didnt speak any spanish and wanted to love all over them. Lily, once she opened up, she wanted to know where Michael, Giovanna and Bella were. The orphanage had shown her the photo album we had sent and she knew who all the members of our family were...and well she didnt see them all there. Smart little girl she is.

I wont even begin to say it was a bed or roses in the beginning but will say, The LORD brought us through it and we love our girls! We are so blessed to be their parents and call it a honor.

THEN TODAY....is OUR Gabby's birthday. She is still sleeping, but when she wakes up, today is all about her! I want her to feel like she is royality...remember she did have a princess party!

Tonight we will celebrate our Family Day with going out to dinner....and at lunch celebrate birthday...so we have a fun, busy day ahead of us..

Thank you Lord for our blessings!

2010-05-27T11:48:00.002-05:00

Today is the last day of school for Giovanna and Gabby! They are both sad. I wasnt gonna send them today, but Giovanna insisted she go. They get out at noon so this is a short day for sure.

William and I started setting up their pool last night, but figured we better spend more time on the new one this year than we did last year. WE really needed to level the ground a bit better. I had to go to the store today to buy 20 bags of top soil to hopefully get it all level this afternoon. They are already driving me nuts to get in. I cant wait for it to be all set up so we can enjoy the family times in it again this year. We bought the 12 ft x 30 in deep pool this year. Last yr we just had the 10 ft round one, so this year we get alittle more room...Yippie!

Here's to great family summer fun!!!

2010-05-24T08:18:00.003-05:00

These are just a few pictures I took with my cell phone. April did all the pictures and I am waiting on the CD. The girls had a blast. We had 20 princessess join in on the party and they all had a great time. WE started off with doing a princess craft project and games, the on to the food, dancing, musical chairs and gifts...whew 2 hours flew by. We were suppose to do a fashion show and time just got away and I forgot AFTER we already had several girls leave. WE had 4 teen girls come help us and that was a big help.

Giovanna and Gabby were so excited to see all their friends dressed up and dancing with them. What a sweet time. Its moments like this, I sit back and think....where would they be right now at this moment if GOD hadnt spoke to us to travel around the world to adopt them???? Thank you JESUS for calling us~

Happy birthday to our sweet princesses...Giovanna and Gabby

2010-05-22T10:11:00.001-05:00

Today is the big day....I woke up feeling alittle better...so the party must go on...I pray I will be able to get it all together and decorated...The girls are so excited!!!

2010-05-21T20:01:00.002-05:00

Woke up this morning with a sore throat but pushed on because there is so much to do to get ready for the princess party on Saturday....well by 12 I had sunk fast. By 1:30 Bella and I were in PriMed for the lovely 3 hours all to be told we both have strep throat and she has upper respiratory infection. I opted for TWO shots and am praying that I feel better in the morning. Feeling better or not I must get up and prepare the "ballroom" for the party....

Why is it that adults go down so quick and yet Bella is acting just fine???? Man, to be young again!

Pictures will be coming Saturday night or Sunday...

Im heading back to bed.

2010-05-20T09:03:00.002-05:00

If any of you have been following Chrissie's blog you will all know that yesterday she went to dance with Jesus. She will be missed terribly by so many...many who never even got to meet her in person. She has only been joined with her FOREVER family for 7 months (six of those not in the hospital). She will always know the love a family can give her.....Now she will not have to "try" to breath or "cry" silent tears because she is in pain...she will DANCE and sing and wear all the jewelry she wants... and BE HAPPY!

2010-05-20T08:54:00.002-05:00

Giovanna and Gabby are having a princess tea party for their birthday party this Saturday...I searched for a pretty wall mural and couldn't find one, so April agreed to help me out! THanks so much April. This is not the finished product but this is what we got done after SIX hours of painting last night. I think it looks cute so far. I started out doing the castle in all pastel colors but it ended up not looking the way I wanted so i went with a more bold pink color. So far it looks great!!! I will upload the finished product as soon as we get done. I cant wait for the big PRINCESS day!

2010-05-16T08:28:00.002-05:00

On Friday Giovanna, Bella and Gabby all had a full day of school. Lily only went for one hour and had her awards ceremony. She received MOST IMPROVED for the first grade. We are so proud of her. Way to go Lily!

After her awards day, we took Bella to school and then had to make a stop at WalMart for cupcakes and juice for Giovanna's class for her birthday. She was so excited to see me walk in the door with them! Her class is so sweet and they just love Giovanna to pieces...this makes me so happy!!!

Lily and I then headed to lunch ourselves and did a little shopping. I am desperatly trying to find things for the Princess Tea birthday party for G & G this Sat. Not much luck, so I must keep looking!!!! I know they will all be happy no matter what it looks like but Ijust want it to be cute and enjoyable for all the little girls... I have ordered crowns, wands and other litle things for all the little princesses....

Well William is trying to get our dishwasher fixed and put back together..I havent had the dishwasher in over a month and i sure do miss it!!! We then finished off the day laying a half pallet of sod and will finish that today after church. The front yard looks so good after the retaining wall and new sod we did a month or so ago...

well that is a quick catch up from the last few days...

have a blessed Sunday!

2010-05-13T16:52:00.006-05:00

Well we are home from the beach. We went to Gulf Shores/Foley area and stayed at the Perdido Beach resort. The girls loved playing in the pool and walking/running on the beach. William had a meeting for work so the girls and i tagged along and enjoyed a few days of fun in the sun.Here are just a few pics of the trip.

2010-05-09T21:25:00.000-05:00

THANK YOU all for the wonderful Mother's Day messages. I had a wonderful day. We had a great service this morning, come home to flowers delivered from my Lyndsey, peach park with 5 of my kiddos and hubby, a little shopping and a quiet time in the tanning bed...now off to pack for the beach!

2010-05-08T22:38:00.003-05:00

This is Thursday night....saying our goodbyes! It totally sucked! That's the only word I can think of to describe it!

Our beLOVED pet Sydney
1999-2010

Yesterday was a VERY HARD day for William and I. We followed through with the decision to put "our baby Sydney" to sleep. She has been in congestive heart failure for a while now and the meds just havent been working so well lately. She was on the MAX amount of drugs she could be on and it still wasnt working. I have cried and cried and it doesnt help. I love her so much! I miss her so much! I cant believe we went through with it, however I know in my heart that this is totally what was best for her. The vet even said so.
When William was getting ready to leave, I took her to the car. I held on her, cried over her, told her I loved her and that I was so so sorry for doing this. I know she didnt understand me, but I felt like I needed to tell her anyway. She is such a good dog and companion. The girls loved her so much!

This morning, out of pure habit, I come downstairs to let her out of her cage..well as I approached the cage it hit me......she is no longer here!!!! Then after breakfast Isabella found a flashlight and started looking for Sydney. You see Sydney loves the flashlight and will follow you everywhere barking up a storm....she couldnt find her! I told her Sydney was in heaven....she wanted to go! This stinks!!!! Pray for me...I am just so upset about my girl...I will miss her dearly for a long time!

2010-05-06T20:48:00.001-05:00

Life is too short to wake up with regrets.

So love the people who treat you right.

Pray for the ones who don't.

Believe everything happens for a reason.

If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands.

If it changes your life, let it.

God never said life would be easy,

He just promised it would be worth it.

2010-05-05T07:17:00.003-05:00

Please pray for sweet Sophia today.

.... she is having a heart cath done this morning at UAB.
My friend and her husband, here in town,
adopted her and another precious girl from Ukraine back Aug of last year.
Both of them have Down Syndrome and heart issues..
and this is yet another step towards getting everything looked at and fixed if needed.

Giovanna....

2010-05-04T16:48:00.002-05:00

Today I took Giovanna to the Dr's because she woke up with TWO ears full of "YUCK" She is once again the owner of a double ear infection and sinus infection. She acts fine but will tell me every now and then...:"look momma...hurt" and pull back her hair.

She is now on another antibiotic, higher allergy meds, and ear drops....oh the lovely part of spring! NOT!!

William had to go to Nashville today, he has a meeting in the morning. I just dont like him going away for any length of time...I know that sounds weird but I like to know he is HOME!
Sydney is still with us for a few more days. We didnt get to take our pictures last night like we had hoped and william had to leave for his meeting so he didnt take her today...I just keep praying she will "snap out of it" and will be fine....HOWEVER I know this isnt possible and I just dread the day for him to take her and we say our goodbyes. This is going to be so hard for me...please pray for me!!!

This weekend Mike is coming home and if it doesnt rain...he wants to take William SKYDIVING! William asked me to go, but I would need an adult diaper, because I think I would pee all over myself...LOL

Monday we are (at this point) heading to Perdido Beach. He has a annual meeting/conference there each year that the whole family can go to...this year I dont know how much fun its gonna be if we are litterally looking out our window at the beach and dont get to go....This oil spill is getting so bad!!! Lord, please send help!

2010-05-03T15:41:00.002-05:00

I am so so sad. Our Syndey has congestive heart failure. WE have known this for about a month and a half. I had to take her to the emergency vet on a Sunday afternoon because she was just way not herself. We have her on meds, heart and lasix, and she just has begun to slowly slip back into her "sick" way. I made a phone call today that I DREADED making. I called the vet to talk to her about Sydney's symtoms and to talk about putting her to sleep. I cried like a baby!!!!
I DO NOT WANT TO DO THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why oh WHY???? I know Death is real and everything has to go through it....God gives us life and we all must die.. I know....but...noone like to see their pet.......or LOVED ONE go through sickness and ultimately death.

William will be taking her this week to the vet to be put to sleep. He will stay with her while they give her the shot , something I KNOW I CANT DO! We are going to have her cremated and put in a small urn with a paw print, lock of hair and photo.

She has been our baby for 11 years. I love my sweet girl. I am going to miss her so much!!!! I love you sweet Sydney....you have been such a sweet, loving companion for so long our family loves you and will miss you terribly!!! I hope you keep all the dogs in line and run on those beautiful streets of Gold....

2010-05-01T09:08:00.000-05:00

Well here is the new member of the Andrews Family...

2010-04-30T15:54:00.003-05:00

IF you notice on the RIGHT side of my blog there is a tab that says PLEASE PRAY FOR CHRISSIE
Please click on it and it will take you to her blog. SHe is one sick little girl who has a will to fight for life. Our God is in the miracle business and her little body is proof that miracles do happen...she has a long road ahead of her but she is hanging in there right now. PLEASE follow along!

2010-04-30T15:34:00.006-05:00

I am so sorry once again for being so lazy with my blog....I am hooked on Facebook, where alot of my friends and family are so i have totally abandoned this poor blog. It is so easy from my iphone to do a photo update or status update of what is going on.....and well i havent found that for my blogger...Im gonna look though...

In the meantime, let me share a few quick things happening around here.

We had G&G's IEP for SECOND grade and all went well. We were happy with the outcome and look forward to seeing it all playout in the fall.

Isabella is heading to KINDERGARTEN in the fall.....did you hear me....KINDERGARTEN! My little baby girl is growing up... I cant believe its time for her to go to K5! She will also be going to Coosada with G&G and also riding the special needs bus. She has tried to get on the bus for two years now and will be so thrilled for the day to come where we let her climb up in there all on her own!

Lily is finishing up first grade as well and will be staying at Victory Baptist School for second grade. She loves her school and they have some good discpline there and she oh so needs that! I feel with her.. if we put her in public school all the hard work we have done with her behavior will be taking huge steps backwards. So for now, until she matures more...we will stay at VB.

Lyndsey and Michael are doing good. Lyndsey has been busy with her unit as they are still preparing for a deployment to Iraq in November of this year...IM NOT HAPPY with that. but that is what a soldier does.
Mike is working in Rose Mary and his Army Reserve unit will be gone the whole month of July to their annual training....he isnt happy about that! HOT HOT HOT!

WE are preparing our house for sale. WE would love to move into a newer, larger home and so our house is now on the market. It hit the MLS one week ago today and has showed several times. We had a offer within the first 48 hours but after two days, it feel through....the folks couldnt approval for the amount. We are so praying God's will for our home, and if it is HIS will for us to sell and move then HE and only HE will work it out. so we sit and wait....preparing and packing.

William and I had a great time in CALI. Nice to get away and spend time with one another. Thanks to April and Wade for keeping all 4 girls.

Oh William found and bought his dream car...BMW z3 convertible. Its silver with a black top..very pretty and a oh so good price. A guy in Rose Mary owned it and just didnt drive it much...its a 2002 with only 34k miles on it.

Happy birthday William

2010-04-14T16:06:00.005-05:00

OK OK OK....I Know it has been three weeks since I updated. It has been crazy!!! I have tons of pictures to share and lots to tell you all....but today is a special day....

today is .......

WILLIAM'S 40TH BIRTHDAY!

We started the day as usual busy and getting the girls up and out of the house in 45 min for school. They were so excited that today was Daddy's birthday....I cooked him a sausage and cheese omelet and biscuits..yummy~ we added a candle to the top and made him blow it out..

Today I went and met him for lunch and we went to Jason's Deli...yum yum! Tonight we are getting a sitter and going to dinner with April and Wade. I was going to have a party on Saturday but he told me he had to go to Huntsville Fri night for a Saturday meeting...so hmm..Im not doing a party Sat late afternoon if Im not sure he will be 100% home. So it looks like his party will have to be after his actual birthday.

The girls are doing great...growing like little weeds. Hard to believe that Giovanna and Gabby will both be EIGHT 8 yrs old in a month! wow!!!! Where did the time go? I promise to update within the day or two and show plenty of pictures. All four girls started baseball and are playing on the Miracle League team..AWESOME and Lily is playing soccer with her school. So sports are filling up alot of time around here....they love it!

To my sweetheart!

2010-03-25T09:09:00.001-05:00

21 yrs ago I was waking up to a day that would
change my life forever.....
waiting to marry the man of my dreams.
Happy Anniversary William...
Im so glad the Lord put us together....
not only to change our lives
but the lives of SIX beautiful children!
What a blessing you are to me..
I love you forever

2010-03-16T20:59:00.001-05:00

WE are sitting here at the table, done eating but girls are eating their yogurt..I look at William and said "Man it is so quiet in here!" Lily's reply: Well Im talking in my head! Rewind about 5 min earlier and I said to her...Lily you are never quiet except when you sleep...you are always talking.....too funny!!! Sh...e's right...she probably was TALKING in her head!!!!

2010-03-15T17:16:00.000-05:00

We are alive....alot is going on...I will post soon.

WHY?

2010-02-18T13:57:00.004-06:00

I am so sad right now! Why do people feel the need to use the "R" word??
Our girls are people too, and you know what they are very special people, to many! They are 3 of the most awesome things that have ever happened to our family, and well LEAVE THEM ALONE!

Please learn what the NEW "R" word is..........RESPECT!!!

RESPECT ALL THOSE WITH ANY DISABILITY....

BETTER YET

RESPECT EVERYONE!

so as you watch THIS, please know how terribly SAD and ANGRY it makes not only parents to children with a disability, but to also those WITH the disABILITY!

for those who dont know...the "R" word is Retard! and friends, that is NOT what our girls are!

2010-02-06T15:21:00.003-06:00

This is a logo I found online...this is not the one for our dance...

Guess what will happen in our house on Friday night??? If you guessed a dinner and dance with the girls you guessed right. WE feel honored to accept tickets for the first annual Father Daughter dance being held at the Marriott Legends in Prattville. The Millbrook Chamber is hosting it. We were asked if William would like to take the girls and be blessed with the $250 worth of tickets....well yes he would but only problem is there is no way he could do it with all 4 by himself in that setting. Sudden loud noises just freak Giovanna out and with our "run away Bella" that would call for a intresting night for him. So they have generously invited me to go along. There will be other women/moms there too so I wont be sticking out totally....well at least I hope not. Im going to let William and the girls have their night but I will be there to keep a eye on the run away and help ease the noise for Giovanna.

I told the girls all about their special dinner and dance with Daddy and they are SO EXCITED. We will do our hair, dress up and even get to buy new shoes for the night....oh this will be fun! I will be sure to share pics of it all with you probably on Saturday.....so stay tuned!!!!!

Daddy with four little Valentine princesses this will be fun!

2010-02-03T20:31:00.003-06:00

Lyndsey today with our cat

Lyndsey age 12 mths

This is our little princess....Lyndsey....Well she is now our oldest princess but Still a Princess! During our life at this point in time, all we could think about was....when are these babies gonna grow up?....well today is the day that it has hit me! Lyndsey is all grown up! She left for her first offical big move....she is off to KANSAS. This will be her first military duty station. She is excited and nervous what this stage in life will bring but ready for it to finally start. She has had a long road this last year with her military training and all the hard work has finally payed off. She is headed to the road of her first really big job. She has held down a full time job since she was 16 but this journey is all too different. We are so proud of her. She is making a huge step and it is so neat to watch "this baby girl" grow up into a beautiful young woman. God has really blessed us.

Lord, I come to you right now as a Momma Bear. I ask you to please protect my daughter as she is embarking on this huge step and send people into her paths to help her. Remind her of you everyday. HElp her make wise decisions and bless her when she does....help redirect her steps when the decisions arent made wisely. Lord give her peace and patience as she has to learn the ways of people in her job, in her dorm and in a new area of the united states. Lord I give her back to you....she is yours....help my heart keep from hurting as she is so far away from us. Guide her ways and keep her strong. I love you Lord....Amen....

William called to tell me that they have finally made it to Ft Riley and they are heading over to the inprocesing station now to get her signed in.

2010-02-03T20:19:00.002-06:00

WEll its been a few days and things have been nuts.

Giovanna is feeling better but her and Bella just take turns with illness. Bella isnt feeling good again. Coughing and running a low grade temp. Im watching her to see if i need to take her to the Dr too.

Lyndsey started packing her things and preparing for the big move. She is due to be in Kansas by WEd night..

Michael come home over the weekend and the two of them went skydiving! they loved it! I will try to post the links to their video's on youtube already. They have tried to spend some good quality time together because it will be almost a year before they get to see one another again. Michael wanted to go out there with us this summer, however he will be gone the whole month of July for his summer annual training with the Army Reserves. WE are planning on heading out there either June or July...just waiting for her to get settled in and then we will plan it.

William is home from his trip to Arkansas thank Goodness but will be leaving out again with Lyndsey on Tuesday driving with her to Kansas. He wants to go with her because it is a 19 hour drive and the middle of winter...snow + ice + Lyndsey = disaster! She has never had to drive on any of that and he wants to make sure she is safe and there. This will be crazy time for her while she gets settled and meeting all the new people she will be spending the next few years with.

this is michael's link to his skydiving trip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxynyzXNT1w

this is Lyndsey's link to his skydiving trip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BAsmVbERjg

ENJOY!

2010-01-29T15:47:00.001-06:00

Hey all...I would sure love some extra prayers for Giovanna. She has had a slight cough for a few days, and running a fever at night for about two or three nights...last night she woke up at 3:30 with a 103.7 temp..burning up~ We took her clothes off gave meds and put cold rag on her..she drank a little juice and i held her. She was so tired but was crying to be held. I told William (which had just gotten home from a week long work trip) that she was getting sick again and we needed to get her to the Dr in the Am. He got online and made her appointment. I took her at 10 and they did blood work, flu test, chest xray and strep test. Her white blood count was higher than normal and her chest did show signs of pnuemonia. so we are once again on meds. This is the second time in 7 days she has been sick. Last week it was stomach bug and had to have IV fluids for dehydration and nausea. My poor girl. She is my one that when she shows the first stage signs of not feeling good you better react right away!

She is laying on the floor playing with her barbies and laughing at her sisters, but doesnt feel too great...

Here's to a great weekend!

2010-01-27T09:32:00.003-06:00

WELL WELL WELL....its been two weeks!
WE are all alive and well now. The girls are doing great in school, Lyndsey is packing up for her big move to Kansas, her first duty station and well we are just busy!

Lets see, a week ago, lyndsey had a bad reaction to something in the tanning bed and I had to take her to PriMed for IV and meds...she is better.

Giovanna got the stomach bug and was bad throwing up, I knew she was getting dehydrated because she totally was refusing to drink for fear of throwing up...we took her to PriMed and sure nough she was in a bad state. She got IV fluids, med's for her nausa and she did recover after a few days. Praise the Lord!!! She is the one child that when she gets sick, you better watch it...because you will be in the ER or better yet a few days stay in the hospital.

Lily, Bella and Gabby are all doing well. Michael is back in FL and is recovering from Mono. He was a sick guy, weak and just totally not himself. He is hoping to get his application resubmitted for the Montgomery Police Academy and see where that may lead him. He is still in the ARmy Reserve unit in Dothan.

Rita (me) well Im just busy taking care of it all. I have started on my mission of living a healthier life, eating right and loosing my 78 pounds! Im 5 pounds down!!! Yippie for me! I am REALLY trying to get my walk/run up so William and I can run in a 5k. Well he totally can do this since he has run a marathon but I need him by my side as I TRY to do it! Pray for me...Im Fat and slow!....BUt not for long...this year of 2010 is the year of ME! Im gonna be one hot momma come my 41st Birthday!

Well that is my recap...sorry its taken me a while to do it.

2010-01-14T09:17:00.002-06:00

Update on Bella's new preschool.

after speaking to the director and sharing my hopes and dreams for Bella and also sharing with her what i observed on Tuesday we have come to a decision. They are moving the EI children into a classroom and will pull about 4 or 5 other children into the room for the days they will be in session. She agreed that the complete craziness would NOT be good for our children. So today I happily toook Bella and will pick her up at 11:15. YEAH! She was excited to see the kids and to get to play with new friends...

Lyndsey made it home last night around midnight. She has finally graduated from AIT and will be moving to Ft Riley Kansas in just a few weeks. This will be her first duty station.......William will drive out there with her and then fly home. This will help her with the LONG drive and the nasty drive in the winter, snow ice etc. I know she is so excited to finally after one very long year get somewhere and be settled. She graduated AIT exactly one year from the day her journey started. Funny!

2010-01-13T08:09:00.001-06:00

This is so awesome. Maddy is the daughter of another mom who helps advocate for the children of Reeces Rainbow. WAY TO GO MADDY...you have the whole down syndrome community rooting for you! you sound like a angel.

2010-01-12T09:52:00.002-06:00

Tuesday:
Today Bella started the new Early Intervention "preschool" on Tues and Thurs. i took her in high hopes that this would be a good fit for her and she would enjoy going. She will still continue with her preschool at Glynwood and will move into kindergarten in the fall. Well I took her this morning and it is a total disaster! The class she is in has been in place since Aug when school started and they just today added the Special needs children to the class. Well this teacher has NO control what so ever! I talked to the special needs teacher who is coming along side her and will basically be in charge of our children with sp needs and told her bella would more than likely not be back on Thurs. Im going to call the head office and talk to them...I want them to come and see how out of control this class is and then tell me how this is going to be a good setting to put my daughter in that loves to "WATCH" the other children and "DO WHAT THEY DO!"

We will see.....

2010-01-11T07:34:00.002-06:00

Good morning Monday!

All 4 little ones go back to school today and i have a full day! So much to do since I was sick last week everything was pushed back a full week....not good for a busy momma! I also get to fit the GYM in my schedule.....that is a FIRST for me!!!!

Michael will be home for at least a week. His medicines are helping him feel better but after the steroids are out of his system he maybe hitting rock bottom again. Yall have any suggestions for me to care for him....he has mono. Ive never had it so have no clue! Ive just been keeping him drinking out of ONE cup and not hugging on anyone in the house. Anything else??

2010-01-09T21:04:00.002-06:00

Well if you want to follow along on the train wreck cleanup of my weightless ....come aboard and travel this LONG journey with me. I will need all the encouragement I can get...so please leave me some!

You can follow along here as i start my year 2010 off training away and loosing some weight as I go. I haven't really done anything like this for myself since BEFORE the twins were born and they are now 20 years old. Im ready to start on Monday and i will be posting ALL my dreaded pictures on my blog for the whole world to see so this will MAKE me stay on top of my goal of loosing 78 pounds this year!! That will be loosing 1.6 pounds a week for the next 49 weeks.....

At each 10 pound loss I will reward myself of some kind...stay tuned to see what rewards...BIG MOMMA gets first!

2010-01-09T11:21:00.002-06:00

At our house we go for FLORIDA GATORS and the University of ALABAMA....so when ALABAMA won on Thursday night, yes we were happy. I am so glad they won, however, from what I heard from the Texas player at the end of the game.....I was proud of him too. Texas played a good game and I am proud of the young man "thanking Jesus for being his rock and proclaiming to be a christian." It takes alot out of these young men to stand up for Christ in such a crazy football high that this nation is in. Good Job Texas....

AWESOME JOB ALABAMA.....ROLL TIDE ROLL!

2010-01-08T11:46:00.001-06:00

Its official..

Michael has mono, i have strep throat and Bella is now better! GESH, cant we catch a break here?

Have a blessed day.

2010-01-05T16:49:00.002-06:00

UPDATE ON OUR HOUSE!

Isabella is still coughing terribly...Im taking her back tomorrow to have another chest xray.
William and I are both starting to feel like the crud has hit us. I do believe we will go tomorrow as well granting we can get a appointment.

Yesterday Mon Jan 4 we were up and had G & G ready for school, the bus didnt show up by 730 (30 min late) we laughed and I said let me check to make sure they do go back today....well they didnt...so guess we had a practice run...

Tuesday All 3 of the bigger girls went to school. They all had a great day. Bella and i layed around all day until 245 to pick up lily from school...My chest is hurting.

AWESOME NEWS: Giovanna has really been trying so hard on her potty training....I think January will be the month to finally say GOOD BYE TO PULLUPS during the day. She has been dry for the last 2 weeks all day (going every hour half)...Isabella is trained day and night!!!!! Praise the Lord this will be a huge step for us! WE will still wear pull ups at night for both of them for several months but thats better than a whole pack every TWO days!

Isabella will start next Tuesday going to a Early intervention preschool for Tues and Thurs. The program is finally starting after TWO years of talking about it...and its a three day week program. However she is still attending her preschool on M W F and we will not pull her out of that...so they are making a exception. I think she will like it now being with kids 5 days a week. We pray she will do good. if we see negative behaviors she will be pulled out instantly.

Have a great Tuesday...I have homemade chicken dumplings cooking for dinner.

2010-01-01T12:08:00.003-06:00

This is probably one of the few days that all over the internet on blogs, facebook, myspace etc...that everyone will be saying the same thing....

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010!
I PRAY THIS YEAR BRINGS YOU EVERYTHING YOU HAVE ASKED FOR AND WELL WISHES TO YOU ALL.

We started out our 2010 New year with a bang! Isabella is one sick girl. She was up all night with a terrible cough, congestion, and high fever. Finally at 545 I got up jumped in the shower so I would be ready to head out the door to get to Primed when they opened at 7. I left at 620 to be sure we were first in line..I get there the parking lot is EMPTY and I find a note on the door that said they would open at 9AM today because of the holiday. Well why cant they changed their answering machine to mention it??? So home we come, i put her down to rest and out we went again a hour later. WE were number 2 in line. Here is how our time went while there...

She has pneumonia and sounds TERRIBLE! her oxygen was down to 86 when we got to the Dr. They started her on O2 and a breathing treatment right away. We then did a chest xray and come back to finish up the O2. She did great. Oh and they check her CBC....it come back Normal and the RSV come back Neg. WE once again seen the Indian Dr at Primed....and for those of you who remember my several visits with him and his comments about the girls will get a kick out of this,.... She was wrapped up in her blanket with her head covered...he walked in and say "hi i remember you....you have the fiesty indian daughter" I giggled and said...YEP YOU REMEMBER US...And he then said and you have umm like 3 or 4 daughters like her...her condition...I once again smiled and said ...oh you mean do i have 3 daughters with Down Syndrome? He always acts like she is contagious. today he kept smiling and saying...you are doing so good by her...she is a smart girl. Keep up the great job with your girls...in my country you dont see them out and about and it is nice to see your girls learn so much! In my heart I know what he means but inside I just cried....Cry for sweet Varsha...because she is in "his country" and noone sees children with Down Syndrome out and about or even better....ones who talk, walk, and are happy people. I cry for her! Someone please help her!!! If we arent meant to go for her...someone PLEASE do!

WE are home now and Bella is playing with the girls. She still sounds terrible but we will do a different nebulizer med for the next 3 days and she is on antibiotics and cough meds. Poor girl. I hate her being sick! She is just a miserable girl and what a way to start out the new year....isnt today suppose to show you what your new year ahead will hold......Um if so please can we reverse the time?

Family pictures from today.

2009-12-30T23:24:00.008-06:00

Today, since Lyndsey and Mike were home we wanted to get some new family pictures made. Bella turned FIVE on Dec 21st so we had to get those done as well. Here are just a few from today...if you are on my facebook, there are more there, but it is late and Im heading to bed. i will upload more tomorrow.

2009-12-26T20:03:00.001-06:00

The "W" in Christmas

Each December, I vowed to make Christmas a calm and peaceful experience.

I had cut back on nonessential obligations - extensive card writing, endless baking, decorating, and even overspending. .

Yet still, I found myself exhausted, unable to appreciate the precious family moments, and of course, the true meaning of Christmas.

My son, Nicholas, was in kindergarten that year. It was an exciting season for a six year old.

For weeks, he'd been memorizing songs for his school"s Winter Pageant.

I didn't have the heart to tell him I'd be working the night of the production, unwilling to miss his shining moment, I spoke with his
Teacher, she assured me there'd be a dress rehearsal the morning of the presentation.

All parents unable to attend that evening were welcome to come then.
Fortunately, Nicholas seemed happy with the compromise.

So, the morning of the dress rehearsal, I filed in ten minutes early, found a spot on the cafeteria floor and sat down. Around the room I saw several other parents quietly scampering to their seats.

As I waited, the students were led into the room. Each class, accompanied by their teacher, sat cross-legged on the floor. Then, each group, one by one, rose to perform their song.

Because the public school system had long stopped referring to the holiday as "Christmas," I didn't expect anything other than fun, commercial entertainment songs of reindeer, Santa Claus, snowflakes and good cheer.

So, when my son's class rose to sing, "Christmas Love," I was slightly taken aback by its bold title.

Nicholas w as aglow, as were all of his classmates, adorned in fuzzy mittens, red sweaters, and bright snowcaps upon their heads.

Those in the front row- center stage - held up large letters, one by one, to spell out the title of the song.

As the class would sing "C is for Christmas," a child would hold up the letter C. Then, "H is for Happy," and on and on, until each child holding up his portion had presented the complete message,
"Christmas Love."

The performance was going smoothly, until suddenly, we noticed her; a small, quiet, girl in the front row holding the letter "M" upside down - totally unaware her letter "M" appeared as a "W".

The audience of 1st through 6th graders snickered at this little one's mistake. But she had no idea they were laughing at her, as she stood tall, proudly holding her "W".

Although many teachers tried to shush the children, the laughter continued until the last letter was raised, and we all saw it together.

A hush came over the audience and eyes began to widen.

In that instant, we understood the reason we were there, why we celebrated the holiday in the first place, why even in the chaos, there was a purpose for our festivities.

For when the last letter was held high, the message read loud and clear:

"C H R I S T W A S L O V E"

And, I believe, He still is.
Amazed in His presence.... humbled by His love.

HAVE A BLESSED HOLIDAY SEASON

Merry Christmas Everyone!

The Holy Spirit is sure moving!

2009-12-25T19:47:00.002-06:00

I can across this video off my online friend Allison's blog. I have watched it about three times and had to go get William to come watch it again. The Lord was for sure there during this video shoot.

Hallelujah is the highest praise!

What a awesome way to start off my Christmas day then to see this. Jesus you are so praised and how I want my life to shine! This man was a testimony to you...and i want to do the same! Thank you Lord for sending your precious son today!!
(Remember to turn off the music on the blog on the bottom right)

2009-12-25T14:35:00.001-06:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE OUT THERE. WE PRAY THAT YOU HAVE A FANTASTIC DAY WITH YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY AND MOST IMPORTANTLY....
REMEMBER...
THE TRUE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS!

JESUS CHRIST!

BLESSINGS TO YOU ALL IN THE COMING YEAR 2010

wont you help her find her family?

2009-12-23T14:08:00.002-06:00

TODAY I HAVE A VERY HEAVY HEART! This little Indian Princess holds such a big part of my heart and she doesnt even know it. I prayed all year for the Lord to PLEASE bring a family for her, our girls pray for her nightly....Why hasnt the Lord sent someone yet?? I told William all I wanted for Christmas was a box with V's picture in it and that would mean....we are the family! Well we need about 22K dollars before that can happen. SO I beg of you all to pray for this sweet little girl in the next 48 hours and then for the coming year. Pray that the Lord will bring a family for her so THIS WILL BE HER LAST CHRISTMAS SITTING IN A INDIAN ORPHANAGE. So when her 8th birthday rolls around again in October, that just maybe her new family will be getting close to traveling to pick her up. If you want more information about this sweet girl please email me at rlba272 At hotmail dot com. I would love to help her "unspoken dreams" of a family come true for her....wont you help me?

V is 7yrs old, has down syndrome and is overall a very healthy little girl. She goes to school, loves to play with the other children in her orphanage, can fed and dress herself, loves to be held and loved on and most importantly shows that she can bond with her new family. she is one of the "favorites" in her orphanage and she has been there since she was approx 2 weeks old. It is her "time" to finally be leaving the orphanage for the last time.......Please help her!

If you would love to make a donation to "her" fund for a family please also contact me. International adoption is so expensive and it is so sad that the money is what stops a family from coming together. When a family can provide that child's every need and sometimes wants but yet doesnt have the money upfront to get the paperwork and child here. This is so disheartning....if you would like to see other children just like V waiting to find their family....visit www.reecesrainbow.org. What a awesome gift to give this holiday season, the gift of a forever family!

Christmas blessing

2009-12-23T13:47:00.002-06:00

A Christmas BLESSING for our family. A few weeks ago I was contacted via email from a lady in Montgomery. Her husband is a pastor of a church there and she found out about our family, through the grapevine and has been following our blog....HELLO!

She said that the woman's ministry there wants to send us a little "something" for Christmas and would I please send her my mailing address. I did and in the mail the other day came a very nice surprise...a $300. check. We feel so blessed and honored that they would think of us. We have spent that money by giving back. I did buy each of the 4 girls a nice little doll outfit to go with their new dolls they will get on Christmas but we felt we needed to bless someone else too. So I went to Walmart and shopped away. I was able to take some gifts to the WELCOME center in Millbrook to bless another family with. Thank you so very much for considering our family for your Christmas blessing. It not only helped us it helped another family too!

then this morning I get a lovely email from another local person.... here it is:

I just had to say Merry Christmas! You have a lovely family and I'm thankful for people like you and your husband who are willing to take care of these beautiful children! You are special!

Have a blessed Christmas, filled with laughter and love!

My reply to her was that we are the blessed ones. Our girls continue to show me the true meaning of love and acceptance. Our Lord loves us unconditionally....

I guess these two visitors on my blog have found out about our family through the small town network we are in....however you found us...Im so glad that our family can share with you and everyone else reading, the joys of down syndrome and the everyday laughter, saddness and adventure of the Andrews crew.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2009-12-21T09:00:00.002-06:00

UPDATE: Tonight we took all 5 girls to Cici's pizza for Isabella's birthday dinner. That is her favorite food so off we went. It is still hard to believe our little girl is now FIVE years old. Where did the time go?

Today FIVE years ago, in a hospital far far away from us, a little angel girl was born. My family was celebrating Christmas and none of us knew that we were about to be blessed with a new daughter, granddaughter, sister and cousin. thank you Lord for always fulfilling our hearts and blessing us! Happy Birthday to our sweet little Indian princess....Isabella Faith!

It is by FAITH that we have our little girl.

The Sands of Christmas

2009-12-17T09:59:00.000-06:00

The Sands of Christmas

I had no Christmas Spirit when I breathed a heavy sigh
and looked across the table where the bills were piled too high
The laundry wasn't finished and the car I had to fix
My stocks were down another and the Chargers lost by six
And so with only minutes till my son got home from school
I gave up on the drudgery and grabbed a wooden stool
The burdens that I carried were about all I could take
And so I flipped the T.V. on to catch a little break

I came upon a desert scene in shades of tan and rust
No snowflakes hung upon the wind just clouds of swirling dust
And where the reindeer should have stood before a laden sleigh
Eight Hummves ran a column ... right behind an M1A
A group of boys walked past the tank not one was past his teens T
heir eyes were hard as polished flint their faces drawn and lean
They walked the street in armor their rifles shouldered tight
Their dearest wish for Christmas was to have a Silent Night

Other Soldiers gathered hunkered down against the wind
To share a scrap of mail and dreams of going home again
There wasn't much at all to put their hearts at ease
They had no Christmas turkey..just a pack of MRE's
They didn't have garland or a stocking I could see
They didn't need an ornament...They lacked a Christmas Tree
They didn't have a present even though it was tradition
The only boxes I could see were labeled "ammunition"

I felt a little tug and found my son now by my side
He asked me what it was I feared and why it was I cried
I swept him up into my arms and held him oh so near
And kissed him on the forehead as I whispered in his ear
There's nothing wrong my little son for safe we sleep tonight
Our Heroes stand on foreign land to give us all the right
To worry on the things in life that mean nothing at all
Instead of wondering if we will be the next to fall

He looked at me as children do and said "It's Always Right
To Thank the Ones Who Help Us and Perhaps that We Should Write"
And so we pushed the bills aside and sat to draft a note
To Thank the many far from home and this is what we wrote
"God Bless You All and Keep YOU Safe and Speed Your Way Back Home
Remember That We Love You So and You Are Not Alone
The Gift You Give You Share With All A Present Everyday
You Give The Gift Of Liberty and That...We Cannot Repay"

2009-12-14T12:23:00.003-06:00

Well this past weekend the 12th was my big 40th Dday... It was a rainy and dreary day, but William made it wonderful! He scheduled a spa time for me and off I went. I was to follow his text's for my places to go but with the rain and all I just ended back up at the house after the spa and waalaa...there were a few friends over for food, cake and presents. Several of them had to cancel due to the rain, sickness and other holiday parties... I did however enjoy the time together with friends and my husband and 4 of our children.

William totally surprised me and got me the new 3GS iphone in white. I had a iphone but it wasnt the 3GS....I love it! He also loaded me up with itunes gift card. Thanks baby!!!!!

I have been having a really rough time lately with some emotional baggage so if you all would please lift me up in prayer I sure would appreciate it.

Lyndsey flies home on Friday and will be here for two weeks. She is excited to finally be coming home. The last time she was here was back in April. The girls are so excited to see her too. Michael will be coming home the day after Christmas for a week so I will have all my kiddos under the same roof again, for a short time anyway. PTL!

Well I hope you all have a fantastic day. Tonight is Isabella's Christmas program so it should be cute....she is a cat in the play...MEOW!

2009-12-10T08:22:00.001-06:00

go check this out....sounds too cool to win!

http://mckgiveaways.blogspot.com/2009/12/hp-touchsmart-giveaway.html

Christmas pic

2009-12-02T16:00:00.006-06:00

Well Sorry I havent updated in a week. Thanksgiving was good. We went to FL to see my family and Michael. My dad was out of the hospital and home. He is still in alot of pain and could use the prayers still storming heaven for him. He has a long rode ahead of him in recovery.

Saturday night we got home and Michael and Sarah (his girlfriend and childhood friend) come home with us. William and Michael went to the Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Bucs game in Atlanta on Sunday. They were really excited to get to go. Will had bought tickets through his work a few months ago and was eager to get to head to the game for some "guy time" with Mike.

Sarah and I took the girls to the mall to see Santa. They loved it.

Today, Wednesday, the girls come home from school in a good mood. They are standing in the living room giving me a concert. They are cracking me up. If you look closely of the ones in the concert picture, look at their faces...Bella is really letting it out in one picture as well as Giovanna....in the next one Giovanna and Gabby are looking at Bella like "girl I didnt know you had that in ya!" All four of them never cease to amaze me, they make me laugh and they make me cry! God really gave us some special gifts, ones we never had even deampt of! Thank you Lord for my six blessings!!!!

Lyndsey will be flying home on the 18th for her Christmas break. She will be here for two weeks.
We are all excited!

Ultra cheap dinner for 6....

2009-11-25T08:31:00.002-06:00

Well I have finally gotten the hang of this fabulous Publix coupon shopping thing! I am so happy to go to Publix and save by far more than i spend. The trick is to buy their buy one get one free items and double or triple stack the coupons...Just for example....my last week shoppig trip was GREAT! Out of pocket price for me....$96.59...total savings with my coupons were $145.00!!! Now thats a deal if i ever saw one.

So tonight we had a ULTRA cheap dinner and a whole other meal put in the freezer for only $3.25! You see that right.....$3.25!!!

They had their box pasta noodles on sale B1G1 free and their Prego pasta sauce B1G1 free. The cost for all 4 items was 5.57( remember though that is the half off price) however I was able to double stack my coupons and spend only 2.50 for all 4 items!! I cooked the ziti pasta and added the yummy parmassean pasta sauce to it....then on top of that they had their bag caesar salad kits for 1.25 ...so add that to our pasta meal and there ya go.....dinner for all 6 of us with left overs and a whole meal in the freezer for next week........

Cant beat that!!!!!

No orphan of God!

2009-11-24T15:40:00.003-06:00

I totally love this song now playing on my blog.....

Orphan of God...

There are no orphan's of God! Thank you Jesus for loving all of us despite of who we are.....imperfect. Thank you so much for bringing us to you...showing us that you LOVE us for who we are ....and that you want us to be your hands, your feet, your voice and to let your light shine within us!

Thank you Lord!

Grand give away

2009-11-23T07:23:00.001-06:00

Check this out. Grand give a way... Sounds awesome.

lazy Sunday afternoon playing games

2009-11-22T17:33:00.004-06:00

Today has been a lazy afternoon. The girls have played babies, dress up clothes, kitchen, wrestled with Daddy, watched TV and now we are playing games at the table. It is so nice to have lazy days every now and then. Today was one of them. We ad a fantastic day at church and now we are enjoying one another.

Life is good!

MY dad

2009-11-21T14:22:00.002-06:00

Well Mom just called and said her and my dad are on the way home!!!! He is in alot of pain but the Dr said he is doing very well. He has about 16 weeks ahead of him for healing and then some more probably. He is not wanting to take any pain medicine but mom is going to strongly encourage him to stay on top of it and keep it under control. He will be beyond miserable if he doesnt.

My brother built a wheelchair ramp on the front of the house (they have 8 steps going up to the house) so they can get him inside. He CAN NOT put any weight on his body for 6 weeks. PLEASE pray for him, his pain, his sanity and for Mom as this is going to be a LONG road of healing!

Mom also shared with me two ladies that she has been praying for and with while they were in the hospital. She asked me to spread the word and have as many people praying for each situation as possible..

Susan: she has her only son in the CCU from a massive drug overdose. He is 33 yrs old and when he was brought in he was not breathing. They have had to do 2 brain surgeries on him. He tested positive for every single drug imaginable. He will be taken off of life support on Monday. Susan (his mother) is devestated. Please lift her up in prayer and for her son.

Cindy: This is the second lady mom met. Her husband was brought to the CCU (critial care unit) with a RARE form of pneumonia. They gave him 48 hrs to live and well he has made it 25 days. He is in very bad condition and not expected to live. Lift him up in prayer that the Lord will do His will....She prays that it will be for God to heal him, bring him back to their family but knows if its God's will to take him that she will be able to say "good-bye...i will see you in heaven someday" I couldnt imagine having to go through this with my husband.

Both of these woman are with their families at Shands hospital in Pennsacola Fl.

Thanks for lifting my dad, Susan, Cindy and both of their family members up in prayer.

Reece's Rainbow Angel Tree

2009-11-21T08:03:00.005-06:00

The picture you see is a large sheet of 175 children with Down Syndrome all across the world just waiting for your donation, so they too will spend the last Christmas alone without a family.
The word's in BOLD below are clickable links

Well the Reece's Rainbow angel tree is up and running.....and wow can you say awesome!!! So far since Nov 1, 16 children have found their FOREVER FAMILIES and we have alot of children with nice size grants. I encourage all of you to visit the Angel Tree and consider sponsoring a child this year and give the gift of FAMILY this holiday season. For just $35 you will receive a nice porcelain ornament with the Angel Tree logo on one side and the child's photo printed on the other.. they make a GREAT family/friend/teacher/therapy gift and a nice touch to your Christmas tree. I love to look at mine year around and pray for this special child...God has a plan for each one of them and to watch it all unfold is amazing. If you are currently unable to give $35, any amount is great. We take donations from $1 to $1M!! All monies go into the children's grant fund and when a family commits to the child and they are heading to the country to complete the adoption, this money is given to them for the "last leg of the journey" So many families want to adopt, can financially support a child but coming up with the large sum of money is difficult...BUT with your help, the financial burden of the international adoption process can be much lighter...and best of all it will JOIN a family TOGETHER FOREVER!

Last night was the second time since Nov 1st that we have assembled the ornaments. I recruited Shelley and Christy to come help....and wow does the time go by faster and the load alot lighter when you have help. The first shipment was about 75 and this shipment was about 60. Doing it in weekly batches makes life alot easier. This is so exciting and our passion that we all share for the children less fortunate shines through when we are all together.....we can talk about each of our experiences in the adoption journey, the transistion the children have had, the way the bonding has blossomed and share pics of our angels....Thanks Friends....I cherish you!

I look forward to seeing each of your names on the list for ornaments....and remember....what better gift this holiday season than the GIFT OF A FAMILY FOR A CHILD!

May God richly bless each and everyone of you!

2009-11-19T13:44:00.001-06:00

my dad is still in the hospital. He had surgery on Tuesday night for his foot. He now has pins in the ankle and was told he could NOT bare any weight on his body for 6 weeks. His lungs are doing better and the chest tube is out...the tubes in his back are still in place along with the cath. He doesnt like that one bit. My brother went over to the house and built a wheelchair ramp over the stairs so they can get inside. My mom is still at the hospital as well with my Dad.

The head trauma Dr come in this morning and told Mom that my dad was doing great for what he went through just a week ago. He said that once the cath is out, pain is controlled, and his physical therapy was all alligning up that they would talk about going home. Well we dont know when that will happen. We pray for the first of the week but dont know yet.

Thanks for asking...and please continue to pray for him and Mom. We are planning on heading down there next week for Thanksgiving (if all the girls stay well...dont want my Dad catching anything from them so his lungs can heal)

Also, please add Giovanna to yall's prayers...I had to pick her up early this morning from school as she was just totally not herself. Her and Gabby were at the Dr's on Monday and both have nasty ear infections and sinusitus, This morning she was just as chipper as she could be...but by the time she got to school they said she was not herself. By 930 they were calling me to tell me and by 1015 they called again and said she was burning up...when I got there she was being rocked by her Aide and was just totally lathargic. She is currently on antibiotics for her ear infection so Im just gonna wait it out today and watch her to make sure it is nothing more thatn the ear infection....

Thanks

2009-11-18T15:40:00.002-06:00

Today was Isabella's school Thanksgiving lunch. They sang two songs for the parents and then we headed to the fellowship hall for lunch. It was like dinner on the grounds at church, food food and more food. She was so happy that Momma come to eat with her. I can not believe that this is her LAST Thanksgiving lunch as a PRESCHOOLER! Where did the time go?? She started going to her preschool/MDO when she was 18 mths old (because Giovanna went there and she wanted to stay every time I took G) and loves it. I am so thankful that she is at a place where they love her and she loves going!

Today I am thankful for Christian preschools and for the teachers/staff they have working in them. They are able to really instill christian values in the children just like at home!

2009-11-18T07:42:00.003-06:00

Good morning all. Mom called last night and said my dad had finally had surgery. He did well but is still in alot of pain. The Dr told mom that my dad has to stay COMPLETELY off his foot for six weeks. He has pins in the ankle and with all the broken ribs, he is in for a rough time. Thank you all for your continued prayers for him. THis is probably one of the hardest things he has gone through. totally not like him to be in the bed more than a few hours to sleep. Today makes one week ago that he was in his accident. WOW, how quickly your life changes.

I have so much to blog about, I just havent had the time. Just a recap...

This past weekend William and I had a chance to share at our church for Orphan Sunday. We were asked to share "our story" and also our passion for orphans...it was amazing..not a dry eye in the church. I will share about that in my next post and a video.

Today I am thankful for the amazing life God has so graciously given me.
What about you??

2009-11-16T18:08:00.001-06:00

My mom just called to say she is sitting in the pre op room with my dad waiting on them to come get him...he is already doozy sleeping. They will be taking the cast off his right leg. During surgery the will be putting pins in his ankle and fixing the bones. He has been in alot of pain today.

PLEASE continue to pray for my Dad and that he will start to feel better SOON! WE dont have any idea yet of when he will get to go home. Mom said that hasnt even been brought up yet. They moved him out of CCU/ICU and he is in a room now with nurses constantly in there. His lungs are trying to reinflate with his exercies. Mom says when he is totally alert/awake he tells her they need a plan for him to get out of there....but then he quickly relizes how much pain he is in and is in no way ready to head home. My dad is a very active man who loves the outdoors and running his construction business in Rose Mary FL so being cooped up in this bed....is totally NOT going over very well with him.

My mom sure could use your prayers too. She is tired and not getting much sleep as well as she hasnt left the hospital since last Wed night but maybe twice to walk next door to the store to get something. I so hate that Im 5 hours away and am not able to just rush down there...having 4 little ones does not make it easy to jump in the car to just "sit" at the hospital.

Thanks for thinking of him tonight during his surgery and for the following Weeks as he heels!

The lung/chest tube is now out. PTL ...he does still however have the two tubes in his back. Having 19 broken ribs, broke leg/foot, messed up hand, and punctured lungs doesnt do well on a 64 yr old body!

2009-11-12T09:10:00.004-06:00

UPDATE as of 11am cst:
Just talked to mom. she said the DR has come in and confirmed that my dad has 19 broken ribs, punctured lung and broken right foot. They do have the chest tube in and draining the blood. They can not do surgery to repair any of it because he has been on plavix since his heart surgery and he could bleed to death mom said. So the foot is in a cast and they have him doing the blowing exercies to help his lungs and to help prevent pnuemonia. If he gets pnuemonia they will have to put a breathing tube in so they are trying to stay away from that!!! The tube in his chest is draining the blood to help relieve the lungs. He is in alot of pain so they have him on some hefty pain meds. He is awake and then falls asleep.

UPDATE:
All I know currently is my dad is in ICU in Pennsacola right now. I do believe he is in good stable condition. He did break his foot along with the ribs. I dont know if they will do surgery for the bleeding internally from the lung or if they are hoping for it to clot up and stop...

My sister in law said he will be in the hospital for a few weeks. Currently at Shands but they will transfer him back to Panama City when his lung is in a more stable condition.

Thank you all for your prayers, I know that they were a comfort to him. My mom, sister and a brother and my son are back at the hospital this morning. Im waiting to hear from them early this morning for any further update.

2009-11-11T22:50:00.002-06:00

Urgent prayer request.... This is my dad John. Tonight my son called me to tell me he had been in a motorcycle accident. He was driving home and was literally down the street getting ready to turn in the road he lives on. A elderly couple missed their turn and well kept turning...heading straight towards my dad. He seen the car heading towards him and he layed his motorcycle down so he wouldnt hit the car. Well he is in pretty bad shape. The ambulance got there, took him to the local hospital in Ft Walton. They did the xrays and mri and then said they needed to life flight him to Sacred Heart in Pennsacola. He has broken all his ribs, and they have punctured his lungs. He has internal bleeding and in alot of pain. They have inserted a chest tube, I assume to releave the bleeding and have him on IV and pain meds. My mom, sister and Michael (my son) are driving there now. I dont know anything else right now other than that. I am also assuming that they will fix his lungs/bleeding rather quickly upon arrival.

I beg all of you to please lift him up in prayer and ask for complete healing and comfort. I know he will be fine, BUT Im freaking out being 4 hours away. If I dont hear anything we may head to FL tomorrow. I will update as I hear some more.

House full of Turkey's

2009-11-11T22:45:00.004-06:00

The girls ( G&G) had to make a turkey for school. They had to disguise the turkey so he would not get eaten on Thanksgiving....Well we had fun with it. I had several things on the table for them to use and they both had fun (well as you can see Momma did too!)

Giovanna has a Florida Gator turkey and Gabby has a bunny rabbit turkey...I dont think either one will be eaten..do you?

2009-11-10T21:20:00.002-06:00

Well I have had several emails about lyndsey and the Ft Hood shootings...

Lyndsey is currently in Ft Sam Houston TX, this is just north of Ft Hood. She is in the mental health field as well. She has friends who are at Ft Hood but everyone is ok. Thanks so much for keeping our daughter in your prayers...this means so much to me that you all would think of her in this terrible time thinking she could be in harms way!

William come home the other night to tell me that several of our Alabama guardsmen were in FT Hood doing their deployment paperwork and a few of them were ones that were shot. Everyone is ok but still in the hospital. This is such a terrible thing to happen right here in America on our own military base by our own soldier. PLEASE continue to pray for all of those involoved and for their quick recovery.

Lyndsey will be coming home Dec 18th for Christmas and will fly back Jan 2. She grauates from her school I think on Jan 11 or 18. She will then have to report to Ft Riley Kansas by Feb 6. She is worried about the whole transition and would also appreciate prayers during this upcoming confusion.

Blessings to you all.

I have tons of pictures to upload but I cant find the cord for the camera. UG!

2009-11-08T09:10:00.000-06:00

Today is Orphan Sunday....(Our church is doing this next Sun though)

Here is a orphan prayer.

On this Orphan Sunday, we join with Your people across our country and beyond to
pray for orphans.

We know that love for these precious children begins not with us, but with You. You
pursued us when we were wayward and alone. You adopted us as your children. You
invite us to address you as Daddy and to live as Your sons and daughters. Truly, we
love because You first loved us.

You tell us also that You are near to the downtrodden and destitute. Your heart aches
for children that face the world alone. You champion the cause of those who have no
one else to take their side. And You call us to do the same.

So we pray that You would rouse us to share your heart. We ask that You would stir
Your people to passion and vision and action on behalf of children that have no family.

We lift up to You the millions of children in the world who have lost their parents to
disease, to war, to addiction, to poverty, to abandonment. As You promise to do, place
the lonely in families. Be their defender, their provider, their hope and peace. Help us
to do the same.

We pray also for the five hundred thousand children in our foster system in America.
So often, they are bounced from home to home, knowing little love, consistency or true
nurture. Please be their love, their consistency, their nurture. Help us to do the
same.

We confess that we have often lived with little regard for these precious lives. Please
forgive us. Lead us to take up their cause, not in guilt or obligation, but as a joyful
response to Your great love for us.

As we do, we pray that You would use our humble response to transform. To
transform the lives of countless orphans both physically and spiritually. To transform
us as we encounter You in them. To transform Your Church as we lift our eyes
beyond our own comfort and self-focused religion to live out the painful beauty of the
Gospel. And finally, to transform a watching world as it catches glimpses of Your love
made visible through the actions of Your people.

We commit all this to You, the One who is both our Father and a Father to the
fatherless, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

2009-10-29T09:08:00.002-05:00

Tuesday:
Bella and I were at therapy today...it was such a gloomy day! WE all wanted to stay in the BED>
Isabella is doing so well...she is talking so much, doing wonderful with her PT and OT and just amazes us all constantly! HEr speech goals and OT goals have to be changed on a almost every few weeks basis because she catches up so rapidly.... PTL!

In the afternoon i had to make my rounds of picking up all the girls and i couldnt get over how much rain we had had that day. OK LOrd we are finished...LOL

Today we were rejoicing as Giovanna come home with ALL SMilES on her daily report. YEAH My sweet girl. Please continue to pray for her.

WEdnesday:
Today all the girls were in school and i headed to the Nutritionist. They gave me some ideas on how to help watch the sugars and hopefully loose weight. Im not big on eating a ton of junk....my problem is i guess just what i eat...so please pray for me that the Lord will guide me as i grocery shop and buy only the "good" things for my family to eat.

Giovanna had a terrible day at school today. PLEASE lift her up to the Lord. There are some things going on that we can not figure out at school and she is acting out so much! We are in prayer of what the Lord wants us to do.