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

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!

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.

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

Groovy girl books/dolls

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!

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.

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!

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.

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!

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!

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

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.

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....

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