Last one of 2004

Happy New Year!
Well almost anyhow. Can't believe 2004 is almost gone. It has been a good year. So many things to be thankful for. One is my husband was home for Christmas. What a blessing to wake up and to say "Merry Christmas" to him! It was just us for Christmas this year. I cooked turkey, stuffing, and a bunch of other things that we just couldn't finish eating left overs for days. Poor Lance! He can only handle turkey for so many days. He would eat green bean casserole if I made it everyday though.
For New Year's Eve, we are planning on going to a Watch Night at our church. We will have a chili/soup supper and then play games, watch a movie and then there will a service at midnight that includes the Lord's supper. We are looking forward to that. We are hoping we can stay up until midnight. We are usually in bed by 10pm. We strive for 9:30pm and a lot of times succeed!
We hope you and yours has a safe celebration and hope to see you in 2005.
OH YES and an adoption update. INS called to say we needed to submit one more form and that should be in this week. So hopefully soon because the next step will be sending our paperwork to the Chinese Couselate in New York and then it is off to China!

Sunshine

The weather is beautiful here. This weekend Lance played football with a neighbor and I sat outside to watch. It felt like Spring! Where is winter? I believe it is on its way. It is "suppose" to be chilly for Christmas, around 40 degrees. We will see! We had a pretty quiet weekend. Lance still has the funeral phone so we just stuck around the house. I went to the Cantata at our church last night. It was great! I have to work every day this week but Tuesday. So I will try and get groceries bought Tuesday and work on my salads and such for Christmas dinner in the evenings. I am going to try and make homemade stuffing, like my Mom makes. I watched her do it Thanksgiving so I hope it tastes decent. We may have some soldiers come for dinner but no other plans.
Well that is all here. Sorry no real exciting news. No adoption changes. Keep checking back!

Is Christmas over?

Our tree seems to think so. She is on her last leg! It is very dry and I scared to turn the lights on. So we will probably be taking her down soon. Lance said he would even buy me another tree because he is sick of picking up needles and seeing them just fall off the tree.
We made it through another fun week. I worked 3 days and got all my Christmas shopping done and mailed off as well as the rest of the cards I needed to finish. I also just finished a batch of Rosette's. They smell yummy. Lance says they smell like funnel cakes and I guess they are like them. I belive that is the last of the goodies I'll be making. I am still undecided whether I'll make pecan & pumpkin pies for dinner. Lance has the funeral phone this week so he has to go to College Station Tues. & Weds. to do a funeral. It is about 2 hours from here so he'll spend the night. So hopefully he won't have "duty" on Christmas Day. If there is a family in this area that wants a military funeral, Lance will have to do it. He also had to notify families about deaths and there have been quite a few of those in Iraq lately.
Well I am pretty tired. We'll go to bed after the Montana Grizzlies game. It is the I-AA Division championship. They are playing James Madison in Chattanooga, TN. There are a lot of fans there. We are watching the game on ESPN2. Go Griz!! Well I hope this blog finds you healthy and ready for our Savior's birth! May you not get caught up in the hustle of the season but really remember those in need this year. There are so many who aren't loved and need a helping hand. Remember what Jesus did for you. Can you spare a little bit of time to show someone that people do care about them?

It's all about Him!

We had a wonderful weekend. Lance decided to go hunting this weekend up by Meridian, TX. There is a group of friends that have a ministry called Hunters of Men that take soldiers that were in Operation Iraqi Freedom hunting on a huge ranch. They are fed and are able to hunt for free. They can hunt deer or wild boar. Lance was able to get a doe yesterday and he said another guy got a huge boar. He said he had a great time. I stayed busy baking, shopping, went to The Polar Express and to a the Killeen Christmas parade. I went to Chapel and also to Skyline. Then Sunday night the children had their Christmas program at Skyline. What a blessing to see them singing about Jesus. They did such a great job. So I had an eventful weekend. We have a couple of parties to attend to this week so it will be a busy one. Please keep a couple of friends in your prayers, Yong & Cyndi. Youg has a brain tumor and Cyndi was bit by a pit bull that came through her dog door into her home.
Also let us remember the real reason for this Christmas season. It's all about Him!

WHAT A RELIEF

I just went to the post office to mail off all packages but one. I am still shopping for one gift that needs to be mailed. So if you are reading this and think I may have your name for the Secret Santa exchange, send me suggestions :) I may not buy you one of your suggestions but you can still send them to me! I also sent off my final Christmas cards. Yes, if I left you off my list and you send me a card, I will still send those out but I am just "saying" that the bulk of my cards are sent!!!! This really excites me. I sent out about 200. My list grows each year. I guess this is a good thing because we meet more and more people as we move around. Some people drop off my list because we lose touch. Lance is hunting this weekend for deer. Hope he gets one. He really misses it when he doesn't get to go. So I will be baking cookies and going to a movie and to a Christmas parade with a friend. Hope you have a great weekend!

MOVING....AGAIN?

Yes we will be moving again but not until summer 2005. We found out we will be moving to Fort Campbell, KY. We were stationed there Aug. 1995-Dec. 1997. We really enjoyed it there and look forward to having 4 seasons again! We aren't looking forward to leaving our home but that is the Army for you! We are undecided as to rent or sell our home. We are talking about buying a home in Clarksville, TN (which is the big town by Fort Campbell) so we will probably sell our home here. Any takers? We are hoping to go to China to get our daughter before we move but with God's timing, anything is possible. So we will have to be open to moving before we get her. Lance also has to go to the 3 week jump school before he goes to Fort Campbell. I'll keep you posted but only if you keep checking back here ;>]

December is here!

It is finally chilly enough to wear a coat. Okay, maybe just to work but at least we will get some use out of our coats this year! We have had heavy frosts the past 2 days. It almost looks like snow! Mom, Dad & Aunt Jean made it back to MT and WA. Boy, did we do and see a lot. What fun times we shared. We really appreciated them coming for Thanksgiving. Hope you will consider to come & see what the hype about TX is all about. Well I am trying to get my Christmas cards done in time. I have almost all my shopping done and need to start wrapping and shipping. We don't have plans for Christmas. We will probably just stick around the house and I will probably cook and have some friends over. Lance is still on 4 hour recall. We need to discuss a back up plan if he ends up leaving. I refuse to be alone for Christmas. No new news on the adoption. Seems so far away yet next year we will probably have her! So exciting! We are looking for furniture. Lance thinks she will just be able to sleep in the spare bed we have. He doesn't understand that a 6 month to a year old needs a crib. He will learn fast about all this baby stuff.

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. It was nice having family & friends here. We had a wonderful day. My parents and aunt are still here and we have been on the go everyday. Shopping & sightseeing! So much to do and see in Texas. Yestereday was a highlight though. We drove to Crawford (where the President has his ranch) and they had the street blocked just as you come into town. So we parked on the side of the rode and walked into town. About 15 minutes later, President Bush, Laura and her Mother came and we were able to see them all. What a delight! He waved at all of us standing about 75 feet from him. There were secret service everywhere. We were going for a Bush burger at the Coffee Stop restaurant but he got to eat there instead. What a treat! Today we are off to Fredricksburg to see the Nimitz Museum & also the Pacific Fleet Museum. That should be neat. This town has a lot of German shops and restaurants. So that will be a fun filled day.
Take care and sorry it has been awhile since I have blogged. I will try and update more often.

ALMOST 2 WEEKS

...since my last blog. So sorry. I haven't intentionally been neglecting the blog just busy. We went to Dallas Fri. & Sat. for an adoption seminar. They told us a lot of information about travel, post-adoption, families currently with adoptees who spoke and just basic other useful information about the adoption. There were about 10 other couples there which was nice. We also had a potluck with families who have adopted and were able to meet them and their children. What a blessing to see how God brought them together. We are currently waiting for our fingerprinting to come back and then we can send everything off to the state to be certified and then to Washington DC to be certified and then to the Chinese Consolate. We are hoping to have this done by Nov/Dec.
Please keep my family in your prayers. My 2nd cousin who lived in CA was killed in a head-on collision on Friday. Shawn was 20 years old. Wish I lived closer to be there for the funeral and for the familly. Such a difficult time but God will heal.
Mom, Dad & Aunt Jean will be arriving in Austin this Sat. about 6:30pm. They will be here through the 30th. Looking so forward to having them here. I love Thanksgiving! I have so much to be thankful for.

From President George W. Bush

We had a long night -- and we had a great night. The voters turned out in record numbers and delivered an historic victory. I want to thank our supporters across this country. At every stop I asked you to make the calls, put up the signs, talk to your neighbors, and get out the vote. And because you did your part, we are celebrating today. Thanks to you, we received more votes than any presidential ticket in history. America has spoken. And I am humbled by the trust and confidence of my fellow citizens. With that trust comes a duty: I will serve all Americans, so help me God. I am proud to lead such an amazing country -- and I am proud to lead it forward. Reaching our goals will require the broad support of Americans. A new term is a new opportunity to reach out to the whole nation. We have one country, one Constitution, and one future that binds us all. And when we come together and work together, there is no limit to the greatness of America.
A campaign has ended, and our cause is renewed. The United States of America goes forward with confidence and faith. I can see a new day coming, and I am eager for the work ahead. God bless you all, and God bless America.

(I received this as an email from GW from being on the Presidential Prayer Team)

Thank you

We have a duty to our country to participate in the political process. See, if you believe in freedom, you have a duty to exercise your right to vote to begin with. I'm [here] to encourage people to do their duty, to go to the polls. I want all people, no matter what their political party is or whether they even like a political party, to exercise their obligation to vote.
--George W. Bush

Thank you to the millions of Americans who voted. Your voice was heard. How proud I am to be a part of such a great country. May God bless America and I pray America will bless God!

www.presidentialprayerteam.com

Blessings,

Shawna

November Blessings

Sunday I received what looks to be my last sunburn of the year. Lance, Simba & I went for a walk and it was so hot and I didn't wear sunscreen, which I know I should have done.
Today it is 52 degrees & rainy. Most have jackets on, which very few Texans have jackets. Guess when we don't see the sun we assume it is cold. And it is.
Check out the article I spoke of earlier on Buckner's web site:
www.buckner.org
It is about the adoption. Hope you enjoy!
Judgement House is all over and we are gearing up for a Marriage Conference Lance is doing at our church this weekend. Then the following weekend we have an adoption seminar in Dallas.
Hope you get out to vote today. Every vote does count and it does matter if you vote or not. Please be in prayer for our leaders.

Bye Bye October

Well tomorrow is the last day of Oct. Novemeber here we come!
I can't believe how time is just flying by. Guess that is how it is when you are busy.
Lance is still on 4 hour recall (DRB). Still no word on him leaving anytime.
We are in the midst of Judgement House at our church. Lance and I are having a great time being actors in the walk through drama. We will run it tonight & tomorrow. We have had about 300 people go through so far. So that is awesome!
We are gearing up for my parents and my aunt from Seattle to come for Thanksgiving. We can't wait! I have made reservations for us to stay one night on the Riverwalk in San Antonio, one of my favorite places!
No new news on the adoption. We are waiting for results from our fingerprinting and then we will send off paperwork to the State of TX and then send it all off to the Chinese Consolate.
Hope you are enjoying the fall weather. It hasn't hit Texas yet so we are patiently waiting for the weather to cool and the leaves to start changing. WAIT!!!! Texas doesn't have trees. So I guess you can let me know when fall hits.

Another week gone

Can't believe it is Friday! Where are the weeks & months going? I really need to start smelling the roses! I have been working a lot since I have to start making up some time I will be off. In Nov. Lance is doing a marriage conference on Friday Nov. 5th & Sat. Nov. 6th. I'll take that Friday off. We have to go to Dallas the next week Nov. 12 & 13 for an adoption seminary. Then my parents and Aunt Jean are coming for Thanksgiving so I won't work at all when they are here. I'll take 4 days off then.
We are preparing for Judgement House at church. It is a walk through drama. Lance is playing Jesus and I am playing a principal of the school. It should be fun. It is running 7-10pm Oct. 27-31.
No new news on the adoption stuff. We are just playing the waiting game to get all of our paperwork certified and then we send it all off to the Chinese Consolate. I'll keep you posted.
Hope you have a wonderful weekend and check back again soon for another blog.

Fingerprinting......done!!

YEAHOO! We are so excited. We left about 6:40am this morning in route to San Antonio to be fingerprinted. Going to the INS office on Saturday. We were planning on spending a few hours waiting in line. I brought adoption books to read. We get to the office at about 8:50am. Drove right up to the office because of the navigators awesome job :) (Yes that was me since Lance was driving). ANYHOW>>> we go inside and fill out our forms, which took about 2 minutes. We got our numbers, 12 & 13. They were on number 10. As soon as we sat down, Lance's number was called. Then a couple minutes later, mine was called. We were both fingerprinted and out of there by 9:15am. We were thrilled! They didn't fingerprint us using the dredded black ink. They did it all digitally. We put our prints on just a piece of glass and it was automatically converted onto the computer screen. The prints are sent directly to the FBI so hopefully we will get the results soon. We are hoping the rest of the adoption goes as smoothly as did the fingerprinting. I also called a friend's friend who adopted a girl last year from China. I talked to her for about 1 hour. She shared some great information about traveling and what and what not to take and what to expect when we get to China. It has made me more excited than ever to get our daughter! What an experience we are in for. We are just praying Lance will be here to go with me. The Army said they would work with us but we will just have to wait and see. Well I need to get dinner started and sausage balls made for tomorrow. I am taking a snack for after chapel fellowship. Take care & keep coming to read the blog!

Answered Prayers

WOW! God is so awesome! This week has been quite a busy one. We had a great Tues. evening. We had a wonderful couple over for our Supper Club. The original family who signed up had to cancel so I prayed for God to send another family. He did!
We both had Monday off but didn't do much. The weather is finally cooling off, which is a blessing and an answered prayer.
I also received my passport in record time! They said it would take 4-6 weeks and I received it in 3. I also sent off some applications for some grants. We are in prayer about them and the financial part of the adoption. We know God will provide but it is so hard to be patient and wait on Him.
Tomorrow (Sat) we may got to San Antonio to be fingerprinted. So that will be so good to get that out of the way. We are winding down on our checklist. We are going to Dallas for a seminar Nov. 12-13. It is a 2 day seminar so we will have to spend the night and we'll have to take off work on Friday the 12th.
Take care and hope you all have a great weekend!

Adoption Article

Good day to you all. It has been an exciting week in our life. Lance has been busy with work, prayer breakfast, preparing a sermon and getting a marriage conference together for Nov. So he has been keeping busy. I have been busy with work and getting documents notarized and copied. We also were interviewed yesterday for an article for Buckner International Adoption, the organization we are adopting through. When it comes out, I will post it here. I got the final paperwork notarized today. We will be able to send documents off to be certified by Texas, Maryland & Montana.
Lance has a 4 day weekend and I am not sure what our plans are. He is at home hopefully mowing the lawn. He is also probably playing XBox since he is in full swing in a Maryland football season. Tomorrow I am in in a American Heart Association heart walk. Lance will probably come & bring Simba. Hopefully it won't rain! I also have Monday off so maybe we can take a day trip to a fun town close to home. Hope you all have a great weekend!

Top of the afternoon to y'all

Hope all is well with you. Since you are reading this blog guess you have a minute to catch up on my exciting life! Well I know you are just checking to see if there is an update on the adoption.
Adoption Update:
We have but 2 (two) documents left to notarize before we can send off to the state to be certified. So we are excited! There is a notary at work, which is so convenient. Everyone has been so supportive and interested in this process. It is interesting but quite lengthy and tedious. It will be worth it at the end. We have put down we would accept siblings so if have been praying for one child, you may want to change your prayers to whatever God wants us to have. Two scares me but God won't give me what I cannot handle. I know Lance will be a huge help, especially with 2! Being married 10 years and then adding 2 more to our home??? You may ask are they crazy? No, just doing what God wants us to do. We have been so blessed and can't wait share what we have with children and to start our family.
Take care & thanks for checking in :)

The 10th Month of 2004

I know you are excited as I am that this year is just flying by. It is crazy!
We are now officially accepted to adopt a baby from China! YEAH HOO!
So we are in a mad dash to get certified copies of birth certificates, marriage license and get all of our other documents notarized. I have applied for my passport. We are still waiting on an appointment to go to San Antonio to get our fingerprinting done. We are very excited and are hoping to go to China in April, if we can get all of our paperwork finished soon.
Sat. Lance is running a mini-marathon in San Antonio. Here is the site:
http://www.cowgirlcreativegroup.com/heloteshalf/hh_home.htm
So we will be going down Fri night and coming back Sunday. There is a shrimp fest Sat. night. We are looking forward to that.
Lance is officially on 4 hour recall. He is in the Deployment Readiness Brigade (DRB) which means their Brigade could be called to go anywhere and they have to be at the office in 4 hours when they are notified. They are the "911 call" to America. If something happens, they will be there. They are only allowed to go 250 miles away. So he may be leaving again soon. Hopefully not for a year but you never know. I'll keep you updated on this. He will be in this status until probably early next year or it could be longer but that is an estimate.
Well this blog is done for now. Take care & thank you for your prayers.

Happy Monday To Ya'll

Just thought I would write today since it will be a super busy week for me. Today Buckner will have a meeting on us and all of our information as well as with the Social Worker. She will state what she saw in our home and in our interviews with her. I will post when we hear something from them. Hope you have a wonderful week. Fall is right around the corner......and YIKES!!! So is Christmas! Guess I better get my list made out.

When is fall coming?

It was cooling off quite nicely and then it rains. All my hopes are shot down of the coolness staying. It is hot & humid still. Boy do I miss the Montana weather.
The days are just passing away one by one. It is mid September and my Christmas list isn't started yet nor have I completed my Spring cleaning! I have worked 4 days this week and I am wiped out. Last Weds. the social worker came to our home to make sure it was "child friendly." And we passed with flying colors. How...I am not sure but why should we question. God is in control and we have such peace about the adoption. Thank you for your prayers. They are helping us not be anxious and allowing us to be patient through this long process. This coming week I am hosting a coffee, helping with another coffee, having an open house and getting ready for our church picnic. Lance & I also signed up to be in Judgement House at our church. Lance will be Jesus and I am a principal in a pep rally at the high school. It is a walk through drama about a drinking & driving accident where some high school kids are killed. You see how their families cope and actually see the kids in heaven & hell. It is quite moving. Last year I was in it and it was about some kids that go in the Army and are killed. I had a great time. Almost 1000 people go through it. We are the only church in the area that puts this on at the end of Oct for 5 days.
Hope you are doing well. I don't hear from many folks that read this so I am hoping I get some feedback soon. Just press send a comment at the end and I'll get your response. Or send me a regular email. Let me know how you all are, especially our friends in Florida & Alabama. Take care & love & miss you all! Those of you in Montana, enjoy the cool weather for me :)

Strength At Home

Strength at Home
By BEN STEIN August 18, 2004; Page A10

(This is a letter I wrote to the newsletter of an Army unit called The Strykers, stationed in Iraq out of Ft. Lewis, Wash. The editor asked me what I would say to make the wives feel appreciated while their husbands are in Iraq. This is what I wrote to one soldier's wife.)

Dear Karen,

I have a great life. I have a wife I adore, a son who is a lazy teenager but I adore him, too. We live in a house with two dogs and four cats. We live in peace. We can worship as we please. We can say what we want. We can walk the streets in safety. We can vote. We can work wherever we want and buy whatever we want. When we sleep, we sleep in peace. When we wake up, it is to the sounds of birds.
All of this, every bit of it, is thanks to your husband, his brave fellow soldiers, and to the wives who keep the home fires burning while the soldiers are away protecting my family and 140 million other families. They protect Republicans and Democrats, Christians, Jews, Muslims and atheists. They protect white, black, yellow, brown and everyone in between. They protect gays and straights, rich and poor.
And none of it could happen without the Army wives, Marine wives, Navy wives, Air Force wives -- or husbands -- who go to sleep tired and lonely, wake up tired and lonely, and go through the day with a smile on their faces. They feed the kids, put up with the teenagers' surliness, the bills that never stop piling up, the desperate hours when the plumbing breaks and there is no husband to fix it, and the even more desperate hours after the kids have gone to bed, the dishes have been done, the bills have been paid, and the wives realize that they will be sleeping alone -- again, for the 300th night in a row.
The wives keep up the fight even when they have to move every couple of years, even when their checks are late, even when they have to make a whole new set of friends every time they move.
And they keep up the fight to keep the family whole even when they feel a lump of dread every time they turn on the news, every time they switch on the computer, every time the phone rings and every time -- worst of all -- the doorbell rings. Every one of those events -- which might mean a baseball score or a weather forecast or a FedEx man to me and my wife -- might mean the news that the man they love, the man they have married for better or worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, is now parted from them forever.
These women will never be on the cover of People. They will never be on the tabloid shows on TV about movie stars. But they are the power and the strength that keep America going. Without them, we are nothing at all. With them, we can do everything.
They are the glue that holds the nation together, stronger than politicians, stronger than talking heads, stronger than al Qaeda.
They deserve all the honor and love a nation can give. They have my prayers, and my wife's, every morning and every night.

Love, and I do mean Love, Ben.

Mr. Stein, a television personality and writer, is co-author with Phil DeMuth of "Can America Survive," forthcoming from Hay House.

Quite Cloudy

It has been very hot here so clouds are welcome anytime! Yesterday Lance ran a 5K race in Austin called Keep Austin Weird. There were some interesting folks running. It was fun to go and just watch all the people. They wore some of the goofiest costumes. Some had Halloween costumes, wedding dresses, Elvis impersonators, guys in dresses (a lot of these), wigs and just about anything you could imagine was there. We had a good time in the 99 degree heat and that doesn't include asphalt heat and 6000 runners to add to the heat!
Not much has changed on the adoption end. The social worker is still coming to view our home on Sept. 8th. We almost have the money saved to send in the Adoption Petition to the INS. After their approval, we will go to San Antonio to be finger printed. We are thinking of going to garage sales to try and find a crib. We aren't sure exactly what we want yet so we better start looking around.
Hope you had a great week and I'll look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sunny Sunday

What a glorious day today! The sun is out and few clouds in the sky. It turned out to be beautiful even though the weatherman said there was a good chance of rain. We had a chapel fellowship that was so fun. The Tex Mex was great! Brisket and grilled sausage was yummy. We attend chapel with some great folks!
Yesterday's first home study meeting in Dallas went very well. It was more like an interview than anything. The social worker will be coming to our home on Sept. 8th. She will make sure our home is suitable for a youngster. After that and her report finished, they approximate the wait to be 6 months. So next spring, if everything goes as planned, we will be traveling to China.
Well that is all the new news here in TX. Hope you all are well. Post a comment! Would love to hear from you. Have a blessed week.

Wowsers

Wow! I can't believe it is Weds. already. Where my days go I will never know. God gave us 24 hours in a day and I just can't figure out why so few but I guess the more we have the more we want.
This Sat. we are heading to Dallas to Buckner International for our initial start to our home study. Patty Brown will then come to our house on Sept. 9th. We are excited to start this because after our home study, we just get to sit and wait on China for feedback on us and our daughter! We also can apply for grants after our home study is complete and that will be great to get those applications turned in.
Well hope you all are doing well and are having a great summer. School starts soon and hope everyone is ready for another fun filled year of school stuff.
OOOHHH and last weekend Lance and I went tubing on the Guadalupe River by New Brunfels. What fun we had! Wish we could go every weekend.

Top Of The Tuesday To Ya

Good day to you! Seems like this year is just ticking away. August already? Hope you have started your Christmas shopping. Only 5 more months.
This week we should get a call from the social worker assigned to us to start our home study. We will meet with her a couple of times before it is completed. Then it should be about a 6 month wait until a child is selected from China for us. So the process is coming along. Hope you are having a great summer. We are excited that my parents and my aunt are coming for Thanksgiving. Take care and hope you have a blessed week.

BronzeStarFlowers 

Great Day

WOW!  Where has July gone?  I can't believe this is the last week of the month.  We are continuing to survive in this TX heat.  It just keeps getting hotter & hotter and our A/C just keeps running & running.  We are still finalizing all of our adoption paperwork.  I have to get some photos together to send in this these final forms.  We have to send in pictures of our home and of our family.  I believe these are just for our dossier (entire packet that the agency puts together on us).  We also have to make photocopies of them to send over with our China packet.  US has to approve us and then China has to do the same.  Then they select a child for us.  We are also going to be sending in the form to do the fingerprinting.  INS has to send us the okay to go ahead with it.  So that will probably take a month or so.  It is expensive to send that form in so we are trying to save up enough money to send that in. 
I am enjoying working part-time.  I am also going to be getting involved with the Family Readiness Group (FRG) for 1-10 CAV, which is Lance's new unit.  I have enjoyed meeting the spouses and am excited to get involved with that group.
Tonight I am off to church to help with Team Kids.  The kids are so amazing and we have so much fun!  Hope you are doing well and I look forward to hear from you soon.

WHEW

Boy is it a hot one here in Central Texas!  Lance even says it is hot and he was in Iraq where it would get to 140 degrees.  The evenings have been a bit cooler with a breeze but it doesn't make the days any better.
Well we are still plugging away on the adoption.  I really don't have any news to report there.  We are still working to getting all the paperwork in.  I have a lab result I need to pick up from my doctor and I just received my birth certificate today.  So I will hopefully put those in the mail tomorrow.
We don't have any plans for the weekend.  Lance will preach Sunday at our church where we are members so that will be nice.  I have been helping out with 1st-3rd grade TeamKids on Weds. nights.  That has been a blessing.  The kids are great.
Have a great weekend and thank you for your prayers.  This is a long process but well worth it.

 

Fun Friday

Well it has been an eventful week as usual.  We sent in our first round of paperwork for the adoption and come to find out we are missing a couple of items.  So it is rush....rush to get them completed and sent out.  Work for Lance and I have been great.  He started funeral duty today.  He has the "funeral" phone for a week.  When there is a death in the area, he will have to perform the funeral and be there for the family.  He has a funeral for a WWII Vet on Tues.  It has been so hot here.  I would love to see it rain but then it is even humider (is that even a word?  If not, it should be!).  So we don't have exciting plans this weekend.  Hope you get to do something fun with friends or family or both!  Please pray for our Pastor Jack, his wife Lucille and a church member Tamara as they are in Taiwan on a mission trip.  What an opportunity!  Take care and hope you stay cool....wherever you are :)
 

Busy, Busy, Busy

Hope you have had a great week. We have been busy working and just normal everyday stuff. Lance is loving being a part of 1-10 CAV. This is an elite unit and the officers have to wear a Stetson cowboy hat with the uniform when special ceremonies are taking place. I have met a couple of spouses and they seem really nice. I am excited to get involved that that group. We usually meet once a month. Well onto adoption news. We have completed our first leg of the adoption paperwork. Well almost completed but we will be sending the bulk off today and will send the rest later when it is completed. I also have to apply for my passport as soon as I receive my birth certificate. I found a web site that gives an overview of the entire process: www.fwcc.org. It sums it all up. I found out you cannot adopt siblings on one trip. It is also rare that siblings are available to adopt together. There is a chance we could get twins but they say that is also rare. I heard of a case where a couple adopted a child and then a few years later, decided to adopt again. They adopted a second child and the DNA test revealed the children were siblings! How exciting that must have been. Well I am off to the post office. Lance is preaching tomorrow at chapel. Please be in prayer for him. Take care and stay in touch!

Happy 4th

Hope you had a great 4th of July weekend. Lance had Friday and Monday off so he is semi-rested. He preached Sunday at chapel and also had the crisis line phone for Fort Hood so I guess he did some work over his holiday. I worked Friday but had Monday off. So we are back into the swing of normal work weeks for a while.
We have finally completed a packet to send into Buckner for the adoption. We are releived to check off that list. WOW do they want to know EVERYTHING about us and our family. We are excited about the possibility of getting siblings....yes 2! We will just wait to see what God does. Everyone tells me (since I am apprehensive about getting 2 and Lance is extactic at that thought) that I would do fine with 2. I know God knows what I can and can't handle. I am giving it over to Him. This will also add on expenses for another child.
Thank you for your prayers during this process. The financial part is what we are most worried about but we know God will provide if this is in His will. Take care and God bless you.

Wednesday June 30

Can't believe June is over. Where is 2004 going? Going fast for sure. We are in the process of getting our physicals finished for our adoption paperwork. We both filled out an 18 page questionaire and have completed that. They want to know all about our families and if we are normal enough to adopt!! I guess they will know the real US when we are finished. If you listen to KLOVE on the radio, which is a Christian radio station, John & Sherry from the morning show are in China getting Lexi, their adoptive daughter. Go to their website www.klove.com to get updates if you don't get a KLOVE station.
We are keeping super busy and trying to stay dry from all the rain we are getting. Take care and thank you for your prayers.

Hello

Just thought I would write a quick note to let you all know how the adoption is going. We went to Buckner International Adoption (www.bucknerinternationaladoption.org) in Dallas on Tues. June 22nd for the orientation. We found out a lot of information about the process and are really excited. They said we may go to China as early as Jan. Feb. March or April to get her. It just all depends on how fast our references are sent in and checked and how fast our fingerprints and application is processed. We also have to have a home study done and that takes some time. We also have to pay for these things as they happen so I am starting to work part time at a bank here in Killeen. I will work Mon, Weds & Fri. We will save that money just for the adoption. The Army will give us some money as well as a $10,000 tax credit the year our adoption is finalized. The adoption will cost about $20,000 so we have a long ways to go on the financial aspect. Please pray for us in this because we are hoping to that God will let this happen before we either move or Lance has to go back to Iraq. I will try and update this on a weekly basis. Take care and please keep in touch.

In His Service,

Shawna