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.