Serving at Ft. Campbell, KY 

Busy week

Is it Friday yet? Seems like yesterday we were staying in the guest house waiting for housing. We are moved it and settled and getting on with our daily lives. I am working part time at a friend's pest control company with some administrative duties. I am enjoying that and am so thankful they are so flexible with my schedule. I am meeting once a week with the spouse's of Lance's unit. We will start a Bible/book study this fall. We will take the summer off due to so many traveling and busy with their kidos activities. I have committed to teach 3 & 4 grade at vacation Bible school in June at the church we joined on Sunday, First Baptist Church Oak Grove. Pastor Todd Gray is awesome and we feel right at home at church. Todd and Lance went to Southern Seminary together so Todd has already used one Lance story as a sermon illustration. Quite funny! We are loving the weather here. It finally hit 80 degrees! When we left Texas it had hit 80 a few days. It is chilly in the evening and oh so nice! I may plan to go to Charlotte to visit Lance's brother and family in July. I will drive so Simba can go with me. We have heard we may travel to China in Nov. This is estimated so it could possibly change again. We have a crib and stroller now so things are coming along. It is beginning to feel real. We also received a donation from a family who read our article in Buckner International Magazine. What a blessing to see God in people we don't even know. We are so thankful that He has provided financially for Gracie to become a part of our family. We are praying for her and hope you are too. She may or may not be born yet but God knows! Thank you for praying for us and may God bless you!

Bathroom 

Bedroom 

Living room 

Kitchen 

Backyard......Ahhhh...trees 

Our humble home at Ft. Campbell 

Change of Command Ceremony 5/6/05 

Change of Command Cermony 5/6/05 

On Post Housing...YAA HOO

We have finally moved in and are semi-settled. Lance doesn't like boxes sitting around so they are mostly unpacked. We even have curtains hung! It looks and feels like home. John & Amanda brought Simba yesterday and she is loving the small backyard. She hasn't seen the squirrels yet but I am sure it won't take her long. We sat outside today and had lunch on our cedar swing. We are loving this beautiful weather. We can finally wear our sweatshirts again. We love Ft. Campbell and will enjoy the 3 years we are going to be here. Everyone is so nice and Lance's unit has some great folks in it. Let me know if you need our new home address and new phone numbers. Gracie has a nice room and I hope to get her crib soon. This weekend is a post wide yard sale and hopefully we can find one then. We hope we can sell some of our stuff we don't have room for. Please keep us in your prayers.

We have a home again

We officially have keys to our on post housing. We love our place and it is ours. Our household goods will arrive tomorrow. We purchased 2 area rugs to fill our bedroom and the living room to go where the couch and chair will go. I will post photos as soon as I can. We are so excited to get moved in. Well we are off to dinner. We are tired from moving some things from our guest house room to our home. We are so ready to be able to sleep in our own bed. It has been almost a month. Lance was at airborne school before that so I know he is ready to sleep in it again. It rained today but now the sun is out and it is warm again. Hope the weather is nice for tomorrow's move. The past 2 days I have helped at our friend's pest control company. They needed some typing done so I helped there. I will return next week to do some more admin duties. Take care and keep us posted on you.

We have a home!

Housing called this morning, we went and looked at a place in Werner Park at Ft. Campbell that is a 2 bedroom and we are moving in next Weds! It is quite roomy for a 2 bedroom and we believe and pray all of our stuff will fit. It has quite a large kitchen and it has an attached garage which will give us storage if we need it. It has a fenced in backyard for Simba so she will be happy. She is currently in Nashville staying with friends and she is loving it since they have 2 dogs. They are all playing and getting along very well. We are so exactic that we will be able to bring her to a home next week! We were hoping to be moved in before Lance has to leave for a short time. He is very excited to go on this mission but wanted to make sure I was settled before leaving. I am still planning on going to China with Lance's Dad in Sept. or Oct. We haven't heard yet for sure when I will go or anything about our daughter. In June or July we will receive a photograph and medical report on Gracie. That will be her first name! We are loving being back at Ft. Campbell, loving the 70 degree weather with no humidity. The trees are a breath of fresh air and the red buds and tulips are in bloom! So different than Ft. Hood. Take care and thank you for your prayers for us.

Just here waiting

We are still waiting for our name to come up on the housing list. We started at number 20 and Friday we were 17. So we are moving and that is good. We did look at some homes to buy but our best option would be to move on post. We would get a 2 bedroom which is quite a bit smaller than our 3 bedroom home but we would deal with it. We may have to store some things. We will just have to wait and see. We went to Grace Chapel today. It is the chapel for 5th Group. We enjoyed it. I have my first coffee with the other 5th Group Chaplain wives tomorrow night. I am looking forward to meeting them. Lance officially starts work tomorrow. He is looking forward to that. Everyone we have met so far has been super nice and we both are so excited in being a part of the Special Forces Group. Such a different part of the Army. They are all so close and seem to love their jobs. Lance will be jumping with them Weds and I am looking forward to taking pictures and being there to see him. I'll keep you posted on us. Hope all is well where you are. Take care and keep the comments coming!

Tennessee

We are enjoying being back at Ft. Campbell. We were here in 1995-1997. We are seeing friends we haven't seen in a while. It is great! We are still waiting for on post housing. We will probably get housing in June. There is a 2-4 month waiting list. We are currently at the guest house. Simba is staying with some friends in Nashville. They have 2 pugs and Simba is enjoying having friends to play with. Lance's new unit is awesome and we are so excited to be a part of the 5th Group Special Forces. Such a different environment than a non-SF unit. Everyone is great. I'll keep you posted on us and hope you are doing well.

Bye Bye Texas

Well we are officially homeless and are no longer in TX. We closed on our home Fri. and left today Sat. in route to Ft. Campbell, KY. We are staying with a friend in Nashville, TN Sunday and he and his wife will watch Simba all week as we look for a place to live. We are hoping to get on post but we will have to wait and see how long the list list. We may have to buy or rent. I just wanted to give an update on us and to let you know how much we will miss our TX friends. What great friends we have in TX and we hope to meet up with you again. Take care and keep in touch and keep checking back here as I will post when I can.

Airborne

Lance is now Airborne! He officially finished his school yesterday and will graduate Fri. morning. We will then come back to Wadley for a BBQ Fri. evening with all our Wadley friends. We will then head back to TX on Sat. morning. We are enjoying being here and seeing all our AL friends. The weather has been nice but a storm is coming through today so it is rainy. It will probably still be raining tomorrow for the ceremony but hopefully it won't last too long. I'll be pinning Lances' wings on him. I'll be posting more when I can. Take care and hope to hear from you soon.

Blessed

Wow! What a weekend. Cleaning, packing, organizing, fence finished, spending time with friends. I thought I got a lot done but now I look back and I know I should have done a lot more. It was my last Sunday at Skyline and it was sad having to hug everyone saying goodbye. How blessed I am to have a wonderful church family but it is depressing having to say goodbye. I just don't like thinking about it. I have to reflect where God is sending us and it will be where our daughter will enter our lives in October. How exciting! I just have to take the bad (or sadness) and know that good will come sooner or later. We are looking forward to the next season in our lives.

DTC

Our Dossier (which is our completed packet for the adoption) is on its way to China!!!!!! So if you are familiar with adoption lingo, our DTC is 3/18/05!! That means in about 4 months we should receive a photograph and medical report on our daughter or children! This is exciting news! I thought I would share some positive news with you :) Thank you for your prayers.
Lance is doing great at airborne school. He is having to do a lot of push ups and flutter kicks but is surviving. He has passed a PT test and 2 running tests. So that is great! I will be traveling to see him next week until he graduates. I will get to see our friends that live in Wadley, AL. Some are going to be able to come to his graduation on April 1.
Lance's Dad is doing great and now is at home. His spirits are high and I think it is because he has been waited on so much. He says he doesn't even have to get a glass of water for himself. I am thankful Sara & Tami are able to be there for him. They must be great nurses! It will be a blessing to go up to MD to see them. Hope you have a great weekend. If you want to stop by to help me pack, feel free :)

Jennifer, Lisa & Shawna 

Friends! 

Hurricane

Is it hurricane season? I guess I am just busy and it feels like a hurricane!!
I am busy preparing to move. What fun that is.
Lance passed his PT test this morning. He was so excited! I am going to see him on the 24th and am very excited to watch him jump out of an airplane on April 1st! It should be awesome.
Lance's Dad will be getting out of the hospital tomorrow. That is such an answered prayer. I just hope he can take it easy for awhile.
Some of you know Lisa Smith & her husband Michael came home from Iraq today. What a joy to have him home as well as the others that have arrived over the weekend. I am so excited for all of them and am thankful the Lord kept them all safe.
I have a friend coming over tomorrow to record Jesus Loves Me in Chinese for our Chinese daughter. I am so excited to have that for her.
Well I need to get back to organizing and getting ready to move.

Busy as ever

Well Pops (Lance's Dad) ended up having a quadrouple bypass on Friday. He is doing well but in a lot of pain. I haven't heard when he'll be going home. Lance's first day of airborne school didn't go so well. He said he had to do a lot of push ups (around 500?). He is picked on by the non-commissioned officers teaching the course, non-air assault soldiers because he has been to air assault school, he says "ROGER" & "HOOAH" a lot but you aren't allowed to say those words there. If you want to see a video on what Lance is learning, click here
http://www.infantry.army.mil/videos/video05/index.htm
I'll be driving to Ft. Benning on March 24th to visit folks around Wadley, which is about an hour from Ft. Benning and then see Lance graduate on April 1. We will then come back to close on our house April 8th and then head to Maryland to see Lance's family. So I am trying to get things gathered that we will have to move. My last day of work will hopefully be the 23rd. Earlier if I can but I just found out today that Lance wants me to come that weekend since he has Friday off for the Easter weekend.
Our adoption paperwork is on its way to the agency in New York and will be translated and sent to China. Then in about 4 months we should receive a photograph and medical report on our child or children to adopt! We will head to China hopefully in October to pick her or them up. I'll keep you posted.
Many of my friends' husbands are either home or are their way home from Iraq. What a joy it is to be a part of that awesome celebration and the reunion process. My heart leaps for joy when I think about it! Thank you Lord for bringing them home safely. I pray their reunion will be sweeter than honey :)
Well I am off to catch some much needed sleep. Take care and hope you have a blessed week.

Much news to report

We have sold our home!! YEAH HOO! What an answer to prayer. I have another prayer request. Lance's Dad, Dave is probably in surgery right now. He is getting a heart cath done so they aren't sure where that will progress to surgery wise whether a by pass will be needed or what. So please pray for him. Lance's brother flew from Charlotte and his sister was driving from southern Maryland to be there. Lance couldn't go due to him starting Airborne school at Ft. Benning, GA today. So please also keep Lance in your prayers. He will graduate on April 1 from there and then come back here April 3. We will be CLOSING ON OUR HOME April 8!! That is so great to be able to say. So we will drive to Maryland after that to see Lance's folks. We were going to drive to Montana but we feel we need to go and see his parents. Lance also found out he will not be deploying so he will probably be going to China with me in Oct. to pick up our daughter. Another answered prayer. I am so thankful for all that God is doing in our lives. Even though it will be sad to leave our home and our awesome friends here, we are excited about going to Ft. Campbell, KY. We are hoping to live on post but will rent if we can't. Hope all is well where you are.

No surprise

We were going to go to the Waco Zoo but it is a bit chilly today to be outside. So we just ran some errands today and hopefully will able to go to dinner tonight or tomorrow.
Hope you have a great weekend as well!

Surprise

I worked today so I could take tomorrow off. Lance has planned some sort of surprise! I am excited! He will be leaving for Airbourne school the week of March 4 so we are trying to spend some time together. He just got back from being in the field for a week so we haven't seen much of each other this year. He has been super busy with funerals, counseling here and out of town and having to have the 24 hour Chaplain phone and the 24 hour funeral phone. So we are ready for some quality time together. The weather is suppose to be decent so that will be nice if it actually decent. I will let you know what the surprise is later. If Lance had a blog maybe he would post the surprise....................maybe............maybe not! This Sunday will be his last Sunday preaching in chapel at Fort Hood. He is excited to move on to the next phase of his life in the Army. He is excited to join the 5th Group at Fort Campbell.
Have a great weekend.

Friendship

I spent some quality time with some friends this weekend. God sends just the right people into my life at just the right time. Lance has been in the field for 8 days and I just needed some girl time! I had a 3 day weekend from work and I just enjoyed being around friends. I feel so refreshed. It could have been partly because we are going through EKG at our church and the sermons hit home to me about being a Kingdom worker. I also laughed with friends until my cheeks hurt, which is always such a blessing to me. So thank you friends! I am so blessed.

Women's Retreat 

From the One who loves you...always

"For God so loV ed the world,
That He gA ve
His onL y
BegottE n
SoN
T hat whosever
Believeth I n Him
Should N ot perish,
But have E verlasting life."
John 3:16

Just another day....

at the office. Except I was able to eat lunch with my wonderful husband. That made my day! He is going to the field this afternoon and will return home on Friday. The weather is beautiful...a whopping 80 degrees and it is February! We were able to walk Simba yesterday and had a great time in the sun. It is quite a pleasant change to have sunshine! The youth did an awesome job at the youth led service last night. We have an awesome youth group. The 27th will be our last day at chapel. Lance will go to jump school around March 8th. He graduates on April 1st. Our household goods will be packed on April 7th & 8th. So we are heading to Fort Campbell mid April. We may stop somewhere for a couple of days for a little R&R. We probably won't get any days off before he is deployed July 1st. So the next few months will go by fast for us.
Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you know you are loved.

Wait for me! 

Game Time! 

Pamala Kathy Donna Kathy 

Judy 

Lisa playing Guesstures 

Visiting 

Having some fun at the Women's Retreat 

Donna is a vessel used by the Potter 

Sharon 

SBC Women's Retreat 

SBC Women's Retreat 

Women's Retreat 

Lance & Shawna 

Escort

Lance will be escorting the Deputy Chief of Chaplains General Jerome Haberek around today through Thursday. He has to pick him up from the Austin airport and then escort him around. So I won't be seeing him much this week. Tonight I have a unit coffee. They are fun to get together to visit with the other spouses of Lance's unit. I have to work Weds-Fri this week due to another lady taking vacation. So it will be a busy week for me. I am cleaning today. Hopefully if I clean, someone will come and look at our house to buy. We haven't had any lookers in a couple of weeks. A lot have called about it to the realitor and all our flyers were taken. They had to come and refill our bin. So that is a good sign.
We are filling out more paperwork for the adoption. I don't know if they just come up with things to fill out but this is a never ending story. We don't see the light yet nor do we have a definite date when we will be going to China.
Have a blessed week.

Awesome Retreat

We had a great time at the retreat this weekend. 23 ladies attended. Lance calls it a Hen Party and believes we just sit around and gab. Oh how he is so wrong. God was moving in many hearts this weekend and it was so awesome to be a part of God working. The retreat center was perfect and so beautiful. They decorated with a lot of moose and looked like a place you would find in Montana.
Donna did an outstanding job of communicating to us what God had her to say. You can view her ministry web site at

http://www.foreverfamilyministries.com/

She ended up leaving yesterday because her mother-in-law was on her death bed. Her family needed her there. Moma Nell passed away at 6:10pm last night, just 3 hours after Donna had arrived home. It was like Moma Nell was waiting for Donna to get there before passing away. It is so amazing how that works.

God is so good and I am thankful I am a part of His work. I pray I can take what I learned about being a vessel that He can use for His glory and be a faithful steward for Him.

May you have a blessed week and focus on the goodness He has in store for your life.

What an amazing day....in Iraq?

Received this email from a friend of a soldier deployed to Iraq (Sadr City).

Family and Friends,
I hope you are having a great Sunday morning where ever you may be in America. I want to thank each of you for the pride you feel for America and for the support you extend to those of us who serve her. Today I may be the proudest I have ever been of being and American Soldier. As I walked the streets of Sadr City today, I saw the best the human spirit has to offer. Despite the many cultural and religious differences between our soldiers and the local people, I saw men, women, and children genuinely ecstatic and thankful because they had tasted the first morsel of freedom. Don't believe any negativity that may be in the news today. There were a few very isolated incidents in which Iraqi patriots lost their lives, but freedom and democracy moved forward despite it. You may have seen on the news that there was a rocket attack in Sadr City today. That was in our area of operations and I went there after the incident. The rocket hit about 40 meters from a polling station and killed 3 adults and a child, destroyed 7 vehicles and damaged buildings. Despite that, the people cleaned up the mess and continued to flood into the polling center to vote. While neighborhood members mopped the blood into the gutter, others continued to enter the station to take advantage of their new found freedom. The mother of the dead child voted, despite her grief. Elsewhere in our brigade's sector two suicide bombers attacked polling stations. People were killed and injured, but the polling stations remained open.
I walked with my patrol today throughout Sadr City, down the very same street on which I was almost killed on the 7th of September, and the people thanked us for providing them the security they needed to see this day through. It was heart-warming, it made me full of pride for our soldiers and their efforts, not just this week but since this all began. It convinced me, maybe for the first time, that this is genuinely worth it. It absolutely convinced me that David Heath, Brandon Titus, Henry Risner, Yoe Aneiros, David Waters, Mark Stubenhofer, and the over 1000 others did not die in vain. It convinced me that SGT Mendoza lost both of his legs in the pursuit of a higher purpose. I am assured that the 91soldiers from this task force that have bled in the streets of this city did so in order to make this day a reality. Today exceeded my wildest expectations, and while much remains to be done, a seed is planted, and I don't believe any amount of tyranny and terror can thwart its growth. Today as I watched men and woman swell with joy and pride as they showed me the indelible ink on their finger that proved they had voted, I developed new hope for the future. It took today, made possible by nearly two years worth of blood, sweat, and tears of both Iraqis and coalition forces, to make the hope for freedom a reality and paint genuine hope for the future in both the minds of our soldiers and that of the people of Iraq. I don't know if deep down, anyone ever thought today could happen. IT DID!
There will be more violence and deaths, and there is so much more work to do here that on any given day it seems overwhelming. Today convinced us who witnessed it, beyond any doubt, that the cause is just and the cost and effort are worth it. Today was an amazing day for Iraq, for America and her allies, and for the world. As I type this I am nearly brought to tears by the pride I feel for the flag that adorns my right sleeve, and for all that it stands for. God Bless you all, God bless the seeds of freedom, and God Bless America!
John

Friends

Some people make the world more special just by being in it.

Thanks for being in it!

337...

days left until Christmas! Can't believe January of 2005 is over. I feel as I get older, my days just slip away from me. There is nothing I can do about it but let it happen. That is life!
The weather has been wonderful, in the 70s. But he past couple of days it rained. It is suppose to rain through the weekend. It is currently 55 degrees so we can't complain. I just hope we have good weather for the retreat next weekend. It is mostly going to be indoors but it would be nice to be able to walk around outside and enjoy the outdoors. There are 29 signed up for the retreat. I am so excited for it and am excited for Donna to come from AL to lead it.
No bites on our home. A lot of people have taken the flyer out by the for sale sign. We are still planning to move in April. We still do not have orders in our hands yet.
No new adoption news but will let you know if something happens.
Well nothing exciting to report about but my husband likes to read my blog :) and so I thought I would write, even if it is nothing.
I did speak at my church last Sunday for the Stewardship banquet. I gave my stewardship testimony. I was nervous but I got through it. Many have been very encouraging to me about it and I love my Skyline family! They are great!
Take care & hope 2005 is bringing you many blessings.

House for sale

Our home is officially on the market http://www.evasells.com/115624.htm
It is very depressing to be selling a home I love. But God has other plans for us.
We are still planning on being at Fort Campbell, KY on May 1. We will probably move in April, no sooner. So if you are looking to moving to Central Texas, give us a call. Pres. Bush has a ranch at Crawford just 30 miles from here.
No exciting plans for the weekend here. Lance has an upper resp. infection so he has been under the weather since Tues. YUCK for the both of us! I try and baby him but it is so hard. I don't have much simpathy for him. I know I should but when he keeps me awake with his coughing and coughing and stuffed up head, it is so difficult. Then I have to pick up after him because he isn't feeling well enough to help around the house. But then he is well enough to do laundry??? I just don't know about him.
Hope you have a great weekend and I'll keep you posted on our exciting lives.

Moving sooner than later

With help from Lance, here is a Fadeley update!
We found out yesterday that Lance's report date to the 5th special forces group is May 1st. Again 5th group is at Fort Campbell, Kentucky which is about 1 hour northwest of Nashville. He will attend airborne school prior to leaving. This is a three week school at Fort Benning, Georgia. 5th group will deploy on July 1st of this year for 7 months. The bad news is that Lance is going to deploy, the good news is that it will not be a year long tour. He anticipates many "short" deployments like this during his tenure with 5th group. He is not sure if he will going to Iraq or Afghanistan yet as both countries are in 5th groups area of operation. While we knew this was coming it will still be a difficult time for us as Shawna will probably have to fly to China for the adoption without me, unless the Army will send him to China from where he is. And even though this will be the second time around for Lance deploying it will still difficult to say goodbye and be separated for 7 months. So please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.
(Lance) Aside from my faith in my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, i am drawing an incredile amount of strength from that fact that i will deploy as a husband and return as a husband and a father! God truly is good!!
(Shawna) I am excited about moving but nervous about moving so soon. It will be very hard to say goodbye to our friends and Skyline family here but God has bigger plans than our own. We have friends around Fort Campbell and they have already said they would take care of me. What a joy and comfort that brings me. Simba (our dog) and I will survive again a few months while Lance is away doing God's work.
Please also pray for a women's retreat we are planning here Feb. 4 & 5. It will be held at www.peaceablekingdomretreat.org. Our friend, Donna Allen from AL is coming to lead it. Donna is such a blessing to us and I just pray those will come that need some nourishment from God. Check out her web site www.foreverfamilyministries.com
Thank you for your prayers and friendship. They mean the world to us.

Silent Ranks

Silent Ranks - author unknown

I wear no uniforms, no blues or army greens.
But I am in the military in the ranks rarely seen.
I have no rank upon my shoulders, salutes I do not give.
But the military world is the place where I live.
I'm not in the chain of command, orders I do not get.
But my husband is the one who does, this I cannot forget.
I'm not the one who fires the weapon, who puts my life on the line.
But my job is just as tough.
I'm the one that's left behind.
My husband is a patriot, a brave and prideful man.
And the call to serve his country, not all can understand.
Behind the lines I see the things needed to keep this country free.
My husband makes the sacrifice, but so do our kids and me.
I love the man I married.
Soldiering is his life.
But I stand among the silent ranks known as the military wife

Hello 2005

Happy New Year! Hope 2005 will be good to you. Lance and I are happy & healthy so we are starting the new year off right. We are hoping to add a little one to our family this year. Now it sounds like we may travel to China in October to get her. So we are excited but wishing it was sooner. We will probably be moving to Fort Campbell, KY this summer so we will go to China after we are settled into our home there. All of this is in God's time and He knows what is best for us. Lance and I celebrated 10 years together this year. Wow! What a milestone! Hope this year brings you much happiness.

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.