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.