Saying Good-Bye

It was time for the piggies to have a new home. Meg & Molly have lost interest, and will be gone the month of June visiting Tabitha in North Carolina, they're leaving Monday. Paisley will love the to DEATH, if you know what I mean, and the other 3 don't care about them at all. I sure am not going to be cleaning that stinky cage all summer! So, it was time. We tried pets and we failed. We are now back to being petfree, which is how I like it. 6 kids is enough work. So, I put an add on FREECYCLE.COM and within minutes they had a new home. They left yesterday morning. AHHHH...freedom. Here are some of the kids saying Good-Bye. And funny thing is, NO ONE has missed them!

CLASS OF 2009

CONGRATULATIONS

COURTNEY JOHANNA

XOXO

Grandma & Grandpap

WELL! I'm wide awake now! AND THIS IS LONG!!!

Well, now that Lisa sent me that Russian article and I read it, I'm wide awake.

I think I'll do some catching up and BLOG a little. It's been quite some time since I posted, except for some cute pictures to let you all know we are still alive.

Life has just got in the way of BLOGGING!

Gee, WHERE do I begin?

I know, let's start with that darling little ticker at the top of this BLOG. Hmmmm, What's if for? What's it mean? Well, I'm fed up and tired of being quiet. You all know that isn't me anyways. So, here goes and let the chips fall where they may! Let's back up. You all know we lost our sweet little Hannah when our Vietnam adoption fell apart Sept 25th, after Vietnam closed adoptions on Sept.1. No, that's not entirely correct, the USA closed the Vietnam adoptions. The Vietnamese Gov. wanted to continue. And MANY American families want to complete their adoptions! OOPS, Will I get myself in trouble for that statement? At this point, do I care? I will say, all this time the Dept of State ( DOS) has been trying to help us get our second referral. That's something the Vietnam Gov. permitted if you lost your referral through no fault of your own,and your agency had another child available to refer you. Miraculously, we were matched with a little girl with a heart defect within a few days of loosing Hannah, but because of all the flooding in Hanoi in Oct, ( remember I was posting pics on this BLOG of the floods) we weren't able to get our acceptance paperwork to Vietnam before the Vietnam Gov. changed their policy on OCT 30th and said no more 2nd referrals. So, with the DOS helping us, and Senator Nelson, and some agency owners too, and lots of ups and downs, we got to April 1, 2009 with no progress. YOU WON'T BELIEVE THIS! Mike flew to Washington DC and met with the Vietnam Delegation which included the new VICE MINISTER OF JUSTICE and 7 other officials who came here to talk with the DOS about what was needed to reopen adoptions. Mike thanked them for allowing him to present our case to them. He told them how we loved Vietnam and the people, how we have adopted Ta Thi Tam (Paisley) and Nguyen Be Phuong (Austin) from Vietnam and how we lost our Hannah when her mommy decided to take her home. He told them how we were heartbroken to lose her but felt it was her destiny to be with her mommy, and now we had another little girl waiting for us and it was HER destiny to be with us. They knew all about us and our little girl waiting in Vietnam. They were very kind and sincere and promised to do what they could to help us complete our adoption. Since that time, we have been waiting for an answer, we have been waiting for our DOS to send a letter to the Vietnam Gov. stating the DOS approves us to be permitted our second referral. And that's what the ticker is for~~~We have been waiting 1 MONTH, 4 WEEKS & 2 DAYS for a letter to go from the DOS to Vietnam on our behalf, and on behalf of the other families waiting just like us!

Oh My Goodness, that was long, but it felt good to tell our story. Are you still with me?

Let's see, what else has been going on?

Well, school is out Thursday, YEAH! We can sleep in till 7AM WOO~HOO!

Meg & Molly are going to North Carolina next week and will be staying till the 4th of July. They'll be spending June with Tabby our 12 yr old granddaughter. All 3 girls are SOOO excited. Meg is already packed. Wendy will be more than happy to see us pulling into her driveway the weekend of the 4th, if she has her sanity that long with 3 12 yr olds.

The girls got cell phones last week. UNLIMITED TEXTING! Good thing since Meg has hundreds everyday!

You know how much Meg loves school right? And you know last year she had a summer countdown calendar up in her room by the last day of school? Well, this takes the cake! She has outdone herself~~~she informed us tonight, and mind you school isn't out yet, she has her backpack packed for 7th grade already! ( she has several new backpacks, we clearance shop).

I can't stop thinking about that Russian Article! I wonder how many other countries think the same way???

We have family and friends who work for GM/Chrysler/Ford and other car companies. This ISN'T good!

Let's see, what else has happened? Oh Baby Jack! Isn't he a DOLL? We had a great time at Tracy's house. You saw how my kids loved the chicken's and go carts! They loved getting dirty too! And camping in the back yard! Tracy taught them how to do the "crab walk" on the kitchen floor and they thought those giant TURKEY EGGS were the best thing they ever ate! Aren't they the biggest eggs you ever saw? Everyday one of the "Littles" ask when we can go back to visit Tracy? Since she's 5 hours north, it'll be a while!

Everyone here has been sick, of course not all at once, no, we had to do it ONE AT A TIME. I'm #7 and Mike will be the end of the line unless he escapes it by some miracle!

I've been sick for a week now and will miss Courtney's graduation because I can't get rid of this cough! YES! Courtney graduates from High School tonight! CONGRATULATIONS COURTNEY!

And Miss JASMINE Graduates too! Way to Go Girls!

We have 3 new baby G Pigs. Anyone want some pigs?

Oh My, It's almost 2 AM. I guess I'm off to bed. I'll try to post a little more often.

Someone sent this to me tonight, A Very Interesting read isn't it?

American capitalism gone with a whimper



I am copying this article from the Russian newspaper PRAVDA which in Russian means TRUTH.-----------------------------http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/107459-0/



It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American decent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people.
True, the situation has been well prepared on and off for the past century, especially the past twenty years. The initial testing grounds was conducted upon our Holy Russia and a bloody test it was. But we Russians would not just roll over and give up our freedoms and our souls, no matter how much money Wall Street poured into the fists of the Marxists.
Those lessons were taken and used to properly prepare the American populace for the surrender of their freedoms and souls, to the whims of their elites and betters.
First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas then the drama in DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their "right" to choke down a McDonalds burger or a BurgerKing burger than for their constitutional rights. Then they turn around and lecture us about our rights and about our "democracy". Pride blind the foolish.
Then their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches, all tens of thousands of different "branches and denominations" were for the most part little more then Sunday circuses and their televangelists and top protestant mega preachers were more then happy to sell out their souls and flocks to be on the "winning" side of one pseudo Marxist politician or another. Their flocks may complain, but when explained that they would be on the "winning" side, their flocks were ever so quick to reject Christ in hopes for earthly power. Even our Holy Orthodox churches are scandalously liberalized in America.
The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America's short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more then another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe.
These past two weeks have been the most breath taking of all. First came the announcement of a planned redesign of the American Byzantine tax system, by the very thieves who used it to bankroll their thefts, loses and swindles of hundreds of billions of dollars. These make our Russian oligarchs look little more then ordinary street thugs, in comparison. Yes, the Americans have beat our own thieves in the shear volumes. Should we congratulate them?
These men, of course, are not an elected panel but made up of appointees picked from the very financial oligarchs and their henchmen who are now gorging themselves on trillions of American dollars, in one bailout after another. They are also usurping the rights, duties and powers of the American congress (parliament). Again, congress has put up little more then a whimper to their masters.
Then came Barack Obama's command that GM's (General Motor) president step down from leadership of his company. That is correct, dear reader, in the land of "pure" free markets, the American president now has the power, the self given power, to fire CEOs and we can assume other employees of private companies, at will. Come hither, go dither, the centurion commands his minions.
So it should be no surprise, that the American president has followed this up with a "bold" move of declaring that he and another group of unelected, chosen stooges will now redesign the entire automotive industry and will even be the guarantee of automobile policies. I am sure that if given the chance, they would happily try and redesign it for the whole of the world, too. Prime Minister Putin, less then two months ago, warned Obama and UK's Blair, not to follow the path to Marxism, it only leads to disaster. Apparently, even though we suffered 70 years of this Western sponsored horror show, we know nothing, as foolish, drunken Russians, so let our "wise" Anglo-Saxon fools find out the folly of their own pride.
Again, the American public has taken this with barely a whimper...but a "freeman" whimper.
So, should it be any surprise to discover that the Democratically controlled Congress of America is working on passing a new regulation that would give the American Treasury department the power to set "fair" maximum salaries, evaluate performance and control how private companies give out pay raises and bonuses? Senator Barney Franks, a social pervert basking in his homosexuality (of course, amongst the modern, enlightened American societal norm, as well as that of the general West, homosexuality is not only not a looked down upon life choice, but is often praised as a virtue) and his Marxist enlightenment, has led this effort. He stresses that this only affects companies that receive government monies, but it is retroactive and taken to a logical extreme, this would include any company or industry that has ever received a tax break or incentive.
The Russian owners of American companies and industries should look thoughtfully at this and the option of closing their facilities down and fleeing the land of the Red as fast as possible. In other words, divest while there is still value left.
The proud American will go down into his slavery with out a fight, beating his chest and proclaiming to the world, how free he really is. The world will only snicker.
Stanislav Mishin

NEVER TOO MUCH FUN!

MOTHER'S DAY WEEKEND FUN

WELCOME TO THE WORLD

Our First GREAT Grand-baby!

Jack Michael

born May 3, 2009 at Sunrise

8 lb. 1 oz.

Blonde hair and mommy's nose

a beautiful baby boy

Mommy Felicia

Great job Miss Foo

XOXOXOXO

GREAT Grandma & Grandpap

HAPPY 12th BIRTHDAY

MOLLY GRACE

XOXO

MOMMY & DADDY

CONGRATULATIONS!

Happy Trails, Bon Voyage, Have a Great Flight,

HAPPY G&R

Tonight we helped our friends

Shari & Myke

celebrate their

"Trip of a Lifetime"

Tomorrow they are leaving for

Vietnam

where they will finally meet their beautiful new

DAUGHTER!

CONGRATULATIONS !

And here are a few of the beautiful little celebrators having fun.

As you can see, we picked up a few extra NUTZ along the way

Since we were at a Korean Restaurant, Meg wanted SUSHI

Paisley took it over and ate most of it.

Better luck next time Meg!

THANK-YOU MARY

What a sweet surprise!

While my friend Mary was in China she found this bag of candy and thought of us!

LOOK at the name :)

Thank-you Mary

The kids Love it!

Well, actually, Meg is having a great time eating them all.

She was really excited when she tasted them.

She said she remembers the flavor from China.

Tomorrow the little kids get some too!

HAPPY SATURDAY

MEG & MOLLY ALSO RODE

GREAT NEWS

My friend Kathleen passed court today!!! She and her husband are now the proud parents of 2 beautiful girls from Ethiopia! They have waited an entire year for this day, and it has finally come. The girls will be home in May and will then meet their 2 older brothers and their twin baby sisters from Vietnam. Mike and I are so happy for them all.

So many eggs

Several friends have asked about our Easter Eggs. Here's the scoop~~
The kids colored 6 dozen eggs. Yes, that's a lot of eggs, but thank goodness for WAL-MART Grocery! We have 6 kids, if we only colored 3 dozen eggs like normal families, they'd each have only 6 eggs to color. What fun would that be? Wait 365 days to color 6 eggs?? NO WAY! So we decided to do a dozen for each. They aren't expensive so I figured I'd toss the extras at the end of the week. HA! There are FOUR eggs left as of tonight, and Meg is taking 2 of them to school in her lunch tomorrow. Turns out my kids love hard boiled eggs! I made deviled eggs out of 2 dozen of them and turned those leftovers into egg salad today. It turned out great and the kids had fun! That's the important part. Good memories of coloring Easter Eggs.

EASTER MONDAY

Is NOT the day to start a diet, not with all those chocolate bunny ears just waiting to be bit, but that's what I did. It's time, I'm ready, so let the misery begin!!

Today my Vietnam adoption agency closes it's doors, another miserable thought. I can't believe it!!! BUT, they are standing behind us and for that I'm grateful.

Let's see, what else can I add to my cheerful post?

Oh, I know, SPRING BREAK was not nearly long enough!! 6:15 came way too early this morning, and poor little Austin was crying as he was getting on his bus that's showing up earlier and earlier. 6:57 today! What happened to 7:07? That seemed too early to me! I know it's only 10 minutes difference, but when your only 3, sometimes you need that extra few minutes to eat your breakfast, or decide to go potty!

The seeds I planted 4 weeks ago are WAY overdue to be transplanted, something I keep putting off. I swear, I could have taken the kids to Mickey's House with what I spent on seeds, potting soil, containers, etc. etc. and we will probably get very little veggies out of it too. It's not like the kids are helping, that was my original thought, something fun for us to do together. OH NO, no one wants any part of the "garden". Ha, Garden, that's a joke, I'm putting the plants in with the landscaping around the pool. I wouldn't dare dig up my yard!! So, as my nice plants die off, or need to be replaced, they are being replaced with corn, beans, peas, watermelon, cantelope, lettuce, peppers, and tomatos. ( I have a BIG landscaped area around the pool if you're thinking "where's she putting all that stuff"?)

Let's see, what else ? Oh, I know, Austin had dental work done last Wednesday. About broke the bank on that one, and we have great dental ins. Anyhow, "from this day forward" says Dr. B, "NO sticky or chewy foods"!!! YIKES! No fruit roll-ups, No gummies, NO JELLY BEANS. The Sunday School Easter Egg Hunt was full of jelly beans! That was a nice temper tantrum, poor little guy. When you're 3 and just learned about jelly beans, you don't understand why mommy says NO all of a sudden. Brother and sisters aren't too happy either.

That's about all the depressing thoughts I want to add for now so I guess I'll go have another cup of coffee, then drag myself and Paisley out to plant the beans and cukes.

HAPPY EASTER

HE IS RISEN!

EASTER EGGS

GINA & Miss Sue

Austin & Ryan's teacher, Miss Sue, has a horse named GINA. Sue invited my kids over to the barn to ride Gina on Friday. Poor Gina. Poor Sue! The kids LOVED riding and spent hours there! They couldn't get enough of the horses. Then they got to help give them a bath! If my camera hadn't run out of batteries, there would have been some great pics of 6 kids on one side of a horse lathering it up! Then Paisley found the barn cats!!! We couldn't keep her away from those poor kitties. WHY are barn cats so beat up? No tails, missing eyes, poor babies!

Today the kids made thank-you cards for Miss Sue.

Thank- you Miss Sue for a wonderful experience!

A DAY AT THE BEACH

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

ELIZABETH RENEE'

( Betsy Peeps )

WE LOVE & MISS YOU

XOXOX

MOM & DAD

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAT

XOXO

YOUR SISTER

SANDY

It's time to sit back and rejoice in the many blessings God has given us. It's time to sit back and enjoy God's plan for our family and accept whatever the future holds with delight and faithfulness.

Although we are heartbroken for our little girl who will continue to live in an orphanage in Vietnam, we take comfort in the fact that we have done everything within our power to bring her home. We have left NO stone unturned trying to get her home. We have been in private contact with government officials in the USA and Vietnam. We have prayed unceasingly for this child and will continue to do so. When 2 governments clash, it's the people who suffer, and in this case, it's the orphaned children of Vietnam who are the innocent victims. We pray the "Powers that Be" will realize this and do the right thing for the children of Vietnam.

THE NEWLYWEDS

Kris and Anita

our grandson & new granddaughter

What a beautiful Wedding it was.

WEDDING BELLS ARE RINGING

We're off to Ft Meyers.

Our grandson Kris is getting married tonight!!!

CONGRATULATIONS

KRIS & ANITA

ARLINGTON TEXAS

I used to live there!!!!!!!

HAPPY NEWS FOR ME

My sister is moving back to FLORIDA!!! Her husband has been transferred back from Texas, and this time she will be here on the East Coast. I'm so excited to be able to see her again! She's my baby sister and my "Disney Buddy". Tia has 10 kiddos, 5 bio and 5 adopted, 2 China, 2 VN and 1 dom. Sorta like me. She had lived on the west coast and we would both leave our hubbies home to work and meet at MICKEY"S HOUSE with all the kids. Well, we didn't have ALL the kids at the time. We had such great times. we would stay at the Polynesian, and have a blast. I think the Polynesian may be out of our budgets for awhile, Thanks to this Depression OOPS, I meant REcession, but we'll still have a great time at the POP Century!! Meg loves the free ICCEE machine there.

OIY VEY IS ME!!!!

Who's been to the orthodontist lately? I HAVE!!! OIY VEY! 3 kid needing "bracelets" as Meg calls them and I NEED A BAILOUT! Hey! There's no $$ at my house, OR in America! But I know where all the $$ is...It's at the Ortho's office!! I hear Congress is giving out lots of $$, I think I'll give them a call.
Really though, I took Ryan to Dr. S yesterday. He was Wendy's ortho 20 years ago and she has the most beautiful teeth. So, I was happy to see his office has moved from Oakland Park to a quarter mile from my house!! AND I found out he was the first and only CLEFT ortho in Broward county for many years ( there is another one here now too). So, we had a consult yesterday after school. He will wait 6 months and recheck him, then start widening his palate. We're waiting for molars to come in. Ryan is 6. This morning Ryan had a visit with his cleft surgeon Dr S. yes, both are Dr. S. and we were told ortho Dr S had already called and he is now the lead MD in charge of Ryan's mouth. WOW, How did I get so lucky as to using the right ortho 20 years ago? We all know it wasn't luck. It was all God's plan..WOW! HE really thinks ahead doesn't He? :) Only joking God....
The $$$$, OH, the $$$$. Not only will Ryan be starting ortho care by the end of the year, but Misses Meg and Molly will be starting NOW! YIKES! I should have put "STRAIGHT TEETH" in my Home Study! Let's not even THINK about the babies! The little girls have underbites already!!
Sadley, if our Vietnam adoption disolves in a heap, and it's looking like it's just about gone now, you all know where my travel $$ will be going...and it won't be at MICKEY'S HOUSE :(