The guys heading to the Independence Bowl back in December.

Payton with our Italian Greyhound, Maverick. He is 3 1/2 years old and is very active and full of energy.

Myranda, who doesn't let me take her picture very often.

Payton is our animal lover. This is our aggie dog, "Rev" on her 13th birthday. We have had her since she was 8 weeks old. We got her when Arron turned 3 and she is a very well behaved sheltie who has been so good with the kids. She is beginning to slow down and is starting to show her age. It has been hard to watch her health decline since she has been with us for so long.

Payton's new shirt she bought when we recently went to College Staion for a basketball game, sooo cute!

Helping Mom bake cupcakes for Jacob's birthday.

Enjoying hot chocolate on a cold winter day.

We received great news on Jacob's birthday. We are logged in, PTL!!!

Celebrating Jacob

Jacob's 8th Birthday

Jacob as a sweet newborn baby

Jacob's 1st Birthday

Today is my baby boy's birthday. I can't believe he is already 8! I am so proud to be his mom and that God blessed me with him. He loves being a big brother to Shayle and is so excited about being a big brother to Ben, finally a younger brother. He is looking forward to sharing his room with him.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACOB COLE, WE LOVE YOU!!!!!!!

Happy New Year!

I decided to change up my blog as we begin the new year. We had many blessings in 2009 and are looking forward to the adventures and blessings God has in store for us as we bring home our son in 2010!

We should be hearing that we have a LID for Ben very soon. After that time, I am going to send him his first care package with his very own photo book of his family who is waiting for him. Once he receives his care package, I am going to have our agency send a request to have updated photos, measurements and a few questions sent to us. The only pictures we have are 9 months old. I sit and wonder at how much he has changed, how much taller he is and what he looks like now. I'm not sure if the orphanage will give us any information. Some have been able to get updates and some could not.

I will be creating a website for Ben soon. Once I do, I will have a link to his site from our family blog.

Wishing each of you a year full of God's blessings as we serve Him together in 2010!

Merry Christmas

DTC!!!!!!

We have been given an early Christmas present. It has been 96 days since receiving our referral for our sweet baby boy. Today our agency called to let us know our dossier has been mailed to China! We should be officially logged in in 2-4 weeks and then we will begin our "WAIT" for the govt. in China to review our dossier and give us approval to adopt Ben. The anticipated "WAIT" will be 5-7 months after we have a log in date. We feel like we will travel sometime between May and August, 2010.

Paperwork Is Finished!!

We have finally finished our paperwork and received it back from the Houston Consulate on Tuesday, December 15, 2009. I mailed it to our agency the same day and they received it yesterday. The agency e-mailed with good news that we should be DTC by Christmas!! DTC is the "Date To China" that our paperwork, also known as our dossier, is mailed to China. What a nice Christmas present for us.

Celebrating 18 Years With My Best Friend

Darrel and I celebrated our 18th anniversary last week on December 7th, 2009. He surprised me with a weekend get away to the Gaylord Texan. We had a great time and this picture was taken on our anniversary. We also saw the Ice sculptors, which was something I had been wanting to see. It was very nice to get away without the kids. I appreciate him so much for always thinking of me and planning time to get away, I love you so much and couldn't have asked God for a better husband to spend my life with! I also appreciate my in-laws for coming to stay with the kids, no matter how many we have!

Celebrating Payton

Today my sweet Pay Pay turned 11. I can't believe she is growing up so fast. She is such a wonderful daughter, I truly have been blessed! She is the most tender hearted person I know. She has always had a big and caring heart but God just continues to build His perfect character within His daughter. I am so thankful she has centered her life around Christ and lives each day to please Him. Happy Birthday Baby Girl, I love You!!!!!

Payton's Birthday Party 11/6/09
Roasting Hot Dogs
Cake that Myranda made for her, soooo sweet! Myranda's a pretty amazing sis.
Ice Cream Cake on 11/18/09
6:30 am on 11/18/09

Always just "Be You" Pay Pay!!

God is Faithful!!

THANK YOU PRAYER WARRIORS!! I went Friday as a walk in to see if they would allow me to re-do my fingerprints. They were a little hesitant at first but once I told them I was willing to wait and let everyone else go before me, then they let me. I actually didn't have to wait very long at all. I was out of there within in one hour which helped me greatly to be able to do a little Christmas shopping and shopping for my baby girl who will be 11 on Wednesday. The best part of all is that I don't have to change my Thanksgiving plans to go to my dad's.

This is the last time they take my fingerprints, so now we wait to see if they are good enough so keep on praying! I'm not sure what the next step will be if they aren't legible enough for the the FBI. This has been a long process since we applied on 9/18 to get an appt. for our fingerprints. I know God is sovereign and has this all under control and once Ben is in our arms, all of this will be a distant memory.

USCIS

We received a letter yesterday stating that I need to have my fingerprints redone. I am very frustrated since the appointment assigned is for the day after Thanksgiving. I have plans to visit my dad for Thanksgiving in west Texas. I couldn't believe that they would be open for a fingerprinting appointment the day after Thanksgiving. I called to see if they could change my appointment to an earlier date. I had no luck. If I change my appointment it will be moved into December. I had such high hopes to be logged in by Thanksgiving. :<(

Today I spoke with someone at the NBC office and they were very nice but could not help with changing my appointment. They did suggest that I might try taking my letter to the office and see if they will allow me to walk in since it is a re-fingerprint appt. My agency had also suggested this yesterday. It is about a 90 mile drive each way, but it is worth a try to not have my Thanksgiving plans interrupted. I am planning on going this Friday to see if they will let me walk in. Please pray that I will be allowed to get this out of the way as it has been almost two months since we first applied just to have our fingerprints taken. Our dossier has been complete since the end of August lacking just this approval from USCIS. This is the last thing we need to be able to send our paperwork to China and for our wait to officially begin with the Chinese govt. which we anticipate to be 5-7 months before we can travel.

One Year Gotcha Day!!!!

Shayle on gotcha day 11/3/08



Shayle on gotcha day 11/3/09





Today marks one year since God blessed our family in such an amazing way. One year ago Shayle became our forever daughter! Her world as she knew disappeared into a distant memory as she was given a new hope and a new future. Just as in Jerimiah 29:11 The Lord wants to give us a future and a hope. Novemeber 3, 2008 the Lord gave Shayle a new future and a new hope. I never dreamed how well she would adjust to her new life and family, but God knew. He knew before she was born that she was created with a plan to become our daughter. All the glory and gratitude belongs to God who allowed us to be a part of His plan. We were changed forever as He placed this beautiful little girl into our arms one year ago today.

Shayle has grown so much in all areas since being home. She has such a sweet and kind spirit who can be shy but also be outgoing at times. She adores her brothers and sisters and really looks up to them. She misses them when they go to a friend's house and wants them to be home. She has grown very attached to her grandparents and looks forward to seeing them. She loves her mommy and daddy as if we were her parents since she was born.

She loves school and she is learning many new things. She absorbs everything being taught and puts forth her best effort in her schoolwork. She is continuing speech twice/week and making progress. We think she has come a long way since being here with us. We are very proud of her!

In the last year she has been through a lot of medical appointments and surgeries. She has undergone dental surgery, cleft palate surgery, tubes in ears, speech, dental visits, catching up on immunizations, cardiologist visits & tests, she has had strep throat twice and the swine flu. With all of this going on, I am thankful to God she has progressed as much as she has. Each time she gets sick, she loses weight. We have had to stay on top of her weight due to her heart issues. At adoption she weighed 27lbs and was 39" tall at 5yr 8mo old. Now she is 6yr 8mo and weighs 34lbs and is 42" tall. We are happy she is growing and doing so well.

HAPPY GOTCHA DAY SHAYLE!!!!!!!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!!!!!