The Williamson Clan

Bringing Christopher Home

2011-08-17T16:49:00.003-05:00

We are now in our 19th month of trying to bring Christopher, our 9th child, home from Haiti. It is exciting to know how close we are to the end of this adoption and that it won't be too much longer until we can love on our son. Christopher has Sickle Cell and we are anxious to bring him home and get him treatment for his disease. Most of all I want to enjoy those mischievous eyes and killer smile.
This adoption has been different than the others for us, in that we started out applying for Humanitarian Aid for Christopher after the horrible Earthquake in Haiti. After several months of going down that road, we went full fledge into the adoption process. I traveled to Haiti in April to stand before the Judges and Embassy. It was a great trip and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute spent with Christopher.
We only have a little more money we need to raise to complete his adoption. We've set up a Chip In account to help with the fundraising. If you have the means and wish to help, this is an easy way to do so.

2010 came and went....

2010-12-26T08:46:00.002-06:00

This year started off with our family living 4 hours away from each other. Shane, Nathan and Evan were living in Center Point...working on the double-wide we had just purchased on 12 acres, while the girls and I were still in Houston, waiting for our house to sell.

January 12th brought devastation to the home country of half of our children. Haiti experienced a huge earthquake that destroyed much of Port au Prince, killing thousands. I remember my mom coming downstairs to tell me she just saw that Haiti had an earthquake. I was on the phone with Shane at the time, so I jumped online to check it out. I read to him the news I was getting off the internet. It just made us sick. For days...weeks, we prayed non-stop for our friends and family in Haiti, and the people who were going through so much suffering. I wanted to go. Right then. But I couldn't. Not having any nursing ability, I would have just been in the way.

February brought our family together again, as our house in Houston sold and we were all able to move to Center Point. My parents moved into our double-wide with us as they waited for their own house to be set up on our property.

We got news from Haiti that we could try to get Christopher out on Humanitarian Parole. I had met him in August of 2009 while working at his orphanage. We knew he had Sickle Cell disease and was at risk staying in Haiti. The next several months were consumed with paperwork and phone calls....jumping through several hoops trying to get this sweet boy out of Haiti, only to be told in the end that he was denied Humanitarian Parole because of the original wording on his Birth Parent Relinquishment paper. The form that the orphanage used for birthparents to sign stated they were giving their child to the creche so they would be "lavished with care" instead of saying they would be available for adoption. EVEN THOUGH...a creche is an orphanage that is licensed to adopt out children. EVEN THOUGH... his birth mother had already had 2 other children adopted out through this orphanage. EVEN THOUGH...other children with the same wording on their paperwork had been released on humanitarian parole. EVEN THOUGH...Christopher has a disease and Tulane University Medical Center has promised him medical treatment upon arriving in the States. Sometimes...well....most of the time, the decisions made by U.S. government officials baffle me. How on earth does it make sense to prevent this child from coming home to a family that is ready to love and care for him, and to deny him the medical care that he needs, leaving him to wait for a year or more while the paperwork for an adoption goes through?

We started the full adoption of Christopher, the fundraising that is needed to pay the $10,000 Haitian fee and sent our full dossier to Haiti in August. Currently, our paperwork is in the Haitian system and we are waiting for it to be processed. We've been blessed to have some people traveling to Haiti send us photos of Christopher. He turned 3 in October.

July brought a visit from my 2 sisters and their kids. We had SO much fun visiting. We were able to go to New Braunfels and stay in a time-share for a few days. We took a day trip to San Antonio. Spent a couple days playing at the river. I hated to see our time together end.

Shane and I were part of a group of parents who started a new ACE/Christian school after the school our boys were attending (and the one Shane graduated from) closed in May. As we worked with this dedicated group of parents we were both drawn more and more to the vision of the school. We decided after much prayer to put our resumes in for the teaching positions. We were offered the job and accepted it. In September Grace Academy of Kerrville opened with Shane teaching the 7th to 12th grades and me teaching the 1st to 6th grades. We love it. It is so great to be working together and having all the kids (minus Nathan) with us. It is just a really neat experience for our family.

Nathan turned 18 in September and just finished his Associates Degree this Christmas. He has been accepted to Schreiner University and offered their highest scholarship. He will began classes in January. As of now, he has chosen Exercise Science as his Major. We are really proud of him.

Evan turned 16 in October and got his driver's permit. He plays basketball for Grace Academy and is still playing the guitar.
Jairtzi was able to participate in a summer Track program where she ran the hurdles and did the long jump. She also played Volleyball for Grace Academy this fall and loved it.

Jazmin is continuing her love of information and knowledge. She reads constantly and retains everything! She still has a goal of becoming a doctor and going to Haiti to help her people.

Allie is still everything Horses. She LOVES horses. I've long since given up the thought that this is a passing phase. I pray that she will get the opportunity to be around horses, as this is obviously a God Given love.

Widnie is enjoying attending school and making new friends. She is doing great academically. She has grown so much since coming to the U.S. We laugh when we look at her photo of first coming home and how short and small she was. Now she is much taller than Allie who is 7 months older than her.

Francia is still our monkey. She flashes those dimples at us and we can't help but smile. She is a tease through and through. She LOVES monkeys and says she wants to be a zookeeper and a teacher when she grows up.

Eliana continues her adjustments and settling into our family. She has gown and matured. It is so good to see all that she has accomplished. She is doing very well in school and we continue to steer her in the right direction when making social decisions. She has taught us so much as parents.

Shane and I celebrate 20 years of marriage on Dec. 27th. Wow! What a ride! We never would have thought that 20 years could contain so much change for us. I am SO thankful that God has brought us closer together through every trial and every blessing.

Adoption is still very much a part of our lives and vision for our family. God has really placed the desire on our hearts to start adoption ministries in churches. We have been able to talk to some people about this and were even featured in the local newspaper regarding this issue. Unfortunately at this time, no churches have responded to our emails or newspaper article. We will not give up though. We will continue to pray and let God guide us to where we need to go with this mission.

2010 was another year of big changes for our family. God brought us through once again. He has never failed us. I pray that 2011 will bring Christopher into our home, see Adoption Ministries pop up in churches through-out our community and bring our family closer together.

2010-10-20T20:32:00.001-05:00

Dear Friends,
We would like to give you an update on our adoption of Christopher. The last time we wrote, we were waiting for Christopher to be released on Humanitarian Parole. Much to our surprise and disappointment, the government denied our petition due to wording on his birth parent relinquishment papers.
Our adoption paperwork is now in the Haitian Social Service agency awaiting approval. This step usually takes 4-5 months. There are a few more steps to go through once the paperwork is released, but we are hopeful that Christopher will be home this spring.
As you may remember, Christopher has Sickle Cell Disease. He will be treated at Tulane University in New Orleans when he arrives in the States. We have been blessed to receive updated photos and even video of Christopher from families that have visited his orphanage recently. They report that he is happy and has a great sense of humor. We love to see the sparkle in his eyes and long for him to be home. Christopher will turn 3 on the last day of October.
We have been blessed by your prayers and financial support in our endeavor to give Christopher a loving, secure home and a happy, healthy future. We still need to raise the remaining $7,000 of adoption costs.
If you know anyone who would like to contribute to Christopher’s fund would you please pass this letter on to them. Tax Deductible contributions can be made to:
Kingdom Kids Adoption Ministries
PO BOX 48744
Spokane, WA 99228

Please DO NOT include our names anywhere on the check. IRS regulations do not allow for a tax-deductible donation to have any name other than the tax-exempt organization written on it. Just include a note that states you would like the donation to go toward the Shane & Jana Williamson adoption.
Or, if you would rather, you can contact KKAM and make a donation with credit card at (509) 465-3520.
Words cannot express how much your support means to our family. God has called us to the mission of adoption and we could not do it without you coming beside us. Please contact us with any questions you may have in regards to our fundraising and adoption. We are always open to suggestions.

Blessings,
The Williamsons
Shane, Jana, Nathan, Evan, Jairtzi, Jazmin, Allie, Widnie, Francia, Eliana and Christopher

1 Blessed is the one who considers the poor!
In the day of trouble the LORD delivers him;
2 the LORD protects him and keeps him alive;
he is called blessed in the land;
Psalm 41:1-2 (ESV)

Goofing off in the Garden

2010-07-15T15:54:00.003-05:00

Spring Flowers

2010-07-15T15:40:00.003-05:00

These were taken this spring on our property.

Fiesta Texas July 2010

2010-07-15T15:27:00.002-05:00

We took the boys to Fiesta Texas with 3 other families. Evan, who when we went to Disneyland threw FITS about going on any ride scarier than Dumbo, turned into some kind of Roller Coaster freak. I guess that just proves what peer pressure can do. He had his brother and 4 other teenagers "encouraging" him to ride the coasters. I told him it was a good thing they weren't telling him to go smoke pot since he probably would have! He rode just about every roller coaster there, and some of them repeatedly. They even talked Shane and I onto a couple of them. Yes, even I succumbed to the pressure. When your teenager actually WANTS to go do something with you (even if it is for the sole purpose of torturing you) it's hard to pass the opportunity up.

Jairtzi ~ Track Star

2010-07-15T15:22:00.003-05:00

Jairtzi was thrilled to take part in the Kerrville Parks and Rec Summer Track program this year. I was less than thrilled to be at the track 4 days a week at 7:30 am, but it beats having it later in the day in the Texas heat. Jairtzi really wanted to run the hurdles, which she had never done before. She got her chance and did very well. She ran at Regionals last Friday and placed:
2nd in 80 M hurdles (lost to a boy)
1st in 100 M dash
1st in Shot put
1st in 200 M dash
We declined going on to the State meet in Waco. A little far to go and spend 4 days. We will reconsider that next year, as I'm sure she'll be running again.

Happenings

2010-07-14T17:25:00.007-05:00

It has been awhile since I posted. I keep meaning to, but then put it off another day. We worked tirelessly for 5 months to bring Christopher home on Humanitarian Parole. The government made it's final decision to deny that petition. Now we are pursuing adoption. This means starting at the very beginning and putting together the whole dossier to send to Haiti. Most of this I had already done for HP purposes, be we just had our psychological exam and medical exams done. All we need are those letters, translations, authentications, then we send it all to Haiti for the BIG WAIT.

I hold out hope that Haitian adoptions will be processed faster and more smoothly than before the quake. I figure that 900 children were cleared out of IBESR (Haitian Social Services) with HP, so there won't be such a backlog of adoptions in the works. One can hope. I would love to have Christopher home for his 3rd birthday in October, but I learned a long time ago not to put a timeframe on Haitian Adoptions. Once the wait is over and your child is home with you, you realize it was all worth it. Every bit of it.

Let's see...in other news....We found out the last week of school that the Christian School the boys were attending planned on closing after 30 years. No notice. No warning. Just done. We, along with other families that were left in the lurch have opted to open a new Christian School using the same curriculum. Shane is on the interim board for that. That keeps him very busy.

Shane has also changed jobs within the Salvation Army. He no longer is the Program Director but now is the IT Specialist. He will be over all IT for the new KROC Center. He has also starting schooling for IT "stuff". He is taking on line classes. Have I mentioned that he is busy???

Our Highlight of the summer so far has been my 2 sisters visiting with their children. Val came with Arianna from Oregon and Kim came from Pennsylvania with Hannah and her Elliana. We got to have 2 weeks with them and it was great! We all went to New Braunfels with my parents to one of their timeshares. (Shane had to stay home to work)

We were able to take them to a rodeo at Criders in Hunt.

We spent time at the river.

I also took Val, Kim, Arianna and Evan down to the Alamo and River Walk in San Antonio.

I was so sad to see them leave. Sure wish we all lived closer.

God has really been laying adoption more and more on our hearts. For several months Shane and I have said, "We need to start adoption ministries in churches. Churches need to be involved and a place where people who want to adopt can go for help". I've been researching more about this and am very excited at where it is leading.

Celebrating Life...Present and Eternal

2010-03-10T09:32:00.003-06:00

Today we celebrate a life that was born 10 years ago and one that started his eternal life in Heaven.
Howard Parks, our brother-in-law, died today of cancer. He was very special to our Allie. When he was diagnosed with lung cancer and ended up in the hospital just 2 weeks ago, she sobbed. She was so sad that Howard was so sick. She said, "He was my friend."
We met Howard in the spring of 2008 when we drove to Texas from Oregon for a family reunion. Shane's sister, Debblynne and Howard had already been together for several years, but we had not met him before. He was very giving in his friendship to us. The boys had a great time going to his house to shoot at his shooting range and to ride 4-wheelers. He took Allie to the mall to buy her a "real" cowboy hat, which she wore proudly....and still does. Howard treated our family to a night at the rodeo. It was a lot of fun.
My heart aches for my sister-in-law, as I know she and Howard loved each other deeply. They were such a perfect fit.

I love the verse...."For such a time as this"....
God blessed us by allowing us to Howard, and He moved us back to Kerrville, "for such a time as this.". Shane and I were able to see Howard in the hospital in San Antonio 2 weeks ago. At the time, Howard was not very responsive, but when Shane prayed for him and spoke to him, he seemed to respond. Shane told him about God's love for him and that all he needed to do was talk to God in his mind, and God could hear him. Shane told him that he just needed to ask God to live in him and He would. When asked if he understood, Howard nodded his head.
They moved Howard to a nursing home a few days ago, here in Kerrville. Shane was able to take Allie, Jazmin and Francia to visit him on Sunday. Howard was able to talk some and visit some. Shane has been up there every day this week, getting another chance to make sure Howard was prepared for eternity. Howard said he was.
This morning, at 12:04 am Howard got to meet Jesus. He no longer is in pain and weak. He is strong and healthy and celebrating life....eternal life.
I told Allie that Howard is celebrating her birthday in Heaven. He is probably watching her life video with God and seeing her when she was such a chatter-box at 2 years old. Allie is happy that she shares this special day with Howard, her birthday and his BIRTHday.

Happy 10th Birthday Allie Janae!

2010-03-10T09:09:00.003-06:00

Our Allie Gallie turns 10 today. Unbelievable. It doesn't seem possible that "my baby" could be 10 years old. We have younger children, but they have come to us at older ages. So it has been 10 years since we had a baby in the house. God blessed us with a baby girl after 2 sons and 3 miscarriages. At one time I thought maybe we just couldn't have girls. But God saw fit to give us the desires of our heart. Her brothers prayed for a little sister all the time. (They may not admit that now) The boys even named her. At the time they loved Land Before Time movies and in one of them Little Foot has a long-neck friend named Allie. THAT is where Allie got her name. Poor child. No deep spiritual meaning, just named after a dinosaur.
Allie is by far our most sensitive child. She feels deeply. Whether it is a person or an animal that hurts, she hurts with them. She loves deeply too. She has a HUGE love of horses. She can tell you anything about any kind of horse. She soaks of information from library books on horses. Her greatest wish is to be around horses. She asked the other day if she could get a job....even just brushing horses and cleaning stalls, just so she could be close to horses. How I wish I could grant that desire.
Al also loves having sisters. Little did we know that when we started out adopting one girl, that we would add 5 girls to our family through adoption! Now Allie sits in the middle of them age-wise. She is very content having both older and younger sisters.
It is such a pleasure to watch Allie as she grows. She has the greatest personality. Thank you God, for our blessing!

Christopher Louis

2010-02-28T22:11:00.002-06:00

I met Christopher at Rivers of Hope Orphanage in August of 2009 when we travelled to Haiti. I worked at the orphanage for a few days. Rachel, the director, told me that Christopher had Sickle Cell disease and she really needed to find a family for him so he would have proper care.

Christopher is a sweet little man. He turned 2 in October. There is an organization called The Red Thread Promise that has been working on getting him to the U.S. for medical treatment. They have had Tulane Hospital in New Orleans offer to assess and treat Christopher if they can get him there.

We have been working at getting Christopher out of Haiti. It is even more necessary for him to be in the U.S. and near available hospitals after the earthquake. In his short little life he has been hospitalized twice that I know of for going into crisis with his Sickle Cell. This can be very painful and dangerous.

Kathy, with The Red Thread Promise is traveling to Haiti in March, April and May. We hope that Christopher will be released for Humanitarian Parole and able to travel back to the States with her during one of her trips. I will then either fly to Miami to meet them, or to New Orleans. Whichever is required of me at the time.

The kids are SO excited about having a little brother. Shane and I are SO excited about having a little boy. It's been 13 years since I had a 2 year old boy running around. : )

Happy 8th Birthday Francia Love Innocent Williamson!

2009-12-05T07:51:00.003-06:00

I first met this little rascal when she was just 2 years old, living in an orphanage in Haiti. Looking back, I remember how the older kids kept calling her name and telling her to do things. Of course, I didn't understand a speck of their language, so I didn't know what they were saying, but I could tell how they doted on her. Even back then, she was a ham. She never broke a smile for me while I was there. I never knew the dimples I was missing out on. God led us to adopt Francia and her sister, Jairtzi. Francia was 4 years old by the time she came home. She has brought MUCH laughter and joy into our house. She is constantly teasing and joking. Such a great personality. It's hard to believe my little monkey is 8 years old today!

Happy 9th Birthday Widnaldine Hope Germain Williamson

2009-10-13T00:05:00.000-05:00

2009-10-05T17:03:00.000-05:00

Lost Maples State Park

2009-10-04T22:24:00.004-05:00

Happy 11th Birthday Jazmin Faith

2009-09-24T19:40:00.003-05:00

I first met this beautiful girl when she was just 6 years old. Her first words to me were "Bonjour mommy", as she sat on a curb outside the Port au Prince airport. In the almost 5 years since, she has grown into a wonderful young lady. God really has His hand on her life. She never ceases to amaze me with her curiosity and genuine desire to learn. She is very artistic and has even written and illustrated a book about her life in Haiti. She would like to become a doctor....a surgeon. She loves to learn about the systems of the body and how they work. Jazmin has said she would like to go back to Haiti and help other Haitians when she grows up. I cannot think of anything that would make me more proud of her.

Favorite Haiti Photos

2009-08-29T00:06:00.006-05:00

Our Haiti Trip

2009-08-28T23:09:00.012-05:00

Well, I finally talked Shane into going to Haiti with me. Okay, maybe God had something to do with it, but regardless, Shane now has a stamp in his passport that says "Haiti". Nathan and Evan have one as well. The four of us just got back from a 10 day trip to Haiti.
While we were there we visited 7 orphanages, 2 churches, 2 schools, and 1 medical clinic.
We went with my friend Linda, another adult and 11 teens.
We flew out of Houston Friday night to Miami. Almost the whole team met up in Miami and spent the night in the airport. All the kids got to know one another by playing hide and go seek and tag in the airport. We attempted to sleep some, but it didn't work. The cleaning crews were loud, the automatic clock that went off every 15 minutes....."the local time is now 2:45 am"....and the freezing cold A/C didn't allow for any sleep.

We left Miami Saturday morning and got to Port au Prince at 8am. Our team brought down 26 pieces of luggage that was mostly donations of school and medical supplies. We stayed at Walls Guest House for 2 nights in Port au Prince.
Our first Saturday we spent at Bresma orphanage. This is where I was on my last trip to Haiti. It was so great to see some of the kids again. I was very sad that Jefte was in the hospital though. I had so looked forward to Shane and the boys meeting him. I did get to see "My Kids" again, Ketia, Jarinel and Claudia.

I fell in love with that sibling group on my last trip down. Now Claudia is going to a family in Colorado, but the other 2 are still available for adoption. It was good to love on all the kids.

We brought down bubbles and sidewalk chalk for them. That was fun.
We were so exhausted from the travel and lack of sleep that we all headed to bed not caring too much about the heat. It was hot. No A/C, but thankfully lots of fans.
Our 1st Sunday we went to Port au Prince Fellowship where John McHoul of Heartline Ministries, pastors. We met Troy and Tara Livesay there and went to their house for lunch after church. That was awesome to finally get to meet them in person. As an avid reader of their blog, it was equivalent to meeting anyone famous! They graciously served our team lunch and then we got to go tour the Heartline Ministries orphanage and women's program. I loved being able to see in person some of the places we, as a family, support.
Monday we were able to get to all 3 of Dr. Bernard's creches. He gave me the address of the NLL house, which I gave to our driver, but when we got there I kept saying "this doesn't look familiar at all". The driver kept insisting it was the place. Come to find out that Dr. B. had moved the NLL kids to this new house and I didn't know it. I thought we were going to the same place my girls had lived in. It was fun to show the nannies there photos of my 4 girls and see how many of them remembered my girls. We also got to go to the girls HFC house and the boys HFC house. Shane, Nathan and Evan finally got to meet Alexandra in person. We sponsor her at HFC and she writes us many letters.
Then we headed up to Mountain Top Ministries where we stayed for the rest of our time in Haiti. Willem and Beth Charles run that ministry. The boys and men worked for 6 long days in a dry riverbed picking up rocks and throwing them into a dump truck, which then dumped then into a pile near some wire cages that our team assembled. Then the rocks had to be stacked in the cages to form a retaining wall so the road to the village of Gramothe would not be washed out again like it had been in June. Hard, hot work. The girls participated in this work also.

I spent 2 full days at Rachel's orphanage. She has 16 kids there with the oldest being 3. This was so great for me. I loved it. Some of the girls from our team would go with me over there and help feed, change, play with the babies.

One day I went with Linda and 3 of the girls and walked up the mountain (and I do mean UP) to the clinic where we unloaded the medical supplies we brought and organized them. It is an incredibly steep road. I'm pretty sure some of the Haitians lapped us a few times by going up, then down, then up again, while we stopped every 100 feet or so to rest!

Friday night Shane, the boys and I got to have dinner with Dr. Bernard and Claudette. That was very nice to visit with them.
Saturday, after finishing up what we could with the retaining wall, we went to the baptist mission for lunch and shopping. Then we visited Wings of Hope, a home for disabled children and adults.

Sunday found us at the church on the mountain. This was so great to experience worship in Creole. Willem asked Shane to come up and preach. He even gave him a tie to wear! Shane did a great job and Willem interpreted for him. We were able to witness the dedication of Sophia, a 3 year old girl from Rachel's orphanage whose adoptive parents had come to take home. They were in church, as well as her birth parents and family. They had a dedication service for her. Very touching to see ALL the family together praying for her. After church we were able to pass out some of the 150 backpacks full of school supplies that we brought down to the kids who were in church. They were so excited. And I have to point out that without fail, the boys went for the purple and pink backpacks! This was amusing to us.

Monday brought us back to the States and our families.

Happy 4th of July

2009-07-04T08:05:00.000-05:00

2009-06-29T10:21:00.001-05:00

Dear Friend and Family,

We have an urgent request for a host family in the Huston Texas area. We have this beautiful little girl
Magalie Touissaint dob Jan. 18, 2007, who needs to come to the US for life saving surgery. We have a doctor
in the Huston area working to get her accepted at Texas childrens or Ben Taub or Baylor.

We are in need of a host family to care for this child in this area. If you or someone you know would be willing
to host Magalie please contact Vanessa ASAP. Hosting a child is a life changing event for every family. There
is paperwork that must be completed.

Magalie was born with a Frontal Nasal Encephalocele. Her CT scan shows that her brain in intact. She has no other
medical Conditions. She is a very happy healty 18 month old little girl. We can help her by all working together.

Thank you for your help. love V

Vanessa A. Carpenter

Angel Missions Haiti - Director

www.AngelMissionsHaiti.blogspot.com
www.AngelMissionsHaiti.org

home 540-380-4588
Cell 540-580-9721

Answering service 1-800-409-7948

Tooth Wars

2009-06-21T19:32:00.004-05:00

This last week I came home from work to find Francia missing her front tooth. Allie had hit her in the mouth (while running away from her brother and a spider) and knocked out her loose tooth.

The next day, not to be out-done by her sister, Eliana pulled out her loose front tooth. For a day, Eliana and Francia were "twins", both missing the same tooth

Then, on Friday, Francia came out to show me that Jazmin and her had been wrestling and her other front tooth was knocked out!

At this rate, the tooth fairy is going to need a bail out.

Wine

2009-06-21T17:32:00.002-05:00

Shane and I have decided it is time to grow up and try to drink wine. I asked my friend, who works in the industry, what to try since neither Shane nor I like the taste of alcohol. He gave us a suggestion and let me know if I didn't like that, there was no hope for me.

We went to HEB (grocery store) today to find this wine. I had 4 of my girls with me. Here is the conversation that took place while we are standing in the middle of the wine aisle:

Jazmin: What are you doing here?

Me: Looking for wine.

Widnie: Isn't that alcohol?

Me: Yes.

Widnie: Why do you want it?

Jazmin: Ohhh..Fernie must need it for her macaroni salad.

Me: No, I want it.

Jaz and Wid: Why??

Me: To drink.

Widnie: Well.....I'm not driving with you!

I'm not sure why Jaz thought grandma put alcohol in her macaroni salad, but my children obviously don't have any faith in me holding my liquor.

And for the record, there is *no* hope for me.

Precious Gift

2009-06-06T20:45:00.004-05:00

Jazmin & Widnie with their Haiti mom & dad

Shane was sharing with the kids tonight about Tiananmen Square. Jazmin asked what a tank was. I told her it was a big army truck/thing that had guns on top. This is how she responded....

Jazmin: "Oh yeah, I saw one of those in Haiti when my mommy hid me. She took Widnie and me and another little girls and hid us outside, then she went away. The army people came through the streets with the tanks and they were yelling, 'Go Aristide'!"
Evan: "Did you talk to the other little girl?"
Jazmin: "No, I had to be quiet, we were hiding!"

Sigh. So much for a five year old to have gone through. So much for a mother to have to worry about, trying to protect her children and keep them alive.

We went to the Y this afternoon and the girls were swimming. I was watching them and was just overcome with the fact that they are here. *Here*, with us. They are able to go swimming and have fun and not have to worry about tanks, armies, kidnappings, hunger, malnutrition, death.

Thank you Lord for this precious gift.

Jairtzi's Surgery

2009-05-23T11:30:00.002-05:00

6 months ago we found out that Jairtzi has 3 extra adult teeth up in her mouth that haven't come down yet. Her orthodontist put an expander in her mouth and we were able to widen her palate so that her teeth had more room to come in. We also discovered that her adult eye teeth are posed to come in next to her front teeth....they've hopped over the teeth that should be there. She also had 2 baby teeth that fused together to become a large "adult looking" tooth. The fused teeth got loose and she was able to pull that one out last week.
Yesterday, she had oral surgery to take 2 of the extra adult teeth out. The orthodontist wanted us to leave 1 extra one in just in case we need to use it later down the road.
Jairtzi went to Texas Children's Hospital and was put under general anesthetic for this surgery. We were surprised that it was taking so long. The surgery itself was nearly 3 hours long. The Doctor had to take xrays during it to make sure she was getting the correct teeth. She had to go around bone to get to them. The right one was particularly hard to get to as it was so high up and near the sinus.
Shane and I were able to go to the recovery room and be there when she woke up. The doctor told us how the surgery went and gave us one of the teeth to take home. (The other one came out in so many pieces that they couldn't save it.) Dr. Thomas started explaining some of the problems and then just said, "You know, I really don't want to re-live it". She said she was asking herself why she agreed to do this surgery. I guess Jairtzi's mouth was really unusual and difficult. Her Doctor is super nice, though.
Jairtzi woke up in a lot of pain. The girl never complains, but she was crying and kicking her legs because she was hurting. They ended up giving her 3 doses of morphine and something else to settle her tummy. She ended up getting sick twice. (SO happy to have Shane there with me!) We were finally able to get her to eat a little bit of Popsicle and keep some water down.
We left our house that morning at 6:20 and didn't get home until after 5:00. It took me going to 3 different pharmacies before I could find one that carried her pain meds.
She had a decent night, though. I am so thankful. She only took the codeine once and has had motrin since then. She was able to eat some scrambled egg and mango this am. She is still hung over from the General Anesthetic. But she is soaking in a bubble bath now and I think is on her way to a great recovery.

Beach Trip

2009-05-17T20:21:00.006-05:00

We decided Friday that it would be a fun weekend to go to the beach with the kids, since Nathan didn't work. I got online and found us a motel that would let all 10 of us sleep in one room and the dog. Let's just say.....there was a reason that they allowed all of us in one room. I think I've stayed in nicer motels in Haiti. Oh well, togetherness.
We say a huge statue of Stephen Austin on our way to the gulf. We also passed some oil refineries. These are like massive cities that light up at night. It looks like something you'd see on Star Wars. Some of the bridges we went over looked like they just went to the sky and ended there. The kids thought that was very cool. We decided that the top of the bridge was the highest point in Texas.
We went to Freeport, Texas. I have to say, the beach experience in Texas is way different than the beach experience in Oregon. Shane and I have very different opinions on the beach. He loves the Texas beach because the weather is warm....even if it is raining....and the water is warm, so you can get in it. I love the Oregon beach because it is BEAUTIFUL. This particular Texas beach was so ugly. There was seaweed all over it, and trash everywhere. There seems to be no regulations on the beaches here. You can drive right on to the beach, camp there if you want to, so people seem to leave their trash behind. Bummer. Of course it was thrilling when we went to leave and found that we were stuck, in our 12 passenger van. Some guys came along and pulled us out of the sand.
All in all, it was a fun time, we had good family bonding moments, making memories. :)

Square Dancing

2009-05-15T23:02:00.002-05:00

Okay, here is the proof. We went square dancing tonight. Shane and I got out there for the 1st dance, and we were pretty bad. Then, the second dance everyone lined up in a big circle. I'm really not sure where I went wrong, but it reminded me a lot of the time I tried to take an aerobics class. People were going one way while I was going another. The Square Dance police lady came over and told me I was supposed to be changing partners, but I could never figure out when I was supposed to do that, so I just took one extra big step backwards and scooted off to my chair on the sidelines.
Shane got Jairtzi out there, and she did really good. Widnie tried it, but as soon as she was passed off to another partner, she started crying and came to the side. The boys actually got out there, and I think they had a good time, although I'm pretty sure they wouldn't admit it if you asked them.
Shane got me out there again at the end of the night and I actually caught on a bit. Yes, I have square danced. Yes, I homeschool. Yes, I have 8 children. What do you think that means?

Day at the Park

2009-05-10T19:29:00.003-05:00

We checked out a local park and went on their nature trail. They had kindly identified the different types of trees and plants along the trail. You can't tell from the photo, but the "Sweet Gum" tree had wads of gum stuck to it from previous hikers. Shane spent his time collecting trash along the trail......he takes the Don't Mess With Texas slogan seriously!

2009-05-10T19:25:00.002-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, us girls took advantage of there being no boys in the house and had a Beauty Spa time. We had face masks, cucumbers and all. I only had one girl ask if they could eat the cucumbers when they were done. We finished it off with a "nail party", which has now become a Saturday night tradition.

Texas Blue Bonnets

2009-04-09T22:38:00.002-05:00

Bad Hair Cut....at Pet Dumb

2009-03-31T20:10:00.004-05:00

Okay, we ladies all know how it feels to get a bad hair cut. It's bound to happen. I can remember 2 specific times when I went in and told the stylist I wanted to have long layers and I came out with very short layers! It is devastating. We take a long time to grow our hair out.

Well, yesterday I took Rosie to Pet Smart to get groomed. I explained to the "stylist" that I needed Rosie's hair a little shorter than the last time. They keep notes in the computer and know how they have cut it in the past. Evidently I haven't got the whole Texan talk down, because there was a big miscommunication between us. Rosie has beautiful hair, she is half Pomeranian, so her fur is soft and a very pretty auburn color.

When I went to pick her up, I was in shock. They shaved her. The crazy people shaved my dog's hair all off. Well, not exactly "all" off. They left her head, ears and tail. Oh my. The poor dog looks like one of those silly naked cats. I took her back to Pet Smart...oops, I now call them Pet Dumb, today and showed her to the manager, who agreed it was an awful looking cut. She refunded me my money, but that still leaves one naked dog.

Here are some before and after photos of Rosie.

Build-A-Bear

2009-03-12T16:10:00.002-05:00

Happy Birthday Allie Janae!!!!

2009-03-10T19:50:00.002-05:00

Eliana Joy Williamson's Gotcha Day #1

2009-02-26T20:43:00.002-06:00

Today we celebrate 1 whole year with Eliana. It is hard to believe an entire year has gone by. She was such a surprise to us. God just plopped her right down into our family. He always knows what is best. The last year we have all grown a lot. God has shown us a different side of adoption than we have ever experienced before. But it is a side that is real, and that we needed to see. He has helped us learn so much. Eliana is a true joy and blessing to our family. We are so thankful that God gave her to us.
These pictures show her over the past year. The bottom picture is the very first photo we saw of her, before we had even met her. The next one up is of the day she came to meet our family and visit with us. The next next one is of her and Francia while on vacation in April. The top photo is most recent of her at Enchanted Rock.

Basketball

2009-02-08T20:26:00.009-06:00

In case you ever wondered what really went on at Nathan's
basketball games.....

Enchanted Rock

2009-02-08T20:13:00.005-06:00

We went to Kerrville this weekend. On Saturday we took the kids up to Enchanted Rock to go hiking. We met Ange, Abby and kids there. It's always fun to get the kids together and see each other again. We hiked up to the top of the giant rock and into a few caves. It was very windy on the rock, I was afraid some of the kids would blow away. We picnicked in the sun and had a great visit. Here are some photos of our time together.

Sheppard's Visit

2009-01-15T21:11:00.003-06:00

Last week we were so blessed to have our SUPER good friends, the Sheppards come to visit. Linda was on her way across the country from Oregon to North Carolina with 10 of her 11 kiddos and stopped at our place for a day. I cannot explain how awesome it was to visit with Linda and have our kids together again. It was really neat to see her 3 newest kiddos at home with her. I met them last year in Haiti when I visited the orphanage. Stevenson, her youngest is pictured here with a bunch of hair clips in his hair. He is a total ham. We had a wonderful time, but are missing them again.
Unfortunately, my photos all turned out fuzzy, but I'll still post them so you get an idea of how much fun it is to have 18 kids together at one time! :)

Allie and Whistle

2009-01-15T21:07:00.001-06:00

Allie's first Horse Lesson

2009-01-15T20:58:00.002-06:00

Allie's Second Lesson

2009-01-15T20:49:00.002-06:00

Allie's Horse Lesson

2009-01-15T20:46:00.000-06:00

2008-12-15T14:01:00.001-06:00

Evidently Nathan is just THAT good that it takes this many guys to guard him. :)

Making Christmas Cookies

2008-12-14T21:13:00.002-06:00

Pretty much every Sunday our boys go to the Bonins or 2 of the Bonins come to our house. So today we decided to swap and let the boys go there and bring 2 of the younger girls home with us. We had such a good time. Of course we were half way home before Shane figured out we had 2 extra girls in the car. That was funny. The girls all played, watched Happy Feet and made Christmas cookies. Fun day.

Snow!

2008-12-10T16:48:00.003-06:00

As if Texas isn't crazy enough, we go from 76 degrees as a high yesterday to snow today. We were sitting here when Evan proclaimed it was snowing. We all said, "Yeah right, Ev". But then we looked outside and sure enough.....crazy.
It didn't stick, but the kids managed to scrape enough off the fence to make "mini snowmen". God must have known I needed that piece of Oregon.

Rio Bravo, Mexico

2008-11-25T21:15:00.004-06:00

Now that it is done, I guess it is safe to share our latest adventure. We have been thinking about having a tubal reversal surgery for over a year now. Yes, we do want more children. Yes, I would love another baby. It's been a long time since we had a baby. All the children we have adopted have been 4 yrs old and older when they came home. Allie was the last baby we had in our house and she is now 8 1/2. We've looked into adopting again. It is not totally out of the question, and I hope we'll be able to again, but having a family of 10 really hampers the adoption effort. Many countries have restrictions on family size. The State and Foster Care system has told us we have too large a family to foster or adopt through them. That led us further down the path in exploring the tubal reversal surgery.

7 years ago I had my tubes tied after going through my 4th miscarriage. We had all kinds of tests done and no results as to why we were continuing to miscarry. Allie was a year old at the time and I had decided my body and emotions had had enough. It's been a miracle to see how God has grown our family since that time through adoption. After moving to Texas I was directed to a doctor in Rio Bravo, Mexico that performs the TR surgery. I read all kinds of testimonies of women who have gone to this doctor for this procedure. All of them were positive and encouraging. It helps that the cost was about half of what the U.S. cost is. We found that it was a 7 hour drive for us from Houston. We went ahead and scheduled the surgery, knowing that I'm not getting any younger and if we want to try this again, then we'd better get it done soon.

Shane and I drove down on Friday, stayed the night at the hospital and I had my surgery on Saturday. We drove back home Sunday night. I won't go into details, only because I am still too squeamish to think about it much. I don't do needles. Not at all. I HATE having needles in me. So let's just say, I didn't particularly enjoy myself. But we were taken care of. The surgery, for all we know at this time, was a success. I was told that I had 7 cm of fallopian tube on each side, which is very good. A lot of women come out of TRs with only 3-4 cm, so I was very happy to hear this. We'll get it checked out after a couple months to see that they are clear.

It does feel so good to be "whole" again. I know so many women feel the guilt of taking control away from God when they choose to have a tubal ligation. I can honestly say that for me personally, I didn't feel that. If I didn't want another baby, I would not have put my body through another surgery. But laying there in the hospital, I was struck with how God has so magnificently put our bodies together. He has formed us so perfectly. I lay in the bed thanking God that He gave me the chance to put my body back close to the way He made me. I'll trust Him with the rest of this path we are traveling down. Right now, I'll just concentrate on recovering from this one.

Here are a few pics of the hospital, and me looking pitiful.

Bon Appetit!

2008-11-15T18:31:00.003-06:00

Truthfully, the most exciting moment of going to Nathan's basketball tournament in College Station was finding out there was a Papa Murphys Take N Bake Pizza in the next town.....only 8 minutes away from the college! This was pretty much the only "restaurant" our family gets as a treat because it is so reasonable. Of course you don't actually get to go "out" to eat, but we'd get Papa Murphys in Oregon almost every Friday night and rent a movie. That was our family treat. (I even have both Hillsboro locations in my speed dial on my cell phone) I was so bummed when we moved to Houston and found out there was not ONE Papa Murphys in the whole cotton-pickin' city. I made sure to go get us some pizza after Nate's games yesterday and brought it home for dinner. (okay, so I got an extra one and put it in the freezer for another special night.)

Texas A&M Tournament

2008-11-15T18:25:00.002-06:00

Nathan had a basketball tournament at Texas A&M University this weekend. I took him on Friday and Shane took him on Saturday. Actually, Nathan spent the night with a teammate's family in College Station, but because it's only an hour's drive, we chose to not get a hotel. It was fun. Being Longhorn fans, it was a little strange to hang out in Aggieland.

Price of Gas

2008-11-07T20:44:00.001-06:00

For those of you in other areas of the country........I filled my tank up today for $1.86/gallon. Just thought you'd like to know. (We've actually seen it as low as $1.76)

Basketball

2008-11-07T20:40:00.003-06:00

Wow. We just got home from Nathan's 2nd basketball game of the season. He's playing on the JV team for a homeschool league here. They played against a private school tonight. In the 4th quarter Nathan's team was down by 12. They brought it back and were about to lose by 3 when Nathan made a 3 pointer and tied the game, sending it into overtime. SO exciting! They played the 4 minute overtime and were down by 1 at 8 seconds left when Nathan again got the ball and made the winning shot. Woo Hoo. You can bet his big ol' family was cheering in the stands!

Settling In

2008-10-15T20:04:00.002-05:00

Thought I'd write something really quick before I have to go pick up Nathan from Driver's Ed. We moved in to our new home this weekend. We had some help from friends, which was awesome. Saturday we moved all the big stuff over and were so tired and ready for bed when the sewer backed up into our Master Bath tub and shower. I'm not talking about "clear" water. It was nasty-nasty-nasty.....and it wasn't our nasty. Bleck! We ended up packing up blankets, pillows and toothbrushes and going to our old house to sleep on the floor. Better no bed with flushing toilets than lots of beds with no toilets.

We are slowly working our way through boxes and getting it together. Don't you know that the only thing I cannot find is Shane's work papers and books. We have searched high and low. Mercy, I hope it did not get put out with the trash. We actually looked through a lot of that also.

Nathan is taking driver's ed. We found out that the Great State of Texas poo-poo's the Oregon Driver's Permit. It isn't valid and does not count that the kid has had it and been driving for a year. He has to take driver's ed, get a Texas driver's permit and then wait 6 months before getting his license. What a bummer.

How is this for irony.....Nathan's first night of driver's ed he was late because we got in a car wreck. Some guy pulled out right in front of us and we hit him. Dad was driving his Jetta, which is now in the shop. I was riding shotgun and ate was in the back. I had a sore back and neck for a few days.

Well, I'm off to drive though a Texas thunder storm to pick up Nathan.

New Home

2008-10-05T21:17:00.001-05:00

Here is a photo of our new house. We are suppose to close on Friday and move in next weekend. Excitement!

Disneyland 2008!

2008-09-27T12:10:00.005-05:00

We met my parents, my older sister Val & her daughter Arianna, my younger sister, Kim and her husband, Jake and their two girls, Hannah & Elliana for a week at Disneyland. SO MUCH FUN! The highlight was just seeing our girls take it all in. They loved meeting the princesses. It was especially neat when our Jazmin met Princess Jasmine and Aladin.
Val had made all the girls autograph books which they were able to have signed by many characters and princesses. Lots of photos were taken. Great memories were made...including getting Shane on Tower of Terror and my mom on Screamin' California. Then there was the 10 plus times we went on Grizzly River Run and got soaking wet each time. :)

Birthday Blog

2008-09-24T19:54:00.004-05:00

Jazmin turned 10 today. What a blessing she is! She's grown so much since coming into our family.

Nathan turned 16 last Thursday. We were in Disneyland for his birthday. So much fun! He's such an awesome kid. So responsible. He helps out so much with his younger siblings and is very good with them.

Safe and Sound

2008-09-12T21:43:00.002-05:00

We left Houston at 7am this morning. We are safe in Kerrville tonight, staying at Shane's mom's house. We had planned on leaving Sat. morning to drive to Disneyland, so we just left a day early. We saw lots of other people evacuating. No Motel Rooms to be had! Just wanted to let everyone know we are ok. Thanks for thinking of us and prayers. We'll be in California for a week. Hopefully that will give enough time for things to settle back down in Houston.

Praises!!!!!!!!

2008-09-11T18:05:00.001-05:00

Our house is officially sold. Funds have been transferred. It's the real deal this time. Praises that this has finally happened!

The Mama Bear

2008-09-08T18:51:00.004-05:00

I have a good friend who moved overseas a while back to get a taste of Europe. She often talks about the Mama Bear coming out in her when her kids are in question. That instinct that we mom's have that won't allow anyone to mess with our kids. Well, the Mama Bear came out in me today. It's really the first time I've had an experience like this, and it happened so fast, I didn't have time to think, I just opened my mouth and out came this Mama Bear.

I had taken Jairtzi to the Oral Surgeon's office in downtown Houston for a consult. (long story, and more to come on that later) Allie and Jazmin had gone with us. When I got there I went to the desk and turned our paperwork in. The receptionist appeared a little confused and asked if I was the foster parent. I said, "No, I'm her mom." Then she asked if I was step-mom. I repeated myself and said, "No, I'm her mom." Then she asked if I had any documentation stating so. I looked her in the eye, and without missing a heart beat asked, "Would you ask that if she were white?" She said, "Well, we need to have something stating you are her mother." I told her she had the insurance card with her name on it, and there shouldn't be anything else they need. Then she went and got someone in the back, I assume office manager, to come out and explain that they could not do any surgery on her without some kind of paperwork stating she was my daughter. Allie (my birth daughter) was sitting beside me, and I said, "If the appointment was for Allie, would we be having this conversation?" She said, "No, we don't need anything for 'natural children'." Natural???? What does that mean Jairtzi is....'un-natural'? Anyways, my heart was beating pretty fast by this time and I was not really happy about all this. I consciously made the effort to be polite and respectful. I told her I could fax her what she needed if it came down to doing surgery.

After thinking about it more, I feel as if this is discrimination. How do they know Allie is my "natural" daughter? They are only assuming this because of her skin color. She could have been adopted just as much as the others were. There was a gentleman in the waiting are with his daughter. Both were black. I bet they didn't ask him for proof that she was his "natural" daughter. He, by the way, smiled at me in encouragement when this happened.

Just thought I'd share my first big, Mama Bear, incident. I know I made you proud, Amy B. !

The Next Venus Williams

2008-09-08T18:38:00.003-05:00

Papa always says Widnie reminds him of Venus because she is so muscular. I put extensions in Wid's hair the other day and this was the result. She loves them and will probably get whiplash from throwing her head back and forth.

Good News....Bad News

2008-08-20T08:57:00.002-05:00

Let's start with the bad and just get it over with. We finally had an offer come in on our house. We've been waiting so long and were really anticipating this offer. Turns out the offer is $21,000 less than what we are asking. No, I didn't accidentally add a zero to that number. Since the time we first put our house on the market we have lowered the price $32,000. We turned down offers last summer that were $20,000 more than our asking price right now. So goes the market. This last offer is such a downer. On the one hand we feel like we can't turn down anything, because every time we counter, the buyer walks. But we certainly can't accept that kind of an offer. I keep wondering if God is just telling us to hang on to it and rent it out. But we really wanted our equity out of it to pay off our cars, hospital bill, small loan and then have it to put down on a house. Okay. Enough with the depressing news.

Shane finally had that dreaded inspection from the State of Texas yesterday. They passed! Far cry from what he expected a month ago. He's worked so hard to get his team and houses ready for this. I'm very happy for him and glad that he'll be able to relax a bit. Maybe he'll even make it home for dinner with the family now. :)

Steven Curtis Chapman on GMA

2008-08-08T20:20:00.000-05:00

Awe Stuck

2008-08-06T20:35:00.002-05:00

You read it right....Awe Stuck, not Awe Struck.
Last night we attended a Bible study for young people at some friend's house. We got on the topic of how we have exchanged our Awe of God for our Awe of technology. People today seem to get more excited about the latest cell phone, I pod, etc. than they do of God's creation and all He's done.
I was talking about it again today with my boys. I was saying how we in America are so privileged. And we are. I am thankful I live here, but I've got to wonder if we are missing out on something. People in other countries who are not as privileged, just might have something more than us. They regularly see miracles take place. People raise from the dead, people being healed, REAL miracles taking place now. They have to depend on God to supply their needs. Here in America, we tend to rely on the latest/newest/greatest drug, medicine, technology to fix our needs. We often miss out on seeing God perform a miracle on our behalf.
Evan, my 13 year old, spoke up and said, "Yeah, they should make a TV show called Miracle Seekers." I laughed and said, "That is exactly my point. We'd rather sit and watch a TV show about miracles rather than seeking those miracles and the Miracle Maker ourselves."
Expect Miracles. We've seen them. God's performed them for us. Here are some I can think of now:
**I could have died after giving birth to Evan. I hemorrhaged, but had emergency surgery and survived.
**We survived the heartache of losing 4 babies to miscarriage and our marriage grew stronger through that grief.
**We had Allie after 3 consecutive miscarriages.
**We have adopted 5 daughters even though in human eyes there was no way we could afford one adoption, much less 5.
**Jairtzi and Francia got to come home from Haiti after the US immigration told us they were denying our petition to adopt.
I know there are more, many more. These are just some that pop right into my head. I pray that we can all be more in Awe of God. Recognize His greatness.

Moving right along...

2008-07-30T15:49:00.002-05:00

I will be starting my new job next week. I will be working for a Pediatric Dentist on Tuesday and Thursday. It is a very nice office and seems like a really good fit for me. It's not as big a practice as what I worked for in Portland. There is only the office manager up front, so I'll be coming in to help her out.

We nearly bought a home at the beginning of this week. A beautiful, new home that will be finished at the end of August. It is 3100 square feet for $149,000! Ridiculously good price. BUT.....even though we were approved for the loan and could swing it, we decided to let it pass by. Shane talked to his work on Monday and they told him we could stay at this house for another two months, and then after that, if we needed to we could move into another one of their homes. So, FREE is a very good price and hard to pass up. Especially when we are still paying for a house in Oregon that is sitting empty. Staying in this house is a HUGE answered prayer.

Eliana seems to still be doing good. She makes a bad choice every now and then, but don't we all? At least she isn't *trying* to make bad choices constantly.

We've fallen into a bit of a rhythm here. We get up, eat, have bible time, do some flashcards, maybe a math lesson, play, swim, read, eat. It's all good. In the evenings we are outside playing with anyone who wanders by.

Actually, our house has become somewhat of a kid magnet. But the fun thing is, it's the older kids, like Nathan and Evan's age that are hanging around. That is fun for a change. They come over and play games (NOT just video!) or basketball. Yesterday we had a rousing game of Capture the Flag going on....INSIDE the house! I finally suggested we take it outside and everyone continued playing outside. Fun Fun Fun.

Rosie had her Rabies shot yesterday at 2:30. At 6:15 her whole face started swelling. Don't you know that the vet closes at 6:00. I called the emergency vet hospital and it was going to be $95 just for the exam and then more money for whatever they gave her. Nathan was smart enough to soak some Benedryl into a hamburger bun and Rosie ate that. She was still swollen at 10:00pm so I gave her some more meds. She slept on a blanket by my bed and I checked on her periodically. She got up at 4am and threw up. I probably OD'd her, but today her swelling has gone down and she seems to be ok. Scary.

Shane is still waiting for the final inspection to be done at his work. He's expecting it to be next week. Hopefully everything will pass and he'll still be employed.

I'm off to make homemade pizza. Missing all my friends in Oregon so very much....

He Does Love Us!

2008-07-28T13:31:00.002-05:00

Big Sigh

2008-07-17T17:02:00.000-05:00

Well, I couldn't think of an appropriate title for this blog, so I sighed and decided to leave it at that.

Yesterday I went and hand delivered 12 cover letters and resumes to area dental and orthodontic offices. I am looking at going to work part time. Funny. When Shane got this promotion, it came with a nice raise. I thought my working outside the home days were long gone.

Butttttttt......our house in Oregon still hasn't sold. We need to be out of our current "rent-free" house in a little over a month. We spent a whole lot of money just to move here.

Nathan had surgery at the end of April that we are just now getting billed for. We've never had to pay so much in medical bills before. Thank goodness he was covered under insurance. His whole surgery deal with his neck gland came out to $25,000!!!! That is so ridiculous. Insurance obviously covered most of it, but we still have to pay over $1500, which is a lot of moolah for us. Especially right now.

Then we had to buy a van. We financed it with the thought and intention of paying it right off when our house sold.

It seems that a lot of our problems would be solved if our house would just sell. I've always had faith that God provides for our family. He always has. I just cannot understand what the hold up is this time around. I'm waiting for Him to come riding up on a white horse and save us from this impending doom.

So for now, I'll go back to work. It will help to pay off the medical and cars. I had 2 calls from doctors last night already. One of them offered me full time front office manager. Which is quite an honor, but I couldn't accept it. I explained that I had 8 kids that I homeschool and working full time would really harm my family. He plans on bringing in another Dentist to practice with him soon, so he is keeping my resume for that time when they may need a part-timer. The other dentist is a Pediatric Dentist. I have an interview with him on Monday, over lunch. It's a small office that only has Kim, the office manager up front. They need someone 2 days a week to help her out. That sounds ideal for me. They take an hour and a half lunch, so I'd be able to run home on my lunch to check on the kids. We'll see how our meeting on Monday goes. It made me feel good that I had 2 calls the same day I dropped off my resume.

Maybe God is providing for us, just not in the way I want. ;)

Shake-n-Bake

2008-07-17T16:41:00.003-05:00

I was walking through the grocery store the other day when I ran across a whole section of Shake-N-Bake. Wow. A blast from my past. I remember eating that when I was a kid. It was cheap, looked easy, and came in a variety of flavors. I decided to try Parmesan. That is what we are having for dinner tonight.

It got me thinking about all those other things I had as a kid that I haven't seen around, or eaten in a long time. I'd wager that I wouldn't want to eat these now, even if I could find them......

Ovaltine

Tang

DreamWhip (this was whipped cream in a box....I remember my mom mixing it up.)

Pudding Pops (Remember Bill Cosby in all the commercials. I'd definitely eat those again!)

Spam ('nuf said)

Deviled Ham (SO remember that on our sandwiches!)
Junkit (NASTY stuff! Anytime my mom or older sister got the stomach flu, my dad would make them this. They loved it. It was some sort of Jello mutation.)

Are there others I am missing? Help me out here....

Eliana Joy Williamson

2008-07-14T08:49:00.001-05:00

We are happy to announce that we received our paperwork stating that Eliana Joy is now officially a Williamson! She has her new birth certificate and all her adoption paperwork finalized. We celebrated with Ice Cream Cones. :)

Fasten your Seatbelts!

2008-07-10T16:10:00.000-05:00

Here we go on our trip down Memory Lane..........
2053 Brian Dr., Kerrville, TX This was our 1st home. We married in Dec. 1990 and lived with Shane's mom for the first month of marriage. We found us this little 2 bedroom duplex to rent for $250 a month. I can't believe how dumpy it looks now. It was a huge thing for us to have our own place back then. Nathan is shown standing in front of it since I spent 8 months of being pregnant with him living here. We moved right before my due date.

Apt. 503 Singing Wind Dr., Kerrville, TX
We found out that Shane's college had married housing in these apartments. We moved into them when I was 8 months pregnant with Nathan. We lived on the bottom floor in a 2 bedroom apartment. The neighbors upstairs had about 3 families living in their apartment and when they ran their garbage disposal their food would come up in our sink! The fall that Nathan was born we had a bad Cricket problem and they were everywhere! No one could do anything about it.

We were youth pastor's at Motley Hills Baptist Church. (It is now called Faith Baptist.) When I was pregnant with Nate I started working as the secretary of the church also. This was such an answer to prayer. When Nathan was born I was able to continue working and have him in my office with me. One of my favorite memories is of him running up and down the halls in his walker while I worked.

Shane attended Schreiner College when we were first married, as well as working. Baby Nathan and I were often alone as Shane went to school, then work, then tutoring.

Shane grew up in Hunt, Tx. This is his grade school. He is famous for telling people about his 6th grade year, when his class sold "weather rocks" to raise money to go to Washington, D.C.

This is the house Shane lived in as a teenager, and the house we lived in with his mom when we were first married. His sister has since bought it from his mom and uses it as a rental. They are currently fixing it up to rent again.

What (or rather "who") is missing from this picture??

2008-07-10T16:04:00.000-05:00

Our House.....temporarily

2008-07-10T15:55:00.000-05:00

Since our move in May, we have been living in a home owned by Shane's work. It is so nice and in a really great neighborhood. We have a neighborhood pool, which we frequent a lot! Sadly, our house has not sold in Oregon. We've dropped the price so many times, and it still sits empty. Our time is running out here in this home. Shane's work plans on using it in September, so we'll need to figure something else out, and soon. Here are some photos of our "temporary" house and the neighborhood.

Stars & Stripes

2008-07-09T16:26:00.001-05:00

Our 4th of July festivities very closely resembled those of the past years.....
We missed going to the Hillsboro Parade with our friends. No parade here, and if there was, it'd be too hot to enjoy.
Shane's sister, Dianna came to visit. She owns her own salon, so I quickly elected her to paint the 60 toenails that needed painting. She did an awesome job. We had American flags, Haitian flags, Chinese flags, Canadian flags and of course, Texas flags.
We bought some fireworks and sat outside to watch the kids blow them up. The difference here is that the illegal fireworks in Oregon are legal here. Our neighborhood set off some doozies! Big, huge, colorful ones. We didn't need to go further than our front yard to see quite a display.

Cannibals, Turkeys and other Table Talk

2008-06-18T16:15:00.000-05:00

Our family has never claimed to be "normal". I suppose that goes for our table conversation the other night. Jazmin had asked if some people ate other people. We explained that God does not allow that, but yes, in some places in the world that does happen and those people are called Cannibals.
I told her she didn't have anything to worry about since she has no meat on her bones and no one would want to eat her anyway. Then I continued with,
"But Francia on the other hand....she may want to stay out of the jungles of Africa. They named a turkey after her, you know." (making reference to our little "butter-ball")
Jazmin looked real thoughtful for a minute and then spoke up with, "You mean there's a turkey in Africa named Francia?!?"

Words a mother hates to hear....

2008-06-18T16:14:00.000-05:00

Mommy, what will happen if Q-tips get put in the toilet?

Settling In

2008-06-16T19:34:00.000-05:00

We've been in Texas for 3 weeks now. Eliana asked me the other day why Texas never changes. I asked her what she meant and she said, "Why doesn't it ever get cold?" That pretty much sums the weather up. It's hot, but I'm doing ok with it. Having A/C sure helps. There is a neighborhood pool for the home owners here that we go to everyday. We go out every evening and play outside. Shane rollerblades, yes, he even got me to go with him. I kinda think the boys were glad nobody knows us yet. ;)
Actually, the kids are making friends in the neighborhood already. We usually attract a crowd in the evenings around the basketball hoop. Shane has proudly taken over the tradition of BLOB TAG that our dear friend/neighbor Paul Paul started.

We've found a church that we really love. How wonderful that we can just move 2500 miles away from home and *feel* at home with a church. That is how Grace has made us feel. We've made wonderful new friends already.

Shane is liking his new position, but has been putting in long hours as he gets adjusted. He loves the heat. The crazy man came in dripping in sweat the other day and said, "I just love this heat! I love to sweat. It feels so good!" Sure, ok, whatever hon.

Eliana is having a tough time making good choices right now. Lots of changes in our little girl's life in a short period of time. I pray daily that God will heal her hurts and help her. The rest of the kids are being great with how they handle her. Especially the little ones. They seem to be the two that take the brunt of her 'meanness'. They willingly forgive her and move on. We've had to explain to them why she shows some of her behaviors and that she might not even know why she does them.

Nathan is anxious to find a basketball league. We didn't know how good we had it in Oregon. Up there he was allowed to try out for the public school and play ball with them. Here, the law states a home schooler cannot play for the public school. They have home school leagues here. But to play basketball for one season costs a minimum of $480. Extras for State and National Tournaments. That's not counting the price of gas to run him to practice twice a week and games on top of that. Yikes! I don't know how we are going to handle that one.

That's a quick summary of our first few weeks in Texas.

On the road again

2008-06-03T20:25:00.000-05:00

It seems like the motorhome hardly had time to cool it's engine before we were using it for another 2400 mile trip. This time around, we were all about getting to our destination. The A/C did not work while we were driving. Of course we left on the hottest day in Oregon, where the high was near 100. Traveling through the desert in California, Arizona & New Mexico was the worst. It just kept getting hotter. We resorted to buying bags of ice and eating ice to try to stay cool. Shane's brilliant idea was to buy a block of ice, place it in the middle of the floor and have the kids sit by it. I'm guessing that was supposed to work similar to the campfire affect when you are cold.

Our bright spot on the trip was stopping in Arizona and meeting my number one Stalker. We got to stop and eat lunch with Michelle (my next door neighbor and super good friend, Lisa's sister)and her daughter Calgary. We had such a good time. Shane and the kids went swimming and Michelle fed us a wonderful lunch. What a relief just to sit in the A/C! We also got to meet Michelle's son and husband before we had to hit the road again.

Here is a lovely list of animals...dead & alive....that we saw on our trip:
skunk
cat
opposum
bird
cow
horse
sheep
llama
goat
deer
squirrell
hawk
chicken
donkey
lizard
coyote
dog
rabbit
snake
chipmunk
ant
fly
mole
ostrich
beetle
frog
bull
raccoon
buzzard
buffalo
armadillo
longhorn

And, of course, the list of license plates:
Oregon
California
Washington
Nevada
Alberta
Kansas
Texas
Hawaii
Idaho
Arizona
South Carolina
Florida
British Columbia
Utah
Montana
Colorado
Oklahoma
Tennessee
Arkansas
Arizona
Georgia
Indiana
Missouri
Iowa
North Carolina
Minnesota
Alabama
Virginia
Illinois
Wyoming

On our way

2008-05-31T20:57:00.001-05:00

Shane learned he got the Area Director position at Bethesda on Monday, May 5. Our moving truck came on Tuesday, May 13. We packed it up and sent it on it's way Wednesday, May 14. We slept on the floor for a few more nights and then Friday, May 16 we loaded Shane's car onto the tow dolly, hitched behind the motorhome. We packed his car with everything we couldn't fit in the moving van. We woke up Saturday morning, May 17 and put our sleeping bags in the motorhome. Paul Paul, Lotte, Nikolai and Anna came to say goodbye. Oh the goodbyes! They are so hard. Lotte had me crying. Lisa didn't even attempt to come out of her house. We'd already cried the night before and knew it would start all over again if she came out. Lisa and I have been blessed to see each other multiple times a day by just looking out our kitchen windows. Mine looks right into hers. If I needed her attention, all I had to do was flicker my kitchen light on and off a few times. She moved in when Allie was a month old. She was the first to paint Allie's toe nails when she was just an itty bitty baby. 8 years we had. I promise that I will NEVER have another neighbor that good. :) Ok, now I've gotta stop, or I'll really be depressed.
We pulled out of our neighborhood Saturday, May 17 and started a new journey in our lives.

Goodby to our church family

2008-05-31T20:49:00.001-05:00

We attended Household of Faith for a year and a half. What a blessing that time was for our family. We are going to miss all of our friends there so much. I had a hard time saying goodbye. In fact, I would hardly look at a few of the women, because I knew if I did I would lose it. I'm not easily given to emotional displays. :) The girls were thrilled that Jubilee and the Gibson's happened to be at our church that night. They are a special family to our girls. They got one last hug in from Grandma Margie too.

Goodbye to....these people....

2008-05-31T20:20:00.000-05:00

Ahhh...where to start? Our good-bye to the Bjorks was a hard one. We go waaaay back with these friends. Brent and I grew up in the same church. He and Bobbi started coming to the same church as us when our boys were just toddlers. We hit it right off and have been very close since.
One of my favorite memories is right after we hooked up with them. We left our kids with their grandparents and went up the the Bjork cabin for a weekend. As we prayed for the meal, Shane thanked God for..."these people". He totally blanked out on Brent and Bobbi's names!!!! What a goof. We've never let him forget it.
We've went through so much with these friends. I don't know if Bobbi and I are "complete" opposites, but we are pretty different. It's awesome how God connected us. I'm so thankful for her friendship. She's seen the "good, bad and the ugly" sides of me and still loves me. She helped me through 4 miscarriages. I'll always remember a women's retreat we went on together. There came a time during the worship that I just left. I couldn't bring myself to sing about how great God was. I was hurting and angry and confused over why I couldn't have a baby when so many woman who didn't "want" another child were pregnant. Bobbi came out and hunted me down. She cried and said she hated to see me hurt like that and really encouraged me to grieve, which is something I had not allowed myself to do.
Well, you get the picture of how special this family is to us. No matter the distance, we'll always be close.

Goodbye to the Neighborhood

2008-05-31T20:15:00.001-05:00

Our last hurrah with the neighborhood gang. Paul & Lotte hosted a nice lunch for us to visit with our "orginal" neighbors one last time. We even got in one last game of BLOB TAG!

Texas....here we come!

2008-05-06T08:55:00.000-05:00

Well, for those of you who know us and actually read this blog....we got our answer yesterday. Shane got the Area Manager position in Cypress, TX. He had applied for it as soon as we got back from our vacation to Texas, but had been waiting on an answer all this time. We are very excited and happy at the news.
Of course my hubby came home and said it'd be great if we could leave by Monday because there is a training in Austin on the 19th that he'd like to go to. Uh huh. I think I'm going to try to talk him into flying to the training and coming back up here, then driving down. Yes...I suppose we could pack up the whole house and get out of here by Monday, crazy as that sounds. What I am really concerned with is the fact the we have to have a post placement homestudy report done to finalize our adoption of Eliana, and the state has not requested it be done yet. So, I'll get on the phone today and see what we can do about that.
I haven't allowed myself to freak....yet. I'm too busy today for that. I've got to go to work, take Nate back in to the doctor for a follow up, and then go to some friend's house for dinner. Tonight, about 10:30.....I'll freak.

YeeHaw

2008-05-01T22:12:00.000-05:00

Proof that we really do need to get the girl a horse.

World Concern

2008-05-01T21:17:00.000-05:00

Shane found out about this organization through a radio program on KPDQ yesterday. I've checked out their website and it looks like they do a lot of good. Please take a moment to go to worldconcern.org . They work all over the world, including Haiti. They bring a much needed treatment for parasites to malnourished children. They have a fundraiser for the 44 cent cure. 44 cents gives a child the medicine they need to get rid of the nasty parasites that cause them to be malnourished. This is such an attainable goal.
We've challenged our kids to come up with ways to raise/save money to donate. Four of our girls came home with parasites. Jazmin was 6 years old and weighed 29 pounds when she came home. Her hair was turning orange from being malnourished. They know the affects of parasites. I, myself, have come home twice from Haiti with one. It's no fun. I can't imagine living with them.
I think of the kids I met at the orphanage when I visited Haiti in December. One of my favorites, Jefte, is very ill right now because of this kind of thing. He is 5 years old and hasn't gained weight in a year. He has severe bouts of diarrhea.

All of this, just to encourage you to take a peek at World Concern's website and maybe see what your family can do to help the 4 million children in the world who are suffering. It doesn't take much. Just by us skipping our Friday night Papa Murphy's run, we can help 27 children. That's pretty cool.

Shelby & Rosie

2008-04-30T09:52:00.000-05:00

Rosie is our 2 year old dog. We made the mistake of not introducing her to other dogs when she was young. There were no other dogs in our neighborhood when we got her. We didn't make the effort to "socialize" her. I deeply regret that now. She doesn't do well around other dogs. She's great with people and kids, but not dogs. She is always on her guard and even aggressive, no matter the size of the dog.
My next door neighbor and good friend, Lisa, has a Golden Retriever, Shelby. She's just a puppy still but WAY bigger than Rosie. Shelby wants to just play with Rosie, but Rosie doesn't get it. She'll bark like crazy at Shelby. Anytime Shelby is in her backyard and Rosie is in our backyard, Shelby comes to the fence to try to say "HI" to Rosie. This is what it looks like...

And this is how Rosie answers...

Poor Shelby.

This may not be Italy.....

2008-04-30T09:47:00.000-05:00

but it didn't stop Jazmin from painting in the sunshine. We had a very nice day on Saturday. No rain. No clouds. We all enjoyed it. Jazmin took her easel out to the backyard and painted. She loves art and is very good at it.

The other girls played in the sunshine and had a picnic lunch outside.

The Joys of being a Homeschool Family

2008-04-29T22:46:00.001-05:00

My good friend, Bobbi, sent this clip to me. She made sure to tell me it's a joke and not to get offended, but she thought it portrayed our family perfectly. I'm totally not offended and think it is great! Yep, we homeschool. Yep, we're happy we do....even if we are kooky. ;)

Ewwww

2008-04-27T13:25:00.000-05:00

Nathan was able to come home yesterday. He's got a big wad of cotton wrapped to his neck as there is a tube still sticking out of it. It was left there to drain any remaining fluid. He is a bit uncomfortable but not in any real pain. It was much more painful before the operation. It's just a gross thought to know you've got a tube sticking out of your neck. And then there is your mother who is absolutely no help at all. I'm the queen of squeam. Shane had to take Nathan into the doctor this morning to have him pull about an inch of the tubing out. We'll have to continue this for a few days until they can remove the last of it. Shane took photos to show whoever is weird enough to want to see. The trick is getting me to post them without having to actually look at them. All the girls watched as Shane took the photos. Francia saw it and said, "ooh, that's awesome". Probably not what I would choose to describe it. So, here are the pictures, I don't know how bad they are to warn you, because I won't look at them...

Nathan

2008-04-25T15:19:00.000-05:00

Before Surgery This Morning

After Surgery This Afternoon

Nathan had his surgery this morning. He's recovering now. They drained 30cc of nasty infection out of his neck. They had to leave a tube in his neck to drain fluid for a few days. He'll stay in the hospital until tomorrow.

Nate the Great

2008-04-24T21:35:00.001-05:00

Nathan woke up Saturday morning saying his gland on the right side of his neck was swollen and it hurt. It was slightly swollen, so we kept an eye on it. By that night he was running a temperature of 102. He layed low all of Sunday and started taking Advil for the pain of his swollen gland, which had grown bigger. By Monday morning I took him to the Pediatrician. They ran a rapid strep throat test that came back negative. We were told he had some viral infection that the lymph node was trying to fight by producing white blood cells, which in turn made the gland swell up. Tuesday afternoon we got a call from the Pediatrician saying the strep test came back positive and they put Nate on antibiotics. We were glad that something was wrong as it explained the swollen neck which just kept getting bigger. By Wednesday night his neck was even bigger and red. I phoned the on call doctor and was told to have him come in this morning at 10. When the pediatrician measured the gland it measured 5 1/2 cm by 5 1/2 cm. She called the Ear Nose & Throat specialist and they had me bring Nathan right over. The ENT looked at him and sent us to the hospital. Nathan was admitted and started on IV antibiotics. They ran a CT Scan on his neck. They've done a TB test and drawn blood. When the doctor came by tonight to check on Nate, he told us that the lymph node is abcessed. He will go in for surgery tomorrow morning around 11am to have it drained and cleaned out. They will make a small incision on his neck and then leave in a tube for fluid to continue to drain. They will keep him in the hospital until Saturday. Hopefully the tube can come out before he comes home.
Nathan is doing really well with all of this. He's thrilled to be in a place where there is cable tv so he can watch the NBA playoffs. He gets room service and was able to order French Toast and a Chocolate Milkshake for lunch! He also gets his own room with a remote control bed. The kid has it better than the rest of us. He doesn't appear nervous or scared. He jokes about telling people he's been on steroids since they put some in his IV to take the swelling down. Shane is with him for the evening watching the NBA playoffs while the kids and I are at home watching North Avenue Irregulars. He'll stay by himself at the hospital tonight and we'll go up in the morning.

Ouch!

2008-04-16T14:28:00.000-05:00

Some of us, up here in Oregon, do not have our skin exposed to much sun on any regular basis. Taking our unexposed skin to the bright Texas sun at the Gulf of Mexico was highly anticipated by all of us. Oh, to lay in the warm....maybe even hot, sun and to play in the warm ocean....what a treat! We sprayed sunscreen on our pasty white bodies, but alas, that bright sun still got the best of us. My feet were swollen from the burn and I couldn't bend my toes for 2 days! Shane's feet were the worst I'd ever seen. His ankles were swollen for a week! Nathan's face! Oh my! It was so red...and then 3 days later it started peeling. My son looked freaky! Poor Allie got the back of her legs, especially her knees burned. Here were all 10 of us in a motorhome on the 4 day trek back to Oregon, groaning about our burned bodies. Jairtzi witnessed this all and commented, "Mom, I'm glad I'm not white!"

At the Gulf

2008-04-16T14:19:00.000-05:00

Visits with friends

2008-04-16T09:29:00.000-05:00

We were able to visit with three different sets of very special friends on our trip. One was school friends of Shane's. I count them as my friends now also. I told Shane on our way back to Oregon how easy it would be for me to move to Texas because I feel as though I have friends there also. We were able to visit at the Carpenter Ranch and have dinner out there with their family and friends. Our kids really liked that. The boys had lots of other boys to play basketball with and hear the joys of "living on land". Our girls made a special friend, Corrina, that they are still talking about. :) We got to visit with this bunch a second time at the "Grace Reunion". Shane's graduating class was only 10 people, so at any reunion it is pretty much opened up to whoever wants to come, which is a good thing or there would have only been 3 people there. ;)

Another set of friends were the Mitchell family. They took us on as youth pastors of the church they pastored when we were practically still youth! (I actually was still 19 when we started.) They may not know just what an impact they've had on our lives. Paula was just what I needed when I was so young, newly married and so far from "home". We had not seen their family in 10 years, but it was like just picking up where we left off. (We just had 6 more children than before!) Their son's and families came for dinner too, which was really fun.

We also got to visit with the Spears. This is Shane's second family. He spent just as much time with them growing up as he did at home, I think.

Mimi Martha spoiled us! We started off our time with them by going to their neighbors to see their horses and the kids all got to ride. The horse they rode was Jake, he's been in The Patriot and American Outlaw. By the time all the kids had rode and Evan was the last rider, Jake had had enough and Evan got a pretty bumpy ride, but OH, what an experience for all of them.

Then we went back to the Spears for BBQ.
Martha had goodies for the kids (and us) to play with. We had jump ropes and frisbees and bubbles. They even had a Pinata for the kids!

We all had such a good time. By the time we left the kids were tired out. This is how they looked when we got back to where we were staying...

What happens when your child gets a hold of the camera..

2008-04-15T23:38:00.001-05:00

Williamson Family Reunion

2008-04-15T23:23:00.000-05:00

Shane Grilling up the Burgers

Ashley helping the girls fly a kite

Melissa & Ashley

Shane with his nephew and nieces...Jandi, Caelyn & Meghan

Melissa's family with Grandma Nancy

Debblynne & Howard

Ashley, Nancy & Dianna

Granny & Eliana

Life in a Motor Home......

2008-04-15T23:11:00.001-05:00

Breakfast in the Bunk

On the road again...

Yum! In-n-Out Burgers......SO worth the drive!

Yes, even in a motorhome we must look like a beauty queen.

Just hanging out!

Is the noise getting to you, honey?

Snoozing.........

Our Cow Girl

2008-04-15T22:47:00.000-05:00

Allie is passionate about horses. I honestly don't know where she gets this from. Shane's not particularly fond of them and I've never even sat on one! But she truly loves them. She wants to be a cowgirl. She loves to wear her cowgirl boots and we were even able to find her a cowgirl hat while in Texas.

Anytime we stopped at gas stations or rest stops and there was a horse trailer there, Allie was the first one out. She would get to watch the owners water the horses. At this particular stop, the gentleman was transporting Tennessee Walkers to Arizona and he allowed the kids to pet them and help water them. Allie loved it!

On our first day at Grandma Nancy's Allie fell and had to go to the ER. We thought her leg would need stitches, but the Dr. was able to use some special glue and bandages on her leg to keep it together. Allie of course was freaking out about going to the hospital and scared to death about getting stitches. She kept begging me to take her home. I tried to calm her down and told her maybe she wouldn't need stitches, but only butterfly bandages. She looked at me and said, "Instead of butterfly bandages can I have horse bandages?" I had to explain what a butterfly bandage is, but promised her we would do whatever we could to find her a real horse to ride.

That is when Mimi Martha stepped in. When she heard about it, she arranged with her neighbors for us to come over and see their horses. Allie was in awe. It was neat to see her get her dream.

Texas Trip 2008

2008-04-15T22:34:00.000-05:00

Well, we just returned from our 3 week trip to Texas. Not only did we survive 3 weeks with 10 people in a 23 ft. motorhome, but we enjoyed it for the most part. :) I'll never find time to write all about it, but I'll post some memorable pictures of our time there.

We stopped at the Grand Canyon on our way down. The girls were surprised at how beautiful that "hole in the ground" was.

Fishing was a favorite past-time. Grandma Nancy's house sits right on Turtle Creek. It is so peaceful there. The kids caught some fish and saw turtles and frogs.

Happy Birthday Allie!!!!

2008-03-10T21:01:00.001-05:00

Allie turned 8 years old today. We had our traditional donuts for breakfast. For dinner I made homemade pizza. I gave a dough ball to each girl and they got to make their own pizza. We had heart shaped pizza's, a butterfly pizza and even a W pizza for Widnie.

8 years ago today......

2008-03-10T20:45:00.000-05:00

I was holding a beautiful baby girl. One, I thought after 3 miscarriages I would never have. I still remember the thrill of hearing the words...."you have a girl". Allie Janae Williamson was born at 1:59 pm. Exactly one minute before my doctor's shift ended. She weighed in at 7lbs 6oz. She had dark hair and a beautiful complexion. Her brothers were thrilled to have a sister. Nathan had chosen the name Allie for a girl from the Land Before Time movies. Little Foot's friend's name was Allie....she was a long neck. I suppose that was not a very meaningful name, but then again it was. The boys had been praying for a baby sister for so long. They had to watch us go through 3 miscarriages before we finally got that baby sister. Janae is a combination of my first name and middle name, Jana Lenae. Here are some pictures of Allie in her younger years....

Gotcha Day #2

2008-03-02T18:28:00.000-06:00

Then....

Now....

Happy Gotcha Day to Jairtzi & Francia!!!!!
2 years ago today our girls came home from Haiti.

Fun Outdoors

2008-02-28T16:22:00.001-06:00

It is such beautiful weather today. We've been outside all afternoon, lazing in the sun. Well, I've been lazing. The girls have been "fishing" and "painting" the play structure. Fun, fun, fun.

Introducing......

2008-02-25T22:42:00.001-06:00

Eliana.......the newest in the Williamson clan. Eliana is 5 years old and was born in China. She will be joining our family tomorrow and we are all very happy and excited. This was not a "planned adoption". God just sort of plopped her right down into our laps. How wonderful He is. We've wanted to add to our family through adoption, but all doors seemed to be closed due to our family size. But as we know, closed doors never stop God. He has plans for Eliana and our family and we are very excited to discover those plans. Please keep us all in your prayers as we go through an adjustment period. Pray that Eliana has peace and is able to transition well into our home.
God is good all the time, all the time God is good.

Big Family Van

2008-02-25T21:05:00.000-06:00

I drive a big, white 12 passenger van. Not very exciting. But a necessity. My parents got me these cute stickers for the van for my valentines gift. I just put them on the other day. The same day I put them on I went grocery shopping and a lady stopped me in the parking lot to ask...."What does that mean? That cross and all those people?" I laughed and said it was my family. She said, "Oh, I thought it was a Christian school or something." LoL "Well," I said, "I home school and we are Christian, so you are right." :)

Having a large family doesn't faze me as much anymore. I guess it is "normal" for us. We love it.

Serving Others for Jesus

2008-02-22T17:32:00.000-06:00

Here are my girlies helping make meals for a sick neighbor. Evan came in last night and said he saw one of our neighbor ladies with tubes coming out of her arm and that her son said she was very sick. I went down there to see what was up. This mom amazes me. She moved to Oregon with her husband and 2 children. Right after getting here she found out she was pregnant, and her husband decided he wanted a divorce. So she moved into our neighborhood and lives right down the street from us.

She has since had her baby, gone back to school, got a job and does all this alone. Her mom is also awesome. She drives out here from Montana and helps when she is needed....which was for the good part of a year when baby was born. This grandma is also raising two of her grandchildren back in Montana. Strong women.

So getting back to last night....when I went down to her house I knew her mom was there. I had thought she was just here visiting. It turns out my neighbor has been in the hospital for a week and just came home. She has an IV in her arm and a pump for the medication. She had a nasty flu that turned into pneumonia along with a staff infection.

This made me just want to cry.....that here we are down the street and I had no idea she was even sick. Her mom had to drive from Montana to take care of her and the kids. I had such great intentions of starting a ladies Bible Study after Christmas for the ladies in the neighborhood, but I never got around to it. It always seems there is something else on the calendar.

So my neighbor's mom is taking the baby and going back to Montana for a couple weeks. The girls and I are making meals to take down. I can't imagine being on my own like that. She should not have been. I need to make sure I'm more aware of the people God has placed around us.