The Last Week of School

It's officially summer here. Schools are out! Abby & Jadyn are so happy to be going to kindergarten now. Tiffani was very sad to leave her friends, but looking forward to High School. This week has been a very busy week with all of the end of the year stuff planned.

The preschool had water fun days. Unfortunately for me, they did not schedule Abby & Jadyn's class to go on the same day. So I had the "pleasure" of doing it twice. First Abby's class went. They had fun. Chasing each other and making sure everyone got wet. The next day was Jadyn's day. She was not as adventurous as Abby. She got a little wet, but did not want to get soaked. Thankfully both girls got tired and we were allowed to leave early. :-) Here are some photos that I took of our fun water days.



And yesterday, was the official last day of school. Of course I had to get photos of the girls. I love seeing how much they have changed since the first day. After we took the photos of the girls, I took Abby & Jadyn to school. They were so excited. They were going to have an ice cream sundae party. When I got home from the preschool, I noticed Tiff changed her outfit. Typical for a 14 year old girl. Then her friends Maddy & Terry came over for a photo shoot. Then off to school for the last time.

Tiff called me at 1:30 saying she was on her way home. So the girls & I met her. She was crying. She said she has been crying all day. Her teachers kept giving speeches and that would make her cry. She cried for about 30 min after school was over.

Then her friends started showing up for her party. Unfortunately so did a thunderstorm. But that did not stop the fun. The girls were silly upstairs for about an hour, then into the pool once the storm passed. They had a great time. Around 7:30, the mom's came over and we watched a DVD that I made for the girls. I had photos of the girls from 6-8th grades. The girls screamed & laughed. Us mom's laughed so hard we were crying. It was a lot of fun.

Here are photos from the last day of school.


Summer is officially here. And Tiff is already gone. She's gone to the beach for 4 days with her friend Maddy. I hope she has a blast. I wish I could have joined her.

Until next time......

Band Awards/Ice Cream Social

Last night was the final middle school band awards for Tiff. She is in the stage band and they played 3 songs. They did great! Ice cream was being served while they played. Then it was awards time. This could have been long, but her teacher did it quick, which was nice. I was concerned about tonight because the past 2 years have not been fun with Abby & Jadyn there. Their attention span was 0. I had to tell them if they are good then they can have ice cream. And guess what? They were good.
I have to thank Brianna for keeping them busy for a little bit. She opened her purse to them and they began to give her a makeover. Here is a photo of Jadyn doing Brianna's hair.

Here is an "after" photo of Brianna & her new look with her new hairstylist & make up artist. :-)

It's nice to know the "big girls" still like to have fun. We told them to do a silly face. This is what we got. Ashley's mom & I said we'll be using this photo later in their lives. :-)

Another silly photo here. This is the girls doing their infamous Charlies' Angels pose. But this time they were using their trophy's that they won.

And finally, the little girls. They have watched and learned from their big sis. They also wanted to do a Charlies' Angels pose. This is their version! I love it!

I hope you have enjoyed the photos. Next Tuesday, we have the High School Marching Band ice breaker. Tiff will officially be signed up for marching band after this meeting. We're all really excited about this.

Until next time......

Daughters of Christ

Last night, the youth at our church held a spaghetti dinner fundraiser for youth camp. During dinner, some of the youth performed for us. Tiffs group, Daughters of Christ was one of the groups performing. They sang an old hymn. My brother Daniel actually emailed me this song and said he thought Tiffs group would do great singing it. So they have been practicing and performed He Leadeth Me last night. They did great! They practiced all on their own. No adult help. They did great! We're so proud of the girls.

Enjoy the video.

Happy Easter

We have had a really good day today. We woke up and found Easter Eggs. Then we went to church, which was awesome. After church we came home and had a good lunch. Then, we all crashed. Well, I did. The girls went upstairs and watched a movie and Bill finished up our taxes. Now we're getting ready to watch a movie together. It's been nice spending the day together. Here are some photos of our morning.


Last night our good friends came by and we talked, the little kids swam, the big kids played Wii, and we ate pizza. We go too long in between visits. The big kids are so shy that they barely talk to each other. But they do interact. Maybe they're talking with their eyes. Who knows. :-) The little kids got along great. They had a blast. It was nice sitting around catching up and just enjoying the friendship. Here are 3 photos from last night.


In a way, I'm happy Spring Break is over. But I'm sad that we're back on our daily routine. I know the girls need their routine. Especially the little ones. Unfortunately the VPK is closed on Monday, so they go back on Tuesday.

Thursday night we drove to St. Pete and went to our old church. My dad was in a play and it was really good. I'm so glad we were able to go. It was good seeing my parents and also good seeing some of the people we grew up with.

I think that is all that is new. The adoption is moving along. Sarah hopes to see Billy next week. We have all of our paperwork from Florida finished. Now we're waiting for Bills birth certificate to come back and then for our fingerprint appointment from USCIS. This could be one of the longest parts of the process.

Happy Easter. Remember why we celebrate this day. Because HE IS RISEN! I'm so thankful and grateful to Christ for dying on the cross for my sins, and for raising himself from the grave!

Until next time......

Fasting Update

Last week our church did a church wide fast so we could all pray for healing for a precious woman in our church. She was diagnosed with cancer less than 2 months ago (I think). It was inoperable. It was everywhere. The doctors gave her 9 months with treatment, 6 months without. Our church said that Narda said that this is a win, win situation for her. If she survives the cancer, she will be here with her husband & son. If she dies, she will be reunited with their daughter Sophia, who passed away a few years ago at the tender age of 5.

Well last night at 6:05 PM, Narda was reunited with her precious daughter and her Heavenly Father.

Narda was in one of my bible study classes last year. She is a precious woman. Full of faith and hope and love.

She leaves behind her husband Wilson and their son Julian who is in kindergarten.

If you could please pray for them as they go through the grieving period. This family has gone through a lot in the past few years.

Thank you!
Debbie

Baby Joshua is coming home!!!!!

I'm so excited. My best friend's son is FINALLY coming home! They have been fighting to make this day possible. They leave in a week to fly to Vietnam, where they will meet him for the very first time. I can't wait. Joshua is almost 17 months old. They have known about him since he was around 2 months old. So much has happened since then. But, my friend NEVER gave up and pushed to bring him home.

He is a miracle! God moved HUGE mountains to bring him home. Seeing what they have gone through to bring their son home, gives me such huge hope! If God can move those mountains, then certainly he can move the mountains we have in front of us to bring Billy home (if this is His will).

Please pray for my friend & her hubby as they travel to Vietnam. Pray for Joshua, that he will bond with them. Pray for their daughter Bella who will be home with Grandma & Grandpa. Pray for the whole family as they begin a new chapter in their lives.

Thank you!

Joshua-2 months old. (I can't wait to see how big he is now).

Daughters of Christ

This is the name of the group Tiffani is in. She and her friends Stefanie and Ashley started the group themselves. They practice together and learn the songs all by themselves. This is the 2nd time I believe they have sung in the Sunday morning worship services at church. And both times, in both services, they received standing ovations. They were awesome! We hope that one day they will be famous. :-) Enjoy the song.....

Halloween night

I have to admit, I'm so glad Halloween is over! It is not my favorite holiday. It's fun to get the kids dressed up etc. But I don't like the candy. Because it's so tempting. :-)
This year, Tiff had a few of her friends meet at our house. They went trick-or-treating together. They had fun. When they were finished, Bill took them to church for a bonfire & games.
Abby & Jadyn went trick-or-treating with their best friend Bella. They had a blast. Thankfully the girls did not want to go to many houses. They got tired and their bags got heavy.
Unfortunately, we bought too much candy and not many kids came to our door. So we have a ton left over. Not a good thing.
The night ended around 9 PM. The girls were exhausted. Everyone had a great time. Tiff did not get home until after 11. It's after 10 AM now and she is still sleeping.
Enjoy the slide show. The kids were all so cute. And everyone was well behaved.
Happy Halloween.....

Another Trip to Disney

Today we skipped school. I know, bad parents. But it was for a good cause. Our good friends are up in Orlando and we wanted to spend the day with them. So we got in the car and drove up to Magic Kingdom. It was COLD today! The car temp said 47 degrees. That is COLD for FL.
We had an awesome day. The crowds were lighter than on the weekend. We did Dumbo, the Carousel, The tea cups, Goofy's roller coaster, lunch, Small World, Monsters Inc Laugh Lab and the race cars. The girls had a blast! Before we knew it it was 3 PM. We planned on leaving by then so we could get home before rush hour. We said our goodbyes, which was very hard. Autumn does not like goodbyes and the look on her face made me so sad. It took all I had not to cry.
We started to leave and then saw the crowd for the parade. So we rode the people mover and then Bill saw the line for Space Mountain was 20 min long, so he & Tiff did that. Then we were off.
Tinker Bell & the fairies are at the park now for the kids to see, so we tried to see them earlier in the day and the line was 90 minutes long. So we did not do that this time.
Here is a slide show of our day. It was a good day. Everyone had a great time. I wish the Clarks did not live so far away. We miss them already.
Until next time....

Halloween Costume Party

Last night we had 8 friends come over for a costume party. Bill & I spent most of the day decorating and making food. The house looked neat. Cobwebs everywhere. Orange lights in the house. It was cool.
Friends started to arrive around 6 PM. Everyone was in their Halloween costume. They all looked really cute.
After everyone arrived, they ate monster food. I make monster toes, witches fingers, mummy pizza, pumpkin sandwiches & "monster snack".
Then we played some games. The first was a Mad Libs game. It turned out really funny & silly. The girls loved it.
Then they played a "Boo am I" game. Each girl had a turn at popping a balloon and then acting out the character that was inside the balloon. It was fun to see how they popped the balloons.
After that was "the broom dance" game. Tiff went first. She did a dance and then everyone had to copy it. They went on and on and could not copy it exactly. After a while of the girls trying to copy her dance, Tiff told them that before each dance, she cleared her throat. That was what they were supposed to copy. Once the girls figured it out, they laughed, and then wanted to do "their own dance".
After the broom dance they went bobbing for apples. Another fun site to watch. The girls had fun doing this and got wet too.
Then it was time for cupcakes. I made "ghost" cupcakes. The girls loved them.
After all that we planned was done, the girls then played hide & seek and some other "loud" games. They had a great time. It was fun to hear all the laughter.
Here is a slideshow of the party. Enjoy!

An Unexpected morning & a Visit with a Butterfly Princess

Today did not start out as planned. Does any day actually start out as planned? I usually plan to sleep until my body wants to wake up. That never happens. At least not anymore. I'm woken by puppies or little princesses. Well today at 1 AM I was woken up by a crying princess. I thought she fell out of bed. Well she did not. Jadyn was crying hard. I asked her what was wrong. She said her ear hurt. Oh no! So I put some over the counter drops in her ear and she fell asleep. I of course was awake for a few hours. Until I heard the puppies at 5:30. When I finally got out of bed, I checked on Princess Jadyn and she was still sleeping. So I waited until she woke up. When she did it was after 8 AM. She said her ear still hurt. So I called the doctor. I prayed they could see her this morning since we had plans today. Thankfully they could see her at 10:45. So off to the doctor we went. Princess Jadyn has swimmers ear & a middle ear infection, in both ears. Wonderful! (not). So off to Publix we went (for the 2nd time today) to get her prescription filled.
Now on to what was planned for today. Our wonderful friends Pete, Kim & Hannah Joy were coming over. We were so excited. It's been a year or so since we've gotten together. Way to long. It seems that time just flies and keeping in touch via email makes me feel like we see each other often. It was great to have them come over. We had a great cook out and talked for a few hours. The girls were slow to play together, but eventually they did. Dress up was fun for our Princesses.
It was sad when they had to leave. We know we'll see each other again soon. Bill & Pete leave in 3 weeks to go to China. They are both excited. I'm so glad they are going together. Bill hopes to update his blog from China (which is on the side of my blog here so be sure to check it out). Pete also hopes to update his site from China (link is on the side too). I have a slide show below of our Princesses today. They are all so very cute. As you can see from the slide show, our Princesses do make messes and like to eat sweets.
Kim & Pete, thank you for driving to our house. We had a wonderful time chatting. We love you guys and can't wait to see you again! Hugs! Love, Debbie