To all of MY TREASURES!!!

Quote of the day!!

A dear friend is wealth added to your treasure chest of experiences!!!

A couple of things for today!

This is our son, Craig and his beautiful girlfriend , which is already thought of as "OUR" DIL, Traci at the Spurs game that they went to the weekend they were here for Stevens Homecoming. We love ,love, love it when they are down here! We miss them so much and pray that one day they will be closer to all of us so we can all be together then. Craig and Traci we love you so much!!!!

This is Jay, Nancy and Emily. Jay is my friend Rachelle's brother and they live in Dallas. This past Easter sunday at church this lady came up to me and introduced herself and told me that she follows my blog everyday!!! She told me that my faith is inspiring and that she loves following along our journey and can not wait until we get Franceska. I was holding my neice Rayn and Nancy knew exactly who she was, and said ,"Hi Rayn"! ( so cool)

This was so unbelievably special to me. I am just an ordinary person and when you are told that your life and yours words inspire people, it is truly a God thing to me.

Nancy thank you for following our journey, and THANK YOU for becoming a part of our lives. God bless you and your beautiful family. Love and Blessings, Kristy

Ladies we have been doing it all wrong!!!!!!

Jessica sent me this incredible piece of information!!!! This is how
WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE WEIGHING OURSELVES!!!!
I can't believe I have been doing it wrong all these YEARS!!!

LADIES WE MUST GET THE WORD OUT!!!

This may be long, but I just have to tell you!!!!!

Today I had to go to the doctor , I have been really sick for the last several days , so today I finally went to the doctor and was told that I had Bronchiitis, and a really bad sinus infection. I have been sick more this year than I have been in the last 5!! But I am working with a bunch of little ones now , so I swim around in a pool of germs everyday and that to must take its course......OK so anyway, today I get an email from my beautiful DIL Traci, and it was one of those emails that says a prayer with you and that if you forward it, basically something good will happen to you.....

So first of all my Granny was a big fan of Danielle Steel and had all of her books, and while I was in High school I started reading these books with my Granny that I loved oh so much. She is gone now ,but I have her entire collection of Danielle Steel paperbacks. I know it must sound odd ,but I find great comfort when I open them up and see my Granny's name written in her handwriting.....

Ok so about a month ago Danielle Steel was on "The View", she spoke about her website and I tentatively wanted to make my own personal list of her books that I have not yet read. You see sometimes I feel guilty reading for pleasure when I should actually be reading the Bible. But sometimes in life there is just nothing better than before I go to bed at night to get lost in another world!!!!! So, I went to the website and made my list and left her a little note . You see she said on the show that she answers all of her own mail, but I never thought I would get this:

Dear Kristy,

Thank you so very much for your lovely letter about my books. I was very touched to hear how long you have been reading them and what they have meant to you, going back to Wanderlust. It's heartwarming to hear that your late grandma got you started reading them, and that you inherited her collection.

I'm especially touch to hear about the girl you are adopting and about her middle name -- what an honor! Thank you again for sharing your good words with me. I appreciate hearing from a reader and caring mother like you, and I send you all my warmest regards.

With best wishes,

Danielle Steel

CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS?!!!!!!! I was so excited. There might be a few of you that think this is silly, but my Granny would LOVE this, and I am soooo telling her when I get to see her again. Thanks for being patient with me and listening. THANK YOU TRACI!!!LOVE YOU BIG!!!

3 Words Sunday

I know it is Saturday night, but we won't be home tomorrow all day, so here is my 3 Words for Sunday!!! Happy Easter to all of you. When you are on his team... you can't lose.

Love you all, Kristy

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMA!!

Today is my Mom's 65th Birthday. I am sure by now all of you know that my mom has Alzheimers disease. She still knows all of us and stuff like that, but NOTHING is the same from minute to minute to say the least. My wish for today is that somehow miraculously there would be a cure found today!!! I miss MY mama , you know the real one, so bad it hurts. I would love to just have a REAL conversation with her like we used to. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMA, I LOVE YOU more than words could ever say, and I know The Heart Remembers.....

Happy Birthday Nonny!!

We Love You , Chastity, Christopher, Craig, Steven, Kellie, Astrud, Jade, Lily, Rayn, Joshua,
Megan, Amy, Traci, and Franceska too!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVEN!!

Today is also our son's 23 rd Birthday. Bubba words can never say how much joy and love you have always brought into our lives. You have made us so proud, and we love you so much and are so grateful that God watched over you and brought you home safe to us. There is just nothing we can say to show our gratitude, we are truly humbled by our Father in Heaven. Happy Birthday Steven.

A Few Things For Today!

Happy 23rd LIDversary to us!!!! It feels really good to have 23 months behind us, we are almost there. I can almost feel that I am letting my heart wonder what Franceska's precious face is going to look like. We can't wait to be her Mommy and Daddy!

HAPPY SPRING!!!!!

Good morning everyone, today is the first day of Spring and the weather has been gorgeous here. The mornings are in the 40's and then it gets up to about 75 degrees in the afternoon, with some of the prettiest blue skies I have ever seen. THIS IS THE DAY THE LORD HAS MADE, REJOICE IN IT!!!! This is a special week, it is Holy Week, take a minute or so to reflect on the things the HE has done in your life, and for the things the HE knows he will do for each and everyone of us in the days to come. Take a minute to remember the gift he gave us by dying on that cross. And if any of you have never seen the movie "The Passion of the Christ" I strongly recommend it to watch this time of year. It is an awesome, life changing movie. May all your spring days be beautiful ones!!! Love and blessings, Kristy

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!!

Don't forget to wear your green!!! Do green eyes count???? Have a great , fun day!!

If you want to see something Jaw Dropping Amazing!

Go to my sidebar and click on Victoria Grace in my April 06 column and click on her Jaw Dropping Amazing post and watch. It is unbelievably beautiful!!!

Welcome Home Alpha Battery 4th Batallion 133rd Field Artillery!

Yesterday at Canyon High School in New Braunfels, Texas was the Re-Deployment Ceremony a.k.a. "Welcome Home Ceremony", and it was short and sweet!!! As parent's Frank and I have been very humbled by the grace God has shed on us by bringing our son back not once but twice. I remember the days where I would torment myself by thinking, "no way can we be that lucky twice???" Well luck had nothing to do with it. We have been blessed beyond belief. Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers, and well wishes during the last 4 years or so.

We will forever pray for those still over there fighting this war! Whether you like the war or not, whether you believe in the war or not, We Are At War! Once a week Frank is reminded of that and reminded of so many other things when he has to go and work at B.A.M.C. (Brook Army Medical Center), here in San Antonio, he sees so many YOUNG soldiers that have been burned over their entire body, soldiers that have lost limbs and so on , so please keep praying for our men and women over there, for our leaders and for all of the families who are apart right now and for the families who have given the ultimate sacrifice. Hug each other , love each other really hard and do this every day. This is what our God has asked us to do, be thankful for your lives, even when your day sucks, always ,always at the end of the day be thankful. Again , THANK YOU , THANK YOU , THANK YOU, WE LOVE ALL OF YOU. GOD BLESS AMERICA!




There is Steven!!!! In the back , right in the middle of the group!!! I know he was thinking, "Oh Lord, there she is ....my mom with her camera!!!!!
If you look real close, you can see Steven with his arms open and his cap flying!!!!!
This is the Segarra Family. If any of you remember from way back in my blog, the first time Steven went to Iraq, he specifically told me, "Mom , trust me I will take care of him and he will come home", well he did and I thank God for him!
This was made by someone for the entire Batallion to sign, I thought that was pretty darn special!
"Our Soldier" Gosh we love him, and we are so proud of him!

Some Special Pics!

Al little bit of This and That!!!

First I apologize for not visiting any of your blogs in the last few days. Being SICK SUCKS!!!! Frank , Astrud and I all three have been sick since the weekend. Today I went back to work, and the friend that I am filling in for thru August has been put to bedrest for high blood pressure and she is not due until the end of April.
Second, Steven in landed in TEXAS about 1 1/2 hours ago!!!! THANK GOD, IT IS OFFICIAL HE IS HOME!!

Third, My neice Alyssa made Head Cheerleader for her Senior Year!!!! They live up by Lubbock. We are so proud of you Lyssa and We love you very much!!!! And my nephew, James her brother text me and told me that there was a bomb thread on his college campus in the building he was in. That just scares me to death!! I told him to always be aware of people and his surroundings and to watch out for anyone acting different, he told me that he took it serious and left!!! The things our kids have to worry about these days is so scary.


And fourth, Astrud has asked us if at all possible she could go next summer to play Volleyball in Europe. OK , I am really not ready to let that happen...EVER! She has said that she would raise the money by doing various jobs and such and fundraisers. Her best friend Emily is going to go also. Still....I do not know if I am ready for this. But the more Frank and I talk about it, the more that we think, what an opportunity, right??????? The thought of this makes me want to throw up. So we have decided to pray about it. Well today the director of the Mother's Day out program that I am working at, comes to me and says, hey Kristy do you think Astrud would like a full time "PAYING" job this summer being a floater????? Ok so she took the job , she's excited about it, and she wants to save all the money for Europe!!!! Can any of you give me your opinion on this? I would really like some feedback. Emily's mother would be chaperoning them. It is a very well known organization. And she will be 16 years old when this happens. So any advice would be greatly appreciated. Love and Blessings, thank you all for your prayers for Steven, you will never know what that means to us.

Love, Kristy

Gidget
Gretchyn

All over blogland , people have been putting pictures of their "furry" family members, so I thought I would share pictures of my furry daughters Gretchyn and Gidget. These pictures were taken on a very cold morning. All other mornings they are sooooo ready to go outside but this particular morning these are the looks I got. It was as if they were saying,"YOU WANT ME TO GO WHERE"???????? Too cute!!

3 Words Sunday....

Our neice Rayn and our grandson Joshua

"LOVE EACH OTHER"-- That is my three words for today. After the last week and a half we have had, all I want is for everyone to Love Each Other!!! This is Frank and myself with our kids, and our neices, all that is missing is Megan and Steven. Steven will be in back in Texas on tuesday!

Matthew 5:4

Blessed are those who mourn;
For they shall be comforted

Today is one week since Alex was killed in the accident. I just got off the phone a few minutes ago with his mom Tessi and she is exactly how you would expect her to be. This is not going to be another gut wrenching post, I along with hundreds of other people have found complete peace in the fact that Alex was a Christian and we know exactly where he is. He is in eternity with his Father in Heaven. A place I pray to be one day. The thought of Alex and his life makes me want to be a better person.

I don't know how many of you live in a small town, but I do. I have said before that I still live in the town I grew up in, as well as my father , grandfather and so on. Although this town has grown so much in the last say 20 years, the mentality of the people is still somewhat the same. Katybug , my very special friend told me that, Tessi and Colby and their family went to eat breakfast at a little mexican restaurant that the whole town eats at everyday, and when they went up to pay, they were told that there money was no good there, then the other day Tessi realized that she had not paid their electric bill and when she called ,the lady on the other end told her that it was taken care of and that they were loved and hung up. Tessi also told me that Alex's friends come after school to play football with Hayden in the front yard. That is God's AMAZING GRACE!!! Thank you all for your prayers , please keep praying for this family for the road to healing has just begun. This family has an amazing faith and I am so thankful for that.

Just some pictures I took the other day!!

I took these pictures the other day, we were just messing around outside and I got some really good shots of Rayn, and some awesome shots of Astrud and Emily in the air!!! I love these pictures!!

Stork Landing and Jayden's Birthday!!

Our friends Rachelle and Troy threw their son Jayden the coolest birthday party ever!!! It had a "Farm Theme" with a petting zoo of ducks, chicks, rabbits , goats and a pony ride. They had it all set up carnival style where you went from booth to booth playing games!!! It was so much fun , and what made me the happiest was they had a COTTON CANDY machine!!!! Rachelles , friend Misty has three girls, Olivia, Maille, and Edie. Maille is from China and I remember following their journey and we finally met in person at the party. They live about 6 hours away. All three of the girls are precious and priceless. For some reason Maille really took to me and I have to tell you that her and I were at the fence and I was petting the bulls head and Maille was saying "Coooowwwww" and about that time a LADYBUG landed on the bulls head!!!! Now if that is not a God Wink I don't know what is!!!! It was great!! I hope you enjoy the pictures!!

WOOHOO!!!! PRAISE THE LORD, WE ARE OUT OF 2005!!!!!! The Stork landed at Great Wall and the cut off date was January 4, 2006!!!!! Did you read that ? It said 2006!!!!! It feels so good to know that the CCAA is finally in our YEAR!!!!! Remember we were logged in April 21, 2006!!!! I can't tell you for sure when our day will come, since it took so long to get thru 2005, but I can say that it is a time for celebrating around here!! It just feels so good to see your year up there!!!!! In this last batch of referrals there were twenty babygirls and one set of twins!!!! Congratulations!!!! to all of those families!!!!! I pray all of your TA's come quick and may your travels be blessed

TO YOU!!!!!

Having Problems with my BLOG???

I am having problems and I suspect that it has something to do with my new background??? When I click on "Customize" it will not give me the whole page. The scroll down cursor (I don;t know what to call it) is really long and only goes down 7 or 8 page elements. Also my neo Counter is freakin out!!! One minute it shows something like 178 Visitors from 247 Cities , and then the next minute is shows 41 Visitors from 30 Cities, it jumps around so if any of you have any suggestions I sure would appreciate them. I have spent hours on Blogger looking for help with no success. Thanks everybody!

Scattergories/Christie tagged me!

It's harder than it looks! Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following... They have to be real places, names, things... nothing made up! You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl.

1. What is your name? Kristy

2. 4 letter word: kept

3. Vehicle: Kenworth

4. City: Kentucky

5. Boy Name: Kenneth

6. Girl Name: Kyndall

7. Alcoholic drink: Kamakaze

8. Occupation: Kitchen worker

9. Something you wear: Keds

10. Celebrity: Keanu Reeves

11. Food: Kidney beans

12. Something found in a bathroom: Kleenex

13. Reason for Being Late: Knocked out by little ole lady!!!

14. Cartoon Character: Krusty the clown

15. Something You Shout: Ketchup please!!!!!

16. Animal: Kangaroo

17. Body part: Knee

18. Describe you: Kind

Ok Christie tagged alot of people so all of you even my friends that do not have a blog, go ahead try this, it REALLY is not as easy as it seems, just do it and then email me with your answers. It was alot of fun, I also had Frank and Astrud thinking....

3 Words Sunday....

It is 5:07 a.m. on Sunday, and by this time he should be back in America!!!!! Just waiting for the call!!! And all I can say is, THANK YOU GOD!!!!!

A Heartfelt Thank You!

I want to take this opportunity to THANK all of you for your truly heartfelt comments, prayers, and praises for my last two post. It has been a whirlwind of emotions the last couple of days and honestly all of your comments have just made me realize again how incredibly special all of you people are. I am truly blessed by all of your presence in my life.