Welcome to our Life..it's a crazy busy one, but that's just us! We have 7 kids, 3 daughter-in-laws, 1 son-in-law and 5 Grandbuttons!!! WITH #6 & & 7 ON THEIR WAY!!!! We came home on July 15, 2010 with our Princess Franceska Danielle, we hope you enjoy our life because we sure do!! God has just BLESSED beyond what we could have ever imagined!!

OUR BLOG WEARS PURPLE TODAY FOR ALZHEIMERS AWARENESS......PLEASE IF YOU CAN DONATE TO THE ALZHEIMERS ASSOCIATION...THIS DISEASE IS A THIEF IN THE NIGHT THAT NEEDS TO BE STOPPED!!!!

Monday, April 27, 2009

The youth at our church participated in World Visions 30 Hour Famine this weekend. They fasted for 30 hours and raised money for the Hungry around the world. While they did this they also did tons of community service helping the elderly , picking up trash around the city, among other things. They built houses out of cardboard to sleep in. We slept in the playground at our church. The guys slept in another area and they named it "Mantopia". These kids are amazing and incredible!! Their hearts for Jesus and the unfortunate are truly inspiring. I hope you enjoy this post as much as I enjoyed living it with these kids. Here is a group picture of all of us.



These 25 kids raised over $2100.00 in pledges. One $ can feed one child for one day. They made a sign of fingerprints representing each child that will benefit from their efforts. WOW! I am so proud of these kids.


The 25 kids were broken up into tribes of 5, and were given a country such as Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, etc. in which they learned facts about the Hunger problem in each country. They then competed as teams for food that they later donated to our local food pantry. Here are some pics of the fun. Astrud's team "Peru" won a few of the challenges, so here they are trying to look "tough"!



A few hours before the 30 hours was up the kids were asked to sum up what they had learned during this process and they made signs to express their feelings.



We had a candlelight service to pray for the starving people in the world, every 3 seconds a child dies of hunger.
These kids started fasting at 12:00pm on friday at school and at 6:00pm on saturday they were served a feast and here is Jena swapping some cream puffs for her and Astrud!!

Friday, April 24, 2009

Happy 16th Anniversary!

Happy 16th Anniversary Kerry and Ricky. I know this is not the picture that you would have chosen , but since he never lets me take pictures of him, this is it!!

The absolute most wonderful thing that has happened in the last 16 years is right below. Thank you so much for giving us our 3 neices, Jade, Lily and Rayn. They are each unique and wonderfully made. They are all such Blessings from above. In the last 16 years it has been very ,very few days that we have not gotten to love on, hug, kiss and even fight with these beautiful girls. Thank you God for every single second.
Jade Alexandria, our "FAMILY CLOWN"
Lily Victoria, our "AWESOME ATHLETE"
Rayn Olivia, our "LITTLE PRINCESS"

They are all 3 God's children and how blessed we are to have them.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

3rd Times a Charm!!! (fingers crossed)

Oh I pray that the 3rd times a charm!!! This is a picture of the envelope that is going to the Department of Homeland Security for the 3rd time!!! God willing this is it, and I am so glad to have it all done, because all of thIs paperwork makes me nervous...Mr. Government we just want "Our girl"!!!

Do you notice the little Scentsy wax burner??? Well that package arrived on tuesday which happen to be our 3rd year LIDversary from Amy and Rick. I love it and it is just perfect. It was such a nice surprise! Thank you SO MUCH and we miss you all bigger than the sky!!!! HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY AMY!!!

Yesterday I had to put in a call to our Agency, so I left a message and a while later when the phone rang ,Astrud looked at the screen and said , "Mom it's Greatwall". And after I got off the phone I looked at the caller I.D. and it hit me that one day soon the phone will ring and this is what it will say , and on the other end of that phone will be a lovely lady named Kim and she will be telling us all about our precious daughter!!! I know I am easily humored, but I just had to post this!!! lol


A GIFT FROM LIZ


My friend Liz told me that she had a present for me and it was this precious LADYBUG egg plate. I just love it and what she did NOT know... is that I collect egg plates! How perfect is that!!!!

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

36th LIDversary

Monday, April 20, 2009

Some of our Easter 09' Fun!

Here is my Easter present from my "Grandbuton" Joshua. He had help but these rocks were painted for MeMe and put in a basket that was left on our porch. I love every single one of them and it is the Best Easter present ever!!!!



Your pictures and fotos in a slideshow on MySpace, eBay, Facebook or your website!view all pictures of this slideshow




I have a really big family and if I put all of the pictures here you would be sitting her a while, so here are a few. Easter is my favorite of all holidays for our Lord has risen!!!

Friday, April 17, 2009

Friday Fun!!

This cracks me up!!!! This is our 4 year old Grandbutton Joshua getting the Spa treatment before he got his haircut!!! Did I mention that he is 4!!! It amazes me that he sat still that long, it just cracks me up and makes me smile so big!!!

P.S. Thank you so much EDNA for your words and love to Kerry last night. We love you and would love to spend more time with you. And thank you for being so loyal to my blog, it means so much to me. Love and blessings, Kristy

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Some things I want you to know Franceska...




Dear Franceska,

Oh babygirl how I wish I could see and touch your face. We are getting closer now and I am allowing myself to dream about what your little face will look like, how you will smell and feel. If you will look at me and cry or smile, or if you will reach out to me and touch my face with your sweet little hands. Or if you will just not want me at all, if you will want your Daddy first???


I am letting myself close my eyes and dream about the day that I first see your face. It does not matter where I am, if I am at work, or driving my car or even sitting at church I let myself dream. Your cousin Rayn left one of your Teddy Bears on the living room floor yesterday and as I sat in my office chair I looked in there and saw it and thought to myself , is that what it's going to be like when our girl is home????


I want you to know that you are so loved already without even knowing anything about you , not even knowing if you are born yet. Your Daddy who has always been the silent one , said the other day that he daydreams about you and thinks about you all the time. We pray for you, the nannies, all the babies, the waiting families, and all of the birth mothers everyday. For your birth mothers worst pain is going to turn in to my most joyous of all feelings. And yes that breaks my heart, but I pray that somehow she will know how much you are going to be loved by your BIG family. All of your brothers, sisters, sister in laws, aunts, uncles, and cousins are waiting patiently to get their arms around you.


The last thing I want to talk to you about is your Nonny , my Momma. First you will have the best Poppy in all the world and all of your life I will tell you the stories of how much a Hero he is to me . Not only for being my Daddy, but for the way he takes care of your Nonny.


You see Nonny has Alzheimers, she is only 66 years old and we are losing her more and more everyday. I need you to know that in her day to day life there are things she just does not know how to do anymore, we have to watch her every single second. But you need to know that everytime I say your name, she remembers immediately who you are and where you are coming from. She even expresses frustration because you are not home yet. It astounds me that she still knows about you, and it truly makes my heart smile. I know that God is keeping you in her heart, and I am so very thankful for that. I feel panic everyday that by the time you come home, she just won't know anything anymore, but I think I have learned to give it all to HIM. I can't do anything about it anyway so I will just continue to pray about it.


There are some things I want you to know about your Nonny. She was a stay at home Mom, to me, Aunt Kerry and Aunt Kim. Your Nonny never really drank alcohol but was always the life of the party. Now you have to know that she could cuss like a sailor and tell a really nasty joke like a beer drinking, tooth sucking, gut sticking out, crack showing hillbilly, but she always had a heart of gold. She was always quite a talker, and I would imagine thats where I got my gift of gab from. She was always laughing, and joking around all the time. There was a time back in the 80's that she cut darn near every boys hair in La Vernia High School. She would take a suburban full of guys after they graduated to City Public Service in San Antonio (electric co.), every tuesday since that was application day, just so they could get on there and have benefits and retirement and a good job. That is just the person she was , always looking out for others.


All thru school with all of the tryouts and this and that she always headed these things and always did all the work. Your Poppy was a railroad man so he was out of town monday thru thursday so most of this stuff was done while still being mom to us three girls, keeping the yard done, the house in order and also taking care of grandparents, and various other older relatives.


All three of us were in all sports, I was a Cheerleader, in Dance Team, FHA, 4-H, all three of us raised show hogs and sheep and she never falted on any of it. She was at every single thing we did. I will never forget the look on her face the night I was crowned Homecoming Queen, I looked up to the crowd and I will never forget the look on her face. I was a typical teenager with the typical teenager attitude at times and I can remember thinking that she was so old fashioned , etc, etc. etc. and now that Astrud is 16 , and probably really thinks I'm a dork that does not know anything , I feel guilty for having those same thoughts about my momma.


Franceska I need you to know that at an earlier time in this life , your Nonny would have loved you so much. She would have been so incredibly proud of you. She would have given you things even when she knew that I would say no, she would have constantly taken you shopping, you see your Nonny has always been about clothes, clothes and more clothes. She would have cheirshed every single second she had with you . I know all of this because it is exactly what she did with your big sister Astrud and big brother Bubba. I can't tell you how many little trains, cars, dolls, the hard plastic ones, (lol) , just things like that, that they both have had thru the years because Nonny would be in a Dollar General, Family Dollar, or a Wal Mart somewhere and would just have to buy them something. It was always something that they just would put on the dresser or something, but it was from Nonny!!!!


I want so badly to know that when I am loving on her that she really "feels" it, I want so badly to see her with you while she still knows who you are, I want to see one of her real smiles as she looks at you ,but I don't know if that will happen. I just want you to know how much she would have loved you. She has always been the Perfect Nonny. She learned from the best...you see her Mom was my Granny and my Daddy's mom was my Grandma , and let me tell you it just didn't get any better than that!!!! God bless you little girl. My prayer is that God will put a hedge of protection around you, and hold you in his arms until we can get there to bring you home. Please , please CCAA speed things up so we can all get to our babies. I don't have any more fight left in me, I just really want my girl to come home.
I love you , Mommy


I apologize for having such a heavy post, but it is just what I am feeling today. I know all of you will understand.

Monday, April 13, 2009

A GIANT APOLOGY!!!!

I am so sorry for not posting for a while, I have been having HUGE computer issues and they are still not corrected!!!! So as soon as I can I will get caught up on all of my posts, and I will catch up on all of your blogs I promise!!!

Friday, April 3, 2009

True Love Waits...

This past weekend we had the TRUE LOVE WAITS Ceremony at our church. The front of the church for both services was full of parents with their teenagers to make this committment to God. These kids have gone thru a Bible study about Purity and have attended various studies on this as well. They all realized that this is a lifelong committment and on the day of their marriage they will give their spouse to be their TRUE LOVE WAITS ring. I think this is beautiful and we are so incredibly proud of our daughter Astrud, Jena and Emily for this. This is something that Astrud takes very seriously and has made this promise to God. She is so much more than I could have ever dreamed of. Jena , Astrud and Emily

Here's a group of them showing off their rings!

Thre's Frank and I standing with Astrud and of course I was crying, it was a very emotional time.
P.S. I have so many things to blog about , but I have had the stomach flu so I will catch up soon and I will certainly catch up on all of your blogs ASAP!!
P.S.S. If you want to go to my last post and look at the comment that my DIL Amy Lynn made , it just made my day when I read her referring to Franceska as "OUR" Little Ladybug! It was just one of those moments for me. Sometimes I wonder what our older kids "really" think about all of this deep down and this just solidified it all for me. I am sure alot of you will understand. Thank you Amy and I love you bigger than the sky!!!MUAHHHH!!