Thank you God!!!

I just wanted to take a little time to give God some glory. Yesterday Rayn (the little blondie w/blue eyes all over this blog) had her tonsils taken out and everything went as planned and she is doing really good. All last night she did not really want her MEME (me,her aunt) out of her sight!!! She is really a MOMMY/MEME girl and I just love that. We gave her a cloth flower that sings with a ladybug on it and her and I established early on that the ladybug was "Ceskas bug". She is going to be a super "Big Cousin".

Just a few of my favorite pictures!!

Christie tagged me!!!!

My friend Christie tagged me with this questionnaire, so here goes.
1.Were you named after anyone? No
2. When was the last time you cried? Last night, having a pity party for myself.
3. Do you like your handwriting? Sometimes
4. What is your favorite lunch meat? Ham
5. Do you have kids? Yes six and I am paper pregnant, or better yet elephant pregnant!
6. If you were another person ,would you be friends with you? Yes I would
7. Do you us saracasm alot? Yes more than I should
8. do you still have tonsils? No
9. Would you bungee jump? Really wanted to before I was a mom , now I know better
10. What is your favorite cereal? Sugar smacks and Pops, and Rice Krispies
11. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? I rarely wear shoes that are not flips, but when I do , I never untie them.
12. Do you think you are strong? Yes most of the time.
13. What is your favorite ice cream? Marble slabs Cheesecake
14. What is the first thing you notice about people? Pretty teeth and smiles
15. Red or Pink? Pink
16. What is the lest favorite thing about yourself? My cellulite!!!
17. Who do you miss the most? My Granny and I really miss my momma the way she used to be.
18. Do you want everyone to send this back to you?If they have time.
19. What color of pants and shoes are you wearing? No shoes and green scrub pants.
20. What was the last thing you ate? Edemame and pasta
21. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Purple
22. What are you listening to right now? My neice Lily laughing at pictures on my camera
23. Favorite smells/ Fresh cut grass, cinnamon and sometimes coffee
24. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? My sister Kerry
25. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Love her!
26. Favorite sports to watch? UT football and NFL football, Baseball
27. Hair color? Dirty blonde, but we have the technology so it is Medium Golden Brown #5G Loreal Preference!
28.Eye color? Green
29. Do you wear contacts? No
30. Favorite food? A really good Caesar salad and Pasta
31. Scary movie or happy ending? Happy ending
32. Last movie you watched? Catch and Release
33. What color shirt are you wearing? turquoise
34. Summer or winter? Fall and winter, right now but during that time it is spring and summer!
35. Hugs or kisses? both
37. Most likely to respond? Hopefully everyone I tag
38. Least likely to respong? Don't know
39. What book are you reading now? I just read Family tree and The lost Daughters also
40. What is on your mouse pad? My favorite picture of Elvis
41. What did you watch on TV last night? We were at VBS
42. Favorite sound? A lawn mower , rain and the kids laughing.
43. Rolling Stones or Beatles? Not sure, probably the Rolling Stones
44. What is the farthest you have been from home? New York
45. Do you have a special talent? I like to think I am a good listener
46. Where were you born? San Antonio Texas
47. What superpower would you like ? I too would love to be able to fly ,but I also think being invisible would be pretty cool too.
48. Favorite Hobby? Does reading count?
49. A friend that you wish you could hang out more with? Christie , Fliss and Kathryn, just to be with them in person would be nice.
50. If you could be anywhere right now, where would you like to be? That is a no brainer, I would wish to be in China picking up Franceska.

Now I am tagging Fliss from Florida and Kathryn from Staten Island

WHY CHINA???

People are starting to ask Why China??? Well there are alot of personal reasons such as the one child policy that China has, the fact that I took a whole semester of China culture in Sociology way back when, but the main reason is we believe that is where God guided us. We believe this with every thing in our heart and souls. But tonight I went to Billyfoote.com, they are a couple from San Antonio, whom also wrote one of my favorite christian songs, "Amazing Love", and whom also adopted their daughter from China and when I went to their website the true meaning of "Why China" was right there on the screen and I would love to share it with you.

"The Lord your God is the God of gods and Lord of lords. He is the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and takes no bribes. He gives justice to orphans and widows. He shows love to the foreigners living among you and gives them food and clothing. YOU , TOO, MUST SHOW LOVE TO FOREIGNERS, FOR YOU YOURSELVES WERE ONCE FOREIGNERS IN THE LAND OF EGYPT. You must fear the Lord your God and worship him and cling to him."
Deut. 10:17-20

That says it all for us, and as I was reading it again and again, Steven and the war came to mind also. I hear all day long how people are against the war and how they are against President Bush. I myself have found that I am angry now and I don't understand things anymore ,because I truly do not want Bubba to go back, but for the sake of our son , one of the loves of our lives, I have to believe in what he is doing, and we must support him!!!!! So after reading this scripture I see that all of our soldiers are truly doing what is asked of them by our God, and may his love shine upon all of them and keep them safe. Hug your children tonight and when you go to bed please pray for our leaders and our soldiers I beg you, they are taking care of us, and the way I look at it Steven and everyone else over there are trying to make our world a safer place for Franceska, Rayn, Astrud, Jade , Lily, Joshua, Alex, Jacob, The Bruner kids,The Gray kids, just everybody, and all of your children to grow up in. Whatever we do in this life , do it to glorify God and we can't go wrong. God bless all of you.

Just curious!!!

I watch my visitor counter everyday and I am always curious about who you are so if you can please leave me a comment every now and then , just so I know who is peeking!!!! And then one day I can put you in Franceskas baby book okie dokie!!! Love and blessings to all of you.

Thank you Amy for always letting me know your here!! I LOVE YOU GIRLHEAD BIGGER THAN THE SKY!!!

Well it's OFFICIAL!!!!

On June 3oth Frank turned 50!!!! Kerry, Kim and Lisa threw him a surprise birthday party and he was really surprised!!! Craig even came to celebrate this with us and it was awesome, thank you Craig!!! Also thank you to Olga ,Jared and Melanie for coming also, we love you!!! This was a huge thing to us because one just cannot surprise him!!!! We did some of our hillbilly sand skiing, and it was a blast !!! AAAANNNNDDD then on July 11th , I turned 40!!!!!! As always we were at the lake. Every birthday I have ever had has been down at the lake, and this one was great also. I just really wished we had our "babygirl" to celebrate these milestones with. But it will happen, and we are getting closer everyday.

I apologize for the lack of posting but like I said we have been at the lake, and now we are busy with VBS, Rayn is having her tonsils out on wednesday so please pray for her. Chris and Amy's wedding is almost here, and Steven will be home for a weekend in August before he leaves for Iraq, and Astrud has volleyball camp at UT this weekend. I will catch up soon I promise. I know your are wondering Megan!!!????

Ashley and Jesse's Wedding

This is my favorite funny pic!!!

'EMPTY POCKETS"

Dad and Ashley
David and Cathy

The "Cake Ladies"

Here are a few of my favorite pictures of Brother Dave and Cathy's daughter Ashley's wedding. INTRODUCING : Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Anderson. It was a beautiful wedding with a gorgeous wedding!!!

One more MONTH down!!!!

Today is our LID anniversary. Our dossier has been in China for 14 months today, and right now the wait is 18-19 months. Please pray along with us that the wait will not get any longer before it is our time. We can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel now!!!

Here's my Godson!!!!

Finally !!! Here is my godson Jacob Edison Cruz. He is 17 months old and quite a little Tiger!!! He is busy, busy, busy and driving his mommy crazy!!!! Hahahaha!! He does have a big sister and her name is Alex, but I can't get a good picture of her to put on here that shows how beautiful she is, so we will find one soon.

WEDDING NEWS!!

I just wanted to let all of you know that Christopher and Amy's wedding date is August 25, 2007!!! Yes Amy has been a little bit busy I would say. She got her dress last Saturday and this Saturday her mom and I along with Amy are going to order the CAKE!!! Amy has done a great job planning the whole wedding in just a short amount of time. If your wondering why so fast it is because Steven is going to be home that weekend and they wanted him to be able to be there.

From what we were told Steven and Megan are getting married friday August 24th at the courthouse and then when he gets home they will have a big ceremony!!! How exciting the boys anniversary's will be a day apart!!!!!

Also last weekend Chelsey , Lisa and Haley ran into them at the Bridal shop and Chelsey found her dress also. It is hanging in Franceskas room right now!! And their date is November 17, 2007!!! Everyone is busy busy busy!!!!

When love takes you in.

When I heard this song for the first time, it really took me by surprise.The feelings it brought out in me!! I welled up and started to cry. The song is about children being adopted and brought to their new homes and being taken in by love, but when I listened to it I immediately started thinking about my kids. God chose me to be their mother and I was truly taken in by their LOVE. God is awesome and he does have a plan and I am so thankful for the plan he had for me and I look forward to the rest of it. With God all things are possible. Just look at me for example there was a time I never thought I would have kids and now I will have 7!! with Franceska, one grandson and three really great daughter-in-laws. So yes with God all things are possible!!!

Stevens Peace Globe

My friend Christie put this Peace globe together for me to put on our blog.. All of us just love it and when I got it our son Christopher, Astrud and Stevens fiance Megan were here at home so we all got to look at it together. Thank you Christie you are a super person and friend.

Astrud and her first nephew!!

This is Astrud with her very first nephew!!! Christophers fiance Amy has a son and his name is Joshua, so that makes him our first "GRANDSON"!!!!! We love him very much and him and Rayn are only two weeks apart in age so we really look forward to seeing them grow up together and maybe one day showing Franceska the "ropes"!

Chelsey and Anthony

I wanted to share with all of you that my neice Chelsey and her boyfriend Anthony are ENGAGED!!!!! What is going on around here!! All of our kids are getting married. Chelsey and Steven grew up together and they got engaged a week and a half apart!!! Chelsey will make a beautiful bride along with Amy and Megan!

Thank you so much Christie and Eddie!!!

You know sometimes God puts people in our paths that are there to change our lives and that is exactly what he did when he put Eddie and Christie Daniels into our life. These people are amazingly loving, spiritual , caring and supportive friends of ours now and we have never even met in person yet!!! They are participating in a Blogblast for Peace and their Peace Globe is dedicated and in honor of STEVEN!! Can you believe that!!! These are incredible people and I can't wait to spend time with them for REAL!!!!

Please go see their blog and look at what they did for STEVEN!!!

www.danielschinajourney.blogspot.com

A Special Soldier's Ceremony

On Saturday the 2nd there was a farewell ceremony in New Braunfels Texas for the Alpha Battery 4/133rd. Those things are always hard and emotional. You get that lump in your throat, knot in your stomach, so proud you think your gonna explode with emotion feeling!!! There are always pep talks and ongoing PATRIOTISM!!!!! And when one of the people they are talking about is your son it is pretty darn overwhelming. Here are some pictures of the day. I hope you enjoy them and as always we ask for your prayers for Steven and the rest of his unit as well as all of the soldiers and their families. We are so proud of him our chests could just explode!!!!

Opening Aunt Amy , Rick and the kids present. Thank you Amy , he loved it!!

Aunt Kim and Aunt Kerry

Chas and Steven

Aunt Mona and Aunt Lisa

Aunt Olga, Jared and Melanie

Steven and Megan (engaged now!!!)

Nonny and Poppy

Bubbas little Rayn with camo/pink hat and all!!
This is Segarra and Steven with the oldest living veteran in New Braunfels, Tx.

Bubba with all the kids and their posters!!!

Astrud and Haley
Steven and Mom

The Grohman Family

Garrett with his sister Brittany and mom Linda

That is us with "OUR BOYS"

Garrett with his mom, sister and grandparents

Garrett Grohman is in Stevens unit and is also from La Vernia. I have known his family for quite some time but did not have a real family like connection until now. We prayed as a family with our boys at church the sunday before they left and now his mom Linda and I have very quickly became special friends. Please as you pray for Stevens safety include Garrett he is a great kid and has a great family. All of us thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your prayers.