MERRRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Just a few pictures of what's been going on here. Phoebe was on Santas lap and she asked for a pink horse. Ava here looking a little hmmm drugged. And my very handsome grandson Cyrus just being handsome.

PSALM 100

1 " SHOUT FOR JOY TO THE LORD, ALL THE EARTH.

2 WORSHIP THE LORD WITH GLADNESS; COME BEFORE HIM WITH JOYFUL SONGS

3 KNOW THAT THE LORD IS GOD.
IT IS HE WHO MADE US AND WE ARE HIS,
WE ARE HIS PEOPLE, THE SHEEP OF HIS PASTURE.

4 ENTER HIS GATES WITH THANKSGIVING AND HIS COURTS WITH PRAISE;
GIVE THANKS TO HIM AND PRAISE HIS NAME.

5 FOR THE LORD IS GOOD AND HIS LOVE ENDURES FOREVER;
HIS FAITHFULNESS CONTINUES THROUGH ALL GENERATIONS."

GLORIOUS

This fall has been just beautiful here. we took advantage of it and spent time outside everyday. the little ones enjoyed playing in the leaves and swinging in the sunshine. We need to remember these days because winter will soon be upon us.


Psalm 16:5&6
" Lord You have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;surely I have a delightful inheritance."

Adoption Day

we had adoption day. It's official she is Ava. everything went smoothly. She fell asleep on the way to the courthouse, we let her sleep for a little while, then she woke up just when the judge came in. The judge here is wonderful so friendly, and positive with us. we were able to take pictures with him and in the court room.

Our Girls

Been A While

well it has been 2 weeks since last post. I have been super busy but I don't know with what. It certainly hasn't been with laundry(as it is crawling out of the bathroom as I type) We have been to so many doctor appointments. Last week Ava was a wreck, crying ,screaming,not sleeping so I finally called the doctor. I told him if there was nothing wrong with her then I needed something. But guess who had ear drums ready to rupture, yep poor thing. I had to repent of my lack of compassion she really was not feeling well. We took Phoebe to the heart doctor every thing is still the same there, which is good news. We got to see the ultrasound of the heart, very cool. Her hole is the same as it was 3 years ago. the only news that would be better is if it closed. And I believe God can do that. We also went to the ear specialist for Phoebe and guess what her ears are a mess. She is on antibiotics for 10 days we go back and hopefully they will be better. The up side to both her drums rupturing is she will be getting the tubes put in (as soon as they are bettter). God is good I had been trying to figure out how I would talk the Dr. into tubes and there was no talking about it, he will do it . In fact he looked in her ears and said"her ears are a mess" . So for anyone wondering why we wanted the tubes, Phoebe has a slight hearing problem because her ears are a mess. We are hoping that her hearing will be 100% after the tubes. Dan hurt his shoulder and right arm which has laid him up. I took him to the ER last week. He is slowly getting the use of it back,and the pain is subsiding so he is on the mend.

WEDDING

The kids are honeymooning in Mexico. they were going to go see the Mayan ruins today. we hope they enjoy themselves because we all know reality will come all too soon. You have never seen such a happy bride she was glowing through the whole ceremony(except for when she started laughing and couldn't stop) We had a wonderful turn out for the reception about 220 people. The pictures are of the cake(delicious) Sara and Ava and Bethany.

WEDDING

Well everything went wonderfully. She is married and we are starting to catch up on sleep and getting our energy back.

AVA SHAKES

PICTURES

well I finally have the pictures to post of the quilt and pre-school and random things that we have been up to. There is one of me Jessica and baby Cyrus.

GRADUATION

this past weekend we went down for Sara's college graduation. It was a really wonderful time. We took the 4 girls with us and stayed in a hotel with a pool. the 3younger ones thought that was the best thing. We went to an awards banquet on Friday and then the graduation was Saturday morning. I will take just a moment to brag Sara graduated Summa Coum laude and with 2 degrees. Yep we were pretty proud of her and her accomplishments. She gets married in 2 weeks and then will pursue the rest of her life. the first picture is Sara with her intended Jared. then us with Sara and Sara with Bethany. I am so glad that the other girls went with us so they could see that hard work and commitment do pay off.

PICTURES

Disclaimer

Well here we are almost a month later with new posts. It takes awhile because my daughter Sara was doing the blog for me and she is at college so sometimes it doesn't get updated very often. So I have decided to try my hand at posting. You will notice right off that I am not the wordsmith that Sara is. She is very clever and should be a writer. I would bug her about updating the blog and she would get frustrated with me because she doesn't have alot of time. These young kids nowadays thinking they have no time. She is only a full time college student (deans list all 4 years) works 40 hours a week and is planning her wedding for this May. I don't know what her problem is she has the hours between 2am and 6 am to blog for me. So here goes the next 2 post are my initial attempts at blogging and adding pictures.
What is new here? Nothing. Winter won't leave and I am more than ready for spring. We put the girls in their snowsuits to go out and play today. We even dragged their outside play stuff from the barn. It was pretty hard trying to slide in a snowsuit, Ava can barely walk in hers. But they went out and blew the house dust off. Everyone starts back at school tomorrow so we will be on regular schedule again. Ava goes for shots in the morning, Phoebe has pre-school and speech and then hopefully it will be nap time.

Easter 2008

HE IS RISEN!! Happy Easter to all. We had a very good Easter. It is still cold and we had snow but it was still good. We had all but one of our kids for Easter. We are always happy when we can have the kids together for holidays. We went to church for breakfast and Church service. Then down to Letchworth State Park for dinner and the egg hunt. I have to tell this story. All us Aunts fill several dozen eggs so we have a total of 300 eggs (excessive I know) we let the teenage girls go out and put them out for all the little kids to get, they are out in plain sight. Well the girls got the bright idea of putting a bunch of eggs on a very icey spot. Well when the kids went to get the eggs they would slip and fall and then someone else would run out and try to get the eggs and they too would fall. well at one time 4 of them were laying out on this icey spot scrambling to get up. Meanwhile the teens are standing by laughing like crazy at the younger kids, sick I tell you but it was pretty funny to watch. We all need therapy. Anyhow all the eggs were eventually gotten and a lot of fun was had by all.
The 3 younger girls wore their aui dais that I bought in Vietnam. They looked so beautiful in them. We have to pin Phoebes together , she is so active that the snaps come undone very quickly. But they sure are pretty. We had a wonderful day with our church family and our family.

Babies, Babies, Babies

I would like to introduce my new grandson, Cyrus Daniel born on March 13. He is soooo handsome (I might be a little predjudiced). Everyone is doing fine. He weighed 7 pounds 7 ounces, in the Bible that would make him complete. I go over about every other day to hold him, would not want to wear out my welcome. Our girls were not sure what to make of the new baby, but after going to see him a few times they have warmed up. Except for Ava and she still thinks she is the baby. So at home she is our baby and over there she has resigned herself to Cyrus being the baby. I will try to include some photos of them. Also we have 3 baby calves in our barn. Everyday Phoebe and Elaina go out and bottle feed them. They have been very good about their new chores. Phoebe absolutely loves the calves. In fact she has named them baby cow, babycow and Phoebe. Very original.
Well we are waiting for spring to come to western New York. It has been very cold here still. We still have snow where it banked up and in the shady spots. Come on Sring.

BUILD A BEAR!!!

We booked a party at Build-a-Bear for the girls. We went up to Buffalo on February 16. We booked the party in honor of Ava's first birthday...belated first birthday. We left Saturday morning with Ava, Phoebe, Elaina, Beth, Sara, Jess, Madelynn, Laurie, and me. We went home with seven new stuffed animals.

Ava wandered around and so we picked an adorable monkey for her. We named her Thai in honor of Ava's given Vietnamese name. Phoebe picked the pinkest, sparkliest, brightest animal that they had and she put the pinkest, sparkliest, brightest outfit they had on her. Her bear was appropriately named Pinky. Elaina picked a light brown bear but dressed her up with a Hannah Montanna jean skirt and shirt. Her bear is named Miley. Bethany made a fuzzy bear with denim jeans and a cowboy hat. His name is Wyatt. Sara made a puppy for Junior Champion (Jessi's baby due in March). He is wearing jean overalls and his name is Champ. Jess and Maddy made a light brown 'allergy friendly' bear. She wears a blue and shite striped dress. Laurie made a floppy bunny wearing overalls, a polo, and workboots. She is sending him to her newest granddaugther down south.

It was a lot of fun. Our 'helper' was named Anna. She was wonderful with the girls and really made it special. It was a little overwhelming at first. I am glad we booked the party so that we had our own area and our own helper. Here is a look at our girl's day out. More pictures to come!!

Matt

This picture is from Matt's induction into the National Honor Society at Houghton Academy. He worked very hard to get in to Honor Society at a school where the academics are on a collegiate level.







Here is Matt and Ava enjoying the swings.













This is Matt and his girlfriend Carly. They have gone to several of the formal events at the Academy together.