We had a great time in the mountains yesterday at the Ranch. It is about a three hour drive to get to Nana and Papa's ranch. I should probably tell you that Nana is like my sister. We have been friends for about 8 years now. Alyssa calls her Nana. I had a Nana when I was a little girl and it was my mom's best friend. So one day Debbie asked me if she could be Alyssa's Nana. It was very special to me for her to be her Nana. So anyway, we got to see cows and horses and fish and deer. It was rainy and cool and such a wonderful relief from the 100 degree weather that we have had. In the second picture Papa and Alyssa are giving the horse some cake (or as Alyssa called it dessert). In the third picture Alyssa was giving dessert to the cow. The first picture shows Alyssa petting one of the calves. Papa had to trap her and hold her so that Alyssa could get to pet her. I can hardly wait for Kailyn to get to do these things too.
Tammy

The Ranch

We are going to Nana and Papa's ranch today. Alyssa will get to feed a baby cow. They have three that are being bottle fed right now. She is excited to go with us and Nana and Papa. Nana has been waiting to do this trip for a long time. We will try to add a few pictures tomorrow. The days are getting closer to our time to travel. We can hardly wait.

Tammy

Ukraine / "The" Ukraine

Thanks again for the info on Ukraine. We don't want to do anything to make anybody mad. We will remember that as we travel.

This is just a little test to see if I can figure out how to put video in the blog. I know how to get pictures, but I decided I should try ot learn before we go to the Ukraine.

Weather comments

Thanks for all the weather comments. It is truly helpful. We are so enjoying all the blogs that we are watching. Can't wait to go ourselves.

Tammy

Getting It all Together

We are busy now trying to put all the ducks in a row. Cameras, SD cards, Flash Drives and so forth. I am going to take the laptop today to have more memory added. It doesn't have enough for all we would like to do while in the Ukraine. We are already having trouble with it here so I know we need to work on it before we go. Does anybody have any thought on what the weather will be like in September? August I am pretty sure of, but if we have to stay longer I would like to know what it would be like in September.

Tammy

Wedding Change

Well we are having a change in plans for the wedding. They decided to not rush so much and to wait until we get home from Ukraine. The plans now are to have the wedding the 11th of October. So that will ease up the stress a little. We will try to get things done before we leave and by e-mail until we get back. She has a family who will help her so all should be good. It will be such a blessing whenever it happens and now Kailyn will be here for the wedding.

Tammy

Great News

Our Shohn asked Randi to marry him last night. They are officially engaged. We are going to have a wedding on July 26. Wow will that keep us busy until time to go to the Ukraine. She is an awesome girl and we are fortunate to have her as our newest daughter. Not in-law, but daughter.

Jenn please let me know your e-mail or I possibly can get it from your blog. Thanks for the comment.

Diann Thanks for your comment. Just also reaffirms our decision.

Tammy

A Change of Heart

We have decided that this immigration issue is from the Lord. We are not going to change the number of children that is on the INS approval. We are going to go to the Ukraine to get one child. We have weighed all the different possibilities and the Lord has stressed to us that one is the number. So thank you Lord for your beautiful way of revealing this to us. So here we come Kailyn. Only six weeks and 5 days. Can't believe it is so soon. We are getting a little more prepared. Hopefully we will have some big family news tomorrow.

Tammy

INS Update

Our I600 extension came in yesterday. The only problem with it is that they say we are only approved for one child. The first one showed that we were approved for two if it was a sibling. So I have contacted Mr. Patterson and hopefully he can get this corrected quickly so that we can get it apostilled quickly. He is very helpful and I don't feel that it will be a problem to get this correction.

Thanks to all who have left comments. It is so much fun to hear from people all over the country and the world. It is our pleasure to share our experience of adoption with all of you who are reading our blog. Life is about the same around here. Shohn, Randi and Randi's dad are going to Las Vegas for the weekend. It will be a little quiet around here.

Tammy

Father's Day

Father's Day was great. Kevin had all his children home, of course except Kailyn who we are anxiously awaiting to bring home. My father was also here for a short visit. The eyes are good and life is back to normal. I put Breanne on a plane this morning and she returned to Austin to go back to work this evening. Shohn is preparing for his trip this weekend with Randi and her father to Las Vegas. He needs a few days off. He works very hard. Both of our older children have such a great work ethic. Praise the Lord. We have just found a couple that is new to El Paso and their appointment at the SDA is only 10 days after us. We are going to connect when they get settled into their new home.

Tammy

Lasix went great. I can see 20/15 in the right and 20/20 in the left. It should be better on Tuesday when I go back to the doctor for another check. It is very exiciting to be able to see without putting on contacts or glasses. We are off today to see my dad in Artesia for Father's Day. Breanne arrived home and the whole gang will spend today going to visit Pepaw. It is about a 3 1/2 hour drive there. We will come home today to be at church tomorrow for Kevin to enjoy his Father's Day. We are so anxious to be ready to go to the Ukraine. Wish that we had Kailyn here already. We have some more exciting family news to share soon. Will let you know when I can.

Tammy

Today I have Lasix surgery on my eyes. I am so excited to not have to wear contacts or glasses to go to the Ukraine. I have worn one or the other for so long, I am not sure how to not wear them. I am so blessed that God allowed this before we go. It will make it so much easier with the little ones. Breanne comes home tomorrow for Father's Day and for her birthday. We are excited to see her. We haven't seen her since Mother's Day. We will go on Saturday to visit my dad for Father's Day. This will be an interesting day to have all of us in one car. Glad the Tahoe will hold all of us.

I left the paperwork today at the immigration office. I got to talk to Mr. Patterson for a short time. Hopefully he will get this out to us by next week. Then all the final paperwork is done (except for apostilles). That is easy. Those last 57 days will go very quickly. Breanne comes home this weekend for Father's Day and her birthday. She was her father's Father's day gift 23 years ago. And two year's later I got a son for Mother's Day. God has such a sense of humor.

Our family

For those of your who don't know us personally, I will give you a brief run down on our family. Kevin and I have been happily married for 26 years. We have three bio children. Breanne 23, who is an RN in Austin, Shohn 21, who owns his own construction business, and Alyssa 3, who keeps us running always. We waited 8 years for Alyssa and decided that we would like to have a sister for her to grow up with. Shohn has a beautiful girlfriend named Randi. She is affectionately called Bunni at our house. We have lots of family and friends who are very excited to watch us bring home another daughter(hopefully). We attend a great church and have a great support system there. God has been so good to us in the past years. We are both able to stay home with the kids. We don't have any time constraints when it comes to being in the Ukraine. My husband is retired on disability with his back and I gratefully can stay home with all of them. God knew the plan many years ago and provided for us. Our older children are so exicted at the opportunity to have another sibling. They both enjoy Alyssa immensely. It was very hard on Breanne when she moved to Austin in December to pursue her nursing career. She comes home about once a month and we so enjoy that. Shohn has his own place, but we see him daily. I hope that you will all enjoy watching our blog as we travel in 61 days to the Ukraine. God always reminds us how he is in control. We are grateful that he does have control and we hope that we will be understanding of that when we get to the Ukraine and there are delays. To all of you who are waiting just remember God's time is perfect. We don't always understand why, we must just know that he will provide whatever is required for us to get through the circumstance.

That is enough rambling for now.

Tammy

Well the last piece of the puzzle is now on it's way to completion. I talked to Mr. Patterson at INS yesterday and we will submit Monday for our final update on our I-600. He said that he would hopefully be through on Friday. Then for the apostille and we are ready to travel with all paperwork complete. Praise the Lord. I also finished Kailyn's blanket that is a tradition in our family. So she is officially ready to be a member of our family.