just recently ... OK TODAY... put some of my paintings on EBAY. The 3 above I posted and we will see how they do. If you are interested you can search EBAY for Folk Art Painting. AND >>>> YES one of the angels is bald. I was inspired to create her after all of my loved ones who have battled or are battling cancer. Her name is Kenleigh ~ Angel of Strength the other is named Leenora ~ Angel of Wisdom and the tree is just a simple circle tree or some call them penny trees. The flower is from my passion vine in the backyard. I love this flower because it is so unique and it only lasts for one day. The picture of the dogs is so funny. I was working on the computer and heard all of them barking ALL OF THEM... so I went to see what the commotion was...well..... there they were all barking at squirrels sitting on our back porch eating bird seed. There were 3 squirrels and each dog was barking at their own squirrel. It didn't even phase the squirrels they just kept eating. WELL THAT'S ALL~ one more thing at the bottom of this page is our new GUESTBOOK... PLEASE SIGN IT....THANKS LOVE YOU ALL

Our Home Study is over!!!!! YIPPEEE!!!! It went very well. We picked Jan up on Tuesday morning from the airport and took her out to breakfast. We had a nice sit down breakfast at a local Mexican Food place…YUM!!! We talked a little bit about adoption but mostly it was just casual conversation. After breakfast, we took her to her hotel and we started our individual conferences. I was first…Ken left. I took about 2 hours. She asked me all kinds of questions about family, my work, friends, expectations, and lots more. I love to talk especially when I get nervous so it lasted about 2 hours. I called Ken and then it was his turn. He took less than an hour and a half. He called me when he was done and then we came back home (left Jan at hotel… her request) and we started getting ready for our adoption get together.

We had lots of family come over for fajitas and fixings to meet Jan and for Jan to meet them. I have posted pics so you can see who all came. We were so touched by the outcome. My aunt and uncle came to my house for the first time and it made me want to cry… but that isn’t anything new… me crying. It was a great evening and everything went very well. The fajitas were excellent thanks to Ken and my parents brought baracho beans and rice. Ken’s Aunt Sally brought orange fluff… YUM!!!! We had apple pie and ice cream for dessert. It was a perfect evening and having so many loved ones around us made it a great experience for us. We truly were so overwhelmed by all of the love and support.

The party ended around 10ish and then we picked up Jan the next morning for our Home Study. It started at 10:30. While we were eating breakfast (Ken made his famous breakfast casserole) Jan asked Ken to go print off her boarding pass…. Well he tried and had problems so he called Continental and we found out that instead of her plane leaving at 5:45 PM it left at 5:45 AM. We were so embarrassed because we had overlooked that. Ken called his dad to get advice and Everett helped out by looking up different planes and departure times. We finally found a flight for her that left at 4:00 BUT took her to Hobbie Airport in Houston and not Intercontinental where her car was. Needless to say her son in law volunteered to come and get her. It was a big circus of events and we felt HORRIBLE. A BIG thanks goes to Everett and Maggie for the help with the tickets!!! THANKS!!!!

After about an hour of figuring out the plane stuff, our Home Study continued. We were asked different questions about our house, income, finances, debt, how we interact as a couple, and lots, lots, LOTS more. She knew most of these answers anyways because we had to fill out TONS AND TONS of paperwork about ourselves prior to the visit. Then it was our turn to ask questions and we just had a few. Then it was time to leave. We dropped her off at the airport and immediately we felt a HUGE weight lift off our shoulders. We have been working on getting our house ready for the visit NONSTOP for about 3 weeks now and it was over. WHEEEEEW

Overall I think the visit went really well. We are now officially done with everything and just waiting. Jan said right now it is really slow. Usually they place about 6 babies a month and they have only placed 4 babies in past 6 weeks. There are about 16 families in all waiting for babies. We know that when it is our turn we will get a call. I am not sitting at home crossing off the days on a calendar or anything. We know it will come in God’s Time.