Adoption Update

I am so happy to let everyone know that we are taking our classes for our adoption process. The class started on Mon. Dec. 1st and will run for 12 weeks till Feb. 16th. After that we will be eligible for a child to be placed in our home! We are still hoping for a girl somewhre in the age range of 8-13 or so years old. We will have a ome study done during this time also. WE are excited about this process. I will keep yuou posted as things progress. Right now I also have to take care of me!

A Total Breakdown!

Oh my Goodness...........I guess yesterday being down was leading up to last nights total breakdown. I meant total breakdown. I was in tears and crying so hard. I thought I was havinga nervous breakdown. I guess it was a major panic attack. I was getting ready for bed and I was journaling about how I felt about myself and it was not good. I finished and just fell apart. I felt totally out of control and just lost it completly. When Allan came to bed he said in the dark, are yo ok and Isaid no. I thine started balling once again. It was so intense and I did not know if I wanted him to help me or to leave me alone. I got upset with him and told him he just did not understand. I did not know what to do I was out of control and I didn not know how to control my eating. My birth daughter and my birth Mom have rejected me and want nothing to do with me. WHY????? Oh it was awful. I left my bedroom and was on the living room floor in pain and crying uncontrollably. Allan came in and held me and told me I was going to be ok. He said he did not know what to do. Then Jennifer came out of her room to tis and she held me also and they both told e they loved me. When I calmed dowm and we all talked I was better. We went to bed and I could feel my body destressing itself and I fell asleep. I am now awake at 3:00 am and restless! So I thought ok go journal tis whole thing. I hope I can eventually go back to sleep. I have to rest to get better. I will see my DR next week and tell her abut this episode. I am praying and asking God for His love and for his unending help. I am so badly addicted to food and I now feel like I see the reason.....adoption and rejection issues. So the Lord is going to take me from here. Thanks you Lord!!!!!

Depression what a roller coaster

Oh my what a day today has been. I was doing great today I got my hair colored, highlighted and trimmed and it was so fun. It looks great. Then all afternoon off and on I have been in tears. It is so crazy how your brain can do that. It has boggled my mind for many years now. I am on meds for the depression and then some days just go haywire. Oh well such is life. It can be so frustrating though. Have had all kinds of crazy things going through my thoughts today. The loss of control is hard on me but I just keep pushing. I sit down and cry and deal with whatever set the tears in motion. I am thankful to God that I have the meds he has had the DR give me to keep me stable. I know in times when things are stressed and overwheling my brain just squeezes out and takes are at least trys to take control. I fight it and ussually win. I give in to every so often cause a good cry is just what I need sometimes! Thanks for listening! I enter here as a journal sometimes like this to eleviate some of the stress. Andrew is doing well and writing us lots of letters! He will be home in about 2 weeks on Dec. 20th!! Countdown just 16 days!! YEA!!! My Christmas shopping is ALL done!!! It helps for me to put down the happy things to get me back up! I have my Christmas card nearly done and ready to send! We got our first Christmas card today! Have a great night!! Bye!

A New Gerandson

Today was a very special day! We have a new Grandson, Timothy was born 7lbs. 12oz. about 1:30 this afternoon. Allan and I went to see him this evening he and Mom are doing great. He is adorable if I do say so myself. Holly looked great and was feeling great. Zach is a very proud big brother and was loving holding Timothy! Justin is a proud Dad and got to litterally deliver Timothy with the guidence of the DR. Timothy has a headful of dark hair just like Daddy! I can't wait to see him and ciuddle him again soon! I will try to get some pics to post soon, I forgot to take my camara up to the hosptial.

Getting Ready for Vacation

As we are getting ready for vacation we ha some bad news yesterday. Someone got hold of Allan's debit card number and made themselves a card and charged up over $1500 with it. We now can not use his card till he gets a new one in the next two weeks. It is so frustrating and makes you feel totally violated. We have been stoeln from. It was all done in Georgia. We are thankful that we had money in our savings account and that we had already taken out cash for the trip. We also have a credit card that we can use. God always watches out for us! Anyway we are so looking forward to our trip to Disney World. We will spend the first four night at Disney and the last three nights on a Disney cruise. We hope for no hurricanes! This is our trip to celebrate our 25 years of marriage. God has always been at the center of our marriage and we are thankful for that and blessed by that. If it had not been for God we may not have made it together for 25 years. We have had many up and downs but God has brought us through it all and we know that HE alwasy will. We pray together almost every ight together berfore we go to bed and I treasure that time we have together each night. I thank God for blessing me with the wonderful husband that he gave me in Allan!

We have progress!

As of yesterday we have an assigned worker for the adoption. Our worker is in Nashville and she will be working to get us a worker here in Jackson. So we are now waiting to here from our worker here in Jackson. The lady in Nashville is so very excited that ewe are interested in adopting an older child. We are so glad to have someone that is so excited! So hopefully things will start rolling soon! I will keep you updated as all begins to roll!

Still Waiting!!

Just an update as to where we are in our adoption plans! We were suppose to hear from our local contact to get the adoption process rolling last week Wednesday. Well we have heard nothing. I e-mailed that lady on Friday and again today. I plan to continue to e-mail her daily Mon.-Fri. till we hear from her. It is frustrating that we have to do that but sometimes when it comes down to it if you do not push you get no where unfotunatly. Please continue to pray with us! Thanks!

Allan and I are only 13 days away form our 25th anniversary trip to Disney World and we are very excited about that trip. We are so ready to get away for a whole week just the two of us! We will have four nights at Disney and three nights on a Disney cruise! We love Disney!

I am sad

Well I just found out that Nikkie has been chosen for anothr family and we will ot be getting her. It is sad as we had our heart set on her already! Please pray that God will now lead us to just he right child for us.

Adoption!!!

We are going to be adding a new member to our family! Yes we are going to be adopting an older child soon...hopefully! Allan and I have even picked out a girl that we found online, she is 14 and very cute. We have applied and are waiting for a local person to contact us about getting the process started. We know very little about Nikkie at this time. We know she is here in TN, she is 14 and that she is adoptable. I have wanted to adopt for many years now however I always wanted to adopt a small child and Allan has always wanted to adopt an older child. In the last few weeks God impressed upon me that we are to adopt an older child. We are very excited about this prospect. We told Jennifer and Andrew on Sat. and they took it very well. We are also in the process of working on adding another bedroom to our home for our new daughter. As most of you know I was adopted and I also placed a daughter for adoption 27 years ago and I have always wanted to adopt to complete the triad. So it looks like God is now going to bless that wish and desire in my life. For the last year or so I have not felt like I am done being a Mom and have been praying for god to show me what He has for me. I now know and I am so very excited to know that soon I will have a new daughter to be a Mom to. I will be here for her when she comes home from school, I will be here for her when she needs a Mom to talk to I will be here to be her Mom and to just love her. Anyway please pray with us as we take this giant step and continue to follow God's leading.

Long Time!

It has been a long time since I have been here. I am doing much better. No job at this time. Just hard to find a job at this time. I keep myself busy anyway.

My follow up visit with the DR after my surgery went well. The DR was only able to drain the cysts due to the fact that I have a lot of scar tissue from previous surgeries. To remove the cysts he would have had to open me up and I wouls have been in the hospital for 4-5 days. I go back to the DR for an ultrasound in Nov. to see if the cysts are refilling, if so then I will have to have the surgery to clean me all out and that does not sound like fun. So many prayers are needed that the cysts will not be refilling!

September 17th my hubby (Al) and I will be celebrating our 25th anniversary. Our daughter and son (Jennifer and Andrew) are giving us a party on Sept. 20th. We are very excited! Al and I will go on a three night Disney cruise and four nights in Disney World after in October. We are looking forward to that time together.

Our adopted Grandson (Zach) had his 4th birthday just last week. We went to his birthday party and had a great time. He was so excited! I conintue to get him about once a week for the day and just have fun playing! He is such a sweet guy. His parents are wonderful and we love Holy and Justin to pieces too!

I think that is pretty much the update for now!

Love to all, Margie (Margaret)

When It Rains It Pours!

The last three weeks have been quite long and not any fun at all. It all started with ten days of bronchitis and two visits to the DR for that. As that passed I ended up in Convenient Care in unbearable pain in my upper abdomen and on my right side. It was after hours so there was no way to get any tests done and it was a Friday of all days! So the DR thougt it was either gall bladder or Kidney stones and ordered an x-ray, urine test and blood work. He then gave me a pain shot and sent me home with directions to call back in morning to see if he could get me set up for an ultrasound. Al called back and I went to the hospital for an ultrasound and the DR also called in a pain pill for me to take the rest fo the weekend. The resualts of the ultra sound was that I had no gall stones but I did have kidney stones. I spent the rest of the weekend on pain pills in la la land and drinking lots of water and juice to try and pass the kidney stones. On Monday the DR ordered a CT scan and that showed very small kidney stones that I could pass n my own. I also went back to Conveninet Care for another shot to help the muscles to relax and help me ass the kidney stones. By Tuesday I felt better but not great I was able to get though the day with no pain pills. That was wonderful I hate the feeling that pain pills give you. I went to see the Uroligist n Wednesday morning. By then feeling much better and assuming I had passed the stones. The Uroligist told me that I had probably already passed the stones since I was pretty much free of pain. He also told me I had both a small and a large cyst on my overay. I called my OB who is also a very good friend. She looked at the CT resaults and asked if I could come in that day for an ultrasound. So I did and as it turns out I have a baseball size cyst on my left overy. It will probably have to be removed surgically. At thie time we are giving it 6 weeks to get smaller. So I will go back in for another ultra sound to see in 6 weeks if it has gotten smaller. If it is the same or bigger I will be set up for it to be removed. Holly my OB will not be doing the surgery as she is to close to us personally but will be assistingin the surgery. So I am feeling much better. Today has been my best day in three weeks!! I do still have some back discomfort and will watch that. If it gets to bad it may be coming from the cyst and in that case I will be getting it removed sonner. So as the saga continues I will keep you posted here! Please remember me in your prayers. Thanks.

A Long Sad Week!

Well we ent to church as we do every Sunday. Just before our Pasto got upo to speak it was announced that we had a tradgity within our church. As it turned out Fred a dentist here was out in Colorado with his family ad on Friday he died suddenly. That was announced and many of us were shocked. He was a health strong man only 37 years old. He left his wife and 3 young children 8, 2 and 5 weeks old. I had the 2 year old in our 1 year old nursery and it was not that long ago that Jack moved up to the 2 year old nursery. Jack is a sweet little boy and he loved to ciuddle and give kisses. He was one of my very favorite kids in that class. I know we are not suupose to have favorites but sometimes you get an extra special kids that attaches to you and that is just what Jack did. Anyway we will miss His Dad Fre deeply. They had moved to Colorado and were there for only one week and then Fred was gone to be with the Lord. The funeral was on Thursday morning and it was quite hard to get through. Marion was so strong and did so well seeing everyone as they come up to speak to her. I know it was so terribly difficult for her. As she told me she has lost her best friend the love of her life! I pray for her now and will continue to pray for her for the weeks and months as they come.

Then on Tuesday we found out about a very good friend of ours whose brother died. He was much older but it was still a sad time. WE went to the visitation and saw our friends. I hugged Lamette and we cried together. This was hard because we are so clost to Bobby and Lanette and we have not seem them in quite a while. I too pray for them and hope to get together more often in the futre with Bobby and Lanette.

I also learned from this tough week. I was sick on Friday and Saturday with a cough and a terrible sore throat and coiuld not talk. So I had lots of time to think. I really need to appriciate my husband and my family. You never know when one fo them might leave this earth. I realized that I take my husband and my children for granted so many times. I really want to work on not doing that. It is also very very importatnt to take lots andlots of pictures. For those pictures will one day be the only memories we have left and they will be treasured more than we can even now at this time.

So as we go into a new week I pray it will be a happier week. Gos bless us all!!!

"Daughter" Wendy

As Many of yo know I have a daughter Wendy that I placed for adoption at her birth. That was a very hard thing for me to do and I have NEVER forgotten her. She is now 26 years old and I have never had contact with her. I have had contact with her adoptive Mom over the last few years. I am sending Wendy a card today. Plain and simple just a thinking of you card. Please pray with me that she will accept this card and know that I am here for her. She got married last year. I just so want to know her and love her again!

A Summer Day With Zachary!

Zach is my "adopted" grandchild. Zach is an energetic little 3 1/2 year old. He is very lovable and a special guy in my life! We spend one or two days a week together. His parents are wonderful loving people also. Zach and I ussually go out to lunch and he loves pizza and Moe's! Here are some pictures of us enjoying the summer together! Enjoy!

Margie, Margie, Margie

It has been an eventful week for me! I started my new job on Monday and quit on Wednesday. I just could not do it. The hours were mights and weekends. I would never get to see Allan! I just was not taking that change at all. I did not want to have to miss church on Suinday's either. I would have only hald one weekend off a month. I just went into melt down mode on Wednesday and knew this was not the job for me. So no operator position for me. Then on Friday I got a call form the city library and have an interviw today at 4:00. I am so very excited. My very first job when I turned 16 was the public library. I also organized and set up a church library a few years ago. So I have some good experience with library work. I am really excited. It is for 30 hours a week every other Saturday and they are not open past 7:00pm during the week. I can handle two Saturdays a month. They are closed on Sundays and Mondays! Well I will let you know how it goes!! :-)

I have a new job!!!

I did it I got the operator job at the Jackson Clinic. I am so excited and so nervous all at the same time. I start on Monday May 19th. I am not sure what my hours will be each week I will have 30 hours a week! I have put a leave of absence in at Birth Chaoice for the time being. It has been a long time since I have worked a 30 an hour a week job. I feel I will need time to adjust to that before I continue counseling at Birth Choice. Anyway please keep me in your prayers on Monday as I begin my training! I will keep you posted on how it goes. My son also got a job at Old Navy and he too is thrilled! God is so good. We may think His timing is too slow sometimes but we also know His timing is operfect!

Just Venting to Myself!!

Today has been a day I just need to vent. I need to get this off my chest. I am so frustrated and so stressed out I a at my whits end. I don't know what to do. Ok, Andrew my 22 yer old son lost his job about 6-8 weeks ago and has not found a new job yet. I realize that is not that long to find a job however he does very little and I mean the bare minimum to find a job. He has no desire to find a job and we (my husband and I), can not seem to find a way to get him to have a desire to find a job. He went to Auto mechanic school for 13 months because he wanted to be a mechanic and got loans and the whole thing. Went through the entire 13 month program for nearly $30,000 in student loans that we nice parents co-signed for! Then he graduates and moves home and gets a mechanic job and he HATES it as well as his boss. Oh my what are we do do. We told Andrew while he was still working to look for another job so he could quit the mechanic job and go to the new job. Well does he do that. Oh no he is too tired to look for a job after work, or there is not enoght time to look for a job I work all day every day of the week, or a number of other excuses till he is one day fired! Well now he has no job!!! So here we go telling him well you really are going to have to find a job. you have a car payment to make of nearly $300 a month and a loan payment of nearly $400 a month and those are only the two bills that we your parents co-signed for you! Your other bills and or credit cards are yous not ours! WEll we do not have the money to make his car payment and his loan payment and all our own bills an payments every month on end for sure. So he has been told he has to apply for 4 jobs every day and he does that for a few days maybe 3 and then he starts doing 3 applications a day. Then the new thing is that on Friday's we don't do app;ications cause places don't want them on Fridays. So we hava a friend remodeling a home and he will pay him a good amount of many an hour to help him with it. We tell Andrew go out three days a week fill out 3 applications and then go work two full days with our friend and a couple of half days so you can help us get your bills paid till you find a job. That worked for one week!!! We are now at this point. Andrew sits on his butt in his bedroom playing some stupid X-BOX game for hours & Hours & hours all day all night! He is adicted!!!!!!! We have had yellomg fights, screaming fights, notes back and forth and it has got to stop. It is going to make me crazy. Right now I do not want to be in my own home. I want to run away and hide. I don't want to hear the game he plays killing and shooting and swearing at everything. It is horrible and I don't feel like I can even invite a friend over to visit. I had my 3 1/2 year old adopted grandson over yesterday for the day. He and I walked back to my bedroom to put him down for a nap and clear as a bell Andrew says "Oh SH__" I was so MAD I almost lost it and told him to turn that lousy game off or stop talkng like that right now. He got much quieter. Anyway I am just ready to fly away. It is getting so old. I do not know why my son at 22 years old does not wantt o go out and get a job. He has no money and we do not give him any money. The only money he gest is the bills we pay for him that we co-signed for. Any other bills he has the collection agencies are after him for. I am so sick of this...........tired...........drained...............and......frustrated. My husband is just as upset as me and we are at a total loss as what to do. We ae now praying MORE and trying to let go and let GOD!!!! I don't know if anyone can even understand this chicken scratch but if you do and have some helpful thoughts feel free to share!!!! I feel like we are being punished cause we co-signed on the car and school loans for him and becaseu he was such a good kid all through his growing up years even through the teen years!! OK sorry I will shut yp now. I pray that God will bring us through this soon. I love yuou Lord and I know you are here and you are in control!

Contemplating Mother's Day

WOW when I sit and think about Mother's Day what an ironic day for me. I have a Birth mother who wants nothing to do with me and has rejected me twice in my life now. Sad but I live with it and go on. Just the way it is. I have an adoptive Mom that loves me deeply and I would not trade for the world. She is the Mom that God gave me and blessed me with I am so thankful for her. She has always been there for me all my life! I have a step-son that is great! I love him as my own son. He has a wonderful wife that I love as my own daughter. They have our first Grandson and he is the BEST!!! So that makes me a grandmother too. I have a birthdaughter that I have not yet met. I hope one day to meet her and be a part of her life. I also have a daughter and a son that are still here at home with me. So Mother's Day is a very big day for me! Just some thoughts I have had today! I hope all of you Mother's have a great day!!!! :-)

A trip to Maui, Hawaii

I left with my daughter Jennifer (23) on Tuesday April 1st for Maui, Hawaii. We ldft from Nashville on Southwest Airlines and flew to Las Vegas, Nevada. Neither of us have ever been there before. We were surprised as we landed that the sript was right there next to the airport. We saw a pyramid hotel, the Stratosphere hotel and others. It was pretty neat to see. We had about a 2 hour lay over and had some pizza for dinner. We then boarded the ATA airline plane for our 6 1/2 hour flight over to Maui. It was a long flight and seemed never ending. It never got dark, as we flew into Maui we saw the sun begging to set and at that time it was midnight to us. I don't think many people can say they have seen a midnight sunset. hehehe We landed and went to the baggage claim to meet my Aunt Theresa and Uncle Richard. I saw them and they had a beautiful lie for both of us that they placed around out neck! They had purple and light green flowers. We then got out luggage and headed out to the car. It was getting dark so we could not see a lot at the time. Aunt Theresa and Uncle Richard took us to dinner at a nice little 50's diner called Rudy's. It was really nice and had model airplains all over the place. Jennifer and I shared a bacon cheeseburger meal that was very good. We then drove to there condo and it was on the North shore about an hour away. Jennifer and I to say the least were very tired form the trip. So we visitid for a bit and then went to sleep. The next morning when we awoke we could see out the window to the beautiful ocean view! The water was so blue and just gorgous. Here are a couple of pictues of our view from the condo.




On Wednesday Uncle Richard was off from work and we left to run some errands and just see the area around Maui. We stopped at an area to shop where there were many arts and craft type things. We then went to have lunch and the resturaunt was on the second floor we could not get the elevator to work, so Jennifer ran up the stairs to find out why. she came down and siad the electricity is out and they can not serve anyone. So we walked out and noticed the other businesses were out also. We got into the car to go to a different place. As we got going we heard on the radio that the most of the island was out of electricity. They said they did not know why but to just drive carefully and drive nicely and that it will be fixed eventually. After all this is Maui and it will be done on maui time! So we stopped at a little place and they said they have gas so we can come on in. We went in and the waitress/bar tender asked the cook to come out and tell us what he make for us on the menu. It was quite an experience! There were two couples there we met also that were from Canada and we visited with them some. When we were done eating Uncle Richard as a joke said "You would not have any ice cream back there that is melting that you have to use up would you?" Well the waitress soon came out with 4 dishes of ice cream with chocolate sauce and a cherry! It was a fun time! Part of the trip that will be a fun memory! After lunch we headed back to the condo. It was a beautifu drive along the ocean. We saw many surfers and lots of beautiful landscape. We had dinner at the condo that night and just visited.

On Thursdaywe got up at 2:30 am to head up the mountai to see the sun rise. Jennifer and I slept most of the way up the mountain. We dressed warm as it was quite cold up at the top of the mountain. You can see us bundled up!





The sunrise was beautiful! What a wonderul experience. I do not know how people do not think there is a God! This was the highlight of the trip for me! Here are a few pics of the beautiful sunrise!






After the sunset we stopped for breakfast a a very nice place on the ocean. It was a beautiful place with lots of flowers growing outside. We had a very nice breakfast and visited. We then went back to the condo for the afternoon. Aunt Theresa, Jennifer and I all took a long nap. Uncle Richard did some reading and went to the pool. That night we went to a Luau and really enjoyed that also. The meal was a buffett and it was wonderful with lots fo things to choose from. The pineapple there is GREAT! I tried the poy and that was utterlay yuck! LOL my Aunt loves it, I think it is an aquired taste, but I can at least say I tried it. Here are some Luau pics for you to enjoy!






On Friday my Uncle, a pharmacist, went back to work. He and my Aunt have gone to Hawaii for the past few years for the winter and he works for 4-6 months. They live in Michigan the rest of the year. We were so glad that we were able to visit them and have a good time there in Maui. So anyway on Friday morning Aunt Theresa said that I needed to call ATA and I asked why. She siad well she heard something on the news last night about them going bankrupt and closing. I was like "what"! So I called and got a recording saying something like...."This is ATA we are sorry to any inconvenince this may cause but we are no longer in business and we will not be offering any refunds, please contact another airline for your further airline needs." I was like oh no what are we going to do to get home! Aunt Theresa has a lap top but had been unable to get online all week so I called Al and told him what was going on. He looked online a bit while we were talking and then said let me let the secretary here at work figure this out and I will call you back. I said that was fine. He called me back a bit later with airline reservations for us to come home on American Airlines for $1.250 each. I said oh my gosh. I guess I will be looking for a part time job when I get home! Which by the way I am now doing!! So the rest of the day was a rather down day. We did not do much. We went to the pool and enjoyed that. That night we went to Lahaina to eat dinner at a great seafood place called Bubba Gumps. We also went to a fun souvenier shop and got some things for us and others back at home!

On Saturday Aunt Theresa, Jennifer and myself went to the Maui Oceanic Center in Lahaina. It was a fun time. It was neat to see all the marine life native to Hawaii. We also ate lunch there at the cafe and it was beautiful. Here are some pics from there.








We spent the afternoon back at the pool at the condo. When Uncle Richard got home Jennifer and I walked down to the beach with him for a little bit. It was beautiful and here are pics for you to see!








On Sunday we went to church with Aunt Theresa at St. Theresa's. After church we went to the Maui Arts and Cultural Center Castle Theater for a concert called Opera Rocks II. There was a lunch before the concert that we had and enjoyed outside. The concert was done by the Community Choral arts and 30 of the Honolulu Symphony musicians and 2 opers singers. It was wonderful concert and we all enjoyed it very much. Some good culture for the trip. The Symphony conductor was Stuart Chafetz and was very good. That night we ate at the condo and Jennifer and Uncle Richard got subway sandwiches and brought them back.

On Monday we did some shopping at a store called Hilo Hattie what a neat store with lots of things from Hawaii. Jennifer and I each got a pretty new dress. We also got other items and the rest of the gifts we wanted to bring back to friends and family. We spent the afternoon back at the pool. That night we got most of our packing done to head home on Tuesday afternoon.

On Tuesday we finished packing and visited with Aunt Theresa and headed to the airport. Oh boy were we in for a surprise for the trip home on American Airlines! Aunt Theresa dropped us off and asked if we wanted to her to come in with us and we said no we would be fine. So off she went and on in we went after we said our good byes. We went to the ticket counter to check in and the lady said that our flight the next morning in Dallas was cancelled and did we want the 7:30 pm or the 9:30 pm flight instead. We were landing in Dallas at 5 am. I said the 7:30 pm flight and she put us on that flight and we were off to the gate to head to Dallas! While sitting at the gate and talking to aother passengers we heard many stories for them and there travels on ATA also. Aloha Airlines also shut down and there were passengers that had been stranded from that airline also. We found out that our flight in Dallas had been cancelled due to the MD-80's being grounded. Anyway we got on the plane and headed to Dallas. We got into Dallas as expected at 5 am. By 7:30 am I said to Jennifer I am not staying here for the next 12 hours this is crazy we need to go out to the ticketing counter to see if we can get an earlier flight or something. So we did that. We got in line and got to the counter and were told that Nasheville was the hardest place to get to that day. I said well how about Memphis, we just wanted to get home we were so tired. She said well there is one at 5:15 and I said well I guess that is better than 7:30 tonight by a couple of hours. Then she said let me look and see if there is anything else. Oh here we are....I have one that leaves here for LaGuardia at 10:00 am and arriving in Nashville at 5:30 pm. I thought oh wow. Jennifer did not know where LaGuardia was and was not to sure about doing that. I said are you sure that when we get to LaGuardia that the flight from there will not be cancelled and she said I can not promise that but you just need to get out of here and the planes are a different kind. So I said ok. I would rather fly all day than sit in that airport all day. So that is what we did. When we got ready to land a flight attendant announced that we would would be landing at Gate D10 and then annonced some of the other gates for the connecting flights when she said Nashville she said gate D10 and I thought that is strange are we going to get back on the same plane naw that can't be. So we got off and sure enough we were getting back on the same plane with in an hour. We were so glad to know that we were going to at last get home.

A couple of days ago we were give by American Airlins two $500 vouchers to use with in the next year. That is a nice compensation for all we went through. Al and I will probably use them to go and see our Granson and family in Virgina this summer. We have not decided yet as we just got them!

Hope you enjoyed my story even though it was so long!!!


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Trip to Hawaii news coming soon

I am sorry I have not done my story on the trip to Hawaii yet. I have had a very busy crazy week. I hope to have some time next week to sit down and write all about it. Please hang in there with me! I am in the process of lookig for a part time job and that with other things has kept me quite busy!

Margie :-)

Getting ready to go to Hawaii

WOW I am so excited to be going to Maui for a week. Jennifer and I leave on Tuesday morning! We will fly out of Nashville to Las Vegas and on to Maui. I have most of my clothes packed and ready to go. I still have the personal every day items to pack and odds and ends. I have done the laundery and am just ready to get there! I am ready for some nice consistent warm weather too! I am very excited to see my Aunt and Uncle also. They were like my second parents when I was growning up so we are very close! I have not seen thiem in a long time. I know we will have a great time with them seeing all the sites. I got two new suitcases for this trip. They are lavendar and will be easy to spot at the luggage pick up. I got them on sale at Sears for a great price! I love the lavendar color of them. Anyway I am ready to go and will tell you all about the trip when I get back!

He is not here, He has Risen

What a beautiful Spring Day we had for Easter! It was cool as Easter did come early this year! However, the sun was shining brightly in thw beautiful blue sky! We all got up and I made waffles, eggs, bacon and sausage for breakfast. we then went to church as we normally do on any Sunday monring! Al and I enjoyed our one year old nursery and took lots of pictures of our little ones in there Easter best. We had a wonderful worship service to honor the KING OF KINGS because he died and rose for all of us so that we are saved from our sins and have eternal life with Him in heaven. If not for Jesus' horrible death on that cross we would not have reason to celebrate this wonderful Day! We then had Debbie and Criag (very good friends) over for lunch and to visit. The lunch menu was simple and consisted of ham, sweet potatoes, corn and rolls. We then had a relaxing afternoon and evening. Today we are back to our "normal" weekday routine! I hope that eveyone had a wonderful Reserrection Day yesterday!!!

Last set of Pics

Sister Maria and hubby Darrin
Grandson Alexander
Mom with all her grandchildren and her great grandchild
Durand Crew
Alesander

Jennifer my daughter 23, Maria my sister, Liz my sister, My Mom and Me

Nephew Reid 6 years old

Cousin Elaine and hubby Sonny

The Sat. Night Gang

Pictures from Mom's Birthday!

Top Picture.....Neice Sofia 4 years old Son Andrew 21 years old

Middle Picture.....Brother Tony, Wife Karen and Neice Niki

Bottom Picture.....Sister Maria, Mom, Nephew Reid, Neice Sofia

A 75th Birthday Celebration!

My family and I left for Phoenix, AZ on Thursday morning early March 13. We flew to Phoenix on Frontier airlines from Nashville thought Denver and had good flights all the way! When we landed and got out luggage we headed to the car rental location to get our rental car for the long weekend. While we were in line Gary our son called to say that they too had arrived from Virgina. We are very excited to get together with him and his family. We met Gary in the hall way of the car rental building as we had rented cars from tow different places. We decided to meet at our hotel and go to lunch. When we went to pick up our car a PT Cruiser it was a completley different car and much to small for our luggage and not a mid size car as we asked for. So after much waiting we were giving a mini van for the price of a mid size car. That was fine wth us and worked well for the entier weekend. We met Gary, Kristie and Our Grandson Alesander (2 yrs old) for lunch at a great place called Cleain Jumpers for lunch! We had a great time visiting and catching up with them. We then went out seprate ways for the day!



We then went and checked into our hotel. The Ramada Inn that was from Hell....excuse my french! WE left to go run some errrands. When we came back we found out that the TV did not work the channels that did come in were staticly and you could not understand what the people said, the other chanells did not come in at all such as CBS. The wireless internet did not work. The blankets on the bed were too small, the toilets only flushed when they wanted to. We were so disappointed. There were about 3 or 4 college age baseball teams there also and they were in the pool so the pool was full at all times. Our room was right outside of the pool and they were of course very noisy too. We went across the street to the AZ Mills Mall that evening for a while to eat dinner and just to get out of the hotel. We spent the one night and then in the morning we checked out. We then found a Holiday Inn and were able to get a room there for us and my Mom for the remainder of the weekend! It was 110% better and we were all so very much happier!



Friday we switched hotels. We had some lag time between checking out of the Ramada Inn till we could actually check into thw Holiday Inn so we went out to breakfast and enjoyed a nice meal. Then we went to my sister's home and visited a bit with her and her two children. Sofia 4 years old and Reid 6 years old. We had a wonderful time with them. We were glad to be able to visit with just them beofer everyone else was to arrive later that day! We then left Maria's and checked into the Holiday Inn. We had a quiet afternoon there and the kids got to swim and really did enjoy tht time. Then we all headed to the first even to begin the 75 birthday party of the weekend!!! We went to a really neat resturaunt called Buca de bepo and Italliain place that was so neat. We got a big room and a huge round table and in the middle of the table is a huge round lazy susan. The meals are ordered family style. So Darrin my wonderful Brother in law took charge of that part and ordered for all of us. We got a couple of salads, three pans of garlic bread, spaghettii and meatballs, lasagna, fettachini alfredo, veal parmagiana, chicken marsala, lemon chicken, and raviolli and very good. Then the food all goes on the lazy susan and you turn it for everyone to get some. It was such fun. Then for dessert we all had some cheesecake, chocolate cake, apple something,and terimisue (sp). It was a wonderful night and a great time! There were about 20 of us there laughing and catching up on old times! Mom was all smiles!



On Saturday monring a group of us met at the Phoenix Zoo. All who went were Mom, Maria, Darrin, Sofia, Reid, Margie, Al, Jennifer, Andrew, Gary, Kristie, And Alexander. The kids Alexander, Sofia and Reid loved seeing all the animals. Alexander's favorite animals were the monkeys, he got very excited to see them. Sofia really enjoyed the elephants. We all had a good time and all the animals were pretty active that day which made for a very enjoyable moring.



For lunch on Saturday a group of us met for lunch at the Rain Forest Cafe Mom (Mary Ann), Mom (Helen), Pat, John, Al, Margie, Andrew, Jennifer, Gary, Kristie and Alexander. It was our first time to get with Al's family and it was a fun time. We had a big lunch and our waiter was veryyyy slow. We were there for 2 1/2 hours long! Then we did a little bit of shopping with Mom as she wanted a new pair of shoes.



For the couple of hours after that we spend time just resting back at the hotel! We needed that time beofer our eveing event!



For dinner a big group of us met at a place called Rawhide Western Town and Steakhouse. They take you on a hay ride back to a cook out area where ther is a band singing country music and other entertainment throughout the evening. You get the choice of ribs, chicken or stak for dinner with beans, toast, and a baked potatoe and then aple pie for dessert. When you arrive everyone gets a straw cowboy had and a bandana to wear all evening long. It was a very good time. Those that went were Mom, Elaine, Sonny, Maria, Darrin, Mary Ann Young, Diane Durand, Tom Durand, Liz, Margaret (Margie), Al, Jennifer, Andrew, Gary, Kristie, and Alexander. Alexander had his first roasted marshmellow and thought it was a pretty good treat.



On Sunday we all slept in some and some of us met for a river boat ride at Canyon Lake. What a neat adventure and a gorgous ride on the road to get there and on the boat ride. It was a small group that went this time Al's family Helen (his Mom), John and Pat, (his brother and sister in law), Mom, Liz, Al, Margaret (Margie), Jennifer and Andrew.



Sunday afternoon was another time of rest and also a time for us to get things organized and packed up as we were leaving the hotel to go home about 4:30 am. At 4:30 we arrived at Maria's home for the big celebrations party where EVERYONE came together!!! It was a wonderful party and a GREAT time. We had orderves and visitied with everyone and then had a marvelous meal for dinner. We took lots of pictures and made lost of special memories! Mom opened her gifts and the Durands brought her Michigan memories.......Faygo Rock N Rye pop and Faygo Red Pop also Saunders ice cream topping!! She lit up with a huge happy smile it was so much fun to see her so very very happy! She also got some nice photo albums for all the many pctues we all took and certainly will share with her. She also recieved a nice digital frame too. She had a great birthday weekend. Mom told us as we told her good bye Sunday night that this was the best weekend of her life besides her wedding!! I was thrilled that she felt that way and that it turned out so well.

Headaches!

Oh what stress can do to a person. I have been having headaches all weekend. I figure it is stress as I get ready for my Mom's 75th birthday party coming up. We are all going to Phoenix this week for the blessed event this weekend! I am very excited and yet stressed about it also. My sisters and I have been planning this for right at about a year now. It is hard to beleive the weekend is nearly here. I have made many phone calls, reservations, written many invitations, letters and e-mails. I am sure we will have a great time. I also know that I must relax and just let the time come and enjoy! I am very excited and looking forward to a great time with family and friends. I pray that God will take the stress from me and just give me peace. We leave for AZ on Thursday morning early. Mom will be staying at the same hotel we are staying at. My daughter Jennifer and I have gotten her some nice things to decorat her hotel room and to make her stay pleasent for the weekend. We also got her a new night gown and slippers and a new outfit. We also got her a CD player with radio and 2 new CD's one is Frank Sinatra the other is Bing Crosby for her to enjoy. I know she will be surprised and pleased. We truly do look forward to spoiling her for the weekend!!

Ready for spring!

Over the weekend the weather was beautiful 70+ and great. Then yesterday the weather changed and got cold and today we had snow flurries. Oh my the change of sesaons. I love Spring and am so ready to have warmer weather. I hope it gets here soon. I am going with my family to AZ next week. We are going to celebrate my Mom's 75th birthday. I can hardly wait to get out there in the warm weater. Looking forward to seeing my brother and sisters and there families too. We will see lots of friends too. I am also very excited to be seeing my Grandson while we are there too. Our Son and Daughter in law and Grandson will be there and we have not seen them in quite a while. Alexander turned 2 last month he is grwoing up so fast. Looking forward to a great trip!!!

Psalm 46

1 God is our refuge aqnd strength, and ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells.
5 God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.
6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

7 The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

8 Come and see the works of the Lord, the desolations he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; he breaks the bowe and shatter sthe spear, he burns the shields with fire.
10 Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.

11 The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

We all need to remeber at all times that God is in control of our lives. He is always with us and knows what is best for us. "Be still and know I am God".

Back On Track!!!!

WOW I went to Weight Watchers today and I lost 2.5 lbs. this week. YEA!!!! I am back on track! It is a lot of work but so worth it when you get that loss. I am hoping to lose 2 this next week to make a grand total of 10 lbs. gone! So I will try very hard to stay on trac this week. I really need to get the exersizing going this week. I have not got that under control yet. I hope to start doing that this week. So I am slowly progressing once again!

Dieting!!!!!!!

Well if losing weight was as easy as gaining it life would be dream! I got down 9 pounds and it toook 5 LONG weeks to do that and then in 1 short week I gained 3 pounds. It is just not fair!!! So rather than list you my excuses cause that is al they are I am back to the drawing board! I have such a hard time losing weight. I have tried so many times over and over and over and over again! I have tried every diet there is and Weight Watchers is the only one tht I have ever lost weight on. However I always gain it back. I really want to lose it this time and keep it off. I have never gotten to my goal weight and I would like to do that this time too. So as of today I am starting over again. Back to recording EVERYTHING I eat. I HAVE got to also start to really exersize and not just play at it. I have to get on the tredmill and walk for at least a half hour not just five or ten measly minutes! If anyone is reading this please pray with me for this time in my life. It is very very hard for me and I get very moody and frstrated. I do know that through all things Christ strengths me! I know to lean on the Lord and he will lead me also. Thanks for your help and for listening to me babble!

A Tense and Scary Night!

Tuesda Febraury 5th, 2008 in Jackson, TN was a very tense and scary night for my family and myself. We were home watching the weather on TV that eveing and the stoms were being reported. The report was to take cover at the time. When all of the sudden the electricty went out and I said "I think it is time to go sit down here in the hall way". I walked to the end of the hall way and sat down as did the rest of my family. Jennifer (my daughter) and I were sitting with our backs up against a bedroom door when we felt a breeze come under the door. I said "that was really weird I felt air come under the door like a breee" and Jennifer replied "I did too". She then moved a pillow behind her back. As we were sitting there listening to the weather radio hearing what was happening I said "This is very scary". We heard hail hitting the house loudly and the wind blowing by loudly and then it was just very quiet. It was very eary. Al my husband said that he felt the house shake. Soon after I said "can we get up now". The tornado sirens were still going off and the wind was blowing but it was much qwuieter than it just had been. We all got up and went out the front door first to see what had happened. The front yeard looked fine however when we went into the back yard we saw that our back gate had been swung open and our shed that had been behind our garage had been thrown up across the backyard. The items that were in the shed were still on the shleves in the place where the shed had once been. It was quite a scene to see. It was scary to know that the tornado or at least the very strong wind had come that close to our home. There was a second set of storms that came through just 3 hours later and we were all very thankful that it was just rain and thurnderstroms. The kids and I went out the next day to see the damage that had been done around us and there was some very extreme damage all around us to homes and businesses. The worst damage was done to Union University about 3 miles from our home. The dorms there have been destroyed and by a miracle all the students about 1200 or them were rescued and all are still alive. It is a night that we here in Jackson, TN will remember for years to come. It is a night that I never want to live through again. I praise God for protecing my family and many of our friends!

To Work or not to work that is the question?

Well I have been looking for a job for a while now. I am looking for a full time or part time receptionist type job. I have the experience for it and I love that type of job. I have sent out my resumae to many ads and nothing. I am just wating and hoping. I am also praying and asking for guidence. I will continue to pray and ask for anyone that reads this to please also pray with me. We can really use the extra money to help pay off some bills. I want to be able to help that way and to be able to put money into our savings account as well for vacations and other things as needed. So if there is anyone out there the knows of a recepionist or office type job opening and can let me know and out in a good word for me I would really appriciate it.

Thanks Margie :-)

Eating can be so hard

Oh what a week it has been. I have had such a hard time staying on plan. I want to just eat anything and everything all day long! I weigh in tomorrow and will not be surprised if I gain! I hope I do not but time will tell. I just keep starting over and messing up. I hope that next week will be better!!

Not Sleeping....Wendy is in my thoughts tonight!

It is hard to beleive that Wendy is going to be 27 in just two months! She is all grown up and she is even married. Another mile stone in her life that I was left out of! That is so hard to know that I did not get to be a part her life then. I pray every day that she will soon have the desire to call me and to want to meet me. All through her years of growing up I staying in contact with the agency she was placed through. I sent holiday cards, birthday cards, pictures, letters and some small gifts. Sometimes I think I just sent her too much and that she has no curiosity so she has no need to find me and meet me. It makes me sad to think that way. I so want to be part of her life again. I only had her for the 9 months that I carried her in my body. I just want to be her friend she already has a Mom and a wonderful one at that! I was 27 years old when I was searching for my birth family and I hope that Wendy too will soon be ready to make connection with me. Her Mom has all the info on me that Wendy needs, my address, phone numbers, etc! I have such a desire to see her and hug her and just share so many things with her. Well Ijust continue to lean on God as I wait. A very special Bible verse that gets me through all of this is Proverb 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heartand lean not on your own understanding;in all your ways acknowledge Him, and he will make your paths straight."If not for God's help I would never be able to patiently wait for Wendy to be ready! Well I need to get to bed for the night. It is nearly 1:30 in the morning!

Good Night!

Welcome to my blog

Hello, I am new to blogging but I thought it would be fun to have a place to write down (type0 my thoughts and feelings. I deal with adoption and weight issues in my life. I am also a wife and mom. So most of my blog will talk about adoption and diet issues. I am also a type 2 diabetic which is another reason I need to lose my excess weight!

I am currently in Weight Watchers and have been doing it for 3 weeks. I have lost a total of 6.6 lbs. so far. I am working very hard at it. I am addicted to food and that makes losing weight very difficult for me. Sticking to a diet is extreamly difficult for me. I am going to give this my all! This has been a very bad weekend and I have not followed my plan at all. I also need to start exersizing and plan to do that soon. We have a treadmill and I plan to start walking on it soon. Hopefully tomorrow! I say hopefully as that is something I hate to do is exersize!

So this is where I am at, at this time in my life! Margie

This Is Me....Margie Clement...A Place for My Thoughts

To Be Announced Soon!