We can do ANYTHING......together!

WHEW......after a LOT of time, and A LOT of hard work, we have OFFICIALLY turned in ALL of our paper work for the adoption. We are getting really excited, nervous, scared.....you know - all of the emotions that go into adopting a baby....and we are going in with eyes wide open - ANYTHING can happen until it's all done - we are feeling VERY vulnerable, but we know we have to have faith, and believe that whatever is meant to happen will hapen. Whatever happens, Joel, Cassie and I know that we can do ANYTHING.....as long as we do it together - and the three of us all really believe that this is meant to be. Continue all of your prayers and good thoughts! We will keep everyone posted!!! LOVES TO YOU ALL!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN - WARN THE KIDDOS!!

What do you do on a Sunday afternoon........

Our family goes to church at 8am! HORRIBLE.......but we do get to have the rest of the afternoon to find things to do. We don't play with friends, go to the park, etc.....so Cassie has to work to find things to keep her amazing mind occupied. I like to read, Joel likes sports - ANY....and a great long afternoon nap....but Cassie - well the options for her a limitless! She can watch movies, play the Wii, play with her MILLIONS of toys, play with the dogs, ALL KINDS of fun stuff......but OH NO -not my Cassie - My Cassie does research papers on animals, insects, rocks, creatures of every kind. I came into the office on Monday and this is what I found! How CUTE is she! Is there ANY wonder why she is in the gifted program at school! Cassie - I couldn't love you more!!!

Karate Competition - GO CASS!!!

Saturday Cassie participated in a valley wide Karate Competition. It was a competition between 5 different karate schools, and it was Cassie's 1st! She was FULL of nerves and excitement.....and had worked and practiced really hard! She did the BEST she could........and it PAID OFF! In her first event she won 2nd, and in her second event she one third! I was SO proud of her! She even got a little bit emotional - happy tears - when she realized she had won! We are just SO glad we found something she LOVES to do, works hard at, and has found success in doing it! GO KUNG FU CASSIE!! YOU ROCK!!!

Goodbye.......to a fuzzy little friend

(It's me, Cassie). Last night, I buried my hamster Nibbles out in the back yard. Dad dug a big hole and I burried him with his favorite chair that he ate on because that is where his food was. I went to check on him on Friday night, and I thought he was just sleeping, and I poked him with the food bowl, but he wouldn't move so I picked him up and he still didn't move, and I smelt that smell and I knew he was dead. Midnight, my gerbil had died so I knew what that smell was. I am really sad and I will miss him a lot, he was REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY cute. When we got him he was going to get eaten by a snake, but we saved him and we have had him for 1.5 years, and the people who had him before us had him for more than a year so he lived a long time for a hamster. I am glad that I had him and I will miss him a lot, but Mom says we aren't ever getting another hamster. JUST DOGS! Love you guys! Cassie

Bad Dog!!! BAD BAD BAD BAD DOG!!!!

You can't really tell by the pictures, but I came home from running errands with Holli and came home to A ROYAL MESS!! Let me just say........We usually lock Stella up when we leave, mainly because that is what her "other" family did, she is still a puppy after all - ANYWAY.....I had been leaving her alone for a few hours at a time and there had been NO problems - so, even though I knew I would be gone for a long while, thought it would be OK to leave her out - WRONG!!! Like I said, the pictures are bad - but let me explain. The "snow" is a large piece of foam board - that was SHREDDED ALL over the house - Family and Living room.......AND - for whatever reason, she thought it would fun to bring in a DIRT CLOD and chew it up and leave it in the living room - AND....don't have a picture, but she proceeded to chew up my wicker trunk that I painted and have in my living room. AND - she pulled the blanket off the rocking chair and pulled off the little fringes - AND she got to my fancy pillows on my LR couches - and pulled several tassels and beads off!! NAUGHTY DOG!!! All I can say is she is LUCKY she is a puppy - and it is SEMI acceptable for her to be a BIT mischievous - AND - she is STINKIN' lucky that she is so CUTE!! NAUGHTY STELLA!!!! But we LOVE her!!!!

Introducing - STELLA!!!

Hi Everyone! Here is our STELLA!! Long story short - or not so much - Misty Matthews - single Mom of 3 girls bought one little Yorkie and LOVED her! Loved her so much she decided to get another one - LOVED her too - but the dogs did NOT love eachother! LOTS of fighting - which even resulted in some blood! Loving Marley as much as they did - they wanted to find her a good home - where she would be safe and loved! Misty is my Visiting Teacher and she saw how much I loved Shiloh.....and said she wished we wanted another dog - I explained that we DID want another dog and that we had gone to the pound several times! Well........she asked if we would be interested in "Marley" - and I said YES! Marley is a purebred Yorkie - REGISTERED and everything! Anyway - we had a playdate to see how she and Shiloh would do together - and they did GREAT! Shiloh LOVES playing with her and they are HILARIOUS together. Last Sunday - they delivered her to us. It was such a HARD thing for Misty and her girls - they were SO sad to have Marley leave their family, but they were really happy to find her a home where she would be loved and not fight with her friend! It's been a week now and she has just fit right in! She and Shiloh are ALWAYS together! She is a BUGABOO and Shiloh is PATIENT......(she is not a year old yet.....still that puppy stage). She came to us with all her papers, she is fixed and has all her shots! Oh - and she is HOUSETRAINED!!! Seriously..........it's like we won the puppy lottery!!! (they are playing at my feet as I am typing this!) Yep - some may think we are crazy for getting another dog, but for us - life is better having a dog....it just is! Some are animal lovers - some are not - we DEFINITELY ARE!!! Now - you wonder how we came up with Stella.....Well, Misty's other dog was named Bella - which Cassie LOVED - she wanted to name our Stella Bella - but I said No.....their dog is bella - and we talked about Stella and Shiloh being a pair......so I came up with Bella with an "S"......so we came up with Stella! Why not just keep her name as Marley.......because that was her name with her first family - we wanted to have her be a part of OUR family......so she needed a name that WE picked for here! Her Full name is............Stella Marley Matthews Lynn! SHE'S A CUTIE!!!!