Weird

I wrote this post to my sister and her husband on their blog and it came back to mine as well. Anyway as you can see, the adoption is final. All but the bringing her home. Laura is planning to travel yet a forth time to bring Elsa home from December 14-21. I have concern about them traveling alone. I know God has some kind of a plan that will allow Greg to go too. I just know it. Please pray about that. All for this morning. I have a towel on my head and I need toget ready for work. Have a great day all. Love Vickie

Good Morning

Hi Guys ~ I trust your day with Elsa was great. How does it feel to be Mommy and Daddy now? Awesome huh. I talked with Mary yesterday, twice. They have not been able to get on to the blog for some reason. They finally got on by going to my blog and clicking on a link I have to you. Mary is very excited for you. She feels the same way as I do about you (Laura) traveling back to Russia alone. There is a solution in sight I believe. I love ya and I can't wait for the next blog. Vic

I Post Today as a Plea for Prayer

I know I have many friends and family that follows my blog along with some people I don't know. I ask you now as you read this little request to take a few seconds and pray for my sister and her husband. They are in Russia as we speak adopting there first child. Her name is Elsa. The entire process has been VERY HARD which is such an understatement. If you only knew. Please pray that everything from this point forward will go smoothly. That there will be no delays, no mistakes, no more hidden costs, that my sister and her husbands health will be excellent, and that they will be home WITH Elsa soon (soon meaning in a few days and not weeks). Please pray for a smooth transition bringing Elsa home ie. travel and her not freaking out afraid of 2 people she hardly knows. After praying all that, then pray some more if the Lord leads you in specific ways. They need to be bathed in prayer. Again this has been a VERY DIFFICULT PROCESS! "Talk about LABOR in bringing a child forth, Yes indeed. I thank you in advance for helping our family in this way, Vickie

What a Fun Saturday!! I loved it.

My friend Ruthi and her four daughters and I had a Girls day. We went to have our nails done, all six of us. The little girls got toenails and fingernails done complete with flowers and snowmen on them. All except little Vicky she just did her fingernails. They all look adorable. Then went to Dynasty Chinese Restaurant for lunch. My son Noah met us at the restaurant and had fun playing with the two youngest girls... they really like his I Phone. After lunch we did a little shopping. I had a blast, and I can't wait to do it again really soon.

It's time for Christmas!! Can you believe It???

This year my big present from Jeff came early. I got to have a decorator and friend come and decorate my tree, mantle and coffee table arrangement for Christmas. She shopped and got me all new ornaments and decorations. I went to work one day and came home to a whole lot of beautiful. I absolutely love it so I'm sharing a little with you.

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day. We had 27 people for dinner and 8 more family and friends joined us throughout the day. We were truly blessed. Below you can see a few of the faces that joined us. I didn't get around to photographing everyone, sorry about that if you were one of the ones I missed. This photo is of 3 of our great nieces, Samantha, Jessica and Ashley.

We had lots of reasons to be thankful

Our Son Noah, Picture #2, Our son Seth, Picture #3, Nick and Noah's long time friend, Brian. Picture #4 in the next frame, our daughter-in-law, Aubrey's sister Amy and her boyfriend Dustin. Picture #5 Nick and Aubrey, Picture #6 Aubrey's parents, Becky and Gary, Picture #7 is our niece Mandy.

Here are some of our reasons to be thankful this Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving

Here are some photos of the family and friends that shared Thanksgiving day with us. We are blessed.
Sorry it is blurry, this is our niece,
Shannon with her husband Rick and their youngest daughter, Alyssa.

Picture #2 is our nephew, Brian and his wife Brenda Eubank.

Picture #3 Is Grandma Eubank, Grandpa had gone for a walk outside and missed the picture taking session.

Picture #4 Jeff oldest brother, Meredith and his wife Sherry and Picture #5 Shirlene, our sister-in-law.

I got this picture from Cassie (Seth's Girlfriend)

These pic's were taken at Seth's 17th Birthday. I thought they were good, so I am sharing them with you guys.

Leaf Raking and Blowing for the Guys on Sunday

Seth and Kevin got recruited by Dad to help with the leaves. Note the amount of leaves. Jeff had already raked 3 times last week. We have 16 trees and A LOT of leaves!!! The boys carried them down to the ravine in our back yard and dumped them, The leaves from the sides and front of the house go into the street and are vacuumed up by a giant truck.

Leaf Raking and "Blowing" For the Guys

Notice WHO is doing the raking! They had fun though. Kevin was thrown into the leaves at least once by Seth and of course Kev retaliated and got Seth once. I enjoyed watching from my warm living room as is drank my hot cup of tea.
After an hour and a half of working hard, the guys came in and enjoyed hot chocolate and homemade cookies.

I'm Fine

I got my test results back and I Am Fine. Thank you LORD. I will go in next fall for a routine mamogram.

My Weekend Ended up to be Great!

Today (Sunday) Jeff and I decided to walk the Rock Island trail. It was to be in the high 60's and great weather for a walk. We walked to the next town, got a smoothie and walked back. It was great, here is a view of a creek below us. We walked 10 miles. After the walk Jeff came home and washed and waxed the car and racked all the leaves in our yard. We have 16 trees so you can imagine how many leaves we have! He is feeling it tonight. On Friday after my biopsy, Jeff and I went to a local bakery, got 2 pieces of Cheesecake and 2 decaf coffees and went to a beautiful overlook spot and thanked god for my great report. Seth and his girlfriend Cassie went to a birthday party/costume party. Here they are before they left.
Thanks again for praying for me. Until next time, Vic

You know i keep showing up here asking for prayer...

..today is no exception. Last Monday I went in for my annual routine mamogram, exactly as I have done for 20 years now. I had my baseline done at 30. On Thursday I received a call to come in for further tests. They found a spot that hadn't been there last year. On Saturday morning I went in for a spot compression and a sonogram. They have recommended further testing....so today I go in at 1:10 for a biopsy. In my spirit I feel ok. I know that God has this thing. IF there is something there then I praise God for revealing it and we simply will get rid of IT.
One of my concerns today is that I am VERY allergic to all 'Caines, ie. Lidocaine, Novocaine etc. All local anesthetic. So if they use one it could be serious,( I cardiac arrest) and if thy don't it's gonna HURT. So pray about that please. I'll let you know how things come out.

Jeff Reaches a Milestone in his career

Jeff celebrated his 30 year anniversary with Caterpillar on Monday. Jeff's hire in date was October 23, 1978. We (he & I) just can't believe it has been 30 years already. Noah and I had the priveledge of attending and helping him celebrate with bosses and fellow workers (past and present). Below: Jeff had just been pinned with a nice 30 yr. gold pin and congratulated by his boss, Blake.

Enjoy the weekend with us. The following pictures are just some that we took on Saturday and Sunday. It was a wonderful 2 days. god is so very good

Jeff & I hiked on the Illinois River Bluff Traill today. It was spectacular!