Are you....

Well it has been a rough two weeks,but we are getting through it. we had our family name drugged through the Mud,But we are still a strong family and I will stand by My MAN. It sucks that all people want to do is tear down people and not give that person a chance to tell there side of the story. They do not ever mention the good things that we tried to do,I guess its like when you are getting divorced or ending a relationship they only remember the crap not the good stuff. I am very proud of my man and I know all those who know us will no that none of the stuff that is been said is true. Plus the only thing that matters is when I STAND BEFORE GOD I KNOW THAT I AM A GOOD PERSON, WHO IS PROUD OF HER FAMILY AND HUSBAND!!!

We Tried our best

Well Yesterday Dave made the Decision to shut down The company that he owned with 3 Great partners.
After 10 great years the economy finally brought a end to a great company.This was not an easy decision but we regretfully had to. I have learned through this and the past year that Newspaper's and TV station like to turn anything into something worse then it is or they do not get the story right.
People like to focus on the negative and never talk about the great things. I am so sorry Dave you are a great man who has a big heart and that is why I married you,I will be right by your side and Just remember during all of this in the end there will be a blessing in it.

A boy and his dog

 Today while I was waiting for Dinner to cook I walked into the front room and saw the sweetest thing. There on the couch was Yonelson and Charlie cuddling each other, I am so glad that Yonelson has a dog that just loves Him and they can play ball together they also love wrestling each other. Nothing cuter then a Boy and His dog!

He brings people into your life

In this Picture is two very special people, the first one is Holly she came into my life when I need someone to Share My struggles with,Someone to help me grow into a great person,A sister I never had.
When I was not even 18 My mom decided she had enough of me and Kicked me out,I moved from several Friends House's but never felt welcomed,then one night I met Holly, I believe she was brought to my life when I needed her the most, she is the most understanding person who helped me become the person I am today,she taught me that no matter what to just live life the best you could and be happy with what you where given. Even though there was several Years where we had not talked when we did meet up with each other we just started where we left off, I swear sometimes we share the same brain. I truly love her and could not be the person I am without the guidance she gave me when I had no one there for me. The next person Is my wonderful Husband Dave,he truly is my rock my knight and shinning Armour I know we where meant to be and I could not imagine life without him. I know Heavily father brings people into your life when you need them the most,he only gives you things that he knows you can handle,And if you need someone to be there by your side he sends them to you, Just like my great friend Holly!!

Maybe He has ADHD

So a few weeks ago we had Parent teacher conference for the Elementary school kid's Fabrice is doing great his teacher says from where he came from and all that he had to get use to he is doing great and she is amazed at how good he is in math!
Nerlange is picking things up and the last few weeks she has really begin to understand  about sounding stuff out and picking up reading!!
Yonelson's teacher well she says Yonelson can not sit still has a hard time paying attention, and is really struggling,she wants him checked for ADHD well me Dave just believe he is Happy to be alive and come on he went 5 years with no structure he almost died from Starvation, and now he is living the American dream! I think we will wait awhile until we have him diagnosed for ADHD.

Pictures

 Pictures can do a lot I remember looking at pictures of the waiting kids on Wasatch's site and instantly seeing Nerlnage and knowing she was meant to come and be with our family! The same thing happened when Dave seen sweet Yonelson's picture and he could not stop thinking about him and knowing he was meant to come home with us also. The pictures of Nerlange and Yonelson are the ones we saw and loved.  The eyes of fabrice we just love and we still do . He is such a sweet and very good kid, The next picture is of the site that the great groups like Bel Haiti and Haitian roots are trying to get ready to build the new orphanage and school that will help so many kids! I think of how many kids are over in Haiti that are just like my three the ones that just need somewhere to be taken care of somewhere to have the opportunity to learn. I look at the site and I am so excited to see the great Building that will be on this land that they are getting ready for, But first we need to help with raising funds to make this happen. I know there are not pictures on the news to show us and remind us How bad Haiti is. This reminds me of a quote  that I found when i was preparing for the talk i gave in church a couple of weeks ago.
" I do not worry about the members of the church being unresponsive when they learn of the needy as much as I worry about our being Unaware of such needs." President Spencer W Kimball.
So please if you can donate a little to help us Build the Orphanage so the kids will have somewhere safe to sleep and learn. You might think that the little bit you could donate will not help much but it will! Please do not forget about Haiti they still need so much over there even thought the media has left and we do not see pictures every day showing us the devastation it still is very real for them in Haiti.

Love and Family

I have been thinking lately what this means and how do people learn all about it. I came from a very dysfunctional family, my mother I believe has Bipolar or something like this, Me and my brother do not talk to each other and I know my father has RAD he was raised in a Orphanage. But the plus side of this I had great Grandparents and great Aunts and Uncles,they truly taught me what a normal family should be. I remember and still have days where I am very sad that I never had those Mom and daughter Lunch's or dates,what did i I have, well anytime My mom was home she was to busy telling me How fat and how bad my hair looked and How sucky my friends where. Then I had my Brother who called me Chunk all time, then my Dad who pretty much never talked to us he was to busy trying to keep my Mom Happy so she would not freak out. The only good days where on Saturdays when we went to visit my Grandma and had lunch with the big family,or when we traveled to Disneyland once every summer because for one week we where a normal family that loved each other. so Then I wonder How did I learn how to love like a Mom should love her kids,well I just keep thinking how I do not want to be like my mom I want to support my kids I want them to know I think they are perfect even if  they have days that they are not.I want them to remember the little things, not that for one week in the summer there mom loved them, I want them to be sad when they get married or Move out when they grow up not count down the days when they can legally move out.  Well that was how I felt from age 12 yrs and on. It has been 1 year since me and my mom and my family has talked to each other, there are some sad parts but mainly it is because I do not have the fairytale of lunch's like I said and I never will, she will not come around like some people say she will it is just that way and  she will Die that way but I just remind myself that when she stands before him she will not be able to say like I will that I tried to have a good relationship I tried to be the perfect little girl she wanted me to be but for some reason I couldn't. so on Valentines make sure your kids know that you really do love them,Maybe they have had moments that they let you down but hey that's  how we learn and that is why we where put on earth was to learn and to have choices.I am very Happy that on this valentines I have all my kids Home I have a very supportive Husband who I could not imagine living with out. I do have Aunts and Uncle's and cousin's that try to keep in touch so I have some sort of connection to my bigger family. I know up in Heaven I have a  grandma who is Happy with my choices. so I guess please make sure you have those fairy tale lunch's with your kids and be there when they need you that is what Love and family is.

Your 2nd Bday

 Today Yoneslon turns 6!! Wow Yonelson has turned into such a great little boy,his sweet personality is such a joy to have around he is such a character he is one very flexible athletic kid and does not understand why his kindergarten teacher will not let him do his cartwheels when ever he wants to in class.
He is not the little boy i was worried about in Haiti, i really thought he would be a shy sad, But Nope we filled him with love and Hope and wow you have turned into a great kid. we love you Yonelson and we could not imagine our family without you. We are so glad to have you Home and teaching you how fun Birthdays can be!!

Yonelson in Haiti October 2009

Fabrice is coming Home!!

 So Today is the Gotcha Day for Fabrice, we had been on the phone everyday since January 30 2010 trying to figure out what we needed to do.we decide we would stay in Florida until they could get fabrice Home. Nerlange and yonelson where getting a little bored of the Hotel room so we decided to take them to the beach since I am sure they never saw it or went to it when they where in Haiti. Dave got the call from Chareyl saying Fabrice was coming Home and he was on the plane!! What a great moment,we hurried and packed the kids up from the beach and headed to His House so we would be there when Fabrice got there and we pretty much told them we where Taking Fabrice Home that Night. He did not need to sleep at His House we already had his paper work done!
What a great day we where all finally together and we could Now head Home to Utah and be a complete family!

A very special day

Nerlange at His house in Miami(shelter)

January 30th will be a very special day in our life, This time last year we where tucking Nerlange and yonelson in to Bed in our hotel room in Miami. What a year it has been you guys are growing like crazy,we can not buy clothes fast enough. I look at pictures from last year and wow you have changed so much. Its amazing what good nutrition does for the body. we feel like you have all ways been part of our famiy,and we could not imagine life with out you.
 We love you!!!

Just waiting for Fabrice

Yonelson getting some practice on putting his winter clothes on.

We are so glad

Fabrice and his Best Friend Braxton

 Today last year was one of the most emotional day we woke up to yep the plane was still in Haiti and the pilot was not moving and Steven studarrd was going to get signatures hopefully. we where glued to the Internet just waiting for word,then we heard they where coming home but to where was  the next question? but before that we where so happy jumping up and down then the phone rang and we got word that Fabrice was not on the plane,"WHAT?" WHY?, Because somewhere some one lost his paper work and it did not get signed. so we had to hurry book flights to Miami
and dave was on the phone trying to figure out what we needed to do next,yes even at 1:00am we where catching our conacting flight and dave was on the phone with USCIS.
we where so happy to hug fabrice on Feb 2 when he made it to Miami.
Today i was watching you at JR.Jazz and you are just one athletic kid you can do anything once you put your mind to it. You make everyone smile there is just something about you!! I am also so Happy that you have made friends That are just like you they are sweet and love to play Sports. you have grown so much. I am so thankful that Heavenly father brought you to our family.

I am not a fan of Speaking!

This is me and will be me for the next few days, On Sunday me and Dave will be speaking on our Adventure of Adopting and Bringing Home our sweet little kids. I know i should be well prepared for this talk since it is a close subject of my Heart and I know we as a parent group had so many Miracles with a few Unanswered prayers. But I will ether cry my way through it or have severe fear and clam up and not be able to speak. I am so grateful that they gave both me and Dave a talk together so when i shut down my hubby will be there to back me up. As we do come up on the Great day of Picking up our Kids I Think about the fun times and Adventures of things like going to a back alley to pay a judge with a Jc penny catalog ad glued to his official notebook, or the day some of are Hubby's and Kids had to dodge fruit and coke bottles from the passionate Haitian women on the streets in a old Toyota truck these times in Haiti on our Parent trips brought us together so when the time came we felt comfortable to lean on each other and to comfort each other and work together to bring the day that we could travel to Miami to hug and kiss our kids On the same continent!! I love each of you and hope we will stay friends so our kids can keep those friendships and Bonds of there country.

Yuck

So I never thought something could even get worse just by having a different name, But it can!
Our three youngest ones have been introduced to Tuna noodle casserole,you can say Yuck. But they call it Fish Espaghett (sp?) ,yep see it does sound worse. so if your kids are picky eaters maybe they will like Fish Espaghett!!

lesson's you learn

Last night Fabrice had a futsual game and they where playing against a team that they are pretty competive against. They played a great game but in the end they lost 3-2 some of the kids on our team where upset and very disapointed. But this got me thinking that every time Fabrice's team has lost(which is very little) Fabrice has never once been upset,mad,or even disapointed. He is always smiling and just seems content with life. One of the dads last night said when he sees fabrice he thinks how fabrice must think this is the greatest place. I am pretty sure that fabrice loves america and I believe he has seen so much in his little life that he know's there are bigger things to be upset with.
 Sometimes we need to  realize that sometimes life does not go the way we plan on it or sometimes we do not get what we want when we want it, and yes sometimes we lose what we think we should have one. But there are way bigger things to be worried about. Fabrice has taught us so much in just his short time here!

Because of a great Man!!

"From every mountainside, let freedom ring. When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands
Martin Luther King Jr:  I have a dream 1963

Thank you Dr. Martin Luther King Jr!!!! "Because of you we have a great family."

A day of sledding

 Santa brought the kids sleds for Christmas,so today was a perfect day to Introduce the little ones to the world of sledding. The weather was so warm that they did not wear there coats until the very end,but mainly so when they crashed it would not hurt there Arms. It was so fun to watch them sled down at times they where picking up speed pretty good so we decided it would be good to put on there helmet's. Nerlange on the other hand she enjoyed it, but toward the end she was not a fan of the cold snow and she did not like wrecking on the sled.

 Fabrice is such a little care taker when the kids would crash he was the first one to run down the hill to help pick them up. I was very proud of Kaleb also he was helping the kids fine good spots to go down and if they need help he would push them down the hill and when Nerlange was a little scared he took her over to a smaller hill.  it was a fun day and Fabrice and yonelson want to know when we will be going back!

Year round

So Even though it is barely 20 degrees outside we are still doing lot's of sports. Fabrice is doing Jr.Jazz and Indoor Futsal. he is one competitive boy who loves sports. He has enjoyed making friends with his soccer team and the boys on his Jr.Jazz team he is very confident in Himself which I just love.  I remember thinking how fun it will be when he could be on the eagle Mountain Recreation soccer team but I believe he would not have been as Happy as he is with his Competition teams. He loves to win!! Last night as we where watching his team, I was thinking how strange life is because this time last year we where so worried and watching everything about the earthquake and now here we are cheering Fabrice on!! WOW

Day we will never foget

Tomorrow will mark the one year anniversary that a terrible Earthquake Hit Haiti. I sit here tonight thinking Wow One year ago tonight are kids went to sleep not knowing that there world would become even Harder then it was already. I remember on January 12 last year I was getting ready to make dinner and I turned on the TV when all of a sudden there was breaking news about Haiti. I hurried to call Dave to see if he had heard and he had and we where trying to think who could we call to find out where exactly the orphanage was. Then we found out the orphanage was right where the epic center was. Well I believe from that Moment to about Feb 3 was one stressful thing after another. I am so thankful for the Many blessings we received during these stressful day's that i will never forget. I hope everyone will take the moment of silence to remember those that did not survive and to remember those that are still in Haiti living in terrible conditions. Haiti still needs our Help!!

Oh What a cold new year

Wow it is now 2011 and this year has started off with freezing cold temp's! On New year's day Nerlange and Yonelson went to our neighbors house to play for a little bit and when i went to pick them up, Nerlange got into our car and announced  that she did not like this cold weather. I do not blame her the temps have been a high 14 and at night it gets to -9.As We look back on last year we had lot's of trials and so many miracles, we had lots of laughs and lots of tear's we have learned many new things and we had to make new routines, but one thing is we have come together as a family.  I am very excited to see what this next year brings!!