18th Wedding anniversary!

Sunday October 26Th will mark our 18Th wedding anniversary!! Hard to believe how young I was back then (19) I will forever be grateful for God putting Nate and I together. It has not always been easy but God has really had a plan for the two of us!! Thank you, sweetie. I will tell all the world that I love you more and more each year and cannot imagine not having you in my life. His anniversary gift to me was 2 tickets to see Third day on November 6Th with two friends!! I cannot wait!!!

Where I blog!

Mari asked us to post the spot where we blog from!!! What a fun
idea!! Here is my spot. Its not usually this clean!! :) Yes that is my webkinz dog! :)

Ugh!!

This picture is actually for Troy and Tara livesay buy I had others that wanted me to post this on my blog. These shirts have stories behind them.

If you go back and read the Livesay blog you will see posts about Troy's ugly yellow fishing shirt that he loves to torment Tara with.
On our last trip to Haiti, Nate happened to bring HIS ugly yellow fishing shirt a long and There were some really ugly pictures taken. Nate and Troy like to call each other Dork (why I do not know) so my friend Diane bought Troy and Nate each a dork shirt.

Nate thought he would be funny at our last homegroup and he wore them both. So Troy and Tara, this is for you!!

Praying you had save travels to MN and that everything goes great!!

Apple orchard

Last Saturday we went to a really cool orchard with my parents!! We picked apples, we went on a hay ride, we had apple cider and donuts and they had lots of things for the kids to do.

Heather coming off the slide

My dad went down the slide!!

Here is Nate coming off the slide

They had kittens everywhere and the kids loved playing with them.

Apple picking page 2

Goats

Heather and Hannah

Nik and Katie

Katie going down the slide

Avon Goal made!!!!

Hope you are all having a good day!!

Leaves are starting to fall, weather is turning colder and I heard that we may see our first snowfall this coming weekend. I don't know about you but I am not ready for this!!

Christmas is coming up fast and I know the economy has hit people hard. I want to thank you for your continued orders and for each and everyone of you!!

1 year ago I set a goal for myself that I would become an Advance Unit Leader. This past Campaign I made that goal!!! That means that I will have bigger bonus checks which will help our family so much.

To celebrate this goal I am for C23 (includes books 22 and 21) going to give you 30% off your entire order. That is a huge savings even above what is already on sale!!

If you would please send this email to your friends and families as well they will also get this 30% off. I am really looking at expanding and I know word of mouth is the best way to do it.

They can also order at my website. www.youravon.com/byonker If they want the 30% off they will need to chose Rep delivery. If they want it shipped then they can get free shipping using this code: REPFS If you want the 30% and live out of the area then let me know and I will split the shipping with you.

Here are the avon book links for online viewing:

C23
http://youravon.com/static/catalog/2008/23/en/index.html

C22
http://youravon.com/static/catalog/2008/22/en/index.html

C21
http://youravon.com/static/catalog/2008/21/en/index.html

Update on friend with cancer

I just got this email. She is already in surgery so please pray for her and her family.


Please forgive me for not contacting each of you sooner. The hours are speeding by, and, like Martha, I have been busy. Maybe a bit too busy. I truly ask for your forgiveness. My surgery is tomorrow morning, October 22 @ 8 a.m.

On a very positive note...

I can't begin to tell you how peaceful I feel. I FEEL your prayers. I FEEL the Holy Spirit working within me to accomplish that which your prayers have set it out to do. I SEE my body healing quickly. I KNOW I will be a survivor!

Thank You for your continued prayers

Adoptive family needs help!

Some of you know that at one time we were trying to help families adopt from Irkutsk, Russia (where two of my children were born). in 2005, due to a family killing their little girl that they had adopted from this region, the judge there decided American families would no longer be able to adopt through her court. Since this is illegal for her to do and say this there are families that have been waiting for over 4 years to bring their children home. These families are incredible and are putting all their faith in God.

There is an American family there right now going through the court process. Please read this blog post below and if anyone can help please email my friend Kathy at: kathy@mmprod.com

Kathy has also been waiting a long, long time to bring their daughter home. Prayers are welcome!!


Hello friends,

I have a plea. As many of you know, we’ve been on a fight (with several other families) to bring our DD home from Irkutsk for over 4 years. One of the other families who is fighting with us has been able to get a court date in Russia…this is HUGE because the Judge in that region has not granted an American a court date since 2005.

This family went to court a few weeks ago, and after 8hours, they were told the hearing was postponed. They went back to court this week, and after many more hours and many not-so-common in-court occurances – the case was again postponed. I don’t want to go into great detail here, but know the reason the case was postponed is crazy! And has nothing to do with the child, or this family.

So, this family will need to go back to court for a 3rd time. Of course they have incurred incredible expense in this process…and more than anyone ever anticipated on this trip. They had to change return flights home – to the tune of over $2,000!

The stress this family is under is enormous. The outcome of their case will pave the way for so many other American families who are waiting to bring children home from this region.

The husband will return home to work, but will be required to go back for the 3rd court hearing (that will happen in 4-6 weeks). The wife is staying in the region (too expensive to fly home, and then back again).

We are confident that this family will be successful, and they will be able to bring their DS home…but not until they have suffered and endured more than any of us could imagine.

I want to help them, and this is why I am posting this note.

I am begging any of you who have frequent flyer miles or AmEx (or other) points to spare – please help this family. The thousands and thousands of dollars they have spent – and are going to spend – on airline tickets is overwhelming. If we can help them ease this burden in the slightest – I know it will mean EVERYTHING to this family.

Please email me if you are able to help…

Thank you in advance for your big hearts

I have been tagged

My friend Anita has tagged me.

Now here's where the real crazy fun begins....I have to share 7 random/weird facts about myself.

1. I have been to Russia (3 times), China, Switzerland, Canada, Japan, Haiti (will be going on my 4th trip in January)

2. The two that I really, really want to visit again are Russia and Haiti.

3. Nathan and I will be having our 18th anniversary on October 26th. We met when I was a sophmore and He was graduating high school. He was dating one of my best friends at the time! :) Nobody thought we would last!!!

4. I wanted maybe one child when we got married. God had the last laugh!!

5. I used to have friends with Mohawks and at one time I had blue hair. :)

6. I wanted to be an archeologist when I was growing up.

7. Some people think that I am very sarcastic. I have no idea why they would ever think that.

I am supposed to tag 7 people so 7 of you please do this! :)

update from my friend that has cancer

I received an update last night from my friend that has cancer. It is easier to add it here rather than email everyone:

Thank you for thinking about me today . Your positive prayers are soooooo important! I see God working because of it. Please don't stop!

Praise report - Two different oncologists agree that we're at the beginning of this "annoyance". Both doctors agree that I have a great chance of survival! YAY! PRAISE GOD!

Okay - PLEASE continue to pray for my strong body and immune system. Despite this "annoyance", I am very strong.

Please, Please pray for an a VERY positive result of an upcoming surgery. 1/4 of my lung will be removed on Dec 22. It is a serious surgery. I would like a fast, and excellent result from this surgery. I would like you to pray for the doctors doing this surgery. I will be in the hospital for 5 days.

Please pray that my husband will have enormous patience and feel very comforted by the Holy Spirit. My mother in law will be coming in to help around the house (thank God!). I don't want people to forget that my husband is going through this almost as much as I am.

Please pray for a speedy recovery.
Again - thank you for your prayers and positive thoughts! Please Don't Stop!

After pictures of girls bedroom! (before Painting)

We have a little bit to do yet but this is what we have bee working on all week. Here is their closet. We got rid of the mirror and put their big dresser in their closet. This has worked out so well.

This is Katie and Hannah's beds. We got rid f the toddler bed. We just need to get a new mattress for her big bed.
This is Hannah's dresser.
This is Heather's bed. This is where the big dresser used to be. There is so much more room now for all the beds to fit. I love having the bunk beds apart.
This is where that huge mess used to be! :) Ah no more!! Feels so good to have it organized!! Now just cannot wait to paint!!

Before pictures of the girls bedroom

Here are the before pictures of my girls bedroom. Ugh how awful can you get. Very embarrassing. This bedroom was the former master bedroom and the 3 girls share it.
I will work on taking a picture of the cleaned up version today. We think we have the colors for their room narrowed down just not sure yet when it will be done. Those pictures will have to wait for awhile.

Quote!

How can we preach the Gospel to a man with an empty stomach?

A man’s stomach has nothing to do with his heart’s condition of being a rebel against the holy God. A rich American on Fifth Avenue in New York City or a poor beggar on the streets of Bombay are both rebels against God Almighty, according to the Bible. The result of this lie is the fact that, during the past 100 years, the majority of mission money has been invested in social work. I am not saying we should not care for the poor and needy. The issue I am taking to task is losing our primary focus of preaching the Gospel.

- K.P. Yohannan

School pictures!!

With 5 kids school pictures from school are just not affordable in this day and age. So we stopped at a part and took some of our own.

Typical!!

Make sure you scroll down to the very first post to start at the beginning.

This is typical of how we look. Always lost!!!
This was taken inside the corn maze.

Train ride

The top pictures are of the train ride where you can go through a little area and they have some cute scarecrow set ups. We did not take the ride but just walked along some of the path and took some pictures.

The boys were just acting crazy so I had to get a picture!!!

More pictures

I know I am doing this backwards but keep reading!

They have a HUGE pumpkin farm where you can pick your own pumpkins.
They have bakery, cafe, snack barn,wine tasting, gift shop, apple orchard. They have a fruit fling. They had a bounce area for kids. They have a big play area for kids. They have a train ride where you can go through an area where they have all kinds of cute scarecrows.

More pictures

The cider mill has all kinds of things for the kids to do. Most of it does cost money but they still have a blast.