Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!!!

We hope you all are having a happy Thanksgiving.. We really have so much to be thankful for.

We have been blessed with a very big family and lots of special friends.. I am so Thankful for the love of my great hubb and all of my wonderful children .. God has blessed us with 10 beautiful children and 9 awesome grandchildren.. I am also so very thankful for my mother.. She has tought me to have a very giving and loving heart for all people. Orphans , homeless people, and many others people with special needs .. As you all know we have been blessed with three wonderful little ones with Down Syndrome. What a ride that has been so far.. Many of our other children have special needs also. Our house is very busy each and every day . But we would not change it for anything.. Feeling very Thankful today and everyday!!!!

Have a great Thanksgiving !!!

Chrissie's Adoption Day !!

Welcome to the family ~Christyn Joy ~
We are so glad you are our daughter ...
We love you so much!!!

Chrissie's adoption day and Bella's re-adopt day ... Christyn and Magdalena are now legal Serbian born sisters, both adopted in the USA .. That means they both will get a Montana birth certificate..
It has taken 17 months and three different lawyers to get CHRISSIE'S ADOPTION DONE...But it was worth it.

Chrissie . ready to go see the judge.

Bella waiting to go see the judge..

Chrissie was so happy to just be going , she was dancing around.

Just chilling !

We all love you very much!!!

Mom and Dad and all your siblings!!

Nov 10th,2008 Meeting Magdalena Faith ~Bella~

Meeting and loving on our little Bella !!

When we look at all the pictures of Serbia, we sure do miss the beautiful country and most of all the wonderful friends we met there... Sending out a big Hello to all of you good people in Serbia...

We also miss the children that stay close in our hearts.. We pray they are doing as good as can be...I sure wish we could know how they are doing.. Maybe somebody out there who gets to see the children will post how they are doing...

Anyhoo , our Bella is doing awesome!! She loves having a big family and of course her own recliner to rock in... She will push you out of her chair if you try to sit in it..She also loves to snuggle with everybody in our family... She will come to you and get up with you and snuggle.

She is still pretty little for a seven year old. But she is daddies little girl...

Anyone thinking of adopting ?? Do it .. You will be so amazed at how much love you will have for the children and the love they will have for you.. It is so worth all the heartache and trouble to get to the children and get them home . Also it does take many many funds to get them home.. Money well spent !!! That is all i can say about that...Give a child a loving home and family!!!

We are so very thankful for our BOO SMELLA~

We sure do love her !!

Love always your forever family...

Thrree years ago ~We went to Serbia

Bella boo , she is so beautiful !!

On Nov 8th, 2008, we got on a plane ,one of many to travel to Serbia to adopt our Magdalena ~Bella~ . We were so excited and scared all in one. I ~Jody~ had never been on a plane before, so i was really nervous and mostly sick on the flights. All i remember is we couldn't wait to meet our new daughter . She was loved and wanted !! We didn't care if she would ever walk or talk. We just new she was our daughter and we needed to bring her home. Oh we were going to a country that we had never been before...

Boy we were surprised when we arrived in Serbia.. What a beautiful country , many many sights to see and all new friends to meet.. We met many new friends and learned many things about their country.. We also learned in therie country there is no age limit on smoking or drinking alcohol.. They all or most of them smoke and they love to drink alcohol.. They love to have fun.

Any how , we stayed in a neat apartment ~ We met Vlado and Svetlana who showed us around the apartment and also Svetlana took me ~Jody~ around town and showed us how to shop and do money transactions.. We were so thankful for that. It really helps when you have friends in the new country to make you feel at ease. We sure enjoyed their company at a special dinner they took us out for. Svetlana and i ~Jody~ had lots to talk about...

We had our Ministry meeting on Nov 10th ,2008 . We were pretty nervous for this. But it went very well. The social workers were very nice .. The best part was when we finally got to go meet our little Bella , and i sure do mean little .. She was 19lbs and she was 41/2 years old. Oh how this momma cried when she got to hold her.. Bella wrapped her arms around my neck ,just like a little monkey and she was not going to let go... That was a good thing ,because this momma was not going to leave her go either...Jasmina and other workers just watched as we got to love on our new daughter.. We are so thankful for all the people that helped us bring our daughter home.. Three years and lots of love does make a difference... Bella can walk and she can say some words. That is if she wants to... Bella is our little teaser , she loves to tease anybody. We are so thankful for the gift of Miss Bella....

Eveyday we would go see her at the orphanage. We would bring diapers and food for her. We brought Pedi- sure and baby food to feed her. We also put her on a bottle so she could be held and cuddled ... We also brought many many fleece blankets that i made for the children. I sure hope they got to use them... We still talk about all the children we got to see .. Oh how i wish we could have brought more children home with us...But we pray they will find families very soon. Because one day longer is to many for these children. I pray for the little blind girl , i sure hope somebody will show her some love. I also pray for many other children that my heart cries for.. We also have got to watch some of the children come home to their forever families.. That sure makes your heart feel great...

Thank you to everyone involved that helped us bring our Magdalena ~Bella home !! We sure do love her so very much!!!!