SOME RANDOM PICS

SUNFLOWERS IN OUR GARDEN... THEY TOO CAME FROM LAST YEARS PLANTING:)

AREN'T THEY BEAUTIFUL?

"THE FACE OFF"
SWEET BABY GIRL AND TOONSUS

OUR SWEET PRECIOUS JOJO...

IN JUST A FEW SHORT WEEKS THIS LITTLE GUY WILL BE IN KINDERGARTEN... AND HE IS SO EXCITED... I THINK HE WILL BE AN EAGER LEARNER, AT LEAST THAT IS HOW IT SEEMS IT WILL BE:)

WELL, ENOUGH WITH THE SCHEDULED POSTS WHILE WE ARE UP AT THE LAKE HOUSE... I THINK I WILL GET A CHANCE TO POST FROM MY PARENTS IN THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. WE WILL PROBABLY BE A COUPLE POUNDS HEAVIER AFTER ALL THE DONUTS WE WILL HAVE EATEN AT PAUL BUNYANS UP IN MINOCQUA, AND THE WISCONSIN FISH FRYS....DELISH!

MORE NEIGHBORHOOD PUPPIES

YEP... YOU GUESSED IT... ALL 4 OF THESE KIDDOS ARE BEGGING TO KEEP ONE OF THE NEW NEIGHBORHOOD PUPPIES....

I HAVE TO ADMIT, THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE... BUT NO CAN DO...

WE HAVE THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS... ALL SORTS OF DOGS THAT COME TO VISIT, WE GET TO PLAY TILL OUR HEART IS CONTENT, AND WE DON'T HAVE TO REALLY TAKE CARE OF THEM...

IF ANYONE IN OUR NECK OF THE WOODS IS NEEDING A NEW LITTLE FRIEND IN THEIR LIFE, I THINK SOME MIGHT STILL BE AVAILABLE:)

PART OF THE HARVEST

THIS IS PART OF THE HARVEST FROM THE GARDEN...

LOTS OF PUMPKIN IS PUREED AND IN THE FREEZER FOR CRANBERRY PUMPKIN BREAD IN THE FALL... YUMMY!

I HOPE MY NEIGHBORS ARE GETTING LOTS OF GOOD STUFF OUT OF THE GARDEN WHILE WE ARE GONE...

I LOVE GOING OUT TO SEE WHAT NEW THINGS WE CAN PICK... THE POLE BEANS ARE NEXT HOPEFULLY...

I MISS THE FRESH TOMATOES... STORE BOUGHT JUST NEVER TASTE THE SAME...

I DON'T MISS THE DAILY WATERING THOUGH WHILE WE ARE AWAY...

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO MY HONEY:)

OK, I did get permission from my husband to share some "vintage" photos from the past. He said no problem... although by the end I think he may be sorry that he gave me that permission. The kids and I have had some good laughs as we pulled some of these out:)

The one above was taken before his football banquet my Jr. year in College.

Can you say Mullet... or more like

Can you say... business in the front, party in the back...

Gotta love that skinny tie:) and crazy patterned dress...

This was taken at a fall dance at school... after his cancer.... just a couple of weeks after we got engaged:)

Now prepare your self for a freak show...

We still laugh hysterically when we see this photo...

This was our engagement photo...

This was the photo we put in the newspaper... are... you ... kidding... me???

I have the total 80's bangs and spiral perm going...

and let's just say Greg always says he just should have shaved his head when he had the cancer... It never grew back quite right:)

Really I can't believe I shared that... I wanted to give you all a good laugh I guess:)

Well, I woke up to the BEST anniversary present ever today!

And pretty much the rest of the day was spent trying to pack and get ready for our trip out of town...

Greg and I will hopefully get to celebrate the anniversary sometime while we are on vacation.

I am so incredibly blessed by my husband... God did make him for me. He is more patient than anyone I know. He has walked this journey of grief better than I ever could have imagined... Truly, I know many men would have had enough a looonnnnggg time ago... but not Greg, he is in it for the long haul... for better or worse. And let me tell you he handles the worse parts with great grace:) We have had our share of both... Praise God He has walked it all right along side of Greg and I.

I am so thankful that God saw fit to join us together 17 years ago today!

I am HUGELY blessed because of it!

MY MAN HAS MANY TALENTS:)

WE GOT THIS AMAZINGLY FUN GIFT BASKET FOR SWEET BABY GIRL AND FAMILY A COUPLE OF DAYS AGO... IT WAS FROM THE AGENCY WE WILL BE ADOPTING HER THROUGH... WE JUST LOVE THEM ALL!


HERE IS PROOF OF THE PROCESS OF MY HUSBAND AND A NEIGHBOR REPLACING OUR FUEL PUMP. THEY HAD TO TAKE THE WHOLE BED OF THE TRUCK OFF. IT WAS A BIT SCARY TO WITNESS... BUT I DID TELL HIM TO GO FOR IT:)

I WAS REALLY PROUD OF THEM... THEY GOT IT RUNNING AND IN THE MEAN TIME SAVE US HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS. I WAS SO GLAD HE WAS WILLING TO TRY IT. I FIGURED WE WOULD HAVE TO HAVE IT TOWED AS IT WAS... WELL, IF HE TRIED FIXING IT, BUT COULDN'T GET IT... WELL THEN WE WOULD HAVE TO HAVE IT TOWED ANYWAY... BUT THANK GOD... IT TURNED OUT GREAT!

I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT TOMORROW WE WILL BE CELEBRATING 17 YEARS TOGETHER, THAT HANDY MAN AND I:)

GOOD NEWS:)

SWEET BABY GIRL

MY SWEET FRIENDS EBE AND TONYA:)

Hey friends... I have many reasons to rejoice today and I want you to be able to rejoice with us:)

First of all do you remember my precious friend blog friend... turned real life friend Tonya, (photo of her and Ebe above:) who we stayed with on our way home from Florida back in January?? Well, praise God, she and her hubby were blessed with their healthy little baby boy last Friday.... My heart is overflowing with gladness for them to be able to welcome him into their lives after losing their last son Grady just a couple of weeks after Samuel went to heaven... please feel free to visit Tonya's blog at http://www.tonyatalk.blogspot.com/ to congratulate her and her family on their precious arrival of Matthew Grady. Please pray for baby Matthew as he was born early, and will need to stay in the NICU for a little while, and for his family as they wait excitedly for him to join them at home:) I am so thrilled for them:)

In the picture above both Tonya and Ebe were expecting and thank God both of their babies are here with them now safe and sound:)

Well, the next good news, I can hardly believe I get to share today... you remember sweet baby girl pictured above????

Well, today was a big hearing, we didn't have to actually be there... this was a hearing that was supposed to happen last March, but because of appeal to the Oklahoma Supreme Court was postponed to today. My prayer with the kids this morning was that ultimately God's will would be done, but that our desire would be for it to be in our favor and for the other interested party to not appeal AGAIN! The agency director as well as us thought an appeal was more than likely which would have postponed things another 3-4 mos... I truly was gearing my heart up for the fact that we may not really know something until November or December at the earliest.

The agency director called a little after noon and told me she had really good news for us. I was already choked up at just those words... She told me that the other interested party that had been dragging this whole thing out withdrew their petition for sweet baby girl... They just finally bowed out so to speak... It was signed by all the lawyers, the court appointed atty for sweet baby girl, and the judge. Of course as the agency director was telling me all of this, I was a total mess, could not even respond through my tears... so she just kept talking:) (We just love this director, she is amazing)I ...COULD... NOT ... BELIEVE... IT... This was far more... (above and beyond all we could have asked or imagined... for God to do what He did today...I love that verse:) He moved a serious mountain and in our opinion performed a miracle in what got done today. So pretty much we should not have any problems from here on out, and we should be able to finalize our adoption with her early in August.

We obviously will not count our chickens before they hatch so to speak... it will not be done till we sign on the dotted line and make her ours forever... but now that seems to be exactly what should and hopefully will happen in just a few short weeks.

We are over the top thrilled at God's goodness... I keep telling people that God is good and faithful regardless of if this would have gone the other way for us... he would have been faithful to sustain and carry us through the loss of sweet baby girl just like he has through the loss of Samuel, my miscarriage, or the other baby we hoped to adopt last summer... but we are completely PRAISING GOD FOR HIS FAITHFULNESS IN BRINGING US THE DESIRE OF OUR HEART ON THIS ONE! It is refreshing to our hearts...

It was so funny, we were out for dinner celebrating, (that was a big treat for us) and Greg and I kept laughing because it was almost as if sweet baby girl knew what we were all so happy about...she was in rare... goofy... hamming it up form... full of the hootspa (by the way, the word hootspa is making a comeback:) It was so funny. She is just a delight to us all! Anna ran the whole side of our neighborhood telling the neighbors that she was going to really have a sister:)

Obviously, I will post a picture of her sweet face when it is all said and done... :) I can't wait! Thank you so much friends for your continued and faithful prayers for this situation over the last 7+ mos... we are so very grateful to you for that! Please pray we are glitch free from here on out:)

I know I have posted this verse numerous times... but truly today... it played out before our eyes....THANK YOU GOD!

NOW TO HIM WHO IS ABLE TO DO IMMEASURABLY MORE THAN ALL WE ASK OR IMAGINE, ACCORDING TO HIS POWER THAT IS AT WORK WITHIN US, TO HIM BE GLORY IN THE CHURCH AND IN CHRIST JESUS THROUGHOUT ALL GENERATIONS, FOR EVER AND EVER! AMEN!

We will keep you posted!

PRAISE GOD WE ARE ALL AT HOME TOGETHER:)

RODEO DRIVE

CHILLIN AT THE GAZEBO AT OUR HOTEL...ACTUALLY I WAS DOING MY BETH MOORE BIBLE STUDY AT THIS TIME.

THE BEACH NOT FAR FROM MALIBU... JUST OFF THE PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY.

THE BARKETT KIDS

AN ABSOLUTELY AWFUL PICTURE OF GREG AND I :) ON A PIER NEAR SANTA MONICA

We had a great flight home... I think the Valium I took did the trick:) We are ecstatic to be home with the kids... Greg just put sweet baby girl down to bed and I am doing some snuggling on the couch with Jojo and Anna... just where I want to be:) Although is is starting to storm like crazy... the wind is blowing like nuts... That is another fear of mine tornadoes...

Sad story... the little girl who was watching our animals while we were gone just came over a little bit ago... One of the baby rabbits died while we were gone. She fretted about it all week. Not that we don't care about our animals, we do, but really the rabbits are the boys project and sold for meat... We just felt bad that she was worried sick about it all week. Poor girl. We tried to totally set her mind at ease... but I think I may need to take that sweet little girl some cookies or something.

Thank you so much for your prayers for our travel. I great appreciate it! Now we chill for a bit before we repack for trip up north for Greg to marry a former youth girl, well you know not marry her, but perform the ceremony:)