He is Coming Home!!

Dustin being Dustin


Dustin working



I can not give all the details but Dustin is coming home!!! I can not wait!! I thank God for taking care of him and bringing him home safely.
Please continue to pray for all our men and women who fight for our freedom and thank you to all of you who prayed for Dustin!

Blessings & Heart Ache

Death brings heart ache, but it also reminds of us of what a blessing someone was in our life.
Ms. Pat was a blessing in my life. Adoption brought us together. Adoption allowed me and my family the honor of meeting Pat her husband Ed their daughter Dayna, who is now like a sister to me, Dayna's husband Todd and their little boy Kooper who Jordan and I were privileged to bring home from S. Korea and place in their arms. I had known Pats oldest daughter Annette for several years but had never met the rest of the family, now they are family.
Pat died last week and tomorrow we will say good bye until we meet again in heaven.
From the moment I met her Pat taught me lessons about life either from her own words or through Dayna who would tell me about the things her mom taught her.
Kennedy was saying her prayers at dinner last night and she said "Dear God, Ms. Pat died and I know she is in heaven with you. Please heal her and send her back to us, amen." If only.
I thank God He allowed Pat to be part of my life. I am a better person for it.
Until we see each other again.

Keeping the Faith

As most of you are aware my husband and I founded the Hug Away Foundation. Since becoming a non profit in January of 2007 it has been a joy and a blessing but there have been times I have wanted to throw in the towel!
I know that God has a plan for the foundation, but when you are the fundraiser chariman, the publicist, the media person, website manager, donor seeker (title I made up! ;)) well it gets stressfull! We had our Titus 3 Project which was so successful but the fact is that I just don't have the time to devote to the foundation that I would like and this has been a lot to deal with. Here is where the faith comes in.
I have never doubted that God has a plan for Hug Away, what I have doubted is my ability. But whenever I have felt like throwing in the towel God seems to let me know that is not part of the plan, not even a consideration!
In three weeks my kids will start school. Yes, Ms. Kennedy will be in kindergarten:(
Right now,I work 3 days a week and every other Saturday, which was perfect while Kennedy was home. With all of them in school I would have two days a week to work on Hug Away, oh and clean house, laundry and on and on, still not enough time to devote to Hug Away. On the other hand, I feel like I need to go back to work full time, but deep down I wish something would happen where I could draw a small salary from Hug Away. That would be the perfect plan. I could devote the time needed to Hug Away and make it all that God wants it to be, work from home. Oh let me tell you my imagination goes crazy thinking of ways this could happen. We have a budget we would like to achieve and in order to achieve that we would need 150 donors to commit to $30 a month or more ;) every month and/or have donors or companies who would donate.
Remember, this is my active little brain working! So, I keep the faith and have no doubt that God has this wonderful plan and in his perfect timing He will bring it all together and oh how we will rejoice!!
If you could say a prayer for the foundation and me I would appreciate it so much. I can not wait for the day when I can post about what God did to make this happen!
Remember our website www.hugaway.org

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1

New Beginnings

I have been in Dallas the past week for a teen gathering and camp for Korean adoptees. This is a new camp and we have seen Gods fingerprints all over it this week! When I walked into the church I saw the heart that I posted above and thought it was so appropriate.
We are so blessed to have young men and women who were adopted from Korea helping us with the camp. They have been incredible!! They lead classes, are counselors and mentors and to watch them with the young campers is amazing and just touches your heart. They do not have to be here, they have chosen to be here!
A wonderful Korean congregation is letting us use their beautiful church. They have already asked us to come back next year and the year after that and on and on...
The Korean community here has been so good to us. The support has been wonderful!
But nothing and I mean nothing compares to the smiles on the faces of the children attending camp and the young adults who are helping us. They know that they are in a place where they are loved and can be themselves and that is what it's all about.

32 years ago today

I became a mom for the first time! I knew from the beginning I was going to have a boy. Michael came into the world one day past his due date. He was pretty sick and didn't get to come home for about three weeks.
His dad left when Michael was almost 2. For the next eight years it was just the two of us. In a sense we grew up together. During those times I would work 2 jobs, sometimes we were on food stamps. I will always say that Michael saved my life. When he was born he gave me a purpose.
We have both come a long way. He is my funny kid, I mean comedian funny! He can take any situation and make you laugh. He is my oldest and I love him dearly. To me he will always be my Mickey D. (my dads nickname for him) We went through a lot together. Things that no one else but him and I will know.
Tonight for his birthday he invited us to his house and he grilled some fantastic chops and corn on the cob, it was delicious!
Happy Birthday babe, I love you!!!

Heros

Even though I am a mom of a Marine who is serving our country, I often go about my day taking my freedom for granted. I don't like to admit that. I was watching as the news showed some of our troops over seas celebrating the 4th of July. They were eating cake, playing baseball, volleyball and other things. I think that is wonderful and I am so happy they were able to celebrate the freedom they are fighting for. What the news didn't show on that day were those who were not able to celebrate. They had cold food or no food, no showers. On their backs were packs that I have no clue how much they weighed but they were carrying them in extreme heat with all their gear on. They wake up not knowing if this will be their last day.So many of them 18-25 years old. They do not complain. They chose to fight this battle. They have honor and courage.
You may not agree with war or at least this one, but it is a war that needed to be fought. Yes, sometimes it seems we are fighting other countries battles, but we are America. We are the country where people from other lands who lived in poverty, or a dictatorship, or worse come to have a taste of the freedom our country fights for and is known for. We help those who can not help themselves, we are their voice.
The men and women who choose to fight the good fight should never be forgotten. When we go to worship as we wish, dress as we wish, eat what we want when we want, marry who we love, go where we want....It is because of them. So, even if you don't agree with war, it is because of war and those who are brave enough to fight that you wake up and have that choice, you know, to disagree. It isn't said enough, Freedom isn't free.
I know it may seem like I have been on a soap box about freedom lately, but I just want everyone to remember what America is and hopefully always will be, America, land of the free and the home of the brave.

.

I found some photos on the web that I hope will help us all remeber that while we sleep tonight, there are men and women fighting for us. The pictures of the Marine on the stretcher and his feet, he was overcome with heat exhaustion. You can put your pointer on the pictures and it will describe what is going on. I would not post anything graphic.

The Orphan

Please do not go and see this pathetic attempt of a movie! Tell your friends and family not to go see this movie. It is horrible!!!
I can't believe what idiots will come up with to make money.
I think I will make a move called "The Director" or "The Producer" not charge any admission so people can see what nut jobs some of these fools are!

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

I am so thankful I was born and raised at a time when we were able to pray and say the pledge of allegiance in class and talk about God and study how this country was founded by our forefathers and based on God and christian principals. I could really get on my soap box about this but instead I am going to leave a few thoughts to ponder on and of course some pictures.
Imagine what our lives would be like if the America we know and the majority of us love had not been based on christian values? Can't imagine? Go watch the news and see how people are living in other countries. What if we did not have men and women who are willing to go fight and die for our freedom? And one more thought. If you don't believe that this nation has gone down hill since we put God on the back burner, do a little reality check and see what has happened since we have become so "politically" correct. In the past 20 years the violence in our schools have escalated, the greed and corruption in our government is an embarrassment to this nation, our morals continue to take a downward spiral, the self entitlement that people exhibit is unbelievable and violence has peeked to a all time high. The list goes on & on. Did we have these problems before? Of course we did, but not at this level. We use to teach our kids about things called moral, character, truth and honesty and yes about God! Now it's seems which ever way the wind is blowing today let's see how we feel today.
As for my house we will Thank God for His blessings and pray for this wonderful country we call America, the land of the free and the home of the brave.