Birthday Beauty

She came to us almost 2 years ago. A beautiful child then, a pretty young lady now. My, how time has changed her. The LuLu just celebrated her 12th birthday and hopefully it was a very happy one. Her birthday was filled with giggly girls staying up all night talking about boys, school, and growing up. A quiet dinner, of her choosing, ribs and a basketball cake, with a dear sweet lady, Grandma Caroline, who introduced her to us, followed the party. All in all, it was a nice day.

Who would have thought that I would be writing a blog about our 12 year old daughter 2 years ago? Did our lives ever change!

We were longing for another child, and she, LuLu, was longing for a family. Grandma Caroline heard through the grapevine the news, made the connection, and contacted us. A 10 year old girl? Would we be interested? What did we know? She seemed so quiet and timid in Primary, yet so beautiful and sweet. Meeting her father, and seeing her home situation made the call seem more urgent. Come spend the day with us, soon led to stay the weekend with us, and then, come stay the week with us. It got harder to send her back. We worried about her when she was away, we missed her when she wasn't around. We wanted her to have the opportunity to just be like any other kid. We wanted her to be a part of a family, of our family. The decision was made. Let's adopt her. Permission was granted from her father, in which we will always be grateful too, and the adoption was finalized on April 15, 2008.

Has it been easy? Not always, for either side. Has it been worth it? Most definitely!



Happy Birthday LuLu. You are a beautiful and sweet young lady. You are smart, talented, and work very hard in school and home. We are so happy that you have so many friends, make good choices, and that you're experiencing so many new and wonderful things. We love you and are thrilled that you're our daughter.

We're Loved!

Yes, I know that title sounds a little corny, but I can't help myself. It just needs to be said. We are loved!



It has been 2 weeks from today since Derrick got the news that he would no longer be working at Horizon Community Bank. It came as a shock, and then again it didn't. I mean he was working in the banking industry, and banks right now are not doing so well. So, I guess it made us wonder, once in awhile, that there might be a chance somehow.

Those first few days were full of emotions. Panic, shock, fear, sadness, determination, love, loss, and avoidance. Fortunately, we had the MyMy's party to carry-out and a weekend of school work, so emotions could be put temporarily, on the back burner.

Once the weekend was over, the emotions needed to be faced, and with it uncomfortable feelings came along. The tears started falling, along with feelings of despair and hopelessness. Then, the love came, and that has buoyed us up.

People have been so kind and good to us. We have had phone calls, emails, letters, blessings, offers, and prayers. There also has been suggestions, networking, dinners and more. We have been strengthened and because of that we are no longer faced with a bleak and dreary picture. Of course, we still are in a bit of a predicament, but those crazy emotions have been replaced with peace and calmness, and, that makes this ride so much easier to be on.

We love you, and, thank-you for loving us.

Kitty Kandid

The Kitty's came today to play at the Voss home.



First, they painted a kitty friend.



Second, they played with a ball of yarn. When Derrick was a child he would visit his fun-loving Aunt Ruth who had a ball of yarn for him to unravel. As he would unravel the yarn he would find fun candy treats. The kitty's found all kinds of fun treats in their yarn balls too.



After the kitty's had unraveled all of their yarn, they still wanted to play with some yarn. To their amazement, they found all kinds of yarn outside twisted and tangled and so therefore, were very busy finding the end of their yarn. They had to go around trees, through garden boxes and even up through the playhouse and down the slide. They were rewarded for their efforts with a kitty folder and a kitty pencil.



Oh my, all of that hard work made the kitty's very thirsty. Time for some frozen milk. The kitty's knew how to drink their milk without being told.



They soon realized that kitty's are not allowed at the table and took their milk to where they would be more comfortable, the floor.



The big momma cat made a kitty cake for the 8 year old kitty's birthday and the kitty's all meowed the birthday song.



Fun was had by all. The momma and papa cat are exhausted, so they will be taking a cat nap. Good-Night!