Savannah's Field day at school!!!!

I thought you all might want to see Savannah's pictures from friday :)
I had so much fun watching my girl finish her fourth grade year with her best buddies....
I hope you enjoy this as much as we did :)

Happy Mothers Day Dano!!!!

Happy Mothers Day Josiah & Abby!!!

Dave and I decided that today we would attack some of the tasks around the house. He was given the bad end of the stick. He got stuck mowing the lawn and I was given the opportunity to look through old boxes and start eliminating all the unwanted junk.

Of course I decided to attack the picture boxes first :) hehehehe!
I found this picture of Dave and Josiah standing outside of our hotel room. Isn't it cute how Josiah thought he was just as big as his old man?!....lol Don't ya think they kinda even look alike?

Then there were the years of the Ninja Turtles! Here he was when he began to gain some incredible strength. His Ninja Turtle outfit used to somehow make him jump off couches, coffee tables, or once caused him to jump off the kitchen table! My baby boy was growing up......
It wasn't soon after he had been an official Ninja Turtle that his baby sister came along......
So, I ask you, "Doesn't he look proud to be a big brother?"

Looks can be deceiving...

Alyssa Gayle screamed 24-7!!! But, he stayed patient with her......

And it was a good thing he is so forgiving....

It wasn't long after Alyssa was three and we were adopting girls.....

He would soon be the only brother to seven sisters! It's a good thing he had all that Ninja training young huh?! lol
Here he is giving his sister Alyssa a tender kiss. She was almost 2 and he was 9 at the time. That was when she was too young to talk back......

By the fourth grade Josiah was not so compassionate....

He gave me this Mothers Day card that year and well...

His words tell it like it was......

I wonder what he scribbled out?? I love the fact that he didn't want to babysit her when he was old enough to! hahahahahaha! Happy Mothers Day to all the mothers out there! My last post was to my daughters.....this one is for my only son Josiah and his soon-to-be wife Abby :) Abby, this is proof that your new hubby will be a patient husband and a wonderful father!!!!

Love,

Mom!

Happy Mothers Day everyone!!!!

Happy Mothers Day everyone!
I hope you all enjoy your special day with you children. I will take time to look through the pictures over the many years. I hope to have them up tomorrow. But, until then.....
I found this video to represent daughters:) I hope you all will enjoy this song as much as I have.....
"In my Daughters Eyes" by Martina McBride....





God bless!

Diana Joy

I have one more request...

Please pray for Alyssa. She is wanting to become a journalist and travel around the world to reach out to orphans. Pray that over the summer we can find a program that will help encourage her to follow her dreams:)
Also, pray for me as I am now looking for a new job.
Thanks so much for all your love and support :)

Much love!
DJ

I found Alyssa's blog! Here is her first post:)

I've tried writing and rewriting over and over again how to start this but I keep finding myself pressing the backspace button. I can't seem to find any words to express how I feel about this.Its caught somewhere between confusion, anger, and sadness.I've always wanted to make a difference and find a way to change the world. I read the book First They Killed My Father, seen the movies Invisible Children, Hotel Rwanda, and many others. I've also looked up pictures like the ones throughout this blog [all pictures credit to Maciej Dakowicz.] and one question continues to scream in my mind: "Why?"

Why must they be born into a world of poverty and pain?

Why should they be raised in an orphanage without parents and some without brothers or sisters?

Why should they fight everyday for peace?

Why must they suffer?

So, I decided that I was finally going to do something about it. I've finally figured out how. This summer I'm working on having a HUGE bake sale. My best friends from my school are helping me make food. My friends from other schools are also not only making food they are spreading the word. One of my friends, Nicole is even having her own bake sale to raise money. All the money that I earn for this bake sale will be going to an organization called Orphans First. I'm so excited for this. I've been looking forward to it for a long time now. I hope it all works out.

For those of you who have visited my mom's blog and seen my writing about a young boy named Ry Ra. Yes, I wrote that story all by myself. Yes, I based it on a real little boy. No, I never knew the little boy. I got the story from a few photographs. One of them is shown on the left, he's the little boy standing up catching rain water in the bottle to drink.

The only thing I knew about this little boy when I wrote that story was:
His name is Ry Ra.
He was five-years-old when the picture was taken. [I believe it was taken in '05 or '06.]
He had a problem with his hips and pelvis and due to this, he was unable to walk properly.
If he lived in a country like America, he'd be able to have the surgery and walk normally.He lives[lived?] in an orphanage in Cambodia.

The rest of the story was made up by me.I didn't choose Ry Ra for any special reason other then that he was just one of the millions of children who live in poverty around the world.

One of the many children that deserve more.

Here is Alyssa's blog! hehehehe!

http://alyssasbloggg.blogspot.com/

Alyssa Gayle and her little boy Ry Ra.......

Last night I found my daughter Alyssa Gayle staring at the computer screen. I was just about to yell at her to get to bed, when I realized that she was doing homework. My daughter was given and assignment to write a paper titled "How can one person make a difference in the lives of many?" Of course Alyssa always jumps at the chance to talk about her dream of running her own non-profit organization....only overseas! So, naturally I assumed this was a "How to do" paper. But, she wouldn't let me see what she was typing! She quickly snapped at me and said, "No mom! Go away!"
So, as I was leaving I noticed she was looking through a site of one of her favorite photographers. This site is filled with so many pictures...and most of them are pictures of orphans. As I watched her face pressed to the computer screen it reminded me of my adopted father Gale Fister. He is just a pastor of a small town....
But, he is the biggest man in the world to me. He has a passion to save as many children as he can before he faces Jesus. I am soooo happy that I named Alyssa Gayle after him :)
This morning I found this excerpt of the paper she was working on...
I found just this one sheet of paper sitting on my desk. It wasn't a "How to do" paper at all....
In just a few paragraphs my daughter had taken me to the world of a small orphaned boy...
Here is just a small portion of what the paper said....
It has not been edited by me or by her teacher....


I walk along the dirt road and stare at my black flip flops as I feel them lightly slap the back of my feet. My hands shake and my heart pounds in my throat. On the outside, I seem calm and collected, but on the inside I feel as through I'm going to collapse. I walk silently up the gray wooden steps, then turn into the large hallway that extends throughout the house. As I walk down the hallway I am cautious of every step I take, fearing of what may happen if one of the floorboards gives in. The house smells of dirt and decaying wood. Although, the faint noise of children laughing is present, it seems as though all is dead....
I scan the room quickly, looking for one little boy. My heart beats faster as I look at the faces of the many orphaned children, seeing many familiar faces, although none are of the one child I'm looking for. A small tug at the edge of my pant leg brings my attention towards the floor. A sigh of relief escapes my mouth as I am greeted by a pair of large brown eyes. I reach down to hold 5-year-old "Ry Ra". I wrap my arms tightly around his small fragile body. I run my fingers through his thinnning hair (which is gray from the dirt that he and his friends love to play in). My emotions overthrow me as he wraps his tiny, thin fingers around the neck of my shirt. Tears of happiness well in my eyes as I realize he is now safe and alive.....


That's all that was on the paper!!!! I am so frustrated! Alyssa Gayle is babysitting for her sister tonight and I will not hear the rest of the story until sometime late tomorrow :(


Here is a few of the many pictures Alyssa has collected for "Diana Joy's myspace"...