Tuesday, December 07, 2010
John & Tami
John is still working at Semitool, this year it was bought by a large company Applied Materials. They are located in California. It has been a good move for John. He has plenty of work to keep him busy and we made it through all 3 lay offs. Thank you God !
I am still a stay at home mom and love my time and hobbies. I spend a lot of time driving to Missoula for court related things on our grand daughters court case. This is ongoing for 19 months and we are just waiting to see if her mom can pull things together for Aroura. If not we are in line to adopt and raise Aroura now 4.
We also have still been working on our house. We are stripping off the siding and replacing it with new. What a JOB!!!! For 2 months we worked non stop and in the spring we will resume again. The part we finished looks fabulous!!!Love it!!!!
We took a few trips this past summer. We went to California to visit John’s family and took a side trip to Knotts berry Farm. We took Gramma Tino, and John’s twin brother and his family with us and had a blast.
We also went camping in Idaho with close friends and visited Silverwoods another theme park there. Grayce is our little daredevil and loves the rollercoasters. She is not tall enough so I had to go on with her,
So in our spare time? Oh we don’t have any of that.
I am still a stay at home mom and love my time and hobbies. I spend a lot of time driving to Missoula for court related things on our grand daughters court case. This is ongoing for 19 months and we are just waiting to see if her mom can pull things together for Aroura. If not we are in line to adopt and raise Aroura now 4.
We also have still been working on our house. We are stripping off the siding and replacing it with new. What a JOB!!!! For 2 months we worked non stop and in the spring we will resume again. The part we finished looks fabulous!!!Love it!!!!
We took a few trips this past summer. We went to California to visit John’s family and took a side trip to Knotts berry Farm. We took Gramma Tino, and John’s twin brother and his family with us and had a blast.
We also went camping in Idaho with close friends and visited Silverwoods another theme park there. Grayce is our little daredevil and loves the rollercoasters. She is not tall enough so I had to go on with her,
So in our spare time? Oh we don’t have any of that.
Johnny (Paco)
Paco (Johnny) is doing well.
He still lives here in Kalispell. He still works at the car wash and loves it. He is currently single. He has a bulldog who is his best buddy and goes with him everywhere. His name is Oscar.
Johnny is the family man out of the group. He loves coming over on his days off and spending them with his mom. I love that about him.
John and Johnny still love to watch sports together.
He has grown into such a wonderful young man. Somewhere there is the perfect girl for him waiting. But for now he is happy to be plain old Johnny.
He still lives here in Kalispell. He still works at the car wash and loves it. He is currently single. He has a bulldog who is his best buddy and goes with him everywhere. His name is Oscar.
Johnny is the family man out of the group. He loves coming over on his days off and spending them with his mom. I love that about him.
John and Johnny still love to watch sports together.
He has grown into such a wonderful young man. Somewhere there is the perfect girl for him waiting. But for now he is happy to be plain old Johnny.
James & Amanda
James and Amanda were married on March 5th, this year. We welcomed their daughter Reya Eva Valentino into our family on September 1st, weighing in at 6 lbs. she is a lovely little one. I get the opportunity to have her from time to time here and spend our gramma time together. What a joy!!!
James and Amanda both have been un employed for several months and are struggling. They seem to keep very up beat about it and persevere.
James was released off parole in October. What an accomplishment for him. We are very proud of him and his ability to still keep his head up. We love you all!!!
Rebecca & Claude
Rebecca and Claude have expanded their family once again. Joshua(3), Hannah (2) and mommy and daddy welcomed Abigail Joy Yu En Chew into their hearts and ours on September 18th weighing in at 8.02 lbs.
John and I took a trip to New York to meet her for the first time. John had not been back to NY since he left there at age 4. It was a wonderful time with the grandkids and our Rebecca. It had been 3 years since we had seen them. How I miss Becca.
Joshua is a train,bus,big mighty machine lover and we were able to spend some good time with him. Hannah is so full of energy and love. She is more quieter than Joshua but a beautiful little girl. Abilgail is plain beautiful and so much fun to hold.
Claude is still working at Columbia University in the lab.
John and I took a trip to New York to meet her for the first time. John had not been back to NY since he left there at age 4. It was a wonderful time with the grandkids and our Rebecca. It had been 3 years since we had seen them. How I miss Becca.
Joshua is a train,bus,big mighty machine lover and we were able to spend some good time with him. Hannah is so full of energy and love. She is more quieter than Joshua but a beautiful little girl. Abilgail is plain beautiful and so much fun to hold.
Claude is still working at Columbia University in the lab.
Grayce
Anna Grayce is busy ALL the time. She has the ability to charm the socks off everyone. She walks into a room and is the center a attention. She is adorable, beautiful and charming. This year she has learned that she has to work hard as well as being blessed with cuteness. She has Asthma and all sorts of allergys which cause some behavioral problems but through all of this she is still the most lovable adoring child.
At times I wonder…”If only your china parents could see you and how far you have come.” We just got report cards and she has straight A’s and she doesn’t even try very hard at it. She is very bright and she is always challenging us with her questions. She turned 10 in October this year. Hard to believe...it seens like just yesterday we were going to China to have her join our family.What a blessing she has been to us all!!! We love you Anna Grayce Ji Cai Qian!!! Stay the way you are.
At times I wonder…”If only your china parents could see you and how far you have come.” We just got report cards and she has straight A’s and she doesn’t even try very hard at it. She is very bright and she is always challenging us with her questions. She turned 10 in October this year. Hard to believe...it seens like just yesterday we were going to China to have her join our family.What a blessing she has been to us all!!! We love you Anna Grayce Ji Cai Qian!!! Stay the way you are.
Hope
Hope has grown into a very beautiful young woman. She celebrated her 15th birthday this year in August.
She started her freshman year in Glacier High. She loves school and has straight A’s. She is a very diligent worker . We never have to beg her to do her homework. In August she had her 16thHope has grown into a very beautiful young woman. She celebrated her 15th birthday this year in August.
She started her freshman year in Glacier High. She loves school and has straight A’s. She is a very diligent worker . We never have to beg her to do her homework. In August she had her 16th surgery on her nose and palate. (Hopefully this is her last) This made 16 so far.
This surgery helped with all the sinus infections she has dealt with all this time. She is a talented young woman. She drew the Christmas card again this year. She takes such pleasure in her art and writing stories. Very creative mind.
God has blessed her with these attributes and the love for Him is astounding.
She started her freshman year in Glacier High. She loves school and has straight A’s. She is a very diligent worker . We never have to beg her to do her homework. In August she had her 16thHope has grown into a very beautiful young woman. She celebrated her 15th birthday this year in August.
She started her freshman year in Glacier High. She loves school and has straight A’s. She is a very diligent worker . We never have to beg her to do her homework. In August she had her 16th surgery on her nose and palate. (Hopefully this is her last) This made 16 so far.
This surgery helped with all the sinus infections she has dealt with all this time. She is a talented young woman. She drew the Christmas card again this year. She takes such pleasure in her art and writing stories. Very creative mind.
God has blessed her with these attributes and the love for Him is astounding.
christmas 2010
Hello! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the Valentino Family!!
This again has been a year of stress, happiness, projects in our household, school schedules, and just plain fun.
We have met some new friends along the way and some have become literal family. That is a true blessing.
As I sit here in front of my office window at home and look out and see the snow piled on the lilac trees and fence it is a beauty to see. I then realize why God created this beautiful place. At times I wish all our friends and family, that we have not seen for literally years could come and see this.
I also reflect on our girls as they grow up. They are true blessings from God. He truly has a plan for their lives. More on that later.
For now Thankyou for looking forward to reading our little newsletter.
I hope it finds you in your part of the world happy, content and blessed this time of year.
In the meantime remember Jesus is the Reason for this Season.
This again has been a year of stress, happiness, projects in our household, school schedules, and just plain fun.
We have met some new friends along the way and some have become literal family. That is a true blessing.
As I sit here in front of my office window at home and look out and see the snow piled on the lilac trees and fence it is a beauty to see. I then realize why God created this beautiful place. At times I wish all our friends and family, that we have not seen for literally years could come and see this.
I also reflect on our girls as they grow up. They are true blessings from God. He truly has a plan for their lives. More on that later.
For now Thankyou for looking forward to reading our little newsletter.
I hope it finds you in your part of the world happy, content and blessed this time of year.
In the meantime remember Jesus is the Reason for this Season.
Sunday, March 07, 2010
March 2010
Aroura in the swimming pool
Aroura with Gunner
Aroura with Darren
Well here we are already into March. This past 3 months has gone by so fast.
We are now a family of 5 again. We got custody of our grand daguhter on January 8th and it has been a big adjustment thus far. John and i are adjusting to having a preschooler in the house again. She is adjusting to the fact of travel 2 times a week for visitation to see her mom and her boyfriend under the supervision of the CFS of Montana. We travel to Polson on Mondays which is 1 hour drive one way and we travel to Missoula which is 123 miles one way so they are both very long days and she is absolutely amazing she never complains in the car. We are finally getting the potty training under control as she has had an issue with this with all the moving in her short life.
We have become very close to the foster family in Missoula that has her 1/2 brothers Darren and Gunner. We went down and celebrated their 1st birthday with them last weekend. It was quite the celebration considering the milestones they have achieved in the past year.(they were born at 24 weeks 1 lb8 oz. 1 lb. 9 oz. at birth) I really enjoyed watching her interact with them as it is difficult to bond when you don't live with them. Our 2 families have a lot in common and given the opportunity we will adopt Aroura and they will adopt the twins.
The girls have had a hard time with the adjustment also and we are all doing good at this time. Grayce struggles with this as she was the youngest of 5 and now is not. We are taking the special time i need to attend her and spend time with her. She loves having Aroura around but is still struggling.
Hope has really been amazing with both Grayce and Aroura. She is now 14 1/2 and is wuite the great strong assistant for me. This is hard to do again for the 3rd time at this age but we continue to know we are doing the right thing for her. She is thriving and has gained some weight. How could you not do the right thing by her. As i look back on all the things i have done in my life i know one thing for sure. I have done some remarkable things for the future of this world. 2 Precious little ones from across the world have blessed our lives and everyone they touch. Aroura Roze has done the same. Anyone that spends time with her just laughs and enjoys having a conversation with her. She has the ability to through all the things she has been through smile and enjoy being a child.
Hope all of you are blessed the way we have been. We will keep you posted on the court hearings. We have on on March 30th and this one they are trying to get all 3 kids transfered to Colorado but the State Arrouney has assured me they wiill not let that happen. Stay tuned...
If you all could pray for this court hearing that God will do what he thinks is best for the children.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Aroura Roze
Well we have spent 7 long months awaiting the call from Social Services in Montana about our grand daughter Aroura Roze. We got it on Friday morning when i woke up i thought i could watch an old movie and have my morning tea. Well, that did not happen and i was in the car within an hour driving to Arlee to pick up our charming little Aroura to bring her home to stay with us. We have temporary custody of her and by mext week we should know if it is permanent.
What a blessing it has been to have her here and to know she is safe and happy with us. She loves Grayce and Hope to pieces and is a amazingly adaptable little one. That is the blessing God has given her. He has equipped her with a sweetness and innocence. We have had a lot of people praying and we hope you continue to pray for her and us as we adjust to yet another little girl in our home. Now i am back to 3 kids again. Hope has been a great help with her and Aroura loves her.
It is interesting how when we adopted our girls from China we did not know we would be doing this again let alone when we dealt with their grief over loosing what was normal for them. In order to get gain a family they needed to loose something. Even though it is different circumstances that got them all 3 three here in our family the process of recovery is the same and the feelings are the same.
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