Our Beautiful Family: January 2010

Happy New Year

Wow, where does time go? This year (2010), is a big year for our family. We are looking forward to some very good things happening. I have tried to figure out what kind of goals I wanted to set this year. I suppose one of those ought to be graduate from College. I am almost there 6 more credits and I am done with my undergrad. WHEW, for someone who never wanted to go to college, I am so glad to see my undergrad over. I will graudate this summer with a degree in Human Services, I hope to start a masters as soon as I can. I have not decided on where I am going to school yet. Although the University of Phoeinx seems like a great choice for me personally, I do not know if I want to get both of my degree's from Phoenix. I have been looking at a few programs, though nothing seriously. I hope to finish my graduate work in two years, that will be perfect as Taylor will be in school then and I will be able to work. I am not sure I will work full time, but I will at least work part time. Loren has a flexable schedule so if I am not home, he can meet the bus.

My next goal is to figure out how to change our way of life such as: our eating habits, our sleep schedule, assignments and chores. I hope to instill in the children a work ethic and a reason for why we do the things we do. I also want our family to get healthy. Loren and I have realized that we need to change a lot of what we do, for the very least to live long enough to see these children graduate and start their own lives.

The next thing I want to do, is to be a better reader, I love reading but sadly with school my time is so limited. I am praying that I can figure out a time that I can do more reading for me.

So far, 2010 has been a wonderful year and we hope that the whole year is full of good news.

Aubrey was baptized

We can not believe that Aubrey is already 8 years old and old enough to be baptized. Today, her grandpa baptized her and she was so beautiful, she looked like an angel.

Our family

Although, I am not a big fan of this picture of "me" it is a decent one of everyone else.

Something that I have not talked about a great deal or is not total public knowledge is that Loren and I now have custody of Aubrey, Connor, and Taylor. For those that do not know, I will explain what has happened.

Our daughter Danielle (27 years old), has been missing since June 5, 2009. She drove to Utah after she was missing with the children for a week, dropped the children off with her sister Laura, and then left. She disappeared and except for four phone calls to my father in June and one to me on July 14th, she has not been heard from since.

My mom and dad were in Colorado visiting in June, when my mom and I drove to Utah to pick the children up. To start court proceedings to have some sort of custody of the children.

Our life changed on a dime, not only are we raising three incredible children, but our daughter is missing. The children have been an enormous blessing in our life, first they are so loving and pure. They have given Loren and I such love, I can only express how blessed we feel. I cannot imagine my house being quiet again; I do not ever want to imagine that, for these three children have brought life and joy into a very dull home.

Although, there are days that I have a difficult time dealing with the fact that my daughter is missing, most days I try to focus on the children and be the best I can for them. I won't say that I haven't have days when I have broke down and fallen apart, to say that would be a lie. I feel like I have fought for Danielle's life since the day she was born. She was not breathing when she was born and the first few minutes of her life were frightening. On several occasions, I have fought to help her and get her help. Danielle has a knack for making poor choices. I pray that one day she will come home and get the help she needs. I pray that I will have an opportunity to tell my beautiful daughter that I love her again. I most especially pray that it is not too late.