MERRY CHRISTMAS

This year I decided to do my Christmas Card on the web, hoping to save a little time and trees. That, and I have lost my address book in the move so I am hoping those that don't get a card from us will read this and understand, and then send us your address!This has been an exciting year for us. We moved to Kennewick, Washington a year ago last year to be closer to family. It has been very nice to be so close to Lance's mother and cousins and they have all been very helpful with the boys when Lance and I are both busy, we appreciate them all so much, thank you all! I am also closer to my family in the Boise area and have been to see them almost monthly, which when compared to once yearly is wonderful as well.

I am working as a hospitalist here in Richland, Washington. It is the nicest hospital in the area and a very busy place! The schedule of 7 days on and 7 days off has been very nice and allowed me to spend much more time with the boys. I got to meet my birth-mother (for those of you that didn't know I was adopted as a baby) and her family who were all very wonderful people and I look forward to developing a life-long relationship with them.



Lance got a job teaching English and as the head football coach of Columbia High School. I know he enjoyed the season despite the overall record, the teaching however I am not sure is his favorite and he may be looking for other options next year.

RJ has entered into kindergarten at Kingspoint Christian School, and although I am not sure he is in love with the idea of school, he seems to do well once he is there and he has a very understanding and patient teacher. We think we will keep him at the smaller christian school as I love to hear him come home singing the Lord's praises and stories. Jack is growing like a weed, and is enjoying his preschool as well. It is right next to RJ's school and they are both very close to Grandma JJ so she picks them up after school during football season and from time to time when Lance and I cannot make it in time, once again, thank you Jamelyn she has been a godsend for the boys. His main accomplishment was getting potty trained! Although, it lasted a few months and we are backsliding at least the diapers are gone with the exception of at night.

Our big news was the subject of my last blog, is that we will be having another addition to our family. RJ's half-brother will be joining our family hopefully sometime in 2009, we suspect it may be around Christmas next year.

We miss all of of friends in the Kansas City Area but we seem to be adjusting to our new life in the desert of Eastern Washington and being so close to family has more than made up for the lack of choices in shopping, entertainment and loss of proximity to friend.

Please drop us an email when you all get a chance, dlbeeson@charter.net or ldbeeson@charter.net and may everyone have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year and don't forget to give thanks to the Lord for all he has done for you and yours! I know we won't! Take care!

WOW!

Wow! Another One! For those of you who do not know, we have been asked to accept another child from Thailand. Another boy! I am really going to be outnumbered. We weren't 100% sure we were (or are) ready for another child (3 seems like so many!) but after much timely thought and prayer we are getting ready to go back to Thailand one more time. God is so good!

RJ's birthmother has given birth again to another little boy, Teepop Buadaprest (we will be giving him an American first name as I can hear the jaunts now!). Amazingly, he is also very healthy and appears to be happy and is residing in the same foster family as RJ had been (pure coincidence we are told) so we know he is being well cared for, as RJ was. We don't expect to be traveling for about a year, as far as we can tell as it will take us almost 3-6 months to get all the paperwork done (since we hadn't even started on anything when the call came) and then another 6-9 months on the waiting list for adoption approval. He turns one this December, that will make him about RJ's age when we got him, around 2 yrs old. That will give us some more time to get ready to the idea of having a third child!

Everything else here is going well. Lance finished his first season as head football coach 4-7, I believe. Not as good as he had hoped but I think he had fun regardless. Now, if he can get through the rest of the year without football and teaching English, that will be the true test of his dedication to the sport!

My job continues to get better as well. They are making real strives at the hospital to improve all aspects of care, and they just gave us raises, which in today's economy, I feel really lucky and blessed for.

The boys are doing great as well. RJ just turned 6! He isn't all that fond of school but seems to be doing very well at it. Jack is still suffering through his terrible two's (and we are ready for those to be over as well). He still doesn't sleep well unless one of us are with him all night, a habit I am going to try and break before the next little one arrives.

I am going to make every attempt at keeping this site up to date, however ,I have had that good intention before and now will be working a lot of extra shifts to try and pay for little Teepop so we will see, but keep tuned anyways, a lot more adventure yet to come!

RJ & JACK AT MARYS HOUSE

RJ & JACK ON THE FOURTH OF JULY W/GRANDPA

We're Back!!

Wow, it sure has been a while. I am sorry it has taken me so long to get to a new post. I kept meaning to do it, and then wanted to wait until I had pictures of the bots ready, but never got to sit down at the computer with time to do both until now.

My job is getting better, this hospital still has its problems but I haven't worked at one yet that doesn't. The administration seems to be honestly trying to improve but it is the same old story here as it is almost everywhere else, too many patients and not enough doctors. Administration doesn't seem to understand that there is only so much one doctor can do and don't understand that we are not a limitless resource. With the shortage of good physicians out there, I am not sure that will be a fixable problem soon so we all just do the best we can for all the patients out there.

Lance has officially started football season. There are conditioning hours, weights hours plus numerous other hours that coaches spend trying to get ready for the season. Out lives will not be the same until November, but we will adjust. He seems to be really enjoying it so far. He has also agreed to teach out of his area (English of all things!) just so he can be on campus and available for the kids, hopefully it won't drive him crazy.

The boys are doing great. RJ is about to start Kindergarten, I can't believe it! Jack Jack will go to full time at his daycare but he seems to be happy there and the teachers seem to love him. His biggest accomplishment is going potty in the potty (however not very consistently).

We just went to visit our friends Mary and Gary Buckland. They used to live in Lees Summitt, MO and we were friends before they moved, and they happened to move around the same time as we did only 3 hours away! I am so lucky! There house is lovely and they sit up on the mountains near Portland and have a gorgeous view from their backyard. Makes me jealous as we are here in a true desert and I miss the green and pine trees.

Hope this finds you all happy and healthy, drop us a line if you get a chance, dlbeeson@charter.net or ldbeeson@charter.net. You can also hook up with us both on Facebook. We miss you all!

Coach Beeson

Well, we can once again refer to Lance as Coach Beeson. He has just been hired as the head football coach at Columbia High School in Burbank, WA. He is excited about the new position and we are excited and proud as well. Even though this will make are fall schedule once again difficult to juggle, we are extremely happy for him. Hopefully being close to our extended family will make those scheduling difficulties easier to handle.

My job is once again a struggle. We lost one of our partners unexpectedly (she is leaving abruptly) and it has thrown our group into a tizzy. This group has a fine line between professional and happy versus dysfunctional and bipolar! Hopefully everything will work out, but right now I am not sure I will be with this hospital long term and hope that something else will turn up within the area as I so do NOT want to move again and I am sure neither does Lance now!

Pray for us as we both delve into our new and evolving sagas! Stay tuned, will post pics of the boys soon.

Is it Spring yet???

Hope this finds everyone happy and healthy. We are all settling in here in Kennewick, WA. However, we have yet to experience the "mild weather" they see here in eastern Washington. It has been cold and sooooo windy! The wind here is brutal and I have decided that I do not like running outside anymore. I thought Kansas was windy but it was nothing compared to here. No one told us about that before we moved here. Hopefully it will die down a little this summer.

My job has gotten a little better, they are definitely taking in my suggestions and working to change for the better so far, hopefully it will continue.

The boys are doing well. RJ continues to do very well in pre-school. He has never once had his name on the "bad-side" of the chalkboard, the only child some days to remain there. I wish he would bring that good behavior home with him (as he tends to be a little stinker once he gets home!). Jack Jack is doing well too, he goes to school 3 days a week and no longer cries when we drop him off. We thought he broke his arm again the other day wrestling with his brother, but after a trip to the ER we found out it was just a dislocation and they were able to pop it back in without incident.

Lance is still looking for a part time job, but while he searches is keeping busy selling cards on eBay.

Drop us a line when you get a chance, we miss you all!

Rough Week

Amy and Bill at dinner with us just before we left town.

Hannah and RJ at Boo at the Zoo (RJ refused to dress up but Hannah was a cute bat-princess!)

Well, we have had a rough week. We lost a friend, Bill Kinnish who died unexpectantly at a very young age. He left behind a wife, Amy and a 5 year old little girl, Hannah. We are thinking of Amy and little Hannah daily and they are also in our daily prayers. Another one of my good friends, Mary Buckland also lost her father this week. So our moods seem to go along fine with the cool, dreary weather.

I started my new job this week at Richland. Overall, it is a very nice hospital with very good nurses and friendly people, but it needs a little work in its efficiency! It took me almost 10 to 12 hours a day just to help 15 patients (which is a long time for those of you who don't do this sort of thing on a regular basis). I am missing the big and helpful hospital, and its staff that I left behind in Kansas City, but am sure with time things will get better here.

All my boys (Lance too) seem to be adjusting well. RJ loves his new school and teacher. He says, "Mrs. Brown is nicer than daddy but not quite as nice as mommy!" Jack Jack seems to fit in well at his new daycare as well. He spends 3 days a week there to give Lance a break and some time to look for work and catch up on his Ebay business. They all seem to have more energy than me and it seems hard to find time to keep up with them, and to keep them fed (healthily at least, as was my New Year's Resolution).

We wish you well here from Kennewick, Washington. Drop us a line when you get a chance. We miss all!

Brrrrrrrrrr!

Well, so much for the mild weather here in the tri-cities! I was told it would be great, lows in the 40's and mid-day temps in the 50's. I thought, great, I will be able to run outside even in the middle of the winter (as I am NOT a cold-weather runner if I can avoid it). So far, however, it has been cold, drops to the low 20's and teens at night and it is rare it hits 40 during the day. So miuch for their 300+ days of sunshine a year as well, it was cloudy for the first 2 weeks I got here (can you say SAD?). In fact, right now it is snowing, the third time it has done so in an area that "rarely gets a flake!" So needless to say I have been a little disappointed since my arrival, however, it really isn't much different than it had been in the KC area so it is not a totally new situation.

I even got Jack Jack out to make a snowman for a while, and he seemed to have fun. Neither of my kids much like the cold however, I think it stems from their Thai background, as the coldest it ever gets there is 85 degrees!

Both Lance and I have gotten all new emails and here they are:

lance email: ldbeeson@charter.net

donna email dlbeeson@charter.net

You can email us if you want new address, phone numbers, etc.

Hope all of you are happy and healthy and don't forget us now that we are way out here!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Hope the new year is starting out right for one and all. We have officially moved out of Kansas and into Kennewick, WA. Lance and my weekend away was a wash (snowstorm in KC closed airport so that I was delayed for 5 hrs and didn't arrive into Seattle until around 9PM and then Lance's sister's plane and family had trouble and had to fly into Seattle so we had to pick them up the next morning). Oh well, I am sure that we will be able to have a true weekend away soon now that we are so close to family. We had a very nice Christmas though, Lance's sister and her family as well as Lance's mom and grandma were all there. Jack Jack and RJ had a great time with their cousins, Matthew and Nathan. We then got to spend some time in Idaho visiting my family and having a Christmas after a Christmas so it was very nice.

Now I must settle down and start unloading the rest of the boxes, which seems the easy part. The hard part will be trying to find places to put all the stuff that comes out of the boxes. It is already very apparent that we will not have enough room for all of our "stuff". Oh well, it is only stuff and the real important parts, Lance, RJ and Jack Jack fit just fine. It is nice to be so close to family and I hope that the boys will now grow up knowing all of their cousins and the rest of their extended family, which is a luxury I did not have as a child and think is important. Because when push comes to shove, it is really your family and their unconditional love is all that really matters. Hope the Lord continues to bless you and your family as he has ours. Keep in touch, I still do not have a new phone number or email address but I do now know my home address, it is: 99721 Canyon View, Kennewick, WA 99338.