A hard week...

Charlie is such a beautiful dog...thiese are two of my favorite pics of him. We found out this past Friday that Charlie has tumors and they are likely cancer. We noticed that he was bleeding from his nose then it progressed to his eye where we could see what looked like a tumor on his nose. X-rays confirmed what we already knew. They also confirmed that it is not just his nose but on his heart and other places. It has been a sad week around here. Charlie has been with us for two-thirds of our marriage and lived in three of our 6 homes. He is a survivor of heart worms, copperhead bites, numerous wanderings when he was younger that resulted in many great stories and living on the ranch. After his successful battle with heart worms we determined to get him a companion and by providence we found Chase which we believe to have added many years to his life. In fact we gave Chase his name because all he wanted to do was chase Charlie.

As of now Charlie is doing fine...chasing deer, barking at neighbors passing by, eating and laying around like normal. In the last two days since on antibiotics and Mommy's herbal concoctions he has started blowing out tissue through his nose that may be a sign of the tumor in his nose breaking up. David and I clean his nose with saline rinse and give him syringes of water and herbs in his mouth that usually start the sneezing fits, but are productive in getting the clots out of his nose. Sorry, this may be more detail than anyone wanted to know! Herbs I have been using are Yarrow tea, spirulina (suppose to be great for fighting cancer), astrangulus root, black walnut hull powder, colloidal silver drops in nose and eye, echinacea, blood builder(kelp, alfalfa, dandelion root, strawberry leaf) and raw milk kefir. A couple of helpful sites I found on treating dogs naturally are Holistic Cancer Treatment for Dogs . Preventing and Healing Animals Naturally
Below are pictures of Charlie over the past 10yrs...note how little Emily and J.Michael are! We continue to treat Charlie and have been in close contact with our vet who has been a great help.

Charlie about 7 months old. Emily is 4yrs.
Spring of 1999.

I love this picture...J.Michael and Charlie have been great
pals for 10yrs. This was taken at our house on Franklin St.
in Hillsboro,TX when J.Michael was 5yrs old.

Charlie was even in our family portraits for
Christmas cards. Dec. 2003



Charlie in the Hillsboro annual 4th of July parade 2004.


August 2004

Playing in the Lake at the Ranch.

J.Michael with Charlie and Chase his dogs and friend Taylor.
Summer 2005



Kathlena warming up to Charlie after 1month home. June 2008

Charlie and Andrew became quick friends. There is just
something about boys and dogs. July 2008

6 months ago today...everything changed

It was six months ago today that Andrew and Kathlena were given to us. It seems they have always been with us. So much has changed in six months. They are both speaking English very well and have adapted better than I ever imagined. They are so very precious and so very Shiflet now.

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1st Trip to the Zoo

The girls are enjoying their buck sticks from Daddy's deer for
lunch. When we arrived we had our picnic lunch at Herman
Park first then set out to spend the afternoon at the zoo.

Where are the prairie dogs...apparently this exhibit is under
construction but they had fun playing "prairie dog".

Black bear taking it easy and allowing onlookers a chance

for photo ops.

A recently acquired leopard. Notice the extra skin...

they have put him on a diet as he was apparently getting to
fat...only in America!

We got a rare glimpse of the tiger moving around and getting

a drink of water. They are such beautiful and graceful animals.

Andrew runs up to this fence and goes yummy cows...we

like to eat the cows! These were called Ankoloes I think?

I think Andrew is right these would probably be good eating.

A margay getting his goat's milk lunch.

Look at those paws!

*remember to turn off music to listen to video it is in the sidebar of the blog, click pause on the playlist.

The ocelot does not like to be squirted in the mouth with

the goat's milk but prefers to lick it off of the stump.

A beautiful cat.

A fussa...I don't think I have ever seen or heard of this

animal before. This is where we met Richard the zoo keeper.

The cheetahs stretching. The Houston Zoo has a large variety

of wild cats which is wonderful for our family as we love them.

"What stinks?" Ahh! yes, the new elephant

exhibit. Even a new mansion doesn't keep

these animals from smelling!

Swimming with the piranhas...yikes!

Playing in the mangrove roots. The new rain forest

exhibit is very nice.

"We found Nemo, and another one too!" "Dorey also"

Andrew was so cute when he saw the clown fish in the

aquarium in the Rain forest exhibit.

A rare glimpse of Lou the hedgehog as she has been retired

and only "lives" at the zoo. We were told that she is old and

has done "her time" so she is no longer on exhibit just living

her days out in a roomy cage behind closed doors. The zoo

keeper brings her out on occasion to let the kids pet her and

see a real hedgehog.

Kathlena and I petting the spiky hedgehog from Madagascar.

Andrew taking a turn to pet Lou.

A Shiflet tradition is to collect smashed pennies from the souvenir penny machines. It is a great inexpensive and fun souvenir for kids to collect. When we were traveling to Russia we actually found one in Germany. We found a website off of this one and it tells the locations of them from all over the world. From this website we found out that there was one in Russia...bummer would've been neat to have some from there.

We waited out the rain as long as possible and finally set out to the Houston Zoo on Thursday, Nov. 13. It was still overcast and a little cool in shade which made for a great day to stroll through the zoo. Andrew and Kathlena had never been to a Zoo before and it was so fun to try and explain this whole concept to them. At first Andrew was a little nervous as he didn't like the idea of "seeing" wild animals. Once he understood that they were in cages and could not get out he began to get excited at the thought of seeing some the animals he has only heard about in books.

It has been a while since the rest of us have been to the Houston Zoo too and much has changed. I must say it has definitely changed for the better! The zoo has recently acquired grizzly bears and new leopards. We had a great opportunity to see a Fussa, Margay and Ocelot as Richard the zoo keeper was out feeding them and Andrew got to ask him lots of questions to which Richard was more than happy to share about the animals he takes care of. The Houston Zoo has also recently built a huge Asian Elephant exhibit (to which no $$$ was spared at $5 million) Sadly, one of the newest born in captivity elephants, Mac at 18 months had just died the previous weekend from a virus. There were still 4-5 elephants in the exhibit though. Our trip was great fun. I have missed going to the zoo and glad to have such a nice zoo close by. I am sure we will be going again soon.

Russia makes History

Russia has just passed a historical presidential term extension today. Now the president will be able to serve two six-year terms instead of four. According to AP news report the current President of Russia will now have "more power than the general secretary (of the Soviet Union), the czar and pharaoh altogether. And there is not a single element of control over his authority" see full article at Russian Duma backs presidential changes .

Some additional articles revealing the great possibility that Putin will be back in power sooner rather than later and Russia taking advantage of the change in leadership in the U.S.

Russian vote paves way for early Putin comeback

Sarkozy Urges U.S., Russia to Delay Missile Plans

Future Senator?

Emily and J.Michael for the past few years have been involved in speech tournaments. This has been a wonderful experience for them and has given them a greater confidence to write and articulate their beliefs on a given subject. This year they are part of a speech class from our church and hope to be able to take the speeches they are working on and compete in NCFCA tournaments this spring.

Tonight Emily and J.Michael were both presenting their speeches to their Dad, Andrew and I (Kathlena was already in bed). Andrew has been sitting in on the speech classes with me for Emily and J.Michael and really likes to listen to the speeches. After J.Michael gave his speech we turned to Andrew and asked him if he would like to give a speech. He said, "Yes!" We asked what he would like to give his speech on and he told us, "Rrrrobots!" We recently checked out a book from the library called "Can you see what I see?" which is similar to the "I Spy" books. In this book it has a whole 2 page spread of robots made from recycled materials. This book was all Andrew had in front of him to give his speech from. We had not gone over anything with him about speaking so what you will see in the video is from what he has picked up from watching his brother and sister and listening in on 3 speech classes.

*remember to turn off music to listen to video it is in the sidebar of the blog, click pause on the playlist.

I think we may have a senator on our hands...16 minutes of speaking impromptu on a subject. I think he is filibuster material for sure! Notice the intentional eye contact. Great Job! Andrew. I think this is only the beginning of your public speaking opportunities. Oh, ya and did I mention he has only been speaking English for 5 months now! Andrew is now working on a persuasive speech entitled "Why I Need a Police Car Sleepy Bag Tent" special edition for the grandparents!

Mommy's little Helper

Kathlena loves to be where ever Mommy is. She is my shadow and little helper. Her sweet smile and willingness to help do anything bring her Mommy joy and delight. Here is a short clip of Kathlen helping Mommy snap some green beans for dinner. She sure makes you want to go get some green beans and snap them!

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First Post Placement

Whew!!! we made it through the mad dash of our first post placement report. The report itself was really no big deal. Especially, since we love to talk about our kids and how wonderful adoption has been for our family. The craziness comes with the time constraints of we couldn't meet with the social worker until after Nov. 1st(a Sat.) yet we have to have it to our agency notarized and apostilled (in Austin) by Nov. 15th(also a Sat. so really the 14th). Long story short-two carefully orchestrated FedEx envelopes, a really quick and wonderful social worker, and lots of prayers made all of this happen on time (hopefully, as the first leg of the race has gone well so far).

The main purpose in post placement reports is to smooth relationships with Russia and the U.S. Agencies that place children in families from Russia. Pictures are sent to ensure that the children are doing well. I am glad to help, but now on the other side of adoption I really do think that 3yrs of post placement reports is excessive for adoptive families to produce (one year should be sufficient). Especially, when each report costs upwards of $300. This is after a family who adopts 1-2 children has already spent upwards of $40,000-60, 000 to adopt to begin with. Would I spend this much all over again for my children? YOU bet I would, but should governments have this much jurisdiction over the affairs of adoptive families...Constitutionally speaking...no. If the government didn't it would take a fraction of the time and cost to adopt.

Unfortunately, the costs are only likely to go up with the implementation of the Homeland Security Agency and new Hague laws that go in effect as of this year. While in the news you hear of the great things that Hague is going to prevent what is not being reported is how the increase in government agencies involvement and forced compliance with new regulations will result in greater cost to the individual adoptive families (both time and money), fewer overall adoptions as a result and the complete shut down of some of the most poor countries in the world who have the greatest need for adoption. How the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption Might Affect You

Government was to protect the innocent...children who are legitimately in harmful, abusive situations should be removed from their family, but not by means of our current system where the government is unchecked-Children Removed from LDS Compound in Texas. But once children are out of immediate physical danger, job over for the government and it is time for the church to step in and find a loving stable home. Elaborate foster care systems, social workers-namely CPS do not hold a biblical world view of adoption or family for that matter, although many of these individuals are well meaning and even Christians, they are still agents of the state acting in behalf of what is best for the state not individuals. The bureaucracy that exists is unbelievable and many of the CPS agents who are trying to look out for the best interest of the individual child have their hands tied by too many cases, too many hoops to jump through and dealing with an ever increasing amount of responsibility as new regulations are constantly added which translates into more training and licensing for them.

Okay, I feel better now with that said, we are now cleared by the state for another 6 months until we must go through all of this again. I do have to say that we have one of those rare CPS social workers who really does have the best interest of the family and child as priority and delights to see children placed in loving biblical Christian homes. She has been a true blessing to us as we have navigated the waters of the state through our adoption. We praise the Lord for bringing her to us and granting us favor throughout our process of dealing with the unavoidable government intrusion in the adoption process.