Hi everyone,

It has been a year since we last updated the journal and we STILL havent heard from anyone regarding Valentina. We know there are many people out there who are still waiting for her to arrive,as we get emails quite often asking about her.I have no idea where she is at this point and to tell the truth Alexis is upset that we havent seen her in so long.We are still patiently waiting for her return and some updates and of course Alexis will soon be starting a new school year in August. For whomever had her last,if you left her in a closet somewhere or even misplaced her permanently,PLEASE,PLEASE,PLEASE just write or email us and let us know .

Still patiently waiting,

Bear hugs,

Allison and Alexis

Ok guys,

Now we are concerned. We haven't heard from anyone since who knows when and we are starting to wonder what the heck is going on. If any of you have her or have already had her since the last post, PLEASE  email us or leave us a message here. We haven't gotten to the point of offering a reward for her yet, but we are getting darn close!

Hope we hear something soon!

Bear hugs,

Allison and Alexis

For any of you who have applied with Vera Fast in the last few months, rest assured that they are hiring at this moment!! I  got a call from them on Thursday afternoon and will be starting training with them some time next week if things go as planned. The agent informed me that they are just now getting to all the applicants that contacted them from December through April and will be hiring qualified applicants until all the slots are filled. So everyone keep your fingers crossed that you are one of the lucky ones called in the next few days. As I have said before,it pays to have patience when dealing with virtual call centers,they may not need your services now,but will eventually, so DONT give up!

Good luck to all of you!

Bear hugs,

Allison and Alexis

Well,we managed to survive the time Alexis spent in her cast. Took her back to the doctor on Friday and he removed it THANK GOODNESS.I forgot how much of a pain those things can be,having had many casts myself in my younger years. We are thankful that it was taken off so soon since we made a trip to Texas with it and came home to a new trampoline in the backyard. What a nice surprise for Alexis,although SCARY since she is dying to get out there and see what other damage she can do! Of course she will be taking it easy for at least three more weeks to let this heal completely and then I can turn her loose on it for the rest of the summer. For those of you with kids under 12,you know how hard it is to keep them from killing themselves on anything that isnt bolted down so I hope everyone says a collective prayer that we remain accident free through the summer since a swimming pool in the backyard is the next item on her wish list. We were disappointed to come home and check the mail looking for any news on Valentina and came up with a big fat nothing. If any of you out there have her now or had her recently,please email us and let us know what is going on in her busy little life and let us know she is still in one piece. It's been weeks since we had any contact with anybody and are starting to get worried again. For those of you waiting to hear something,we will update you all ASAP. Hope everyone had a great Mothers Day and hope the weather where you are is as great as what we are having here in Arkansas!

Bear hugs,

Allison and Alexis

There were two nuns.. 

One of them was known as Sister Mathematical (SM), 

and the other one was known as Sister Logical (SL). 

It is getting dark and they are still far away from the convent. 

SM: Have you noticed that a man has been following us for 
The past thirty-eight and a half minutes? I wonder what he wants. 

SL: It's logical. He wants to rape us. 

SM: Oh, no! At this rate he will reach us in 15 minutes 
at the most! What can we do? 

SL: The only logical thing to do of course is to walk faster. 

SM: It's not working. 

SL: Of course it's not working. The man did the only 
logical thing. He started to walk faster, too. 

SM: So, what shall we do? At this rate he will reach us in one minute. 

SL: The only logical thing we can do is split. You go that way and 
I'll go this way. He cannot follow us both. 

So the man decided to follow Sister Logical.

Sister Mathematical arrives at the convent and is 
worried about what has happened to Sister Logical. 

Then Sister Logical arrives. 

SM: Sister Logical! Thank God you are here! 
Tell me what happened! 

SL: The only logical thing happened. 
The man couldn't follow us both, so he followed me 

SM: Yes, yes! But what happened then? 

SL: The only logical thing happened. I started to run 
as fast as I could and he started to run as fast as he could. 

SM: And? 

SL: The only logical thing happened. He reached me. 

SM: Oh, dear! What did you do? 

SL: The only logical thing to do. 
I lifted my dress up. 

SM: Oh, Sister! What did the man do? 

SL: The only logical thing to do. 
He pulled down his pants. 

SM: Oh, no! What happened then? 

SL: Isn't it logical, Sister? 
A nun with her dress up can run faster than man 
with his pants down. 

Somebody sent this to me and I just thought it was cute so I shared it with you guys LOL!! 

Alexis broke her foot today in a bike accident and we probably wont be on the site much in the next few days for many updates. She is in a ton of pain and will be vegging out on the couch for a few weeks with her cast. Hope everyone can send up a prayer for her and lets get her back up and running soon. I will make it a point to come in and let you all know if we get anything in the mail anytime soon. Come back soon for updates!

Bear hugs, Allison and Alexis

Wel,l we finally got some news on Valentina today. Lexi ran for the mailbox and met the mail carrier who gave her a pretty good sized box. After ripping that open she discovered some really neat stuff about Valentina. There was a huge poster from the Aquarius Habitat Center with tons of info on it, a booklet about  America's Inner-Space Station, a book from the play "The sound of music" and a photo disc that contains 40 pictures of Valentina and some of the crew on her mission to the Underwater Habitat. We would like to thank the March Family from Florida for all of their hard work and participation in this project. Valentina was also presented with a certificate announcing her to be an "Honorary Aquanaut" as of February 18,2005. This family kept her longer than the 72 hour period due to the fact that she was on an important mission and we are amazed at the effort they put into sending us these wonderful momentos!! The pictures can be viewed at http://photos.yahoo.com/morris98982002 for those of you anxiously awaiting news like we were. As soon as we are able,we will also scan and post the certificate she received and the photo of Michael Barratt,a NASA Astronaut which was also included in our package.

A big HUGE THANK YOU to the March Family and lets hope we hear from the next family soon!!

Bear hugs, Allison and Alexis

Well,I must say that things are better for me now. I guess all I needed was a few days to get my thoughts together and have some "alone time". We have all been suffering from some type of illness here and mine has primarily been a sore throat and sinus infection. We are all starting to feel better now so that has made things easier as far as attitudes go in general. You all know how stressful it can be to have an entire family sick at the same time,things can get a little tense on the homefront LOL.But we are healing a little at a time and things are looking up. Due to doctor visits and general tests being run,we are all exhausted and trying to get some much needed rest. Thank God for great friends,I have gotten some really wonderful emails and e-cards which have lifted my spirits and things like that always seem to make me feel better. I have also had some positive feedback on the work we have put into the website and that was a great confidence booster. We are still trying to get the hang of this whole thing and it makes it worth the effort to get positive reinforcement,especially from strangers we have never met but have managed to find us here.So fear not folks,we are forging ahead and will continue to include as much information as we can possibly dig up for everyone interested and will also update our journal anytime we get the chance. Still no word on Valentina but we are confident that she is in good hands and is happily traveling to a warm sunny place right now as I type this.Hope to have something new to report on her soon- till next time, hope you all are having a great time surfing our site and finding useful information here,either for yourselves or someone you know.

Bear hugs to all, Allison  

Hey guys,

Nothing new to report as far as the project at this point. Frankly,I'm kind of glad. I know we all have our bad days but how many of us feel we have had a bad WEEK? That's my position today..........seems like everything just seems to fall apart at once and you sit and wonder when "the other shoe is going to fall" so to speak. Things have just been tough for the last few days in every aspect and I guess I just felt like venting today. Unfortunately,you guys where the lucky shoulders to cry on! LOL....No,I'm not suicidal or anything, just going through numerous rough spots all at once and feeling like the world is on my shoulders.Some of you may notice that I took down the inspirational page of the site today too...I just couldn't for the life of me go in and update it or put anything new on it today since I have the blahs but it will be posted again when I feel like I am in the right frame of mind to add to it.

Here's hoping you all are having a better day than me today!

-Allison

Hey to all of you reading! We still havent heard anything from anyone about Valentina at this point but we are proud to annouce our newest additions to the family.Our cat had kittens Wednesday afternoon ,five in all. I have to be honest here and tell you that three out of the five are extremely ugly,but we were blessed with two that are totally adorable!! Now before I start getting hate mail about animal rights ,etc ,etc.....let me just point out here that I am telling the honest truth about the situation. Those of you who know me ,are well aware that I am brutally honest and those of you who DONT know me well will come to learn this VERY soon if you keep coming back and visiting my journal.I love baby anythings really, but being a former dog lover who converted to a cat owner due to landlord issues,we have come to love our cat like one of the family. We just had no idea she could reproduce such ugly offspring. needless to say,we are looking for some good homes for those three little guys(or girls) as soon as they are weaned. Heck,we will even throw in some kitten chow for those of you brave enough to take them! And please dont panic, if we cant find good homes for them,we have no plans to just dump out on a country road somewhere leaving them to fend for themselves,we will keep them as long as we have too or until the cat upkeep bills around here start matching the grocery bill.So for those of you out there who are die-hard cat fans...we have the deal for you! You take all three of these kittens and we throw in some kitten chow and cat toys to get you started. Sounds fair to me! Any takers?