Family

It was great to see my parents, grandparents, and my brother and his family this past weekend. They (my brother) are currently in the process of adopting from Ethiopia. I am over the moon for them, and can't wait until they get to meet their little Henry. I am also thrilled to be going with them on the second leg of their journey as their videographer. I can't wait to be part of their experience. I still remember the day our daughter was brought to us in the Civil Affairs office in Guangzhou. We were waiting with the Macler's and there was another family from I believe Spain or maybe it was France. They brought their daughter out to them and of course they were crying tears of joy and speaking a mile a minute in Spanish or was it French?. And then, they brought our girl out to us. I still remember my shock at how heavy she was. She was finally tangible, and I was amazed at her solid little stature. She had a story to tell, and I could see it in those big, beautiful brown eyes.

Yesterday we were looking at pictures of the orphange. She says the ladies in pink were nice, but when I showed her a picture of her crib, she said "I don't like it, it's dirty." I know we've never talked about the conditions of the orphange, which were very nice I thought, but in her mind, maybe that's what she remembers. I know they loved her though, because she is a very outgoing little girl who loves life with a passion.

Donovan and Quinn at the White Swan Hotel, Guangzhou, China

More Random Pictures

So, here are some more random pictures for you all....I'm so far behind!!

Phillip and I at Halloween. He's Billy Idol and I'm a witch.

Christmas 2009 with the Asbells

Grandpa and Todd

Daddy showing his "tea party" pride......

Alex as Basil in "The Diviners"

Alex and Quinn

MK wearing Ashley's hat.

These are the infamouse mating toads. We also have mating tree frogs, but I didn't get pictures of them. Needless to say we have hundreds of baby tadpoles in our kiddie pool now. It's so much fun to see nature on our deck!

When we dried cherries on our deck, it attracted lots of beautiful butterflies like this one.

Random Pictures

As I was looking through the blog, Phillip reminded me that we have three other children as well....It's not that I don't want to include them or think of them any less, I just think it's like that in every family that has a baby or a toddler. Yes, the little one gets a lot of attention, but so do the other kiddos. They are actually spoiled rotten. So, in order to clear my conscience, I have included a photo montage if you will, of the other three amazing children. :) Also I will put random family pictures as well.
Donovan climbing trees at the cross country meet in Brazil.
Yeah, these are pretty old pictures. M still has long hair!

Beauty on the run.

Alex at the FTIA picnic.

M at the FTIA picnic.

My beautiful girl.

Isn't he a cutie?

That's my Barnaby!

I wish I could talk MK into wearing her hair like this. It is adorable!

Donovan is sooo handsome! (The girl on the far left is Brooke, Alex's girlfriend.)

Waiting for sectional scores. (I can't wait until swim season begins!!)

Donovan as William Howard Taft, our 27th president of the United States. (He had a pet cow.)

MK playing dress-up with Sara and friend.

Mr. D in a reflective moment.

Todd and I with our childhood friend Rachelle.

Mom, Geneva, and Bonnie...."old-school" friends

Ready for their close-ups...

By the way, this week Donovan and MK are in theatre workshops. Donovan will be doing Greek mythology and he'll be playing Zeus, and MK is presenting the Frog Prince in which she'll play a witch. Donovan says it's a fitting part for her. ;) I will include pictures later.

Today was a fantastic day for Donovan. He got a blue ribbon at the Putnam County Fair in Genealogy!! WooHoo! :) He was happy so I asked him what he wanted and he said fried chicken. Now those of you who know me, know that I DON'T FRY. It was, however, delciouso, and my fingers are having a hard time typing at the moment due to my swollen phalanges.

FTIA REUNION

Quinny and daddy making a handprint for the FTIA canvas.
Making new friends throughout the day!

Having a blast!

Poser! Can you tell she has an older sister?

MK riding her horse!

Daddy and Quinn on the carousel.

Hamming it up as usual...

Alex being himself. :)

Face painting anyone?

Donovan at the "summit" of the merry-go-round!

Lord help the mister who comes between me and my sister....

Quinn, Janelle, Kara, and MK.

Kara and Quinn go waaaay back!

Last weekend was our adoption agency's reunion party. It was held at Forest Park in Noblesville. We had a blast even though I had perpetual sweat dripping down my lower back. There were shelter houses set up for the different countries: Ethiopia, Guatemala, Russia, Vietnam and China. It really warmed my heart to see all of these beautiful children from such diverse countries represented, and they all played so well together. When we first got there I could see the gears turning in Quinn's head as she saw all these little (and big) people that looked like her. She grinned from ear to ear. She had a great day and was very outgoing and social. The best part was that we were able to see the Macler family. Their daughter and Quinn were in the same orphanage together and their cribs were diagonal from each other. I call them "cribmates" even though they didn't actually share a crib. That's pretty darn close though. The amazing thing to me is that of all the places in the world those two little girls could have ended up, they both landed right here in Indiana within 50 minutes of each other! I hope they will always keep in touch. They are such a great family!

Here are pictures of our day.....

Summertime and the livin' is easy....

Summer is flying by so quickly! We've had baseball tournaments, three hour long weekly swim meets and theater...oh yes, and driver's education every day at 7:30 a.m.! I guess it will all officially end tomorrow with the conclusion of swim and drivers ed. That means we get to sleep in each day, then trek off to the pool at noon for second degree burns. WooHoo!
Alex did a fantastic job in Shakespeare's The Twelfth Night at the Putnam County Playhouse. Donovan and MK will start their theater workshop in two weeks. Donovan is hoping to play Maldovia. You can visit putnamcountyplayhouse.com to see the kids photos in their summer plays.

Phillip is still searching for a job. He was downsized almost two months ago, and has been sending out at least 20 resumes a week! It puts into perspective how poor our economy is when you have an award-winning rep, who can't get a job in his industry! It makes me really sad for him, because I know it's difficult on his esteem. He has done lots of soul-searching and re-thinking what he wants to do. I know it will all work out.
Thank God for Dave Ramsey! We went through the program several years ago, and eliminated all debt, except for the mortgage. I am really thankful we did that. I just hope for all of us that he is able to find a job soon!
On a bright note, we have been picking cherries and black raspberries the month of June and am happy to say we have canned pints and pints of jam! I decided since cherry jam is almost $5.00 at Kroger, I'll make my own! The kids have had fun helping out with it all and it makes me feel so good inside to make something homemade for my family. Thank you mom and dad for the cherries!
I bought a bread machine at a yard sale for $5.00 a couple weeks ago, and have been making french bread almost every day. The kids toast the bread and eat it with our jams. They go through a loaf a day! It's the simple things in life that are so nice.
On another note our new kiddie pool has become a frog habitat. Yes, on the second day the sparkingling blue water of our pool was infiltrated by hundreds of frog eggs. The kids begged Phillip to let them grow, so now we have hundreds of tadpoles in a murky, brown, frog-infested "swamp pool". I have, however enjoyed watching the kids enthusiasm as they catch them each day. Even Quinny has begun catching and playing with them.
Lastly, MK took her friend Anastasia to the pool yesterday. (Not our frog pool, but a decent, clean one!) They are living in England but have come home for the month. Anyway, we went to pick her up and her sister ran out to the car with a little kitten. She said she had found it by the Dairy Castle and named it "Milkshake". She also informed me that her family is allergic to cats and they couldn't keep it. I swear to you I could almost feel the "sucker" stamp protruding from my head. This is what happens next: "Can we keep it!" "Can we keep it!" "Can we keep it!"
Every ounce of me wanted to say no, but I was genuinely surprised when the words "yes" rolled off my tongue like hot butter! I had to look around to make sure it wasn't somebody else saying it!
So, now we have a little "milkshake" running around our house. She's black...just like every other stray cat in our neighborhood. That mother cat is one "hootchie mamma."
Till next time...