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...

Big Storm

Donovan was glad the game was called.

Last night at the ball diamond a huge storm rolled in. Donovan had just finished the first of two games. (They won.) I snapped these photos and then left for MK's swim meet. I love storms!

Hello Dolly

We wrapped up Hello Dolly this past weekend. It was amazing to see three of my babies involved in such a fantastic play!! Alex played Barnaby, a teen who works in a hay and feed store and the little ones played children in the chorus. They all had so much fun. Phillip went nearly every night to the performances and Quinn knows each and every song. We have started every morning for the last eight weeks watching Barbara Streisand in her rendetion of the musical. Alex is very talented, and was very funny! I will add video clips as I get them.

By the way, my son is now a driver! He has his permit and I make him drive everywhere! So, he will get his actual drivers license when he is 16 and six months. Until then, he drives with us onboard. He will be an official driver in October of his junior year.

Donovan's baseball team is in the championship game tonight. He has done a fantastic job considering he has been hit in the "jewels" three times now. However, he did get to walk to first because of it.

MK has a swim meet tonight with Frankfort, and both of the little ones will swim on Thursday against Danville. Busy, busy times!

Quinn's lip is healing really well and it looks amazing!

The Mighty Quinn

Four days after surgery and looking great!

"Before" picture...Still gorgeous!! :)

The "Happy Meds" are kicking in!

Three days after surgery and already in the pool!

Last Wednesday, May 26th, Quinn had plastic surgery to re-do her repaired cleft lip. She did an amazing job. She will get her stitches removed on Tuesday. She may not having any scarring as she gets older. The little piece of scar tissue that looked like a little heart above her lip is now gone! We got a prescription after her surgery for Tylenol with codeine, and she didn't even need it. I am amazed at her strength all the time! I would be the world's biggest baby! I have posted a few pictures of our before and after surgery. On another note, there is a family in my town who is in the process of adopting a little girl from China! Maybe Quinn will have a new playmate!

Birthday Girl Turns THREE!

Today our little Elizabeth Quinn Yu turned three. She had strawberry cupcakes with vanilla icing and sugar sprinkles, and received a snow white princess dress and four pairs of princess shoes. We had to do her birthday this morning, since Alex leaves on his trip to Gatlinburg tonight. The bittersweet part of her birthday, was that each year I tell the kids the story of their birth. So with Quinn I start with, "I remember the first day I laid eyes on you." Then I proceed to tell her what she wore, (blue outfit with camouflage shoes), and she had the most beautiful black eyes I've ever seen! I then end with, "and we were soooooo lucky that God picked us to be your parents!" .........and we are!

Happy Birthday Qian Yu!!

Life in the fast lane

Mags and Quinn

Family Picture!

Grandma's pedicure courtesy of Maggie.

Todd and Grandpa

Siblings Ken, Marsha and Gary

mom, dad, Linda, Gary, Marsha and Leon

Linda and Gary - he and dad look like twins!

Leon and Marsha

Grandma and Grandpa Morrison

Alex and Ashley's prom pictures

Looking serious

Bond, James Bond

MK says, "My flower doesn't show, but I'm cute!"

That's what life feels like right now anyway! We have soooo much going on and lots of pictures to show from it.! Alex went to prom the other night with a friend of his and here are some of their pictures. I think they look like James Bond and a Bond girl. We also had a small family reunion over the weekend. I saw my aunt Marsha whom I haven't seen since 1991 and my uncle Gary. It was so great to see them and pictures of Marsha's kids and grandkids. It amazed me how our kids resembled one another. We had lots of great food! Mom made a smoked brisket and we had cole slaw, black bean salsa, potato salad, broccoli salad, cauliflower salad, fruit, and lots of desserts; which I couldn't eat by the way since I'm on a diet....uggh! MK was rubbing it in that I couldn't eat dessert so she made sure to eat great big bites of banana pudding and strawberry cupcakes in front of me!

I'm going to post some other pictures this evening or tomorrow of Alex's confirmation. It was beautiful at St. Benedict's in Terre Haute. His confirmation name is Alexander St. Thomas Aquinos. That's a lot to roll off the tongue. :0 MK attended a cheerleading clinic at DePauw that same weekend, so I'll include those pictures later as well. She looked so cute dancing and cheering at Relay for Life. Quinn attended her first birthday party that weekend as well. It was a princess themed party. She was sooo cute!