Time for an UPDATE!

Magruber

Gotcha Day, November 17th, 2010. Two years with her family!

The Northwood 'hood.

Riff-Raff from Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Harry Potter takes flight.

Our little Cheerleader and scary but beautiful vampire!

Happy 8th Birthday MK!

It's been a while since my last post. Our computer was not working, and I didn't want to post from work or on our laptop...But, now the computer is fixed and I'm back in action again!!

My last post was in July, and we've celebrated a birthday, a Gotcha Day, and Halloween. I've almost lost my grandmother to cancer. My grandma was an amazing woman and my mentor in "How to live life"....which was basically be a friend to others, be a patient wife (still working on that one), and have fun with the life you have...So, I'm a work in progress right now. :)

MK turned 8 in September and had lots of friends over. We had a real tea party complete with Bristish tea, (which is what we drink on a daily basis at our home) tea sandwiches, (egg salad, cream cheese and jelly, cream cheese and cucumber) and a six layer strawberry cake. It was yummy. MK is growing up, becoming a beautiful young lady, and looked stunning in her black and white dress.

Gotcha Day was emotional as always, because I always feel extremely blessed that things worked out the way they did with Quinn. She has been home two years as of Thanksgiving (with us since November 17th), and I truly believe God handpicked that little girl for us. She is hilarious, mischevious, and SMART.

Lastly, Halloween was once again lots of fun. We held our yearly, family party and had lots of food and fun. I look forward to this time together every year with my family.

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.....