Amazing Chinese Dancers (all 21 are deaf)! (Click off music video on lower right to hear this video)

Happy Birthday Storm!

Our English Setter, Storm (appropriately named), turned 1 year old today! When we brought him home last September he was so little and sweet. Since then, he has grown into a 73 lb slobbering bulldozer! We have really grown to love him, even though he gives the cat hell and has chewed on nearly everything we own! He didn't like his birthday hat very much, be we made him wear it for his picture.

Happy Birthday Marie and Justin!

Our twins, Marie and Justin, turned 25 years old today! I can't believe that I am even saying that! What's really weird is they are 5 years older than the age that I had them. That day was truly one of the most memorable and blessed days of Gary's and my life. Even though they were born premature, they were incredibly beautiful and healthy! I wish they could have been together for their birthday, but I guess that's life. We celebrated Marie's birthday while we were in Chicago with her and we are celebrating Justin's tomorrow, when he has "time"! Gary took him on an all day golf outing for his birthday and they won't be back until later tonight. What a crazy life we all live, but what are ya gonna do!

Swimsuit Swap!

My Precious Panda friend sent me this cute swimsuit with matching flipflops and sun hat. I can't wait until next summer when Kaelin is wearing them! Thank you so much Laurie!

Our visit to Chicago

We went to see our daughter, Marie, in Chicago over the weekend. We had so much fun with her! On Friday we spent the day with her 2nd grade class. We played games with the kids and painted pictures. Gary was so cute painting a picture with one of the little girls. We also learned some spanish in science class! Part of their school's mission is to encourage the children to be bilingual in many of the subjects. That is so cool! I wish I could post a picture, but I can't do that without permission from all of these beautiful kids parents, oh well! We had such a great time and her class is amazing. Not only are most of them bilingual, they are all so well behaved and smart! She is doing an incredible job with these kids, and it really shows. We couldn't be more proud of her! I was able to post a few pictures of her classroom and some of her with her good friend, since high school, Stephanie. Who is also a teacher in Chicago where they share a really cute apartment together. I wished we had more time to visit, but we plan on coming back again this summer.

Happy Birthday, Marcus!

Our youngest son, Marcus, turned 19 years old on Saturday (we celebrated on Sunday). We had his favorite, Jamaican Jerk Chicken and mashed potatoes. His cake was a passion fruit cake and it was amazingly delicious! I wish I could take credit for making it but I bought it at a wonderful market called PaPa Joes. Marcus is one of four of our kids with a June birthday! I'll never forget when he was born, we almost didn't make it to the hospital! We got there at 4:05 am and he was born 24 minutes later at 4:29 am! I must have slept through most of my labor, no doubt since he was my fifth! I had probably gone to bed exhausted that night! He had (and still does) the cutest dimples and so much hair he looked like he was wearing a wig! His adorable girlfriend, Katie, baked him a giant chocolate chip cookie and got him Tigers baseball tickets! They are so cute together!

The stork is on it's way to our agency!

Referrals are on their way from CCAA. Too bad they only got through November 7th, though.
Congratulations to all of the lucky families who are included in this batch.
Someday, it will be our turn. Sighhhhhhh!

Slooooowly Creeeeeping Forward!

Referrals are due out this week from CCAA. From the sound of things, it looks like they will only get through November 7, 2005. Crud! That's only a five day batch! (Not counting Sundays)

I've now come to the sobering conclusion that if this snail's pace keeps up, we will not go get Kaelin until Spring of '08.

Approved for another 18 months!

Today we recieved our new I-171H form in the mail! This is, basically, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration giving us new permission to adopt an orphan from overseas. It involves getting new FBI fingerprinting, new criminal clearance letters, new physicals, new financials, new letters of employment,new reference letters(thank you to Tina and Hugh , Cheryl and Bill, and Mike and Lisa ), a new homestudy and more money! Our old I-171H expired on May 16, so our renewal came right on time! This measly, one page letter must accompany us to China, we can't adopt Kaelin without it! This approval from USCIS is good for 18 months. Hopefully, God willing, this will be the last time we have to do it again. We opened up a bottle of champagne to celebrate! Woo hoo!

Happy Memorial Day!

We will probably just spend this holiday hanging around the house and hopefully get some flowers planted. We bought a new grill yesterday, so we'll break it in this afternoon and cook some yummy Jamaican Jerk chicken. We opened up our pool a couple of weeks ago, but it's still a little too chilly to swim in, 72*, brrrrrrr! We've always got the hot tub, though!

Since there is not much to report on the adoption front, I'll give a quick rundown of what all of our kiddos have been up to.

I'll start with Justin since he is the oldest, but only by 3 minutes, sorry Marie! Justin is on the very brink of graduating from Central Michigan University. He has to take two more summer classes in order to get his degree in Assembly Engineering. We are so proud of him for sticking it out and working so hard to graduate from college. Good job, Stone (his nickname since birth)!

Marie, twin to Justin, and teacher extraordinaire! Marie graduated from MSU in 2005, and now lives in Chicago and teaches 2nd grade on the south side at Carson Elementary School. She has done an incredible job with her class. Since many of her students are below poverty level and use Spanish as their first language, it has been a real challenge for her. We can't begin to express how proud we are of her and her desire to teach in the urban setting where she can reach out to high risk children. She is truly an amazing person and we love her more than words could ever express! Gary and I will be going to see her in June and we will also get to meet her class and watch her teach, we are really looking forward too it! We miss her so much!

Adam, "Mr. Independent", is currently living on his own, which he has been for 3 yrs now! He is working for Gary's company and doing very well. He comes home a lot, especially, when he is hungry and in search of food! Adam enjoys going up to his grandpa's (Gary's dad) cabin on the Au Sable River and fly fishing. He caught a beautiful trout on Saturday, then released it back to the river.

As I have previously posted, our daughter, Sarah, just recently graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in Dietetics. She is currently a waitress in a nice Italian restaurant nearby in order to earn money for her move to Memphis. She will be moving to Memphis in August where she will begin her internship at U of Memphis and work at St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital. We are going to miss her so much!

Marcus, our youngest, just finished his second semester as a freshman at Oakland Community College. He is following a path in Criminal Justice, but he is also checking out other options and he is currently taking a summer course in Business. He is also a die hard Detroit Pistons Fan!

We wish we had something to report on Kaelin, but all we know right now is that she is in China, somewhere. We pray for her everyday that she is being well cared for. Hang on little one, daddy and mommy are coming to get you, soon!

Don't forget to say a prayer for all of the soldiers who have served or are currently serving in the armed forces. Especially for all the soldiers fighting in Iraq.

Have a Great Memorial Day!