Summer Pictures ( I finally got a camera that works)

Asian Festival

Bryson Family reunion.

Working on my flowers, not there yet.

My Dad and Aunt.

Graduation Parties and family.

Sweet smiles.

Eden and her "cousin Sophie"

Eden at Field Day, ready for the water games!

 

My brother and I.

Relaxing on the pontoon boat.

And now for a little DRAMA.....

We went to see Olympic Skaters at a Susan G Komen skating for Breast Cancer show. Johnny Weir and some other Olympic skaters were headlining. Just thought I would add a little drama to my pictures, he he.

Swimming lessons. Ren is a natural.

My little mermaid. Who knew mermaids don't like to get their faces wet?

Rachel soon to be a Buckeye!

Rachel

Driftmier Hall where she spent a lot of time.

The traditional

 picture under the famous arches

This post is long past due. Rachel my oldest daughter graduated from The University of Georgia this May. Go Dawgs! I had the pleasure of going to her graduation. Rachel, we are so proud of you! Rachel graduated with a BS in Biomedical Engineering. She has been accepted to Ohio State University to complete her graduate degree and will be moving home soon. I can't wait to have her home and close again! Right now Rachel is on a mission trip in Israel. You can read about her trip on her blog http://rachelchilders.blogspot.com/

Brother and sister :-)

Winter Fun

These pictures are of different snows we got this year. The kids had a blast playing in it with dad, while I stayed inside and watched ;-)

This last picture is of the last big snow but is only HALF of the snow we actually got!

Caleb's Graduation!

(white arrow is pointing to Caleb)

This December we had a lot to celebrate! Caleb graduated from Georgia State University! We attended his graduation at the Georgia Dome and had a wonderful time! Caleb graduated with a major in English and is now working as a technical writer for a medical software company in Atlanta.  Caleb we are so proud of you!!!!!

Grandma and Grandpa George on the Jumbotron

We had a wonderful celebration at Maggianno's for dinner and awesome food. Here are a few pictures from our dinner.

 

Proud brother and sister.

Merry Christmas!

Day at the Zoo

We had a beautiful day at the Zoo this past weekend. The weather was gorgeous and there were no crowds! Unfortunately my picture taking was horrible and then the batteries died in my camera so sorry for the lack of and quality of pictures. We all had a blast and stayed till we were ready to drop. The kids slept very well that night. The Columbus Zoo is one of the best in the Nation and huge!

Eden feeding the Lorikeets
Manatees
Posing- we are in that stage when I say "Smile" we get those fake goofy forced smiles, :-D I love these two faces!

Ren with a closeup view.

16 Years and This Man Still Rocks My World

Mark and I have been married 16 years today and I love this man. For our anniversary he told me I put a smile on his face so he wanted to do something special for me. He said that because of this another smile would be given. So in honor of our anniversary He gave to SmileTrain!! Mark you rock!!! This is one of the coolest awesomest gifts EVER! He is a man after my heart and knows how to melt it. Thats what I call romantic.

This is us when we were dating (why do I look like a zombie here?!?!? You should of seen it before I tweaked the color, and yet he kept dating me).

This is us on our wedding day. We eloped with our children in attendance and my mom and step dad. Wow our hair has changed ;-).

We started out with 3 kids between us and he has loved my children as his own. Gotta love a man who does that!

Through the years

Mark is one of the most generous compassionate people I know. He has the biggest heart and has always been there for his family and friends. He is a good man. He is hilarious and the funniest person I have ever met. Life is never boring with him. He is extremely talented at what he does. If you need something done he is your "go to" guy. There is nothing too small like going on a mission to find a Bathtub Cabbage Patch Doll right before Christmas across the state or just helping around the house.Nothing is too big like putting together a National convention or speaking to 30,000 people. Not to mention running a National program and being in charge of a 196,000,000.00 (million) dollar budget. He gets it done.

The first group of children are now grown and on their own and in college. We are now a multi-generational family finishing up with round 2. We just returned from China with our youngest 6 months ago. Mark I love you for giving for giving me these two precious jewels and taking care of us. Love you Big Guy! You are the BEST!

A New Normal

It has been 6 months now that we adopted our new little man. SIX MONTHS!! I know this will sound trite but it feels like it has only been weeks but yet it feels like he has been with us forever. It hasn't always felt this way. Just to be transparent I will say adoption is hard. It is probably the hardest thing I have ever done. The first time was hard and a year into the first adoption I thought I would NEVER do it again. Yet here I am finished with my second adoption. I will NOT do it again, LOL. Not because it was so hard but because I feel like our family is complete and because I am getting OLD! :-D Having small children in my mid-late-whatever-40's keeps me young but also reminds me how old I really am and the need to get/stay healthy.

We all had to make adjustments. After we came home from China it was such a whirlwind of change, everything felt so chaotic. Now it feels normal, six months later a new child, a new home, a new city, new routines, we have a new normal. And it feels good. It feels good to kind of be able to do things on autopilot again. Things I took for granted before like just getting up in the morning and getting ready, or going grocery shopping now go smoothly and on time. I am not constantly ticking off things in my head to do anymore I automatically do them. OK well that might be an exaggeration. The laundries done, the bills are paid, kids are relatively clean and playing together, groceries in the cupboard, the house feels like a home, we have a new church, everybody fed and for the most part happy. God is good...All the time!

Are things perfect? Absolutely not. The house is messy, we still have temper tantrums around here, we sometimes eat junk food (OK a lot, hey Chef Boyardee in a can is the new vegetable didn't ya hear? ). Dishes get done once a day sometimes, we all can be short with one another, etc etc... and I have a long "to do" list. Its all good. Life goes on and we have so much love in our home that I feel rich. Its good to have turned the corner.

Ren and the rest of us on his 4th birthday