Last weeks visit to Girard, Ohio

Sarah, Lily and Madeline....three beauties!

Nanning sisters Sarah and Madeline!

Lily, Madeline and Sarah

Lily, Emma and Sarah....three cousins. The goofy character

in the back is their Uncle Bob, my brother.

Lily, Riley, Sarah and Emma with their Aunt Donna. The girls

loved to have Aunt Donna read to them. Donna is married

to Bob....she's brings some sanity to his life!

Emma, Lily and Sarah

My mom, Flo, with Riley and Lily. Riley is another cousin.

I took the girls to visit my family in Girard, Ohio last week. We had a great time visiting with family. Not all of my pictures came out so I am disappointed. My apologies for not showing any other siblings or cousins. I have seven siblings and my mother is grandma to 21 so needless to say...there are a lot of us!

I especially enjoyed seeing the girls with my mom. It was fun to see them sit on her lap and tell her over and over again how much they love her. They also enjoyed meeting all of my mom's friends in the apartment building. My mom lives in a retirement apartment building, but is seems more like a college dorm for women over the age of 70! There doors are open and they go back and forth!

We spent some time at by brothers house, too. Buzz and Tami used to live down here, but now live up home. It was just good to hang out and watch the kids (little and big) play. Of course, we ate, too!

We also spent some time hanging out with Karla (younger sister) and Karen (older sister) at Karen's. The kids played as we sat around and drank coffee. It was good to spend time with Karen and Karla. I actually spent more time with Karla than I ever have. Karla was nine years old when I moved out of the house so we haven't had the time together as I did with Karen (three years older than I). She isn't this pesty talk all the time girl I once knew! I really like the woman she has become. Karen? I'll spare the growing up stories, but let's just say I'm glad to call her both a sister and a friend in our adult lives!

We then got to spend some time with my brother Bob and his wife Donna at their home. The girls like Bob, but they REALLY loved Donna! They say, "Aunt Donna is a good reader." I enjoyed sharing the girls with them. They also like that they have hair like Aunt Donna.

We also spent some time at the mall visiting with friends. Madeline and Sarah were both from Nanning and were fostered through A Mothers Love. They were both placed on the same special needs list with the agency we used to adopt Sarah. I was thrilled one day when I was checking website of families who were adopting from Nanning and I saw her sweet pictures! All I knew is that she was being adopted by a woman that called herself "dreamwriter." I was even more thrilled to find out that dreamwriter (Wendy) lived near my mother! Lily and I had an opportunity to visit with Wendy pre-adoption of Sarah and Madeline. This was our first meeting with the girls.....and they all had fun. I'm guessing they got together at AML parties while they were in China, but we don't know for certain. Madeline is four months younger than Lily and four months older than Sarah. Wendy seems like an old friend to me now! I hope Wendy doesn't mind me sharing, but we don't have a lot in common besides the girls. We both are probably on different ends of the continuum on a lot of issues in life, but we really connect. Our girls have brought us together. I really like Wendy! The girls? It was funny, because there were many kids running around that place playing, but these three seemed to stay together as if not one other child there existed!

It was fun to visit. I didn't realize how crazy my life is until I returned home to the house and the rest of the crew! We missed them tons.

Kathy