Oooh, A Repost! A Repost!

I wanted to post something about my sweet son's *Gotcha Day*. Yes, 20 years ago this week our handsome and beloved son arrived from Korea. Dan is not always keen on having his picture or too many details about him posted for all to see...a little shy and retiring like his Dad...so he always suggests I let you all see a little something I wrote awhile back. It was re-printed in the St. Louis Dispatch 2 years ago in celebration of adoption awareness month. Each one of these questions really and truly came out of the mouths of real and true human beings.

I have then added the answers I SHOULD have given to these lovely, thoughtful folks.

We now present, "Adoption Antics" in celebration of adoptive families everywhere!

1.Did he ever eat a dog? (I don't know but he did take a bite out of our cat. Said she tasted stringy.) 2.Koreans are very intelligent. I bet he is one of those. (Ooh. I hope so! I would hate to have gotten one of those dumb ones!)
 3.Did they run out of babies? (Yeah, dang it. They gave us a used kid instead but the warranty really is great.)
 4.How much did he cost? (Oh! There was a sale at K Mart! Only $19.95!)
 5.If he doesn't make you happy, can you ask for another child? (Oh sure! We bought replacement insurance!)
 6.If he gets sick or anything, will the adoption agency pay all the costs? (Sure! They also put braces on his teeth, send him through Harvard Medical School and buy his first house.)
 7.What's it like being with a Korean? (Well, he whips up a great kimchi dish and gosh but those Koreans can sure be funny! Keeps us in stitches all the time!)
 8.It is a good thing he is so cute or it would have been hard to love him. (Yeah, I hate those ugly ones too. They give me the creeps. *shudder*)

 And then we braved the onslaught of silly questions and adopted again....here came the questions about Grace!

 1.Did they charge you the same amount of money because she has scars? (Oh no. They were having a scratch and dent sale!)
 2.Those Chinese are so smart. They can also be tricky and sneaky you know! (Uh...well...she did beat me at poker. Took me for $5.27 the other night. )
 3.Do you know if she is a Communist? (Well, we DID find her Communist Party membership card in her wallet but she swears, she will only practice Communism on every other Friday.)
 4.Can you return her? (Oh yes. The return department is open 24/7. We can ask for our money back or an agency credit)
 5.Why did you get another one? (We were just so bored and thought this was what we need to add that special spark to our marriage!)
 6.Did they give you a bigger girl because you are old? (Ehhhhh??? Speak up a little louder sonny. )
7.When you got to China, could you have chosen a different kid if yours wasn't pretty? (I had planned to do just that. Seeing our daughter crowned Miss Ohio is exactly why we did all this!)
8.Since she was so shy, you should have asked for another. (We did but that stubborn facilitator forced us take THIS one. Phooey. )
 9.I could never raise someone else's kid. I guess it is nice that somebody does it. (Yeah, we are just so nice....angels...no, wait, saints actually.)
 10.Does she know how to eat real food? (Nope, she is still eating that plastic Fisher Price stuff and it is costing us a fortune!)


Happy Gotcha Day Daniel. Being your mom and dad has been nothing short of amazing! We love you!

Be Aware!

On Saturday morning, our family was up and out before the sun rose. We picked up some of the food stuffs that were generously donated by area merchants and then headed over to Payne Recreation Center in Moraine, near Dayton.

Yes, it was time once again for the annual Autism Awareness 5K Walk/Run Event!

There was a great turn out for this event in spite of the rain!

 I had such fun acting as one of the photographers and I wanted to share just a few of my images with all of you...

And they're off!

Dancing their way to the finish lne...

3 of my nephew's beautiful teachers!

I know this lovely walker!

My personal choices for best walkers? These two!

Grace raised a nice amount of money for this very important cause thanks to several dear neighbors and friends. Our love & thanks to each one of them.

Over $40, 000 was raised and those monies will stay right here in the Dayton area to help area families touched by Autism.

These wonderful children just want to be treated with love and respect...to become aware is to be empowered. We, the families who have been affected by autism, have hope..the hope that through the increased awareness of autism, and through early intervention and appropriate treatments, people with autism will lead fuller, more complete lives.

Wishing each one of you a sweet last week of April!

Love to you all.

Earth Day Expressed...

...in sweet words and colorful images...

Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers today;

And give us not to think so far away

As the uncertain harvest; keep us here

All simply in the springing of the year.

Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,

Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;

And make us happy in the happy bees,

The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.

And make us happy in the darting bird

That suddenly above the bees is heard,

The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,

And off a blossom in mid air stands still.

For this is love and nothing else is love,

To which it is reserved for God above

To sanctify to what far ends he will,

But which it only needs that we fulfill.

~Robert Frost

Hoping that your Spring is a sweet one...


...and that your Earth Day will give you a chance to


think about small ways we can all help save our precious gift from God. Our Earth. Our Planet. Our Home.
There are so many little ways to help...

 Unplug toasters, televisions and small appliances that draw electricity even when they're turned off, or use a smart power strip.




 Keep air conditioner and heating filters clean to improve energy efficiency. Change disposable filters at least every three months, and consider replacing with reusable, washable fiberglass filters.



 Clean with a reusable cloth, which takes the place of 17 rolls of paper towels.


 Switch from incandescent to compact fluorescent light bulbs in high-use areas and save more than $60 per year.


 Check the trash! According to Rumpke, about 60 percent of material thrown away locally could have been recycled. The company's revamped recycling facilities can now collect pizza boxes (without food residue) and all plastic bottles and jugs, numbered 1-7 (rather than just No. 1 and 2), in addition to cardboard (broken down to 3-by-3-feet) and cereal and other food boxes, paper, magazines, aluminum cans, soup cans, and glass bottles and jars!


 Cut junk mail. To opt out of pre-approved credit card offers for five years, call 888-567-8688 or visit www.optoutprescreen.com. To reduce unsolicited commercial mail for five years, remove your name from the Direct Marketing Association list (there's a $1 fee) at http://www.dmachoice.org/.

 Instead of buying bottled water, fill a reusable container with filtered tap water.



 Use low-flow shower heads and faucet aerators.


 Shower! A full bathtub can require up to 70 gallons of water, while taking a five-minute shower uses only 10 to 25 gallons, according to the EPA.


Wash clothes in cold water. About 90 percent of the energy used in a conventional top-load washer is for heating the water!


 Water your lawn or garden during the cool morning hours, as opposed to midday, to reduce evaporation.


 Raise your lawn mower blade to at least 3 inches. Taller grass promotes deeper roots and holds moisture better than a closely cropped lawn.

 Use a push mower or a mulching mower and leave the clippings. (And yes, we DO use a push mower! And yes, we DO understand that not everyone CAN! But if you have a smaller yard, PLEASE think about it!)


 Stop by the local farmers' market before the grocery to reap the benefits of fresher food and cut the costs and emissions of transportation.

Buy in bulk to cut down on wasteful packaging.
 Sprucing up the house? Purchase paints, stains, furniture and cabinetry, carpet and sealants that do not emit, or emit only low levels of, volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Products cleared by the Greenguard Environmental Institute, an independent nonprofit organization affiliated with the U.S. Green Building Council, are at www.greenguard.org.


 Scope out your local grocery to drop off recyclables that aren't collected curbside. Kroger, bigg's and Trader Joe's locations have bins for plastic grocery bags, Whole Foods accepts wine corks and No. 5 plastics - like yogurt cups, hummus and cottage cheese tubs - and Target stores now have recycling stations for plastic bags, aluminum, glass and plastic beverage containers, empty ink cartridges, cell phones and MP3 players.


 Walk, ride, bike or take a bus to work or the store a couple of days a week. If 1 percent of car owners in the U.S. didn't drive one day a week, it would save an estimated 42 million gallons of gas and 840 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions every year, according to Green America.

Love to you all!

Doolittle's Raiders

For two history buffs and one huge military flight history aficionado,  this weekend's events, at the Wright Patterson Air Force Base, were awe inspiring.

This week, 68 years ago, 80 airmen launched from the USS Hornet on a mission to boost the American morale and strike a psychological blow to the Japanese. Today, my family and I attended a memorial service to honor the 9 surviving members of the Doolittle Raid, and to remember the other 71 who are now gone. They dared the ambitious and the audacious...Heroes all!

Attending the 68th reunion of the Doolittle Raiders were Lt. Col. Richard E. Cole, 90, of Comfort, Texas, co-pilot of aircraft No. 1. Maj. Thomas C. Griffin, 92, of Cincinnati, Ohio, Navigator of aircraft No. 9. Lt. Col. Robert L. Hite, 90, of Nashville, Tennessee, co-pilot of aircraft No. 16 and Engineer-gunner of aircraft No. 7, Master Sgt. David J. Thatcher, 88, of Missoula, Montana. The remaining four Raiders, Col. William M. Bower, 93, Lt. Col. Frank A. Kappeler, 96, Capt. Charles J. Ozuk, 93, and Lt. Col. Edward J. Saylor, 90, were unable to travel to the event. Since 1945 there has been only three years were a reunion has not been held. The first was held in 1945 as a birthday party for Col. Doolittle.

In honor of the Doolittle Raid and the Doolittle Raiders the largest group of B-25 bombers to assemble since WWII flew into Wright-Patterson AFB on Saturday to honor the surviving members of the Doolittle Raid that few B-25's off the USS Hornet to become the first to bomb Japan during WWII. A group of 20 B-25's flew into WPAFB Saturday morning and were on static display at the AF Museum over the weekend. On Sunday, a moving memorial was held on the grounds of the museum with the B-25s flying, in formation, overhead.

The Doolittle Raid is the popular name given to a mission flown by members of the United States Army Air Force and Navy.

Lt. Col. "Jimmy" Doolittle flew their B-25 Mitchell bombers off of the aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-8) in the first strike against the Japanese home islands. The Doolittle Raiders attacked military and industrial targets in several Japanese cities and their surprise attack on the previously untouched home islands of Japan is considered by many historians to be a primary cause of the Japanese decisions that let to the Battle of Midway during which the Japanese lost four aircraft carriers. It was also symbolic as the United States first major strike back.



After the Doolittle Raid the Raiders continued on in the service of their country. Many of them continued flying combat missions over enemy territory and several were killed during the war on other missions. Three of the Raiders died within a day of the raid as a result of a crash landing and a parachute failure (or insufficient altitude for it to open) and eight were imprisoned by the Japanese. Three of these men were executed by the Japanese and another died for lack of proper treatment. Several of the Raiders ended up as prisoners of the Germans, and participated in the real events that were portrayed in the epic film The Great Escape. Their leader, Jimmy Doolittle, continued his brilliant career in the service of our country as the commander of the 12th Air Force and then the 8th Air Force which contributed a great deal to the Allied victory in Europe.



After the war many of the Raiders continued in their country's service and several rose to high ranks in the Air Force.



One of the men imprisoned by the Japanese became a Christian during his prison stay and returned to Japan as a missionary. Still others returned to civilian life here in the United States.



The Doolittle Raid has been the portrayed in several films, most notably the film Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo telling the story of Doolittle Raider Ted Lawson and his crew on the mission. Other titles include Pearl Harbor, and The Purple Heart.

My handsome military fly boy...

2 of my favorite girls...Mom and Grace

It was such a moving experience, a once in my lifetime event. I was so proud to be a witness to this, and to remember...

Wishing you all a sweet week ahead...

Love to you all.

The 4 Fs...

Last Saturday, while at the Cincinnati Zoo, I was able to photograph the 4 Fs...

Floral...

\

Feathered...

Furry...

Fabulous...

Hope you all are enjoying the week!

Love to you all!