Celebrating the Birth of an Angel

5 years ago, in Viet Nam A beautiful young lady name, whom we never met gave birth to a little girl named Nguyen Thanh Hang. Thank you to this wonderful, selfless lady. Know that we think about you and honor you this day as well! You and Sophie's birth father are THE reason why we are blessed with our daughter!

It has been a great weekend of birthday celebration with our girl. Family in from out-of-town, parties, toys, cakes, more toys, really just a special time to celebrate the life of Sophie and the gifts that she gives us each day.

We held her party on Saturday at Bounce U, where she wanted to go with 20 of her school friends and cousins. After hauling in a ton of gifts and enjoying her Disney Princesses cake we went to our favorite Vietnamese restaurant Pho Grand later in the evening. 

The other day she asked us, "Can I do whatever I want on my birthday?" well, yes of course (within reason though Sophie). Her choice on Saturday night was to stay up late and sleep on the floor. Pretty reasonable choices!

Today, was a day of kind of chilling out one, playing with her new gifts trip to the grocery store and a birthday dinner of her choice. On the menu was messy chicken drumsticks AKA BBQ Chicken, grilled carrots and butter noodles. We think she was asleep before her head hit the pillow in bed! 

Enjoy the weekend in photos. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOPHIE, AND MANY HAPPY RETURNS! Mommy and Poppa love you with all of our hearts!

 Let's get this party STARTED!

Best thing EVER made....

Yep, I am five now!

 Go ahead....make my day!

Down the slide at Bounce U 

Thanks to everyone that came to my party!

My birthday party.....cake time!

Having a great time!

 Princess cake.

I'm a happy girl!

SCORE!!!!!!

 

Opening all my cool gifts! 

Princess castle!!!!  

No birthday would be complete without Pho Grand for dinner! 

 I'm SASSY and I KNOW it!

 Mema and me.

Smiles with Uncle Bub. 

Chillin' with Grandad at dinner.


Gettin' after my birthday cookie. 

New Year Wishes

Welcome to a new year. A year that is filled with opportunities waiting to be discovered as the months unfold. From the three of us, we hope that 2012 brings health and happiness to you and your family.

We are so grateful for the blessings that 2011 brought us. We continue to just love watching our little girl blossom, form her personalities and skills. As a family formed through the gift of adoption, we have the gift of not knowing what Sophie's traits and or talents are. Since we never met her biological parents, we do not know what they were good at. Was her birth-father an athlete or a musician? Her birth-mom? What did she excel in? I think the cool thing is, we just get to wait and see what emerges out of our daughter this year as God will once again guide our life the way He has planned it to always be. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Long Time No Blog

With the ease of Facebook etc, the blog has been so neglected. Yep, we still stink at this, but it is a resolution of ours to update once per month in 2012 so those not of FB etc can see Sophie before she turns 30!

What have we done since Memorial day? Too much to list but will post some pictures to recap. Wishing you and your family a VERY happy and healthy 2012.

 Went to Chicago with the Walkers to visit the American Girl store on a girls weekend.

 Did a photo shoot at Faust Park

 Spent time with my Mommy and Poppa

 Enjoyed the St. Louis summertime

 Went to the cottage in Ludington, MI and saw the Badger

 Went to the annual international pumpkin party at the Dorris house.

 Was Minnie Mouse for Halloween.

 Spent the weekend in Oklahoma City with the Kellers and caught the OSU game.

Yeah, I even went to Disney World!

 I had a princess makeover day while I was there, ate dinner with all my favorite princesses too!

 Rode my FIRST big girl ride!!! Yep my bow was tall-enough to ride the Star Wars ride and I loved it! 

 Celebrated my 3rd Gotcha' Day!

 Celebrated Christmas with my family and friends.

Remembering The Fallen. One, A Family Friend.

This weekend is not about BBQs and having people over to celebrate. It is day to remember all those brave men and women who paid the ultimate price in defense of this wonderful nation, and fighting for those freedoms that we all so often take for granted. Fly your flag outside your home. So few houses do this anymore. After 9/11 it was hard NOT to see the Stars and Stripes at a house or office. Now it is a challenge! This Memorial Day, as I do each year I pay tribute and honor Lt. William Thomas "Tom" Costen, United States Navy and his partner Lt. Charlie Turner. Tom grew up in the house behind us in St. Louis. I remember playingwiffle ball with him and running behind the "bug man" smog truck on summer evenings after dinner. Not the smartest of ideas since it was a mosquito killing fog, but hey you were a kid and everyone else did it. Tom's father was also a great friend to the family as well as an Orthopedic Surgeon to a few of of us.

Tom and Charlie Turner were assigned to Attack Squadron 155 at Whidby Island, Washington. Their unit shipped out to the Middle East on board the USS RANGER when U.S. military buildup began there in January 1991. Tom and Charlie had been in the region only ten days when hostilities began and they were asked to fly combat missions on Iraqi military targets in the first wave of offensive strikes of the war the opening night of the Gulf War. Tom was the pilot of an FA6 Intruder, and Charlie his BN (bomdadier/navigator). Both failed to return from missions on the morning of Friday, January 18, 1991.

Later reports revealed that two emergency radio beeper signals were picked up indicating that both Tom and Charlie ejected safely from their aircraft. Both were returning to the USS Ranger after a bombing mission over Baghdad.

On January 20, both Tom and Charlie were officially listed as MIA by the Pentagon. It was not until almost two months after the end of Operation Desert Storm that the Iraqis handed over the remains of 14 United States soldiers. One of those was Tom

Lt. William Costen

Lt. Charlie Turner

Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Another Child of God.....

Actually wrote this on 5/11, just did not publish it.... Sorry!


Not only did we celebrate Mother's Day, but we also celebrated Sophie's baptism. Family and friends abound we had a great gathering Saturday night and the baptism after mass on Sunday. We missed those who were not able to join us. It was a special moment for us as parents and not a day goes by that we do not thank God for Sophie and the joy that she has brought to us in such a short amount of time.

Her baptism candle

I baptize you...... She was a little freaked but no crying!

Bible from Belle

Godmothers.

Mommy's annual Mother's Day book.

Good times with friends on Saturday before the baptism.

Swinging with cousins Jack and Mason.