Click It Up a Notch - June

{Baby E} 

My very favorite photo taken in June.

I had a session with a family of seven who had recently

adopted this beautiful toddler from Ethiopia.

She was peacefully resting in her Daddy's arms.

black and white Wednesday - saying farewell to Summer

So as school has started and my kids are getting settled

into their new routine (very nicely I may add).

I was going through the many photos I took over the Summer

and found this one of Captain America that never made it 

to my blog until now.

A serious Captain America of course.

We've had cooler days, which I heartily welcome.

Fall is a-coming and it's my favorite season!

This is the last black and white Wednesday,
Lisa's decided to change it up a bit
and will host a 'Favorite Photo Friday.'
Black and white Wednesday's have been great fun,
but change is good too!
.

black and white Wednesday - 8 years

I shall be called by a new name, embraced by a fresh pair of arms, but I shall come and go, the eternal me. 

~ Rabindranath Tagore

Late Summer is the time of year that I'm brought back to China,

because it was on the evening of

August 31, 2003 our lives changed forever.

In a hotel room in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, 

a beautiful 12 month old baby girl named 'Fu Lan Li'

was brought into our room. I will never forget how easily she came to me
and gave us a shy little smile.

'Lanli' as we called her in China, would become 'Grace Lanli Elizabeth'

when we arrived home to the U.S.
A joyful, loving and kind little girl, she's many years of hopes and dreams come true.

The years have flown by and our gift of Grace
led us to adopt William.
When I think about how much our lives have changed in the past 8 years,
it's pretty mind boggling.
The changes have all been good.

What we didn't know 8 years ago was that it
wouldn't be as simple as a child joining our family,
we would become a part of a very large extended family all
held together with the common thread of adoption.
It's an adoption community of kind and supportive people,
who encourage and help in anyway they can.

'
Recently I was asked
why I wanted to adopt in the first place and my answer was,
 "Well, I knew there were many children out there that needed a mommy
and I wanted to be one.
God did the rest."


Our dearest Grace, we cannot imagine our lives without you.

 

Taken Sept. 11, 2003 in Guangzhou
before we left for the U.S. consulate ceremony.
The red shoes Grace is wearing in the picture now
reside with some other keepsakes from China
in a little cupboard in her bedroom.

black and white Wednesday - late Summer

Grace and Will on the beach as the sun is setting, on the last evening of our vacation. 

I have more pics of our time away but will put them up on facebook sometime this week.
Our Summer has flown by, it's hard to believe that September is only
2 weeks away!

black and white Wednesday - a day at the beach

Smile and say 'cheese!'

"Happiness is a summer breeze, sand between your toes, and your best friend by your side."

~ unknown

(Will showing a little of his gymnastics capabilities).

 Living in Wisconsin we appreciate Summer, no matter how hot and humid it gets
 because Winter lasts just way too long here.

I'm making a promise to myself to look at these pictures again when I'm shivering in January and February
and longing for warmer days.
They'll help me remember our time last week at the beach
in the quaint little town of Ephraim in Door County, WI.

We brought sand pails, shovels, a raft and Will's fish floatie.
And though they were all used and played with, it was the 2 vintage cameras
that I brought that were the biggest hit.

Even though it was all in fun and not for real as far as them taking pictures,
the element of 'pretend' is still much of Grace and Will's play.
(which I dearly love)

Below is Will just before he went out in the bay (with Daddy of course).
And also one of him as he's taking a little rest wrapped up in his towel.
Swimming (rather kicking with a floatie supporting you) evidently is hard work!

(Will getting ready to hit the waves).

(And Will taking a little snooze).

The Summer has flown by.
Yesterday I registered both kids for school...when I look at the calendar
we don't have much of this season left.

We start school Sept. 1 and I have mixed feelings about that.
I'm going to miss these two being with me during the day.
So we'll be making the best of the time they have left.

It's Wednesday!

See what's going on at Lisa's ' black and white Wednesday' for many

more black and whites and some fabulous photography.

black and white Wednesday - green chair

These 5 images were my 'final' for an online class I just finished.

I've taken photography workshops previously but they were

all on location with professional photographers.

And all technical classes.

This was the first one that talked about style.
What makes my style 'me.'
Was I being true to my style?
It required a fair amount of introspection that sometimes
is hard for people.
I liked that part very much.

And discovered some things that were always there

that I wasn't noticing until now.

Like why do I create photographs?

I decided that I want to create something beautiful.

I also want to be challenged.
What makes me happy?

I found out that some of the things that make me feel happy are spending time with my children,

hearing them laugh, seeing them smile and seeing color.

Especially red but any other vibrant one will do.

It

It was also the first class that the instructor gave

feedback on the pictures that I took.
I learned that I compose for color, whether intentionally or not.

And that I use natural textures in my images, in a way that isn't 'too much.'

Pretty cool to find out all of this...and it was right there in front of me all the time.

It's always been hard for me to describe my own photography style,

and now I just did. :)

Check out more black and whites at Lisa's blog, The Long Road to China.

black and white Wednesday - 3 years with Will

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

~ Robert Frost

And who would have thought that through a series of events

that our adoption journey would change directions and we would adopt a 2 and 1/2 year old little boy.

Who is now a funny, affectionate, giggling, cute little booty-shaking, adorable, brave, polite, gifted,

ticklish, intense, super hero loving, cartwheeling, and soon to be Kindergartner boy.

He has changed in ways that would have been hard to imagine 3 years ago.

And all in good ways.

In the last year he's blossomed and grown in his emotional maturity

and shows great compassion to others.

He's a caring, loving child.

Happy 3 years my youngest son,

I love you to the moon and back.

We have been endlessly blessed to have you in our lives.

Love,

Mommy

xoxo

Per Will's request, we'll celebrate his 3rd Forever Family Day with Chinese noodles for dinner
and a Lightning McQueen cake for dessert. ;)

(Taken 4 days ago of our handsome guy.)

For more black and whites, please see Lisa's blog
at The Long Road to China.

Black and White Wednesday - swing

Cool dude on a swing (with Molly watching behind him), the color version.

And black and white.

Oh to be 5 again!

It's Wednesday, so please see many more black and white's at

Lisa's "The Long Road to China."

black and white Wednesday - saying goodbye

"She is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog.
You are her life, her love, her leader. She will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of her heart. You owe it to her to be worthy of such devotion".

 ~  Unknown

"How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard."

~ A.A. Milne (Winnie the Pooh)

How can you say goodbye to your best friend ...one of your family...one of your children?

There are no words that can adequately describe the feelings of loss or diminish the pain you feel.

When you lose a loved companion, you lose a piece of yourself. That world is over and now you have to move to the next version of the world.

Dear Molly,

We love you so much. There has never been nor will there ever be, another like you.

You have been such a loyal, reliable and effervescent part of our family. God has blessed us with your presence and we are so thankful that He did. You have been there for it all ~ birthdays, Christmases, welcoming Grace and Will when they arrived home from China, good times and hard times.

 Through it all, your smile and love never faded.

The brightness of your personality never dimmed.

 I can’t even imagine coming home to a house without you.

Life will go on once you’re gone but the world will be less happy and a little hollow without you.

Thank you sweet pup!

You have made our lives richer and the world a more beautiful place.

You have taught our whole family about devotion and unconditional love.

We will miss you so much darling and can only gain comfort in knowing that you will greet us again someday in heaven.

Love always,

Mom and Dad

Molly was adopted at age 9 weeks in Feb. of 2000. She was an 8 lb. bundle of love.
Our son Nick was 14 years old.
She has been the light of our lives for 11 & 1/2 years and is a funny, kind and gentle sweet soul.

2 weeks ago today, we received the heartbreaking news that Molly has 'osteo-sarcoma' or bone cancer in her right lower jaw. We've been told the tumor has been there for quite a while and her symptoms didn't show until it was quite advanced. 

We've been spoiling our pup with treats, taking her to the dog park, rides in the car (which she loves),

and time spent in the backyard lying in the sun watching our young children play with friends.

I notice she is sleeping more and sometimes it seems hard for her to chew,

but her quality of life is still fairly good.

We're taking this one day at a time and won't let her suffer.
 I don't know if she has days, a week, 2 weeks or months left but we're blessed to have these days with her.

I know this was a sad post but it is our life right now.

All Molly's wanted is to be loved and give her love to us,
 and it's just so difficult to say goodbye.

black and white Wednesday - Summer portrait

At nearly 9, Grace has become my little social butterfly.

She has many close friends and truly has the nicest little group of girlfriends.

This week she started Summer school.

She's taking art and a reading/writing class.

We're already starting to plan her birthday party...and this is a girl that loves parties!
She and I have a couple of things in mind for it.
On Thursday I'm taking her down to the Chicago area
and she'll stay with her best friend Julia for about 4 days.
So far she's had a fun Summer.


This was taken at a new location I've found and I plan to return with Grace
to take some 9 year old pictures, hopefully in the next few weeks.

The color version was processed with MCP actions, "Mini-fusion" action.

For the black and white, I used Florabella's "Film" action.

It's Wednesday, so many more black and whites are over at Lisa's

"The Long Road to China," be sure and stop by!