ALL TREATS today - NO Tricks!!!

Here's Ms. Michelle & I with our precious Creative Movement DANCERS (our youngest "babies" at Encore - in costume ready to dance!!! They are about 2.5 years old - oh my goodness, we love them all so much!




Here's my 3 littl' trick-o-treaters...Batman Joe, Power Ranger Sam & Honey Bee Maile!!! Oh what fun to hear Maile's first words, "whatz that??" when candy was dropped into her pumpkin...then it was "MORE!! - NO Open Mommy!" Her sweet littl' reassuring voice she was going to run & get more and NOT eat along the way! She did GREAT, kept up with her big brothers & friends running in tow for an hour around our neighborhood!!!!




Maile took time out from running door to door, to get some sugar from her littl' "boyfriend," Jeremy...whom she affectionately calls, "Me Me!" (Jeremy is 19 mos. & Maile is 34 mos. - she likes younger men! ha ha - LOL) He woke up from his pm nap to find himself wheeled around a neighborhood with squeeling kids dressed in funny & scary costumes!!! Poor guy...but it was a FUN night for all kids, young & "not-so-young!"





Here's the whole crew at our friend, Madison's house, Aunt Chelle & her boys: Matthew & Jeremy & my crew and friends: Bryce & Madison in the mix too...what a WONDERFUL weather night to trick-o-treat. I think Maile might dig her Bumble Bee costume after all if it means going door to door to get treats!!! She is already a "sales girl" - one smile & word and she got double the candy, she worked it tonight!!!!

ONE YEAR AGO...5 LIVES CHANGED FOREVER!!!

ONE YEAR ago TODAY, Oct. 16th, 2006, at my dance studio, Encore Centre for DANCE at 5:30pm - My life changed FOREVER!!!! In one email and photo attached, I would see my DAUGHTER for the FIRST time!!! She would own the name: Thuy Trang and our hearts would then accept her into our lives, home & hearts FOREVER!!!! Now, Maile Noel Thuy Trang Carlson and HOME with us, we LOVE YOU and cannot believe we saw your tiny, stoic, frightened face for the first time last year, MON. Oct. 16, 2006!!!! WOW, A LOT has changed in ONE year!!!!!

Upon acceptance of our sweet baby girl, we'd get an updated photo of you. Your referral photo (above) was in JUNE 2006, when you were brought to Ninh Thuan Orphanage, 18 mos. of age and around 17 lbs!!!!! Now, even in this photo taken OCT 2006 (about 4 mos. of being at the orphanage) you look STRONGER, healthier, more alert...determine to SURVIVE whatever God gives you. We are BLESSED He gave YOU to US!!!!!

This photo was taken in FEB 2007, one month before we went to get our daughter!!!! She looks stable and healthy, still scared but those PIERCING EYES would be the window to your soul of HOPE, LOVE, JOY and HAPPINESS that awaits for you on the horizon. We are FOREVER IN LOVE with you Maile Noel Thuy Trang. You have opened our hearts to feel a greater LOVE & JOY that we would have NEVER known. Plus, you LOVE pink, glitter and to DANCE...what more could I ask for!!?? Ha ha - LOL. THANK YOU Maile for sharing your life with us, we are humbled, grateful and in awe of your laughter, silliness, smiles and now to hear your VOICE!!!! LOVE YOU BABY GIRL!!!!!! Mommy & "Ba" & big brothers

PS- HAPPY 3rd B-DAY ANNA MULLIEZ!!!! What an honor and JOY to share in your life. Half way around the world, from the SAME orphanage as Maile, you would share days before your FOREVER FAMILIES would come get you!!! NOW, you can celebrate your life and b-days in AMERICA, Home of the "Free & the Brave." THAT IS what both you and Maile and all the orphans HOME are now, FREE & BRAVE!!!!!! We love you & cannot wait to see you again soon!

SEE YOU LATER, GRANDMA!!!

Sometimes in a world you cannot see, there's a little orphan child still within me...Lost in the shuffle trying to belong, sometimes I feel weak, sometimes I feel strong...

Here's the family that I grew up of "three", NO Father again, just my Grandma, Mother and me...

A light went out in my Grandma, Oct 5th at 1pm...I cannot wait until the day I see her AGAIN!!!

It's been a bittersweet day for me, emotionally exhausting...reminiscing and remembering MY Grandmother who was like my MOTHER growing up. I lived with her until I was 18 years old and moved away to college. I would come home, she'd be there to make me clothes, dinner, listen about my day, pay the babysitter to take me swimming, love on me with her amazingly sweet, loving spirit. I MISS YOU Grandma so much. I pray you know how much I LOVED & RESPECTED you on this side of heaven while you were here, cannot wait to reunite with you in heaven someday!!!!! She made it to all my DANCE recitals, school plays, high school & college graduation (picture above) but did NOT make it to my WEDDING when I married, Don!!! She passed away 2 weeks to the day before our wedding, in fact our wedding invitations said RSVP by OCT 5th!!!!! My heart is sad, it weeps in loving memory of my Grandma, Violet Verdeen Howard!!! Forever in my heart, I love you, Kim-Lan