The Girls

Meet the girls.....Caitlin and Sarah

Caitlin is 5 years old and in preschool. She was adopted from China at the age of 8 months on May 28, 2003, from the Fuling Lily Orphan Care Center in Chongqing of the Sichuan Province. She is shy around new people but once she warms up to you, she is very loving. She loves to draw and color and having stories read to her is a favorite pastime. She enjoys playing with her toy horses and barbies and delights in anything Disney-princess related.

Sarah is 4 years old and also in preschool. She was adopted from China at the age of almost 2 years old on September 12, 2005, from the Shucheng Social Welfare Institute in Hefei of the Anhui Province. Sarah was born with cleft lip and palate and all of her repairs were done at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. She is outgoing, loves to chatter (can't stand quiet!) and will talk to just about anyone! She adores her older sister and wants to do everything she does. She also loves coloring, puzzles, and reading.

Both girls get along really well, for which we are very fortunate. They are each other's constant companions and both of them adore their brothers. They enjoy hanging out with them when the girlfriends come over, especially!

We are truly blessed with our daughters!

The Boys

Meet the boys...Corey, Jordan, Justin.

Justin is going to be 20 on January 20th. He is in his second year of college, currently attending California University of Pennsylvania. He is studying accounting. He joined a fraternity this past Fall and has a girlfriend, Jess. He works to maintain his mustang and typical of any kid his age...is never home except when he is low on food or money! Justin likes snowboarding and daydreaming about all the things he wants to do to fix up his car.

Corey is 18 and will be starting at the Pittsburgh Art Institute tomorrow! He is going to be studying video production and he's pretty excited about this new venture in his life. Corey was pretty actively involved in video production and photography all through high school. He has been dating Laura for about 18 months now. (She has put up with him longer than any other! That girl has nerves of steel!) Corey continues to write music and record songs and he plays out occasionally at local coffee houses and such.

Jordan is 16 and in the 10th grade. He loves to ride his bmx bike and is constantly coming home banged up and bleeding. He has been dating his girlfriend, Kaitlin, for several months now. Jordan is pretty laid back and easy going with many friends. He never has a lull in his social life and occasionally makes time for schoolwork, if only to get himself ungrounded.

That's the boys....they keep us on our toes!

Introduction

I decided to try something new this year to stay in touch with people that the chaos of my life normally prohibits. This will be the latest on what's happening in our household. Be it boring or breath-taking...you'll find it here!

For those of you who know us...you'll want to skip this part.

For new people or the simply curious, we are Gary and Karen, married 24 years this past November. We have five children...three handsome sons, Justin (19), Corey (18), Jordan (16), and two beautiful daughters, Caitlin (5) and Sarah (4) and our dog, Penny (9).