A Wonderful Visit

We have some special people in our lives, and the girls got to visit with two of them this weekend. The girls had Mama Rita and Daddy Mike fostered Anna and Katie until they were 6 months old. They provided them with so much love and care, and we cherish the fact that they remain part of Anna and Katie's life, and hopefully will always be.

ANNA'S NEW ADVENTURE

Anna is driving alone. She got her license today and she is thrilled. She is a careful and excellent driver.

Senior Awards Night-Beautiful Girls

Katie and Anna are helping out at tonight's Senior Awards Night. Anna is there to sell yearbooks and Katie is there as a representative of National Honor Society as an usher.
Both of the girls bought new dresses on their own and picked them out themselves. I think they did a great choice.

The girls have a very packed schedule in the next few weeks. They just completed Drivers Ed, where the teacher said that Anna was the best driver and when she was calling out perfect scores she said "and of course, the Parnham girls." Anna has an appointment to get her regular licence. She is thrilled, Katie has no interest in driving.

Anna and Katie are also ushers for Graduation through the National Honor Society. Although it is not the end of the year, What a year it has been for the twins! Yesterday I got to speak to their Honor's English teacher. Katie has had her for 3 years and has also has been her Teacher's Assistant. She raved about Katie and has nominated her for several scholarships. Anna is also eligible for (hopefully) scholarships through Journalism. Both of them have already reached the number of service hours that will give them the prestigious silver cord award when they graduation next year.

READ ALL ABOUT IT!!!

IT IS HERE! ANNA'S PRIDE AND JOY!!!! I can't tell you how much my little girl put into this book, it was a work of love and she never stopped working on this masterpiece all year.

I don't know how many of you know this, but it is almost unheard of for an 11th grader to be Editor-in-Chief of a yearbook for any school, let alone a school with a population of 3,241. This yearbook is unlike any I have ever seen before. I hope that a lot of you get to see this.

Anna will be attending the University of Florida Summer Journalism Institute for the second time this summer and she will be Editor-in-Chief again next year.

Congratulations and love to our little girl!

Kate Checking Her List and Checkng it Twice

As next years Treasurer of Flanagan High School's National Honor Society, Katie made the following plans for her to chair at her school next year at school it makes me tired just thinking about doing so much, let alone being in charge!


Teens for Jeans (her own project from last year)
Angel Tree
All Candy Sales
Multi-Cultural festival
SchoolSupplies drive
Human Society Drive

IT JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER AND BETTER...

Katie: Flanagan Social Studies Student of the Year

Katie and her best friend Yunsoo

LAST NIGHT WAS A BIG NIGHT FOR KATIE. KATIE WON SOCIAL STUDIES STUDENT OF THE YEAR FOR THE WHOLE SCHOOL! SHE WORKS SO HARD AND SHE IS SUCH A GREAT KID.

Happy Mothers Day!

What sweet and thoughtful kids I have. They made my day special from beginning to end. On the Friday before Mother's Day weekend Publix collaborates with Jia's school, they give each of the kids a heart shaped cake and let them decorate them. Jia put hers in the second fridge and was very proud to have a secret present on Sunday. She also made me a sweet card, it was made by the teacher with blanks to fill in about their Moms. Here is hers"

My Mom: My Mom has blue eyes and brown/blond hair. My Mom weighs _____ pounds and is _____years old. (love those blanks, what a smart kid!) My Mom is prettiest when she wears dresses. I like it when she cooks spagyies (spaghetti). She likes me to help her clean. My Mom likes to go to the mall. I love my mom very much and I know she loves me, too. Happy Mother's Day to a SPECIAL mom. Then she wrote "you are the best Mom, I will love you forever"
That's a keeper! (each girl has a plastic box with all of their sweetest papers and artwork.)

Lets not forget my big girls, they used some psychology on my presents--gift cards, which makes me have to leave the house. How smart is that? I got a card for Kohls, Bahama Breeze and my favorite place--Barnes and Noble! They also made me my favorite dinner and we had Jia's cake for dessert. A perfect day from some perfect kids. I am so very blessed. Thanks to God for knowing that these were the right children for me.

P.S. I forgot to mention another surprise from one of my sweet girls, if you looked at Facebook yesterday Anna's status and profile picture was a picture of me holding Anna and Katie as babies and it said, "Happy Mother's Day to the BEST mom in the world!! If it wasn't for her (and my dad) my sisters and I would not be here right now! I love you sooooo much mom!"

Random Family Pics

The pool is still a little cool, Anna chickened out.

Drew is determined to get Jia swimming this summer
She is nervous so it is much harder
than Katie and Anna

Getting Ready for school
Mom does "piggies"

Anna Fashion Show Pt.1
(we decided to give the girls an allowance
Anna spent hers immediately,
Katie's is stashed in that mysterious bank account she now has a debit card for

The back of Anna's vest, very pretty

Going out with the family!!!!!

I can't tell if this is a real phone or not
But on Saturday Anna, Jia and I did some errands
Katie and Drew did others.
When Jia's Dad didn't come home until about an hour after us
she called him three times.

Bear and Bella
They look like Siamese (cat) twins

I have a whole lot of pictures on the camera and I thought I would share, no particular order. The girls are counting down until the end of the school year, and I am too, it will be great to have them around.

We have a very busy summer ahead. Most importantly Anna and Katie have to visit more colleges. They both have their hearts set on one, but I told them they need to apply to at least 4.
Drew is taking classes to become a Drivers Ed Instructor and may be given a class at the middle part of the summer. Speaking of Drivers Ed, both girls are in the class now-Anna has been driving for almost a year and drives better than we do. Katie has no interest whatsoever.

Anna will be going to University of Florida for her Journalism conference again, Katie is desperately pursuing a summer job, and then of course a trip to Calgary.

The funniest thing is that Anna and Katie are both taking their Physical Education class this summer ON THE COMPUTER! this I have to see.

Little Jia has plans to learn how to swim, go shopping and plan her birthday party which I think we will move up a little earlier so she can have it before school is over.

"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that" - Martin Luther King

WHERE WERE YOU?

(WARNING: COULD BE THE LONGEST POST EVER) Albeit for totally different reason I just made a list of defining moments in my life for my daughters. Those things good and bad that people say you will always remember where you were when they happened, some of mine included:

1. The bittersweet-the funeral of John F. Kennedy. I was only as old as John-John, but my Dad sat me on the couch and then sat next to me and said "it's important for you to know you saw this."
2. The first man on the moon.
3.The explosion of the space shuttle Challenger-I was watching during my lunch break at school and was so proud that the first teacher in space was aboard.
4. The death of Princess Diana, someone I identified with. although she was a princess, and I was just a regular person, our younger lives were a little similar, and we had some of the same insecurities.

AND OF COURSE: 9/11/01:
I WAS TEACHING MY DROP OUT PREVENTION CLASS, MOSTLY BOYS, THE MAJORITY OF THEM HAD BEEN TO JAIL AT LEAST ONCE. I WAS SHOWING THEM A VIDEO ABOUT THE LOST BOYS OF THE SUDAN. THE VIDEO ENDED AND I POPPED IT OUT JUST IN TIME TO SEE THE PLANE HIT THE SECOND TOWER. THE ROOM WAS SILENT, ALTHOUGH I KNEW SOME OF MY STUDENTS DIDN'T KNOW THE EXACT SIGNIFICANCE. WE WERE IMMEDIATELY INSTRUCTED BY THE PRINCIPAL TO TURN THE TV OFF.

MY SCHOOL WAS 45 MINUTES FROM HOME AND THE FIRST THING I COULD THINK OF IS-WE HAVE TO GO GET ANNA AND KATIE, I CALLED DREW AND HE CALMED ME DOWN (FOR THE MOMENT) WHO KNEW WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN? IT SEEMED LIKE THE END OF THE WORLD.

The next day in the same class I said something that I never thought would come true, I said "if we go to war and it lasts a long time (never thought this would be true) some of you may go and fight. Today I sit here and think, it is true, I'm sure some of those boys with little options went to fight. And like every single soldier who still fights, or who lost their lives I pray for them, what brave people!

The next weeks were devastating to me. I had eaten dinner at the top of the World Trade Center so I had an understanding of just how high they were. American tv's weren't showing it, but we have a lot of Latin tv stations here and they showed people jumping, and the thuds when they fell.

They showed all of the heartbroken people posting picture after picture of their lost loved ones all over NYC.

My emotions always run away with me (even then) and finally Drew banned me from watching the tv.

I did something reminiscent of what my Dad did all those years ago and took the picture above. Today I have a heavy heart, and I received the following from a good friend on facebook that I can't help agreeing with although it is an unpopular sentiment.

Rich DeBerardinis

Credit to Marcus Davis By Brian McLaren:Being in the UK, I got the news about Osama bin Ladin's death earlier than a lot of folks in the States. The news here showed President Obama making the announcement, and then shifted to American college students reveling outside the White House, shouting, chanting "USA" and spilling beer. I flipped through channels and saw the same scene repeated.

I can only say that this image does not reflect well on my country, especially in contrast to the images that have been so strong here in recent days ... revelers celebrating a wedding.

Joyfully celebrating the killing of a killer who joyfully celebrated killing carries an irony that I hope will not be lost on us. Are we learning anything, or simply spinning harder in the cycle of violence?

I just got this email from an American friend:

... When I received the news of his death, I must confess that my primary emotion was not excitement, but sadness...deep sadness that his life did not reflect God's intent for the world...deep sadness as I anticipated the rhetoric that awaited me on Facebook, the internet, and TV.

I do not understand a world that allows for a man to cause so much pain and I do not understand a world that rejoices in the death of that man who just happens to be created in the image of God. I have no answers or alternatives, but it saddens me that the best response we have to true brokenness always seems to be death.

Perhaps everyone is right. Perhaps the death of Osama Bin Laden has made this world more safe. I do not believe, however, that his death has made this world more beautiful.

As you talk about this news, I hope you will consider how your response can counter rather than reinforce the cycles of violence that spin around us. And please God, help us bring healing beauty to the ugliness of violence in whatever small way we can. Today.