Happy New Year!

Pictures: Fun at the beach, building a sand castle. A yearly tradition in the shark's mouth. The last day, walking back to the car. Saying goodbye was hard.

We arrived home Saturday night late and finally all got to bed about 11:30. It took most of the day Sunday to get unpacked and then into Monday to get all the laundry done. Monday morning started off with a trip to vet. Molly, the kitten, has not been feeling well for a couple of days. Sunday she just wasn't herself. She wasn't eating much and just cried and cried. She stayed curled up next to me most of the day on Sunday just sleeping and purring. A trip to the vet led to major surgery. Seems as though our baby Molly ate a 6 inch piece of elastic string. She had major surgery but is expected to recover.

We are going to have a quiet night this New Year's Eve. Mom and Dad are taking the girls up to my aunt's house in the country to see all my cousins and everyone. I am in the bed with a bad foot. I found out in July of this year that I have plantar faciatis and a bone spur on my left foot. After all the walking I did the last few days, I got up yesterday morning and pulled my crutches back out. Every step is so painful. I am trying to stay off my feet as much as possible, which is okay since I've been studying for a biology clep since yesterday morning. I have some more great pictures of the girls from the beach, that is the main reason for my post.

If you read this, say a little prayer for our baby Molly. I'm sure she is feeling pretty scared, lonely and hurting right now. She can't come home until Thursday, maybe.

Kathy B.

A reunion ...

Wednesday morning, the morning after Christmas we packed and got ready to head out of town. We left a little after lunch, Jon, me, Almira, Sarah and Katherine. We headed down to New Orleans to spend the night. We arrived about 6PM and did a quick drive through the French Quarter for Katherine to see what it was all about. The French Quarter has just lost the magic for me. It is so filthy now, with all bars and other unmentionable places. You want to shield the eyes of your children, especially so on Bourbon Street. We did one quick loop through there and then headed to the Hilton to spend the night. We went to Dragos for dinner in the bottom of the Hilton Riverside. It was the same place we had eaten before back in June of this year with Almira. Jon, Almira and Katherine had their fill of oysters. I can't believe those girls like oysters, raw and charbroiled.

Thursday morning we woke up and headed on east for our final destination. We suprised Almira and booked a condo on the beach at Gulf Shores. I had also been talking to Mary Ann, Nina's mother, who was adopted just a few months after Almira. Nina came home in September and was in the same family with Almira. It was such a sweet reunion yesterday afternoon. We arrived here at the condo at almost 5PM. The sun was setting and we unloaded the truck, with Almira still not knowing anything. Then I said I had to go put a parking pass on Jon's truck. Then I ran up to Mary Ann, Tony and Nina's condo on the 24th floor. I got them to come down to our condo on the 11th floor. I went inside and got my video camera ready. Then they knocked on the door and I told Almira to go get the door for me. What a great reunion. It was so good to see Nina again. She looks so good. She has more color, her hair is longer and she is so happy. They came in and visited and then the girls wanted to head to the beach. I took Almira, Nina and Sarah down to stick their toes in the water. I got some great pictures. Then after a while they came back up and we got ready for dinner.

We walked into this Mexican restaurant just down the road, right behind Mary Ann and her family and caught part of a conversation. The three girls that worked there were all Russian speaking. Two of the girls were from Moldova, where Katherine is from, and the other one was Russian. There was jabbering like crazy and talking. Then Almira and Nina joined in with Katherine. What a truly small world! Katherine was the first person from Moldova that I had ever met and then we walk in a restarant in Gulf Shores, AL and meet 2 more of them.

We had a great dinner and then headed back to the condo. Nina, now called Molly, wanted Almira to spend the night because she had twin beds in her room.

Then the girls all went swimming and after they came back up, Almira showered and put on her pajamas. Then she walked Nina to her room and Nina showered and got ready for bed. All this time Mary Ann is sitting down here with Jon and I getting caught up on things, like our girls. We swapped stories about their lives in Kazakhstan and the miracle of both of these girls ending up with us.

I'll stop writing now and post some pictures of the girls. As I type this all the girls are down on the beach digging in the sand and building a sand castle. Mary Ann, Tony and their son, Adam are down there supervising. Well, I must go now and join the fun. Happy New Year to everyone!

Kathy B.

Merry Christmas to All!

Well this is the evening of December 25th. What an amazing Christmas! We have been so blessed this year. I have finally got the girls in the bed. Almira is still back there listening to her new MP3 player. We've been downloading Russian music and pictures this evening. We started last night with Katherine spending the night with us and going to Jon's parents' house for Christmas Eve. We opened gifts and had dinner together. Then we came home and we let the girls open one present each. It was really tough getting everyone into bed. The threat of Santa passing by our house finally worked. I think by 11:30 I had everyone asleep, even Katherine. I finally got to bed about 12:30 last night. Then Sarah woke up at 3AM and couldn't get back to sleep. She finally woke me up about 6:30 and said she wanted to open presents. I told her to go back to bed for a little while. I let her wake up Almira and Katherine at 8 AM. I barely got a cup of coffee down before the present opening started.

Almira was so funny. She got roller blades from Santa and a couple of movies and an MP3 player. She said she had never seen so many presents. She started rollerblading around the house. I thought we went light this year. It was so much fun watching Almira, Katherine and Sarah open presents. The true gift for parents is the joy we see in our children and the magic of Christmas. This year was truly special..

Then this morning after opening gifts I started some gumbo for our traditional Louisiana Christmas. We started doing this a few years ago, all Louisiana foods instead of turkey and dressing, which is Thanksgiving. We had shrimp jambalaya, gumbo, stuffed potatoes, oven fried catfish, hot French bread and some fried oysters. We had all this at Doug and Katy's house. What fun!

I'll attach some pictures which will tell the best story of all. Tomorrow we leave for New Orleans and then on to Gulf Shores for a few days. Almira doesn't know yet, but we're meeting up with Nina, who was adopted this summer from the same family. Nina lives in Alabama now, with some wonderful parents. We will be spending a few days together in Gulf Shores. I can't wait to see the look on Almira's face when she realizes we will be staying with Nina. The best Christmas present of all, seeing a friend from the orphanage in Kazakhstan. Who would think that a year ago these two lonely little girls were sitting at the orphanage wishing for a family. Now they have Moms, Dads and siblings that love them. They will be spending the holidays together with families at the beach. What a precious Christmas this has been.

Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Year! Let's hope for more precious children to find a family in 2008, that is my New Year's wish!

Kathy B.

Christmas Time is here

Счастливое Рождество каждый!

Hello to all,

Things are buzzing around here, quite busy we are. Just came in late from the mall and lots of Christmas shopping. I think we've just about got everyone finished. Maybe one or two left to finish up. I did our Christmas cards done this year and just had to scan them. We had to do a variety. Almira wanted to make sure Molly (the kitten) was in our Christmas card.

I wish the quality of the scan was better, but my scanner does not do a great job.

I hope all is well. This is going to be such an exciting Christmas this year!

Kathy B.

Happy Holidays!

Pictures: Mom and Dad at school with Sarah for Grandparents' Day. Meme and Almira at lunch this same day. Molly and Simon, playing in the kitchen. Molly was about 6 weeks old in this picture.

I cannot believe it has been so long since I posted. It is not from lack of activity. We have been running around like crazy people. Almira and Sarah are doing well. The girls had a great Thanksgiving. It was so much fun to have Almira and Katherine here for Thanksgiving. Katherine made a wonderful fruit salad for all of us, her Russian/Romanian/Ukrainian offering. On Thursday we all went to my mom and dad's and had such fun. Then we went to my company, CenturyTel, which was built on a pecan orchard. The kids picked pecans for about 30 minutes, but it was really cold. Then we headed to our house. I took all three of the girls to the movies on Thanksgiving night, a tradition of mine and Jon's. We went to see Enchanted and it was so good. The girls loved it.

Then we headed home and the girls had a fun sleep over. On Friday morning we were packing up to go to Natchez, Mississippi for the day and night. Katherine was speaking to her mother on Skype and using the webcam, so I got to see her mother and talk to her. What a precious woman - she must be to have raised such a wonderful daughter. We shopped and walked around the city of Natchez, which is a great old city on the Mississippi River. The next morning it was cold and raining and we decided to drive north along the river to Vicksburg, MS to hit an outlet shopping mall. We did some shopping and then drove home that night, on Saturday. It was cold and storming really bad on Sunday morning and slept in and played hookey from church. We woke up Sunday morning to a bad storm, booming thunder and then a hail storm. It was so loud, I had forgotten what those sound like.

The girls are both doing well in school and Almira is about to wrap up soccer for the season, just 2 more weeks. Sarah is starting off with basketball season and they have already started practicing. Everyone is so excited about Christmas this year. Sarah and Almira are painting Christmas cards for our front yard and I'll post pictures when they are finished.

Almira has only asked for Russian books so far, but we have so much more planned for her. I can't wait for Christmas morning and to see the surprise on her face. She told me in the past she might get some sweets for Christmas, that was the standard birthday and Christmas presents. I think they tried to give them a little something at the orphanage. I know they did the best they could.

Molly the kitten is doing well, just growing so fast. I'll check on Almira at night when she is sleeping and Molly is right next to her, sometimes sleeping right on her neck. It never seems to wake up Almira and she just loves her.

We did have a hamster tragedy the weekend before last. We went to Walmart and picked up an extension for Almira's hamster cage, because I was worried her hamster (Tisha a/k/a Mousie) was going crazy from the small cage, she just ran back and forth along the front most of the time. Putting her in her ball for some time didn't seem to help much. We got home from Walmart and I went to help her do the cage and she was dead. It was horrible for Almira and she just cried and said it was her first pet. It was awful and we had a hamster funeral that afternoon. Sarah cried as hard as Almira. The next day Sarah had cleaned out her hamster cage and was putting it together when she broke it. We went back to Walmart and got her a new cage. She was in the process of putting her new cage together when the section of tubing that Simon (her hamster) was in, fell off the chair and hit the wood floor. I was standing there washing dishes and I heard them say, I think he is unconscious. I knew something was bad right away. I grabbed a paper towel and went and picked him up. He died shortly thereafter and I kept him covered up so the girls wouldn't see him. Two hamsters in two days. It was a very sad weekend. Two hamster funerals in one weekend was just too much. Almira immediately wanted another hamster, but Jon vetoed any pets for a while. Sarah cried so hard that night and then Almira got started again and Jon just couldn't take it. So we are back down to 2 cats, one kitten and a big black lab. Almira has mentioned several time she wants another hamster, but we've convinced her Molly is enough right now.

I have some pictures to post, but don't have them loaded right now. I'll try and post them before Christmas, but the way things are going who knows. I will finish my current class on December 17th and then I'm off until January 8th. Then I have 3 classes left to graduate!! I can't wait.

Kathy

Almira's First Halloween

Tonight we had such a great time Trick-or-Treating for Halloween. Katherine (from Moldova) went with us and we went to the church for a little while for the Fall Festival and then we headed out for real trick-or-treating in some relative's neighborhood. I am about to crash for the night, but I just had to post some pictures.

These are some friends of ours children, Kellen and Kaysen (scarey scientist and little lamb princess). The girls had a great night and got quite a bit of candy.

The picture of Almira with the big man is her math teacher from school.

Kathy

Kathy

Happy Halloween to everyone!

I can't believe it has been a month since I posted. Things have been crazy but fun here. We have been so busy with school, choir, soccer and just life. The girls finished their first 9 weeks of school a few weeks ago and the report cards have come out. Sarah did well and Almira did wonderful. She had all A's and only one B, and that was a B+. 93 is an A and she made a 92 in math.

Also Almira joined the soccer team at school and I really think she is enjoying it. They had their first game last night and the girls won 3 to 1. It was my first real soccer game to see and I'm afraid I don't know the rules very well. It is a learning experience for all of us. Almira has soccer practice on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings, but now that games have started, she will play more games than have practice. It is great for her to be a part of a team. I hope she will make some friends. That is the only part she is still struggling with really.

We also added a new family member. I will attach a picture of her. I have been feeding a stray mama kitty up here where I work for about 3 months. She had kittens on Labor Day weekend, first weekend in September. The second week in October, when the kittens were about 4 to 5 weeks old, the mother was moving them across the parking lot and a girl that knows me saw this baby kitten left sitting there. She went and picked her up and brought her to me at my desk. She is quite adorable. She was very skittish at first, but the Mom is pretty wild. Now she is totally tame and is quite a cutie pie. She has so many colors on her she looks like a patch work quilt. She is mostly black, but has patches of orange tabby fur and then also some white patches. The girls decided to call her Molly. Of course she is Almira's kitten and living in Almira's room until the big cats get used to her.

I think she can hold her own against the big cats now, even though she is tiny. We took her to the vet on October 12th and she weighed 1 pound. She came home on October 9th. I have so many pictures of so much we have done, but I'll have to put in another post.

Tonight is Halloween and the girls are so excited. We are even bringing Katherine, our new college friend from Moldova with us tonight. She has never seen trick-or-treating before and is excited about going. I will have pictures of that to post later, along with Almira's first soccer game pictures.

Kathy

Updates from Boris

Just wanted to include some pictures of some of the kids getting their back to school presents. Almira was so excited to send a little something back to all her friends at the orphange. Our Sunday School class also pitched in and sent some backpacks and also helped me pay for shipping of 3 boxes to the orphanage.

I also posted some pictures from Roza's birthday party. Her birthday is in June, but I didn't get to send money for it until end of August. Roza and Vika are wearing their new jackets we send them. They look so cute.

Kathy B.

Just an update ...

Anna in the kitchen. Fun on the trampoline.

The girls on the couch looking at Almira's adoption pictures.

Things have been moving right along and the girls have just hit 5 weeks in school. They have 9 week semesters. So far so good with everyone. Almira has done really well with almost all A's and B's. She works so hard and is a really determined student. I've talked to some other friends this week and they've told me that their Russian kids don't really care how they do in school, which must be really hard to overcome. She is very conscientious about her school work.

We have made some more friends here in Monroe for Almira to speak Russian with. We met Anna a few weeks ago after church through someone at the college. Anna is from Petropavolvsk, Russia, which is on the outermost Northern tip of Russia, almost touching Alaska. When Almira met her she was really shy and Anna is very sweet, but a little reserved as well.

We had the CenturyTel company picnic on Saturday the 15th and we took the girls. Almira was a little bit slow getting started because she thought all the rides were for little kids. But she ended up riding a ride that spins you around and turns you upside down. She also did this really tall rock climbing wall. I told her she was my little monkey because she can climb so fast. Right before we left the picnic I found out about a lady that works here that is hosting a foreign exchange student from Moldovia. Her name is Katherine and she speaks Russian. Katherine has only been in town for a month. The lady here at CenturyTel, Karen, said that her host family backed out on her and someone had called her to see if she can help with her. Katherine is at our local university with no car and no cell phone. Karen is taking her most weekends and helping her out, but mentioned she could really use some help.

So on Sunday afternoon, the 16th, I called Anna and Katherine and had them over for a cookout. The girls had such a good time. Katherine is such a delight and so bubbly. Anna is very sweet and almost a little shy like Almira. Both girls were so good for Almira and really pulled her out of her shell. I got some great pictures of the girls together. I'll post later. After dinner Sarah mentioned that she wanted to go out and jump on the trampoline. Katherine got so excited she asked if she could go play too. So, I had all 4 girls out jumping on the trampoline together for about an hour. They really had such a good time. We are so happy that we found someone that Almira can still speak Russian with.

Almira called the orphanage Friday night, she had been bugging me about it for a while. She finally got to talk to Katya her best friend there. I think she was a little disheartened after talking with her and Zhenya. I think Zhenya accidentally hung up on her. She even said "I think Katya doesn't want to be my friend anymore." But the good news is that one of the girls that was in Almira's family is coming home this week. Her name is Nina and Jon and I both really liked her. She is 12 years old. She is coming home to Alabama, maybe Montgomery, but I haven't heard for sure. There is another family there now, the Perry family, I think from Utah. They are adopting two sisters, I think maybe 8 or 10. The older sister was also in Almira's family.

I'm so happy for these kids that are getting adopting and coming home to families that want them so desperately. Almria is really doing well and I can see her coming along every week. She told my Mom one day after school that she really likes school. She has opened up more with me and has told me more things about her childhood and about her past. Things about her mother, it is just heartbreaking to think what some of the children have been through. Hopefully with lots of love and a happy family she can overcome those years.

Well, I thought I had better update since it had been awhile. I'll check back later,

Kathy

Busy, busy, busy ...

Sorry it has been so long since I posted. We have been so busy. The girls are doing well in school, but we've just been so busy. Almira is making all A's and B's and is learning so fast. We had a good Labor Day weekend. We have a friend that has some horses and he called so we could go out to his ranch. Almira had been asking and asking if I knew anybody that had a horse. She is just crazy about horses.

So I've got some pictures attached of her riding a horse. He was a big sweet horse named Cadillac.

Then this past Tuesday we had a nice cool snap and the girls went bike riding after they finished their homework. Then they got out the sidewalk chalk and decorated our entire driveway. I hate we are getting hit by this little hurricane tonight, it is washing away all their beautiful drawings.

My friend Apryl with the Antares Foundation is over there right now, visiting all the kids. She has a blog going so I will post that link if anyone wants to follow her journey. In a way I'm jealous she is there, as it was so great to see those kids every day.

http://antaresorphans.blogspot.com

Things are going well here and everyone is great. I'll sign off and post some pictures now.

Kathy B.

What a fun weekend!

Well, the girls survived their first week of school and so did we. Almira really seems to be getting the hang of everything and said she enjoys school. She is with a really good group of girls, that will be nice to her. I just hope she can make a good friend this year.

Friday I left work early and went and picked up the girls from school about 1:30 p.m. I had to wait until Almira was through with all her tough subjects. I checked her out during study hall and then she only missed P.E. Jon was already at home and we got everything together and headed out to Dallas, Texas. This is a five hour drive for us and I was able to study my Biology for a while and Almira did almost all of her school work. We had to go back over almost all of her notes she had taken in class. She did suprisingly well with most of the words. She had to write down the reactions from some science experiments that were done in class on Thursday or Friday. I had quite a time guessing of some of the things she had written, but finally got almost all of them. Needless to say the first thing I did this morning at work was to send an e-mail to all her teachers and ask for help and send home more written things, so I can figure out what she is talking about. I heard back from all her teachers by e-mail within an hour. I love that school!

Friday night I attended the Women of Faith conference in Dallas at Reunion Arena and Jon, Sarah and Almira went and checked into our hotel, next to Ranger stadium. Jon's best friend, Dickie and his daughter were already there. The girls and I shared a room and the guys had a room all to themselves across the hall. While I was at the conference Friday night they were in the hotel pool for hours. They had a blast.

Saturday morning we got up and had breakfast downstairs at the Sheraton before Jon drove me over to the conference. Dickie kept the girls with him and they headed to the waterpark. Almira was so excited as this was her first ever water park. They went to Hurricane Harbor, next to Six Flags. They ended up staying almost all day. Jon dropped them off at the hotel and then returned to get me about 5:30 on Saturday afternoon.

Then about 6:30 we headed over to Texas stadium and were hoping to see Mercy Me who sang outside the stadium. But we did not get there in time. We bought tickets for the game and headed in. Some nice man and his wife had handed Dickie two tickets before he bought any. They turned out to be right behind the Rangers dugout. Me and the girls ended up at the very top of the nosebleed section. After the first inning Jon called me on my cell phone and said that there were empty seats all around them. We headed down and found some great seats about 11 rows behind the Rangers dugout. Almira took lots of pictures, which I will have developed. It was quite interesting trying to explain the game of baseball to her. She was amazed by the baseball stadium and especially the crowds at the stadium, when the Rangers hit a home run.

We really did have a great weekend and the girls had a blast. Needless to say I was so happy to get home last night and catch up on my sleep. Sleeping in a room with 3 giggling girls is not exactly restful. Sarah got stuck sleeping with me (or maybe the other way around) because Almira and Kellen said she kicked in her sleep and moved around too much. Sarah is just a bed hog and sleeps right in the middle of the bed.

We got home around 5:00 Sunday afternoon, in time to get started on more school work for Almira. She worked on history (which is really Louisiana geography), then English until time for bed last night. I'm glad she has a really good work ethnic about her school work, which makes it easier to get everything done.

I'll post some baseball pictures soon after I get them developed.

Thanks, Kathy

A new school year

Today was the first day of school for Sarah and Almira. Yesterday I spent the morning at school with Almira for middle school orientation. She was tested and they decided 6th grade would a good fit for her. Her math tested out at almost 7th grade, but reading comprehension was lower. The principal and I talked last week and we agreed since she has not even been in the country 3 months and is reading at a second grade level, just think how much better she will be by Christmas. She seemed pretty comfortable once we walked through her entire schedule and I showed her where everything is located. I had an opportunity to talk to most of her teachers and tell them about her and that English is a second language for her, one she is still learning. They were very understanding. All of Sarah's teachers from last year were so excited to meet her and promised to look out for her. I have no doubt she will be well taken care of. There are only 14 kids in her class. As I was leaving the school this morning I remembered that I forgot to take a picture of the girls on their first day of school. I will try and capture one tomorrow.

I received an e-mail this afternoon from Boris with the Antares Foundation about Almira's going away party and also about Vika's birthday party.

As some of you may not know we are now sponsoring Roza, the pretty girl with the dark features. While Mom and Dad have started sponsoring Vika (aka The Darling Vika).

Here is a link to the post about Almira's going away party in May and Vika's birthday party.

Thanks, Kathy

http://www.antares-orphans.com/activity.aspx?id=70505

Full fledged citizen

Someone had asked me for pictures of the judge in Petro that heard our case. I can't remember where I saw that. Please send me an e-mail and I'll send to you personally.

Well, we headed down south Sunday after church to New Orleans. We received a letter about 2 weeks ago telling us to come to New Orleans for Almira to take an oath of allegiance to the country. We spent the night in a nearby hotel and got up Monday morning and headed across the interstate to the immigration office.

We could not bring in a camera at all, so Mom had to take it back to the car. There was only room in the small office for Almira and I so Mom and Sarah stayed out front in the waiting room. The waiting in the waiting room took longer than the entire process. They had a big thick file on Almira (or maybe it was on Jon and I). They pulled out her Certificate of Citizenship and she signed a few places and then took an oath and that was it. We were done by about 9:30. Our appointment was at 9AM and we got there about 8:40. They truly do not call you back until it is your appointment time. We got called back at almost 9:15.

Then we took our time coming home, stopping in Baton Rouge and taking the girls to the big mall there and then having lunch. Back to work today for me and another day hanging out with Memmie and Pawpaw.

Almira will go to the school on Thursday and get tested to see what grade they think she can go into. We are still thinking 6th, which would only be 2 grades behind where we are now. But she might surprise me and do well enough for 7th. I do worry about her being mature enough for 7th grade here in America. At times she seems much younger than 14 and at other times she seems older than her years.

Tonight we had Russian night at our house, kind of. We stopped at the grocery on the way home and bought stuff to make chicken salad. We just baked our chicken and then I put it in a food processor with lots of mayo (courtesy of Almira). Then she cut up tomatoes and cucumbers with lots of salt and pepper. We made Jon some without the veggies. Then we cooked Blinys. Almira wanted to do them almost all by herself. I helped her get the ingredients out and measure them. She cooked them all by herself and did pretty good. They were of course thicker than the ones we had in Almaty, but I think it is an art form to making blinys.

She is a pretty good cook and really enjoys cooking. I just wish I could get her to love cleaning up, although she does pretty good.

Things are going well here and the countdown is on for school to start. The girls go back on Wednesday, August 22nd.

Till later,
Kathy B.

What a fun weekend

These are the dress-up night pictures, not the wedding, just in case you're wondering.

Thursday night started the fun with dress up night.

Almira and Sarah got in the play makeup and had a great time. Then came the costumes. Almira threw something together and Sarah went to the closet after last year's Halloween costume. I just had to snap a few pictures it was wonderful.

Then Friday after work we went shopping for Sarah a hamster cage. Now we have two hamsters in our family, the hermit crabs didn't make it long. After that we had dinner, just me and the girls. Then we headed to the mall and shopping for Almira a special dress to wear to a wedding. We found her a new dress that she liked and also some shoes she was comfortable with. We had such a good time and shut down the mall on Friday night.

Then on Saturday Svetlana came and did English lessons with Almira while Sarah and I ran a few errands, which included us bringing home Simon, the newest family member. Then after we got home the girls went swimming for a couple of hours. Then inside to get ready for the wedding. This was Almira's first wedding to attend and she had a wonderful night. We attended the wedding and then stopped by Mom and Dad's house before going to the reception. I knew they would want to see the girls all dressed up.

Almira ended with saying it was a wonderful night and when could we go to another wedding. I hope you'll like these pictures.

Good night,

Kathy

A few more pictures ...

Just a few more. Check out the hat that Almira and Memmie made. These others are Almira at the camp. She is showing off her proud catch. For those not from the south, that is a catfish she is holding. They are yum yum! She loves them now.

Pictures from June and July

Just a few of the girls. Almira at the zoo in New Orleans. Sarah, Almira and I on the back deck of the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, MS, overlooking the ocean. Sarah and Almira in a gift shop in New Orleans hugging a bear. Also, Sarah and Almira in a carriage on the grounds of the Houmas House.