Happy Easter!

We had a wonderful day with a good church service, then lots of food and fun with the whole family. It is the first Easter that we have been able to spend with our entire family since Katelyn was a little baby. The grown-ups played corn-hole or holey board as some people call it. The "kids", some little and big, dyed eggs. Some male figures took naps and dozed on the couch.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful day, and was able to take time to reflect on Jesus' resurrection.

When Life Comes Full Circle, Part III

This is a multi-part story. To catch up if you are just reading, please read Parts I & II

Here we are, back to our story. I left off saying that the next time that Josh and I would see each other was to be July, but I totally forgot another meeting.

In June, Josh's grandparents in Kansas City were celebrating their 50th Anniversary together. I decided to fly out there to be with the family during this awesome celebration. I remember that Josh came to pick me up with one of his brothers at the airport, and we went to eat at a barbecue restaurant. Kansas City apparently is famous for barbecue. If you know Josh, he has a thing for barbecue, especially Sonny's barbecue. I was a teeny bit nervous to meet his extended family for the first time. His grandparents were so nice, and I really enjoyed getting to meet them.

We all stayed at his grandparents small condo there. This meant there were A LOT of people in one place. I remember sleeping with both Sarah and Emily in a king sized bed with at least 2 or three small children all around us. Fun times. The first morning, I remember Joel was awake very, very early in the morning. No one seemed to be stirring, so I got up with him. He was so little, but he wanted an apple, so I got him one. I wasn't used to sleeping with people all around me like that, so I must have been partly awake anyways. I think I remember he had been sleeping on top of me and Sarah. I was so tired, but I followed him around the house as he toddled about.

That day, we helped set up the church for the party. It was quite a large party, reminiscent of a wedding reception. We all had a great time being together, setting up tables and putting out decorations. My intuition told me that perhaps Josh might propose sometime that weekend, with it being a special occasion for his family. It was kind of in my mind all that time. But it never came to pass. That was okay though. I could be patient. He would ask me when he was ready.

The 50th celebrations went really well. Grandpa and Grandma were thrilled to have all of their family there and so many friends to come out and congratulate them. I remember that many of Josh's family sang throughout the reception, and Sarah played her violin. It really was a beautiful time.

One night back at the grandparents' house, Sarah, Emily and I decided to look at Grandma Fisher's old clothes in her guest room closet. She had a ton of vintage, 1940's era clothing, hats, and coats. They were absolutely gorgeous. We tried some of them on and took pictures of ourselves. We were becoming like sisters, the three of us. We loved so many similar things, like Jane Austen movies and good classic books. It was a wonderful bonding time for us.

In July, my family and I traveled up to Louisville to visit our family for the 4th of July week. That was pretty much where all of our vacations took place at that time. Josh came down from Michigan, and we were looking forward to a fun time together. We decided to take a picnic lunch to a park not far from my aunt's home. Josh was "in charge" of our date, and my aunt and mom helped him pack some food and things. I was feeling a bit out of sorts as it happened to be that time of the month for me, and I really didn't have an easy time of it at all. Well of course, I couldn't tell Josh that!!

So we go to the park, and I kind of had a feeling that this might be a monumental date, but I wasn't really sure. There had been other opportunities before that weren't taken, so he always would keep me guessing. He must have wanted it to be absolutely perfect, because he made us walk through a whole lot of the park looking for the exact spot for us to have our picnic. We would get to a spot, and I would say something like, how about this spot, and he would say no. So the more we walked, the more I felt grumpy. I just wanted to sit and eat. I was hungry and in pain. Can we just sit anywhere???? Did I mention it was hot out there? It was July. Well, finally, we found a secluded and shady spot that Josh found to be the "spot". He sets down the picnic basket that he had been carrying, and hands me a white sheet for us to sit on. He asked me to lay it out. So, I kind of shook it out and he helped me get it laid out. Then I noticed there were words on the blanket. He told me that I should read what it said. Of course, in big black spray painted words (very nicely done), it said "Will You Marry Me?". I look up and he is on his knees with a ring in his hands. I said "YES!" immediately and ran over to hug and kiss him. I couldn't believe it. I felt like such a heel for being a grump. It was like a joy and a nervousness came over me like none other. My mind started racing as we talked about when and where we wanted to get married. I think we ate, but mostly we figured out that we wanted to get married soon, like in the fall, and we would probably get married in Louisville. Wow.

I was super shy about going back to the house. It gave me such butterflies, I could hardly face everyone. I knew they were going to be so full of emotion and jokes and everything else. The whole family was at the house waiting for us to get back as Josh had filled them in on the plans before hand. He had asked my dad quite a bit earlier that year, so my parents had known for a while that this was coming.

I couldn't believe it. I was getting married. It was a dream that I had dreamed of since I was little. Here I had such a wonderful man that I had fallen in love with, and we were perfect for each other. He and I were not only in love, but we were best friends. Our hearts and minds had become one over the past months as we had committed to our relationship with each other. There was no doubt in either of our minds that we were meant to be together.

When Life Comes Full Circle, Part II

To read the first installment go to Part I

Here we were at the end of the school year of 1995. Josh and I had grown so much in our relationship. We were best friends as well as boyfriend and girlfriend. I really felt that he was the one that I wanted to be with for the rest of my life. We never talked about that really, but I think we both felt it. We really never fought, and we understood each other so very well. He truly was my one and only.

My degree was a bachelor of science degree in secretarial administration with a minor in English. Before I went to Atlanta to enter the working world, I decided that I wanted to go spend a summer working as a counselor at a camp. A few of my close friends were going to be working there, so I figured it would be a lot of fun to do as one last hurrah of my college years. Josh's family needed help at the church they were at, so he went home to work with the youth group that summer.

Despite all of my high hopes, that summer proved to be very, very hard on our relationship. We could only talk about once a week when I had an off day. We were both experiencing such different things that summer and it was hard for us to relate to each other. I started questioning things, and I believe he was as well. It was just a really weird time in our lives. At the end of the summer, I was planning to go back up to visit Stone Rose Meadow and the Fishers again.

August came, and up to Michigan I went. I was much more comfortable with his family, and we really had a great time together, but all throughout, the strain that the summer had put on my relationship with Josh was really showing when we were alone. Finally one day, we went for a long walk on the dirt road that they lived on. We sat down on a bridge and began to talk things out. We knew that we were at a turning point. We had to decide whether or not we were committed to this relationship. If we were, then we were committing to be more serious than just boyfriend and girlfriend. We were committing to each other to possibly be married one day. Thankfully, we both decided that our relationship was too good to give up on. We jumped in head first and never looked back after that moment. We did not know how our story would go, but we knew that we loved each other very, very much.

I went back to Atlanta and started working as an assistant to the VP of construction for a large construction company. It was an entry-level type position, but one that taught me a lot. Josh on the other hand, decided to stay home for the school year and continue working with the youth program instead of returning to college. He had one more year of schooling left to get his degree, but that had to go on hold for awhile. This also enabled him to be able to visit me in Atlanta more and save money for our future.

There were two trips that were very memorable for me that he made. One, he came down south for Thanksgiving. I remember that being such a wonderful weekend, and we spent every moment possible together. I also remember him sending me a "fall" package earlier that fall filled with wonderful Michigan apples and loads of colorful leaves. I really missed the fall while living in the south. It was my very favorite time of year back home in Kentucky, and it was never quite the same further south. The other trip that he made was that he surprised me by coming to Kentucky for Christmas when we went up to see our family for the holidays. We got in late one night to my aunt's home, and when I walked in to my bedroom to put my stuff down, he was sitting in a chair with a Santa hat on!! I literally screamed and jumped in his arms. I couldn't believe it!! He couldn't stay very long as he had to be at home with his family, but oh, how much I missed being with him! That weekend, we took one of my favorite pictures of the two of us on an old stone cemetary wall with the snow coming down. (This may inspire me to dig it up and see if I can't post it at the end of my series. It really should be framed in our house.) The winter dragged on into spring. I was able to make a February trip to Michigan, and he made a trip south another time. Through all this time, our relationship was getting to the point that we could not stand being apart. We talked almost every day, and it was torture to say goodbye. The next time we were going to be able to see each other was going to be July 4th week.

Check back in for the next installment. . .

When Life Comes Full Circle, Part I

This is going to be a series of posts highlighting some Fisher family history until the present. Continue to check for the next installment.

About 19 years ago, a young girl of sixteen moved from the only home she had really ever known in Louisville, Kentucky, to live in Jacksonville, Florida.

It was my senior year of high school, and a very hard transition. Thankfully, I immediately met some friends, some of whom I keep in contact with to this very day. A year later, I made the decision to attend a small college in Pensacola, FL to major in secretarial administration. That decision had a big part in forming who I am today. The friends I met and the memories made are ones that will stick with me for years. During my sophomore year, unbeknown to me, a guy who was a freshman was "watching" me during my lunch break. We had a mutual friend who was supposed to introduce that guy to me, but he never did. Besides, I had a boyfriend "back home" at the time, and I wasn't really looking to date anyone else.

The next summer, I ended up breaking up with my boyfriend, and looked forward to going back to school with an open dating life. Right before school started, my friends and I went to a promotional program for our college in a little town outside of Jacksonville. The group putting on the program had been in our town the day before, but we were unable to go see them. The next night, we walk into this very, very small church with about maybe 15 pews to see the group perform. Now, this was the next to the last time they would perform, so we just squeaked in on being able to see them. In this group was four guys including one: Josh Fisher. We met all of the guys that night as hardly anyone came to the program, and we ended up talking and singing at the piano after the program. Little did I know, but Josh was that guy who had been "watching" me in the lunch room the year before. The only thing I really remember about him from that night was that he told a story about having a large family with some adopted brothers.

Back to college I go. Not long after arriving, I kept getting calls from this guy named Josh. I was never in my room, so I was very hard to get a hold of. My roommate, who also happened to be one of my very good friends, grilled this guy on why he was calling. He told her that he wanted to ask me out. The funny thing was, I didn't even remember that I had met a Josh at that program. I thought it was a guy named Josh from my computer class.

Well, finally, Josh was able to catch me in my room and he asked me out. We went out and had a blast together, laughing and really just getting along really well that first evening. Meanwhile, he asked me to go to a formal event at our college with him later that week. The only problem with that was, two or three days before the event, I got a call from his friend that Josh had broken his leg playing soccer and that he would probably be going home. I thought to myself, that was that. He was a great guy, but nothing will come of that if he is going home.

A few weeks later, I see Josh slowly crutching his way into our common hang-out area at school. I asked my friend why he was there, and she said that he didn't end up having surgery on his leg and that he was back. To my surprise, he walked up to the group of friends I was with. Something inside me told me that this may be the beginning of something new. As you can guess, we started to hang out and do everything together, but for the whole rest of the year, we really decided that we were just friends. We really truly were. We were dating in every sense of the word, but we never said those three special words, "I Love You". We both decided that we did not want to officially say those words and be boyfriend and girlfriend until we knew that we were really serious about our relationship. In May, before Josh left for traveling with the group again, we decided that we were ready to say those words and be more committed to each other. He was going out west to travel, so I got a map and traced every part of his trip, so that I could follow along. We didn't get to talk often, but when we did, it was always very late at night for me and as long of a conversation as we could have.

In August 1994, I went to visit Josh's family for the first time. They lived in Reed City, Michigan in a large farmhouse. I was extremely nervous to meet his family and experience a little bit of his life. I was a city girl, so the whole country living was pretty foreign to me. I fell in love with his family immediately, and that experience endeared him more to me. When we went back to school, our relationship grew and grew. We really didn't know what the future held for us as I was graduating in May and moving to Atlanta, Georgia, where my parents were moving that summer. Josh on the other hand was going back to Michigan to help out at home.

Check back in for more later. . .

Katelyn Solo

Here is our girl's first solo at the children's Christmas program at church. Enjoy! We are proud of her.

Halloween

Happy Birthday Emma Mei Yi Shan Fisher!

I can't believe my girl is turning four. To be fair, we weren't with her the first 20 months of her life, but it does seem in a way that she has always been in our family. She makes me smile or laugh at her antics and sayings every single day. The joy we share together is inexplicable.

Emma had her annual physical and she is 34 1/2 lbs. and 39 1/2 inches--right in the 50th percentile. She has grown a lot this summer and is starting to look more like a little girl and less like a toddler. Isn't it sad when they lose their baby cheeks?

Mei Mei is still very much an empathetic person. If someone is sad or mad, she will get sad or mad for them. If Katelyn is in trouble or crying, she joins right in with her, which doesn't always make for a pleasant situation! She is enthralled with when she was a baby and we have started opening the dialog about adoption more and more. She wants to re-enact being a baby often, which is fine with me! We have a lot of books that are about adoption from China for kids, and she most often picks those as her favorites to read. Now she is starting to connect the similarities in the stories to her story. I am planning to make a simple photo-book online to read to her with her pictures and the story of her coming to our family to hopefully help her understand what is her actual story versus what she imagines from reading the books. Not that the books are that much different, but I think it is better for her to see her own self in the pictures and know how it happened for her. She even asked for her crib back the other day, and is not to thrilled to hear that we don't have it anymore. So, I showed her a picture of it in her room and that seemed to satisfy her.

She definitely has a bit of a stubbornness in that cute little body, but it is usually easily rectified with a time-out. Those are torture for her, and even the thought of it will sometimes correct her behavior. She also knows how to use her cuteness to get away with things. I can't tell you how many times I have to turn my head to laugh before I correct her. Stinker! :-)

I am going to post some of the things she says, but I know I cannot remember them all. She must say something new and funny almost every day.

• When going to drink a sippy cup, she will check with me, and say, "Is this yummy or yucky?" to make sure it is not an old one.
• The other day she was mad because Katelyn was having a bit of a end of the day meltdown, and she said, "I'm going to sqweeze these people (little toy people) if you don't do . . .(whatever it was that Katelyn wanted.)" Needless to say we cracked up laughing, which didn't go over very well.
• She is very sensitive to smells, and she will often be very vocal about that in public. This can lead to some awkward situations. "Oooo, Mommy, what is that smell?", or "Jack-jack, smell dat man, smell dat man, what does he smell wike?"
• Every day she asks if Katelyn is at school and if she is having a good time.
• "Can I cuddle wif you, Mommy?" I especially love this one.
• "Can we read a story?"
• When we put her to bed, and she is tired, she will just turn over and say "Goodnite." and expect you to get on your way.
• Before going to sleep, she will ask if she can have a certain food the next day. For instance, "Can we have noodles tomorrow for bweakfast?" or "Can we have sketti (spaghetti) tomorrow?"
• When I told her we had to go to the doctor for her physical, she was scared we were going to the allergy doctor (another post for another time). She said, "Are there no awwegy doctor? Do they not have duckies (inhaler accessory), or neti pots, or tvs?" I assured her they were just checking to see how big she had gotten. She was okay with that, but said, "Can we go to Target and get a toy after da doctoh?" I guess she wanted the benefits that she got after the long, hard allergy appt. Well, a sticker and a sucker worked instead!
• She loves to sing the Johnny Appleseed song before dinner for our prayer and yell, "Amen!" really loudly at the end.
• She will often go up to people and ask them if they have any babies. If so, she wants to know what they named them. It is funny when she asks old men this question!
• She likes to compliment women on their hair. "I wike your hair", she says or "Your hair is so pwetty!"
• Instead of saying, "What did you say?", she will say "What did I say?" I finally am learning to interpret this one correctly. Or, if she says something funny, and we laugh, she will say, "What did I say?" while laughing at herself.
• "Can I have candy if I do my inhaawer?" (dragging out the a sound)
• "I don't wike that movie, it scary." This could pertain to anything, even non-scary movies.
• "Come on, come on---we're famiwy (family)!", while motioning for everyone to get in a group hug and kiss and hug each other. Even when she uses this line when she is supposed to be in bed, I cannot resist it. How could I? She will not rest until all of us are in the group.
• I ask her to do something and she says, "I'm too busy!", and she is usually not doing anything.
• She says "Esqueeze me." instead of excuse me. If she says this to Grandpa, she usually gets squeezed for real. That makes her giggle!
• When she needs help, she says, "A wittle help, please!"
• One day she told my aunt Kim, "It's too wate (late)." When Kim asked her what is is too late for, she broke out into the song from our American Idol Wii game. . . "It's too wate to 'powogize. . ." ("Too Late to Apologize") while running around the house and jumping up and down.

That is all the cute stuff I can think of for now. If I get some more, I will add them.

I hope you have a wonderful day, Mei Mei! I am so thankful that you are in our family and that I get to be your Mommy!!

Third Grade

Katelyn enjoying the final days of summer

Obligatory first day of school photo

Third grade promises to be fun:

Mr. Smith

cursive writing

new friends

homework

hot lunches

Spanish

and more

Kate was nervous the first night before school, but those jitters were soon replaced by better feelings after the first day. She was afraid the work was going to be a lot harder this year, but she is such a great student, that I assured her that she would do just fine!

So thankful for my third grader, and I can't wait to see what she learns this year!

Vacation Bliss

Click on the picture to view more of what we've been up to this summer or click here for the whole set.

Michael Van Kleeck for Congress

Just wanted to throw some support out there for my brother-in-law.  

He is running for congress in 2010.  

Check out their website.