Happy Birthday Dad

Another year to celebrate! Happy Birthday Darrell!  The kids showered dad with hand written notes and praise...it was very sweet!  Sweet dessert followed our yummy dinner....mmmmm!  Love you Darrell!

Happy Father's Day

To my man...dad to our 9 kids! You are a great dad who is looking to The Lord for direction in all of our lives! Happy Fathers Day!

Our Beautiful Ballerina

Isn't she just beautiful! On my, our sweet ballerina...ready for the Mary Poppins production!

Toothless

Joseph lost his first and second tooth less than 24 hours apart...just adding to his cute factor!

Adoption Time

Two and 1/2 years a go we said yes to fostering a sibling group of 3.  It has been by far one of the toughest cases we have taken on.  It has made us dig deep, changed us in big ways, challenged us, blessed our socks off, and somewhere along the way....we feel in love with them!

This past Monday, they became an official --in a legal sense --a part of our family.  They have been a part of our family in our hearts for much, much longer.

We gathered together with friends, family, CASA workers, our DCYF worker, our Luthern Service worker--a crowd to be reckoned with numbering over 50 at the court house in Concord.  You could feel the excitement in the air.  The adopted kids were given a balloon by their worker which became a valuable tool as they raced among all the folks that were a part of their life.  We were ushered in to the court room, filled it to the brim.

The judge did an absolute wonderful job of making it official.  Each kid got to pound the gavel to make it official!  You could hear Harmony giggle up the stairs to sit with the judge but we could only see her balloon bouncing up and down as she walked up the stairs.  Joe loved sitting in the judges seat and Devon brought much mischief as he raced down the steps afterward and tangled his balloon with Harmony's wrapping a court worker with it!  They even served cupcakes to the kids attending and I think there were enough for most of the kids!  It was fun.

We then headed to Kimball farm for ice cream, the petting zoo and the sand pile (a favorite among the kids). The grown ups chatted, checked out the beautiful flowers in the green house till late in the afternoon...as folks started to leave, we  invited those that were left to join us for dinner.  We took home tired, sandy kids after special day.

We welcome Joseph Aden, Rebecca Harmony and Devon Jackson to our family!

All of us in the judges seat.

Devon checking out the icing in his cupcake.

The judge with Harmony and Joe.

The sand pile at the farm...fun!

Devon in truck, sand happiness!

I snapped this picture in my happy place- the garden she's.

Barefoot Harmony at the sand pile.

50 Years

This past Sunday afternoon, we celebrated my parents 50th Anniversary with family and friends!  It was a day of seeing many folks that we had not touched base with for a very long time. We reconnected as we celebrated together.

We were able to start the morning off with them by joining them at church (after running errands and doing last minute set up). This church has a lot of family history...my dad grew up in it, my mom's dad was a pastor there...my parents were married there and so were my sister and I. So, that was a treat...Aunts, Cousins, my Sunday School teacher from when I was in 2nd grade, choir members that I have know since I was a kid were there too.

We then went over to the church hall where my sister, her husband and her son were keeping the food part going --very well I might add. We fellowshipped, played a newlywed game with my folks, reminisced and ate lots of food and dessert.  

One woman who I have know my entire life reminded me of several events that happened before we made the move to. NH.  She then stated she would never be the same knowing our family.  That was a very humbling statement.

A cool fact about the day...one of their bridesmaids was in attendance...my Aint Carol Bennett and their flower girl, my cousin, Suejean Bowles was there.

So...here are some if our pictures....

Aunt Suzy taking some pictures...

The cake celebrating the occasion.

Dad and Mom playing a version of the newlywed game.

Dan and Caris "hosted" the game...above are the 50 facts about my folks in numbers. That was fun to put together!

All the grandkids lined up in the stairs at John Boggs Hall.

Carolyn, my sister, my dad and I chatting.

The whole Fitzgerald Clan...aren't we something to behold??

A beautiful picture board my sister created...she did a beautiful job!

Dan did all the cooking that morning, it was pretty awesome. Here Darrell is giving him a hand serving.

Here, everyone pitched in to clean up ...my cousin Jackies son, Jeffery with my nephew Mitchell and our Harmony.

Some of the numbers for the 50 facts about my folks.

My mom and dad chatting with Marjorie Reeves.

Caris entertained some folks with her piano playing.

Happy 50th Anniversary Mom and Dad!

26 Years and Counting

We have had so many things going on this year, we chose not to set aside time to celebrate our anniversary with a traditional date night but took the whole gang-1 to Olive Garden for some yummy dessert!  We enjoyed the company and the sweets to celebrate!