Mommy Cathy helps a fisher girl cast a line into our friends' pond. Everyone (except Mommy Sarah) caught a fish that day. I was too busy capturing memories. Bill and Marilyn were our neighbors at our first house on 41st Place. They've moved way out into the country and spend all their time fishing and mowing the lawn! That, and teaching our girls how to enjoy country living. 

Rosemary and Fernanda captured here last summer playing wedding with the new gazebo in our backyard. That backyard hosted a LOT of weddings last summer. The gazebo was a gift from Mommy Sarah's mother.

Mommy Cathy and the girls in front of "Touchdown Jesus" at Notre Dame. L to R Mercedes Rosemary and Fernanda. This picture will mean a lot more to them when they know what football is, and what Notre Dame football is. 

A rare shot of the whole family. We were at Notre Dame for a wedding and took time afterward to wander around. L to R Fernanda, Mercedes and Rosemary. 

Mommy Sarah takes a break from loading or unloading the dishwasher. Judging from the angle, the photograper was either Mercedes or Fernanda. Note the fully decorated refrigerator! 

Mommy Sarah stuck pretty close at the aquarium just to be sure no one practiced their new swimming skills with the fish. We all made it outside with dry clothes! 

Our three explorers enjoyed the aquarium in Gatlinburg. They could have spent hours standing here talking about the fish, especially the ones which looked like Nemo. 

The little mermaids learned to swim last June on our trip to South Carolina. L to R Fernanda, Mercedes and Rosemary. Fernanda says "I like to swim in Miss Jackie and Miss Peggy's pool. I love the pool." Their hot tub was just big enough for the girls to get some practice, and just small enough for them to feel safe. A nice metaphor, isn't it? 

Aunt Gretchen and her nieces at the bowling alley in Rock Hill. L to R Rosemary, Mercedes and Fernanda. Fernanda, who is sitting in my lap as I write this, says "I love you and I want to come back." 

Mercedes and Mommy Sarah take a break before tackling the next painting project. This red blanket chest became green and is now on the back porch. All the bikes in the background are now too small. We're saving the two littlest ones for the twin girls down the street! 

Last June, we went to the Indiana Festival at Conner Prairie where the girls got to practice some percussion with the dulcimer group. 

Here's a typical morning at our house. Mommy Sarah is wearing a robe that may have been a gift from Uncle Paul. (It's so old that its origins are fading in memory.) The girls are looking at pictures on Mommy Sarah's laptop while they finish up breakfast. L to R, Mercedes, Fernanda and Rosemary. 

Our second Mother's Day, Mommy Cathy got a vacuum cleaner. As you can see, the girls were really excited about the wrapping job! L to R Rosemary, Mercedes and Fernanda. FYI, this picture is taken between the kitchen and dining room. 

Pausing for a moment Christmas Eve 2004, L to R, Mercedes, Rosemary and Fernanda, anticipate they know not what! It was so much more a mystery than Halloween! They had no idea what to expect, but handled all the hoopla with great graciousness and joy! Merecedes and Fernanda are wearing Christmas outfits supplied by Mama Bela, their foster mom in Guatemala.

Proud moms celebrate the baptism of L to R Fernanda, Rosemary and Mercedes on December 5, 2004, the anniversary of Mommy Sarah's confirmation in 1981! 

Close cousins, these five! In December 2004, from the top, Rosemary, Fernanda, Chente, Matias, and Mercedes. Here they're playing number bingo - obviously Mom-inspired entertainment. These five cousins find lots to amuse themselves with or without any moms' help!

The first Halloween (2004)- matching ladybugs. They were mystified by the whole thing. You knock on strangers' doors? And ask for candy? And they give it to you? Lots of it? And all they wanted to eat was the lollypops!  

Here's the first day of school in August, 2004. Mercedes was a little bored with the picture-taking, so brought a book to the scene. Her sisters just laughed through the whole ordeal! 

Here's another scene that gets repeated regularlgy - picnics in the backyard. Here, L toR, Fernanda, Rosemary, and Mercedes enjoy their first picnic together in Indianapolis. 

This scene has repeated itselft countless times, since first enacted on Rosemary's first day in the U.S. In this scene, though, she's on a bike for the first time in her life, a gift from Grandma and Grandpa. Fernanda is coaching her from the bike just ahead while Mercedes races ahead. 

I can't think about this day without getting damp eyes! Here the girls are reunited in Indianapolis, three months after leaving Rosemary. Mercedes is on your left, Fernanda on your right.

Here they are on a luggage cart in Guatemala City taking an unusual pause from running wildly across the marble lobby. L to R , Rosemary, Mercedes and Fernanda

Oddly enough, this is the only picture of the five of us in Guatemala City. We're standing at an overlook near Lake Atitlan. We are all of us exhausted and windblown from riding in the back of a little white pickup truck around Guatemala City and its environs. Still and all, what a wonderful experience for all of us to have that time with the girls' foster families! 

We took the girls' foster families to the Zoo in Guatemala city. What a delightful zoo, and what a lovely, generous family. Mercedes and Fernanda's foster mom, Mama Bela (2nd row, far right) was Rosemary's foster mom's (1st row, far left) real mom. Abuelita Cruz (1st row, far right), was Mama Bela's mother, and a loving grandmother to the girls.  

From the beginning, they connected with books. While not the best picture, this was an important event. We read this book, Love You Forever by Robert Munsch, every night at bedtime. The girls would look at it before they slept, and would sing the little verse in it to each other as I had sung it to them. We left it with Rosemary when we brought Mercedes and Fernanda home, and she and her foster mother read it together every night. We wanted her to know we loved her forever and would be coming for her soon!