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! 

Little did we know that first night how often we would feel like there really were an awful lot of people in the bathroom at toothbrushing time! In the mirror, Mommy Cathy, Rosemary, Mercedes and Fernanda.

The first day as a mom! Rosemary, Mercedes and Fernanda and I enjoy the sun outside the Marriott in Guatemala City.