Though this picture isn't very good, it does have a great story behind it ...

When I was 17, I got some pen-pals from Teen magazine.  One of them was from western Ohio and her name was Laurie.  We had an immediate connection that has continued on through the years.  She got married not long after high school, and we went our separate ways for awhile.  A few years later, I received a Christmas card from her (at my parents' house) - in the interim, I had gotten married.  We got back in touch, and started visiting with each other.

When Ashley was born, Laurie and her husband became Uncle Tony & Aunt Laurie, and they just doted on her.  They tried for over 10 years to have children but could not.  Good thing Ashley was personality plus - there was always enough of her to go around.

When we were in the process of adopting Gracie, Laurie finally became pregnant!  Their son Caleb was born one month after Gracie - he was born in July, a few weeks later we received our referral call for Gracie.

The picture above was taken the following fall, when Gracie & Caleb were about 18 months old and Laurie was pregnant with baby #2 (FYI: they have 6 kids now!)

Wanna participate in Blast from the Past?  Check out the details here.