I told Gracie she had to wear that shirt just once, for nostalgia's sake!  It actually looks quite cute on her.  Now, I guess I should take a picture of her wearing it to share. 

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.

What exactly would you call that crazy-looking, Hollie-Hobbie-like, plaid ensemble?!  I call it U-G-L-Y.  What was my mom thinking?!  The funny thing about it is that our kids will be looking back on old pictures someday, saying the same thing about us. 

I haven't looked at this picture for years, so I'm sitting here analyzing it and just wanted to point out a few observations:

1. In making excuses for that boyish haircut, I just have to say that I've always had extremely thick hair.  Even now, I can't wear it long because it weighs down my head and gives me headaches.  Speaking of hair, what color would you call that?
2. I've always had that thing going on with my eyes - when I smile, one eye always looks more closed than the other.
3. What the heck happened to my eyebrows?  They look rather nice in this picture, but over the years they've  thickened up and now require waxing to make them look this good.  Go figure (maybe it has something to do with the thick hair).
4. Looking at that smile makes me realize why it was necessary to have braces on my top teeth for 14 months.

If you'd like to participate in Blast from the Past, hop on over to Debbie's blog and join the fun!

Geesh - I hope Debbie's happy - because I'm feeling rather humiliated at the moment!  My brothers are cute though, huh?  David had a smile that could light up a room;  for some reason, in this picture, Jonathan is looking a bit dazed.

To see more Blast from the Past photos, check out Debbie's blog.