Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Speedstreet


For those of you who don't know...Charlotte is the home of NASCAR. This past week is what is called Race Week. Two weekends in a row there are races with Speedstreet in between. Uptown (most of you would call it downtown, but here it is called Uptown)Charlotte's streets are closed and they are filled with stages, free food booths, giveaways, race teams, race cars, etc. It is actually pretty fun. A total microcosm of America. You see every shape, size, and color which makes it a great people watching opportunity. Plus, there is lots of free stuff given away and we like free. There are goofy things to do like get your picture taken in the giant sundae...and if you click on the link, you'll see Declan riding a BMX bike! www.lunchablesstudio.com/3917

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Another amazing adoptive family...

You can check out http://www.blessingsfromethiopia.blogspot.com/ or you can go to http://www.fourthwatch.net/ and watch a 3 minute trailer for a documentary about their amazing adoption journey. I am inspired by all these incredible families....

If you want to know...

what our trip to Ethiopia might be like...click on Forever Young in my blog list. They are currently in Ethiopia picking up their daughter. Leah gives a great description of everything they are doing as well as the wide ranging emotions we'll probably experience. Gets me even more excited!!!

Friday, May 22, 2009

Memorial Day

This weekend we celebrate Memorial Day. For many of you, it means a 3 day weekend, time at the beach or mountains, a picnic, the beginning of summer. I looked up the origins and thought I would share some of the info I found...

Memorial days did not start in Petersburg, Virginia; Waterloo, New York; or any other city in the United States. Memorial days upon which the graves of the communities' heroes were decorated with flowers and garlands are ancient customs originating in Greece 2,500 years ago. Memorial days were set aside during the American Civil War in both the United States and the Confederate States of America. memorialdayorigin.info

Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11, and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873.

Since the late 50's on the Thursday before Memorial Day, the 1,200 soldiers of the 3d U.S. Infantry place small American flags at each of the more than 260,000 gravestones at Arlington National Cemetery. They then patrol 24 hours a day during the weekend to ensure that each flag remains standing. In 1951, the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts of St. Louis began placing flags on the 150,000 graves at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery as an annual Good Turn, a practice that continues to this day. More recently, beginning in 1998, on the Saturday before the observed day for Memorial Day, the Boys Scouts and Girl Scouts place a candle at each of approximately 15,300 grave sites of soldiers buried at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park on Marye's Heights (the Luminaria Program). And in 2004, Washington D.C. held its first Memorial Day parade in over 60 years. To help re-educate and remind Americans of the true meaning of Memorial Day, the "National Moment of Remembrance" resolution was passed on Dec 2000 which asks that at 3 p.m. local time, for all Americans "To voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a Moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to "Taps." www.usmemorialday.org/backgrnd.html

If you haven't read A Story for Jake on the left column, take a moment this weekend and read it. Jake's dad was a high school classmate of ours, a great man.

Whatever you are doing this weekend, take a moment and remember those who have made a great sacrifice for our country.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Order your adoption tshirt!!!!

Adoption t shirts are here!
Here is the unveiling of our tshirt design... A big thank you to my friend Dani for designing it!
The tshirt is going to be city green (kind of a khaki green) with a natural color for the print (sort of what the design looks like above).
We are planning on putting in an order at the end of June so we are giving you the opportunity to "pre order your t shirt in your size. Email me or leave a comment to let me know that you would like one. Make sure you tell us what size (S-2XL) you would like and your address! Email me at heidelberglion87atyahoodotcom.
Thanks for being a part of this incredible journey!!!