Des-Lab
07-07-2008, 09:49 AM
I was out of town over the weekend, though I was able to periodically check in.
I was on a 'babysitting' trip up in Tulare, CA while a family near and dear to me was out of the country.
Please see http://theukrainetrain.blogspot.com/
WARNING: Before you click on that link, please read on.
Christine is the mother featured here. Her and I grew up together as she is my first cousin and her and I are extremely closly related. But follow me on this:
Her MOTHER is MY fathers sister. And her FATHER is MY MOTHERS brother. Got it? There were two families where two sets of siblings married each other. So while Christine and I aren't brother and sister, we do share more or less identical genes and DNA because we came from a common set of grandparents.
PLEASE READ ON:
Back in '94, she married a great guy named John. Since then, they have had six children of their own and have adopted four more. They wanted a big family. Well, they got it.
Over this last weekend, they were travelling up to the Ukraine to pick up #11-Dennis.
Unfortunately, he is a special needs kid and is severely disfigured. I am not of liberty to discuss publically what happened; if you want to know, please contact John or Christine directly.
So that's where I came in. While they were gone, friends and family (including myself) stepped in to keep the rest of the house and family under watch. So while I was there, I made sure they were all fed, behaved, looked after, and their chores done. I also supervised them while they were in their swimming pool and treated them to fireworks on the 4th of July.
The rest of the family ranges in age from 13 down to 5.
So now you can click on the link. Take a look at Dennis and see why this one is special. Although John is the breadwinner of the family and the kids are all well taken care of, they can use all the help they can get. On the right hand side of the blog page, there is a place to make donations. I did my part by taking care of them for four days and treating them to the fireworks that their folks otherwise would've. Look at what they are doing and John and Chris have hearts of gold and would genuinely appreciate anything you can do. If it's a dollar, twenty, a hundred, or a thousand. Any amount would be appreciated.
I (and TapeHeads) will get absolutely none of this. It will all go straight to them. I am also doing my part by spreading the word. If you make a donation, you can do it either in the name of TapeHeads (and 'cousin Matt') or anonymously if you prefer.
And attached is a picture from over the weekend with all of the rest of the kids. That's me sitting on the far right end of the table. Picture was taken from camera mounted on tripod with timer. You can also see my travel suitcase against the wall on right.
Kids: clockwise from bottom left: Rachel, Annalyn, Sveta, Johnny, William, Julia, myself, Andrew, Anna, Caleb, and Adam.
And here is the Reeds 'other' home page:
http://smilesandtrials.blogspot.com/
Thank you.
I was on a 'babysitting' trip up in Tulare, CA while a family near and dear to me was out of the country.
Please see http://theukrainetrain.blogspot.com/
WARNING: Before you click on that link, please read on.
Christine is the mother featured here. Her and I grew up together as she is my first cousin and her and I are extremely closly related. But follow me on this:
Her MOTHER is MY fathers sister. And her FATHER is MY MOTHERS brother. Got it? There were two families where two sets of siblings married each other. So while Christine and I aren't brother and sister, we do share more or less identical genes and DNA because we came from a common set of grandparents.
PLEASE READ ON:
Back in '94, she married a great guy named John. Since then, they have had six children of their own and have adopted four more. They wanted a big family. Well, they got it.
Over this last weekend, they were travelling up to the Ukraine to pick up #11-Dennis.
Unfortunately, he is a special needs kid and is severely disfigured. I am not of liberty to discuss publically what happened; if you want to know, please contact John or Christine directly.
So that's where I came in. While they were gone, friends and family (including myself) stepped in to keep the rest of the house and family under watch. So while I was there, I made sure they were all fed, behaved, looked after, and their chores done. I also supervised them while they were in their swimming pool and treated them to fireworks on the 4th of July.
The rest of the family ranges in age from 13 down to 5.
So now you can click on the link. Take a look at Dennis and see why this one is special. Although John is the breadwinner of the family and the kids are all well taken care of, they can use all the help they can get. On the right hand side of the blog page, there is a place to make donations. I did my part by taking care of them for four days and treating them to the fireworks that their folks otherwise would've. Look at what they are doing and John and Chris have hearts of gold and would genuinely appreciate anything you can do. If it's a dollar, twenty, a hundred, or a thousand. Any amount would be appreciated.
I (and TapeHeads) will get absolutely none of this. It will all go straight to them. I am also doing my part by spreading the word. If you make a donation, you can do it either in the name of TapeHeads (and 'cousin Matt') or anonymously if you prefer.
And attached is a picture from over the weekend with all of the rest of the kids. That's me sitting on the far right end of the table. Picture was taken from camera mounted on tripod with timer. You can also see my travel suitcase against the wall on right.
Kids: clockwise from bottom left: Rachel, Annalyn, Sveta, Johnny, William, Julia, myself, Andrew, Anna, Caleb, and Adam.
And here is the Reeds 'other' home page:
http://smilesandtrials.blogspot.com/
Thank you.