All about me!

The main purpose of my blog is to share my love for paper crafting. However, that is not the best part of my life. The best part of my life is my family! On this page I will share some of that. 

I was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands. We immigrated to the USA when I was 8 years old to Glenside, Pennsylvania. When I was a freshman in high school we moved to Florida and I have been here ever since. I met my husband in college and we were married in December of 1971. We have 8 wonderful children. Due to medical problems we could not conceive so all of our children are adopted. They are all different and have enhanced our family with their unique gifts. We now have 25 (26 is on it's way) grandchildren some of them are adopted. Our family and our church are first in our life. I am a teacher in a Catholic School where our children attended and now some of our grandchildren attend. That is much more fun then when it was my own kids in the school where mom works!

Life is great and I thank God daily for all of the blessings He has bestowed upon us. We are very devoted to our church and our faith. Jerry and I are Catholic although I was raised protestant. My brother is a minister and he and his wife were missionaries in Europe for quite a number of years. My sister and her husband are Catholic also and work in another local parish as music directors. Our faith is very important to all of us! My husband's family is also very close to us - in fact my 2 best friends in the world are two of my sisters in law - how lucky is that! 




Our Blessings:


This is almost all of us taken at our son's wedding in December of 2017. We missed 2 of our children for the picture, they did not make it to the church in time for the family photo.



These are 5 of our 6 boys taken last summer - handsome bunch aren't they?


Our oldest son and his wife have adopted 6 wonderful children. This was taken at Easter of this year (2018). These kids are amazing! They live close by so we get to see them often. Tim is an electrician at the local hospital and his wife Laili works in the school cafeteria. 

The second oldest has 6 wonderful children. He has his own business and so does his wife. Their oldest is in college (FSU) and the youngest is my Godson as well as our grandson. They also do  not live too far away and 2 of them still attend the school where I teach. Lucky me! 



This picture is of me with my 2 girls. The third oldest, Katie, is from Korea and mentally challenged. She lives with another handicapped woman and loves to make cards! She is 41 years old but only about 5 mentally. She is a joy! She works at a local grocery store and is always happy and smiling. 

I can't seem to find a family picture of my 4th, Jenny, with her husband and their 6 children but this was taken on Mother's Day this year (2018). Jenny is a nurse and has our oldest grandson who is heading off to college this year.



The 5th is not married but he does have a wonderful son who has a wonderful mother. We see them several times a year and keep in touch through e-mail, cards and pictures. This is an old picture but I love it. 



The 6th was just married in December of 2017. He has his masters degree and is lucky enough to be able to work from home in IT for FSU - the college he attended. Liz is an event coordinator and such a wonderful addition to our family. They are expecting their first child in September (2018).



The 7th lives in S. Carolina with his beautiful family. They gave us our youngest granddaughter - Piper. She is such a love! We don't see as much of them as we would like but we communicate regularly. This photo was last summer (2017)



The 8th and his wife Katie have our youngest grandson, Lennox. He is a sweetie - always happy and very active! They don't live too far away and we enjoy spending time together. This picture was Easter 2018. 

Extended Family:




My brother, my sister and me this summer 2018.




My wonderful mother-in-law (94 years young) and my husband with his brothers and sisters - all present. This was at my son's wedding in December 2017.