My Mom Paula adopted me when I was
just a year old, rescuing me from sure hell in the Philippines. Without
her, I would not be the person I am today. I love you Mom.
She went back to school at Chico State to get her MIS degree and is now a consultant at a company called Documentum in the East Bay. It's a great job and has allowed her to travel a lot. The lucky woman gets to travel and do something she loves!
My beautiful nephew and niece
Kameron & Emilie I think of as my
own and I miss them like crazy already now that I'm not there all the time watching them grow up. Kameron is 11 and Emilie is 7. Kameron takes after his dad in his love of hunting and in the swarms of girls that already surround him. He takes after his grandma in his love of computers. He takes after me in all his silliness! Emilie is not a tomboy like I was and loves all things feminine like Barbies and dolls. But like me she likes to read and write. Like her grandma she loves to sew. Both of my babies are a combination of the family members who surround them and love them to pieces. I love you two more than I will
ever be able to say.
Kameron and Emilie - Christmas 1997
My brother Robert considered me his from the day I was
adopted. This is our Mom's fault because she told him that they were going to the Philippines to adopt "his little sister" not her daughter, so as not to create jealousy in Robert, who was the only child at the time. It's OK because the feeling is mutual. I always carefully screened his girlfriends to find the one who I deemed good enough for him. He finally found that person in his fiance Patty.
Robert is the mechanic of our family (luckily for me!) and works for Les Schwab Tire Center in Paradise (a city near Chico). It's a really great job and will hopefully allow him to retire early in his 40's or 50's so he can pursue his dream of becoming a hunting and fishing guide.
Robert will always be my sweet, obnoxious protector. I love you Robert. Thank you for being a dad and a brother all in one, a role only he can fill.
I love my stepdad Curtis like a father. Thank you for taking such
good care of my Mom and the rest of us Curtis.
My aunt Itanna is
only 4 years younger than I am, and the only other
Filipino in my family. She's like a sister to me. I miss her so much now that we've both moved away from Chico. We have been through a lot together and I will always love her.
Itanna and I - Ryan's b-day party, March 1997
Patty is Robert's fiance and has been considered a part of the family for a long time now.
They are getting married next month and I'm so happy I will finally have a sister!
Thanks Patty for taking such good care of Robert and the kids, they need it!
If you ever feel like giving Robert back...don't! Just kidding Patty =) I know you two will have a long, happy life together.
My Grandma and Grandpa Allen were the ones who gave me to my Mom. They were running a missionary baby home in the Philippines when my biological mother (to whom I will always be grateful) brought me to them in order for me to have a good life in the US that she could not give me at the time. I love them dearly and miss them since they live so far away in Oregon.
I don't get to see my cousin Paula much because she lives in L.A. but I love her dearly. It seems as if she just had my cousin, Mika Ray Silver (pictured below), but in actuality Mika is almost a year old! And she looks just like her mom...beautiful!
