This picture is our youngest daughter, Antonia, or, as we more commonly call her, Toni. Toni came to us from La Paz, Bolivia, where she was seriously burned in a home fire. She lost her fingers, lips, nose, eyelids, and suffered severe burns over much of her body.

There is a very kind and very skilled hand surgeon, who asked that his name not be used because he doesn't want people to think that he seeks publicity. Every year he travels to some country and gives one or two months time providing his skills free. He happened to be working at the hospital in La Paz when Toni was brought in. He knew that with his skills and with American technology, more could be done in America to help her than could be done in Bolivia.

The good doctor arranged for a local hospital to donate their surgical room and scrub team for free, enlisted an anesthesiologist and a plastic surgeon, and then looked around for a place for Toni to stay in between surgeries. Well, we turned out to be the place and that is how we entered the picture. A group of flight attendants and mechanics for Eastern Airlines donated the funds to fly Toni up here. So, between the doctors, the nurses, and the airlines folks, there are angels out there and it has been a pleasure and an honor to meet such caring people.

After extensive paperwork shuffling between Bolivia and the USA, we finally got the legal work out of the way and Toni was adopted when she was 7 years old, after a legal paperwork battle that spanned nearly two years.

The good doctors were able to create, from Toni's body, thumbs so that she can now hold things. She has become extremely competent and even does calligraphy. I, personally, have a hard time even spelling the word, much less actually doing it. The doctors also created a nose, repaired her lips, and gave her eyelids. She has come a long way from the time of the injury. The doctors continue to work on her, gradually removing scar tissue, and helping her to look her best.

The below picture is of Toni, her husband, Gordon, , Damon, who is two years old in this picture, and the birth day of their new son, Mitchell. Toni works as a certified nurse's aide and Gordon makes molds for yachts, planes, and such. He also does cabinetry work on yachts.

Here's a picture of Damon at two years of age.

Here's a picture of their youngest son, Mitchell, at one day of age.

And now, in May of 2006, is the latest picture of the family. Damon is four, Mitchell is two, and Aja (pronounced like the land mass Asia and meaning 'my grandpa is about the greatest grandpa in the world) is only a couple weeks old.