Happy 2008 from New Orleans!

After Christmas we had a whirlwind week. First, we celebrated Alison's birthday and then our new friends the Karp family from Brooklyn, New York came to Georgia to visit us. This family got to know us through this blog, having found it through Kazakhstan adoption links, and while they consider their options our thoughts will be with them. Alina, Mac and Cal enjoyed their visit, as did Alison and I with our friends the Hawthornes, who brought their girls over.

Alison and I got Alina and Mac up very early the next morning, New Year's Eve, and headed south on I-59 all the way to New Orleans! I had given Alison tickets to the Sugar Bowl for her birthday, and we decided to take Alina and Mac to the Big Easy - which of course has not had it so easy over the past two years. The children have both been active at their school in responding to the continuing crisis on the Gulf Coast, and we thought it would be an educational trip for the older kids. Cal stayed with Alison's parents and loved the individual attention he got there.

We felt that with all New Orleans has been through, it was not quite ready yet for Cal...

It took about half a block of Bourbon Street for us to realize that this part of New Orleans was not exactly the kind of educational trip we had in mind for Alina and Mac! Everything was fine once we avoided that famous street with our two seven-year olds in tow.

We really enjoyed a guided tour of New Orleans which was given by a man who was put out of his own home by the floods, which affected most of the city. The vast devastation is still overwhelming. There is much misery still, but much hope as well. Needless to say, some of the best t-shirts we saw made it clear how the locals feel about FEMA and our federal government! Thousands of FEMA trailers are still there, and thousands of homes still sit untouched after the devastation.

Here Alina checks out Fats Domino's refurbished home, which he escaped via helicopter after Katrina...

...and actor Brad Pitt's noble effort to rebuild a whole neighborhood, as envisioned by pink-tarped model homes.


Finally, we saw our favorite team the Georgia Bulldogs completely dominate the Sugar Bowl!

Now we are back home and ready to get our new year underway. Best to all. -McP