Happy Father's Day!

Daddy,
Happy Father's Day! I am so glad you are in my life. I really enjoy our time together, just the two of us when Mommy is working. I love it when you hang me upside down and swing me around. Mommy is so much more cautious than you are! My Gym classes are so much fun with you! Sorry if I get in the way at your Drum lesson. I just don't like to sit still and I want all of the attention. DADA, you are the BEST!!!!!!!!!!! I love you so much!!!!!

Oh, and Happy Father's Day to my two Grandpas too!!!!

Love,
Sara

Having a blast!!!

Memorial Day weekend was awesome! I was off and the weather could not have been better.
We enjoyed our time together as a family and I am really enjoying being home more. Sara loves it too!!! The warm weather has been great. She wants to play outside all the time. I fear what will happen when the weather gets warmer.

Sara is becoming very verbal and she is recognizing shapes and colors. Her favorite number is 2 (actually that's the only one she knows) and she's starting to know the alphabet. Did I mention how lucky we were? I think I have a couple of times. Anyways, this weekend we had quite a scare. We were on the freeway and we got rear-ended. Luckily, no one was hurt! Things like that just really make you appreciate what you have!
In action on the play set

Daddy likes it too!At Target AGAIN with Caroline and Gabe!!!
Sara loves wearing Mommy's shoes (and putting on her makeup, and having her hair flat ironed). Boy are we in trouble!!!

Summer Fun /Race for the Cure!!

Sara has been having so much fun playing outside!!! All she wants to do is go outside. Unfortunately, the weather hasn't been cooperating too much, but we manage to get outside as much as we can. We had a great Mother's Day, mainly because we spent the day together. The Tornado Warning kinda put a damper on things, but we had fun with family. Gary got me a gorgeous silver heart necklace from Tiffany's with Sara's initials on it. He did good!!


Sara and Great Grandma just love each other!!

We broke down and bought Sara a new play set. She likes it, but she just goes around to everyone's and plays on them.
We took Sara to a Birthday party at "Pump it Up" this weekend. She LOVED going down this slide. It was like 20 ft high. By the end of the night, she was going down all by herself and refused to ride on our laps. The only bad part was, she couldn't quite climb up the ladder and Gary and I had to climb up with her every time!
Saturday was Race for the Cure. Every year I would look at the babies in strollers and say "maybe next year...". This year, people couldn't stop saying how cute she was. She did great, too.

5 years ago today

As long as I live, I will never forget May 7, 2003. At 7:30 pm, I got a call from my Surgeon. "I wanted to make sure your husband is coming with you to your appointment tomorrow." Hearing that was all I needed. I don't even remember the rest of that conversation. I just knew that the biopsy I had taken wasn't nothing, it was Cancer. That was the day my life changed forever. I was 33 years old, I had been married for 2 1/2 years and Gary and I were desperate to start a family. The last thing I expected was Cancer. I went through months of grueling Chemotherapy and surgeries. Days would pass that I couldn't lift my head off of my pillow and couldn't even drink water. My friends and family were so wonderful to me and I will never forget that.

The day after my appt with my Surgeon, we saw an Oncologist. The first thing he said to me was "I don't think it's too late." He also told me conceiving a child was out of the question. At that point, I thought my life may as well have been over. I sobbed and sobbed, thinking we could never have a child and Gary promised me we would. I never forgot that. I think that hope helped me get through those horrible days.

Who knows where our lives would have taken us if we didn't experience Cancer. Would Sara be in our lives? Probably not. We had looked into adoption before my illness and considered China. China is out of the question once you've had Cancer. Actually, we thought all adoption was. I never really believed things happen for a reason, but maybe in this case, it's true. Maybe if I hadn't had Cancer, I would have had a different career and never met my dear friend who encouraged me to explore adoption, even with my past illness. I know it may sound crazy, but it was all worth it because now we have our Sara. She was definitely chosen for us. Life is way too short and full of surprises. Anyone "thinking" about anything should "just do it".

6 months ago!!

I can't believe it's been 6 months since we met Sara! We can't imagine life without her. Tomorrow she will be 18 months old! So much in our lives has changed since we met Sara. We never knew how hard this parenting and working thing would be. That is why I (Sue) have decided to step down from my Manager position and take a 30 hr/ week job as a Sales Associate at Saks. I am so looking forward to having an extra day a week with Sara and so much less stress!

Here are some additional "Sara" things:
Vocabulary- now she says pretty, go, kitty, Jakey (the sitter's son), pee (really! Mommy said it once), T (for the sitter, Teresa)

She is still obsessed with dogs and really loves babies. Now that the weather is warmer, she wants to play outside all of the time. We are so lucky to have this angel (did I mention that before, ever??)
Here are some memories of "then" and some pictures of now!

The day we met!

And NOW!!!

Sad news!!!

We heard some very sad news today! Effective Sept 1, adoptions will be closing between the US and Vietnam. You can read all about it here:

http://vietnam.usembassy.gov/irreg_adoptions042508.htm

My heart aches for those who have been anxiously awaiting their referrals. Some families started the adoption process the same time we did! We will hug Sara extra hard this weekend! We are so lucky to have this happy, healthy, gorgeous little girl. She's pretty smart too! We have thought at times about getting a second child, but with this latest development, we probably will not pursue another adoption. We are just so blessed to have this precious little angel!

Our first day with our Sara

Scott, one of our travel mates, has posted video of our trip to the Orphanage to meet Sara. Check it out!
scottlan.blogspot.com
Wow! Does that bring back memories! We feel like we have know Sara her whole life!