Sarah's Stories: Catching up..

A few of my favorite quotes..

"We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us."- E.M. Forester

"If I could wish for my life to be perfect, it would be tempting but I would have to decline, for life would no longer teach me anything."-A. Jones

"The evidence of God's presence far outweighs the proof of His absence."

"To change yourself, look at what you fear and what you hate and start there."

"Sometimes on the way to a dream, you get lost and find a better one."

"I thank God for my handicaps- for, through them, I have found myself, my work, and my God."- Helen Keller

"Be the change you want to see in the world."- Mahatma Ghandi

The story of Danny (above)..

Some of you may not know I have a son, but when I was just 21- I had an un-planned pregnancy. At that time in my life, I didn't know how I could possibly provide, on my own, what a baby needed and deserved. I made the extremely painful choice to place him in an adoptive home. I wanted so much more for him than I could give- so, two days after he was born, I placed him in the arms of a family that I chose to raise him. I never knew how this choice would forever affect my life and my heart, and there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of him and wish things could have been different. I am very blessed however, to be a part of an open adoption, which means I am able to see him on occasion and be a part of his life. I am very grateful to his parents for this gift. It hasn't always been easy to see him, because then I have to leave him, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Catching up..

Last week was very eventful, I got to see Danny play basketball- and his team won! That was pretty cool, but the best part was seeing him play for the first time. He is very good, which I had no doubt about- he has such natural athletic ability. Unfortunately I chatted too much with Mike and forgot to take any pictures! Oh well, it was good to catch up. If you aren't familiar with who Danny is, I added some info about him to the left.

The other big things that happened last week were that we booked our next cruise and had our first visit from our new cleaning lady! The cruise we booked is to celebrate my brother-in-law's 40th in January 2010. We're going on Carnival's newest ship, the Dream, which doesn't even come out till September. The ports for this cruise are Cozumel, Isla Roatan, Belize, and Costa Maya. We can't wait!

When I first went back to work- I knew I wanted a cleaning lady, but Matt was opposed. Well, we have seriously struggled to keep our house together, and cleaning is something that we argue about daily, and something that brings us down when we get behind. Just keeping up with laundry and dishes is enough, much less vacuuming, dusting, mopping, etc.- even with the girls' help! It's such a struggle when you have a busy weekend and then spend your week nights running kids around to activities, it's exhausting. So, when Matt mentioned that we need a house cleaner- I pounced! I have a friend that went back to work at the same time I did and just loves her cleaning lady- so we're giving this lady a trial run for a month, and so far it's WONDERFUL! Our switch off is not eating out as often as we used to, which is doable when we have more time to plan meals, get to the grocery store, and cook.

Lastly, Girl Scout cookies arrived this weekend. Here is our Girl Scout, hard at work sorting.. Oh, and it's not too late to order cookies, so if you missed the boat -let Paige or I know.