Forever Family Day.

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This is the video from Our Forever Family Day... The first time we saw Sierra!! Its taken 8 months but I finally figured a way to post it!!!

Let's go fly a kite!!

Even after being home a little over 8 months my heart still swells at the sound of Sierra's laughter. She was so serious and solemn in the beginning that it feels so good to see her so happy. While I was video taping this I could hear nothing but the sound of the ocean until Sierra got a little closer. Then I could hear her laughing as she ran with her kite. Needless to say by the time she reached me I was crying. crying tears of joy for her and tears of sadness for all the orphans who are not running along the beaches with their forever families. But even without the video this moment will be forever etched in my memory. It was perfect.

PS Scott was trying not to get tangled in the string. He was NOT shooing Sierra away!!!

Loving Maine!

I love going to Maine, I mean really love it. I haven't been there in 5 years. We have had some wonderful vacations in that time but oh how I longed for Maine. Since we got the camper we try not to travel too far since the gas is so expensive. So we have found some great places between 2 and 3 hours away and a few even closer to home. But I really wanted to go to Maine. The last time we were there was on our honeymoon 5 years ago. So this year I told Scott. Since I am off from work and I can go anytime let's go in September again! So we made reservations for Scott, Sierra and I to go to Maine for 4 nights. David wouldn't be able to go because of football. Well if you have been reading along you all know what happened to football! So when David was feeling really down and blue about not having a football team, I said Dave you are going to Miane with us!!! He really needed something to cheer him up and he still loves going away w ith us. I would have hated leaving him home. So early on Sunday morning we got into Uncle Steve's van(in case I saw some antiques that I wanted to bring home...more about that in the next post!) and off we went. We were standing on Wells Beach Maine at 11:00 am!!!! We had a wonderful vacation. Here are a few pictures!!!
My favorite part of the picture of Daivd and Sierra is David holding her tiny sandals!

Happy Anniversary!!

I am the luckiest woman to have had such a loving , considerate husband for these last 5 years!!! And now he is the father of my daughter!!!!! Thanks Scott and I can't wait to leave for Maine on Sunday!!!!!

Meeting with John!

This picture cracks me up because Sierra was sitting on David's lap. Just as I was snapping the picture of John and Scott, she stuck her head in!!

She had to be in this one as well!

Next she wanted to crawl on Johns lap!!! I really do think she remembered him!

hugging John goodbye!!

"Talking" on the phone while we were waiting for dinner!

All of us!!

While we were in China we met another couple from our agency who were also getting their daughter from Guangdong Province. It meant that we would be traveling together the whole time. Well we all just hit it off. We wound up spending most of our time together and loving every minute of it. On Forever Family Day we took videos for each other and shared the moments we received into our families our wonderful daughters. It turned out that when we got to the hotel our rooms were tight next to each other. Diane and I talked about everything and it was as if we had known each other for ages. I remember David asking me if we would ever see them again and I said I certainly hoped so but no distance could ever change what we had shared. You see, we live in New York and they live in Wisconsin. Not an easy day or even weekend trip. Well imagine my surprise when a couple of weeks ago I received an email from John stating he had a business trip in Sept. and would be 2 hours away. Would we be interested in meeting him 1/2 way for dinner? Oh my gosh yes!!!! So tonight we drove and met John. I can't tell you how wonderful it was. I only wish Diane, Julia and Evan could have been there too (but don't worry Diane you were there in spirit!!!) Normally David would have had a football game tonight but since there is none he could go with us!!!! Thank you john for thinking of us and yes we will get together again. friendships like these are truly a blessing and we will never forget them!!!!

Out of the mouths!

I just love how my 3 year old's mind works. And I equally enjoy the things that come out of her mouth. This morning we were talking about China and the fact that there are many kids without Mommies or Daddies and I said" Sierra what can we do for the kids that don't have Mommies or Daddies"( kinda meaning like.. what can we send to them etc) Sierra replied " Bring them to my house" Mmmmmm.......

And then a little later we stopped at Davenport's Farm Stand for some cinnamon doughnuts and I reached in and unbuckled her carseat. After waiting some time I said" Sierra ,come on" and she replied" "Mommy be patient" and then when I lifted her out she looked at me and said " Mommy you have to be nice to people" Now I really wasn't THAT impatient and I wasn't at all not nice but it did make me smile and think about how I sounded. It is such a joy to be around her and I am so lucky to have the time at home. I love every minute of my day with her. She has such an enthusiasm for life!! It is contagious and you can't help but look at things so differently!!!

On Saturday it was our 8 month Gotcha Anniversary. And for those of you that have been following, 8 months is exactly how long we waited from the first time we saw her face until the day we traveled. Now tell me why these past 8 months have sure gone ALOT quicker than the 8 months we were waiting!!!

Sierra, there is not a day that goes by that I don't totally fall in love with you all over again. You have brought such joy to your Daddy, me, your brothers and everyone who meets you. I wanted to adopt so badly, to change the life of some child. Never did I expect that the change would occur mostly in me. That , never a day goes by that I don't look at life just a little differently. You have been so brave. You have trusted us to take you half way around the world to a place you didn't even know about. And you let us teach you what a Mommy and Daddy does. And now you come to us when you are hurt, or sad, or tired or hungry. And you laugh, you laugh alot!! And we laugh with you. We will love you with all of our hearts forever and will be forever grateful that God knew what he was doing. Happy 8 month anniversary!!!

PS I forgot to share with you the best Sierraism of the day!!! She asked me what I was making for dinner. I replied ravioli. She said "Oh I love rabbit oli!!!!!!"

Thoughts and prayers needed!!!

I am asking you all to keep my father-in-law Bob, in your thoughts and prayers. He has been diagnosed with a recurrence of colon cancer on his lung and adrenal gland. He had colon cancer 7 years ago and has been doing great. Unfortunately his oncologist recently found 2 spots. The biopsy shows its the same cancer as before. He will start with chemotherapy to shrink the area and then hopefully surgery to remove it. Luckily Bob lives with in a mile from both our house and Scott's brother's so he will have plenty of support!!!

September 11, 2009

These pictures tell the story. In November 1999 I went with Paul's 8th grade class to Ellis Island. I took this photo in this spot because of the view.

Six years later I returned to Ellis Island with David's 8th grade class. Same spot but very different background. These 2 pictures hang on my refrigerator a constant reminder of how the scenery can change in an instant!

There are those moments frozen in time in your memory. Moments that you will always remember..perhaps your wedding, the birth of your children, the day another child joins your family...or a moment so horrific that you will always remember exactly what you were doing. Such was September 11 2001. The terrible acts that occured that day are etched in my mind and in my heart forever. From the moment I sat surrounded by 25 second graders and the teacher came over and whispered in my ear. From when I ran home at lunch time only to learn that the towers had fallen and were gone and so many people too. It was hard to go back to work then and pretend as if nothing happened but that's what we did. I remember feeling awful when a colleague announced that his children's aunt, his former wife's sister, was on one of the planes. And I remember exactly the moment when David finally looked at me and said"Mom what's wrong? What has happened?" How do you explain to a ten year old the atrocities of that day? Later that evening we were at football practice and a plane went overhead. Without fail every parent there turned their heads to the sky. Never again will a plane flying so innocently in the air be taken for granted. And oh the heroes of that day... all of them..I don't even want to start listing because I know I will miss someone! People who gave their lives trying to help so many. And the days that followed amid the grief , a coming together of our nation. Flags everywhere, songs supporting our nation, support for all volunteers, prayers being given around the world, feelings of pride among the almost unbearable grief. We should never forget that moment and ALL the moments that followed. Never should we take our safety and the safety of our loved ones for granted. And never should we forget the heroes that lost their lives for us that day.

The first try and then success!!!

Keep us in your thoughts!

We've had a rough couple of days. Scott's father is facing some serious health problems. We will find out tomorrow for sure what he is dealing with. Also Scott's back went out on him on Monday. Today he can stand up and walk for about 5 minutes. He has sick time at his regular job but all the extra jobs he has been doing so I could take a leave this year, do not have sick days. If he's not there he doesn't get paid. Plus they are very physical. So it is pretty stressful around here. Please keep the 2 of them in your thoughts and prayers.

Sierra and I are having a blast. I did not feel bad at all when the school year started and I didn't go. I do miss the people I work with but I will be stopping by. We have been trying to do a little house work and a lot of fun activities each day. Here are some pictures and a video of some of our fun times and some of her just looking cute!!!

Here she is riding her 2 wheeler with training wheels for the first time. tomorrow I will post the video!

And she just had to try out Nash's skateboard!

She just looked too cute in this outfit with her pigtails.

Is this an adorable face or what.? What until you see what she was sitting in!

Who needs toys when you got an empty box!!!

A perfect evening!

Those who know me know I usually carry my camera everywhere. But tonight I didn't have it. But its OK because it was one of those evenings that you don't need pictures to remember, It's in my mind and my heart and will always be there. I returned home from work and Scott had the truck packed with our bikes. We drove the ten minutes up the road to the big reservoir. Scott then took out a bag that had our dinner in it.... sandwiches from my favorite deli! We sat on a rock(Scott, Sierra and I ) and ate our dinner. Then we got on our bikes and started pedaling. Its about 4 miles across and back,,but oh what a 4 miles tonight. first we saw a bald eagle sitting in the top of a dead tree. It was pretty far away but I think Sierra saw it. We watched for a few minutes and pedaled on. Next we saw some does and fawns. You can usually see them pretty close up and tonight was no exception. Then, on the way back a gentleman was kind enough to stop us and tell us that the bald eagle had now moved to a dead tree closer to the road. As we started off to go see it, another bald eagle flew right over us and disappeared. When we got to the dead tree there were TWO bald eagles sitting side by side!! We could see them as clear as day. We sat and watched for awhile and then headed back to the truck. The reservoir has a road that is now closed to cars. Only walkers and bikers can use it. There is an old bridge we have to cross. As we rode across, I happened to look over the side of the bridge and there coming up over the trees was a huge, yellow beautiful moon. It was breathtaking. We stopped and just stared. As much as I would have liked a picture, without the camera I just had to watch and gather in the beauty around me. You didn't have to say a word..you couldn't...all you could so was stare. We finally got back to the truck just as it was getting dark. Mind you the background of this reservoir is the Catskill Mountain range. I tried to explain to Sierra that her name meant mountains...that mommy and daddy loved the mountains so much we gave her their name. It was a magical night...one I will never forget!!! No one could doubt the power of God and his creations on a night like this!!!! And thank you Scott for thinking of it!!!