New pictures

Sorry for the length between posts. We have been a little busy.

Here are a few pictures to catch you up.

We have been doing a lot of this

a little of this (this is Brennan's favorite picture by the way)

taking turns holding Sawyer

and my favorite, seeing her sweet smile

That smile just melts my heart!

(we were sitting in a parking lot by the way)

She will be seven weeks old tomorrow and is up to nine pounds. It cracks me up, because Brennan was exactly this size the day she came home from the hospital.

We are all doing great!!!! I have taken tons of pictures....250 to be exact! I felt like I was not taking enough pictures of Sawyer (everyone keeps telling me it like that with your second). Well, I was shocked at how many pictures I have taken. Of course, every single one will go in an album. That will be one thick album!!!

Thanks for checking in on us!

Grace

The word grace has always perplexed me. There are so many different sides to it. God extends grace to us (thank you God). You see, we all sin. But He doesn't have a master list of everything we have done wrong. When He forgives, He forgives and the slate is wiped clean. Only He can do this for you.

The day before we got the call saying Sawyer had been born, our Sunday School lesson was on grace. Not only God's grace, but do we extend that same grace to other people? Do we truly forgive them? It is hard to forget because things are so ingrained in our minds, but do we truly forgive? I have SO been guilty of saying I forgive someone, but when I see them the first thing I think of is whatever is was that happened. Sadly, a lot of people get "tagged" with their sin. They are only remembered by what they have done wrong. It scares me to think I am looked at for what I have done wrong...that is a very long list of wrongs to choose from.

The first time we saw Sawyer was on Tuesday morning. Michael and I were in the room with the birth mother and her mother. One of the first things the birth mother said was that she was so overwhelmed with God's grace. She went on to elaborate on how He had shown Himself to her and she had been thinking about that. How cool?! Michael told her that we had been talking the past few days about that. I pray that others around her extend grace to her. She and her family have remained in the same church they were in and I pray she is not forever tagged as the woman who gave up her baby. She did make unwise choices to lead her down this path. But, does that mean she should forever be reminded of it?? She is no different from me. I have made so many mistakes in my life and had to beg for forgiveness. (Her mistake was not choosing adoption, she had made a few "unwise" choices to put herself in this position). Again, both our slates are wiped clean...only by the GRACE of God. Thank you God!!!

Four weeks ago today!

I have always had a very close relationship with my calendar. I mean, I love to look back over the days & months and see how far we have come. Well, four weeks ago today at 4:30 pm we found out Sawyer was coming to our family forever. It seems like an eternity ago. Everything about that day is so vivid in my mind. I remember sitting in the waiting room pretending to be reading a magazine for over an hour, I remember Michael was hungry and tried to eat starburst but was too nervous to eat them, I remember swimming with Brennan earlier in the day wondering how our lives would change, but mostly I remember every detail of taking Sawyer out of the hospital and that she would be with us forever. We pulled over at a gas station immediately after leaving just so we could take her out of her car seat and let Brennan hold her. Brennan's face was priceless!!! I have never seen that much love and joy come out of a child. I know there will be new dates on my calendar to measure events by; but, I pray every feeling and emotion about that day stays with me forever. God is so good!! So many people have told us that Sawyer is so blessed to be in our family...if only they knew they had it wrong. We are soooo blessed to have her in our family!