Time flies

OK did we drop off the face of the earth???? I can't believe it has been so long since I updated.

Goodness time flies when you're having fun!!! Sawyer is growing by leaps and bounds. We definitely have a future GYMNAST or swimmer on our hands (sorry I am kind of partial to one). Sawyer began taking steps two weeks after she turned 8 months. By 9 months she had a full fledged walk/hurried walk going. She is just so busy. She wakes up in the morning and walks literally 2 hours around the house. She plays hard and sleeps hard (thankfully). Food is still not a big thing in her book. I don't get that! We are working on trying to new things. Sawyer is content to take a bottle and play.

Brennan turned ten a few weeks ago. I really thought I would be sad about it. But, I love watching her evolve into a young girl. I am loving watching her submerge herself in all her activities. I love it that she likes to dip her hand in a lot of hobbies just like me. I love to try anything creative, at least once. I still love watching her relationship with Sawyer. They both light up when they see each other. Brennan loves to wake Sawyer up in the mornings. Sawyer gets so excited when she sees Brennan! One of their favorite things to do together is read books. Sawyer has a favorite book, BunBun that we can all quote word for word. If she ever cries, you can say the first few lines of her book and she makes her ooooh face and listens!

1 year ago!

Exactly one year ago today we got a phone call that would change our family forever. Those of you who know me well, know that I am very sketchy on details. Especially if they are over 24 hours old. I am very much the "out of sight out of mind" type person. But, I remember everything about February 24th 2009. I remember picking Brennan and my nephew up at school. I remember taking them for ice cream and laughing the whole time. I remember feeling that "we had the best day ever". Yet, I didn't imagine receiving one phone call that day that would for sure make it "the best day". We were coming home in the car with the radio up loud singing Taylor Swift at the top of our lungs when my phone rang. After quieting the kids down I answered to hear the words that we were chosen. The second, literally, my phone rang Brennan knew what it was. Before I answered she said "someone chose us". I vividly remember pulling over on the side of the road to talk. Here is where my details are sketchy because in all the excitement, I am not sure I really listened to much of the details. All I heard was "someone loves your family". Then I remember Brennan and Kurtis running laps around my car and then running out in a field screaming. Kurtis was too precious. He knew we were hoping for someone to join our family. But he was so excited that day because Brennan was so happy. He was thrilled for her. Never in a million years could I have pictured this past year to unfold the way it did. Of course, we prayed for it to be that way, but it was so perfect! Sawyer is such a perfect fit for our family!!! Everything she does, from milestones to food, she does it her own way. With no rhyme or reason; very much a "Moore" thing. We are blessed beyond words and so thankful that we have family & friends who want to share our joy with us.

My soapbox

What do you say? How do you respond? I love to get questions about Sawyer, adoption, family, anything. But, I am always amazed at what people feel they can say. I always jokingly tell Michael (well, okay I mean it for real) to run stuff by me before he says it to other people and vice versa. I feel some people totally lack that filter. Now being completely honest, I am known for sticking my foot completely in my mouth and down my throat. I don't like it when people tell me to "not say something" because I become so fixated on that I am convinced it will slip out at some point. I have been asked in the last few weeks the following questions...

• I know it is impossible to love Sawyer as much as Brennan your biological child (not a question, but a statement). They weren't questioning, they really knew it "could not be possible".

• How can you possibly send anything to Sawyer's birth mother?



• You aren't going to tell Sawyer about her story, are you?

Are you kidding me?????? I would NEVER deny Sawyer of her story. We love her birth mother and genuinely care about her, one because she is a human being and two because she is Sawyer's birth mother. Why would we ever deny Sawyer of her amazing journey to us. A journey showing God's love and grace. We send updates to her birth mother because I gave her my word that we would. No, we are not really legally bound to do so. We did sign paperwork saying we would on a certain schedule. But, if we don't send anything there isn't anything anyone could do about it. We send it simply because we said we would. It is very important in the healing process to let her see how Sawyer is growing and developing. That she is in a loving home smothered with entirely too many kisses.

And to answer how do we love her like we do Brennan....again, are you kidding me???? I am not biologically related to my husband, his family, his niece or nephew. But, I would give my life for his family. Sawyer is a permanent member of our family. And truthfully, we are at a point now where 99% of the time I forget her story. Okay not forget, it is just not something I am consumed with hourly. I often think, she will do something just like Brennan did, wonder if she will have asthma like Brennan...I forget. I went to the dr a few weeks ago, nothing serious. He went over my labs and proceeded to tell me some of them were normal given Sawyer was born a few months ago. I get in the car to leave and realize that I didn't tell him that I did not give birth to her. I forgot! And for that matter, I don't believe physically giving birth to a child is what makes that child a member of your family. Families are created with all kinds of dynamics. Sadly, society has closed their eyes and sometimes ears to this. Instead of being so fixated on who doesn't belong, let's focus on who does belong.

I so did not mean to get on my soap box this morning, okay maybe I did. I just want people to be more understanding. Just because you can't understand someone's situation, it doesn't make it wrong. We all go through life on different paths. We are all called to do different things. I pray this experience has made me more caring & thoughtful regarding other peoples situations.

Sawyer is 6 months old!

Sawyer turned 6 months old a few weeks ago!!!!!

She is into everything. We are big on celebrating milestones around big days. So 2 days before she turned 6 months she started crawling everywhere and 1 day before she started pulling up to a stand. My, my, we are in trouble! She still does not sit on her rump like a normal baby. Oh no, we do things different in our family. Sawyer has always sat up on her knees and bounced up and down (kind of like Tigger). When I try to put her down on her rear, she leans forward and gets up on her knees. Too cute!!!!!

Sawyer also had her first busted lip this week. It swelled up pretty quick. As I am typing this...she fell again and her lip is bleeding (she is okay). She is so busy! The girl has no fear. She will stand up and let go of whatever she is holding onto. Which is why the activity table in the picture above DOES NOT have legs on it.

Happy 6 month Birthday sweet baby girl!

Grace or lack there of

On Saturday Brennan had a basketball game at our church. About five minutes before the game Brennan and her friends were playing. They were running around and Brennan tripped. For the whole game she told us her foot was hurting and she couldn't play. So Michael let her sit on the bench with ice (he's the coach) and watch.

On Monday it was still sore so we went to the doctor to get it checked out. We were there about thirty minutes and the doctor came in and said "well it's broke!". She has a broken bone in the top of her foot. We were all shocked!!! Isn't it beautiful!!!

Brennan's favorite color is orange, NOT Tennessee orange as the doctor said. Just plain orange. We had to write her name on the bottom. You know in Toy Story, Andy wrote his name on the bottom of all his toys in case they were lost. Just in case we lose Brennan, her name is on the bottom of her foot.

and the stockings were hung...

We finally got our stockings hung this past week. We have had our trees/decorations up for a few weeks. But, Sawyer's stocking was still not monogrammed and she just couldn't be up there without a name. I bought new stockings about 5 years ago. They aren't necessarily my taste now, but Brennan loves them and so they stay. When I originally found them, I bought 3; well, because there were only 3 of us. The following year I was in TJ Maxx and found this stocking that matched ours and I quickly snatched it up!

I knew one day we would have another name to put on it. Michael of course thought I was crazy. He just didn't get it. Even then, I knew there was a child meant to join our family. So, after 4 years I pulled the last stocking out of the closet and after adding Sawyer's name, it takes its rightful place on our mantle.

And we have 4 beautifully hung stockings. I waited so long to hang this last one. If it weren't so tacky to do so, I would keep them all hung year round! I tell this story now, because had I said all this 4 years ago you all would have thought I was crazy. Just in case you are wondering, I have not purchased any more stockings.

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas!!!

Brennan won the cookie contest!

Brennan has been talking about a cookie contest at school for months. They finally had it on Monday. The entire 4th grade participated and all the recipes were voted on by the children. The winner gets their recipe published in the county 4-H cookbook. Brennan wanted to make my Great Aunt Mamie's famous peanut butter cookies. Those cookies bring back a flood of memories. Anyway, there were 15 kids in her class that participated. I pulled up at the school to pick Brennan up and she had a HUGE smile on her face. Guess what???

She won 1st place in her class and is going to be in the cookbook!

I meant to post this with the violin recital pictures. But, Sawyer is NEVER still. I am not exaggerating. That girl is always on the go. However, she gets completely still when Brennan plays her violin. The weeks leading up to the recital when Brennan was practicing more, Sawyer would just stare at Brennan as she played.

Isn't that too sweet!!!