The kitchen junk drawer

My-oh-my! There are so many treasures in our kitchen junk drawer. Doesn't everyone have a junk drawer? Well we do-for sure! It is Sadie's new treasure box. She just loves to pull a stool up to the drawer, climb up on the stool and go through all the pretties. I love how grown-up she is looking in these pictures. She will play quietly (sometimes not a good thing) for 30 mins or so just going through the junk drawer. I can't believe she is almost 2!

The Big "1"

November 23, 2009-Sadie Lynne Kjar turned 1!!! As I was looking back on our blog, I realized I never wrote out her adoption story, so since this is her 1st b-day I thought I would record it for her.

Mid-Nov 2008 we met with our social worker and we were getting so frustrated that nothing was happening with our profile. I mean nothing. Not once had we been looked at. This was frustrating because our worker told us our file looked great, we did not need to change a thing, we just needed to find a birthmom. We had even put our profile on a national registry and were paying $50 a month to have it on their website. Our cute social worker-Kris (who we also used for Connor's adoption) suggested we call hospitals and dr's offices to see if we could bring in our profile for them to show in case they had a patient that requested adoption information. Those both led nowhere. Shane spoke with a co-worker that is a social worker and she also couldn't help us, but said her friend worked in labor and delivery and she would pass along our info. Well that basically came back as they NEVER have a birthmom come in that hasn't made a birthplan and chosen a family, but she would keep us in mind. Another dead end, or so we thought. Nov. 24, 2008. I was at home puttering around in my PJ's. The usual-doing laundry, cleaning up the house. Peyton was a school and Connor was playing at Dillon's house in back. Shane called me from work and it was about 12:oo in the afternoon. Shane made small talk for a few minutes and then asked me how I would feel about a 1/2 caucasian, 1/2 hispanic girl. I said yeah, that would be ok. I was thinking in my mind, maybe he knows a co-worker who knows someone who is pregnant. This may be a long shot. The next word out of his mouth blew me away. "ok-well we may be getting one today". To say I was shocked and excited would be an understatment. I quickly got Connor squared away at the neighbors house and took off to meet Shane and our social worker at the hospital. We had lunch with her and she explained the situation. Sadie's birthmom had come in the night before and had given birth and wanted to place her for adoption, but hadn't chosen a family. We were thrilled that we were given the opportunity to adopt Sadie. We had to wait until she was 24 hrs old before her birthmom could sign the relinquishment papers. We left the hospital and came home to get the boys situated with Shane's aunt and uncle (Pam and Wayne). My parents were in St. Louis visiting my aunt and uncle and Shane's parents don't live near us. It was my Dad's birthday on the 24th-so it was a fun b-day present for him! We bought Sadie's birthmom a Willowtree angel statue and wrote her a note to express our gratitude to her. Since we had a couple of hours to wait, we went to dinner and went to the mall to get Sadie some bows for her hair. At around 7:30 that night we got the call from Kris that the paperwork was signed and we could come over to the hospital and sign our portion and go meet Sadie. It took about 20 mins to sign everything, and then we were led into the nursery. Sadie looked like an angel! She was so tiny with the most dark hair you have ever seen. The nurses had combed her hair into a cute curl on top of her head. I was a little in shock and it felt weird to have 2 social workers and nurses surrounding us as we met our daughter for the 1st time. Of course there were tears and we couldn't believe how lucky we were, but to be honest I was still in shock. Luckily for us the hospital was not full so they let me have a room (which we were never billed for) to stay the night with Sadie. There was NO way I was going home and leaving her at the hospital. The pediatrician wanted her to stay until the next day. I remember holding her the hospital room and calling family and friends to share our wonderful news! So many shocked reactions! That night I kept calling her Gabby or Gabriella to see if that name fit. It just didn't-as much as I loved it! The next morning Shane came with the boys to meet her and take us home. When they got there, I expressed to him that Gabby wasn't her name. We also loved Sadie and Sophia. I said to let the boys choose. Shane has since told me that was fine by him since he knew they would choose Sadie. We got released from the hospital and brought our little Sadie Lynne home. The next few days were a blur of food, gifts and visitors. We were and are so blessed to have such great family and friends to support us and celebrate the unique way our family has come together.

So, one year later and Sadie is 1. I can't believe how fast this past year has gone. Sadie is a pure delight. She is so happy and has brought such a calm into our family. She has everyone wrapped around her little finger and we love it! I know she looks opposite of me and I wouldn't have it any other way. I am proud and honored to be her mother. I love you baby girl! Happy Birthday!