Back in the day

My mom sent this picture in my email today. It must be from 1981 or 1982 - that's me lookin' over her shoulder when we were on some sort of a hike.

I'm lovin' her Guess jeans. So fashionable, Mama!

Learning to Crawl...Seattle Style

Olivia is SO close to crawling. She just needs that added...push.

So here's what I came up with.

I feel it! I feel it!

Ok, so I know you can't technically SEE it, but I promise you its there. I promise!

Olivia's FIRST tooth has poked through. She's been cutting it for a while now, and it's finally broken through her little gums! She's had a low-grade fever for the past few days, but she's handling it well.

I've been waiting for this little tooth to make it's appearance for so long now. And now that it's finally here, I'm like, "Noooooo! You're growing up too fast!"

Tom and I were talking about the Tooth Fairy, and wondering what the going rate is these days. Tom chimes in with "I got a lousy dime." Ah, Tom.

I remember I'd alwasy get little notes from the Tooth Fairy - reminding me to brush and floss. Pffft. I also remember one night the Tooth Fairy "forgot" to visit. I went to my mom in tears, asking why, and my mom goes: "Uh...uh...I think she's in Mexico. She'll probably be back tomorrow."

:-) Sarah

Hyperventilating

I am so excited right now.

I just got an email from my best friend Amy. She said: Who wants to camp outside of the store with me???

She's talking about H & M.

H & M is super trendy clothing at super super cheap prices.

Think IKEA for clothes.

And it's coming to Seattle's University Village!!!

Too bad I have to wait until fall of 2008.

Now I understand how my dad felt when they started building Safeco Field.

H & M is my Safeco. Yessssssssssssssss.

When God shows up at lunch

I had an impromptu lunch with a friend today.

Thai food. We barely ate any of it because we were talking so much. Ever have one of those lunches?

I heard the other day that "When you open up to people, people open up to God." Well, today, my friend opened up to me about something in her life. I was left with so much compassion, because I've been in the exact same spot. I told her this. I guess you can say we bonded.

Then, after we prayed about her situation, I decided to open up to her about an even deeper issue that I had faced. I won't go into details, but lets just say it was one of those deep, dark "skeletons-in-the-closet" type things that you think you'd just die if someone found out about you. It was years ago, but it still haunts me. And although I know I have been forgiven, well, I still have to check in with God every now and then. I ask Him "Still forgiven?" and He says "Yes" and I can almost feel Him smile at my unbelief. Almost.

So there I was, at lunch, telling my friend something I thought I'd never say out loud.

And I felt God. I felt God so strongly inside of me that my hands were trembling and my stomach was turning and I was sweating. Tears welled up. I knew that God was at my side as I started to speak. Even now as I type this, my hands are cold and I still feel nervous.

I'll admit: I thought about staying silent this afternoon. I thought about chalking it all up to indigestion and a poor nights sleep. I thought about keeping my story to myself.

But God had different plans, and I opened my mouth.

It was one of the most difficult things I've ever done.

When I began my story, as the two of us sat in my car, my friend put her hand on mine. She looked into my eyes and listened. I searched her face for judgement. I watched her body language. Would she ever see me the same again?

I have one word for you: Freedom. There is freedom in following through on what God is asking you to do - no matter how scared you are. There is a reason that God wanted me to talk to my friend today. I'm not sure what it was - maybe it was even more for my benefit than hers, but whatever the case, I know that God was asking me to take a giant leap of faith... and I did it. Freedom.

I'm reminded, again and again: there is nothing like living a life centered around what God has for you. There is nothing like saying "Here I am. All of me." A warning though... When you say that to God, you'd better believe He's going to respond with "OK! Here We Go!"

Today was a big day. And it's only one o'clock. I'm sort of exhausted.

Sincere love,
Sarah

More, Please!

Please keep adding your "Best Of" lists to the comments (post below.)

I'm going to share as many of them as I can on-air.

Here are a few from my weekend:

**When Grandma watches Olivia so I can get some errands done!

**When my husband wakes up early on Sunday morning and watches the little one so I can sleep in!

**When you think you're getting a bad cold, but the next day it turns out not to be too bad!

**Payday.

**When your dad calls just to say hi.

**When the kitty sneaks into the bedroom and curls up at your feet

**When theres no line at Starbucks, and they make your drink JUST right.

**When theres a great movie on TV and you get to vege out on the couch.

**When your sister-in-law is 8 1/2 months pregnant and you can't wait for a new baby in the family!

**When the weather is not to hot or too cold - and you get to be outdoors

**When you have energy to clean the house and admire all your work... and your husband helps!

And all of those are just from this weekend!!!

We sure have a lot to be thankful for. I love forcing myself to take a few minutes to write these down, because I always feel so blessed when I read back over them.

Although, I have one negative comment: Right now, at this very moment, my husband is screaming "Sarrrrah! The baby smells! Go change her!" and I'm like "I'm on the computer, you do it!" and he's like "Noooooooo. it smells too bad!"

Gotta go. :-)

Sarah

Best of...

I love lists.

This is a list of things that make me smile.

Here we go:

**Accidentally overhearing someone say something nice about you

**Waking up and realizing you still have a few hours left to sleep

**Coming home to a clean house with dinner already on the stove

**Song lyrics printed inside your new CD so you can sing along without feeling stupid

**Watching the expression on someone's face as they open a much desired present from you

**An unexpected hand-written note in the mail

**A blank day on an overflowing calendar

**Finding a twenty in your jeans pocket before you put them in the wash

Feel free to add some of YOUR own in the comments section!