Wow, it's been 4 years!!

Today is my 4 year Blogiversary! How do you like that? So much has happened in the past four years. It really blows my mind when I look back on it.

Our family started out like this on April 10, 2005 just days before our dossier was sent to China....



Then, after many months of waiting to adopt, we received the pictures of our soon to be daughter. Our hearts were bursting with joy ....



Then, we proudly attended this wonderful event at the University of Florida....



and all immediately ran off to China after Justin's graduation for the reason that all of this began...our precious daughter, Katie Starr.....



We then decided that we wanted to adopt again and complete our family. In October, 2007, ten months after we first saw this picture.....



We traveled to China to adopt our wonderful son, Ethan....



After settling in as a family of five, our oldest son popped the question to his lady love Judy at Katie's 3rd birthday with all of his and her family around them to witness it......



and now four years later, as we celebrate this blogiversary, we plan to celebrate Katie Starr's 4th birthday on April 13th! I started this blog just 3 days before she was born...amazing.

These were the highlights. The past four years have brought us through the greatest highs and lows of my life thus far and there have been many stories to share. I have grown and changed in ways that I never envisioned for myself and my blog has evolved as well. I have been blessed beyond my wildest dreams with my family and friends. My husband and children are everything to me. They give me the greatest gift of all....the love of family.

I thank all of you who have followed our journey, either from the beginning or caught up with us along the way. I enjoy keeping this blog very much. I started when there were only a few like it and now I am joined daily by many other people who just like me, are driven to document this journey of adoption and life with our families. Many have gone private and I respect their choice but it is not my choice. I remember searching for websites like this one when I began this journey and hung on the words of "been there, done that" families. I dreamed of a future with our daughter and wondered what our journey to China would be like. Those blogs and websites helped so much during our wait. Little did I know at the time that there would also be a third child waiting out there for us that would be the final piece to our puzzle. I have always appreciated when people were candid about their lives on their blogs and I have always tried to do the same. Their candor has given me great insight into many of the challenges that I have faced and are still facing.

I have made the most amazing friendships through this medium, some with people I have met in person and some with people whom I hope to meet in the future. You all have inspired me to keep going when I get a bit burnt and always let me know that you found what I have to say worth reading, even when I was not quite sure it really was. The sorority of bloggers is like no other...we share a bond that is hard to really quantify, so I will not even try. Blogging serves three purposes for me; it documents our children's lives for them to see later, it allows me to pay back with support those that read it and thanks for those who have supported me and it serves as a wonderful and creative outlet for me on a continual basis. I cannot imagine not having this amazing medium.

I know that the next four years will hold many mysteries still left to be revealed. We also have events that are already in the works, such as Justin and Judy's wedding in January of 2010 and Justin's graduation from law school in May of the same year. "Stress is the New Black" is more than just about the really big life events that punctuate our lives with milestones. It is about what truly is our lives...the small and seemingly mundane daily occurrences. They are what fuels us and brings it all in focus. I look forward to continuing to share much of it with you.

Love,