Mateo is getting so big!!

So this week was a busy one...on Monday and Wednesday, Mateo and I trekked over to the middle school to watch our friend Sean Murphy play soccer...if you remember the pictures from this summer at the Fronza/Kelley/Petrik soccer game, many commented that he is the next great soccer player...must be in his genes.



He had so much fun playing with a soccer ball. Sean's mom Angela and I were sitting at the top of a short slope and the ball would roll down the hill, Mateo would chase after it, he would carry it back up and set the ball down just before the crest of the hill...and it would roll back down and the cycle kept going and going and going...



Mateo is a big animal lover...and with the lack of furry friends at our house (both the cats were adopted to other families)...he loves to play with pets. This is Max Martinson (of the Jamie & Val Martinson Family fame). Mateo kept trying to feed him some snacks...



This is my favorite picture in a long time...he keeps trying to do bigger and bigger things. He loves to try to walk in any of our shoes...but this picture of him in my slippers makes me smile!!

Other activities this week included: canning 30 half-pints of apple butter and 8 quarts of applesauce (and getting to put the canning stuff away for the year); cleaning the craft area; watching Kyle Murphy's football team play; hanging out with the Murphy boys while Greg & Angela took a motorcycle ride; baking brownies, cookies, and making chocolate covered pretzels (thanks Sean for your help) for a fundraiser at work; saying good-bye to the summer sun and hello to the winter rain.

We are off to Tennessee this week to visit Matt's brother Mark, his wife Paula, and the original Sarah Miller. We fly on Thursday morning to Little Rock, Arkansas (SWA flies there cheaper than any other airline flying into Memphis directly). I have never been to Arkansas, so I am looking forward to seeing a bit of it.

We'll take lots of pictures...thanks for all the emails lately. Hugs, Sarah

Home for a Year...and Picallili...lots and lots of Picallili

We have officially been home for one year now...of course, on September 21st last year, I think we slept most of the day, trying to recover from the hours of travel. I remember sitting in the living room with Matt looking at each other going,"I can't believe it is real now!"

Thanks to all the people who remembered and sent well wishes.

So my friends say "Martha" should have been my middle name...I have been a canning fool while I have been home on medical leave. Today, I made 31 pints of picallili which is relish made from green tomatoes. It is great on brats (fresh off the Traeger, of course)...and on other BBQ'd meats in a bun.

So all that is left is applesauce and apple butter. It's a good thing. I'm almost "canned" out for this year. But it is a great opportunity to learn many things from my mother-in-law, and a good chance to hang out.

Mateo is currently in the living room playing with his new LeapFrog Phonics Bus which has all the sounds of all the letters of the alphabet. He has taken to playing with puppets and other stuffed animals. He loves to put diapers on his bear. He has many new words, and each time he says one we try to get him to repeat it and he looks at us with a smile that says, "I don't perform on command...don't even think about it!!"

That's all the news from our neck of the woods. Hope all is well with you. If you haven't checked out my sister Rachel's blog in a while, you should use the link on the right...she's got some great pictures of my nephews on it now.

Hugs from Oregon, Sarah & the boys

What a difference a year makes...

Mateo in 2006



Mateo in 2007

So in adoption world, people often celebrate "Gotcha Day" or "Adoption Day". We prefer Family Day...and we chose to celebrate it today (September 18th). The day has a special meaning in my family, my parents (Mike and Sue) were married on this day in 1971. So it makes me think of my mom who would have been Grammy Sue to Mateo.

One year ago today, we went to the US Embassy in Guatemala City to appear for our visa appointment to bring Mateo home. I remember it feeling so anti-climatic...a bureaucrat behind a glass window who asked us like three questions, stamped our application in like four places and sent us to a window to pay more money. Forty eight hours later, we were almost home in Oregon.

Twelve months later, we are chasing him around, listening to him babble all the time, and loving on him with lots of hugs and kisses. Tonight we made a special dinner to celebrate family day and invited MamaNona to join us. The best part was the peach cake with fresh raspberries from the yard on top!

The week in review...

This week has been very full of activity. On Monday, MamaNona and I made 20 pints of salsa. On Tuesday, we did 6 quarts of spaghetti sauce. It took me about a day and half to recover, and today, Pamela showed up with a box of pears and a box of plums. So this afternoon, we did 27 pints of sliced pears...and I'll be working on plum butter tomorrow afternoon.

Mateo got to go to pre-school at Benedictine on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. Then he had his first ever O'Fest sausage on a stick on Thursday night. Thursday night is when the locals go (WAY LESS PEOPLE), and the rain held out until we were loading up to come home. MamaNona is a big fan of the Onion Blossom and Strawberry Shortcake for dessert (my preference is deep fried Oreos with ice cream and chocolate sauce)!!

Matt has been busy putting a skirt on the deck to match our original siding, putting plywood in MamaNona's rafters to make storage in her garage, and tonight he is at the parish O'Fest booth selling sausages (in a bun or on a stick).

I got a beautiful Iris bouquet from my friends on the board of the local branch of the PMI (Project Management Institute). It was nice to be remembered by them and it motivated me to work on PMI stuff. I have even been learning how to do web pages the real way (not the blogger easy as pie way!!)

Tomorrow I am off to an adoption class to learn how to do a lifestory book for Mateo when he gets bigger. Then on Sunday, we will go to Portland for a potluck with other families who have adopted through the same agency as us.

Then next week, it will be time for resting...let us know what's new in your world.

Hugs from Oregon, the Millers

This week's update

So I have been home for a week, and am healing quite nicely. We went yesterday to see Dr. D to have the stitches from my laproscopy taken out. He reminded me that the internal stitching takes six full weeks to heal, and so he won't be releasing me to go back to work until then. And I am on 10 pound weight restriction for the entire time, which means no picking up Mateo...although we have found a couple of ways to give each other loves that don't involve me lifting him.



Mateo had his final doctor visit for his TB exposure. Dr. Julie did another liver test, which came out perfect, and gave him a clean bill of health once he finishes the current bottle of antibiotics. Mateo loves to stand on the big person scale as seen in the picture. He weighs about 29 lbs and he is now officially 30 3/4" tall. He's grown alot in the last two months...the pants that we used to have to roll up now have his ankles hanging out of them.






Grandma & Grandpa Britschgi came by for a visit on Thursday. They were at the beach seeing Barbara's brother and they stopped by on their way to Portland for an Air Force reunion. It was great to see them, and they were very glad to see Mateo. Grandma B brought a new book, called True Love, which is Mateo's new favorite.






We were glad for the visit, and glad that they are still going to be family for us.

We are very grateful for all our friends and family who have sent cards, and prayers, and good wishes for a speedy recovery. It is nice to be loved.

Hugs from Oregon, Sarah & boys

It's already been a year...

So this time last year, we were in Guatemala, waiting desperately to get a pink slip for a visa appointment to bring Mateo home. We were so thankful for our friends, Dan & Paula Narva (dad & mom to Alex) and Kevin & Niki Heil (dad & mom to Isabela). The families were both from Michigan and they were all staying at the same place as us, La Casa Grande. They were both down on visit trips as we were a couple of months ahead of them in the adoption process. Well, we have kept in touch via email with them over the past year, and they have the opportunity to get together and visit. These pictures are Mateo's first friends, hanging out. We hope to eventually make the trek to Michigan to see them, or welcome them to Oregon if they ever come west.



Alex and Isabella hanging out...


Kevin holding Alex & Isabella...


Mateo loves the slide as much as Alex & Isabella...must be a Guatemalan thing (or more likely an age appropriate kid thing!!)



Niki holding Isabella and Dan holding Alex...

Anyway, we were very blessed a year ago to encounter them during our journey, and we are even more blessed that a year later we still have them in our lives. We say often how amazed we are of the blessings Mateo has brought into our lives and family. The Heils and Narvas are among those blessings.

Here's to growing up with good friends!! Sarah

How sweet it is to be home...

So I am at home resting & recuperating now. Surgery went without a hitch on Friday. It took a bit longer than they expected because of the amount of endometriosis that was present, but Dr. D was able to preserve an ovary which should prevent me from having to take any hormone replacement until regular menopause. I stayed overnight at the hospital and my dear friend Angela brought be some Dairy Queen which almost made the stay worthwhile! :)

Matt brought be home about 11AM on Saturday, and I spent most of the day resting in bed (the Tempurpedic at our house is waaaaaaaay more comfortable than the hospital beds). I took off the patch they gave me at the hospital to help with nausea...which was a mistake. Once Matt got a prescription for the patch called into a pharmacy, my world got much better.

The healing process will be slow, but it is nice to get to do it in my preferred environment, surrounded by people who love me...Mateo has been practicing giving gentle loves to Mama for the past few days. It's nice to get to spend so much time with him.

The pictures are from last weekend's trip to Boise...Ellie celebrated her 3rd birthday a few days early with the book club aunties...and then we got to go to a park to play with Cole & Ellie. I'm telling you, I think Mateo is going to grow up as a soccer fanatic!! Mateo loves babies...here he is giving gentle loves to Brandon (Hillary's son). Finally, cousin Matt, the seminarian, has been a big help the past few days with Mateo. He even fits in "Mateo's House"...we enjoy having him around!!

Hugs from Silverton, Sarah