Each day that passes without my blogging makes the task of catching up even more daunting. It has been more than four months since my last post. The fact that I have not blogged in so long is a wonderful sign. When Sage first joined our family this blog was truly an outlet for me. There were so many ways in which I was struggling a year ago. I found it theraputic, really, to blog. I tried to be honest about the adoption journey we were on, but at the same time I needed to write about the true blessing that Sage has been in our life to remind myself that the struggles were real, but small in comparison to the joy she was bringing to us each day. So the fact that I have not blogged in forever means that life is just "normal". Sage is simply a Walles. She is silly. She is social. And she plays "fart baseball". Could a parent be any prouder? God chose us to be her family, just as He chose all of us to be His children. So....here are a few highlights from the past four months:

A visit from her cousins (Bill's sister, Aaren's beautiful children). Payton, Sage, Carter, cousin Aubrey, Risa and cousin Anderson.

Sage really enjoyed classes at the Little Gym. She is very brave, and quite adorable :)

In August we road tripped it out to Minnesota. Yep, all six of us piled into our van and drove out to Minnesota. And we survived. We had a blast visiting Grandma Nancy, Aunt Sally, Uncle Tacho, and cousins Neomi, Jacob and Adriana, as well as lots of friends! Sage especially enjoyed swimming at the pool at Grandma's!!

Sage with her cousin, Neomi. Neomi stayed with Payton, Carter and Risa (along with Grandma Nancy) when we went to China, so she met Sage when she first came home, but hadn't seen her since. It's cool that Neomi was able to witness how Sage had changed in the past year.


While in Minnesota we stayed with our friends, Dave and Kari Boese and their kids, Katy and Andy. Here's a picture of the Boese and Walles kids:

Sage turned FOUR on August 9th. It was a pretty low key celebration, but Sage loved it. Her godparents, Tom and Bridgett Frodsham, came over with their girls, Emmy and Maddy, along with their nanny, Jacki, who Sage ADORES! We had Sage's favorite food - noodles!!

Our family tradition is to have "red cake" for everyone's birthday. Sage loves it!!

Sage got to meet more of her cousins when my sister, Susan, and two of her girls came to visit in August. Here's a pic of our kids with their cousins, Tara and Gemma:

And finally, Sage's first day of preschool! We really talked it up so she knew exactly what would happen that day; that mommy would bring her to school and say goodbye. Sage and I attended and "mommy and me" type class last year at the same preschool, so she was comfortable there, but of course this year, mommy does not stay!! That was big change, but she did great! The first day she went into the classroom without even saying goodbye! I had to beg for a kiss! Here's Sage's camera pose on her first day:

Sage is finally, nearly completely, potty trained. She needed to be in order to attend preschool and we just weren't sure how that would go. But...she did it! She has made such huge strides in the past year. She is still a bit behind verbally, but we go to speech therapy once a week which has really improved her expressive language. It also helps to have three awesome siblings who teach you all sorts of things, some mom and dad appreciate, other things not so much :). Although hearing her say "I pity the fool" is pretty humorous! She has also stopped popping her eye out at bedtime. Apparently the fascination has worn off. I did have to warn her preschool teacher that there was a very, very minute possibility she could take her eye out at school. I really don't think she ever will, but you know if I didn't tell her, Sage would have taken her eye out and handed it to the teacher the first day! Now THAT'S how you make an impression!