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Thirty-three years ago today, a spirited whirlwind of a girl blew into our lives:

Watch out, world – this one is loaded for bear…..

….and we have never been the same.  Where has all that time gone?

God has a wicked sense of humor – ask any family that has more than two kids, and they will tell you that the third kid threw them for a loop.  Just when you think you have the whole “parenting” thing figured out – you’re thinking you know everything there is to know about raising kids – the third one comes along, and you realize that you don’t have the first CLUE…..

By the time Sarah came along, we had been parents for 6 years.  Poor Sarah got the “leftovers” – we were a lot calmer about things, but we were also just plain tired.  Rachel was starting kindergarten and Michelle was only a year old, so Sarah got whatever energy we could muster up at the end of the day.

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She’s always been a “pistol” – I can still remember the time that we were heading out on some errand or another, and I insisted that everyone go to the bathroom before we left.  Sarah said she didn’t need to go, and we got into a minor battle of wills.  I finally told her she had to go into her bathroom and try – so she did.  She slammed the door, then stood right behind it and made a “tssssssssss” sound –

I can laugh about it NOW…… 😛

While we didn’t have as much one-on-one time to spend with Sarah when she was little, after Rachel and Michelle left for school we had an opportunity to get to know her as a young adult.  It was a wonderful experience – we didn’t have that chance with the other two, but Sarah lived at home for a few years, so we had the opportunity to see her grow into the most delightful young lady (just like her sisters).

And now she’s a married lady, living in her own house and making happy memories of her own!

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Happy birthday, sweetie – we are so very proud of you, and we love you very much!

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(This is one of my all-time favorite songs – I couldn’t choose between these two versions, so I included both of them)
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