The lazy way to post new photos.

I've been spending time on facebook and haven't updated the blog in quite some time. I have quite a few photos uploaded on facebook, so I'll just post some links here. Only fb friends can view the entire album, but these links should be public to allow anyone to view the individual photos. Looks like they don't become clickable links so you'll have to copy and paste until I can make them clickable.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2476159&l=268d0ae35d&id=577971286

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2476160&l=1a91d0b214&id=577971286

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4106165&l=b7c1db3a7a&id=577971286

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4106227&l=0466f1ca17&id=577971286

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4106228&l=4040c24df4&id=577971286

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4117723&l=ff2ef882f4&id=577971286

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4117724&l=7b7a113705&id=577971286

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4117725&l=840386cc4e&id=577971286

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4117726&l=a1efba7208&id=577971286

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4117886&l=a831846424&id=577971286

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4400342&l=04c7a18d72&id=577971286

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4400343&l=569fd337b7&id=577971286

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4400344&l=7ded95266d&id=577971286

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4478908&l=58fcaccf0f&id=577971286

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4765043&l=bd230ac151&id=577971286

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4765044&l=ca35a39f60&id=577971286

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4765045&l=8f6d8ef9a1&id=577971286

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4765046&l=42840eb3e0&id=577971286

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5654680&l=1380327aea&id=577971286

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5654682&l=0c91fc94d6&id=577971286

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5654683&l=8495f115c1&id=577971286

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5654684&l=bfb255b0a0&id=577971286

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5654688&l=27f0b92f69&id=577971286

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5654689&l=2fc489b3ea&id=577971286

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5654690&l=8edab20655&id=577971286

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5654693&l=c7df29f704&id=577971286

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5654714&l=88fcc6d195&id=577971286

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5654716&l=2459e3938c&id=577971286

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5654717&l=79caabc7e2&id=577971286

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5654718&l=736fa4b837&id=577971286

Sarah Spends Time With Her Friend From Tam Binh

Last month I received a letter in the mail from France. My first thought was, "I don't know anyone in France." Well, we do now. The letter was from the mother of a little girl who lived with Sarah at Tam Binh. That little girl, Lily-Mei, was adopted when she was 13-months-old and has been able to visit TB2 several times since joining her forever family. Her mother volunteered at the orphanage and sponsored several children, including Sarah. We are so grateful for all they did for Sarah. We have received several photos of Sarah from Lily-Mei's parents. The youngest Sarah was in any of the photos we had previously was 22 months. We now have photos of her at four months, photos of her on her first birthday and photos from very close to the day we decided to adopt Sarah. The last time Sarah and Lily-Mei had seen each other was May 2008, four months before Sarah left Tam Binh.

It just so happens, Lily-Mei's family was coming to the U.S. to visit friends this month and were able to fly into St. Louis for a short visit. The girls were inseparable for the time they were together. We enjoyed breakfast at the White Rose Café and did a little sight-seeing around Union and Washington. Lily-Mei will be returning to Australia at Christmas and her parents will be able to retrieve more photos out of storage and a journal with milestones of some of the children like their first tooth, first step, etc.

I can't adequately express our gratitude to Lily-Mei's family for the photos, information about Sarah, taking the time to get the girls together and generally brightening our lives. Thank you so much. We will keep the girls in contact in the future and hope to get them together again.

Oct. 12, 2009-Sarah greets Lily-Mei at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.
Oct. 12, 2009-The girls playing dress up while they rekindle their friendship.
Oct. 13,2009-Getting their hair done the next morning.
Oct. 13, 2009-We made a quick visit to Washington despite the nasty weather.
Oct. 13, 2009-The Missouri River bridge at Washington.
Oct. 13, 2009-Sarah and Lily-Mei having a little more fun before Lily-Mei had to leave.






Here are a few of the new-old photos we received.


March 12, 2005-A beautiful photo of Sarah at four-months-old.
June 18, 2005-Sarah at about 7 months.
Nov. 10, 2005-Sarah on her first birthday.
Nov. 10, 2005-Sarah with her birthday present.
May 17, 2008-The last visit Lily-Mei made to Tam Binh before Sarah joined us.

A visit to the UFPD House #1.

I took Sarah for a visit to the fire house today since she's only been there once since she arrived. She enjoyed investigating all the trucks and having a few photos taken.
Sitting on the front of 8214 with Ba's helmet.Trying out the engineer's seat again.


Striking a pose by 8223.
Checking out our ladder truck, 8212.
8253, our 3,500-gallon tanker.
8218, one of our brush trucks.

Happy Mother's Day To All The Moms Out There

Help the Expanded Federal Adoption Tax Credit Become Permanent

The Federal tax credit that helped tremendously in our ability to adopt Sarah is scheduled to sunset to the original level of $5,000 after December 2010 if new legislation is not passed. To get more information and for links to contact your representative and senators, click the link below and please take a few minutes to urge your representative and both senators to support this legislation. Thank you.

Federal Adoption Tax Credit

First fish!

Sarah caught her first fish today and she is "hooked". She kept wanting to go back to the pond when we were eating dinner.


She even got to touch a baby bunny.

Sarah outfished her brother, but he did catch a few.

CHI Easter Open House

Sarah went to the Children's Hope International Easter open house today and had fun with the other children, became quite attached to the Easter Bunny and just loved playing with the parachute.

Is it really almost two months since Christmas?

Where does the time go? We'll be having our second post-adoption visit with our social worker in less than two weeks. Sarah has been a part of our family for almost five months now. Everyday is a new adventure and we wouldn't have it any other way. I've tried to catch up with photos since Christmas. Enjoy.
12/25/08-Santa was very good to Sarah this year.
Isaac and Sarah on Christmas morning.
Santa brought Sarah her very own kitchen.
Sarah's very own Tinkerbell doll.
Sarah shows her cousin, Kirby, what the tickle monster is all about.
Aunt Jane, Kirby and Sarah.
"I could get used to this Christmas thing."


12/26/08-Aunt Jane and cousin Ethan read a book to Sarah.
12/28/08-The Struttmann Christmas gathering was held as usual at Union Fire Department's House 1. Aunt Sue gets to know Sarah.
Sarah enjoyed checking out the trucks.
Cousin Kirby tagged along to see the trucks at House 1.
Ba's favorite truck, 8223.
Engineer Sarah in 8214.
Franklin County, 8214 is in the house.
Aunt Geri is surprised about something.
Sarah borrowed a camera and loved taking photos.
Aunt Mary looks at one of the photos Sarah took.
Sarah visits with Uncle Gary and shows him the borrowed camera.
Playing the infamous Struttmann present swap game or whatever they call it.
Rolling the dice to try to win another gift.
Sarah loves babies.
1/4/09-I was in the other room working on some paperwork when I heard Sarah pretending to read one of her books. When I went in to check on her a short time later, she was "reading" it to Skippy.
1/28/09-A little fun in the snow. Isaac shows off some icicles he found as Sarah patiently waits for another ride on the Grizzly.
2/7/09-Isaac had a Cub Scout hike at Shaw Nature Reserve and I took the opportunity to show Sarah the finer points of Geocaching.
A geocache awaits in that cane thicket. We just have to wait for the crowd to move on.
Sarah finds her first geocache container. This one was hidden by our friends, Tim, Pam & Molly.
Let's move on and find another cache, Ba.
Nearby another cache location.
2/21/09-After Isaac's Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet today, we headed to St. John's Mercy Medical Center to visit mom at work in the eICU, otherwise known as Mercy Safe Watch. She has it rough, watching six computer screens for 12 hours straight.
Isaac was quite impressed by the coffee selection in his mom's break room.
John, one of mom's coworkers and carpool buddies.
Lisa, another carpool buddy.