Sarah Rise Weekly Updates

While in chilly Florida, we went to the Tampa zoo and met up with a friend of mine from elementary school whom I hadn’t seen in over 30 years! She was in Florida with her family and it was really great to see her again. The kids loved the zoo. They ran to get to… Read more »

Merry Christmas! Sarah’s favorite present is a shirt that says “off to the zoo” and has many zoo animals printed on the front. Amy’s favorite item is a stuffed animal black-footed cat. She was also excited to give Carl her creation of a book of pictures of Star Wars characters. On our Christmas Eve, she… Read more »

Yesterday I woke Amy earlier than she gets up for school because she had an appointment with an oral surgeon to remove two teeth. She and Sarah have both had issues with overcrowding and with baby teeth that have no grown-up tooth behind them to push them out of the way. The surgery was quick… Read more »

We had a good week, culminating in the holiday party for the St Anthony School Program. Last year, Sarah’s Resource Room (includes multiple grades, but all kids that need a little extra help) performed Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer song, but this year it was a Resource Room from a different school who got to… Read more »

Sarah continues her love of zoos, often wearing her zoo shirt that she made in kindergarten. She recently found a picture of herself wearing the shirt 7 years ago. It looked like a dress! Now it fits her perfectly. She also likes to refer to herself as Baby Zoo. Last weekend Carl had work to… Read more »

Last Sunday Sarah had her piano recital and did a beautiful job, as always. And, as always, I felt a bit teary watching her. In the earliest days of wondering if she would ever crawl or talk or reach for a toy, who would have ever thought she would be up in front of a… Read more »

After Amy’s second class of cheerleading, which she hated just as much as the first, she was able to switch to an improv class that her best friend is in. She LOVES it!! Absolutely loves it. Sarah’s first private swim lesson went well. She refused to get in the water until her teacher arrived, which… Read more »

Thank you to all who reached out in support regarding my aunt. She died peacefully Tuesday evening. I’m so grateful that I got to see her first and say goodbye, and I’m also sad that she is gone. Sometimes you just know a person loves you even if you may not see each other often…. Read more »

This update is dedicated to my aunt J. who was recently placed in hospice care. In addition to reading my updates and cheering for our journey all along, she and my uncle financially supported the Sarah-Rise Program and made it feel easily possible to do whatever we thought could be most helpful for Sarah. My… Read more »

I know I haven’t been able to find all lost things, but the number of times I have found Sarah’s lost rings and the manner in which I have found them astounds me. Yesterday she lost a favorite ring while playing in a large pile of leaves at our house. I found the ring after… Read more »