Missin' Sara

I've tried not to think about it much, but tonight it hit me. I saw pictures of Sara posted on facebook by her mom tonight. She started 3rd grade today. Sara is my niece... my brother Jeff's kid. We haven't seen her since Valentine's Day; 6 months and 8 days to be exact. I miss her. My brother has lost custody of her for a while. Not because of what the Judge has said, but because of Sara's mom's and grandma's decision. It's a long story that I don't want to get into, but it isn't right. Tonight, seeing those pictures, I realized how much she's grown up since we've seen her. Last February she didn't have her front teeth, but now they've grown in. I can tell she's taller. And she just plain looks older. We miss her. My boys miss her so much. When making Cody's baptism movie, we put in pictures of her with our boys. Instead of watching this movie and being excited about all these fun pictures of growing up, they saw Sara and realized how long it's been since we've seen her. Hunter said, "What happened to her?" 'Bout made me want to cry. How do you explain this to kids? How do you tell them we don't know when the next time we'll see her is? For now, I'll add in some pictures of her that I love, and hope I can add some new ones in soon.

Sara giving Cody kisses. They are only 5 months apart. Cody loves Sara.

I love this picture of Sara with T.J.

My boys with their cousins Sara and Teegan.

Love this cute face! She's a spunky little gal.

She got to come to one rodeo with us.

Took these next 3 at our house. Love these pictures!

Love the wrangler butts! Cody and Sara were checking our the fish in the horse trough so I snapped this fast.

Horseyville is such a tease!

Love this picture of Sara and Jeff.

She loved riding the 4-wheeler with the boys.

Such a tease to Grandpa!

Sara with our cute puppies.

Sara signing the sign in book at Jim and Cherie's wedding. She looked so cute that night!

She always wanted to ride a horse so Jared saddled one up for her. She wanted to dress like the boys to ride so she wore chaps and a vest that were too small, some of their wranglers and a pair of boots. A country girl at heart!

Cody and Sara both lost their front teeth for Christmas.

This is a picture her mom put on facebook of her first day of 3rd grade. Made me cry seeing these pictures of her.

We miss Sara so much. Sometimes others don't realize how the choices they make really affect others lives. My boys miss their cousin, I miss my niece, my parents miss their granddaughter, and so on. Break-ups are hard on the families, too. I know we'll see Sara again, just wish I knew when. We love you Sara!