It's a book!!!

So we survived New York! The weather was beautful this trip and we enjoyed walking around seeing the sights. We arrived Thursday morning and spent the day walking around, eating, and shopping. Thursday night we were invited to go watch the taping of World News with Diane Sawyer. Sloan has had a crush on her since he was a little boy, so needless to say, he was floored. Lol. We arrived at ABC studios and were shocked to learn that they offered us to be on the set! If you've ever noticed the people in the background behind Diane on computers looking 'busy'.....well, we got to do that! It was hysterical to me because they logged us on the computers and were like "get online, get on Facebook, whatever, we just need you to look inconspicous and busy" I didn't have time to call friends or family, so I immediately found friends and family online and started chatting. At one point I started grinning like the Cheshire Cat and then people were instant messaging me saying things like "We see you smiling!" which only made it harder for me to keep a straight face. Lol. It lasted 30 minutes and then much to our surprise when taping was over, Diane invited us to hug and take a pic!!! Sloan was pretty much speechless and I was gushing as usual. Ha.

That night we ate at a Brazilian Restaurant that was fabulous. Those who know me, know how much I love food.....and vacations pretty much revolve around it. Lol. After we ate, I received some VERY exciting news from friends back home.  The Military Warriors Support Foundation presented my longtime childhood friend Andrew, an Army Commendation Medal and Purple Heart recipient with a new home at the Ranger game!  He and his wife Amy and kids are so deserving and I had been praying that this blessing would come through for them. We were on the streets of NY grinning big for them :)

Friday morning we got up and got ready and headed for my interview with 20/20. I was SO nervous as usual. It never gets any easier, whether I'm speaking at a church, in front of 5 people, or on TV, it's always so nerve wracking for me. The interview went very well though and will be airing Sept. 7th on ABC. It was a typical interview, but the thing I was most excited about was the opportunity to share my new book coming out! I've not allowed myself to get excited much, but being able to share it with the world on TV, the excitement is starting to creep up on me. The book is anticipated to be on shelves by the end of October if everything goes well. I'm literally in the home stretch and the light is very near the end of the tunnel. It's been an amazing journey to walk out for sure. Anyway, I wanted to let ya'll know that you have the ability to go to my publisher's website and 'reserve' a copy if you like. The site is:  www.indigoriverpublishing.com

I'd blog more, but I have 2 girls tugging on my arm and we are about to leave to go have dinner with family.........plus I'm starving (big surprise) and can't focus well. Hope everyone had a great weekend and for those of you near me, enjoy this rain!!!

Blessings,

Sarah

New York......again!

Sloan and I arrived in New York this morning. I'll be doing an interview with 20/20 tomorrow that will air Sept. 7th. I'm excited because I'll be debuting my book on the show :) We are currently sitting at a hotel eating free wine and cheese and fixing to head to a taping of World News. Sloan is thrilled to get to see his lifelong crush, Diane Sawyer. Lol. I'll blog more later.

Blessings,
Sarah

Distractions....

So, let's just be honest......I suck at keeping my blog up to date. Lol. I guess I feel as though I have so much going on in my daily life that I don't find myself sitting at my desktop much. I'd rather have tea parties with my girls, ride horses, read a good book, play games with friends, spend time outdoors, etc. Seems as though there are a million things I could be doing at any given time. Lately we have been getting ready for the 3rd annual Ross Churman Memorial Roping. It's a roping that was started in my father in law's memory. He passed away in Jan. 2010. Check out our website at: http://rosschurmanmemorialroping.com/# or find us on Facebook to see what we're all about. It's always the 2nd weekend in Sept. and has been a great roping thus far.

Anyway, other than that I've been continuing to work on my book. Some weeks are easier than others when it comes to writing. Overall, I'm excited and beginning to let myself actually feel some of that excitement! I'm a big 'don't count your chickens before they hatch' kinda gal. I keep  having trouble wrapping my mind around the fact that there are folks out there who would want to read what I write....but apparently there are :) God willing, the book will be out this winter.

As for my hearing implants...........they only get better as the days go by! I'm still adjusting to having 2 though, and I do find myself tiring easily on some days. Bless my kids hearts....they can be loud! Being in places where there are tons of people or noises tends to overwhelm me, but I'm still elated that I can actually function and take part in situations like that. I keep having people ask me if I still read lips, and the answer is....I forget a lot but I'm trying to keep it up just because I think it's a good skill set to have. I have started to not use captioning on TV and movies to put my ears to good use and practice actually hearing words spoken instead of cheating and reading them. I haven't used the captioning device at the movies in a while, and that's been nice too. I still have many moments where I'll be talking to someone and they'll pause mid story and be like "You are totally hearing me right now aren't you?!?" Lol. It sounds crazy, but I forget sometimes that I haven't always heard like this. Just goes to show how easily we forget.

Hope everyone has a great week,

Sarah <3

August

August marks a year since my first Esteem surgery. It's so hard to believe a whole year has already flown by. It's been a crazy, emotional, amazingly blessed year. Ill never forget the feeling when Sloan called to tell me about hearing the ad for the Esteem on Rush Limbaugh, and the feeling when I called the company to ask a million questions only to find out that the surgery was $30,000 per ear. That was possibly the most heartbreaking moment of my life......but I held fast and remembered and believed wholeheartedly the promise of God through the words of Ross while we were living in China "He who promised, IS faithful". The moment Lari came to us and let us know she felt led to cash out her savings, newly widowed I might add, I knew...........We all knew, 'God's got this!'. The rest of the story you all know, and even though they'll prob never see this.....thank you Ellen DeGeneres for your kind heart, thank you Envoy Medical for all the blood sweat and tears you guys have put into this miracle of a device, and thank you to all those who joined me in my prayer requests along the way. And to the one who will see this, Lari, thank you for believing, and listening, and trusting in God. You ARE the best mother in law a gal could have. Most importantly....thank you to Sloan.....the man who was gonna sell his kidney or do whatever he had to 'hell or high water' to make my dream come true. Thank you for standing by me, taking care of me, loving me, and being the man you are. God certainly broke the mold when he made you ♥