Chellemetime

Hubby cleaned up lunch and left the leftovers on a plate so although my plate was much smaller, lunch!

Well, shoot! I forgot to take a picture of my lunch but it was blackened Tilapia, boiled shrimp and asparagus.

Ken, I've been to Vegas many times. There are places that don't have buffets that you can get a salad and just eat the toppings or grilled chicken breast with veggies. They're very accommodating if you ask. Have a great time!

Gorgeous! Such a huge difference! Keep up the good work!

WOW! You really look awesome! Great job!

It is bittersweet. I had to come to the understanding that I actually have no full blooded brothers or sisters. Which was really hard. And I loved my Dad that raised me with all my heart so that was like mourning him all over again. So that part is sad. But now I look forward to forming a new relationship with this person and his son that are still here on Earth.

Oh, GG!! That's something you should be a part of. If he does decide to meet them, I honestly think you should contact them first to see if they are open to it. The "brother" that I mentioned earlier in this post that is my biological father's son was actually adopted by him after he met his mom when she was pregnant with him. He contacted his biological father later in life (not my age of course , because he was raised knowing he was adopted) and his biological father turned him away and wanted nothing to do with him. It SO devastated him that he can't even talk about it without crying. We've actually cried together because I can feel his pain. So please, I'm just relating what I know about this and I'm no authority and aren't good at giving advise but I really think you should feel the waters for him before he meets anyone. Just my opinion.

Please do. We've been waiting all this time to see your victory, lol.

GG! That looks AWESOME!

You know, the thing about that is, now every time I look at myself in the mirror, I see him. It's really is bittersweet.

I KNOW LAURA! I so wanted to see them too!!

LOL...Sorry, it's your choice of words that made me laugh. I can totally understand. I was too. It would actually be unusual not to be. The main thing is to make sure you have a good Dr. with lots of experience with the sleeve and we're all here for support.

Happy Happy Birthday, Fluff!

Thank you!

Thank you, GG. It wasn't easy for me or my children but now we are focusing on the future. And thank you for the hugs.

[i decided to get the.........drumroll please........SLEEVE!!! YAY!! Good luck!!

Yes, I can see it as an amazing gift now. I hope you've gotten to meet yours and form a relationship. I know that's what I'm hoping for. And my husbands father died before any of our children were born so they realize that they've actually never met a biological Grandfather.

Thank you! I'm hoping that he'll be able to meet his 3 Grandchildren and 4 Great Grandchildren soon. Which is a new thing for him because he doesn't have any others.

Wonderful pics and beautiful families!

Thank you! He's 76 years old. I just hope to be able to have him around for many more years.

I yall! I asked for help when I was going through a very stressful life event but it was too fresh to talk about at that time. This site has such wonderful people that give great advice so I decided I wanted to share the reason I went through such stress. I was raised by my Mom and Dad and had a younger Brother and Sister. My Dad died of Cancer in 2008. My Mom died of a heart attack Jan 1st of this year. In September I received an email from an anonymous person telling me that my "Dad" had been looking for me for 8 years and new that "Linda" (that was my Mom's name) had passed away and was planning to contact me. To make a long story short, that email led me to find out (at the age of 49) that I was adopted by my Dad and everyone knew this except for me and my 3 children. I pretty much lost my mind for a few days. I just couldn't process the information. Then I decided I wanted to find out who my biological father was. Most of the people who could answer any questions for me had already passed on. The only thing I was able to find out from one of my older cousins was his name was Buddy (but that was a nickname) and his last name (which was a very common name). I finally called the County Clerks office in the county I was born in. I explained my story to the woman that answered the phone. I told her I wasn't sure what my actual name was at birth so we tried my Mom's maiden name and then his last name. She found my original birth certificate with his name on it. Though I went through a literal hell for a couple of months, I now talk to my biological dad every couple of days and am growing to love him. I even have a brother. He lives about 2 hours from me and my husband and I drove to meet him 2 weeks ago and I look just like him.

Hey, Butter! Where are you from in TX? I'm from Santa Fe! 15 minutes from Galveston!

Wow! You really do look totally different! Thank you for sticking around and congratulations on your great success!!

Wow! That's amazing! I bet it takes a load off of your shoulders.

Just letting you know that I wasn't able to handle anything cooked in a crockpot for a while and the oil in the Italian dressing could cause dumping. You may want to be careful the first time you try it.