Almost a White Christmas

Nothing like getting snowed in the day after Christmas!

With the wind still howling this morning and about 8 inches of fresh powder blanketing our yard... we bundled up and headed outside for some sledding!

Triple decker sandwich...

Daddy's turn for ride up the hill...

or not...

Happy kids. Happy parents.

Well, for the most part... Maybe it's time to go inside.

Christmas Joy!

Merry Christmas! Hope you all had a magical and joyous Christmas!

Nothing more joyful that celebrating Christmas with an 8 year old, a 6 year old and 3 year old. Well, I guess it could have been a little more joyful if there was a certain 1 year old with us but there is no use dwelling on that.

Here we are Christmas Eve, all dressed up and headed to our church's Christmas Eve children's service where K was part of a choir of children that sang Silent Night in Spanish. :) Then off to my cousin's house to celebrate with my extended family.

Late night and up then up EARLY Christmas morning. B was the first to sneak into the living room at 6:30.

Few M & M's for breakfast?

Hmmm.... what's this???

Whatever it is, B looks pretty excited...

Yes, we have made it into the 21st century with our family's first game system... and one of our kids is just a little bit happy.

A morning of hot chocolate, cinnamon rolls, presents and fun and then we went to S's Mom's house for dinner.

What a wonderful joyous day celebrating the birth of our Savior!

Merry Christmas!

Six!

Happy Birthday to our sweet six year old. She is a beauty this one... inside and out.

We love you K!

Pictures of chubby sweetness

We received an early Christmas present.... New pictures!

Don't you just want to plant some kisses on those cheeks?!

Look at her crawl...

and her little grin!

Her chubby cheeks give this away... but according to the new measurements we received she seems to growing really well.

Because S and I like to torture ourselves, this Christmas season we've been listening to this song a lot. It expresses how we feel...

Sigh.

"It's Christmas time again but you're not home. Your family is here and yet you're somewhere else alone. And so tonight I pray that God will come and hold you in his arms and tell you from my heart I wish you Merry Christmas"

8 weeks until travel?! Maybe?! Hopefully!

One Chinese Princess... with blond hair

My brother and sister-in-law were here this weekend for Christmas (a little early). My sister-in-law has a knack for buying the best gifts.

Look what one little princess got for Christmas.

Love.

And... there is a matching dress and shoes for a littler princess.

We learning English too

Yesterday, S read my blog post about the puzzle pieces and gently told me I had added wrong. I wrote that 610 puzzle pieces were sponsored and there were 490 still left. OOPS... I meant 390. 390+610=1000. Right? I edited the post so it's correct now.

Then a little while later one of my good friends, who happens to be an English teacher, sent me an email that had me laughing at myself all morning. Check out the "Learn Chinese" thing over on the right side of the blog. Notice anything funny?

"Learn Chinese - WE trying"

Apparently, We trying to learn English too.

I think I'm going to leave that one for a while.... because it just makes me laugh. And I think it's good for you to laugh at yourself every once in a while.

Please forgive my typos, grammatical errors and silly mistakes on this blog. I am, admittedly, the WORST proof-reader ever.

Puzzle Fundraiser - Update

It's been a while since I posted about our puzzle fundraiser.

So, as an update and a reminder...

We are up to 610 puzzle pieces sponsored. YAHOO!!!!

Thank you to every single person that has generously sponsored 2, 10, 20, 50 or more puzzle pieces. WOW! We are so very, very grateful!

If you haven't sponsored a piece of the puzzle or you don't have any idea what I am talking about... go read this post for more information. We've got 390 puzzle pieces left to be sponsored. I'm hoping that by the time we receive our Travel Authorization we will make our goal.

Thank you everyone so much for your support!

Ah... traditions!

In order to blog about our annual Christmas tree shopping experience, I had to do a little trip down memory lane. I forgot my camera this year so in order to add a little life to this post, I had to go looking for pictures from our experiences in years past. That got me thinking...

Do you ever have traditions that are theoretically super fun... and, well, they don't always turn out the way you'd hoped?

That's our annual Christmas tree pilgrimage.

We get our tree at a beautiful Christmas tree farm out a bit in the country from our house. It's worth the drive.

We chat with the owner/farmer.

We pick out our perfect Christmas tree and my own Paul Bunyan gets down in the snow (or cold ground) and cuts down the tree.

(2007)

(2007 - "Um, yeah... can you stop taking pictures and help me here?")

(2007 - K "helping" S)

We drag it back to the big barn (and fall in the snow 20 a couple times) where Christmas cookies and hot apple cider are served.

(2005 - missing from photo: crying, sick, miserable one year old that is on my hip while I took this picture)

(2009)

(2009 - D missing from 2009 photos because he was miserable and refusing to have pictures taken being shy)

We visit the sheep.

All this while the farmer’s wife makes beautiful fresh wreaths in the barn.

(2009)

There are always nice trees, and cookies and hot apple cider. But sometimes there is a little extra drama.

Like...

When B was two, he wet his pants while searching for the best tree. It was freezing out and we had to drag him back to the car to change his wet clothes in the back of the hatchback.

And usually, freezing cold kids keep falling onto the freezing cold, often snow covered, ground… then I have to help S drag the tree back the barn while carrying a 20 lb’er on my hip… all while he/she cries, because he/she is cold

… and they have snow in their mittens.

(2007 - I know he is smiling here... but I promise you, 10 seconds after this picture was taken he was crying)

OR… someone has a fever and they really shouldn’t be going on it the cold. They have runny noses that drip everywhere and I can’t find a tissue to wipe their nose. They cry because they are cold and their nose is running

and they have snow in their mittens...

(2005 - "Seriously Mom, I'm sick, and it's cold... can we go home?")

OK. So this year's Christmas tree shopping actually WAS fun! YAY!!!!

No one fell (well I think D did a couple times but I just kept walking), no one cried, there wasn't snow on the ground, so no snow in the mittens.

And the tree didn’t fall off the mini-van roof on the way home.

ALL GOOD!!!!

AND… we even got the tree up in the tree stand without filing for divorce.

Hard. Very, Very Hard.

***Warning: Keeping it real***

This is not going to be easy.

Christmas without Grace.

NOT going to be easy.

"Why so glum this Christmas D"?

Because...

Some say…some orphanages in China don’t have heat.

Some say…. that sometimes because there aren’t enough nannies to keep climbing toddlers safe…they tether children to their cribs.

Some say...did I say this already, some orphanages don’t have heat.

I'm sorry to be a downer… but I have to be honest here....

Christmas, while one of my girls waits in China perhaps under circumstances described above…

NOT going to be easy.

Please tell me I’m not going to be this sad for the next 8-12 weeks? I can’t be. I’ve got three others counting on me to make Christmas special for them.

And an almost 6 year old who can’t wait for her birthday.

And an almost 4 year old that can’t wait for his.

But, I’m just so sad. That place in my heart where G belongs, it's a hole, and it's painfully large.

Everyone says this part of the wait is the hardest. They weren’t kidding.

Please pray that God helps me and S and G survive (quite literally) this wait. We need all the prayers we can get.

Thanksgiving Day Road Race

Frosty 34 degree temperatures didn't keep B and S from running in B's first ever road race... the Thanksgiving Day Road Race.

All 4.75 miles!

With 15,000 of their closest friends.

Go B!

Giving thanks today for healthy bodies.

When does it become reality?

When you write the first check.

When you notarize the first document.

When you see "You have been approved to adopt one child from the following convention country: China"

When you hear the phone ring.

When you see her face.

When you read "Your LOA has arrived" in the subject line of an email from your adoption agency.

When you say "I have four children"

When you paint a dresser.

When you glance in the back of your mini-van, see three kids, and actually panic because you thought you forgot someone, only to realize that the fourth isn't here yet.

When you sign a document written in Chinese that says her name and asks you "do you accept?"

Yes.

Yes.

We.

Do.

When you see her face.

When you start making packing lists.

When you buy bedding with pink ladybugs and purple butterflies.

When you purchase her FIRST pair of shoes.

When your children draw six stick people (2 big, 4 little) in their pictures of their family.

When you start purchasing things for the trip.

When you try on that long forgotten, never thought you would use again, baby carrier.

When you see her face.

.....to be continued

LOA!!!!!!!

Today we, unexpectedly, received our Letter of Acceptance (LOA) from China. Just 34 days after receiving our log-in date.... which is a whole lot faster than we thought it would take!

The LOA basically means the Chinese government fully translated and reviewed our 13 dossier documents and formally accepted our request to adopt Fu Xiao Yun (Grace!)

Our agency hopes that we will travel 11-16 weeks from now! That would mean travel sometime in February or early March.

But first we have to jump through several hoops with US immigration. Once we have successfully navigated US immigration, China will issue our travel authorization that basically says "OK, you can come now"... and then we'll go!

OK. I've got to stop blogging and get cracking on all this paperwork that has to be done by TOMORROW.

Grace, we are coming soon!!!!!

Growing Up

I spent an evening with a wonderful group of women last night.

Women that I have known longer than I've known most other people in my life (except for family of course).

We all sat there and gabbed as though we've seen each other every day for the last 17 years. Even though a few, I am quite certain, I haven't seen since I took off my cap and gown at high school graduation.

We laughed about things we did in 4th grade and 7th grade and prom (night) - yikes! The trouble we got in. The boys we kissed.

We also talked about kids, husbands, cleaning products, and kids tv shows.... because that is what us Mom's do.

I wasn't one that loved high school. Actually, I kind of hated it. As I drove to the gathering last night I wondered if those awful feelings of high school would come back. I'm thankful they didn't.... at all.

Then as I was sitting there chatting... it struck me, I realized how much I have in common with these women. They share my memories. The good, bad and ugly. And that's pretty cool.

And now, we have more in common than before. As I sat next to my friend who rocked her 9 month old to sleep next to me, I realized the extent of that motherhood bonds us women together.

As much as I pretend that I don't like getting older. Getting older isn't so bad. Because most of us grow up. We realize what's important in life. And we (hopefully) forget the bad and remember the good. Now we can share our life's journeys with open hearts and open minds.

So here's my lists of gratitudes today...

I'm so thankful I never have to go back to middle or high school. Yuck.

I'm thankful that I am 35 years old. Yup. I am.

I'm thankful for friends who have known me for 25 years+ years.

and I'm thankful for the bonds of motherhood.

Any advice for the parents?

While arguing with his siblings, a little three year old (not ours of course) stated very matter of factly...

"I am three, I can do WHATEVER I WANT!"

Umm. Yeah.

Houston, we have a problem.

Who me?

Big Giveaway Over at Ni Hao Y'all - and Hip Mom Jewelry helps another!

Stefanie over at Ni Hao Y'all is hosting a big 'ole giveaway this Christmas season! 30 Days of Giveaways!

Go check it out! Hope you win something! (click on the picture above)

Stefanie and her family are waiting on their LOA (just like us) for their 10th child (not like us). :)

Her blog is one of my favorites.

Also, Ann at Hip Mom Jewelry helped us raise $100 for our adoption, she's a woman with a heart for orphans and we are so grateful for her help! And now, she is helping our good friends with their adoption! So, if you missed the opportunity to buy a piece of jewelry from Hip Mom when we were fundraising... now you have a second chance to help another family bring home their daughter. Hop on over to their blog to check out the details. Happy Shopping Everyone!

Finally, did everyone notice we hit the 1/2 way mark on our puzzle fundraiser. YAHOO!!!!! Thanks everyone who has sponsored a piece of the puzzle!

Now... back to regularly scheduled programming...

Waiting.

And waiting.

And waiting.

We are 28 days into our wait for LOA.

Pass the popcorn.

1/2 way there!

We are in absolute awe of the generosity of all our friends who have sponsored puzzle pieces!!

We are SO close to getting to the half-way mark! 498 puzzle pieces sponsored! (The chip-in isn't completely accurate because people have given us cash that isn't recorded yet)

Thank you to every single one of you that has generously sponsored with $2, $4, $10, $20, $50 and even $100 donations!

If you are new to our blog, and don't know what I'm talking about... you can read here about our fundraiser! And please consider sponsoring a piece of the puzzle.

Other news...

Many have asked when we are going to travel. Our agency says it will probably be three to five months from now. Maybe March or April?

All I know for sure. Not soon enough.

We are on day 21 of our wait of LOA (Letter of Acceptance). But, honestly I don't expect to see this document for at least another month.

So, in the meantime... We've got a lot to keep us busy. Thanksgiving, two December birthdays (I know poor planning!), Christmas, painting and packing.

I'm tired already. But, I'm grateful for all these events because I'm quite sure I'd lose my mind otherwise.

The toy room

About a year ago, Steve and I sat and discussed all the reasons why NOT to adopt.

There were many. Some were actual legitimate worries/concerns that have to be VERY carefully weighed and discussed.

But, some... actually MOST were things like this...

"Where will we put the toys?"

You see, we have a "toy room". Stuffed to the gills with toys that are rarely played with. Usually, it's just a source of annoyance for me because it is ALWAYS a mess. I mean a "don't- walk-in-the-room-or-you-may-trip-and- sprain-your-ankle" mess.

Seriously, this was a REAL concern. I was afraid the mess would be all over my house.

It was an excuse really. And a really lame one at that.

This weekend, we are moving the boys into their NEW bedroom (x-toyroom). And, then we will start re-decorating their old room to make it fit for a one-year-old princess. Complete with pastels, flowers and ladybugs.

A little girl, our little girl, who now spends most of her day in a crib, will have a bedroom all of her own.

To think we seriously almost let a toy room stop us.

Hearts Melted

Love.

This.

Beautiful.

Girl.

Forever.

Boys, Barbies and Church

Not a good combination.

As a was singing my heart out at the very end of service today, I glanced down at my three year old boy.

He had been busy undressing the three barbies that had been toted to church today in our "church bag" for K to play with.

They were now wrestling.

And then kissing.

As a 12 year old boy in the pew behind us looked on. Giggling.

Church with three kids is HARD. If they aren't talking, they are fighting. If they aren't wiggling, they are laying down and yawning. They are raising and lower the kneeler. They are interrupting prayer. They are fighting over who is sitting where.

And if they ARE miraculously quiet...

They are undressing barbies.

Sigh.

Luckily, I was surrounded by loving friends/moms and dads that giggled along with me as I threw up my hands and said...

I give up.

One thing for sure... no more barbies in the church bag.