The presents are open, the girls are wiped out and watching a video and the living room looks....well, way worse than usual. Santa showed up as scheduled and enjoyed a snack of cookies and chocolate milk. He left lovely gifts for all. We even had a little snow earlier today. It was very pretty, enough to turn the grass white for a while, but it's too warm to stick.
Bethany definitely figured the present thing out quickly. She also understood the whole Santa thing, but seeing him in person was a different story. We saw him twice and both times she screamed and refused to sit on his lap (same reaction she had to Chuck E.Cheese). Annie, however, ran right up to Santa, plopped herself down and finally had to be dragged away both times.
Both girls did very well over the last couple of days but are pretty overwhelmed at this point. We are starting to get some crying and irritation from two tired, tired girls. Luckily we are planning a quiet afternoon. We both have to work tomorrow and Annie will be at the YMCA program and Bethany at preschool.
On the other side of the world, a little boy has found out that he has a family of his own. Our package to Jack arrived in Beijing last week and was forwarded on to Hefei. We don't know exactly when it got there but we are choosing to believe that it arrived on Christmas and also that it was actually given to him (this isn't always the case depending on the orphanage). Two of Jack's best friends have gone home with their parents in the last couple of months, so we are hoping and praying that he now knows that he has his very own family, who loves him and can't wait for him to come home. Last night at Christmas eve, he even got presents from his new grandparents and Aunt and Uncle.
We also have Katie in our thoughts. We hope she is warm and cozy with her aunties and that she is happy and content. We are hoping that after the first of the year we can finally get a fund set up to help with her medical expenses so she will be able to have surgery to walk better.
Three years ago Charlie and I spent our 7th married Christmas together with our usual Christmas eve celebration in Salem and a relaxing and quiet Christmas day. Although we had been talking about adoption on and off for several years, we never dreamed that in less than a year, our lives would be changed forever for the better when Annie came home. Eighteen months later, Bethany joined our family and it all happily changed again. And now we wait for Jack, who has no real idea of the changes coming for him and for us. We are so very lucky and can't imagine our lives without our children. Quiet and relaxing has given way to loud and wonderful, with more love than we could have ever imagined.
We give thanks this Christmas for the blessing of our family and pray for all those children around the world that are waiting for a family to bring them home and love them forever.
No comments:
Post a Comment