Charlie and I have never been big on celebrating New Year's Eve. We do have fond memories of 1999-2000, sitting in a favorite restaurant with our friends Mike and Laura. The place was nearly empty, which was sad for the staff since they had prepared for a lot of people, who apparently had stayed at home to wait for the world to end. We normally spend a quiet evening at home as we don't want to be out and about with partying people on the road. This year was no different. The kids were out by 10 or so and Charlie and I were still awake to hear to the fireworks, watch the ball drop on TV and then go out to the backyard to get the dogs who were barking wildly at the fireworks.

The last decade brought such profound changes to our lives. Annie was born in 2001, Bethany in 2002 and Jack in 2003, all long before we started on our journeys to adopt them. It seems like somehow we should have known that such momentous events were taking place on the other side of the world. But it wasn't until 2005 that we took the first steps that, a little over three years later, would turn five people, biologically unrelated and born thousands of miles apart, into a family.

Today we were at lunch and Annie took a break from playing (thank goodness for McD's Playplace on rainy days) to ask me "Mommy, do you miss my childood?" Although I explained to her that at eight years old, she is still a child, I realized anew how much she has changed in 4 years, how much her brother and sister have changed too and how different my life is. The house is a perpetual pigsty, my only alone time is the drive between work and school and there have been many moments when I have seriously questioned if we took on too much in many ways. But I wouldn't change it for anything (well, except for the pigsty part).

2009 was a hard year for so many people. It doesn't seem like 2010 is starting out too much better but there are always hope, prayers and love. In the meantime, I will continue to be thankful for all our blessings.