handsful

In case you’re visiting our site, and wondering why the cradle is slowly disappearing from the counter above, don’t worry. Okay, I’m sure you’re not worried…but, I’m told that it’s normal for the little icon to disappear and then magically reappear once the month-line changes to include the next 6 months. Weird!!

These are my awesome December Secret Pal gifts from my July Fireflies Secret Pal. I’ve really been wanting the Chinese Lullaby CD and have already been enjoying it! I think Lainey will love the bear blanket and we plan on taking it to China with us. Hey, Secret Pal…if you’re reading this…forgive me for posting this SO late?? Thanks again!

My parents gave me this little framed picture for Christmas and I just love it. I have no idea if the jacket (is there a more appropriate term?) is for a male or a female and I don’t know what the writing in the background says. But, I just think it’s adorable. I’ve hung it just above my kitchen desk, where my laptop sits, so I can look at it as I work (ha!) on this website. A little reminder of a child in China waiting for us.

For those worried about us, yes, we did find the house! We are unpacked from our trip and undecorated from Christmas. Whew.

What a nice surprise to receive our December Secret Pal present for my CCAI group! Look at all the goodies…

The kids were so excited to be included in our December gift! They each received a bag of Jelly Belly jellybeans (absent from the above picture because they were immediately eaten!) and those great big lollipops! Don’t they look happy?

Thank you so much! I can’t wait to see Lainey wearing those pretty hair clips, tights, and socks.

Thought I’d share a few photos of how we decorate for Christmas. You won’t find anything worthy of a magazine layout, but we love the things that we’ve collected over the years.

We seem to have a few snowmen, so I put them all together on the sleigh!

This is the table to the right of our front door. The Christmas cactus is in between blooming. We got a Thankgiving bloom and now there are tiny ones for Christmas!

This is my new Heartwood Nativity scene. I hope to add more figures to it. I bought this on clearance after Christmas last year. Gotta love a good deal. The Santa / Jesus figure we’ve had since before kids. One of our favorites.

The kids Nativity scene. They’ve had it for years and they love arranging the pieces.

The real tree in our front room. Hard to tell, but it’s nearly 9 feet tall…and FAT! No presents yet…guess I’m a “last-minute wrapper” this year.

Artificial tree in our family room. This one belongs to Randy…we call it his “NC State” tree. All the lights and ornaments are white and red, in honor of his college. The presents under this one are ones from my oldest daughter to us.

All those stockings! One for each of us, our dog Jack, and we’ve hung one in honor of our daughter-to-be, Lainey. See the Santa bottom right? A true Florida Santa in shorts and beach shirt! Another Nativity scene…we have lots of those (it is the reason for the season, after all).

It’s a little hard to see, but the ornament says “waiting for Lainey”. It’s hanging from her stocking that she’ll use next Christmas (at least we pray it’s next Christmas!)

Tonight Randy and I attended our second Waiting Families meeting with our local FCC chapter. (Okay, my second but Randy’s first!) There are FCC chapters all over the country and, from what I understand, our chapter is very active! There are lots of activities for families that have already adopted, and we’re excited to be able to be a part of this community once our waiting is done. For now, we will gather as much support and information that we can from our facilitator, Donna (she adopted her daughter 10 years ago!) and the other great people in the group.

Another cool thing about tonight was finally meeting Kelly! We “met” in an online adoption group and realized we’re from the same city! She’s just as nice in person as she is through email :) Kelly’s blog is listed in my links “Journey to Mia Jade”. Check it out…and be sure to order one of the cookbooks that her family is selling to help fund their adoption….”Some Daughters Come By Plane”. I just got one and there are lots of yummy recipes to try!

Third Day has always been my very favorite Christian rock band. We have almost all of their CDs and Randy and I saw them in concert a few years ago. It was fantastic! (By the way, it’s a Third Day song that you’re listening to right now…unless, your not set up to hear blog music!)

I heard a month or so ago that they were putting out their first Christmas CD. I made a mental note to buy that. Then, I hear that there is a song on the album about a family missing their daughter…who is in an orphanage in China…who they plan to adopt. Hello?? I immediately placed my order on amazon.com.

The CD is wonderful, all the classic Christmas hymns. “Merry Christmas” is the last song on the CD and was written by Brad Avery, a member of the band. It’s his family that is in the waiting phase of their adoption from China. I’ve listened to this song probably 12 times, and have yet to make it through without at least choking up. Here are the words of the chorus:

“It’s Christmas time again but you’re not home…Your family is here and yet you’re somewhere else alone…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.”

If that doesn’t get you, then here is the last chorus:

“It’s Christmas time again and now you’re home…Your family is here so you will never be alone…So tonight before you go to sleep I’ll hold you in my arms…and tell you from my heart I wish you Merry Christmas.”

Oh my.