A Christmas Smile!

Whew!!! So much going on so fast this time of year... Especially with a new baby! But I wanted to share this smile with you all!! Hope you are have a wonderful Christmas!!! 

An Exciting Update!!!

This post is going to be a little hard to write... not because I have anything sad to share, but because it is hard to type with an almost 8 point bundle of love tying down one arm! ;)

Our baby girl was born last Thursday morning shortly after six!! We didn't quite make it to the hospital for her birth, but got there shortly after. She is a precious bundle of love!! She is so sweet and hardly cries! (I guess she doesn't have much chance to cry with both mommy and daddy at her beck and call!)

She is such a joy!! In fact, "Joy" will be her name on my blog. I wouldn't mind a bit, you regular readers knowing her name, but since this is a public blog, I'd rather not share her name with those we don't know. I know you will understand! :) This is a short post (partially because it takes a while to type one handed.) but I will post more later - some of the details I will probably share once this busy Christmas season is over. I hope to share a bit of Christmas Days from Joy's perspective. ;) I did want you all to know that she has arrived safely and we are enjoying this time of getting to know her! :)

Days of Christmas

Christmas program practice. King Herod sure is a popular guy... :) 

"Love is Patient..."

The past few weeks have seemed very long... each night making sure we have our phones near at hand for "the call," bags have been packed for several weeks (in fact, I have switched tops out several times because the weather keeps changing...), I have the one going home outfit that I really wanted - in two sizes, the carseat is installed... Weeks on pins and needles isn't exactly fun and I know baby's sweet birth mom is eager for her arrival as well! (After all, she's doing the hard work!) ;)

I was reading this post over on (in)Courage just now and it got me thinking. Love is patient. God's love and His plan are perfect. His timing is impeccable. Even when we can't understand "what is the holdup?"

And I was thinking, as long as it seems that we have been waiting, God's chosen people waited for hundreds of years for the coming Messiah. Each expectant mother hoped that she would be the one to carry this Messiah. The Hope of the world. That's some intense waiting! I'm sure sometimes they wondered if He was ever going to come.

Yet... in the "Fullness of time, God sent His Son..." God had everything all lined up and ready for His perfect Son to be born into the world. I don't know what God has to get "lined up" for our little one to get here. And I sure don'
t understand His timing right now... and sometimes it seems that this little one will never come. But she will... (I've yet to see a mom walking around pregnant for 18 years...) ;) And her arrival will all be in God's perfect plan.


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A note on our adoption process: I have gone over it a bit here, but I thought I would tell a little about how we think things will happen... the plan is for us to be at the hospital when the baby is born. After the time required, the birth mother can then sign the relinquishment papers. (Until then, nothing is legally binding.) After a bit more paperwork, we will be heading home with baby.

We will try to keep things low key around here for a little while - hard to do this time of year! :) I also won't be sharing a lot of details - on my blog or in person. I know I am not the only adoptive mom to say this, but our child's story will be just that - her story. We want to protect her privacy as well as the privacy of others involved.

But mostly I wanted to thank you all for your wonderful support for us along every step of the journey that we have shared. Bloggers are a wonderful community!! Thank you for you encouragement and prayers!!

Days of Christmas

The past few Decembers I have enjoyed getting a picture up each day leading up to Christmas. This is turning out to be a very eventful year for our little family (and no, still no baby yet... She seems to be quite satisfied with her spot at the moment..) ;) So I'm not sure I'll get pics up each day - I'm already a day behind - but I will try to share a bit of our celebrating.

My decorating is more simple than usual. While I do miss our full sized tree, it was nice to get the decorating done so quickly. I do have our small tree up. 

I had to take a trip to Hobby Lobby for some garland for the mantle. Most of my Christmas boxes are rather buried in storage (including some I thought I had seperated... So much for Christmas mugs.) I did decorate a little differently on the mantle. I bought a few things to match our little Coca-Cola tree. I love this little snowflake owl!!

Hope everyone's December is off to a great start!!