Merry Christmas (a little late)

Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE Christmas! First and foremost, it is the day that God gave the greastest gift ever...the birth of his son Jesus. I love everything about Christmas. I love to decorate every smidgen of house that I can, I love to bake Christmas goodies, I love wrapping and giving gifts and most of all, I love having time off work to spend with family and friends. We had a wonderful Christmas this year and are so blessed to have such awesome families to spend Christmas with. This year, our little one recieve some gifts. It meant so much to us that he/she was thought of. I feel quite certain that he/she is out there and it kills me that they weren't home this year to enjoy Christmas with us. I cringe at the thought that Christmas for our little one was spent without family and in an orphanage. However, I trust that the Lord has provided them with wonderful care takers that are loving them until we can finally get to them. Next year, hopefully, Christmas will be a whole new expereince for you my little one!

Grammie and Pop gave you this book for Christmas this year. It is so wonderful and you will have it read to you every Christmas as soon as you are home.

This one is from Aunt Staci, Uncle Dwayne, Jennifer and Nathan. They knew how much that I love this book so they got it for our little one this year.

The goods from Ashley, Andy and Alex. I did just realize that the book you got is not with this picture. I must have left if in the bag by accident.

From my secret sister: Ruthie. This is by far one of my childhood favorites.

Shasha made this! No words necessary on how touching this one is. This is already on dispaly on the nursery to be.

All the loot! Thank you everyone! These gifts made my Christmas so much more special. It was so weet of all of you and means the world to us! Our little one is so lucky to have family and friends like you to come home to. Thank you all so much!

Last but not least, we had the chance to get togther with Tara and Jonathan over Christmas. It was so wonderful to meet them and I know that we are going to be great friends. I can't wait until the day that we can get our little Russian angels together for play dates!

Thank you for my hubby!

I know that I touched on this in my previous Thanksgiving post, however, I have just been thinking a lot lately and want to give my dear husband the recognition that he deserves. I am so blessed to have him as my husband. Sure I am biased, but I think that I snagged the best husband in the entire world. Do I still take him for granted? Unfortunately yes I do. Benji and I are not the partying type. We are actually quite boring to be perfectly honest with you. It's just the way that we are. But the older that I get, the more that I realize that our lifestyle is not necessarily "just how everyone else lives". I take for granted that I am married to a man that is not a drinker, at all (not criticizing anyone here) but that lifestyle is just not for us. I was raised in a home where there was never any alcohol ever! I am blessed that I have never had to experience either set of my grandparents engaging in these activities either. Yes, there were some aunts and uncles that weren't living this lifestyle, but my parents very much sheltered us from them. If they came around then my parents, ever so discreetly packed us up and we would leave. This was nto a lifestyle that my parents wanted us subjected to. Did I appreciate it as a child/teen growing up? Not so much, do I appreciate it now? Heck yeah! It never dawned on me how lucky that I am and how lucky that my kids are going to be. Thank you God that my kids will not have to ever smell alcohol on their daddy's breath (nor mommy's for that matter). Because, it is such a blessing that I can say that I have never seen nor experienced my parents under the influence of any kind. That is a major blessing in my life. I am ever so thankful that I married such a wonderful man who doesn't partake in this lifestyle either. I can't express enough how comforting that it is to know that my kids will not have to deal with this from their parents. My children will not have to ever deal with a parent that has had a little too much to drink because A) I will not stand for that kind of behavior around my babies and B) I married a man with the same philosphies that does not want his babies subjected to it either.
So I can't thank God enough for sending me a husband that is such a great family man. A man who loves his family with his whole heart, a man who will want to spend every moment that he can with his family. I am quite confident that my children will have one of the most hands on daddies out there (with the exception of diaper duty, HA!). I am so thankful that my children will have a daddy that will be able to go to gatherings and just enjoy being there with his family and not have the need to participate in any alcoholic consumption. Thank you Lord for sending me such a patient, caring, nurturing man that shares the same morals as I do. And next time that he leaves his hat full of change on my kitchen table or his shoes by the door, please remind me that no one is perfect...but he is pretty darn close!

More ramblings while we patiently wait

I am quite thankful that part of our "waiting" period is during the Christmas holidays. I absolutely love Christmas. It just makes me happy. My house is for the most part all decorated, our town's Christmas celebration/parade was this past weekend, we will be doing our annual Christmas goody cooking next week, and Benji and I have vowed to watch a Christmas every night the month of December. So the Christmas cheer has kept our spirits up as we just sit and wait.
This past week, we adopted us a soldier! No, he will not be coming to live with us, taking on our last name and calling us mama and daddy. We recieved his name and address yesterday, and are so excited to send him care packages, prayers and support from home. I personally almost feel guilty enjoying this season so much when we have tons of men and woman overseas putting their lives on the line everyday to secure our safety. We often take for granted the sacrifices that they and their families make daily for us. I am so thankful and so proud of our armed forces, and all that they do.
Last, I got the opportunity to meet (via phone) a new friend last night. Tara and her hubby are on the verge of taking the leap of faith into adoption. I thoroughly enjoyed talking with you last night Tara, and I can't wait to meet you. I hope that by the time that you read this, you will have sent off for your approval or will be doing so real soon. I am so excited for you guys and you will be in our prayers.