Christmas, part deux.

Christmas Eve

We went to Christmas Eve service at church and it was a beautiful time to reflect on why we celebrate... the incredible gift of a Savior, born to save us from sin.  Our new pastor had all the children come down front to hear the Christmas story and then said he had a gift for them.  It was a candy cane with the Legend of the Candy Cane attached.  Buddy was first in line and hollered, "Dad!  I got a candy cane!" loud enough for the quiet sanctuary to hear him.

Then our church family shared communion together.  As our pastor shared about the symbolism of the bread and the wine, Buddy says in his not-so-quiet voice, "Dad!  That man said blood!)  Nice.  Then everyone made lines to go forward and receive communion.  As we made our way back to our seats, a baby started fussing.  Buddy looks at me, and loudly proclaimed, "I hear someone being grouchy!"  Please picture him with his scrunched up mean face when he says grouchy loudly.  

But the good news is, even though he needs to work on his quiet voice before we'll let him sit through church service again, he won my heart with these renditions of Christmas hymns:  (Sorry it's dark, but you can still hear that sweet little voice!)

Christmas Eve dinner is our birthday party for Jesus, topped off with cupcakes and our family's harmonious singing of "Happy Birthday."

Our new Christmas Eve tradition for this year:

Once those little kiddos were soundly tucked into bed, the elves went to work.

No one asked for modern duvet covers in their Santa letter, but they did ask for a tea set and a race track.  I am pretty sure these guys weren't just checking to be sure it worked correctly, since this went on for quite some time. They may have enjoyed it more than Buddy ever has.

Christmas Day

We started the day off with my mom's famous cinnamon rolls.  No one makes them like she does!

Santa was kind enough to bring us marshmallow shooters that his helper elf got on super duper clearance.  This was (pun intended) a blast!  

Then a glorious Christmas surprise:  SNOW!  It began that evening and went on and on and on....  14 inches worth!  No kidding.

Okay, so we missed out on the fun, but we were roasty toasty warm.  My mom promised to bring my old ski pants so next year I can join in without freezing to death.  

Buddy merely wanted to throw the snow...

...and eat the snow.

My mom was brave enough to venture out for most of the morning.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by the snow creations.  Give two engineers (K and my little bro) a boatload of snow and you're going to see some ingenuity.  

Totem pole, complete with silly faces:

Snow robot and snow fortress:

Snow throne for our pink princess:

A white and joyous Christmas.  The end.  

Blessings, angela

had ourselves a merry little Christmas.

Christmas 2010 was really special because my parents and brother were able to fly out for  and we had a wonderful ten days with them!  We began our time with some good old fashioned cookie decorating.  Plus lots and lots of sprinkles.

Then we took off for a week at my parents' timeshare in Williamsburg.  We got a perfectly colonial welcome by these guys:

The property had a historic plantation home on site so we explored a little there before hitting Colonial Williamsburg proper.

It was absolutely fah-reezing!  We endured the cold for a few minutes because CW is gorgeous this time of year with all the natural Christmas decor on all the homes.  Then we went back to make a few decorations of our own:

It became somewhat of a competition for "Most Creative."  No one could look around and copy ideas... all had to be unique creations to sport for our Christmas dinner.  You can be the judge of whose was best when you see the final products below.  K's won my vote for "Scariest."  Glad he has job security because artistic ability is not his forte.

Yankee Candle is another tourist must when you're in Williamsburg.  

We think this guy must have been running a cash register when he found out the real Santa wasn't coming in to meet children.  He looks terrified.

Next stop:  Christmastown at Busch Gardens.  We bundled up and felt toasty warm for a fabulous evening amidst the Christmas lights!  

Busch Gardens really outdoes themselves with  zillions of lights strung up on anything standing.  It is a twinkling wonderland once the sky gets dark.  

You have to know my dad to think this is funny.

Peanut is posing for you to see her red fingernails.  She wanted them to have white stripes, but I just couldn't deliver on that.

The funny story here is, Ty will surely not be the first ever bagpipe player in our family.  Sad to say, because I really love some good bagpipe music once in a great while.  His words were, and I quote, "Why won't that man stop?"

One last picture that doesn't fit into any storyline of events but really cracks me up.  He wore these through an entire trip shopping trip.  I kept forgetting that he had them on as I was looking around, but people kept smiling and laughing at him.  I love this guy more than words can say.  

Christmas to be continued...

Blessings, angela

the hills are alive...

I feel a whole lot like Maria Von Trapp about now.  Honestly, I am about to break into song. 
I used this:

And took these:

(curtains from our home in Japan)

And made this:

I have started doing more pilates classes for my aching back.  But something about putting my face millimeters from a mat that zillions of nasty toes have touched just does me wrong.  I've been wanting a mat of my own so I can at least look the part of a pilates pro, and now I've even got the bag to boot.  Complete with pockets for my water bottle and keys.  Thanks, Tiffany, for the extra mat!


...and now I'll return to my song.  Blessings, angela
p.s. I bet you'll be singing Do a Deer all day long too!  Sorry about that.  :)

matches.

Our agency just began an email group for all families adopting right now from our country.  It has been a tremendous gift to hear of children on the DVD that will shortly have a forever family.  It has also been good for my soul to hear specifically of a child we also considered who will be matched in the near future.  My soul is praising the Lord!  I knew it would be difficult to set foot into the orphanage in a month or two to get Sweet P, yet see some of those precious faces we recognize from the video... still in the orphanage and still unmatched.  I'm ever so thankful some of those children will be going home soon too.  


I think it's about time I shared the initial video we saw of Sweet P.  It was taken September 17, 2009, a day after her first birthday. 

Thank you again and again for going along on this journey with us and for many of you who pray for us as we wait.  The waiting will soon be over and Sweet P will be home with us!  I promise to share more details as we know them.  Our signatures should be approved on Wednesday in country and we hope to receive the formal letter and birth certificate soon afterward.  Then it's GO time!


Blessings, angela

Little Star.

We began a new Christmas tradition this year.  When I received Little Star by Anthony DeStefano for review, I knew instantly it would be a book we would reread time after time and year after year.  It would be absolutely perfect for reading the day you decorate your tree!

Little Star is the beautiful fictionalization of the star of Bethlehem... and the story of how God gives mighty purpose to those who feel small. Weak. Insignificant.

It begins with a son at a window asking his dad about the Christmas star.  The father begins a tale about a dim little star who was made fun of by all the other stars for being too small and different.  It gives parents the chance to remind children that we all have great value no matter our size or how pretty we shine.  The stars hear about God's plan for the King, but all the bigger and brighter stars are unimpressed with a little baby.  Little Star realizes that the baby is the King and that the baby is just small like himself!  He shines as brightly as he can muster, ultimately burning out and giving his all for the baby Jesus.  Perfect chance to talk with children about how we should give our all for Jesus too!  

Little Star may be gone but is far from forgotten.  He's remembered every year at Christmastime by the star adorning the top of our Christmas tree.

"When they saw the star, they were overjoyed!" Luke 2:11

May you be overjoyed at the presence of Jesus all year long!  Blessings, angela

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.