A Big Surprise!

You won't believe what happened a couple of days ago. It is a secret though~so, shhh! (Well, a secret from my Mom anyway & she doesn't have Internet access, thus she is not a blog reader! So, our secret should be safe here!) Thomas surprised me with the news that we get to go back to Missouri for Christmas! Can you believe that? I still can't believe it. The thought never even ever crossed my mind as I assumed that is wasn't even a possibility. As always, I knew that Thomas would have to work the day before & the day after. Well, the other day he was visiting with his District Manager. He asked Thomas what our plans were for Christmas. Thomas told him probably just a quiet dinner, just the two of us. Then he asked Thomas what we wanted for Christmas. Thomas told him that honestly we don't want for anything & that as cliche' as it might sound just health & happiness for us, our family & our friends. Thomas explained that we really don't get too hyped up about doing the gift thing & try to not get caught up in all the commercialism & stress of it all. Anyway, then he said to Thomas, "What about going home?". Thomas told him that we never even considered it. He then went on to basically tell Thomas that since his store isn't open yet & most of what he is doing right now he won't be able to do around the holiday since so many things will be closed for business & that the store where he is filling in as Interim Manager has people there who can carry out Thomas's instructions~anyway, he told Thomas that he was giving him a Christmas gift...to take off Wed., Thurs. Fri. Sat. & Sun. so that we can go home! (They further went on to discuss how many hours will be required of him in the coming months in preparation to get the store open~) The only person that knows this yet is my Dad. We are not telling my Mom. I am going to call her on my cell phone when she gets to the dinner on Christmas Day at my Aunt's house to tell her "Merry Christmas" & that we miss her & wish that we could be there & so on. I am then going to tell her that I had something delivered for everyone for Christmas since we couldn't be there (I have done this before, so this will not make her suspicious) & that it should be out on the front porch & that I need her to go & get it. Then I am going to ring the door bell & have Dad make sure she answers it & I am going to be standing there on my cell phone talking to her. We don't exchange Christmas gifts~so, this is our gift to her. We are excited & hoping that the weather will cooperate for our travels! It has been a little crazy weather wise up here the last few days, but we dug out & the roads were fine. (Well, Thomas had to work~I dug out of our driveway. Let's just say I will not be doing any arm work at the gym today. Oh my goodness I can barely lift my arms from all that shoveling!) Thomas had an hour commute to where he needed to go the other day for business, so he waited until about 9AM so that they had time to get more salt on the roads, but he did fine. We thankfully have a four wheel drive, so we should do just fine. Might take us a little longer, but short of some major ice, we should travel fine. It will take us, if the roads are good about seven to eight hours depending on how many times we stop. I have spoken to my Mom several times in the past couple of days & have had to catch myself just in the nick of time from spilling the beans! Thank goodness I didn't spoil it. As far as I can tell, she doesn't have any idea!

My MIL knows too. We will arrive at her home on Christmas Eve. We will have Christmas Eve Dinner there with her, Thomas sister & her family & Thomas's brother. We so wish that Thomas's other sister Terry could be there as well, but at this time we are not aware of any plans for her to be able to join us. We will spend the night there & then the next day will head about thirty minutes more of a drive to my Aunt's for Christmas Day festivities. Then, that evening we will head home with my parents about another thirty minute drive & stay with them a couple of days. Then, we will come back through & visit with Thomas's Mom for a bit longer. Then on the way back to Illinois we will stop in our old town & check on our house that is there on the market. Then, we will come on home to Illinois. Should be a great trip. We are excited!

All is well here. Thomas's job is going very well & we are thankful everyday for it! So many right now are out of work & not able to find jobs. We do not take his job for granted or the living that it provides us.

Looking forward to 2009~guess I should mention yesterday's significance. It was seventeen months to the day since we were logged in for China. Yep, seventeen months with no end to the wait in sight. Well, let me just say that we assume that is right. Within this last batch there were seven families who were supposedly logged in on a specific date & were suppose to be included in this batch of referrals. There referrals did not come. When their agencies checked with China they were told that there log in dates were actually not what they had been told & were something different. So, now back in the line they go & they must wait longer. So, with that in mind~according to what we have been told, with a log in date of 07/20/07 we hit the seventeenth month mark as of yesterday. We did nothing to mark the day other than to make note of it & went on.

Any other adoption news? A little. Don't want to get into it a lot at this time as we really don't have a lot that we can share. For now, please just be in prayer that if these little babies (yes, I said babies) are meant to be our children that they will be. We are a long way from knowing that, but a few things have unfolded recently that may indeed be indicative that they may in fact be. However, as I said~we are months away from knowing for sure & are likely a ways away from being able to share much more than that. I can & will share that their mother was on December 9th five months pregnant with the babies. After what we have been through, our feet are very much now & will continue to remain on the ground about this. If in fact these are our children, we will be thrilled more than words could ever articulate. However, right now they are not~so, until then-if that times comes or if it doesn't we just hope & pray that if they are meant to join our family & we are meant to be Mommy & Daddy to them that God will bless all of us involved & that things will go as they are suppose to. The story is after all already written. (Jeremiah 29:11) It is a page turner, that's for sure!

I have been doing quite a bit of baking. Homemade pumpkin bread, cookies & such. I have enjoyed it & have very much enjoyed passing the goodies out to our friends & neighbors. For the first time in a long time we have an oven that isn't ancient. This one cooks evenly & even has a timer~I know, probably not a big deal to those of you who have always had one. However, from someone who has had an oven that burned nearly everything for the last seven years-believe me, this is a thrill!

I just want to take a minute to tell each of you Merry Christmas. Here's hoping that 2009 for us all brings good health, much happiness & His continued abundant blessings! & for those of us struggling to grow our families~here's hoping that 2009 may finally bring for us some peace, no matter how it comes-whether it is reassurance, renewed faith & hope or maybe even finally some of us will see our babies faces for the first time & better yet maybe even hold them in our arms. Whatever lies ahead for each of us as we continue our individual journey's, may we have peace!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!