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!

Update on Raffle/Give Away~

****ANOTHER UPDATE: Checked in on MckMama & the Fam & guess what? Raffle is over...Nope, I didn't win~but that is totally okay! Why is it so okay, you ask? Well, because some great charities totally won in a HUGE way. The final tally at last check was OVER $19,000.00!!!!!! WAY TO GO to all of us that participated! & the wonderful lady that did win hasn't totally revealed her scheme just yet, but it sounds like she has something under her sleeve to "pay it forward" as a result of her good fortune. So, stay tuned to see what her plan is. I have an idea, but I won't spoil it just incase I am correct.


****UPDATE: 12/12/08~I checked this morning & even though the "chip in" box is now stuck on a little over $10,000, MckMama reports that they have now raised OVER $12,000 up to this point. Three more days to enter. Happy raffling!

I don't know why~but, every time I click on the link to hop over & see how the fundraising is going with the Raffle/Give Away mentioned in my previous post, it is still showing that they are at just over $4,000.00. However, MckMama posted & stated that they are currently at $7,482.30! Such wonderful news, huh?

AWESOME RAFFLE FOR A GREAT CAUSE!

Click on over to http://www.mycharmingkids.net/!!! MckMama is having one heck of a give away/raffle! Get in on the action before it is too late! What a fabulous idea! This is so exciting! Happy raffling!
(If you use the link over to the side of my blog, instead of the link above within this post you might (for some reason) get a pop up asking for a password. If so, just hit cancel whenever that pops up~mine does it three times. I just hit cancel & it goes away. ????)

A Thanksgiving Challenge

Okay, Angie over at "Bring The Rain" wrote a post & issued a Thanksgiving Challenge. I follow her blog & know most of you do as well. This post I could so identify with~

So, I am taking the challenge.

No. I don't feel like I mean it. I don't feel it to be the truth in my heart today...but, yes. I will take the challenge.

"I am thankful for my journey to parenthood & all that has come with it in the past & that will come with it in the future."

Whew. That feels like a big ol' lie. However, this is a challenge, right. A challenge is not suppose to be easy. Ugh.

Hop over to Angie's blog, read the post (& maybe her brother in laws post that she refers to as well) & then decide if you want to take the challenge too.
http://audreycaroline.blogspot.com/

What Are You Thankful For?

I wanted to take the time to do a "What I Am Thankful For" post, however I don't know that I have the amount of time to devote to it this morning that I would need to do it right. However, I will give it a quick try.

I am thankful for God, my husband (Thomas~you are one in a million. Every day I am thankful for you & our marriage. The blessings that you bring to our life & to me are endless.) I am thankful for my health & the health of all of my friends & family. I am thankful for my family & friends & the joy that they add to my world. I am very thankful for Thomas's job. I am thankful for our home, food on our table, clothes on our backs & the safety that we feel & are provided living here in our great country. I am thankful that I don't have a lot of time today to do this post as that means I have fun things filling my holiday. I am thankful for babies that are born healthy! (Congratulations Kristin!) I am thankful for the men & women who are not with their families today who are far away in another place serving in the armed forces. I am thankful for all of my relatives that have passed away who have left me with memories of holidays past that fill my heart & mind with warm thoughts of Thanksgiving Holidays that were filled with traditions & memories that I will forever treasure. I am thankful for the sights & sounds of the holiday season & that we live in a place where families are able to celebrate & worship how & if they choose. I am thankful for a new church family. I am thankful for new neighbors & friends in our new town who have welcomed us into their lives & even their homes today for a wonderful holiday on a day when we would usually be with our family & can not be. (THANK YOU BRIAN, CHRISTINA & FAMILY!) I am thankful for many things...too many to list~mostly, I am just thankful for my life. No, it is not perfect. Like everyone, I have had my share of difficult times & no doubt will have more of those. There are things that I certainly wish were different, but over all, I can not complain. I am blessed to have more blessings than I can count & more things to be thankful for than I have time to write about.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all. I hope that you too have more blessings than you could ever list. I wish you all joy, health & happiness today & always! For all of you traveling, be safe! Enjoy your day, your friends & your family. And of course, enjoy the eats!

Speaking of eats...off to do some cooking for the dinner today!

BLESSINGS!

(Oh & BTW, I am thankful for my new GPS! I wrote about that in my last post a little. It was a b-day gift to me from Thomas. For those of you wondering~No. I did not throw it out the window yesterday. Actually quite the opposite! I LOVE THAT THING! I don't know how I ever lived without it. It is a life changing piece of equipment. If you think you would never use it~think again! I will never be without one again. I will write about it more later. However, I would say to you~if you are thinking of getting one & are checking them out during the holiday sales, go for it! You won't be sorry. The ease of use is unbelievable. Believe me, if I can do it you can too! I could go on & on~but, I can't right now. In a day or so I will elaborate on my experience with it yesterday. It was amazing. )

A Birthday, Thanksgiving, New Friends & a New Blessing

The birthday first~"Who's?", you ask. It was mine! Happy birthday to me, November 25th! 36 years young yesterday! Thomas had to work yesterday, so on Sunday after church he took me to PF Changs. Yum! Then we hit the mall & Ikea. We spent the day together just walking & talking. It was nice. We of course went to Starbucks for an afternoon coffee too. He even joined me in Bath & Body Works for a ridiculous amount of time patiently tolerating my need to stand there & smell every candle that they have. Scrumptious! I woke yesterday to find a card & a gift bag on our kitchen counter. It was a lovely card from Thomas with some special words & a really cool coffee mug with the city sky line & "Chicago" on it. He is taking me into the city via the Metra to see Chicago all decked out for the holidays. Lights & music will be in abundance! Fun! Can't wait. Last year we did the Plaza in Kansas City for my b-day. (Think I posted pics of that.) We did the carriage ride around the Plaza with our Starbucks coffee & a blanket. The lights & sounds of the holiday in K.C. were beautiful, I can only imagine what it will be like in Chicago! My Mom of course called me bright & early with a serenade of "Happy Birthday" (Yes, she really sings to me-every year!) & some beautiful sentiments too! I got several birthday cards which I appreciated very much. In the afternoon I went over to my friend's & neighbors house, Christina. They had a card for me & had baked me cookies. THANKS GUYS! Thomas also got me a GPS. He has wanted to get me one for a while now & I have been resistent. I am a little hesitant as I am not great with the electronics stuff, but he assures me that it is very simple to use & that I will have no problems. It is a Garmin...we will see. I am going to try it out later today when I am running errands.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all. I hope that you all have wonderful holiday. We all have so much to be thankful for, don't we? (Hopefully between today & tomorrow I will find the time to do a "What I Am Thankful For" post. I think that kind of reflection is good to do now & then...)We won't be able to get back home to our friends & family for the holiday, but have fortunately made some good friends here who have been kind enough to include us in their holiday plans. We will be spending Thursday afternoon with our neighbor's. We will be feasting on a fabulous meal & enjoying their company & getting to know each other better. We are looking forward to it & appreciate the invite so much!

We have a calendar full of holiday events. There is so much to do around here. Just every day or so, there is a list of things going on that you can go to. Every Village has a website & list their calendar. It is nice to have options. We have not been use to that.

& for the new blessing~My dear friend Kristin won't have to think very hard for what she is most thankful for this year. Yesterday afternoon (ON MY BIRTHDAY!) Kristin gave birth to a healthy baby girl, Ashlyn Mae! 7.10 oz, 21 inches long @ 2:35PM~This is their first baby. All is well. CONGRATULATIONS Matthew, Kristin & Ashlynn! We are SO happy for you all!

Better shower & get to my errands. I am making my most requested Broccoli & Cauliflower Salad for the dinner tomorrow. Plus, think I will make some Pumpkin Bread & maybe a loaf of homemade bread as well. Oh the carbs of the holiday season! Happy eating everyone! (Wish me luck with my new GPS & maybe offer prayers for me to please have patience...& that it won't be thrown out my window by the days end!)

Blessings!

No Evidence Of Progress?

At times nothing seems to be happening. So it must be for the bird that sits on her nest. Things are apparently at a standstill. But the bird sits quietly, knowing that in the stillness something vital is going on, and in the proper time it will be shown. It takes faith and patience for the bird, and such faith and patience never seem to waver, day after day, night after night, as she bides the appointed time.
Restless and doubtful we wonder why we have nothing to show for our efforts, no visible evidence of progress. Let us remember the perfect egg--unchanged in its appearance from the day it is laid. But while the bird waits faithfully, doing the only thing she is required to do throughout those silent weeks, important things are taking place.
--Elisabeth Elliott
I wait for the Lord. My soul waits, and in His word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning. --(Ps 130:5, 6 RSV)