I am so amazed by all God has allowed in our family over the last few years. In just over 4 years, we have been blessed to bring home 3 sons - each one so precious. It was Christmas time of 2006, and we had our church's youth group over to our house for some sort of activity. I had shared with the girls my heart's desire to be a mom, and had even shed tears a time over two because I wasn't sure if it would every happen. We were in the midst of a lot of paperwork, just one month into our adoption journey (I called it "paper pregnancy") at that point. I'll never forget one girl who looked at the two stockings hanging on the shelf and said, "Just think! Next year there will be 3 stockings!" I know I smiled and said something nice at the time. I think I was still in such a guarded state having suffered much disappointment in this area of my life that I had a hard time believing that was true, but she was right. I always think of her each year when we hang our stockings. I am so grateful for the faith she had in God's plan for our family. I praise God for his ways which are much higher than my own. This year I was so excited to hang up a FIFTH stocking! We didn't know that was coming last year when we celebrated Christmas. What a wonderful suprise!
Below are a few photos from our family's Christmas celebration here at home. Beau had a cyst removed from his eye and had to wear "the cone of shame" this year, but still got his usual photo with the Christmas tree. With all the demand a newborn places on your time, we didn't do all of our traditions in the usual way. For example, we made our favorite french toast casserole for lunch instead of breakfast. Nathan enjoyed helping in the kitchen for the first time. Iphones, big game scales, and nerf gun target toys were some of the favorite gifts this year ... and I'm just talking about Tim and I! :)
