Christmas Joy

Dec 25, 2012

Today is Christmas. It is 10:12 PM. We have had a whirlwind of family, food and gifts.  What a wonderful time it has been.  The older I get, the more I cherish times to be with the people I love. The more I love to remember my Dad and grandparents and my husbands grand parents and Great Jane and those family members that have already gone to Heaven. They are truly the lucky ones.
Our Christmas mantel is full of decorations and hand made Christmas ornaments from all of our grandparents, special friends and the first year of our marriage. When I first put out our Christmas decorations, I did not have anything from Joel's grandmother Crumpton and my Grandmother Todd. Last week, Joel's Mom asked us to come to Grandmother Crumpton's house and get anything that we wanted. I found a Christmas tea pot decoration that was perfect to add to my mantle. Then yesterday, while at Moms for Christmas Eve, she brought out some doileys for the girls to pick from that were made by my Grandmother or Great Grandmother. The one we chose is red and white and is the perfect finishing touch to my Christmas mantle. I am really excited that I now have something from all of our grandparents represented on our Mantle. It was the traditions started by them that we remember as children and through the years.
My Christmas decorations will never appear in Southern living magazine. I'm not that great at it. But my Christmas decorations mean something to me and my family. Every ornament tells a story and every decoration is a reminder of a special person or event in our lives.
Our kids were very excited about Christmas. Elijah, our 4 year old was especially excited.  He could not wait for Santa to come.  Almost every gift he opened was something he "had always wanted".  It's so much fun having a little one around.
I thought we would be matched with a birth Mom by now. I thought we would have a due date and some information on our baby girl but we don't. I'm okay with that. I am waiting patiently and trying to follow God's leadership and trust that His timing is perfect.
We are almost finished with all the paperwork for our home study. I hope to mail it by Friday this week. Then we can work on the interviews and hopefully have all our clearances and the study finished by Feb or March.  That is our only update. But we are happy and content and so excited that God has lead us to this place. God is making Himself so real to me and to my family. We know without a shadow of a doubt that God has lead us on every step of this journey so far and will continue to lead us. I pray we will be faithful followers of His plan for our lives.  GOD gets glory and we get JOY! Merry Christmas!