Our first Christmas together as a family of five was fantastic. Oh sure, we have had our ups and downs over these last few months, but overall, I know we'll look back on this as a SWEET, SWEET time! These are the good 'ole days, right?
Here are a few highlights of our first Christmas together:
Obviously the American symbol for Christmas is the Christmas tree so EVERY time we saw a Christmas tree ANYWHERE, the girls would point and say "look, Christmas!" Even now, nearly four weeks post Christmas, the girls see regular trees that are shaped like Christmas trees and say "look, Christmas!"
We didn't go with the whole Santa routine with them because, one) Misrak is just too old to start it. Two) we really wanted to instill the TRUE meaning of Christmas and Three) the girls are really relying on us to tell them TRUTH about everything and we are building trust with them. Even though we TOLD her the truth she still kept asking questions.... how he was going to get in "though the fireplace?" "Do the reindeer really fly?" Poor thing didn't know what to believe.
We are really trying hard to keep "America" and "the world" at bay but man, it is really tough. I think we did great at having a modest Christmas and making sure to give to Christ at Christmas. It is, after all, His birthday! And since He isn't here in the flesh to give to, we give to the least of these. We gave Him a portion of a well for clean drinking water in Ethiopia. This is one of Druarto's children (benefitting from the well) that we met while we were there in August. See our giving blog at www.lifeforlangano.blogspot.com I think between our family a few other families we raised enough for an entire well!
Our Christmas eve service at church was cute. All of the children were given costumes as part of the Christmas story. The girls were angels of course. When they got to the part of the story where the angels appeared to the shepherds, the girls had to go up on the stage. They weren't nervous though because they were only 2 of about 20 angels.
We asked the girls what their favorite part of Christmas was. They both answered they loved being all together on Christmas morning and opening gifts together.
Christmas day was spent just the five of us playing with gifts and toys and cooking! whew! Todd cooked a turkey and I made all the sides. We make a pretty good team. I (Emily) cannot IMAGINE doing any of this without him!
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These are the "good 'ole days"
O Christmas Tree.......
Each year, I know it's coming. Todd starts talking about it......the DAY that we need to set aside to go choose and cut our Christmas tree in the mountains.
Now, this year I knew would be special because it would be the girls first tree (EVER) and our first year as a family of FIVE! But I don't want to spend an ENTIRE DAY just traveling to Boone, NC to get the tree that looks the SAME as the tree at Lowes Home Improvement that takes one hour to pick out, strap to the car, get in the tree stand and at least get the lights on! I mean, we have stuff to do people!
OK, I tried to be a good sport this year and not argue too much, because after all, it was supposed to SNOW that day in Boone. God blessed us with a beautiful snow, another FIRST for the girls and we had a blast. Misrak was convinced that she would carry the tree back in her lap on the way home. We finally talked her out of it when she realized how COLD and WET the snow coating the tree was. The day of fun began at the tree farm, complete with hot apple cider, a hay ride and Todd nearly killing Riley over their attempt at cutting down the tree with a hand saw. After working up an intense hunger, we had a shepherds pie for lunch at Six Pence Pub in downtown Blowing Rock and then a walk through town complete with a snowball fight! It was c-c-c-cold but f-f-fun.
Memories were made and I guess there will still be time to "get our stuff done!"
Thanksgiving and our first trip to the Beach!
Wow, how time is flying. The holidays are upon us and we are just swimming to catch up. In November, we got to visit with Todd's family on Ft. Meyers beach in Florida. It was a great time of hanging with the family and enjoying the BEACH for the first time with the girls. They really loved playing in the pool, building sand castles and collecting shells (just like their Grandma)! They LOVED the feeling of the sand in their toes (don't we ALL) but had a hard time standing in the surf because the ground looked like it was moving out from underneath them!
Thanksgiving was a fantastic time of reflection over the past incredibly hard nine months! We have learned to lean a little (ok....a LOT) harder on Him when we didn't know when or IF the girls would ever come to us. There were times when we thought it might all go south and we may never, ever meet them. Today, I can say most assuredly that I cannot imagine our lives without them and that every ounce of prayer, fasting, heartache, heartbreak, growing closer to Him and to each other was WORTH IT! Thank you, God, for bringing these sweet little girls into our lives. We are SO blessed to have them and will try to never take for granted what YOU have done!
