We’re Ready for Rachel!

We finished most of Rachel’s room a few weeks ago, but I put the last few finishing touches in it last night and tonight. My nieces loved playing in it when they visited at Christmas!

Here’s the Christmas tree I’ve had in her room. When Caleb first saw it, he looked at it funny for a minute and then said, “Christmas trees aren’t pink!”

Here are her dolls. Out of all the Asian dolls I’ve bought, my absolute favorite is Berenguer’s Mini La Newborn. It is just 9.5 inches, but it is one of the most beautiful little dolls I’ve ever seen! I gave my baby-doll-loving 4-year-old niece one for Christmas. She carried “him” around all morning long. She kept talking about how cute he was and said “Look at his little back. It’s so cute!” Then later she said, “He’s so cute I just can’t put him down.”

Here’s a sweet backpack my sister gave Rachel–ladybugs have become the symbol of China adoption–they are supposed to bring luck.

Here’s the kitchen we got for Rachel for Christmas. We were going to wait and have Christmas for her when she came home. But I decided that it would be too overwhelming for her. She’s going to have enough excitement as it is!

The Newest Member of Our Family (Yes, we are officially INSANE!)

A few weeks ago our family consisted of my husband, myself, our three sons, two very old cats, two young and obnoxious Bassett hounds, and, of course, Rachel will become a part of family shortly. Several months ago our middle son, the passionate animal lover, began campaigning for his OWN dog for Christmas. When we got the Bassett hounds two years ago we tried to pretend Shadow, the boy, was his. But they are really both mine, and they act like mine even though Caleb plays with them more than anyone else.

After much prayer and discussion between Tommy and me, we began searching for the perfect dog for Caleb. So two days before Christmas we got her, a golden retriever puppy. Here’s Molly!

She’s still just a baby, so she sleeps alot. Caleb has been super mommy taking care of her. This is my active child who loves to move, but for most of the past week he has been sitting down holding Molly while she sleeps. We have offered to watch her so that he could play with his visiting cousins, but he refused. My mom said that this is the calmest that she’s ever seen Caleb.

Here she is curled up around Caleb’s neck. She slept beside him for the first few days until we were awakened at 6am one morning with Titus screaming, “SHE POOPED! SHE POOPED!” Molly had pooped in their bed, and Titus had managed to stick his hand in it. So now Molly is sleeping in a small crate on the end of their bed.

Molly is absolutely precious! So far she is perfect! We are crazy for adding a dog to our family, but Caleb is just a child who needs his own dog. Although he has two brothers, he is always in need of someone to play with. Caleb loves running and playing outside. Eli only goes out when forced to preferring to read or computer indoors. And Titus, our opinionated five-year-old, although he loves to play outside is not very cooperative when playing with Caleb. Titus likes to make up his own games with his own rules and is quite content to have his outdoor adventures alone. So I’m hoping that Caleb will have the precious companionship of Molly for many years to come.

Now, does anyone want two Bassett hounds?

We’re Going to China!

First of all, I apologize for being a very bad blogger. Exciting things have been happening in the adoption realm! But holiday travel and activities have taken the place of my computer time.

We are leaving early on Wednesday, January 7th for China! We will spend a few days in Beijing before traveling to Rachel’s province of Hubei where we will receive her on Monday, January 12th. I pray that her foster family is preparing her for this sudden transition. For those of you unfamiliar with China adoption, we meet her and take her with us on the same day. It’s got to be quite frightening for a child. I do not know if you can really prepare a child for something like this. But I have been praying that God is preparing her heart for this transition. I would greatly appreciate any readers to pray along with me.

Hope you are all fully enjoying the holidays!

Advent Conspiracy

I LOVE Christmas!!! I always have. But somewhere along the way I feel like I’ve lost something. The holiday season has this sense of dread with it–all the busyness, shopping, events–everything just seems to happen so fast that it gets hard to enjoy it. I have to work to make time to savor those precious holiday moments. I have to work to make time to meditate on the real reason we are celebrating.

I try to get my shopping done early so that I can avoid the stores in December. But I usually end up having to run to Wal-Mart (I greatly dislike Wal-Mart, by the way, and try not to shop there, but it’s hard in small-town Mississippi.). Whenever I’m there trying to get in and out as quickly as possible, I’m often overwhelmed with this feeling that something is badly wrong with this picture. It’s like a Christmas nightmare! All this stuff, all these people everywhere, more stuff you need to buy, more and more people cramming into parking lots, store aisles, and lines. It’s just overwhelming to me. And it makes me feel like something has gone terribly wrong with Christmas.

I know that some of the overwhelmingness of Christmas is my own fault. I want so badly to make the holidays special and memorable for my family. When the kids were younger, I thought that was mostly about how much they get. I’ve been gradually reforming my ways for years now. Trying to make Christmas less about things and more and more about time together making memories. I’m getting a little bit better at it every year.

I came across this link to Advent Conspiracy on another blog, and I’m intrigued. The site has a 2 1/2 minute video that is thought-provoking. Americans spend $450 billion every year on Christmas. The estimated cost to make clean water available to everyone on the planet is $10 billion.

Advent Conspiracy is encouraging people to buy less gifts, instead to give the gift of your time to your family and friends, and then to give the money you save from buying less gifts to help someone who needs it. They are actually encouraging people to just buy ONE less gift, but if we all did this what a difference that could make! Advent Conspiracy says Worship More, Spend Less, Give More, Love All. Sounds so simple. And so unlike my often frantic and complicated Christmases. I’m going to give it a try.

Here’s the video:

Our Hope Is In You

The following is from Advent and Christmas Wisdom from Henri J. M. Nouwen which I began reading this week. I absolutely LOVE the prayer.

A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. Isaiah 11:1-3

We welcome you, small child of Bethlehem, whose coming we await with quiet attention. Shield us from the shouts, the screams, the empty promises of the season, and encourage us to turn our hopes to your coming. We know that the promise is hidden in the stable in Bethlehem and rooted in the offspring of Jesse; let us look for our salvation there. Amen.