December Happenings!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2008!!!!

We are enjoying our time with the kids on break from school. Due to a snow day, they were home one day early. This meant they missed their Christmas celebrations at school and the home baked teacher gifts had to be put in the freezer. Despite this, the kids didn't seem to mind one more day of vacation.

On my birthday, December 13th, Steve and the girls surprised me with a party. Several of our friends showed up at our house after we returned from dinner to help me celebrate being 40! Steve, my dad and the girls decorated and cleaned the house while my mom took me shopping - pretty tricky, huh!?!! Steve managed to orchestrate the food preparation through my mom and his mom. What a fun surprise!!!

The weekend before Christmas we travelled to my parents where we celebrated with my immediate family. We stayed one extra night due to a blizzard. We didn't mind staying extra. There was no shortage of food or fun. It's nice to see the cousins get extra play time as well since my sister and her husband also stayed an extra night.

Christmas Eve we spent with Steve's family. Lauren played her violin and read the Christmas story. Olivia read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' and sang Silent Night in sign language and German with Avery.

On Christmas Day we stayed home and enjoyed each other as a family. In the evening I invited my Chinese friend Penny and her son for dinner. This was quite a treat because Penny brought a Chinese dish to share for the meal. Penny doesn't have any family in the states, so we were happy to spend part of the day with her.

Today, Sunday December 28th has been a very restful and peaceful day for us. Olivia and Avery are cleaning their rooms getting ready for a play date tomorrow and Lauren is away at cross-country ski camp at Maplelag.

We don't have any news to share about the adoption but we did get a call from our Social Worker on Tuesday. This was the first time she called since we were approved in May. Anyway, she just wished us a Merry Christmas and encouraged us to hang in there and that our referral should come soon after the first of the year. Even though she didn't have any news, it was good to hear from SOMEONE at our agency.