Merry Christmas Adam & Agnieszka!!

A fellow blogger gave me permission to re-post her entry from last Christmas. I wanted to continue the tradition and pass on the message of Hope this Christmas. It's a pretty powerful and emotional song. The Truth is... as the song states...Christmas is a time to celebrate the holy child and His perfect gift of love.

And I want to add....Merry Christmas Adam & Aggie! You are our Gift of Love!

There's a little girl trembling on a cold December morn
Crying for momma's arms
At an orphanage just outside a little China town
There the forgotten are
But half a world away I hang the stockings by the fire
And dream about the day when I can finally call you mine

It's Christmas time again but you're not home
Your family is here and yet you're somewhere else alone
And so tonight I pray that God will come and hold you in his arms
And tell you from my heart I wish you Merry Christmas

As I hang the tinsel on the tree and watch the twinkling lights
I'm warmed by the fire's glow
Outside the children tumble in a wonderland of white, Make angels in the snow
But half a world away you try your best to fight the tears
And hope that heaven's angels come to carry you here

It's Christmas time again but you're not home
Your family is here and yet you're somewhere else alone
And so tonight I pray that God will come and hold you in his arms
And tell you from my heart I wish you Merry Christmas

Christmas is a time to celebrate the holy child
And we celebrate his perfect gift of love
He came to earth to give his life And prepare a place for us
So we could have a home with him above

It's Christmas time again and now you're home
Your family is here so you will never be alone
So tonight before you go to sleep, I'll hold you in my arms
And I'll tell you from my heart, and I'll tell you from my heart

I wish you Merry Christmas

Not Flesh of My Flesh,

Nor Bone of My Bone,

But Still Miraculously My Own.

Never Forget for a Single Minute,

You Didn't Grow Under My Heart - But In It.

My sisters & my nieces hosted a Toddler Shower for Lee and I this weekend. It was a wonderful time and we are truly blessed. Every one's generosity has me speechless and feelings of excitement and anticipation keep growing and growing inside of me. We can't wait for Adam and Agnieszka to meet the many loving, kind and caring people that exist in our world.

The very first gift I opened, believe it or not, I started to become teary eyed.

I wasn't expecting to, but it just happened.

I reached into a gift bag and pulled out a beautiful plaque which looked like this.

Journey.

"I know the plans I have

for you," declares the Lord,

"plans to prosper you and

not harm you, plans to

give you hope and a future."

Jeremiah 29:11

I read it aloud and in hindsight this gift, at that moment, was perfect.

It meant God was present.

Jeremiah 29:11 is a bible verse that has become a guiding light for Lee and I. Often we recite it at different times, but it is those times when it appears unexpectedly and randomly that we are reminded there is such a great and powerful director orchestrating the most beautiful love song ever to be played in our lives.

From there we went into a whole lot of O's and Ah's and a pretty funny moment when everyone was telling me about letting Play Dough dry first before vacuuming it up off the floor. I winked but replied "Why would there be play dough on the floor?" :)

Then everyone started telling me that our home was not child proof enough. But I have every electrical outlet plugged up? We then together counted a minimum of 5 glass vases and one wall mounted candelabra that had to be put away for a few years.

Then we got to the TOWER OF SAFETY!

Let's count them: ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR Car Seats!...... Whoa.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I Found the Chair!!

It is hard to believe only 2 weeks have gone by since we returned because if I had to guess I would say it feels like at least a month or two. Time is moving very slowly.....including the next phase of paperwork. It's my understanding that we are awaiting the children's birth certificates from Warsaw in order to submit to USCIS. So, I am thankful the holidays are upon us because it gives me the opportunity to keep busy and go shopping!! :) and if I am out shopping I can't help but stop at The Carter's or The Children's Place stores and marvel at all the cute stuff. It is wonderful to have met the children and have a sense of what they would look like in the clothes!

From a previous post I promised to show everyone the trick to turning on the lights in your hotel room! Here it is!


After we walked into our guest room, Lee and I spent about 10 minutes checking every plug and turning every switch trying to figure out the lights. Finally, I headed down the hall to Magda's room to humbly ask for help with turning our lights on. I felt so silly! She was kind and patient and explained the key card has to be placed into the slot.... and Presto! Every light came on! (to our defense we had been up for well over 24 hours and we were not at the top of our game!!) It was pretty funny!

After some well deserved sleep we felt better about conquering the issue with "running out of battery power". Ha! The transformer plug was so heavy that when it was connected to another plug it pulled out of the wall and would never charge. There was a definite moment of panic before we put our heads together and came up with this!



Lee and I both feel strongly that we need to get our children some basic building blocks to play with when they get home. How else would you learn to do something like this! :)


Another "funny" we had was interpreting this next picture...... I thought for sure the circus had to be in town because the little girl in the picture was holding some candy on a stick! or a balloon! (Everything is "on-a-stick" in Wisconsin at the Fair) The realist that Lee is promptly informed me that it was a cross walk (oh, I knew that I just thought it would be fun to go see the monkey's!! Te, He, He)



Okay, one more......




This was Agnieszka's favorite chair. It's made by Fisher Price and her caregivers carried it to her where ever she was. I bet she could sit and play all day long with it. On our last day, I told her that Daddy promised to find the chair and have it at home waiting for her. Well, after a quick search on the Internet, we discovered the chair had been recalled!! I was relieved to discover that a fix had been issued by Fisher Price, but they weren't selling the chair any more.

THANK GOODNESS for E-BAY!!!
I FOUND THE CHAIR!!! and hopefully it will be delivered next week! Hallelujah!
Here's hoping your holiday is filled with Hope and Excitement of the events to come!