Merry Christmas!

Round 2 at Matt's parents' house; Christmas afternoon. I LOVE my In-laws!!! Seriously, they are THE BEST.

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. We sure did. The partying began last night after church service and didn't end until 8:30 this evening. Both mine and Matt's families live in town (except for my dad and his wife) and so we bounce around quite a bit, but it's always a great time. My kids have been on a sugar high since school got out last week and today it just compounded with the "gift high". Our 6 year old did the typical, "are there anymore gifts???" about 100 times tonight. Oh my. We try really hard to keep it simple, but somehow it always spins out of control. We usually get each of our kids 1 big gift and then fill their stockings with socks, underwear, movies, games, books, puzzles, lip gloss, nail polish (for Ansley), & clementines! (In memory of my Mimi) Then there are the grandparents... Need I say more? We also have 2 amazing extended "family members" who spoil the socks off our kids; Uncle Dave & Aunt Val and Mr. Larry. Not to mention Aunts & Uncles & Cousins. Our daughter said, "I think it's kind of weird that we get gifts on Jesus' birthday. We should be giving Him gifts." We had our devotional time this morning before the family arrived. We read the story of Jesus' birth in the gospel of Luke and spent some time in prayer. I mentioned in an earlier post that we've been struggling with some heartache this past week. I'll spare you the details, but sometimes it's hard not to cry out to the Lord about how unfair life can be. Then I remember the life of Jesus and it instantly convicts my heart. As hard as it's been, we spent time this morning thanking God for each and every gift He has blessed us with, including the gift of heartache. It draws us ever closer to Him and reminds us to work on those yucky areas in our own lives. Because we all have them. Instead of complaining about the speck in our brother's eyes, we prayed about the logs in our own. Can I just say, that doing that is so extremely freeing? I tell my kids all the time, "You can not change other people. You can only change you. Instead of fretting over what your brother has done to wrong you, you just work on being the best brother you can be." The Lord deals with us individually. When we are standing before Him at the end of our lives, He is not going to ask us what our brother did for Him. He's going to ask us what we did for Him. He knows our sorrows. He can relate. We have to leave it in His hands. I would much rather be the "wronged" than the "wronger" any day. How about you? So, we have peace in our hearts tonight and we are thankful as we reflect on another amazing year of great health and financial provision. God is so faithful. He continues to bless us even in a very unsteady economy. I knew He would provide the way for this adoption and He is. We have been able to put a big chunk into our "Ashlyn Fund" and that is a great feeling. We still have a long way to go, considering all the medical treatments she will need when she gets home, but we know it's going to be ok. We will do whatever it takes.

I finished up my 10-hour online training tonight. Matt finished his earlier today. We are happy that part is O V E R. Boring. The books we are reading and the real-life adoptive families we are learning from are way more beneficial. I guess they just want to make sure you are as prepared as possible. I'm just ready to start our life with her. It feels like it's never going to get here. This is by far the longest pregnancy EVER. :) Please keep praying that God will prepare us for each other. Her birthday is February 18th, so we will probably send her something. I wish we could somehow hear back from her.

Blessings,
Rebecca & Family