Catching Up---FINALLY

I am obviously not the blogger that people visit every day. I recently bought a wonderful book about Family Writing that has reminded the importance of writing daily happenings so I have been writing more frequently, just not here on our blog. I'm going to do a whirlwind of catching you up on our happenings and big events.

We celebrated Benjamin's birthday. He turned 10 on December 11. I can't believe that we have two children who are in the double digits! Where does the time go?

We celebrated Christmas early at our home. Below is a picture of Hannah's first Christmas with us. She would have been happy with just her few stocking stuffers. I think that if you click on the picture, it will blow up for you. Sorry for the blurriness.

We drove to visit Dan's Mom and Dan's brother and his family. Ten children in the house made for lots of fun! Dan's brother also has a little one also named Hannah. We called our Hannah, Hannah Mei-Mei and theirs Hannah Rebecca. The girls didn't seem to mind at all and took it in stride. I should add here that we saw them in July Hannah still preferred her Chinese name so when I would call their Hannah, Hannah, our Hannah would just stare as if to say, "Hey, I don't like my name, but you cannot have it!" Being the first time to visit Dan's Mom's home (We've seen her several times just not at her home.), Hannah didn't do so well. By Day five, she was much more comfortable.

After five nights, we drove to my parents home to visit with them and my brother's family who was visiting from Seattle. We had nine children in the house so it was a little quieter but not much. Hannah has visited my parents home several times, so she did much better here. Again, much fun and memories! 

Matthew turns 13 on January 3. We have a teenager in the house! Yikes!

After coming home for two days, we left again to attend a Memorial Service for Dan's Uncle in Santa Cruz. (Dan's Mom's older brother.) Dan hadn't seen some of his cousins for years so it was a good time of memories and catching up even though the occasion was sad. Since we were already in the area, it seemed a shame to turn around and drive back so we stayed the night. The next day, we decided to visit Point Lobos, a State Reserve. It was a beautiful day. We sat in the car and ate lunch. While we were eating, we saw MANY whales blowing their spouts! It was incredible! Evidently, this is the time when they migrate! Then, we climbed on the rocks and touched little critters in the tide pools. Dan took the older four children over some rocks to see the seals sunbathing on the other side. Then, we went to the Whaler's Museum which is in the Reserve. It was very interesting to see what used to be on that site. Here they all are sitting on a fallen tree. 

Yesterday, we went to the Modesto Courthouse for Hannah's Re-Adoption Hearing. It was a short, anti-climactic event only necessary to add to the stacks of paperwork and to generate a US Birth Certificate which helps us obtain Hannah's Social Security Number and Passport. When we got into the car, Dan asked if we were finally done with all our paperwork! Nope! More paper to obtain SS and passport. Then, in May more paper arrives for our 12 -Month Post Placement. THEN, we'll be done! 

There you have it! We are now almost back into full swing. It takes awhile after being out of routine! 

If you think to pray, please pray for two of our friends waiting referrals of their child from Ethiopia and Uganda. The waiting is UNBEARABLE knowing that YOUR CHILD is in a place where he/she may not be well taken care of and he/she could be home with you if not for the endless paper trail. Pray God's protection on each of these 143 million children who do not have a Mommy or a Daddy to tuck them in at night! Pray that God would move hearts to bring them home! 

All For HIM,

Joyce