Merry Christmas!

Wishing you the merriest Christmas!  We are spending the day with family, celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  There is nothing better to celebrate than the birthday of the one who was sent to Earth to save the world from our sins.

After breakfast and opening presents, everyone was exhausted! We'd all gotten up early, expecting that Kate would do the same... and then she tried to sleep in on us!  We ended up waking her up, but we were all pretty tired after getting an early start.

Last year, we'd just begun the adoption process, not knowing how long it would take.  Thankfully, 15 months after turning in our initial application we get to celebrate this Christmas day as a family of FOUR.  Christmas 2014 will always be especially sweet for us.

Merry Christmas!  It sure was a great one for us... and it's not over yet!

Christmas Is About a Gift

I was playing around on Facebook late one night, just a few days after Thanksgiving, when I saw someone post on a Mommy group something like this:

"Hey - I am looking for suggestions for Christmas books that teach the true meaning of Christmas.  My kids are being bratty and feeling entitled, and I just want something that helps me to show them what the true meaning of Christmas is.  It doesn't have to be religious or anything."

Wow. Just, wow.

I know most people can look at the word Christmas, and see that it contains the word Christ. But I wonder how many people know where the word originated.  It actually originates from "Christ's Mass", which was the mass that was held on December 25th to commemorate the birth of Christ.  That's what Christmas is- the celebration of the birth of Jesus, the cornerstone of the Christian faith. If that's not "religious or anything", then I don't know what is!

I know that those reading my blog probably have many different faiths, backgrounds and beliefs, but this is my little space of the Internet and I feel justified in sharing MY faith here.

Like it or not, Christmas is a Christian holiday.  It is a date that was set aside to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who was born of a virgin (Mary).  Jesus' birth was part of God's plan to send a perfect sacrifice, who would eventually die on a cross and then rise again for my sins, and for yours.  That's what Christmas is.  Christmas IS about giving.  But it's not about me giving presents to my kids or my husband.  It's about the most important gift that was ever given.

Christmas is all about the gift our heavenly Father gave to us - His perfect Son, Jesus Christ.  

Tangible gifts that we exchange with friends in family in just a week are just things that will eventually break, be lost, or be thrown away.  Even those extra special gifts that will be kept in a special place for years to come will eventually be ruined.  But the gift that the Father sent to us on that day so long ago is truly a priceless gift.

The media, department stores, and disgruntled people can TRY to "take Christ out of Christmas".  But they can't do it.  It's right there in the name.  And they can't stop Christians around the world from celebrating the most special birthday to ever be celebrated on December 25th.

Yes, we are a Christian family and our kids will know that Christmas is "Jesus birthday"!  Kate already gets that.  Jesus is the reason we celebrate.  But, we're not anti-gifts or anti-fun.  We exchange gifts with each other and with extended family and friends.  We have fun with Santa, and Frosty, and Rudolph.  We watch fun movies.  We decorate our Christmas tree and wear Christmas pajamas.  We drive around to look at all of the pretty lights.  But beyond all of that, we are sure to remind Kate that the REAL gift of Christmas is Jesus.  All of the other stuff is for fun, but we make sure to focus on the fact that Jesus is for real and He came as a baby just for her.  And though she can't talk yet, Karsten will know that Jesus came just for her as well.

God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 
Ephesians 2:8

So also, Christ was offered once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him. Hebrews 9:28

(Because I apparently don't know how to write a post without a picture, here's a picture of  two of our favorite gifts- in matching pajamas! )

Tummy Time & Singing

Kate goes to a 3 year old preschool at a local church two mornings a week. We LOVE her teacher and she has done so well at school this year.  On Tuesday morning, her class (of 9 students) had their Christmas performance and party.  They sang about 5 or 6 songs for all of the parents, and did SO well.  I am just impressed that her teacher was able to get 9 kids to stand in a straight line and all sing at the same time.  I struggle to get ONE to do what we want!  Here is Kate with her class.

When they marched into the room, Kate immediately spotted Kevin and me.  She started waving at us, saying "Hey, Momma! Hey, Momma!".  That sure made my heart happy.  Love that little girl!

Here she is just singing her heart out.

And of course I got a couple of videos.  The first is of them singing a song that talks about Mary and Joseph going to Bethlehem, and then Jesus being born.  The words in this clip are "Mary, riding on a donkey... Going to Bethlehem!"

And they sang Jesus Loves Me, and signed along with singing.  I think Kate did so well with the sign language!

Later that afternoon, I took a few quick pictures of Karsten during her much loved (note the sarcasm) tummy time.  She is NOT a fan, and since she has quickly learned to roll over, we have to be creative.  I propped her up on the boppy this afternoon and she didn't mind it quite so much. Love this little girl so much too!

Christmas Card 2014

For the THIRD year in a row, I'm joining in with Faith for her annual Christmas Card Carousel.

Until we had kids, we didn't do Christmas cards.  Not really, anyway.  But after adding Kate, and now Karsten, we haven't missed a year!  I was on the ball and ordered mine early (just in case we had another disaster like the Christmas card fiasco of 2012).  But they were delivered to our house with no major issues, and though I'd hoped to get them out sooner, they were just stamped and dropped into the mail today!  Oops!

Anyway, I LOVE getting Christmas cards, and I love just as much to send them- especially with these two sweet faces on them!  So, here is our 2014 card!

This really has been a great year full of laughs, fun, and unexpected (but much awaited) blessings. Can't wait to see what 2014 has in store.  Merry Christmas!

And just for fun, here are our Christmas cards from 2013, 2012 and 2011!

How Adoption Changed OUR Lives

I know I talk about adoption, and our kids, a LOT.  But I started this blog to follow our adoption journey that first led us to Kate, and now to Karsten, so I don't apologize for that.  Adoption is a HUGE part of our lives.  We talk about it constantly, and both Kate and Karsten will know, for as long as they can remember, what adoption is and what it has meant for our family.  

At age 3, Kate knows who her birth family is by name. She will tell you that she grew in her birth mom's tummy, and then they placed her in Mommy and Daddy's arms to take home.  She knows that Karsten grew in a different birth mom's tummy, and then she chose US to be Karsten's family.  Kate doesn't understand all of the intricacies of adoption, but she is learning.  Adoption will never be a surprise to her, and in the same way it won't be a surprise to Karsten. It just IS, and it completed our family.

Often times when we are talking to people about adoption, we get the comment that our girls "are so lucky" that we adopted them.  We feel flattered that people would say that, but quite honestly, WE are the lucky ones.

I think people who are unfamiliar with adoption sometimes have the impression that adopted children come from horrible circumstances, or are from third world countries and lived in depravity.  While I'm sure that this is sometimes true, it was absolutely NOT the case for Kate or Karsten.  Before they were placed in our arms, neither of our girls were ever without love. They both had birth families that loved them very much.  They both were held by their first-families, and many tears shed over the decision they made to place their daughters for adoption.  And in the end, their birth families picked US (Kevin and me) to be their Mommy and Daddy, and for that we are forever grateful.  

So you see, WE are the lucky ones. 

Why are WE the lucky ones? 

- Kevin and I get to be parents. Without adoption, that wouldn't be possible. 

- As parents, we get to understand on another level God's true sacrifice of His Son for us. 

- Knowing our own love for our daughters, we can better grasp the depth of God's love for us, as adopted sons and daughters through Jesus Christ. 

- We have a full home, filled with little footsteps, laughter, screams, sometimes tears, hugs, and love.

-  We have a life that is anything but boring. (Okay, you can most definitely have that without kids, but let me tell you, they definitely make it pretty much impossible to have a boring life).

Yep. Kevin and I are pretty much the lucky ones in our family.

Though, if we're being REALLY honest, I don't think luck has much to do with it.  Luck implies that it was just "by chance" that we are Kate and Karsten's parents and I just can't accept that.  I believe that this was all part of God's plan for our family.  He knew before any of us were created that we would be a family.  It didn't come along in the traditional ways, but God can use any circumstance for His glory. In our family He chose to use adoption. And we will thank Him for that amazing gift every day.

Sweet Karsten

Taking pictures of a newborn sure is fun, isn't it?  Just getting them to even look at the camera is half of  the battle.

And then if you even get some kind of resemblance of a smile, you think you've done great.  (Side note, we just love Karsten's sweet side smiles. She starts off like this when she's trying to decide if she wants to give you a real smile or not.)

And then, if you get a REAL grin, you know you better quit taking pictures and call it a success.

Because after that, she is not having it anymore and she is D.O.N.E. with picture taking. 

The end.

Headbands for Big Sis

Kate is a brand representative for Sassy Sweet Pea Designs, and that meant that she got to model some headbands to be used on their Etsy site.  The headbands came in earlier this week, and so I thought today would be a good day to head outside and take some quick pictures. Kate did SO well, and though I don't normally put her in headbands (because I'd just never thought about it), I kind of love them on her. I linked the below names to the listing on Etsy.  If you have a little girl and like bows, I'd definitely recommend this shop.  Cute headbands and bows with clips, and super reasonable prices.  Here's what we got in about 20 minutes...

The Christmas Polka Dot Headband: 

The Georgia Bulldogs Headband:

And my favorite, the Gold Chevron Headband: