Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone!! I know that I said we'd have our referrals by Christmas, but as I should have know adoption is not always predictable. I've had a few rough days lately. I was told to expect a referral within the first two weeks of December. Now, they are saying, "Any day now." Maybe we'll ring in the new year with pictures of our babies. I'm still hopefully.

We've had really nice family gatherings (three), and still have two more to go. Also, the kids opened their presents this morning. They were so excited. It looked like an out of control paper shredder went through my living room though. When you are 5 and 2, the wrapping paper comes off in bits and pieces and it all must be torn off. Ellayna doesn't call them presents, but "Surprises!"

Some years Matt and I don't do presents for each other and other years we do. This year we picked our own gifts out, ordered them, and then the kids wrapped them. Mine came from Amazon. I choose two cookbooks, Vietnamese and Korean. I really want to incorporate a few Asian dishes into meal times weekly. I also received the children's book, "When you were born in Vietnam." I have the Korean book like this and love it. The Vietnam book is really nice, if any of my internet friends haven't bought it yet, it's a must. After much thought, I settled for the travelers book of Vietnam from Frommer's. I hope this is a good one.

I have several friends who are just returning from Vietnam or just arriving in Vietnam. Congratulations to Mark returning home with Evan (LA to Hanoi) and to Stephanie and Chris home on the 23rd with their first baby (Dylan). Best wishes to Sherri as she will soon meet Gracie (Finding Gracie in Vietnam) and to Justin and Kelly who will soon be holding Lucy (Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds). All of these families are with my agency.

Please pray for my other friend Jenn and her family. She is with another agency than mine. We are both from Ohio and have met in person before at an agency party. She is currently in Vietnam adopting twin girls. Her G&R (Giving and Receiving Ceremony) happened later than expected which pushed her two US appointments close to the Christmas Holidays. We all need to pray that she has her last US appointment and can make her flight by the 29th. If she can't get home by then, she may not make it home till mid to late January due to flights. She's been there since the beginning of December and has two other girls at home that she dearly misses, along with her husband. Her blog is 2 More to Love. The pictures and videos of the twins are so cute.

Looking forward to Tuesday and hoping that our call comes soon. I literally jump every time the phone rings. Imagine doing this for the whole month of December!