Six Months!

“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”) [Matthew 1:23, NIV]

Merry Christmas to You and Happy 6 Months to Us!!!

Today marks 6 months of waiting for a referral.  And let me tell you, the closer it gets, the harder the waiting gets.  And since I KNOW it will be harder to wait for a court date once we have our referral, I'm trying to chill and not get too worked up about the current wait. Sometimes it's easier said than done.  However, God continues to remind me that His timing is perfect.  He has been vey kind to remind me this Christmas season that He is, indeed, Immanuel, which means "God with us."  He is Immanuel to me, and He is Immanuel to our baby.  And that brings me a tremendous amount of comfort, encouragement and peace. 

The last month has been filled with lots of holiday festivities.  We spent Thanksgiving with my family in TN.  And since we're now in MS spending Christmas with Rob's family, we had Christmas with my family at Thanksgiving, or as Rob is now fond of calling it, "Thanks-mas-ing".  So, "Thanksmasing" kicked off our holiday season with a bang.  The weekend after, I had the Ladies' Christmas Tea, our Life Group Christmas party and Missions Day at church.  The next week we attended the Deacons' Christmas Banquet and I volunteered with my co-workers at Cowboy Santa "shopping" for Christmas gifts for families in their toy warehouse.  As I look back over our calendar, I see that we've had several meals with friends, which we really love.  I have also stayed busy baking and sewing.  Several gifts for family involved my two favorite hobbies, so I've been a happy girl :) 

One thing we did NOT do this year was decorate the house.  We didn't even put up the tree.  When we looked at the calendar, there really wasn't a good time to do it, and since we aren't even home for Christmas, we decided not to stress out about getting the house decorated for Christmas.  And, while this is NOT a new tradition, and I'm SURE we'll decorate next year, it has been such a good change of pace to not feel like there are so many things I "have" to do that I'm exhausted, stressed out and not enjoying any of it.  It's SO NOT what Christmas is about.  I think - at least in part - changing up what we always do has helped me realize that Christmas really should be all about Jesus.  I mean, really, what's the point of celebrating Christmas if it's not about Him?  What's the point of all the busyness, stress and exhaustion if it keeps us from focusing on Him?  These are the questions I've wrestled with this month.  And I can vouch that less busyness has really helped me appreciate the season so much more.

OK, so on to the fun stuff :)  More people who, along with us, are eagerly waiting for our little one to be home....

My sister, Jen, and brother-in-law, Daniel:

This is Daniel's version of a "6," not a gang sign ;)

We love them very much.  As God would have it (I don't really believe in luck), they are also in the process of adopting a baby.  They are doing a domestic adoption through Miriam's Promise, and will likely adopt a black baby.  I get kind of choked up when I think about our children growing up in our family, knowing that they are loved regardless of the color of their skin.  I feel very blessed that God has given us this gift.

So, since this is my blog, I get to shamelessly plug both Jen's and Daniel's businesses, which I love to do!

First off, is Jen's business, The Photographix.  Jen and her business partner, Ann, primarily do wedding, engagement, family and kid photography.  Living in the Nashville area, they have had the opportunity to  photograph lots of celebrities including Sheryl Crow, Sara Evans, Ronnie Dunn, Jessica Simpson and Joe Don Rooney (Rascal Flatts).  Our Christmas gift this year was a photo session.   Here are just a couple of the pictures...

Our family's very sad attempt at "the worm"

Yeah, we're rock stars :)

If you were to check out her website, you would see that the rest of her photography rocks just as much.  So, friends in the Nashville area, call her and set up a photo shoot for your kids or family; and for my friends in the DFW area, she will be happy to do some photo shoots when she's here next summer (*fingers crossed*) to welcome home our new little one.

Now for Daniel....  Daniel and his dad own and operate a company called The Bath Works.  They restore antique bath tubs.  I know, very specific, but very cool, right?  You may have seen Cameron Diaz in one of their tubs in The Holiday...

I hope there will come a day when we can own one of their "baths."  I do love them very much. 

Well, that wraps up the 6 month post.  Stay tuned for the 7 month post where I will very likely tell you about the progress we've made on the nursery :)

Merry Christmas!!!