Wrapping Up 2010

Christmas has come and gone. It was a very different holiday for us this year. We opened our gift here as a family on Wednesday night. No excitement of Christmas morning gathered around the tree in PJ's. Just Ryan on camera duty, Avery sitting on the couch surrounded by her gifts and me trying to open boxes as fast as she tossed them to me. It was still good, just lacking some of that Christmas magic.
There were a couple other things that were different this year. First, it was only 1 child opening gifts. We clearly had 3 little people who celebrated the last two years with us missing. I missed the chaos and excitement. Missing them made the holidays a little bit harder for me, and I know we all felt it. The other thing that was different was that we had to travel. We took off Thursday night and went to my grandparents, so we could be to Ohio in time to celebrate with Ryan's mom and Nanny on Christmas Eve. We had a busy time in Ohio and after spending Christmas at my grandparent's and then my moms we headed home, just in time to crawl into bed.
Thankfully we were able to spend some time admist the chaos to reflect on the true meaning of the holiday. It was fun to share that with Avery this year especially, since it is her 1st year as a believer.

Moving on from Christmas, we are still waiting to sign off on our homestudy. We expected it before Christmas, but she said the holiday got the better of her and we should get it this week. Well, technically she said yesterday and that didn't happen, so I am trying to give her some grace before I pull out the Kung Fu Panda moves. If it comes this week, there is a real possibility we could have a child (or more) in our home any day after. Kinda makes it all surreal and difficult to plan.

Speaking of plans. We are in serious need of a vacation. There was talk of travelling in January to go to Disney, but it looks like we are going to wait until later this year. I was kidding myself to think I could plan that in a few weeks. I might have done it, but not to my organizational standards. Still we need a break now, so we are making plans for a mini-vacation. I am looking into a few options, but I think we are going to Brown County and will stay in their state lodge, since they have an indoor waterpark, and plenty of shopping in the area for me. In the spring Avery and I might head to Connecticut and leave Ryan here to fend for himself. I think my New Year's Resolution to travel more will easily be fulfilled, even if it won't be trekking across Europe or going back to Khabarovsk... yet.

I hope the New Year is full of God's blessings for each of you. I for one am looking to this year with hopeful eyes.