**Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass. It is about learning to dance in the rain.**

Monday, December 29, 2008

Our Christmas this year

Well we made our Christmas this year the best we could under the circumstances. Everyone knows what would have made it the best ever, but we did the best we could. Anytime we can focus on Christ's birth and the events leading up to it is a blessing. We teach sunday school and I enjoyed the past several weeks story because it focused on the different amazing miraculous things that happened leading up to his birth.

I am going to sum up our Christmas events in one post and hit on the highlights. The photos below are from Christmas at home, my parents house, and Dan's family at our house on the 27th.
So on Christmas eve Danny and I both worked so I sent Kainen to my Grandparents house with my parents for Christmas with them. It was Kainen's first time reading Luke chapter 2 from the bible so they had me on speaker phone. He did a great job.

Christmas morning Kainen came to our room at 8am. He said " Mom, I checked to see if Santa came and he did and guess what? He even brought stuff for Kinsey" He was amazed that Santa even remembered his sister. It didn't take long for all the gifts to be opened. Santa's toys are quite expensive these days. We had breakfast then headed to my parents house for more fun. My mom always says she is not going to over do it. But every year she over does it. It think she forgets what she buys and continues to buy right up til the end. I think Kinsey would have been lost under all her gifts if she were here to open them. Mommy helped her out this year. It is my dad's b-day on Christmas so we try to make it a bit special for him. Too bad his b-day gifts get wrapped in holiday paper. That is the only thing I keep forgetting to do. Someday his b-day presents will come wrapped in b-day paper.

On the 27th Dan's family came over. We play games and eat all day. We had our second batch of "Ponche". Our first batch was on Christmas eve. It was a huge hit. It is way easier than I anticipated. I altered the recipe a bit. We did not use coconut or papaya. We did use cranberries though and it was good. THere are a ton of variations to this recipe. We watched our last visit trip video with everyone. Danny wore a picture of Kinsey around his neck all day. Papa misses his baby girl. It was nice to have everyone sit a laugh and see her in action. It made me feel a bit better about the day knowing she was included.
We received a call from our Foster family that night. We talked about their Christmas. THey said they stayed up til midnight and watched the fireworks. Kinsey loved them they said. She is wantind to walk everywhere but only with help from them. Not brave enough to do it by herself yet. They took some photos of her for us on Christmas. I can't wait to see them.

3 comments:

Aileen said...

I'm glad you were able to have a good Christmas and include your baby girl as much as possible. We're still praying for you to get good news and that you'll have sweet Kinsey home very soon!

Steph said...

It looks like you have a wonderful family! That is so special that Kinsey's FF called. What a wonderful relationship you have been able to develop with them and something Kinsey will treasure always.

I made the Ponche, too! I followed the recipe in the cookbook, but maybe next time I will make some slight changes. I froze the leftovers in ice cube trays for a little slushy treat. It is delicious this way, too!!

Aileen said...

Just wanted to tell you again that we are thinking of you and that we pray nightly for Kinsey, and all the babies waiting in Guatemala and around the world, to come home to their forever families ASAP!