Merry Christmas!

What a precious Christmas season! In order to "save for China" (a common catch-phrase around our house), we drew names for presents and have kept the names secret. It's been the sweetest, most thoughtful season of family gift-giving I've ever experienced. While we wait for Christmas day, we've been "secret-Santa-ing" each other with little treats that demonstrate I-know-what-you-like kind of love.

We also cherish the hope that next year at this time, we'll have another member of our family to love.

The flip side of that coin is that this is the last year we'll spend as the 5 of us. Sometimes we forget to treasure what we have while waiting for the next great thing. Jayme, my sweet girl, you know what I'm talking about! Treasure 2!!  :-)

On a logistical note, I paid for priority shipping plus delivery confirmation to send my extra money order to the Chinese Consulate, since we had underpaid our authentication fees. Well past the expected delivery date, I phoned our local post office and was told that the consulate probably had so much mail, they missed "scanning" my letter, so it didn't register as delivered. The P.O. guy recommended I phone the consulate (kidding, right?!) or phone the post office in Chicago (kidding, right?!). Needless to say, no way was I going to be able to talk to a person.

Bottom line - here we sit again. Mailbox watching. Waiting for our dossier. And possibly have our "match" not occur until February. I know, I know, in the grand scheme, what's a month? Jesus has her in the palm of His hand and will watch over her. BUT we're human and we are so excited to meet her!

One more note: we're talking about the girls and I leaving for China 2 weeks early to see more of the country! The girls would love to backpack up to the older sections of the Great Wall, since the tourist-y sections have been rebuilt, and aren't as authentic. Hm. Mom will have to research this carefully. Anyway, the thought of spending a whole month in China is pretty thrilling. The only downside is Doug's job has got him firmly grounded to GEHA, and he couldn't possibly get away for that long. So those of you who are prone to prayer (like that phrase? ha), please pray that "whatever is the best thing" will happen.