December is a wonderful and extremely busy time of year. I have always loved everything that December brings, except December 31 and the ending of another year (but that might be a topic for another post (if I get it done!!)). Last year brought another wondrous joy to the month of December. Russ and I traveled to Ghana and met our children, Samuel and Ruth. And on December 21, 2012, we became the parents of six fabulous children. Many people that have adopted celebrate their "Gotcha Day", the day they were able to bring their child(ren) into their home. And that day will never be forgotten in our family either. But Russ and I have a slightly different view on our "gotcha day". In 2008, Russ started having feelings that we would adopt from Africa and since that time, we have known that we were the parents of children that wouldn't be born to us, but that we needed to find them and bring them home. I really can't put into words the feelings Russ and I have experienced from 2008 until this December, when Samuel and Ruth were sealed to our family for eternity in the Billings Temple. And so, December is wonderful time of year, when we celebrate our Savior, Jesus Christ, for it is through Him that we are able to be an eternal family.
Our sealing day, December 7, 2013 at the Billings Temple.
Samuel and Ruth have changed so much in a year. When we met Samuel, he was quiet, serious and cautious and he had a few health issues. He opened up to us fairly quickly but we knew it would be a while before he truly trusted and loved us.
Now Samuel is loud, funny, and super friendly. He is healthy, growing and learning new things every day.
Ruth was also quiet and very weak. She could sit up, but didn't show any interest in crawling or moving at all. We were concerned for her because we felt that she had given up on life.
But a lot of love and affection has taken all of those concerns away. She is happy, boisterous, and bouncy. She loves to jump and give orders to her siblings. She truly is the boss of us all:) If you have your doubts, look into their eyes. Their eyes tell us so much. How we love them and are so grateful that we didn't give up on finding them and bringing them home.
And since it's December and a busy month, we've had several other things happening around here. June lost her first tooth and her second.......on the same day. They had been loose forever it seemed, and we finally had them pulled out. She was super brave and they both popped right out. She was really excited and now she has another one that is nearly out. And she's really cute with her lisp!
We had a fabulous Christmas dinner and program at the church. Henry and three other boys sang "The Little Drummer Boy". Henry is a really good singer.
And Eliza and several other girls performed a sweet dance. She's never taken ballet, but she's a natural dancer and beautiful.
And then we had school Christmas programs. The music teacher did a fantastic job of having a wide variety of Christmas songs for all the different grades. Henry's favorite songs were "Don't be a Turkey" and "Silent Night". Notice the difference in how the children greeted us when they knew we were taking pictures of them!
Our sweet, sassy Kindergartener was, of course, really cute. One of her favorites was actually a Hanukkah song.
And Eliza was beautiful. We watched the kindergarten sing and then the 4th graders. When Eliza walked in with her class, it became apparent just how big those 4th graders are. I'm not really ready for a big kid, although I love how much of a helper she is!
This weekend we helped out a young man in our ward who is working on his Eagle Scout Project. He decided to do a couple of talent shows at a couple different rest homes. He needed some talents, so we signed up. We sang "Jingle Bells" as a family and the littles were really cute dancing around and shaking their bells!
I pulled out my saxophone, dusted it off, practiced for two days, and played "Up on the House Top" and "Go Tell it on the Mountain".
Eliza played her two piano pieces that she also played earlier in the week at her piano recital. She is did an excellent job both times. She didn't even seem nervous about it, just got up and did the job.
Russell sang "Oh Danny Boy" and the little old ladies loved it! Let's be honest, so did I!!
A few other things we have enjoyed this month............decorating the tree, making Christmas goodies, singing, playing with the Christmas toys, reading the Christmas books, and eating all the goodies that we made!!!! We hope that you will find joy and peace in the month of December. Merry Christmas!
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