Christmas 2011

Lucy, 18 months; Rivers, 1 week

 I am just a tad late putting these on the blog.  I wouldn't bother but I am going to print out our blog at the end of the year and want these to be in there.  Christmas was only 4 months ago ;) I added a few captions to each picture...I am finding out that I don't remember as much detail as I think I will.....Also, sorry for the pics being turned wrong. I thought I fixed them but since it took so long to download, I think I will just leave them this way ;)

What a Christmas we had.  Rivers' birth and Lucy's first Christmas all in 1 week.  What a special time we had teaching her about Jesus' birth.  She doesn't remember much but she knows the name JESUS. Every time she says it I just want to cry.

Christmas Eve morning we went to my grandmother's and Christmas Eve night we went to our church's Christmas Eve Service. I hated to get Rivers out- only being 10 days old- but I cried through the entire service last year missing Lucy so I was determined we would go as a family of FOUR this year.  I wrapped Rivers up in my sling and stayed in the back most of the time but such a special night!  We came home after the service, played with Lucy, read the story of Jesus' birth from the Bible, put Lucy to bed and then the three of us watched a Christmas movie.

Christmas morning Russ went to church so the kids went on their first outing with just Mama. We stopped by my dad's and went by Granny's before heading home. Coco and Will came to visit that night. 

December 23, 2012- Russ and I took Lucy to Ballard Park for some quality time together and to slide and see the lights.

Making Candy Cane Pizza. Thanks Pinterest!

Making cookies to decorate.

Handprints with CoCo

Our attempt at making garland......

Christmas Eve at Meme's - Rivers and Poppy

Meme and Rivers

Rivers, 10 days old

Stockings at Meme's- LOVE seeing these together!

Opening presents at Meme's

Christmas Eve 2011

Lucy loved her nativity set.

Christmas Morning 2011

Yes, Lucy got a light saber.

So tiny!!

River's gift from Mama.

Lucy and her cleaning trolley from Nana and T. This child loves to clean!

Couch time on Christmas morning.

Stockings at Poppy's house.

Christmas Morning 2011

Lucy and the chair Poppy gave her.

Lucy and Cason riding the gator....

Kitchen set from Coco

Uncle Will helping Lucy open her baby doll.

Playing the keyboard with Coco.

Letter for Lucy

Dearest Friends,

We have been home with Lucy for about eight months now, which is unbelievable for us to consider. We still feel so blessed to have her, and we also fully believe that she wouldn't be here without your incredible love and support. Thank you, thank you, thank you, for everything.

We do however, have some news to share. We have been talking about Lucy with our social worker, people at our agency, and other adoptive couples, and have found out some things about attachment that we wanted you all to know as well. 

Lucy is still very comfortable around strangers, and still goes to just about anyone. From everything we've read and heard, this isn't ideal behavior for an internationally adopted child. Although we fully recognize that some of that is her personality, we also want to make sure we are doing the best we can to assure she's bonding to us. So after discussing this with a few people, and much prayer, we are asking for your help. 

If Lucy is around, we would be grateful if you would ask before picking her up. Also, if you do have her in your arms, we ask for you to stay within eyesight. Just make sure we are around. Lastly, please be aware of how much affection you give her(hugging and kissing). These are all things that help us establish ourselves as the people who meet her needs. If you can help us out with these three things, that would be a great benefit to us and to Lucy.

We know how difficult it is to not pick her up when she comes running to you, so we appreciate your help in this. The last thing we want to sound like is overprotective parents. We still feel like we have no idea what we are doing, but just like all of you, we want to do what's in the best interest of our little girl. Rest assured this isn't a permanent request. This just a temporary measure to establish ourselves as primary caregivers. 

We love you all very much, and we are so thankful for your partnership as we do this together.

Love,

Russ and Anna

Today, The Orchard sponsored the city's Easter Egg Hunt. 20,000 easter eggs get sucked up in about two and a half minutes. Neither of those numbers is an exaggeration. This year is my fifth year to be involved with it, and every year I'm amazed at the mad scramble for eggs. It's frenzied and chaotic and swift. For four years, I laughed at it all. This year was different.

This year, MY daughter was there. She was going to be searching for eggs. She was going to be in the midst of the frenzied chaos and hundreds of other kids. I wasn't as amused this year. I was a little scared for her. Turns out I had little to be scared about. She apparently picked up one egg, attempted to open it, and got bored.

As I was coming home today, it occurred to me I had zero kids at last years hunt. We had met Lucy, flown to see her, and flew back to Tupelo to pretend like life was normal. Although last year I did celebrate Easter, there was a tinge of sadness every time I thought about what we were missing. It was a difficult day. 

When my daughter plunged into the fray, I knew everything was worth it. If you asked me to do it all over again, I would gladly suffer through the financial uncertainty, the endless hoop jumping, the highs and lows. I'd do it all again tomorrow, because having my family together is worth it. I have a daughter. I have a son. 

God looked down at our need, saw that it was greater than us, and redeemed us. He voluntarily put himself through hell so that we wouldn't have to. I can't imagine what Christ went through, but I will celebrate differently, because when that's your child, you just do whatever it takes. 

God looked at us and did whatever it took so we could be called his children. 

Easter is coming tomorrow. Easter is the celebration of hope bursting onto the most hopeless of situations. Easter is the celebration of light consuming darkness. Easter is the celebration of resurrection. It is the celebration of God stopping at nothing to make sure his children belong to him. We are his children now, and nothing can change that. 

Get ready for tomorrow, resurrection is coming.