Goodbye 2008...

...Hello 2009!
2008 was a good year, the year we finally brought our boys home and became a family. We are looking forward to 2009! Roman will be turning 5 and we'll celebrate his birthday at home instead of in Russia. Gotcha Day anniversary, 10th wedding anniversary, summer vacation, more birthdays, school...there's a lot to look forward to. Thanks for the memories '08!;)

Merry Christmas!!

Tagged

Debbie tagged me so here goes....

I must reveal 5 obsessions and tag 5.

1. checking email. I never get any other than spam.:(
2. sudoku
3. cleaning
4. Lost and Heroes
5. make-up. I don't wear much but I love getting girly stuff, lipgloss, mascara, lotions,etc...

I'm tagging Bethany, Kelli, Tricia, Charlene and Marie


Also, Chris has set me up with a new blog on wordpress. I'm considering switching over because it is so difficult for me to post pictures on Blogger. I'll let you know soon.

Orphan's Ticket Home

What is the Ultimate Christmas Gift?
What if you gave an orphan a home this Christmas? Through the Orphan’s Ticket Home campaign, every donation you give goes directly to making this prayer a reality for over 5000 orphans.
It’s the holiday season, a time when many of us buy a ticket home to see our families. But what if you had no family to go home to? Or even worse...what if you had no birth certificate or other document to legally verify your identity to allow you to get a ticket? Millions of orphaned children are stranded, stuck in systems that rob them of any chance to go home to a family. This fundraising campaign offers you an opportunity to provide them a ticket home. For some that means an adoptive home. For others it means a safe and clean transitional home where they can await adoption. And for some it simply means the initial stage of securing birth certificates that provide them with a legal identity, crucial legal documents that make the dream of a ticket to a loving home much more of a reality. Through An Orphan’s Ticket Home’s four initiatives, you can make this a reality for more orphans. Your donation will be the Ultimate Gift to an orphan!
http://www.orphanstickethome.org

Busy Times

I think we all get very busy during the holidays. We have been anyway. Our house is finally decorated and I love it. The boys have their own Christmas tree in their room which they decorate and destroy regularly, they are not allowed to touch mine.;)
We took the boys to see Santa at the mall and got a great picture. Jadon was not happy! I will post it soon. I really dislike trying to post pics with Blogger, it takes forever and is not easy so that's why you haven't seen any lately.
I had a cookie exchange party a few nights ago. I had to bake over 90 cookies!!! But I got the same number back and now we have cookie overload:) It's no wonder everyone gains weight over the holidays.
We have a staff Christmas party this Friday where we do the white elephant gift exchange. We've got some funny gifts this year! This was the first time I've had a problem getting a babysitter as Chris' family is usually available but they also have a party that night. One of Chris' kids from Youth Ministry will be helping us out but I'll be putting the boys to bed before we leave so there will be no freaking out.;))
Today was our home-school co-op's Christmas party. Each mom took a different country and set up a table for the kids to learn about different Christmas traditions around the world. We also had different dishes for them to try. Guess which country I had! Lucky for me, there's a European store nearby run by Russians with mostly Russian food so we had blinis (blintzes) with cheese and Russian tea cookies and candy. The kids loved it. At the end we had cupcakes for Jesus' birthday.
Christmas shopping is almost done, yay! We are not going overboard this year as we have in the past. The kids don't even know what to expect so that's good. I ordered their stockings from Pottery Barn (on sale) and they're huge! They won't be filled all the way this year!:))
Anyway, I hope all of you are enjoying your Christmas preparations as much as we are. It's way more fun this year now that we have our boys home!

Pictures

Hey, if you are interested in seeing pictures from our NC trip, click here. It is just so time consuming to load pictures with blogger! I'm thinking of moving to wordpress. Anyway, enjoy the pics!:)

Home again.

We had a wonderful time in NC. We stayed in a rustic log cabin on the top of a mountain. The boys spent afternoons outside down by the creek skipping rocks and "fishing" and walking through the fallen leaves. Many memories were made and we hope to go back again next year.
Thanksgiving dinner at my Uncle and Aunt's was delicious and so fun to have all of the family together. My sister and her two little ones were there and I was so happy to be able to love on those babies! We went into the surrounding towns and shopped in the quaint little stores. It was so country!;) The weather was cold and we loved it. It was really so refreshing to be able to experience the Fall and the mountains, the windy roads and colorful leaves. The boys loved it there and were sad to leave, we all were. I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to spend time in the mountains with family. I will post pictures soon.
I am looking forward to celebrating Christmas with the boys this year. They have no idea what to expect! Decorating the house and the tree and eating yummy foods will be so exciting for them!