The Best Christmas Ever!!!!

We were up just a few minutes before Olivia was on Christmas Day, so we just sat in the living room and marveled at how our lives have changed over the past four months. She has brought such happiness to our whole family. To think that God chose to bless us with this precious child is simply amazing. Tears came to my eyes as I thought about all the babies that still reside in the orphanages. We then thought of how grateful we are to Olivia's birth mother for being so selfless to give this baby up so that Olivia might have a blessed life!!! The beauty part is that God knew this the whole time!!! The gift that meant the most was definitely Olivia's gift from her daddy. I had no idea what it was until Christmas Day. We opened the card first and it said : "Olivia, my love reaches beyond the stars for you!!! " Tyler had a star named after her!!! The last picture is the Star Registry Certificate they send along with its exact location in the galaxy!! A truly awesome gift she can keep forever!!! God truly chose two ordinary people to bless with an extraordinary gift!!!

Christmas at Church!!!

NATURALLY SHE ISN'T SMILILNG IN ANY OF THE PICTURES, BUT SHE JUST LOOKED SO PRECIOUS I HAD TO SHARE.

COOKIE DECORATING!!!

WE HAD SUCH A GREAT TIME DECORATING COOKIES WITH HER COUSINS TATE AND VALERIE!!! THEN FOR THE BEST PART: PLAYING IN THE BOX!!!

YIPEEEE!!!! 16 MONTHS OLD

AS YOU CAN SEE WE CELEBRATED WITH ICE CREAM!!!! JUST WHAT EVERY 1 YEAR OLD NEEDS!!! THEN HER DADDY TAUGHT HER TO JUMP OFF THE COUNTER. NOT SO SURE WE LIKE THAT TRICK!!!!!

Merry Christmas from the China Dolls !!!

This weekend we got together for Christmas lunch with all the other families who have adopted from China also. It's amazing to see how much these sweet girls change from month to month. How blessed we all are to be chosen to parent these precious gifts!!!! You'll crack up at one of the pictures in the last post. Tyler is trying to teach Olivia "southern lingo" and she seems to be a little confused!!!!

Good Times, Sweeet Friends

All of these ladies were my cheerleaders during the long wait for Olivia!!! They've invested so much time into the process with me, so they spent some time smooching on her!!!

The first picture is of all the sweet ladies I work with. Althought I LOVE staying home, I miss seeing them and I'm definitely out of the loop at school!!! Thank you Kellie for having us over for the Christmas party. The food was wonderful and your house is gorgeous!!! I sure do miss you all!! See you in January!! The second pictures is Marie, Tasha and Jamie, Tasha, and Tate with Terri in the background!!! AND.......................

In the next pictures are Aunt Jana and Uncle Kevin, Kellie, Eileen, Carolyn. AND.............

In the last pictures are Terri and Chris (Marie's husband)

More.....

and MORE...

Mailing Our Letter to Santa !!!

I sure wish I could say this was lots of fun for her, but she did NOT like Santa's Village. She screamed at the reindeer, the snow machines, Frosty, and practically anything that moved that night!!! Do I even have to say we skipped Santa and just mailed the letter ? Didn't think so!!!!

MAKING CHRISTMAS MEMORIES

We've had an artificial tree as long as we've been married. We thought this year we would get a real one because there's been so much new life added to our home. We had the best time putting it up. We skipped the woods and went straight to Lowe's to pick it out. Came home, built a fire, put some Christmas music on and watched Olivia drape the Christmas lights all around herself. We're counting down the days until Santa!!!!!!