Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday, and Flag Football Begins

Even though we have all been desperately waiting for that telephone call that will tell us we are one step closer to bringing our Selah home forever, life goes on...and with the energetic and loving little guys God gave me, it goes on packed full of silliness, happiness, and busyness!!! I am so thankful for Zachary and Landon. They keep my days incredibly busy and they simply just do not give me many moments for self-pity and sadness. Their joy is contagious and God has been using them to teach me how to wait with grace!

Making Gingerbread Houses is a very messy, but fun annual tradition of ours!

Zachary's grade level had a fun Christmas Play called Elfis and the Reindeer! Very Cute!

Zachary performing at his first piano recital and fancy pancakes made by Chef Daddy on Saturday morning!

Some of the wonderful women in my life that celebrated Selah's hopefully soon homecoming. They are all amazing women! And...two cute runners for the Fulton Snowflake Sprint!

I got the chance to have a nice night out with my handsome husband! We attended the annual Christmas Party hosted by his work.

Look at my two babies so grown up! They looked so handsome for Christmas Eve!

Zachary, Landon, and their cousins Haylie, Ashlie, and Caeden.

Merry Christmas, Mom and Dad!!! They just get cuter over the years!

Each year the boys leave a letter for Santa along with the milk and cookies....socks to keep Santa's toes warm on the long journey....oh, yes, and this year Zachary decided Rudolph needed a special blanket to keep warm!!! I love their gentle hearts :-)

There is the Santa and Friends spread before the boys go to bed, finally, at around midnight! I told them Santa was going to skip our house because they were up so late!!!

Look what Santa left! The boys had been good this year, so they did get their special requests, but Santa came through with a new book from Lisa Tawn Bergren! He brings us one of her books every year! This year her new one is called "God Gave Us So Much!". We LOVE Lisa's books. I have a post on my adoption link about her books and how special they are to us!

Look at the special present Daddy got from Selah this year! Even though she's not here with us yet, she definitely is his little princess! He would move mountains to have her home.

We had one more stocking hanging by the fireplace this year. Selah's is waiting for her still.

Happy 6th Birthday, Landon!!!!  One birthday at TGIFridays and the other at Grandma and Grandpa Simmons' house! What a blessed little guy :-)

And finally....I always said (even up to a couple of months ago) that MY boys would NOT play football because I couldn't bear for them to get hurt or to possibly hurt others. Many told me it would be inevitable because they are really tall and strong boys, but I still insisted! As you see, I lost...my BABY turned 6 and started playing football! At least it's only flag football...do you think I'd be able to stick to my words if I just insist upon flag football forever and NEVER tackle?! Hmmmmm.....

Happy New Year to All! May 2011 be full of wonderful blessings! I am praying that in 2011 many children leave orphanages and come home to their forever families! I pray that God moves BIG this year!