Christmas Cute

The kiddos with Aunt Rebecca on Christmas Eve

These photos are for the benefit of my Mom, who found the dress that Ellie is wearing for sale at a shop in Albania.  Taken aback at the price, Mom looked a little closer and was thrilled to discover on the tag that it had originally been purchased at Sears!  A little investigation uncovered the same dress online for 1/3 of the price!  Then, mom found Reni's outfit so they could both look spiffy on Christmas and had them shipped to us.  This is Reni's first tie!  In case you noticed, the fuzzy cuffs were a bit of an irritant to Els -- I was grateful that rolling them back was sufficient to her as I was afraid the dress wasn't going to make it out the door on her body!

Christmas Day/Christmas Eve

No, I don't have the title of this post "backwards", but due to the arrival times of family, we pushed back some of our traditional celebrations so that the 25th was treated like the 24th. 

 After church and dinner, Aunt Rebecca supervised Ellie and Reni in the decoration of cookies -- which they both loved, as you can imagine!

Wait -- we're supposed to save these for OTHERS?

Later that evening after Stephen and Rachel's crew arrived, we had family devotions and opened stockings.  Nathan gave a devotion on finding room for Jesus.  Because every story is more interesting with drama, Ellie and Reni played the parts of Mary and Joseph (with big-cousin Caleb's assistance as the donkey).  They went from couch to chair to couch asking if there was room (and were of course, told 'no').

Love Nathan's expression here. ;-)

Nonna's caught off guard by the intensity of Ellie's "thank you" hug.  In typical Ellie fashion, she  discovered that this garnered her some extra attention and decided to go around and give others her 'worst hug ever' hugs.

Ellie is great at showing love.

Happy Birthday, Elisha!

Three years ago today, our nephew Elisha Carl Waggoner was born.  Today we celebrated with cake, ice cream and gifts, some handmade like the card below from his older siblings which I just had to share here ...

... because it's all down hill after you turn three!

New pics with the Waggoner clan

Ellie with her big gift: a skateboard!

Reni loves his independence in this motorized "Thomas"

In case you didn't realize, yes, we have 3 new faces in our family this year!  Steve and Rachel are fostering a sibling set!  We are so happy to have these great kids with us!

Contrary to what it appears, Reni is having a blast being around all these boys!

Ellie is thrilled to have been inducted (via the secret hand clap) into the "sparkle sisters" club. ;-)

Merry Christmas!

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.  He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.  He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.  But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God... (John 1)

Birthday Wish

Tonight as we were driving on the interstate I did what I usually do and clicked on my Google Reader bookmark to see if there were any blog posts to catch up on.  Working down the list I came to Adeye`'s post today, Praying for their Christmas Miracles.  I quickly sobered up as I read story after story of children desperate for a family, but for whom hope is fading fast because they will age out of the system soon (you DON'T want to know what kind of future awaits them) or they're about to be moved to institutions where they will no longer be adoptable (another terrible, horrible future which defies description).

Then I saw a picture and nearly lost it.  I recognized both kids -- a brother and a sister.  My friend Katie adopted the sister, A, but her brother R is still overseas, needing a family.   I know that Katie has been burdened for R for three years, desperate to find a family for him.  Today's highlight of R served as a reminder that he's STILL waiting and that Katie hadn't given up because she was the one who petitioned Adeye` to include him in today's post.  I want to be an Aaron and Hur (Exodus 17) for Katie tonight and help hold up her arms in advocating for R.  Would you take a minute and click on this link and pray for R and pray for these kids?  These are just a few of the MILLIONS of orphans worldwide, but it only takes 1 person, 1 family to make a difference one of these kiddos.

I know this is heavy, but hey, it's my birthday today so I can blog about whatever I want!  (sorry for sounding a little self-indulgent there).
Thanks, friends.

Down to size

With shorter, cooler days requiring more indoor play time, it became apparent that it would be infinitely more convenient for Reni (and by that, I really mean me), if he could reach the light switch in his room.  Thankfully I have a handy and generous husband who offered to install a second light switch "just Reni's size".

By the way, Reni had just gotten that new coat and did NOT want to take it off!

While Dad worked on the wiring, Reni lost interest and returned to his toys.

Look, Mommy!  It's a boat!

Before too long, the project was complete!

He can reach it!

Just my size!

Our Christmas E-Card & 2011 Video

Thanks for the blessing of your friendship this past year!
2011 was a year of firsts...

• Ellie's first time skiing and riding a bike
• Reni's first independent steps in his prosthetics
• Reni meeting his New Jersey great-grandparents for the first time
• Our first time homeschooling
• And now our first "e" Christmas Card!

We made a 4-minute video to re-live these "firsts" and more below:




We have seen God's hand so clearly in this last year and are excited for what He has in store for 2012! Thanks for being a part of God's story in our lives and taking the time to visit us here! Merry Christmas!