Merry Christmas

“Faith makes things possible……..not easy”

I was thinking about our Christmas letter from last year and how much I struggled to write it. At the time I was feeling kind of down about having to send my third Christmas letter with no idea of when we would actually get Chloe. But then I really began to pray about it and I told God that if He wanted me to send a letter at all then He would have to give me the words to write. And after that, I sat down at my computer and the words just flew onto the page. And many of you told me how much what I wrote meant to you. Well that’s a God thing because they were certainly His words that I wrote not my own. So this year as I thought about our Christmas letter, I thought it would be so much easier to write. But strangely enough, it has actually been more difficult. I think it's because this year was so momentous that it’s actually quite difficult to sum it all up in a letter. Also, I think because of the blog I've already said a lot of the things I would normally say in my Christmas letter. So for the first time this year I just sent a Christmas picture with no letter and instead I'm putting the letter on my blog (and to give me extra time to figure out what all to write).

Obviously our biggest joy this year was traveling to China to adopt baby Chloe. This adoption process took over three years from the time we began to compile our paperwork till when Chloe was placed in our arms (it took twice as long to get Chloe as it did for Lia). As agonizing as that wait was at times, it couldn’t begin to compare to the overwhelming joy we felt when we saw little Chloe’s face in her referral picture!! It was just an incredible day that words can’t really describe! And then when we arrived in China and they brought Chloe to our room and we finally got to see her in person…it was just truly the kind of amazing moment that you remember for the rest of your life.

And our trip to China went so well this time which was a huge answer to prayer! Dan and I both thoroughly enjoyed the trip! Time passed by so quickly this time and even though our trip was three days longer, it didn’t seem so. And thanks to modern technology like Skype, we were able to video conference call with Lia at least once a day and often twice a day (for free). That alone made it feel like we weren’t so far apart, and Lia was able to see Chloe a lot before we arrived home. I wrote a great deal about our actual trip already on my blog so I’m not going to go rehash that since I know most of you followed along while we were away. But suffice it say that Chloe is like a little ray of sunshine that God sent to our family. She is just such a happy little baby. She’s so content and easy to care for which is lovely. The only thing is that she’s not the greatest sleeper compared to how great Lia was, but it’s not horrible. And Lia just adores her baby sister! So often I hear her saying, “I just love you so much Chloe” or “you are the cutest baby in the whole world Chloe”. I think Lia is really thankful to finally have Chloe here in our house with her after waiting for SO long! Thank you to everyone who prayed so faithfully for us during this long process. We truly felt God’s hand leading us the whole way. And we felt His encouragement during those times when we were feeling so low. And now we have little Chloe we feel sure that God had us wait so long because He had this particular little girl planned for our family. And she wasn’t ready to be born till Dec. 14, 2007.

This year also brought some big firsts for Lia. Some of her firsts were happy occasions and some were not. The saddest first she had to deal with this year was the death of her good friend Hannah H. It is still very hard for her to realize that Hannah is not ever coming back and that she won't get to see Hannah H. again till she gets to heaven one day. We all miss Hannah a lot and she certainly is not forgotten. Please keep Hannah's parents in your prayers as this is still a very difficult for them. Another first for Lia was when we went to China and it was her first time to be separated from us for eighteen days . It's amazing that she did so fabulously well with that since she's always had some separation anxiety (especially as a little girl). Thanks Nana for taking such amazing care of her and for making the experience of being parted from us so positive! It was also her first time to be in a play. She went to practice two hours a day, two days a week for eight weeks to prepare for her role as Little Dove, a native Indian girl. She had about 8-10 lines to learn as well as several group songs to sing. They did five shows in two days which was a lot. And Lia did a fantastic job and enjoyed the experience so much that she’s going to be in another play, Robin Hood at the end of February. Lia has a flair for drama and she has a very good singing voice so the play experience suited her very well. Lia also lost two bottom baby teeth this year which was very exciting for her. And she started Kindergarten and she can now read really well and write complete sentences. We're very proud of Lia for all her accomplishments this year!

In closing, I think the words from a card I received from my best friend kind of sums up everything I've been thinking about this Christmas. She writes, "I absolutely loved meeting your precious new daughter. What a GIFT from God she is! I felt God's promises well up inside me once I finally saw Chloe's face and it was such a blessing to see God's faithfulness in flesh and blood". But the true reality of God's faithfulness in flesh and blood was the birth of His Son which we celebrate at Christmas. Our family continues to be so thankful that He came as a baby to become our Saviour. For without that, there would be no hope.

Thanks for reading along with our family's story. I hope you are enjoying the blog. Right now I'm in the process of making it into a book for my girls to keep. I'll leave you with what I wrote for them on the book's front inside cover page:

"This blog book is dedicated to my two precious little girls - Lia and Chloe. And to the Lord who made us a family. Each day with my daughters is a blessing to me. I want you girls to always remember that Jesus is the creator and sustainer of life and He is the true author of our story. I feel so privileged to be chosen to be your Momma and to share this adventure with you both."

Merry Christmas with love from Trish, Dan, Lia and Chloe