Author: Louanne

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”

-Romans 15:13

May the words above bring comfort to your heart. God is good and faithful this day and every day. We are so privileged to have Nadia with us this year. Last night at our Christmas eve service at church I got all choked up during the second verse of The First Noel. Mike was next to me holding Nadia and singing and I remembered being at church last Christmas thinking, “Next year we will have a child.” And I got overwhelmed by this beautiful and sweet child that God has blessed us with. And here I am tearing up again just thinking about it. I love our life with Nadia.

Yesterday I cleaned off the front of our fridge to trade out all the new photos we have received. As I finished I noticed all the sweet little faces of little girls adopted from China this year. And I thought, “Look at all the girls who now have a family.” Our pastor Darwin used Nadia as an example in his sermon about four weeks ago of how in China Nadia was the lowest of society because she was a girl AND and orphan. Then God saw fit to make us her parents and now she is living in America with people all around her who love her. And that is what God does for us when He offers his salvation. And of course I cried at church during that, but it’s a wonderful example. A new life – a new hope.

Thank you to everyone who sent cards wishing us an extra special Christmas. And for all the gifts and clothes that Nadia was showered with this Christmas. We are grateful that you all love her so much!

She is now having a morning nap after wearing herself out opening gifts from her parents and grandparents. She enjoyed ripping the paper as you can see here:

She also loved the tissue paper some of her clothes were in:

With her xylophone piano from Mom and Dad she realizes that her feet will do the trick:

And her Little People Zoo from Grandpa and Grandma Brooke is too cool:

She loves books and these have fun textures to rub her fingers on:

And here she is with Mama right before her nap. Don’t you just love our jammies? (Nadia is going to be a jammie addict like Mama….just wait)

We went to Christmas lunch at Roger and Paula’s and it was delicious. Look how pretty the table was:

And more Nadia cuteness that I had to upload:

 

Michelle and I started this and worked on it while Nadia was sleeping over the course of two and a half days. We started with the Wilton GIANT gingerbread house kit. It came with icing and assorted candies. We went to Target and added Red Vines, M&M’s and Mike and Ike’s to the mix. Michelle did multiple sketches until she was satisfied with her decorating plan while the basic construction was drying. Then we went to work. ***And we want to give Mike credit for the awesome bow tie he made for the dad!

Michelle worked hard on the wreath and the grass surrounding the house. She also created the masterpiece that was the walkway. The kids are having fun playing football on a snowy day. I did most of the piping and my palm has finally quit hurting after going through all that icing. HA HA! We had a great time and I really want this to be a tradition to do every year, but Nadia and I are going to do the small kit next year for her first try 🙂

And Michelle reminded me below that the families name is The Schmorgosborgonsons.