Faith, Family, Adoption: christmas 2013

So here I am finishing up Christmas posts in February. Just call me an over achiever!

We headed to Jase's parents' house late Christmas afternoon to spend a night with them and visit over the holidays. We laughed and just sat around catching up. Brent, Kim and the boys came over the next day for lunch and gift exchange with the kiddies. Their sons are our sons' ages and they play so well together. We had a great time just kicking back and enjoying family time.

It was actually a mild kind of day. We spent a good bit of time outside. The boys loved hitting golf balls and the girls were busy riding all over the neighborhood in an golf cart ATV thingy. Good grief. Did they ever get a kick out of that? Scary stuff!

Before long, somehow, guns entered the picture. None of our kids had ever shot one before. Well, obviously Gabe hadn't! Syd was not interested at all but Joel shot twice though, so did the Pook. I was so proud of them. They did really well and loved it. We were safe and talked to them a lot about how to handle it carefully. So fun though.

So we headed home from my mom and dad's {after spending a few hours at my grandmother's too!} and walked in around 5:30. Awesome. I love getting home kinda early on Christmas Eve. We just want to be settled and unpacked and ready for the big day and getting home in the afternoon or evening, is perfect.

Jase still wasn't feeling great but we decided to take the kiddies for a ride to see a few lights. We made hot cocoa and climbed in the van {which was donned with multicolored lights…pic in a previous FB post here} and we had a great time. Singing Christmas carols and laughing with our babies.

For the first time ever, I took the girls to our 10pm Christmas Eve Communion service. Jase just wasn't up for it really and I was happy to get to go. For years, we've had at least one small child and well, a reverent, dark and quiet service at 10pm is usually not in the cards for toddlers. So, I always stayed home. But this time I took the girls and it was lovely. So personal and moving. I loved every minute of it.

Soon, after Jase and I exchanged presents {He spoiled me with an iPad, hand held drill (lol! I totally asked for it!) and some new house slippers from Pottery Barn…he got clothes, a new TV for the living room and a lawn water hose! lol}…we filled the stockings and were off to bed.

To our surprise, the boys slept until around 8:30. At 9, we lit the fire and woke the girls.

After a quick picture, we piled on the sofa as Jase read from Luke 2. I love this part of Christmas morning and it's always a sweet time as a family to ponder His coming. There was no begging to get started with gifts or a rush. We read and prayed and thanked God for His goodness in sending His Son to us.

We've had a big year with God's provision in the signs we've been making. We've had a ton of expenses…medical and otherwise, but all in all, we've been blown away by God's goodness. Our goal is to spend around $250 each year on the kids. Some would say thats waaaaaay too much. Others would spend three or four times that. It's just been our figure for the last several years somehow. At times, it's less than that. But hasn't been more until this year. We splurged a tad and spent a little more.

I feel like we were wise with it though. We got a LOT of bang for our buck. A TON of bang actually, considering what the kids were given.

Kennedy has begged for a year for a lap top. We bought my sister's used one, a MacBook Pro no less, and it was a win win. We even loaded a custom wallpaper/screen saver that we knew she'd LOVE. lol. Kennedy also needed a new coat in a bad way. You can't go wrong with NorthFace…ever!

Syd has been begging for a Nabi XD. It's like a teen version of an iPad. But we've not been terribly impressed with all things Nabi all the time. And it was $279. For $300, we could buy sweet girl and iPad. NO BRAINER. Especially when it came with a $100 gift card. Easy peasy decision. When she opened it, I asked if she was okay not getting the Nabi XD…I was actually really worried that she'd be disappointed. She had told me the week before that she thought iPads were overrated and that she didn't need one! I panicked. But that morning, when I questioned her about it, she teared up and said, "Mama, I didn't want to tell you how much I wanted an iPad because they're so expensive." Sweet baby girl. Of course we've disabled everything that could get her in places she need not be on her device. But man oh man. Is she ever loving that iPad!?! And she got some new clothes to boot. Both Kennedy and Syd also got a ton of clothes and boots and fun girl stuff from Mamaw and Papaw. :)

Joel has been asking for nothing but Star Wars stuff lately. He even so much as requested a new Star Wars bedroom for he and Gabe as his present. We gladly obliged. They both were given new Pottery Barn Kids bedding and we painted, built signs and decorated their room up right! Will post pics of it sometime soon! {If I can stay on my blogging A-Game! lol}. Joel also asked for Lego and Lego he got! Lots of it…from us, Mamaw and Papaw and others. He was thrilled! He also got a few new Wii games and some SW figures to play with. He also managed, by some strong of extreme luck, to snag a brand new Kindle Fire XD! Though it wasn't meant as a Christmas gift, it only cost us $40 out of pocket and is actually his favorite thing!

Gabe's big gift was his smokin' cool jeep! He loves it and would continue to love it if it were to warm up here where he could ride it more! Spring will be here soon enough though! He was so happy and so funny to watch. It was his big gift, along with the bedroom which he actually loves, as well as a big stuffed Mickey Mouse. Believe it or not, the Mickey is his favorite gift. He got other little fun toys and he plays with them all, but Mickey is in his arms nearly 24/7…even as he sleeps. Presh!