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Lili-bug

Monday, December 29, 2008

Yep, That Just About Sums It Up...


Sunday, December 28, 2008

Venting...





Lili "likes hot'!! Guess so.
She spent the better part of the day over the vent when the heat was on.
I mean, could'nt she have just gotten a blanket....
Every time I look at these pictures, I want to call a priest.

Friday, December 26, 2008

Christmas Day!

"Finally! I got a Barbie!!"
(and for anyone who knows Lili, KNOWS that this is just one of about a hundred. But she didn't have this one)

Brett went to the school's Santa Shop and spent his OWN money to get his sister the perfect gift.

Brett got an xBox from Meemaw and Peepaw!!! He didn't think he was going to get one. We managed to keep it from him until he thought all the gifts were open.
He was so excited after he opened it, he told me he went into the bathroom and cried!
Poor little guy.

Look! Look! Look!
Lili got a guitar too!!.......gotta love the grandparents.
now where are those earplugs...
Lili, the happy elf
What a Christmas!!
I didn't get my new house, bummer, but everything else was fantastic.
I got a TON of giftcards, which we went out to spend today.
We had a 'plan'. Yeah, I know......
We were going to get up early and head up to our usual shopping area. Jeff happened to have the local news on as we were getting ready and they reported that the US highway we usually take to get there was CLOSED. wha??? I guess we had some freezing rain overnight and even the plows weren't out yet because the roads were so icy. Great.
But, I was undaunted.
"Let's just head SOUTH", I said.
So that's what we did. We went to another favorite area of ours in the opposite direction.
The one good thing about where we live is that's it's centrally located.
But, I don't think we drove over 35-40 most of the way, it was still pretty icy, even most of the way south.
It did warm up though, so for the drive home it was really, really foggy.
mmmm, mmmm, just can't get enough winter.





Christmas Eve

Lili's "Christmas Eve Dress"



Awwww.....


Brett and Lili with Meemaw and Peepaw
We had another wonderful Christmas Eve. We spent the afternoon/evening at Meemaw and Peepaw's. We ate a pasta dinner, had a ton of cookies and then went home where the kids just couldn't WAIT to get to bed....too bad they won't be that excited the night before school starts again.
Brett lost a tooth when we got home.
He was VERY concerned that the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus wouldn't come on the same night! We reassured him that it shouldn't be a problem, and sure enough, they BOTH seemed to make it that night.
whew.




Sunday, December 21, 2008

Christmas: Part I

Brett got an electric guitar (and mom and dad got earplugs!)

Lili got a microphone! (and mom and dad got earplugs)

OK, seriously, you come and try to pry the mic away from Lili.
Although, with the mic and a full length mirror, she's pretty much occupied for an entire day......

Brett and Lili got walkie talkies (again, the earplugs come into play)

And, here we are.
Nikki, Jeff, Keith (Jeff's bro-in-law), Becki (Jeff's sister), Lili, Meemaw (Jeff's mom) and Brett
We had a really nice time. The weather outside was frightful (WINDY and like 2 degrees) but we were safe and warm inside. We were worried we might lose our electric, but it stayed on, thank God.
We are blessed that our entire family (both sides) live within an hour of each other.
Merry Christmas!





Saturday, December 20, 2008

My Neighbor Stole My Blog Title, So This is What You Get

We had a ginormous ice storm here overnight Thursday into Friday.
My hilarious title to this post was going to be 'Ice, Ice, Baby'.
Original, huh?
Well, my neighbor beat me to it. Great minds think alike, I suppose.
I suppose we're dating ourselves anyway. Vanilla Ice? Seriously?

Anyway, we have some major ice around here.
To the north, they got snow. To the south, they got rain. We got hit with the worst part. Ice.
At least snow is pretty. Ice is just dangerous. We are expecting snow tomorrow though.
I do like a white Christmas. But come 12/26, I'm just about ready for 75 and sun, ya know?

At least we have electricity. My parents and grandpa have had NO power since 5 AM Friday. We went over to see them today and my dad and grandpa came over to our house for awhile. They made my mom stay and watch the fire. Hey, somebody had to do it :)
My dad was over the moon to have a shower and my grandpa watched TV with the wonderment of a child!
They're hoping to get the power back on sometime tomorrow. Yikes.
I can't help feeling guilty sitting here with all the lights on, the heat on, watching TV as I'm on the internet.......basking in the glow of all my luxuries.

We're having our annual Christmas at our house tomorrow for Jeff's family. I hope the weather holds out so everyone can make it. We always have a nice time. The kids completely forget all the rules and try to get away with murder while their grandma just laughs and lets them get away with it while my sis-in-law and I play games that no one else will ever play with us throughout the year.....ahh, yes, good times.

Hoping all of you have a very Merry Christmas!!
And thanks for sharing 2008 with me :)

Sunday, December 14, 2008

It Just Wouldn't Be Christmas Without...

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Oh Yeah, We Just Can't WAIT Till She's a Teenager

[Lili 'lost' her backpack and lunch at school yesterday morning. Her teacher emailed me, it was eventually found. Lili had taken it off and left it in the hallway before school.]

Daddy: "Lili, you need to keep your backpack on, don't take it off."

Lili: "OK, Daddy."

Daddy: "You can't be losing things. Don't take your backpack off until you're in your classroom."

Lili: "Okaaaaaaaaay Daddy. You said that TWO TIMES [eyeroll]!"


And, by the way, yes. Her english is coming along very well. geesh.

Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Snowmen, PlayDoh and a Christmas Miracle

Daddy and Lili's snowman, named 'Kenny'

Brett's snowman, named 'Drake'

And since mom's not really 'outdoorsy', mom's PlayDoh snowman (and dog)

....and our Christmas miracle, Madeline and Lola peacefully sharing the SAME chair.





























Wednesday, December 03, 2008

'Five Little Monkeys'

'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas'

That's always been my favorite Christmas song.
I remember Christmas 2006 as we were waiting, just 3 months LID at that point. That song took on a whole new meaning.

"Someday soon we all will be together
If the fates allow.
Until then we'll have to muddle through somehow
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now."

Talk about downright depressing.
That song is always a little sad, but when you're waiting (and waiting) for your child to come home.......geesh.

So, thinking about that song and that Christmas, I looked back at my journal from December 2006. They had just referred 14 days worth of LIDs. The dates were somewhere from late August 2005 to early September 2005.
Now, 2 YEARS LATER, they have referred to mid February 2006.
Do the math.
That's about 5 MONTHS worth of referrals in 2 YEARS.
When we were paperchasing the wait was about 6-7 months from LID to referral.
Now, it's got to be about 40 months or so, growing every single month.
I cannot tell you how grateful I am to be out of that whole scene.

Jeff and I were talking about it last night.
With an LID of September 2006, at the rate the referrals are going, we'd STILL have about 18-24 months left to wait.
That would mean I would be 40, Jeff would be 42, Brett would be almost 14 and we'd be starting all over again with a baby.
We came to the conclusion that we probably wouldn't be waiting anymore. And I'm sure we wouldn't pursue another country or adoption. We wouldn't have Lili. period.
And I guess God in all His wisdom knew that.
You know how He doesn't give you more than you can handle? Well, I'm just sure He knew that would be more than we could handle. I know it would've been.

Lili was meant to be Lili. She was created, born, abandoned, found, taken in, lived for 4 years in an orphanage, given to OUR agency's waiting children list and matched with us.
Pretty amazing, huh?
Every time we think of the way things worked, we're just in awe.

Our God is an awesome God.

So, 'have yourself a merry little Christmas now'.

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