Merry Christmas Eve!

I feel like I've just settled into the spirit of Christmas and now it's almost over. Bummer. It's been a great school break so far. The kids and I have had a lot of fun. And now Lance is home for a few days and gets next Friday off also. That's always a bonus! I'm going to leave my decorations up until after New Year's. I've been so pleased this year with our tree and fireplace! This is the first year that I've been able to wrap presents and put them under the tree before the night before Christmas! (we've always had little ones who would get into them) :) Here's a pic of our tree and fireplace. Love it! I made our stocking hangers this year. It's hard to see them in this picture, but they spell out FADDIS. Six of us and six letters in Faddis. :)

Today, the kids and I made a gingerbread house. They had a lot of fun and did a great job of taking turns. And I was surprised at how good Emma did! She was so meticulous and placed her candy just right.

It's a miracle we were able to have enough candy without everyone eating it all gone!

Mmmmmm. Twizzlers.

Everyone loves Twizzlers!

Twizzler mustache!

We went to the Christmas Eve service at church tonight. I'm so glad we do that every year. It is such a special way to make sure we all remember why we celebrate Christmas. And it's such a homey feeling. We sang Christmas songs and then our pastor gave a brief message on the meaning of Christmas. Very much a blessing.

Then it was home to eat dinner and open presents! My parents came over to eat with us and watch the kids open their presents. It was a fun night. We give the kids 3 presents each and they all loved what we got them!

Luke opening his drum pad (he got a paper jam guitar and a heavy bag also)

Emma loved her Minnie Mouse! (she also got a blinged out denim jacket and all 3 girls got portable dvd players)

Sara obviously loved her jewelry making kit! (and her crayons and crayon maker)

The excitement over play doh! (and a sticker maker)

We forgot to make cookies for Santa, so this year he's getting fudge! ha!

putting out the fudge and milk!

I got Lance a ring to replace the one he lost in the river earlier this year. It's a Bob Siemens ring with the icthus fish in a repeating pattern around it. He got me some charms for my Pandora bracelet. I bought the bracelet for myself a few months ago :) and told him that I wanted him to add charms for me. It's a great way to have a personalized gift and easy for him to find something for me. Well, he outdid himself this year. He wrote me a letter recapping our year and then had numbered in the letter the reasons behind each corresponding charm.

The F was the original charm I bought when I bought the bracelet. For obvious reasons. The dolphin next to it, my sis in law Jennifer gave me this week for Christmas. Love it! I've always loved dolphins and it's special because it's the first charm anyone ever gave me.

Next is a horse. As I read the letter and got to #1, I stopped and opened the charm box labeled #1. The horse is an obvious choice for our family. :)

#2 is a Bible. To represent our faith. And to be a reminder to me and a testimony to others.

#3 is a V. And as Lance wrote in the letter, not the letter V, but the Roman Numeral 5. This is not something I have shared in the blog yet. And I will devote an entire entry to it at some point. But the number 5 represents our children. Yes we only have 4, but God has called us to adopt a little boy from Haiti. We knew it before Lance left in January right after the earthquake. And He has confirmed it to us several times over this last year. We have a son in Haiti. We are pursuing this, but are still in the beginning stages. It is a slow process (much slower than I anticipated or wanted). We don't even know yet who "he" is. We just know that God is leading us and has confirmed in our hearts that we have a son we have yet to meet.

#4 is a Turkshead knot. I had never heard of this before, but as soon as Lance saw the charm in the store, he knew what it was. A Turkshead knot was used on the stearing wheel of a ship to mark the King's spoke. It is what the captain used to know that he was stearing straight. Lance compared me to the knot. That I am what helps to keep our family "stearing straight." He told me that just as the knot gave the captain comfort and confidence in stearing the ship, I give him that comfort and confidence in leading our family. So humbling.

Thank you God, for my amazing husband and my beautiful children. All of them.