Counting Down...

Well, it's officially 12 days till Christmas! I think that this is when it's hard as a kid to wait. Christmas is soooo close, yet so far away. :) We have several Christmas traditions that we do for the 12 days till Christmas that help us count down the days. I thought that I would share them here with you... My husband gets me a candle each of the 12 days leading up to Christmas. He has done this ever since we were married 13 years ago and now he lets our kids play a part in bringing them to me. :) Last year, we bought the "Adornaments" set from Focus on the family. It is a devotional book and set of 12 ornaments that can be hung on the tree, each representing a name of Jesus Christ. Each night we will read a devotional about that particular name and then one of our kids gets to hang the ornament on the tree! We save all of our Christmas letters, photos, cards, etc. from the year before and place them in a basket under the tree. Each night, after the devotional and hanging of the ornament, we will pull out a couple of cards or photos and pray together for that person or family. I am a pretty calm and patient person I think. A lot of the mom's on the forum say that their husbands are the calm, patient ones, but I guess in our family it is reversed. I think, however, I have just begun to feel the anxious excitement that you feel as you count down to Christmas. Micah is soooo close, yet still so far away. We really only have 4 major steps left, but it could all happen in January, or it could still be months away. With adoption, there is no way to tell. So, I thought I would share with you what we are counting down on the adoption and ask you to pray for us this Christmas as we are waiting for Micah. First the attorneys must scrutinize our documents to make sure that everything is there and in order. We are hoping that this part might be finished by the end of December. After this, we are given a court date for the judge to sign our "guardianship" papers making us Micah's legal guardians. We have seen this take a couple of weeks for one family and months for another family, so only God knows. Once we have guardianship, then Micah's visa and passport are applied for. This process has been averaging about 15 days. When Micah's visa and passports arrive in the US at our adoption agency, and when we get our interstate ICPC approval, then we can book our plane tickets to travel! I love this time of year...the Christmas music and lights, the decorations, the worship focused on Christ's birth, giving gifts to others, the food, the Starbucks gift cards...! :) I hope that you are having a wonderful Christmas season with your families.