3 in 1

Can you believe it's the last day of 2007?
I have 3 reasons to think back on the past year. First, the calendar year is at an end. Many of us are reflecting on the changes this past year has brought us, trials and tribulations we have endured, how we have grown. Second, my 31st year of life is coming to an end (I turn 31 tomorrow). Who doesn't enjoy/suffer a little introspection on their birthday? and Third, on Jan 2nd, 2007, we got the call that we were out of PGN and that Eliana was officially our daughter! We're quickly approaching our 1 year anniversary as a family.
What a great year this has been! Eliana has settled into our family beautifully.... we fit together as perfectly as family should. Matt and I have adjusted well to being parents.... we work together as a great team, as perfectly as family should.

I could not be happier with my life.
I love my family.
I love my friends.
I love where I live.
I love thinking back on all of the beautiful things in my life and
I love dreaming forward of the many more blessings sure to come.

This year has gone by so quickly.
Here's hoping 2008 is just as fabulous, just as joyful and just as memorable as this year has been.

Christmas roundup

Quick catch up:
Saturday night we went to a Christmas party at my aunt and uncle's home:

Eliana sitting on Grandma's lap pointing at Santa, but NOT sitting on his lap.

Peeking out the window

Sunday Eliana practiced different looks in anticipation of the upcoming holidays:


'What's better, Hello Kitty? The cool-gal, mysterious half-cocked hat over the eyes pose.....

or the tousled 'do?'

Christmas Eve blessed us with a visit from Monica and Dana:

They were, in turn, blessed with many fine gifts.

as well as a visit from Bonnie:

The giver of great squeezy hugs

Then we went to Nin and Pap's for gift exchange with that side of the family:

We all received too much of everything

and had a good time!

Christmas morning!!!:

I LOVE this picture and the next one!

This is her blurring by on her way to the toys that Santa left!!

She loves the ball pit

She spent much of today trying to eat the smelly fake fruit that came in her shopping cart.

She has a great time playing this xylophone that Matt got for her. This girl is full of music.

'Another present for me?'

Then Nin, Pap, Grandma and Uncle Pat came up for breakfast. I didn't take any good pictures of this but it was amazing! Matt did all of the cooking and everything was super-great!

Then we went to Grandma's house for Christmas dinner (lasagna) and gift exchange with Grandma and Uncle Pat:

Again, we all got too much stuff and had a good time.

In summary: Christmas was great.
I love my family!

Adoption news: None.

Today I am thankful for every single thing in my life. I am blessed beyond words in my family and friends, a nice home, a good job and plenty of everything I need or want. Thanks, God, for taking such good care of me!

One day, imaginary friends, I will return to more regular posting that actually includes a little bit of brain power and not just all cute baby pictures. But really, I can't go wrong with the cute baby pics, can I? In the meantime, there are still cookies to be eaten and more friends and family with which to celebrate Christmas! Keep celebrating folks! Christmas is not just a one day event!

Happy Birthday sweet husband!

Today is Matt's birthday! He is now solidly in his mid-thirties, clocking in at 34 years old.
Too bad for Matt, and us, he had to work last night and tonight. So... he slept for most of his birthday.
But, when he came home from work he found this awaiting him:


The box was full when he got it. Really.


While he slept, Eliana made him a card:


She may have had a little bit of help.

Then Matt woke up to a special birthday dinner:



Who doesn't love a corndog on a stick!?!?

Answer: me. But who cares. Matt loved it, because normally I don't let him eat gross stuff like that. So, Happy Birthday Matt - you're permitted to eat disgusting foods for one day without any dirty looks or disapproving lectures from your wife - what a great day!




Here are a couple of photos from yesterday of the cutest baby I know:





And, most of you haven't seen these yet:

Merry Christmas all!

Christmas time is here!!

Busy, busy, busy...
We have been so busy over the last couple days. Here are some pics;


Thursday Dec. 6th - We woke up to find St. Nicholas had visited in the night.





Friday Dec. 7th We celebrated La Quema del Diablo. This is the devil we burned in the backyard.




Later we had s'mores and hot chocolate while we enjoyed the fire inside.





Saturday Dec. 8th Santa and Mrs. Claus had two "gigs". The First at a local nursing home. The second at a friends house. The highlight - a resident of the nursing home playing Silent Night on harmonica for Santa. Sorry no pics.




Sunday Dec. 9th Matt played at the Spanish mass for Our Lady of Guadeloupe then we raced to Pittsburgh to see A Musical Christmas Carol with Matt's brothers and their families.





Monday Dec. 10th more santa gigs. sorry no pics




Tuesday Dec 11th Santa flies solo without the Mrs(scary).



That night we host a party for Jenny's Bible Study.










Wednesday Dec. 12th Eliana visits St. Nick. What a wonderful experience for us all. Santa is truly a magical person.

We can't tell you how much fun we are having this year. Eliana is a blessing to our lives.


We hope everyone is having as nice of an Advent season as we are having.

It's that time of year!

Holidays, holidays all around!

Thursday was St. Nicholas Day! This is one of our favorite holidays. We awoke to find that St. Nicholas had left small gifts in our stockings! One of my gifts was a note explaining that he had donated to the Mayan Families Christmas tamale basket project. This is a great project that you can learn more about here .
This is a great gift for St. Nicholas to leave as he is the patron saint of children, orphans, paupers and a whole slew of other folks. He dedicated his life to serving the poor, giving gifts to those in need.
That afternoon we went to the local university where they hosted a special program of lessons and carols that concluded with a visit from St. Nicholas and the lighting of the tree. It was a great day!

Yesterday was La Quema del Diablo in Guatemala - and I think other Latin American countries, too. A friend of ours from Mexico said they celebrate this holiday, also.
Last year we were in Guatemala visiting Eliana on this day. On the television we saw many parades, fireworks and festivities going on. As we understand it, today the people bring out the devil, represented by a paper-mache figure, and burn him to symbolize the beginning of the Christmas season and preparing for the birth of Christ by ridding the world of sin and badness.
Matt made a devil today and we burned him in the backyard!
In making this holiday our own we wrote down things about ourselves, our lives or our behaviors that we would like to get rid of as we prepare ourselves for the Christmas season. Things like selfishness, greed, etc might be examples of something we'd like to get rid of/burn up with the devil. We taped these things to the devil, took him outside and lit him up!

Then we roasted marshmallows, made smores and had hot chocolate!
It was a fun evening and I think as our kids get older it will be a good way to teach them about the Christmas season, preparing for the Lord and how our own selfish stuff gets in the way of true celebration and joy.
Next year there will be fireworks, too!

Today Matt and I will be busy. We have two parties to attend at which we will be dressed something like this:

Ok, exactly like this.

Then, Sunday Matt is playing guitar (and Katie is singing) for The Virgin of Guadalupe celebration at the Spanish mass.
Directly after mass we will RACE to Pittsburgh to meet up with Matt's brothers and their families to see A Musical Christmas Carol.
Next week - the craziness continues with more *parties,* and shopping, and Christmas plays and more parties.....

This sure is fun!

more pictures and video later.

(We've got the) Golden ticket!

That's right - our 171-H arrived today!

For those not embedded in adoption lingo: this is the letter from the US gov't giving us approval to adopt from another country. This is the 1 thing we've been waiting for (for 5 1/2 weeks) before our paperwork could be sent to Ethiopia so we can get on the waiting list.

So, we faxed a copy to our agency today and now we wait.

The last we heard they were predicting a 1-6 month wait for referrals like ours. The last family from our agency to accept a referral within our specifications (0-6 yrs,
sibs, either gender) waited 1 month. The family before them with the same specs waited 6 months. So, we'll see what is in store for us.

This is exciting! We could see pictures of our future children soon! Any day!

This makes my knees knock together in holy-crap-you've-got-to-be-kidding-me-ness! I need to learn Amharic, get the house in order, get the bills organized, make mental travel plans (where do we want to sightsee while in ET?), get our vaccinations, apply for Eliana's passport.........augh!

Our future children could be/are probably going through some really tough times right now. Please keep them in your prayers as they are about to undergo some major life changes in the next year.

Today I am grateful for little girls in pigtails!
I bet you wish I would have taken a picture of Eliana today, huh? She looked SO cute in her little pig tails! The camera? Nowhere nearby. Sorry. I'll try again tomorrow.

...and we have a winner!

Tonight was the first night of our Longaberger Lottery! Go to Smith Family Adoption Mission to check out the results. Thanks to everyone who purchased tickets and helped in anyway.

We have been working on getting the Christmas decorations up.
Here are a few pictures of us decorating.












Here is the video of Eliana walking that Jenny wrote about. She has almost mastered this walking business, so I'm a little late getting this up but it's pretty funny anyway.