We had a really nice Christmas. My littles were so sweet. The joy on their little faces was the best! They were just so sweet and appreciative of everything. I love to see Christmas through their eyes. We have really gone back and forth about whether or not we wanted to spill the beans about Santa. I had been feeling guilty for "lying" to them. But, after yesterday morning seeing how excited they were, I am glad we didn't tell them. There is just something about the excitement of Santa. Ya know? I believed in Santa, and I turned out ok (no comments). For now, we are going to enjoy the "magic" that it is... Of course we talk a lot about Jesus and why we celebrate Christmas. We had a candlelight service today at church and had the Lord's Supper, and it was a perfect conclusion to the holiday. It was so sweet to have Julianna participate for the first time. It was all around a wonderful Christ filled weekend.
Of course, with the celebration of Christmas comes the longing in my heart for my other little girl that is so very far away. It has been hard for me this year. I guess because last year, I just kept thinking "next Christmas Willa will be home!", and here we are and there she is... It is hard. Surely next Christmas, surely.
Oh my gosh! Speaking of Willa, I never told you guys our update!! Brad and I had a talk about when and how a couple of weeks ago. As you remember, Brad said he really wanted to wait until we had saved $6500 before moving forward with matching. Well, we currently have $2000.00 and with all of our issues lately, $6500.00 felt like a lifetime away! Anyway, he gave me the go ahead to get the ball rolling now! So, I called our social worker and had a talk with her. Then I called our family coordinator and have a conversation with her too. This was last week. The special needs list came out on Monday and we asked to be considered for a match! Unfortnately, Willa wasn't on it this time. I have complete peace about that though. I really do. I know when God is ready, He will make her known to us. I am ready! So, we are on to the January list! Maybe I will get a special birthday present!
Needless to say, we are very short on the money needed. We are just placing our trust in Jesus. He provided before, and we are trusting him still. We need $13,000 if I travel completely alone. We are praying that I don't have to. I know that in a perfect world, my husband could travel with me. Unfortunately, that is just not an option unless a whole lot of money just appears. We at least hope that Anna can travel with me again. If she travels, we will need $16,000. Gosh, seeing that in print makes me feel nauseous. We applied for a grant, but we received a letter on Christmas Eve saying we didn't get it. We just have to trust. We have no choice. We do have a Tastefully Simple fundraiser coming up, so that gives me something to look forward too. Plus we are still selling the Show Hope T-shirts. At this time, we only have the black tree tee available. I have an order for one, 23 more to go. I am thinking about just going ahead and ordering them and praying I can sell them.
Anyway, so that is our update! Sorry it was so long! I will try to be better.
I hope everyone had a Merry Christ -Filled Christmas!
Edited to add our Christmas Eve Photo:
2 comments:
Merry Christmas! Your family is so beautiful!
I pray your funds come quickly for you. I do know the struggle. We applied for Abba Fund, no interest loans. That will be paid off at our tax return. And, I traveled alone, and it is so doable. Yes, I'd prefer dh to go, but it worked great this way, too.
As for Santa...we chose to tell the children there is no Santa. I, too, felt guilty for lying. Since Ivy was so much older, how could she understand, pretending and lying? They all know mom and dad buy the gifts. It works either way.
Congrats on your good news. I sure hope you get matched next list!!!! This is exciting!
Michele, I'm sorry to hear your daughter wasn't on this last list :-( She is out there though and you are right - God will lead her to you! Hope you had a wonderful Christmas!
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