Thanksgiving...

An early nap has made him restless. His siblings are asleep, while he clicks his camera and flings his Woody doll. I don't really mind the interruption in routine or the sleeping musical chairs. It's the price we pay for a weekend with family, songs with my grandmother, games with my cousins, pie for breakfast. I know these moments will soon be gone.

Christmas...

It's been awhile, but here I am, back where we started. Snow is falling like tiny, lazy confetti, getting lost on its way to the ground. I've spent the last 48 hours huddled in an uneasy rocking chair. Reading, thinking, too cold and exhausted to venture out of doors. Until today... realizing this gift card has a very quickly coming expiration date. So here I am, sitting too close to the door of the coffee shop, searching for snowflakes without a home.

***

I'm in Wisconsin, having said goodbye and moved away on Christmas Eve... Where did Father Christmas find you this year?

Leaving the orphanage

I don't think there are more beautiful words in the English than "Guess who left the orphanage for good today?"

Just to be clear, we are not adopting, though we feel the word may apply to us one day. While our family is currently complete, we are open and curious and in wonder about a future that might include another child whom we can give a home to (once we have a permanent home ourselves, that is).

All that to say is, today I read a tweet for a family who's story I've followed for a long time. Their's is unique, and I feel honoured to stand on the sidelines, anonymous, offering up a prayer here or there. And the tweet today? A final goodbye to an orphanage in Ukraine. A new identity. A mother and a father. A home waiting with a brother and a sister, and friends, and a church. A hope and a future.

Wow. Breathtaking words, leaving the orphanage for good. He is a giver of life.

Gross stuff that comes out of babies

This last week was full of firsts for us. Asher's first plane trip. Our first trip as a family of five. Matt's first time to Vienna. And then the gross stuff. Asher's first vomitting session. Ella's first vomitting session on a plane to Vienna (not her first time getting sick on any plane though... nothing can break the record of the Ireland flight of May 08!). Asher's first projectile poop. And my first time being covered in both types of grossness from both little ones in the course of one short week.

My laundry cup overfloweth.

But... beautiful pictures were taken. Beautiful times with all the children were had. Messy distractions were kept at bay. We were able to play, talk, think about our past and make plans for our future, cook, walk, adventure...

The traveling was rough, but the holiday week itself was beautiful.