Our Christmas Card and Happy New Year!

A Christmas Song for 2008

(This Christmas letter is meant to be sung…out loud. Don’t cheat.)

Dashing through the year,
In a big, white SUV.
One thing sure is clear,
We're busy as can be.

Cole is getting tall.
He went off to middle school.
Water polo, basketball,
But mostly he's just cool.

Emerson is in third grade.
Flag football this past fall.
Wow, the ships he's made,
With Leggos, big and small.

Eve's our soccer girl.
Started kinder this year, too.
She loves to dance and twirl,
Paying mind to dress and shoe.

Soleil is talking now.
At two, she's so much fun.
Her favorite word is "ne-ow".*
Her name, in French, means sun.

Dave and I are grand.
We've been married twelve years, plus.
Built a cabin on our land;
A fishing shack for us.

We hope you're doing well,
And your lives are full and bright.
What fun it is to laugh and sing a Stewart Song tonight! Oh!

Wishing you peace and good health in 2009!

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas...

...and this year, I got one! We're in Montana at our new cabin for the holidays and is it ever WHITE!! What fun! We got here last weekend and most of my family is here with us (including my parents, four of my five siblings, and my nephew). It has been snowing almost non stop since we arrived -- the sun just came out this afternoon for the first time in 9 days. The temperature has been ranging between 10-20 degrees (which for us California kids is burr ice!). But the cabin is oh-so-cozy. And it has been such fun to spend so much quality time with my adult siblings. We were snowed in all of Christmas Eve and Christmas day which was fun if not slightly claustraphobic for those of us used to being able to jump in our cars and go somewhere (anywhere) at a moment's notice. Evie's birthday was Christmas Eve. I can't believe my baby girl is already six years old!! Oh my! Where does the time go? But she had presents under her birthday tree, went sledding in the drive way, and made chocolate cupcakes with rainbow sprinkles (of course). It was a good day.

I hope you all had a very, merry Christmas and that the coming year brings peace and good health.

Cheers,
Heather

Two Years Ago Today...

.... our baby girl joined our family forever. The kids and I were in Guatemala City, having arrived late the night before. We were holed up in the Marriott, anxiously awaiting the arrival of our new baby. Finally, finally, finally she arrived, in the arms of her amazing foster mother, Mary. With tears in her eyes, Mary handed me the baby that had been hers, for the previous seven months, and said, "Que Dios les bendiga." May God bless you all. Indeed.

On our way to Guatemala City. December 6, 2006

I always think of Mary like a fairy godmother here. Like in Sleeping Beauty, she's whispering, "I grant you the gifts of courage, wisdom and love. That you may be courageous as you transition into your new family. That you may be wise beyond your years. And that you may know, always, that you are loved." I get a little choked up...

Meeting her new brothers.

And, just like that, there were four.

Gothcha! December 7, 2006.

Forever ours. We love you so much, baby girl.
Thank you for joining our family.
~Mommy