Christmas 2008

This year we headed to Phoenix for Christmas. We enjoyed Christmas Eve with Doug's side and Christmas day with my side of the family.

Our nephew, Matthew, family friend, Dave, Sister-in-law, Kathy, nephew, Mark, brother, Dan & Doogie.

Uncle Dan & Camden

Camden getting ready to open the 57 things in his stocking on Christmas morning. There isn't really 57 things in there. It's just what Doug accuses me of. A few years ago we started the tradition with Camden that based on the gifts that the Wise Men gave Jesus on that first Christmas, we give him only 3 gifts (although I have snuck in one from Santa the last couple of years as well. Since Santa is now "fake!" I will have to decide what I am going to do in the future.) Anyway, since then I guess there has been a few more things jammed in there..not 57 though! :) What's a girl to do? Especially when that is one of her love languages!

Nieces, Casey, Malory & Lauren

Doug & Camden really excited about their Star Trek pez!

My brother, Jason.
My Sister-in-law, Terry

Doug trying on his new Grinch boxers on Christmas morning.

Uncle John & Camden
My brother, Jeff & nephews, Conner

My brother, John and my nephews, Chase & Cole.

Nieces, Casey & Malory & Camden enjoying a neighborhood of lights.

One evening we went out to look at lights. One of the neighborhoods we went to had a garage that was converted into a kind of "man cave". It was so unbelievable that we just had to take a picture of it. My brother especially was quite enamored with it!

Suns & Roadrunner Girl

While in Phoenix for Christmas we had the opportunity to see our niece, Whitney strut her stuff at a Roadrunner hockey game. In the Fall she was hired as (I forget the technical name) a Suns & Roadrunner girl. She gets to run around and do fun stuff with fans during breaks in the action and the Suns Gorilla is her boss. Anyway, it was great time with the family (I think there was about 15 of us cheering her on) and she did a great job!

Merry Christmas!

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.

Luke 2:11

Any room in your Christmas for Jesus?

No room in my Christmas for Jesus

I wonder if that could be true

With my tree and my toys

and my Christmas time joys

I sometimes forget Him, don't you?

But let us remember the Christ Child

who came so long, long ago.

Put him first in your heart,

give him ALL, not a part,

And Jesus will bless you, I know.

Author Unknown

Another Gingerbread House

Yea...the Costco gingerbread kit...love it! :) Today we had a Titus & kids get together and we did gingerbread houses. It was a great time of fellowship together and no preparation was needed! :)

Camden was excited that he now has two gingerbread houses that he can eat candy off of! :(

Titus Christmas Party

Today we had our Titus Christmas Party. As usual it was a wonderful time of fellowship, food and too much gift giving. In addition, Barb (our leader extraordinaire) always bring someone in to teach us. This time it was Cynthia Heald . She was amazing! She shared a bit about the latest Bible study that she is writing which was a a Life of Simplicity. It was SO good! It truly spoke to my heart. As women we try to cram so many different things into our day for me it can often be about getting everything marked off my "to do" list. But when we do that we forget about what is truly important....relationships. Anyway, it really made me think about how I spend my time. Suffice it to say I can't wait till this study comes out as I am going to have to get me one!

Here are the wonderful woman in our Titus group...Josette, myself,Tamara, Barb, Erin, Stacy & Susan:

Luminary Nights

Tonight we headed to our local Botanical Gardens for our annual tradition, Luminary Nights. We enjoyed a variety of music set amongst the candle lit gardens. Here's a few pictures of our evening:

The Garden railway is always a big hit with Camden.

Polar Express

Camden's class celebrated the last day of school before Christmas break, by having a Polar Express party. The kids came dressed in their jammies along with their favorite stuffed animal. They had a great time having coco and treats while watching the movie. At the end of the movie Camden's teacher asked who believes. Much to her disappointment, Camden and one other classmate said they didn't believe in Santa. Camden is so funny. He is such a concrete thinker. Just the week before he was asking us if Santa was real. He came to the brink of tears when we wouldn't give him a straight answer, He just had to know for sure. When we finally relented, he said "I knew he was fake!" Here's a few photos from the day:

Mrs. Wolf, the conductor and Camden's fabulous teacher.

Our boy with his favorite stuffed animal.

Cam's First Grade Class

The Latest from China

We continue to get closer to seeing our child's face...slowly but surely. The CCAA recently referred 6 days of LID's and are up to Feb 23rd 2006. There are only 18 more days until our log in date of March 13th, 2006. This means that if they match 6 days a month for the next three months we could see a referral in March. My gut is telling me it's not likely. Especially since there is a couple of days that have a lot of people logged in. At this point my best guess is that we will receive a referral in May or June and travel to China in July or August. Of course it could be a little sooner or little later...only God knows!

100 Wishes Quilt and More Quilt Squares

Dearest Family & Friends,

Since the wait for our child from China has continued. I have not yet put together the 100 Wishes Quilt for her. Since we can actually see an end in sight and she may even be home by Summer...it is time to get busy! I plan to begin putting together the quilt (or finding someone to do it) by the end of January. If you have the time we would love you to contribute to this wonderful tradition. To refresh your memory this is what it is all about:

It is a Northern Chinese tradition of celebrating a new life in the family by creating a “Bai Jia Bei” or “100 Good Wishes Quilt”. It is custom to invite family and friends to contribute a square of cloth along with a good wish for the child. The quilt is said to contain luck, energy and good wishes from everyone who contributed a piece of fabric. The quilt becomes an heirloom and is passed from generation to generation.

It would mean so much to us for you to join us in this tradition. If you would like to participate, please send us one piece of cotton fabric measuring 9” by 9” (larger is okay if you don’t want to be exact). Any fabric that you choose, whether it’s new or “used and meaningful”, will be a beautiful addition to our quilt. Anything goes; life is an unexpected patchwork of happenings and events.

Along with the fabric, please include a wish for our child. Your wish can be simple or elaborate – of your own words, a prayer, favorite scripture, quote or poem. Please remember to sign your wish and include your city and state. Please attach a small piece of fabric to the wish that you are sending. The good wishes with the small piece of fabric will be put into a scrapbook. When our daughter is older, she will be able to match up the wishes and fabric to her quilt. The quilt will also give her some history. She will know that while she was in a Chinese orphanage, many people were thinking of her and praying for her.

To contribute and be a part of the quilt, please email me at starico32@yahoo.com . I will send you our mailing address. Thank you so much for helping us to make this gift possible for our daughter. Your kindness and support means so much to us!

Here are some of the latest fabric and wishes that we have received from family and friends:

These are from my Sister, Stephanie. They are all from dresses that either she or my Grandma made for me when I was a little girl. Love it! Love it! Love it!

Thank you all so much for your contributions! We love them and are so appreciative of the time and effort it took to put them together!

Angel Ball

Tonight we headed to the Angel Charity Ball. We had a wonderful time dancing, eating and rubbing elbows with the upper echelon of our town. It probably goes without saying that we were completely out of our element. But it was wonderful to support a charity that has done such amazing things for the children in our town as well as support our good friend, Shari who has volunteered with this organization for more than 10 years.

Aren't we cute? We felt a little odd though. We haven't been this dressed up since we got married almost 16 years ago!!

So handsome...

and funny...

Us with our good friends, Tom & Shari:

The star of the show, um I mean General Chairman...my sweet friend, Shari. She did an amazing job that night and looked beautiful!

Since it was a fundraiser and all, we had to purchase a few things and this was one of them. We just couldn't resist!