Christmas Gifts.....

Christmas Day for me was pretty awesome.  I got to be with my family.  I ate way too many Christmas goodies thanks to my mother and her amazing baking skills.  I got to watch my favorite Christmas movie, 'A Christmas Story' over and over for 24 hours (thank you TBS!).  And I got to see a whole new side to my girls and their hearts.

All the presents were opened except for three.  They were three that the girls had put under the tree.  One was rather large and they threw a blanket over it and there were two others that were wrapped.  They set the large one in front of Dan and me and gave us the other two to open.  We started unwrapping the ones they gave us and then said they needed to explain what it was we were about to open…..

Kanika: “So we didn’t really know what to get you guys.  You kinda have everything and you said that you didn’t want or need anything.”

Bonich:  “We just kept walking around the store trying to figure out what we could get you.  Then we got the idea of these presents.”

Kanika:  “Ok, you can finish opening them”

 

Here’s what we opened………

 

 

 

And here’s what was hidden under the blanket………

They bought gifts for Mason and Reagan.  I just about lost it.  I often worry that we haven’t done enough to teach our girls to have a generous heart or even worse, I haven’t been a good example of that generous person.  These Christmas gifts made me think that we might be doing ok.  These gifts also made me thank God for the gift of being the mom of these two amazing girls and for the incredible older sisters I know they are going to be.

Oh Christmas Tree

Martha Stewart I’ll never be so that also goes for our Christmas tree.  I do love a beautifully decorated tree; it’s just that I don’t have it in me to do all that.  I hate to admit it but I really don't enjoy decorating the tree.  Instead I'd rather sit back and drink my Mexican hot chocolate while watching our girls decorate the tree.  I love listening to them reminisce about the ornaments...."Oh I remember when we got this",  “I  love this one!” or even better "Why do we still have this one?"

I have to say that our tree is picture perfect.

But a closer look shows the true story: a modge podge of ornaments.  Modge podge may be an understatement and I'm not sure what poor Martha would say.  She'd probably be speechless.

We have the sweet sentimental ones…..

We have the homemade artsy crafty ones…..

We have some from Cambodia and next year will have some from China….

We then have the 'what were we thinking ones'…..

We even have a four-legged furry ornament.....

We have a few that are incredibly sweet.....

We have one showing our team spirit……

We even have a couple of ornaments that tapped into our white trashiness…..

And we have one of the reason for the season….

But I love our tree and all its modge podginess.  It captures who we are.

The what were we thinking one,

The sentimental one,

The artsy craftsy one,

And the incredibly sweet one,

Some catching up

Since my last post we been approved for our I-797 which made it feel like we are actually moving forward.  Next phase is authentication and dossier completion. I am hoping to have our dossier to China the first of the year.


We got some new pictures of Mason. We were told that he is not a picky eater, is talkative with people he knows and is gentle.

This picture makes me think of Iron Man.  I keep waiting for that backpack to shoot him up into the sky!

I look at his pictures.  I study his face, the way he stands, wondering what he thinks about coming to America, trying to figure out if whether or not he’s a skinny little guy under that camouflage get up but what I want to know at this moment most is what his voice sounds like.  I know that's probably a weird thing to want to know but for whatever reason it's what I'd like to know right now.


I get to see our little Miss Reagan most everyday thanks to New Day’s blog and website. I can’t wait to hold that little gal. We were informed that she was to go in and have surgery back in October but then it didn’t take place because there were not enough beds. I guess we are at a holding place right now. We haven’t heard anything since it got cancelled. We would prefer to hold out until she gets home to have surgery but apparently the doctors do not to wait that long.  We recently got some pictures of her opening our care package.

She's looking at us.  I wonder what's going on in that little head of hers.

 

 
Life outside of the adoption process has been pretty busy and full of changes.

The whole college thing is in full force for Bonich. Life for her lately has been all about applications, essays, SATs, and acceptance letters. It is bittersweet for me. I am so excited for what God has planned for her and yet I’m not ready to let her go. I guess it’s not so much bittersweet as it is more selfish. I just love having her around.  She is my adventurous and free spirited girl that I know is ready for this next chapter in her life. I have always loved her adventurous spirit but it’s that adventurous spirit that is taking her college search to far away places like Texas and Tennessee. She does have one California school on the list and two Oregon schools that are her backup plan.

This was her first certificate of admission.  She wasn't as happy as she looks....it's from an Oregon school.

Kanika had a life change that took place for her a few weeks ago……she got glasses! They are just for reading and far away classroom work but one would have thought the world was coming to and end. It wasn’t really that bad but she is the kind of girl who doesn’t like to have attention drawn to her so putting on those glasses the first few days was a bit of a challenge.

That's life for us right now.