twas the night before the night before the night before Christmas...

(... are you following me?

pay very close attention,

because it doesn't get much better than this...)

ahem.

i'll start over.

twas the night before the night before the night before christmas...

and, all through their

house...

all kinds of creatures were stirring...

and sprinkling

and taste-testing

just like they do every year...

when, all of a sudden, there arose such a clatter!

(really, more of a ringing...)

and who, to our wondering ears, did speak?!

but dan and jessica's adoption social worker...

(who is quite possibly the only person

even more magical than santa claus at christmas time

when you are waiting for your referral!)

and then, in a twinkling, my sister did speak...

the gist of her words?

"my family is now complete."

vincent daniel sun

born on june 20th in busan, south korea.

he was chubby and plump,

a right jolly old elf,

and i laughed when i saw him,

in spite of myself...

we can't wait for you to come home, buddy.

your mama and daddy will be there soon!

inner bliss? not so much...

amidst some inner strife this week,

i've been trying to focus on two thoughts.

first, the serenity prayer:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things i can not change

the courage to change the things i can

and the wisdom to know the difference.

the second, words from a very wise old friend:

"the things we hold on to are the things that hold us back."

By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try. The world is beyond the winning.
-- Lao Tzu

breathe. let go.

our favorite christmas gift, by far...

...came from aunt jessica this year.

a tie-dyeing kit complete with plain white t-shirts and socks,

just begging to be painted.

i am relatively brave,

but not brave enough to try this with all three boys at once.

we tried to mix it up a little bit.

this one was my favorite,

a little stripe-y, a little swirl-y.

next time i will wear the gloves.

the end result?

voila!

as my korean adoption friend janet commented on f.b.,

cute and groovy, all at once.

my littlest bundle. all bundled.

rubin & emmett @ aldo

this happened quite some time ago.

i was just looking through a few photos from the fall,

and stumbled across these...

dave, emmett, rubin, & i spent a few hours one weekday morning at our local nature center.

we attended a seminar called hibernation station...

we wondered about animals and how they prepare for the winter months.

how they keep themselves warm.

we went on a scavenger hunt,

searching for signs that animals had been there...

tracks and food and (emmett's favorite) poop.

(the provided clipboards were a hot commodity.)

we looked for animals themselves.

(oh, there they are!)

we made bird feeders.

and ended with a game, gathering for the winter.

i'd almost forgotten how much fun we had

and i'm looking forward to trying another workshop come spring.

(hurry up and come, spring!)