I cannot believe that 2007 is coming to a crashing end and 2008 is coming to rapid beginning.  Where does the time go?

It seems only yesterday that Dale asked Ron for his blessing in asking Tara to marry him.  Only days later, I remember Tara telling us, "well, Mom you will be a grandmother soon".  Before they were even married, they decided to start the Chinese adoption process.  We thought our grand daughter would be here in 2006, but the process was much longer.  Of course, we know why now...we had to wait for Sojo.  There was no other little girl out there that would fit this family so perfectly.  What was it Tara said, "she fits like a glove".  She does.  She is like one of those expensive silk lined leather gloves that slides on your hand perfectly and looks like it has been there forever wrapped around your fingers.  Well, wrapped around our fingers...describes her perfectly too.  She does, just that.  We are like putty in her hands.  I cannot imagine our lives...and that means everyone in the family on both sides...without her.  She fits inside the family perfectly.  It is like she has been here forever...yet, it was only 7 months ago.

     How blessed we are to have Dale and his family enter our lives along with Sojo.

How our lives have changed and how we love it.  Thank you 2007 for the best gift we could ever receive.  Grand parenting is simply the best...the gravy...the icing on the cake.  Life could not get any better.  We look forward to 2008 and all it brings to us with Sojo. 

Unless of course...we have a sister or brother or cousin for Sojo.  No pressure :)

More good news from 2007 was Matt & Cathy's underwater engagement.  We are so thrilled that they have made the decision to move onto the next phase of their relationship.  After 11 years...  They are not ones to jump into things.  We look forward to their wedding in the fall of 2008 and all that this new beginning brings to them.  How blessed we are to have Cathy join our family along with her mother.

More good news from 2007 was Sean buying his first house and rapidly moving toward that Master's Degree in Special Ed.  2008 will put that piece of paper on his wall.  Here is a pic of him receiving an award at a golf tournament for Autism...his specialty within Special Ed.    And of him and his Dad golfing that day. Talk about a father, proud.  Talk about parents proud...we are proud of all of our offspring and give thanks for all they have brought us and taught us over the years. 

When I pause to think of the year ending and all the amazing blessings we have received...I am so glad I named this blog "counting our blessings" and I pause again to give thanks to God for all those blessings...big and small that we have received.  It is so easy to overlook the small blessings in our lives...like the sun rising in the morning...a bird outside our window...a smile from a grocery cashier...the ability to pay our bills...a bed to sleep in...food on our table...a church to worship in...family beside us...the list is endless.  The big ones like I have shared are easy to see and celebrate.  As this year ends, may we all take pause to celebrate the small and wonderful blessings in our lives as well as those big and wonderful ones. 

In November 1969, Ron took an unfinished rocking chair and stained it a dark pine color and put a colonial decal at the top.  Tara loved that chair and rocked in it often...by herself, reading or with one of her dollies or stuffed animals.  This shows Ron regluing the chair with as much love as he did when he first stained it 38 years ago.  On Christmas of that year, we have a picture of Tara in a darling little nightgown and "kerchief/sleeping cap" that I had made her (yes, I did sew once upon a time) sitting in the rocking chair and reading "The Night Before Christmas".  It is a pricless picture.  She has this big smile and it is so sweet.  We were anxious to have Sojo pose for a similar picture.  Unfortunately, I must not have saved the nightgown and I cannot bring myself to sew anymore.  I never was especially good at it, nor did I especially care to do it.  So, after her bath and in her jammies, we sat her in the chair in front of the tree, just like her mother had done...hoping for that Kodak moment and picture of the year.  As you can see...Miss Sojo was into reading "The Night Before Christmas"...she just wasn't into sitting still for very long with the book.  So, our pricless picture is of the book and her ready to dismount the chair.  You need a camera with super speed to catch this one in action.  I have more pictures of the back of her head because our camera is so slow.  Tara was 13 1/2 months in her picture and Sojo is 14 1/2 months in this one.  Tara asked if she really sat there as sweetly and quietly as it looked.  I said, "yes, you did".  Miss Sojo may not be one to sit still just yet and read a book...but, she sure is cute anyway.  And actually Tara...maybe this is a good thing.  Let her get her little wiggle butt moving now...maybe she will sit still later when it really matters. 

For us...it was just great fun to watch that little wiggle butt wiggling in a chair that was made with love and then remade with more love. 

• One of those teeny tiny little rubber bands that are used for those super cute pigtails of hers on my night stand.
• One of her hair bows...you know the ones she rips out in 3 seconds flat.
• A Gerber's Sweet Potato puff on the floor in the room her Nai Nai Patsy slept in.
• Her wash cloth on the side of the tub.
• More Cheerios in the Jeep
• A lingering fragrance in the garage...AKA a diaper (trash came today...)
• Those little yellow ducks on the side of the tub...packed away after cleaning the tub.

Plastic bags and boxes are now in the storage shed and most of the little pieces are gone.  We will treasure the memories that we hold close to our hearts of her sweet little jibbering, sweet squeeling, sweet laughter and giggles...even the occasional sound of crying. 

1. Cheerios on the kitchen floor
2. Cheerios under the high chair cover
3. Her little spoons and forks in the dishwasher
4. The last of her milk in a container in the fridge
5. The high chair empty and ready to be stored away 
6. The carseat...empty and ready to be stored away
7. The crib...empty and ready to be stored away
8. Toys...toys and more toys...and books and more books to be stored away
9. Yellow ducks clinging to the side of the bath tub
10. Ornaments askew on the tree that she lovingly rearranged for us
11. A broken and repaired angel atop our tree to remind us of the "shaking" and "giggling" she loved to do to and with the tree (the angel tumbled down one day and cracked her head...Gong Gong lovingly repaired her so we can tell Sojo about it in years to come)
12. A calendar for 2008 with Sojo's picture on our fridge
13. A thank you note from Sojo with her picture on our fridge
14. Memories tucked in every corner of this house

Here are a few memory pictures:

In our arms again at the airport: 

Swinging in the yard.Loving the bronze Javelinas at the Desert Museum.  The only ones she could get close enough to hug.  Maybe she will be a nature activist

I think we have a picture of Tara on the phone every time she is home.  Seemed so normal.  Maybe she will want a cell phone soon.

Feeding the birds with Gong Gong on a cold winter day in the desert.  Another opportunity for the nature activist.

At the zoo with her JoJo Sean...maybe she will be a zoo keeper.  Tara wanted to be that when she was about 5 years old.

More zoo with Mama, Baba and Nai Nai Patsy from Snohomish

Making scrambled eggs with Mama and Gong Gong.  Maybe she will be a chef.

Shaking the tree and rearranging the ornaments.  Maybe she will be an interior decorator.

Just having fun with her Mojo Matt.Having fun in the tub

The FamilyJust a bit of cuteness to hold us over.  Saying our goodbyes at the airport in the wee hours this morning.

Merry Christmas.  Passing out presents.  This is the one that I will tuck into my heart and bring out every time I miss her.  Priceless.

We wwakened yesterday morning to fog:a rare site in the desert.  We drove about 6 miles from our house to our church and the fog was as thick as "pea soup", as they say.  After Mass, we looked out to see this beautiful vision across the Catalina Mountains.  Talk about beautiful.  The blue sky with a feathering of clouds just above the snow capped peaks of the mountain range.  The canyons and mountain road clear at the bottom, but traffic stopped for anyone not living on the mountain or without chains.  Below...across the rivers/washes, the fog remained for a couple more hours.  Those dry river beds still have moisture and some even running water after the rains, creating that mixture of water, warmth and cold making that exotic early morning fog. 

The saguaro in the forground is dying.  I know this because it's majestic arms are curling and pointing down.  There are even a couple arms on the ground already.  This saguaro is hundreds of years old.  What a shame to lose it.  Our church has dubbed it "Old Grandpa".  We have just started construction on our new church.  I wonder if it will make it another year...when we plan to move into the new church.  I hope so.

Another sign of Christmas at our house.  One of those stormy nights with dark clouds and lights on the house, in the trees and on the lamp post.  Sojo and her Mama and Baba will be arriving very late on Monday.  Their first site of the house will be this.  Sojo should enjoy that.  We will have to wait until morning to show her more of our beautiful Sonoran Desert.  It has a charm that either turns you off and you hate it or it captures your heart and soul and you love it.  I love to travel anywhere and can appreciate almost any place.  I can't imagine living anyplace but the desert anymore.  My heart and soul are hers.  Merry Christmas from the desert.

The

I love Christmas.  It is my very favorite time of year.  However, I have been trying to discover the true essence of Advent and Christmas for many years.  Hard as I try, commercialism seems to take over and it becomes nothing more than a green tree decorated in brightly colored ornaments and lights with glittery packages beneath it.  Don’t get me wrong…I love the green tree and the ornaments and lights and the packages too.  I really go all out with all the trimmings.  Santa Claus's all over the house, twinkling lights on the house and hanging from trees and even the cacti in our yard.  I love it.  I just think that there is too much of it.  I have been trying to convince my family for several years that “less is more” and we should give more to others who have less and less to those of us who have more.  Truth of the matter is, we go and buy what we want or need most of the year and trying to come up with a clever gift for everyone is really quite daunting.  I would much rather give a gift to charity and bake lots of goodies and have a delicious meal for all of us to share than to spend money and time opening gifts that we don’t know what to do with, but make sure we keep in case someone says, “hey, what did you do with the whoozy what I gave you for Christmas in 1995”.  Again, don’t get me wrong…sometimes you find the perfect gift and you really need to give it to that person.  And…after all, there were 3 kings who brought gifts to the baby Jesus.  I am all for gift giving.  Just in moderation.  Throw away expectations and give a gift that is meaningful to everyone.  I think Jesus would be real happy to hear that we were giving a gift to someone in need in his honor.  So, this year, my husband and I have promised that we will give only to charity in one another’s honor.  (Ok, we bought one another aprons on a trip and we are wrapping them up and putting them under the tree).  We will have small gifts for our grown kids under the tree, but they will also be getting certificates of a gift given in their honor to a charity.  Even our newest addition to the family, our little grand daughter will be given a card telling her that bunnies will be given to a family somewhere in the world that will help provide them more than just a meal, but a means to provide hope for a future in raising bunnies through http://www.heifer.org/ .  Of course, I am sure that Santa, as well as her Mama and Baba, Jo Jo's and of course her Gong Gong and  Po Po will have a little something under the tree for her first Christmas.  We will enjoy seeing the awe and joy on her little face.  That will be our gift.  Plus, this will be her Mama's first Christmas home in 12 years.  Now that is a gift. 

I found this scripture on another blog and although, it appears to be more of a Lenten scripture than an Advent one, I think it is quite appropriate:

"This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; Setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own. If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech; If you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; Then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday; Then the LORD will guide you always and give you plenty even on the parched land. He will renew your strength, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring whose water never fails." Isaiah 58: 6-7,9-11

I also borrowed parts of the following from another blog.

Where to begin:

§  Do you want to see change in our world?  Think about supporting organizations that are at the forefront of advocating for change. Some of our favorites are:   http://www.heifer.org/ http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/   http://www.chinesestarfish.org/  http://www.halfthesky.org/  http://www.a-childs-right.org/  We have been supporting Heifer for several years because friends of ours at our church introduced us to it and our daughter and son-in-law chose this over wedding gifts at their wedding.  The others are ones that support Chinese orphanages in one way or another and because of our precious Sojo, they are dear to our hearts.

§          These are just a few and don't even begin to tap the surface of organizations out there who are making efforts to improve social justice.

§          Purchase responsibly. Think about buying fair trade products, hand-made products, and from companies that are socially responsible.  If you drink coffee, check out these sites:   http://www.cafefemeninofoundation.org/  or http://www.saintscoffee.com/index.html If you live in Tucson, there is a little shop on Broadway and Country Club that sells fair trade. 

§          Be an advocate for children's rights abroad and at home.

§          Educating ourselves about the realities of world economics can make a difference.

§          Remember – each life has a purpose and every person has the right to reach their potential... And remember to    "Love One Another"

My prayer for myself this Christmas is that I can think less of myself and my wants and give more for the sake of the needs of others in the coming year.