We wish you a Merry Christmas!

Enjoying the holiday decorations at Disneyland

Christmas is almost here and it's time for another update. The last month has been very busy in many ways, but quiet as far as our adoption plans so there's not much to say about that. We're still waiting and looking forward to what 2014 may have in store for us. 

While it's not easy to continue to wait for a child to be placed in our home, we've made a choice to enjoy everything we can this holiday season. It's not always easy since we had hoped we be parents right now, but the joys of the season have won out. Despite Mitch's unusually busy work schedule this year, we've found time to decorate our tree and use our Disneyland passes to appreciate the holiday versions of the Haunted Mansion and It's a Small World. Disney does a great job with their decorations and we love going to see all the lights and fun holiday stuff.

We also had a bit of an adventure right after our last update. Susan usually takes beading classes at Brea Bead Works, which is not too far from where we live. It's rare that she takes classes elsewhere, but at the end of November she saw a beaded icicle class offered in San Diego. It seemed like a perfect class since Susan loves icicles and had recently learned the stitch used to create the icicle. The class was on the last weekend day that Mitch had off before the holiday chaos at work, so we headed down to Bead Gallery where the class was held. It was fun trip down there and Susan thoroughly enjoyed trying a class in a new setting. The project was an icicle made up of beads spiral stitched together and we think it came out really well. It's a nice addition to our Christmas tree.

Beaded icicle by Susan

The San Diego trip was so much fun that Mitch ended up going a second time. Susan had meant to purchase a cute pair of Christmas tree earrings at the store while we were there together, but we were on our way to another event after the class and she had forgotten to pick it up. We thought about having the store send the item to us, but Mitch decided he'd rather go in person so he headed back there for a special errand on weekday off. It was just the kind of really sweet thing he does sometimes. 

Appreciating the joys of the holiday season makes us happy. We are very fortunate after all. Of course we'd love the chance to become parents and have a family of our own, but life is good to us and we're lucky there are so many joys in our lives. We hope the holiday season finds you well wherever you are. Merry Christmas to you and yours!