Christmas Eve

It is Christmas Eve and we are winging our way to Tuscon to see Brian's darling grandparents, extended family and, most especially, the Duchess! We are looking forward to warm weather, some nice sleepy mornings -woohoo for no work- and days and days of fantastic food! Brian's mom is an amazing cook and she keeps us all eating (and over eating) beautiful stuff every time we visit.

We wish each of you a wonderful Christmas full of all your dreams come true and love abundant!

Happy Holidays,
-Brian, Rosemary and Button

"A Christmas candle is a lovely thing. It makes no noise at all. But softly gives itself away."
~Eva Logue

Dinosaur Train

We're not huge fans of the TV (we don't even own one) but the fact is that every parent (and kid) needs a break. Plus, media really does offer some fantastic opportunities for kids (and parents) to relax, and even learn something. The problem, at least for me, is choosing our media opportunities wisely. Even though we haven't brought Button home yet I am always on the look-out for DVD's and shows we can stream that I will feel comfortable letting Button watch every once in a while when I am truly in need of a few minutes to myself.

Several weeks ago, fellow adoptive mom, Bridget mentioned on her blog that her constantly adorable son Andrew loved a show called Dinosaur Train that aired on PBS. Since Bridget is a very wise woman with a constantly adorable son there was nothing I could do but check it out. This is what I found on the PBS website:

"DINOSAUR TRAIN embraces and celebrates the fascination that preschoolers have with both dinosaurs and trains. The series encourages basic scientific thinking skills as the audience learns about life science, natural history and paleontology. Each of the 40 half-hour episodes features Buddy, an adorable preschool age Tyrannosaurus Rex, and his adoptive Pteranodon family as they board the DINOSAUR TRAIN and embark on whimsical voyages through prehistoric jungles, swamps, volcanoes and oceans. The episodes include two 11-minute animated stories, along with brief live action segments hosted by renowned paleontologist Dr. Scott Sampson, that unearth basic concepts in life science, natural history and paleontology."

Um...hello? Paleontology, trains, and a positive representation of an adoptive family?
"Why yes, Button, you may watch some Dinosaur Train!"

--Rosemary

The Recap

June 2007 - Two and a half years ago Brian and I started talking and praying about adoption. We started having very long discussions about domestic vs. international. We began to discover, read and cry over every type of blog we could find from members of the adoption triad. We bought books about adoption. We tried to decide if this new reality was right for us because we could see so clearly that adoption was not what we had originally thought. We gave thanks for brave people who told the truth. We prayed through to a new place of acceptance and felt that an open and honest adoptive family could be the right choice for us.

January 2008 - We officially started our adoption process twenty-three months ago. I so clearly remember mailing our application to the Thai Program at far away Holt International in Eugene, Oregon. I felt as though I were placing all my dreams into a tiny boat made of leaves and watching it sail away on the ocean. That envelope seemed so very, very rickety.

February 2008 - We started the homestudy from hell and eight months later and three social workers later we were finally in posession of a completed homestudy.

September 2008 - We FINALLY mailed our dossier. I cried myself to sleep the night Marissa called to say we were officially placed on the Thai waiting list for a child. I was just so tired.

July 2009 - We moved to Virginia and as we were driving to our new home I received a phone call from Marissa about a little boy with "special circumstances". We were not due to receive a match for another 6 months. I nearly hyperventilated. I knew that he was our son from the second I heard his story.

December 2009 - Waiting for a travel call. I still have no idea how we got here. It seems impossible that our little boat floated this far. It seems even crazier to think that it will bring Button all the way home but I know that it will. I know that it will.

Jingle Bells Meme

So just for fun (and because I totally don't feel like doing a book review) this Wednesday I am doing the Jingle Bells Christmas Meme that is going around.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper. But now I am using a cute "eco-conscious" painted newspaper idea. It's very retro 40's looking when it's all done and it does a little bit to save the earth.
2. Real tree or artificial? REAL! Love that smell.
3. When do you put up the tree? The long weekend after Thanksgiving we decorate the whole house.
4. When do you take the tree down? The first full weekend after News Years Eve.
5. Egg nog, cider, or hot chocolate? Cider!
6. Favorite gift received as a child? A Cabbage Patch Doll with long, silky RED hair that could be brushed and styled. She was fabulous.
7. Hardest person to buy for? My mother-in-law. She has wonderful style in everything and I don't want to dissapoint her.
8. Easiest person to buy for? My brother.
9. Do you have a nativity scene? No, not yet, I haven't been a grown-up that long and I am still collecting decorations.
10. Mail Christmas cards? Yes, this is the first year I have missed doing them since I turned 18. I just couldn't get it together.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? A doll with no head and 3 arms. She was a manufacturing mistake. My brother glued the third arm into her neck and sat her on the porch next to our pumpkin when Halloween rolled around.
12. Favorite classic Christmas movie? Christmas in Connecticut starring Barbara Stanwyck
13. Favorite new Christmas movie? Scrooged with Bill Murray.
14. When do you start shopping? Usually I am done by Thanksgiving. This year I have barely started.
15. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I would never re-gift a present YOU gave me and that's all that matters!
16. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Mashed potatoes.
17. White lights or colored? I like the great big, fat, classic multi-colored bulbs.
18. Favorite religious Christmas song? "Oh Holy Night"
19. Favorite holiday song? "Merry Christmas From the Family" by Robert Earle Keene (so amusing)
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? We always go to see one of our families - we switch back and forth every year so we have to do A LOT of flying.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Not even close. Rudolph, Blitzen, Vixen, Prancer, Jerry...
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Neither. When we first got married we didn't have any decorations and no money to buy any. Fortunately, my amazing Aunt Eve made us a batch of handpainted star ornaments. So we went and got this Charlie Brown tree that the lot gave us for about $15 and put the little stars on it and then I bought a santa hat at the CVS and we put that on top of the tree. So now that is our family tradition. We always top our tree with a funny little Santa hat. It actually looks very whimsical and cute!
21. Open presents Christmas Eve or morning? Only 1 present on Christmas Eve after the candlelight service - we must wait to open the rest on Christmas morning.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Travel. I'm already dreading doing it next year with a toddler in tow.
24. Ham or Turkey? We experiment with all kinds of unusual and yummy stuff for our big meal. The only tradition is to spend the day in the kitchen cooking great food that we'll enjoy eating.
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? A fantastic diaper bag that looks like a sophistocated carry-all but still has all those needed pockets and goo-gaws.
26. Do you do Santa? We are planning on having Santa fun with Button.
27. Do you love or hate snow? I hate weather that is cold enough to create snow. I have no issue with snow itself though.
28. What is your favorite holiday memory? Staying up super late the night before Christmas with my kid sister. Laying in bed practically shivering with anticipation. We would tell each other stories and braid hair and sing songs: anything we could do to entertain ourselves until we finally fell asleep waiting for "Christmas Morning" to finally arrive.
29. How do you decorate your tree? We do stars of every kind all over our big living room tree. Next year I am going to start a Santa ornament tree in the dining room with Santa's of every race and cultural costume.
30. Poinsettas or holly? Holly! I heard that Poinsettas are poisonous to cats and Gilbert eats everything so that doesn't work for us.

Merry Christmas!
-Rosemary

Babies!

I recently saw a preview for award winning director Thomas Balmes new documentary Babies and I absolutely could not resist sharing it with all of you! Believe me when I say that we will be the first people in line to see this film when it is released on April 16, 2010. I think it is a really amazing effort at helping people to recognize the incredible beauty of children everywhere regardless of race. I also think it speaks to an interesting concept - it is possible to lovingly parent a child without a Bugaboo stroller and an army of plastic accesories.

Babies simultaneously follows four infants in Namibia, San Francisco, Tokyo, and Mongolia from birth to their first birthday. Please enjoy the unbelievable cuteness of this trailer:

Introducing Button

It has been a very busy month but we are finally back! We're happy to "see" everyone in blog-land and get all the latest news from our favorite adoptive families around the world. As far as our news goes: We were very blessed to receive Button's 12 month update from Holt. Of course, he is 15 months old now but we are thrilled to get the info even if it is 3 months outdated. Marissa, our adoption advocate, was such a doll and sent it to us the day before Thanksgiving so we were able to share new pictures of our son with our families for the holiday. That meant so much to us and we were very grateful for her thoughtfulness.

Now I know you are wondering if we are going to share those pictures with you. Well after much deliberation, we finally decided that there was just no way we would be able to keep our adorable kiddo's face off this blog for perpetuity so we decided to go for it. Here are the best of the rather grainy, completely blurry, yet totally amazing pictures of Button!

He is obviously walking like a champ at 12 months!

This is the first genuine smile we've seen in all his pictures and we notice that it looks like he has been bribed with a nice piece of candy. ;-)