Happy Christmas Eve

I've been home for 9 days and hit the ground running. Mathea's birthday party, laundry, packing for Washington, cleaning the house, taking the girls to Nutcracker, passing on a family 5k for my sanity, well visit appointment for Mathea, haircut appointment for Ellie... I didn't have much down time to be sad that I was missing such my sweet, cuddly boy. Admittedly, I did tear up when our pediatrician and I talked about my trip. I have thought of little stories, memories, of Christopher and my time together that I will write and retell as I remember.
We left 4 days after I returned. We flew to be with our extended Hires' family in "a mountain house" outside Seattle. It's been funny, noisy, crazy, sweet and memorable as we hiked to cut down our Christmas tree, went sledding, went skiing, watched movies, stayed up late, played board games and wii games, had singing performances, ate and ate and ate. We have been having story time before bedtime each night telling the story of Jesus' birth. Love it.
Yesterday was my birthday! It was a special time to be with family. I was thankful for my early present in Haiti but so sad as I thought of how much Christopher would love a piece of my cake. This trip would be overwhelming to him if he were able to be here now, but I dream of the day when he is comfortable with his new family, loves new experiences and plays with cars, coins and boy toys on the floor with his cousins! What will he think of snow? Will he be adventurous and want to ski? How will he handle being introduced to new people? So many curious thoughts pop into my head on an hourly basis. I can't wait to start answering all the unknowns.
As I woke this morning to Mattie's little voice - "Happy Christmas Eve, Mommy!" It was such a sweet way to continue this Christmas season. Tonight, we will be going to Christmas Eve service as a group of 17. We will again listen to the Christmas story of Christ' birth and sing Christmas carols. We will try to get some sleep tonight before the children are up before dawn to open their stockings. We pray that this is the last Christmas without our little boy and although that would be a miracle, we still pray in faith that God would bring him home to his forever family soon.
Merry Christmas, dear friends.