Merry Christmas to All!

Well this is the evening of December 25th. What an amazing Christmas! We have been so blessed this year. I have finally got the girls in the bed. Almira is still back there listening to her new MP3 player. We've been downloading Russian music and pictures this evening. We started last night with Katherine spending the night with us and going to Jon's parents' house for Christmas Eve. We opened gifts and had dinner together. Then we came home and we let the girls open one present each. It was really tough getting everyone into bed. The threat of Santa passing by our house finally worked. I think by 11:30 I had everyone asleep, even Katherine. I finally got to bed about 12:30 last night. Then Sarah woke up at 3AM and couldn't get back to sleep. She finally woke me up about 6:30 and said she wanted to open presents. I told her to go back to bed for a little while. I let her wake up Almira and Katherine at 8 AM. I barely got a cup of coffee down before the present opening started.

Almira was so funny. She got roller blades from Santa and a couple of movies and an MP3 player. She said she had never seen so many presents. She started rollerblading around the house. I thought we went light this year. It was so much fun watching Almira, Katherine and Sarah open presents. The true gift for parents is the joy we see in our children and the magic of Christmas. This year was truly special..

Then this morning after opening gifts I started some gumbo for our traditional Louisiana Christmas. We started doing this a few years ago, all Louisiana foods instead of turkey and dressing, which is Thanksgiving. We had shrimp jambalaya, gumbo, stuffed potatoes, oven fried catfish, hot French bread and some fried oysters. We had all this at Doug and Katy's house. What fun!

I'll attach some pictures which will tell the best story of all. Tomorrow we leave for New Orleans and then on to Gulf Shores for a few days. Almira doesn't know yet, but we're meeting up with Nina, who was adopted this summer from the same family. Nina lives in Alabama now, with some wonderful parents. We will be spending a few days together in Gulf Shores. I can't wait to see the look on Almira's face when she realizes we will be staying with Nina. The best Christmas present of all, seeing a friend from the orphanage in Kazakhstan. Who would think that a year ago these two lonely little girls were sitting at the orphanage wishing for a family. Now they have Moms, Dads and siblings that love them. They will be spending the holidays together with families at the beach. What a precious Christmas this has been.

Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Year! Let's hope for more precious children to find a family in 2008, that is my New Year's wish!

Kathy B.