Happy New Ears :0)

First thing yesterday morning, I was greeted by Caleb's sweet, smiling face. He cupped my face in his hands and said "Happy New Ears, Mommy!". Then he said, "Can we have another New Ear party tonight? Guess he had fun on New Year's Eve! We had friends over to help us ring in 2010, and we all had a blast!

Caleb loved New Ears!

D and Beans

Ashley was the first to crash about 2 min. after midnight

Happy New Year and Merry Russian Christmas!

Happy New Year and Merry Russian Christmas!

Here is some information about Russian Christmas from http://www.worldofchristmas.net/...

In Russia, Festival of Winter is celebrated instead of the religious festival of Christmas but still Christmas lingers in some parts of the country. Traditional Russian Christmas involves special prayers and a fast of 39 days till the first star appears in the sky on Christmas Eve (which falls on 6th of January in Russia). The star heralds the beginning of a twelve-course supper, one course each for the twelve apostles. Traditional Russian Christmas dishes include fish, beet soup known as Borsch, cabbage stuffed with millet and cooked dried fruit. Hay is spread on the floors and tables so that horse feed grows abundantly in the coming year. Similarly, Russians make clucking noises so that their hens lay more eggs.

On Christmas Day, people sing hymns and carols and gather in churches. Churches are decorated with Christmas trees known as 'Yelka', flowers and colored lights. Various meats form a part of the traditional Christmas dinner such as goose and suckling pig. Babushka (meaning 'grandmother') distributes presents to children in Russia. According to the folklores, she is very old and when the Three Wise Men stopped on their way and asked her to accompany them to visit Jesus, she declined because it was very cold. However, she regretted the decision later and set off with presents for the baby in her basket. However, she never found Jesus and in the hope of finding Him one day, visits all the houses with children and leave toys for the good ones. Dedushka Moroz (Father Frost) or Grandfather Christmas replaces Father Christmas in Russia.

As a family, we plan to observe Russian Christmas (I'm hoping my recipe ideas will improve every year, because as of right now, I don't have much!) and are excited about making this an annual tradition! Thanks to C, we get to celebrate Christmas twice :0)

Waiting for our son

Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This picture was taken at midnight last night- can you believe all of the kids stayed up to ring in the New Year?

Even our youngest guest (19 months old) made it to midnight! She had a blast! She threw the confetti and screamed with glee just like the big kids.

It was fun to watch her and picture how C would have been if he had been here to celebrate with us..

It is thrilling to think that 2008 will bring with it our son. I have many moments of tears, wishing he could be here right now, but I also know God's timing is perfect...

And so we wait... in great anticipation.

"God is able through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think"

Ephesians 3:20

"Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord."

Psalm 27:14

"All of the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."

Psalm 139:16