Merry CHRISTmas

Merry CHRISTmas family and friends!

Sorry that this post is a bit late, isn't is amazing how quickly each day goes by!

We have absolutely been enjoying each and every minute of this wonderful Christmas season!

We love watching movies and cuddling with our precious boys, 

reading wonderful Christmas stories, spending time with friends and family, 

playing Christmas music, baking and decorating cookies, 

driving around looking at all the beautiful lights, 

and taking time to relax a little more and enjoy all the wonders of this season!

We spent Christmas morning at our home, relaxing with the boys, opening presents, 

enjoying homemade cinnamon rolls, and playing.

Then it was off to Grandpa Cox's house to spend time with him, 

Aunt Maureen (Steve's sister), her daughter Madeline and Laurie (Steve's brother Dan's wife).

 (Grandpa with 5 of his 9 grandkids - Hayden, Camden, Grandpa, Madeline, Jordan & Brendan)

 Maureen & Madeline

Annette (me) & Laurie


We can't wait until next year when our precious Kaden will be with us to celebrate!!
What an exciting time that will be!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Luke 2:1-19
Phillipians 2:1-11

Kaden Claus

We received a precious photo of our sweet little man the other day

 and wanted to share it with all of you! 

Isn't Kaden just the cutest little Santa?!

Some sweet families got together and were able to donate a Christmas/New Year's party for the children at our son's orphanage. Thank you to all those precious families who contributed!!

It was so sweet to see the joy on all the kids faces as they celebrated!

Merry Christmas Kaden!

Next year you will be in our arms forever!!

We love you and can't wait to hold you!

Toothless

Jordan lost his first tooth this past Wednesday and boy was he excited!!!

Isn't he just absolutely adorable!!

A Slight Delay

Well, unfortunately things didn't go as planned yesterday. Our home study agency called me early Wednesday afternoon to inform us that they had not received our DOJ fingerprint clearances because the facility that did our scans did not put the correct ATI number on our form when completing our paperwork. After going back to the facility to have them redo our prints, they refused to admit that they did anything wrong, and it became clear that it was going to be a huge hassle.

So, tomorrow afternoon we will be going to a different facility, one that we should have gone to in the first place, to start all over with our fingerprinting process.

Please pray that our prints are processed extremely fast and that our agency receives clearance by Monday or Tuesday of next week so that we can get our i800a application turned into immigration before Christmas!

And the Winners are...

Winner of the iPod Nano Watch is

Linda Hayase

Winners of the scarves donated by Sue Christy are

Dawn Chimenti

Andrew Shalat

Brian & Lisa Parnell

Winner of a Solomon Bead necklace of your choosing donated by Stacy Richards is

Greg Hardgrave

Winner of a custom made "doggy blanket" donated by Lika Hefferan is

Terri Baker

Congratulations to all the winners!!

Thank you to everyone who was able to join in on our raffle! 

We are blown away by all the support, financially and through prayer, that has been showered on our family!! Thank you!!

With all of the donations we received for the raffle you helped us to raise $895 towards bringing our precious son home! Thank you!!

It is amazing and humbling to see how God is providing 

for our adoption!! 

Our Home Study is Done!!

We are so excited to be one step closer to our sweet boy!!

When our notarized copies are ready tomorrow afternoon, we will head over to our agency to pick them up. Then, it's off to FedEx to send our i800a to immigration!

Please pray that processing goes quickly and that there are not any delays with Christmas and New Years right around the corner. 

Happy Birthday Brendan!

Where have the years gone?

Today, our oldest son, Brendan turns 13! We now have a teenager in the house!!

He was born on December 13th, 1997 after 22 hours of labor. Things weren't going too well, and when Brendan's vital signs started to dip, they took me into the O.R. for a C-section. He came out a beautiful blonde hair, blue eyed boy, and hasn't stopped - being a beautiful boy, that is (he also hasn't stopped growing [5'8" so far], eating or talking about insects, dinosaurs, general science or video games!).

It seems like yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital, all 6 pounds, 14 ounces of him!

Over the years, he has grown into a young man who loves his parents, loves his brothers, and most importantly, loves his Lord.

When I think about this milestone, I am reminded again of how blessed we are! We couldn't have asked for four more wonderful young men, and we continue to wait patiently (sort of) for our dear 5th son to join us!

Happy Birthday, our dear prince* !!

Love,
Mom & Dad

*The name Brendan means "prince".

Only 5 Days Left to Enter the Raffle!

There are only 5 days left for your chance to win an iPod Nano watch!!

So far, we have raised $760 towards our $3,000 goal!

Help us reach our goal by purchasing tickets for $10 each.

Our Archer

A few weeks ago, our oldest son, Brendan, was in his first archery tournament. His friend Samantha, that lives across the street from us, has been asking him for about a year to join archery. So, this year he decided to give it a try and he absolutely loves it!! Their teacher is a wonderful lady named Janet Dykman, who has won several gold and silver medals in the Pan American games and competed 3 different times in the Olympics. Even though it was raining a little, really windy and cold the day of the tournament they had a great time and did really well!