Christmas Eve 2012

I think images might be the best way to record the Christmas preparations that have been going on here.

Easy Gingerbread House Construction with graham crackers and homemade, non-pasturized, royal icing.  I figure the egg white won't hurt us, and we're not going to eat it anyway.

One of these little girls likes to hide her cuteness.  Despite her face here, she loved the activity that covered the table in unmonitored candy. 

Later that day I got to head out to see The Hobbit with my sister and a friend. 

We all worked together to decorate the sand tarts.

The end result. 

We caroled some friends Saturday night, then, on Sunday at church, amid all her wiggling in the seat, Sapphire heard the pastor announce another caroling outing that afternoon. Her little head popped up: "He said caroling!" she said. She was on board.

Pearl: "I like that other people are happy when we carol. They don't get to see kids very often. Seeing kids makes them happy." 

Christmas Card 2012

I usually put a note about our doings during the last year in my Christmas cards. After writing about the decline of the Christmas card in the 21st century, I thought I'd experiment with a new image-laden format. I'm using blog names, but I imagine you can break the code. Froehliche Weihnachten!

My husband and I began the year waiting to hear about a referral after starting the adoption process the previous February. Our social worker was scanning the list of special needs children from China each month, and in April, just as we were thinking this wasn't going to happen, we got the call to open the email and see her little face.

Since then we've gotten to know cheerful "Ruby" (2). She loves to give herself little chores, like putting away bowls and throwing things in the trash for us. She's a bit territorial about my lap, but more and more we see instances of her giggling with her sisters. When she first arrived she didn't smile very much, but now a silly look will draw a smile from her, and she seems perfectly at home and attached.  She's celebrated some new holidays and helped us mourn her great-grandmother, my Mom-mom, who passed away shortly after we returned from China. Last week Ruby's four month anniversary with us passed by quietly; it all feels pretty normal.

In addition to entertaining his daughters, my husband continues working on his Doctorate of Ministry, and now he is in the writing phase of a dissertation about junior sermons. He celebrated the 10th anniversary of his karate school in January, and in June our oldest daughter started training with his great group of students. "Jasper" has rebuilt our basement steps with a friend and tinkers on the upper story of our barn--formerly a tobacco factory--as he turns it into a club house for the girls.  He thoroughly enjoyed our two week trip to China, where he brushed up on his Mandarin (I was very impressed) and convinced me we could wander about huge cities on our own, without a facilitator. He tells me his favorite parts of the year were the three trips with his girls. We continue to be thankful for our loving church family as we await our re-affiliation with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church sometime in 2013, a process toward which God has gracefully guided us.

"Pearl," (6) our oldest, delights us with her sweet, nurturing personality that makes her a treasure of a big sister.  She accompanied her daddy on a trip to Boston and came home able to read.  Now she's entered the first grade, and after a rough few weeks in September, she and I have developed into a productive team. She enjoys her co-op opportunities, playing with her friends, visiting shut-ins with her daddy, and spending whole afternoons engaged in complicated imaginative play that her sisters try to join.  Probably my favorite part of homeschooling is our chance to go on field trips all together, including Washington DC Natural History Museum & Zoo, Indian Echo Cavern, a maple sugar operation, Chocolate World, Sheep & Wool Day, the Renaissance Fair, a ceramics studio, a pretzel factory, and nature walks.

"Sapphire" (3) did not escape from our yard at all this summer, which was a blessing after the previous summer's adrenalin-fueled neighborhood searches (not that she got very far). She still loves to climb and jump, and she's the type of child who flings herself right into the creek no matter what the temperature.  Over the summer, even before our big trip, she developed a habit of rejecting her daddy's help and hugs, so in September he took her on a mini vacation, and things have gradually improved 100%. She's experienced the biggest change from becoming a big sister, but she's developed some sweet compassion and self-control as a result. When asked what the best thing in her life is, she answered, "Playing with my two sisters...and playing outside berry nicely." She puts people under her spell very quickly, as you can imagine.

As a lover of quiet, I struggle with the added noise of three children in our house, but since we can't build a sound-proof annex, I'll  have to make do. Much of the adoption paperwork fell to me, and I have to say it is very freeing not to be impatiently waiting for the next form or approval to arrive. The two-church Bible School I directed allowed me to used my super-powers of organization (all God-given, of course!), though it was hard to miss the last three days because of our trip to China.  It is such a joy to see the kids learning the song motions and singing their hearts out each day.

After sixteen months of writing and revising, I've recently submitted my manuscript about the global Christmas to my UK publisher, so hopefully I haven't made any insulting mistakes about Father Christmas! With the manuscript out of the house, I teach the girls, work on my two courses, read Nordic noir, and occasionally practice piano, which I'm learning along with Pearl for the first time.

And thus ends our annual newsletter. We pray that your family will find blessings within this Christmas season and experience joy and surprises in the New Year!

"God Bless Us, Everyone"

After coughing all week, Ruby started to wheeze on Saturday, and a call to the pediatrician sent the two of us into the urgent care. Jasper joined us for the diagnosis, and we brought a nebulizer home. She has RSV, an virus that usually only affects infants. She's doing better now after treatments every four hours for those first days. Listening to her wheeze all night made me feel very grateful for the medications of today.

We made it out of urgent care--where she had endeared herself to the staff--in time for the delicious birthday meal of garlic-rubbed beef tenderloin my mother and father whipped up for me and my December-born brother. Neither of us blew out any candles though--we were too slow, beaten by Pearl and Sapphire who were already blowing by the last note of the song--candles are just so exciting! 

Colors change after firing--we can't wait to see!

 Pearl and I had some neat together time this week.  We had a free day last Thursday, so we danced our way to the Prancing Pig and tried our hand at art. This was her third time there, and my first, so she had to explain things to me, and then wait while I picked out my colors and pattern. 

We thoroughly enjoyed the quiet time together. When I asked her what she remembered about it, she said it was that we got to talk so much.

On Saturday, after the birthday feast, Pearl and I made our way to a live nativity. The others would have liked it too, but they were asleep or too sick. Pearl was very taken with the stories of the Forks' live nativities of the 1990s. I told her about her Aunt Jane Lee's amazing soups and all the fun we had standing in the cold.  She asked to go through this one a second time (of course).



On Sunday we went to a much anticipated High Tea with Charles Dickens, Gerald Charles Dickens, the Victorian author's great-grandson. My parents so kindly hosted a table for us, and my friend from Baltimore also came along to soak up the Victorian vibes. The event took place at the Hotel Hershey, and we enjoyed the environment almost as much as the performance. After scones, scrumptious tea sandwiches, and a plate of tiny and very rich deserts, Mr. Dickens gave us a one man show, and abridged version of A Christmas Carol. I image it was very like the staged performances Charles Dickens gave of this novel and many others. Those took place up on stage, but our Mr. Dickens ranged around the room as he shifted from character to characters.

Afterward my dad got a picture of Mr. Dickens for my book. I will soon have to really set up a chart of the 50 photos I'm required to track down before spring. Hopefully my London editor is finding some British-y photos too, as we discussed! I'm not sure how I'd find a Father Christmas here in Central PA!

Sapphire had some fun days too. She got to spend alone time with Grammy and Poppop, which she loves. Some very-Sapphire quotes came out this week: While I was trying to convince her to let me read to her from *The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe*, she pouted, "I hate heroes." And she seems fixated on wrinkles. She looked so concerned when she told us she doesn't want mommy's forehead to get as wrinkly as daddy's. It is hard to try to stop wrinkling your forehead, even for the best reasons.

She's finally switched from saying "I can't know how to" to saying "I don't know how to." We knew it would happen, and we never corrected her, but she figured out the language rule on her own. She really is getting big (as she tells us constantly).

A missionary speaker gave the kids two sheets of paper for their Christmas wish lists and a Thankfulness list. Pearl started her wish list first, but looked up from the pew to say "I don't want to be greedy." With a sigh of relief, I told her she could make a really long Thankfulness list and it would be the opposite of being greedy. She thought so too.

Advent Begins

Our church has an annual Christmas program in the old stone building built in 1774. This year the children of the church livened up our Hanging of the Greens service with their wriggly nativity scene.

We had a real newborn as the Baby Jesus (not the one in the photo above), and the kids were a little distracted when she was plunked down in their midst. They remembered their lines and the song, so all was well.  One sweet little cow was short enough that even standing in front she did not block the baby. Sapphire preferred to sit on my lap; she was a nonconformist sheep. Big surprise.

Monday night we headed out into a balmy December night to take in the Christmas lights a local park puts up. Pearl liked it all. Ruby was fascinated by the train room. Sapphire seemed most interested in defending her stroller from Ruby, but hopefully she liked it. 

Jasper enjoyed it too, mostly because it wasn't very cold.

The park had wrapped hundreds of trees in Christmas lights. They also went overboard with lawn decorations. At some point in the past they must have become bored with Christmas themes, because alongside the toy soldiers and nativity, they had a penguin section, a dinosaur section, and many butterflies and caterpillars.
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Staying out so late left us a little bleary-eyed the next day, my birthday, but we got it together and had a pretty nice day. I had the most successful breakfast in bed of my life: Chex cereal and a clementine. I liked that this meant there was no mess when I finally got downstairs. The girls treated me to the birthday song throughout the day.

Later missionary friends came for lunch, and we went out for dinner at an informal burrito place. Thanks for all the well-wishes!