Merry Christmas!

Christmas Babies!

Espie("Espresso") birthed two adorable pups early Christmas morning. Daryl decided to name the puppies Mocha and Cappuccino. He's already calling them Cap & Mo. Mocha has a little more brown and a white dot on the back of the neck. Cappuccino sports a wide white collar and little white socks. Espie is being a wonderful mother to her babies. This is her very first litter. Nevaeh is more interested in Espie than the puppies right now. Daryl said that the puppies were his favorite gift although the flight simulator and add-on heli program complete with an Extreme 3D Pro joystick run a close second!

Baby So Sweet

Nevaeh at birth

I know the photo is a little blurry, but I am told that this was a cell phone picture that was taken of Nevaeh right after she was born and swaddled. The picture was taken by Nevaeh's maternal grandmother and sent in a picture text message to Nevaeh's paternal grandmother. This was the only photo that Amy had of Nevaeh. Amy is Nevaeh's biological paternal grandmother. When Amy found out that I was putting a baby book together for Nevaeh, she brought this picture to a visit and gave it to me. I thought it was a very kind jesture. Amy also brought pictures of Nevaeh's birth father so that I could put a couple of them in Nevaeh's baby book as well.

Wow! So much has happened in so little time, but God has been with us in an incredible way. So many specifics get lost in the system, creating holes in a story that leave it confusing and unclear. In the past couple of weeks, Mark and I have been able to spend time with Amy (Nevaeh's paternal grandmother) and Amy's husband, John. We let John and Amy tell us their side of "the story." It gave us a better picture of the situation. We have been pleasantly interacting and getting along well. While we as yet still have no definite direction, we are believing that God intends for ALL of us to be a part of Nevaeh's life. God apparently wants John and Amy a part of our lives and the Fultzes a part of John and Amy's life. Nevaeh calls her grandmother "Nana" and John, "Poppa.".

Please pray for Nevaeh. She doesn't understand what is happening and just has to do what she is told to do and go where she is made to go.

Her favorite song right now is "Away In A Manger." She likes to have one of us sing it and let off the last word of each phrase so that she can put it in. She loves the Christmas decorations and likes riding in the car to see the "pitty ites!" She is a precious little angel and I know that God has something special intended for her life.

*chuckle* As I write, she is singing, "Where is my hairbrush?"

If you were here she would wish you, "Mooey Kippuss!"

URGENT

My awesome kids!

Rob (12), Daryl (16), Nevaeh Re' (19 mos.)

Nevaeh's adoption journey has been wrought with diverse twists and turns and presently we find ourselves in yet another twist----or was that a turn. We have an interest in your prayers regarding an urgent twist. Please, please keep this in your prayers. We would be ever grateful!

God bless you for caring!

Nevaeh sits in this seat to watch Veggie Tales.

Her favorite is "Love Your Neighbor."

In a season of wonder, I wonder. But about other things. Why this? Why that? And I wonder why some things in life can't be easy. It seems as if EVERYTHING is so hard to get through. And one more time, I find myself considering some very profound thoughts. It is the pain and sorrow that we endure that makes the happy times the treasures that they are. God's GREATEST desire for us is not that we be happy but rather that we be like Him and God is LOVE. And the greater our pain, the greater our capacity to love for it is only then that we realize true compassion.

It seems that every time I turn around, the dimensions to Nevaeh's case are ever changing. Hope! Hope lost. Hope anew. Hope lost. HOPE one more time. And........waiting?? Last night was indeed the first of many visits to come according to the court order. God was truly with us and before the evening was through, my dear husband was having prayer with all of us involved! There were things about the evening that were negatives, yet there were positives as well and there are still many unknowns. Now is NOT the time to relax your prayers. PLEASE! God is definitely doing something though we haven't totally figured out what. In the meantime, regardless of a possible new facet yet again, we must continue with the visitation as court ordered. We are exhausted. We are trying to continue with the already tiring schedule of the Christmas season pertaining to our church and the plan eats at the very least 8 hours of time every week from our precious family time. May God hold us all together and grant Mark and I the wisdom to know how to handle the next several months.

Tia shared a song with me last night knowing how that music speaks to me. I fear I will have to replace her CD for wearing out that particular song but it does speak to me and yes, I'll share it with you.

"THROUGH"

When I saw what lay before me - "Lord," I cried, "What will you do?"

I thought He would just remove it - But He gently led me through

Without fire, there's no refining - Without pain, no relief

Without flood, there's no rescue - Without testing, no belief

Through the fire, through the flood - Through the water, through the blood

Through the dry and barren places

Through life's dense and maddening mazes

Through the pain, and through the glory - 'Through' will always tell the story

Of a God who's power and mercy - Will not fail to take us through.

Bill & Gloria Gaither & Michael Sykes

Take my hand, precious Lord, lead me on.