Merry Christmas!

Our family wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas! This past week has been one that we have taken to reflect on what blessings we have been a part of and those that we have been able to witness. The picture above is one that I wish was a little clearer. There are all of the kids' stockings and our tree in the family room. The nutcrackers on the mantle are ones that my Grandmother gave to each of the great-grandchildren. Those nutcrackers remind me every year how blessed we are to have so many of our grandparents that have taken a role in shaping our own lives. 

Sunday was the choir's Christmas performance. Our kids were part of the children's choir. Here are a couple of pictures from Sunday evening. Kyle is the tallest one on the left and Rebecca is sitting on the chair to the left. 

This picture below has two of my other kiddos. Ben is standing on the far left and Micah is directly behind the chair to the left with his arms resting on the back of that chair. I'm happy that our children love to serve!

     Mariah also enjoyed the program! Of course, she has her snack of juice.

                          I took a far away picture of the entire group!

Becca enjoys just grabbing our camera and snapping a picture of something funny or cute that Mariah is caught doing. Here they were pretending to sleep. Mariah is a thumb sucker but you will only see that when she is sleeping. Also shown is Mariah's beloved Minnie Mouse!

Here is Mariah's first experience with snow! She wasn't sure what it was, so she investigated slowly.

Okay! Now come on over to Mamma! 

Almost there! You are fine.

There is my happy girl!

Jeremy took the older kids out on Saturday afternoon and Mariah and I decided it was finally time to bake some cookies! 

So here is the confession. She took the measuring spoons and licked them. Then proceeded to dip them into the sugar in the mixing bowl. 

She really did "help".

Then she took her nap while I mixed the next batch of Peanut Blossoms. She slept the entire time I baked. Here was the end result! Yes, I'm impressed with my own photography! I cannot believe our camera did such a nice job.

Of course it was Christmas Sunday at church. My girls were so excited to wear their dresses. They were not the same but as close as I could find. They both loved the white fur. Our family picture is at the top of this post. The picture below is a little bit of a devilish grin!

Mariah seemed to make friends with the Wise Men standing with the grouping of trees here at church. She had just kissed them in this picture.

We got a quick picture of our five kids after we got home from church. Our older boys insisted on wearing their suits today to church. Ben terribly wants a suit but has outgrown his. He is between sizes now. The size 8 is too small and the size 10 is huge. So, we picked a red sweater. And yes, he is being silly.

Do we have a busy life? YES!!! Do we have to change our schedules because Mariah is not ready for things yet? Yes. We have all made sacrifices. But I think if you ask my older kids, they do not think of the changes as sacrifices. They are merely changes in our lives to help Mariah adjust. Would we choose to adopt again? We are waiting to hear what God whispers to us. If this is the final number of our family we are fine with that. Are we willing to adopt again? ABSOLUTELY!!!! 

There are so many orphans in this world in desperate need of a family. They have no one to hold them when their fingers get pinched in a door (like what happened when we were leaving church today). They have no one to pick them up off of the floor when they fall out of their crib after balancing on their tummy on the side rail. That also happened to Mariah this past week. The thing is, I think Jeremy raising his voice at her gymnastics is what actually sent her over the edge. Neither of us could get to her fast enough. Unfortunately, we have a hardwood floor in our bedroom. I think she was more scared than hurt. You see, when we first got home and for weeks later, Mariah would never think of even standing in her crib. She acted as though  she was in shock and would only sit and lie down. What a blessing to watch this former orphan blossom into the child we love! What she doesn't know is, we loved her when she was an orphan! She is now a Kaminski!!

I will end with a link to the video that Jeremy made for Mariah. It comes with a warning that you should have a tissue ready while you watch. I cannot imagine if we had chosen to stop the process because it got tough a few times. Our older four children have such a burden for orphans as a result of this adoption. All four of them tell us they plan to adopt when they are married. 

From our busy, happy, blessed home to yours.......Merry Christmas!!