A VERY Merry CHRISTmas!!! (Adoption Update)

Merry CHRISTmas!!! I hope your time with family, cherishing the Savior's birth, and eating lots was amazing.  Ours was!

Our FAVORITE gift was an email from our social worker with THE ARTICLE 5 LETTER!!!!!! Hallelujah!!! It's here!!! Now, we are JUST waiting on court dates!!!!!!! It's REALLY happening!!! Hopefully this time NEXT MONTH we will have a kiddo AT HOME!!!!! O praise the Lord!!!

It's funny though... all throughout this year I kept thinking that all the paperwork would be done on certain days. Jacob's birthday? Definitely not! My birthday? Nope! Eric's birthday? Almost... Jesus' birthday? OF COURSE!!! We received the email on Christmas Eve!!! That's soooo like our great God!!! I didn't expect anyone to be doing any work on Christmas Eve... but of course... our God was working on our behalf and delivered the best Christmas gift EVER!!!

Jacob asked me what I am going to do when we get the email with the travel dates. I said, "I will most definitely pee on myself!!!" I cannot wait to go get our Eric!!! What a great day that will be! So please pray that those dates are set QUICKLY and that I'm not in a public place when I get the email! Haha!

My heart is FINALLY ready to buy, decorate, and get things looking like he is COMING!!! We went on a massive shopping spree the day after Christmas. We spent lots of the gift cards Eric got for his birthday - so thank you all who gave!!! We got to buy him games!!!, clothes, undies, socks, laundry basket (you know a teenage boy needs his own), headphones, skateboard, shoes, and much more! It was so fun shopping for our kiddo! We can't wait for him to be here and play/see/wear everything... we'll probably help out on some of that playing!

So here's some pics from our Christmas... hope yours was just as festive:

First stop - Christmas Eve at my grandparents:

Here are my 2 favorite men in all the world - my PawPaw and my hubby! Can't get better than that! 

Here are some of my favorite women - my auntie M, Mom, and Nanny!!! Love it! 

Me & my cuzzy! We've been besties since we were babies! :) 

Some of my cousins! 

This is a family tradition - Dirty Santa! We play every year! It's super fun. 

This year was pretty vicious! Presents stolen all over the place! Jacob and I actually walked out with the presents we wanted!! woot woot! 

My cuzzy's kiddo got a cape!!! Some might call that extra-large Superman underwear. Nope... it's actually a superhero cape! BOOM! 

Fun times. 

Here's the grandparents and the kiddos.

Love these people. They care for each other like a family should - sacrifice, working together, fixing issues, and making sure their parents are taken care of. 

P.S. - I hope I still look at Jacob like my Nanny looks at "her man." Even though she doesn't know what's going on a lot of the time... she loves her man. She always thinks he's cute and sweet. 

My family.

Third stop (second stop was Christmas breakfast at mom's) - Christmas day at Jacob's parents:

We got the parentals hand-painted ornaments with their grandkids on it. Mom's says "We love Grann" with Walter, Jubi, and Eric on it.  Jacob's parent's says "We love Grammy and Big D" with the faces of Johanna, Kylie (will be born in January), and Eric on it! Love them! 

Jared and Ashley got me an ornament with Belize on it. LOVE THIS! Belize will ALWAYS have a special part in our lives! It's already hanging on my tree, which will be up until Eric gets here! 

We got Jojo a Snow White doll. It was a hit!! She loved it and smooched it a lot! 

 I like her - she's funny and awfully cute! 

Grammy got her a princess tower!!!! She loves it and wants everyone to come in it with her... so we did! 

Here's Jo and Grammy! 

Here's the grandkids! They are pretty cute! 

Jared, Jacob, Zack, Mallory, and Carly! 

Here's the whole Morgan crew

And JoJo discovered static electricity = HILARIOUS! 

Fourth stop - dinner with my brother, sis-in-law, niece, and nephew!

Love this picture! 

A Belated Christmas

PRAISE THE LORD! The medical form has been received!
***PLEASE PRAY IT'S SUFFICIENT AND EXACTLY WHAT'S NEEDED***

What's next you might ask?
to clarify - this medical form was needed to meet the state of Alabama pre-adopt requirements. It's usually (for families from every other state) not needed until after the adoption is finalized in country... but for us... we needed it before we could travel. Go figure...
Since it's been sent (and IF it's enough), the Article 5 Letter will be released from the US Embassy. Not sure exactly what the letter says, but it, I think, gives us permission to come to Belize for the adoption process.
Once that is sent, there will be some meetings with Eric, our attorney, and his caseworker in Belize within the legal system to ensure everything is ready to go.  Then... OUR COURT DATES! The dates we will be in Belize to GET OUR SON!!! Oh... what a day that will be! Can you imagine what a wreck/crazy lady I'll be in the airport???? O wow! 

So... if you haven't figured it out yet, Eric will not be here for December 25th. It is was it is. I know God is able and He is completely in control and that there are reasons. There are things going on that we cannot see. I wanted Eric to be here so bad. It breaks my heart that he won't be. It makes me mad (really... mad. I feel like a 5-year old that wants to have a tantrum) that I have to send a small Christmas present to Belize. I hate, most of all, that he has to spend yet another Christmas in the orphanage. I had imagined this Christmas, December 25th, so perfectly in my head... our whole family... including Eric... just celebrating. But... things don't always go my way.

What does that mean for us?
Well... in all honesty... I want to be the Grinch. I want to be a bah-hum-bug and just gripe and feel sorry for all of the above. I want to mope around and just be frustrated because it didn't happen how I dreamed... and prayed.
But... I can't. I won't. I must cherish everyday with Jacob... out last few weeks (God willing) as a married couple without kiddos.  I must be joyful. I must put my hope in Jesus... not in the events or delays surrounding this adoption... that's tough sometimes.
And Christmas... well Christmas will just come a little late for the Morgans this year. Our tree will be up, presents will be wrapped, stockings will be hanging, wreaths will be mounted, and Christmas music playing UNTIL ERIC IS HOME! We will have Christmas together. We will have family together... celebrating Jesus birth and Eric's arrival. We will have present time, yummy food, and good times. We will take pictures with the Christmas tree. We will find a Santa Claus (Hey... Big-D!) We may even send out Christmas cards (just laugh and hang it up if you get one in February... haha!).

On that note - please forgive me if you don't receive Christmas cards from us before December 25th... because you probably won't. Please forgive me if you don't even get a present from us yet (it's coming). Please just have some mercy on me this year... I'm a little all over the place.

I can't wait to watch Eric see his first bedroom all to himself. Can't wait to see him open presents that are all his. Can't wait to read the the Christmas story with him. Can't wait... 

Our God is good... He always is. He cannot fail us. He will always defend the fatherless. Just because I prayed fervently for our Eric to be here by Christmas and it's not turning out like I hoped, DOES NOT mean He didn't hear or He isn't faithful. He is a Good Father. He only gives good things to His children. His plans are not for evil. He is teaching us and molding us into the mom and dad Eric needs.

PRAY PRAY PRAY for quick processes, for court dates to be set up quickly, for everything to fall together EXACTLY how it should. Pray for my sanity... and Jacob's. Pray that Eric would be comforted and that he knows, with no doubt, that he is loved and wanted... that his family is so anxious to come and get him! 

I'll leave you with my favorite Christmas song... I thought this version was fun:

Oh Christmas...

It's Christmas time!!! 

Some of you are probably like... no, it's not. It's just December 2nd.  Well... it's been Christmas time for me since about... oh... November 1st!! I love this time of year! It's just wonderful. It's joyous and it just makes my heart happy.  If I'm listening to Christmas music, I don't care that I'm at work or that it's cold and my checks are freezing off or that my hair didn't do what I wanted it to do or that my belly is hungry... I'm just jolly because it's Christmas!! I can't explain it.  It's just the facts. 

This year especially, our house is filled with Christmas joy. Jacob and I have both fought for and with JOY all year!! We will celebrate!! We will decorate with JOY. We will give with JOY. We will pay bills with JOY. We will remember and treasure our Savior's birth with JOY!

Please note the Christmas plates on the shelves and the JOY decorations - these were Jacob's decorating ideas. He's my regular little Martin Stewart! :) 

This is our Christmas tree

It's actually pretty and funny. Jacob was SO upset.  We were decorating and listening to Christmas music because that equals PERFECTION.  Suddenly, Jacob cries out, "ANNA, COME HERE!" So I run in the living room thinking is horribly wrong.  His face is so distraught and troubled. He has the pieces of our fake Christmas tree in his hands. He looks up at me and says, so sadly, "our Christmas tree is... black." I doubt him, but with a closer look it most certainly is black.  We had this same tree last year, but we suspect that the green carpet in the trailer made the Christmas tree look more green.  We even looked on the box.  Sure enough, it's called "Colorado Black Pine Tree." HA! Who knew?  Jacob is upset about this blunder.  But, with lights on it and the light not on... it looks like a normal guy! Jacob said he wouldn't tell anyone that our tree is gothic, but EVERY person that has come to our house... he has told. Ha! 

I like our tree. It has our special ornaments from our wedding with notes from our closet friends and family on it. It has ornaments we've been given as a couple. And, of course, my favorite Disney character ornaments - those cannot be left out!!! :) 

In this Advent time of waiting and preparing and cherishing the most amazing story of humility - the birth of our Savior - I will choose to WAIT with patience and joy.  I am waiting on many things in my life right now... and I'm learning to do so with patience, with hope, with joy, with passion, with PRAYER! As the world waited so long for a Savior so many years ago, remember and CHERISH Him this holiday season. TALK ABOUT HIM. Worship Him. Seek Him. Rejoice in Him. 

I'll leave you with my favorite Christmas video of ALL times!!! :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS TIME!!!