A Merry Christmas Family of Four

Wow.  We had such an amazing Christmas as a family of four! It feels sooo good to say that...and type that.  : )  Wade's parents came down the weekend before Christmas for our first celebration.  Then we had our "family of four" Christmas on Christmas Eve Eve...yep, the Eve's Eve.  Wade had to work Christmas Eve night and Christmas day so Santa came a little bit early.  Then we had our third celebration on Christmas day and night at my parents house.  We even had a birthday cake for Jesus and cool party favors! It is so crazy and a bit numbing to think back to last year at this time.  We had just gotten a call from our caseworker saying a birth mother in Florida picked us and she was due in two weeks.  We frantically began making plans for travel, figuring out more expenses, putting together a nursery, figuring out daycare...etc.  Our hearts were so full and so happy and just truly in shock! A couple of weeks later the shock turned to deeper shock and true heart break.  The birth mother changed her mind.  We of course knew that was a possibility but you don't want to think it will happen.  We were in such a dazed and confused state as we were not ready for that news.  BUT, being "experienced" with heartache and trusting in God's timing as far as our family went, we knew that He was not finished with us.  We knew that our baby was out there and we kept repeating over and over and over...HE MAKES ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR OUR GOOD. After being able to process it all, and share the sad news with the world...it felt like...we were able to cling to each other, the three of us, and move forward.  We stay focused on truth. On hope. On faith. On love.  Just a few short weeks later, we got amazing news once again...and this time it was a "happily ever after" ending.  So many people have prayed for us and have been here for us through all of it.  People have blessed us with gifts, with money, with meals, with ANYTHING we needed to make our dreams come true.  People are good.  Thank you notes were written to all of these people but it will never seem enough and they will never be able to understand how thankful we are to them for every penny, meal, gift, and most importantly their prayers.  God is so good.  I have several dear friends who are hurting right now for one reason or another.  But my hope is that they cling to the fact that He DOES make all things work together for our good.  We are looking forward to many more celebrations...as a family of four.