Christmas around our house

As we are enjoying this Christmas season with our kiddos, we can't help but think about and wonder about Max. We are preparing our hearts for the long wait ahead of us, but we still have reminders of him (whoever he is!) around our house.

We got a couple of these great ornaments from Kim! They are filled with Ethiopian coffee beans and detailed with handmade magazine beads. We love them! You can order until Dec. 15 for this year. All proceeds help their family adopt siblings from Ethiopia!

She even personalized them for us....it's Max's first Christmas ornament! :) Love it!!

We also have five stockings hung on our mantle this year! However, this makes Murphy's second Christmas without his name embroidered on his stocking...I waited too late again to take it somewhere to get it done! By the time I thought about it, I wanted it hanging with the rest of the family's stockings. It's definitely on my to-do list for January before I pack it up again and uncover it blank again after Thanksgiving 2012...if I can find a suitable "forever" stocking for Max!

I ordered these five stocking  before MR's first Christmas...all five designs that The Company Store had in this collection. I thought we might have more kids later so I might as well get extras.

Well. For some reason, I had Wes' name put on the Santa, mine on the (unisex) Christmas tree, Mary Reeves on the (unisex) snowmen, which leaves a nutcracker for Murphy's.......and a lovely, blonde, white angel for Max! Umm, no! I have no clue why I didn't just put my name on the angel, when all of the other designs would have worked for our future sons or daughters!!! So I've been scouring eBay for a matching stocking in any of the designs because the pale, girly angel certainly won't do! So much for my thinking ahead, huh?? God had different plans for our family! Even if we have to get a whole new set of stockings [next Christmas?? :)], it will soooo be worth it!!

I also mentioned our countdown-to-Christmas sticker nativity. Every day, Mary Reeves adds the star sticker for that day, plus a special sticker that goes along with the day's Scripture reading. After days of adding animals, water jugs and hay, she was so pumped to finally put some people on there when Mary and Joseph appeared this weekend. Except for that random sheep in the sky, she's doing a good job with her manger scene!

I'll post the finished product after we celebrate Jesus' birthday with a Funfetti cake! We made one last year on Christmas day, and when we were shopping in Kroger last weekend, she remembered that we had to get Jesus' cake mix for his b-day cake...apparently only Funfetti will do now! I'm not complaining!

I'm also on a blog giveaway win streak! Wonderful Katie emailed that I won a T-shirt from her giveaway! Whoo hoo! Wes is going to love his Christmas present from me! :) You can stop by their blog and get your own T-shirt or magazine bead necklace. Thanks, Braddy Bunch!

Our adoption consultant doesn't work on Tuesdays, so I'm hoping to hear from her TOMORROW that we are on the waitlist!! Fingers crossed!