As we approach the day we celebrate our Savior’s birth we are in awe of how much our Heavenly Father truly loves us! We are thankful for God’s constant reminders of His love, even in the simple things like beautiful Christmas songs. Jason and I continue to have a difficult time adjusting to the time zone and we continue to struggle with fatigue and jet lag. For three nights before we got home we had very little sleep and our bodies are still trying to adjust to being in this time zone. This is not a good combination for great parenting:( Our children are absolutely amazing despite it all. Yesterday three of our children came to me as I was trying to find some things to pack and they all hugged me and jokingly were each saying they loved me more. Thank you, Lord for special moments like this in the midst of the stress and exhaustion! We ask for prayer for rest for me and Jason. Yesterday I was able to sleep until 3:30 a.m. so that was better but this morning it was 2:30 a.m. when my body decided I should be awake. I can get a lot done in the early morning but by afternoon my body starts shutting down. Jason wakes up multiple times each night also. On Tuesday the reality of me leaving soon set in so please pray for his stress level as well. This will be the longest time that I have been away from the children with him alone in the parenting. There have been a few times in our married life that we have been apart and I have taken the children because he has had to stay to work but he has never been daddy without me for an extended period of time. I know he will do an excellent job! He will also go back to work in the new year after being away for a month and a half. (Jason stopped in to wish everyone a Merry Christmas at work yesterday morning and the students and staff were all thrilled to see him. It is nice to be missed.) We ask for peace and protection over our family during more adjustments. I have 3 more days at home with my husband and children and even though we try not to think about it, it will be reality very soon. Please pray that while I am gone, God will provide what my family needs. Please also pray that there will be no flight delays of any kind on December 25 and 26. I am on a tight time frame to get to Ukraine by Monday afternoon with enough time to get on the overnight train to our girl’s region. I absolutely have to get to her region on Tuesday morning to pick up our daughter, the court decree, and the new birth certificate in order to begin the process for a new passport. The passport office only assists with the paperwork and mailing of passports on Tuesdays. If I get delayed with plane or train travel and do not get passport paperwork completed on December 27, we would have to wait another week in that region before we could start the process for a new passport. It will take a minimum of 10 days to get the new passport so we really do not want to wait any longer than we have to. I also do not want to stay in the conflict region for an extra week without my husband. After we have requested a new passport we are allowed to leave that region and go back to Kiev to wait. Please continue to pray for the two host families who are hosting our girls’ friends. I spoke with the host family on Tuesday who is hosting a 10 year old girl and her 7 year old brother. We had been emailing and I felt the need to call them. The host mother said my call was very timely as they had a hard morning. She is struggling with being mommy to two additional children when her 3 biological children are still young. She is experiencing many of the same feelings I experienced this summer when we hosted the 9 year old girl. The two orphans are so sweet but she is realizing that it is harder than she thought it would be to have two more children who have lived a different life than her children and do not understand the language. Please pray for strength and peace for that family. I was so thankful to have the opportunity to provide support to this family and to pray with the mom on the phone. I know God urged me to call her because being the loving God He is, He knew she needed encouragement. I was also thrilled to talk to the 10 year old girl on the phone. She sounded happy, especially that her brother is not sick anymore. She told me that she loved the chicken her host mom fed them and she loved the bed that is “so soft”. What a luxury to have a soft bed with sheets and warm blankets! The brother has already told the host mom he does not want to go back to Ukraine. My prayer is that God will raise up loving families to care for so many orphans who deserve a better life, one where they are loved and cherished unconditionally. I am praising God for the time I have with my family and for how very soon we will be able to adjust to a new normal with our new daughter. We are so thankful that I was able to attend Zoey’s first basketball game on Tuesday. Jason and I missed so much while being gone, the play Zoey was in at church, the play Levi was in at Options, Caleb singing his Christmas songs at Options, the boys singing offertory songs with other children at church, and the list goes on. Pray that our children feel extra loved by their parents this Christmas despite all our stress and fatigue. Pray for God to be preparing our children for their new sister and for sharing mom and dad with one more sibling. Our roller coaster ride of the last two years leading up to adoption is far from being over. Only God can keep our family protected from the uncertainties and we trust He will not only do that but make each one of us stronger in the process. Our family has grown closer and stronger through all we have endured. Our prayer is that God will continue to strengthen and draw us closer to Him and to each other. May you see and feel God’s abundant love for you this Christmas!