It's NEW YEARS EVE!!!

HAPPY ALMOST NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

Today was a great day! Gina and Joe invited us to come up and have a New Years Eve dinner with them and another couple and so off we went this afternoon! We had a great time hanging out, had a great dinner, and just enjoyed watching our kids play and have fun together. What a WONDERFUL New Years Eve to finish off the year! Thanks Joe, Gina, and Christian for having us over tonight...we had so much fun:-)

Last year on New Years I was a REAL downer. Wow what a change a year can make. This is my post from my blog last year on New Years....

Welcome 2007!!!
See ya 2006!!

Happy New Year everyone! Can you believe it is that time of year again? It is the time of year when we put the past behind us and the future in front of us. I know for us 2006 was a very, very challenging year. It started off in January when Kris and I found out we could not have any more children. We started the adoption in February and by the end of March we were well on our way. We finished up our dossier in May and in June Mikayla Faith was born into our hearts and lives. In August Alec turned four years old and we flew out the following day to Guatemala to meet Mikayla. We came home in September to find out that our DNA was a match and we were finished with Family Court. In October we got our Pre-Approval after a month wait and entered PGN on October 12th. We had to cancel our 2nd visit trip that would have been over Halloween due to security issues and then found out on November 2nd we were kicked out of PGN because of THEIR error. November flew by, Christmas came and went and now here we are...entering the New Year. How was that for 2007 in a nutshell? This year was about joy and pain, a lot more about faith (hence Mikayla's middle name) and even more about growing as individuals. There is a saying that God never gives you more then you can handle. Well I am hoping He knows I am at my limit.

I am trying to remain optimistic knowing that no matter what...this YEAR Mikayla will come home. I don't know when but she is coming home in 2007. So goodbye 2006 because I am more then ready for 2007. This past month has been the hardest yet and Kris and I are ready for new beginnings, renewed hope, and hopefully no more challenges...we deserve the year off in that department. LOL.

So as we move into 2007 I want to forget about the painful times that 2006 held for us. We are going on almost 12 weeks in PGN. Twelve weeks of sitting here not knowing if that phone will EVER ring telling us we are OUT of PGN and Mikayla is finally ours. But I am hopeful that soon, very soon we WILL get that phone call. I know it WILL come. It will. For the sake of my sanity I sure hope it comes soon.

So God bless 2007...because this is the year that our sweet girl will finally be home and we will finally be a family. It will be filled with memories of my children playing together, a first birthday, a fifth birthday, first steps, first words, and much, much more.
Please continue to pray for Kris and I and this adoption. We will be getting an update on our case this week that is very, very important. Pray that it is a good one.
Happy New Year

Reading this post brings back a flood of memories for me. I was really beginning to fall apart. Not really, I HAD fallen apart. Just ask Kris. I truly didn't think I could handle the wait of the adoption anymore and I can FEEL my own pain when I read that post.

Please note that I wrote that post on January 1st, and on JANUARY 2ND WE GOT THE OUT OF PGN CALL!!! Is that not crazy or WHAT. So God DID know that I was at my limit. That sentence has now become "famous" between me and close family because of how ironic it is. If only I knew that night, when I wrote that post, what I now know. If only I would have been able to just find peace. But I couldn't. But now I have it, my family is complete, and tonight, we enter into a NEW year full of memories awaiting to be made, and we will do it as a family four, a complete family for the entire year...

WELCOME 2008! I am more then ready for you!

Happy New Years Everyone!

~From Mikayla, Mindy, Kris, and Alec~
OK mom...load me into the van and let's head to my boyfriends house! I am all dolled up and ready to go!
Yup...this is the boyfriend I was talking about...I love you Christian!
He has the BEST toys..
Mom...no pictures please

Alec wanted to ride on this Zebra toy ALL night
Hiding behind Joe's leg
Riding on the Zebra Toy...she LOVED it
This is FUN!
No Alec, you can't ride it... it's MINE tonight!

Kris with his two favorite Guat-Tots
This was the ONLY picture Alec would allow me to take of him
Hey Christian...want to go shopping for hot dogs and cookies?
Just a candid shot
On the go....as usual

A two second break
This is the only picture Christian would let me take of HIM!
OK...I snuck this one in too:-)
Christian, Alec, and Kris were playing with this couch and Christian was laughing SO hard!
Look at the SMILE!

OK....these pictures below are SO funny. Mikayla followed Christian into the kitchen and they were totally carrying on a conversation in Guat-A-Talk. It was soooo hilarious. These two are TOO much together. They are like old friends now.

That's all everyone! Have a GREAT New Years and we will see you in 2008!