Welcome to our family website.

This blog, which began as a therapeutic outlet during the wait for our daughter's arrival, morphed into a place to share feelings, ask for support, and flip through a virtual 'brag book' of photos. NOW, as we embark on our second adoption trek, please join us as we plan, pray, and travel again to the other side of the world to be united with the next piece of our family puzzle.

Peace & Blessings...Beth & Ron (and Hope too)

Monday, December 31, 2007

Happy New Year

A new year and a new look for the blog. Why not? :)

Before 2007 comes to a close I wanted to share a bit more about our first Christmas with Hope home. She is an absolute miracle and brought so much joy to our celebrations it is difficult to put into words. Holidays in recent years have been clouded with bits of sadness. No matter how hard we tried not to let them, feelings of infertility heartache, questions about our family plans and God's plans for our lives, and struggles with personal feelings of inadequacy and lack of control over our situation, crept into our days. It was completely unavoidable. There were natural questions from curious people about our adoption plans and WHY on earth were things taking so long. At any rate...I won't dwell here. I now have some answers! If we hadn't experienced our tangled emotions, we maybe wouldn't be able to honor and bask in the joy we're experiencing now. If we hadn't faced our fertility issues and been challenged with choices about growing our family, we may not have been open to God's gentle guidance. If we hadn't waited (and waited some more) for such a long time, we may not have learned such a lesson in patience, and we wouldn't have been united with her ~ our daughter. Our Hope.

Our first Christmas holiday as a family of 4, including Ella :), has been amazing. I'll post more about it tomorrow. We are about to have guests for the night. I've started the typing but still need to add photos, so tune in tomorrow for more. For now...HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone! We're wishing you many many blessings in 2008.

Beth, Ron, & Hope

4 comments:

Melody said...

And we're so happy that Hope is exactly where she was always supposed to be. I wish you guys the very best year ever!! Happy 2008.
Love,
Mel

Anonymous said...

I think I hear a giggle.

- anymouse

Anonymous said...

I just love the black & white shots of Hope - wow and her hair is getting long too. We are happy to hear that you had such a good holiday.

Hope to see you all again soon.
Blessings The Mottos

RamblingMother said...

Very good picture. She is beautiful.

Beverly