On the First Day of Christmas

Our Christmas celebration started December 23rd at the Sansgaard/Ward house. We played games, ate prime rib, opened gifts and had lots of good old family fun. A highlight this year was meeting Jeff's new girlfriend. I would argue that sisters (especially sisters who are overly protective of their baby brother) might be the toughest audience to introduce the person you are dating. I will be the first to admit we have been a little hard on Jeff's past girlfriends. That said we loved Lisa!! She braved a snow storm to spend the evening with us even though she had to work the night shift. She is a Gustavus Nurse, who likes to travel, and was willing to play games with us. We, of course, did our best to impress her.

It's o.k. she fit right in

Baby it's Cold Outside

But not too cold for a day of sledding!

Christmas Decor

Merry Christmas!! O.k. I'm not actually writing this on Christmas but with predictions of a big Christmas snow storm, I'm wondering who asked Santa for snow?

I made the mistake of looking back at this post which reminded me that this is the third Christmas in a row I'm working on stage one paperwork for our adoption - Yikes!! I feel like we are running in place but somehow leaving a trail of money behind. It also reminded me that what we are going through is nothing compared to what our child is going through so, hang in there kiddo, hopefully we will be there soon.

I still didn't decorate this year but I did pull out my favorite Christmas decoration. Our Christmas card album. I started it the year we got married. I put in the picture we send out to represent our family every year. (I never thought I would send out my fifth one without kids but hey, that's my family and I'm still proud of it.) I write a little bit about how we spend the Christmas holiday and have a few pages of a collage of the pictures people send us. It is fun to pull it out every year for a trip down memory lane and to see how families have changed.

MMMMMMM.....

'Tis the season to eat way to many deliciously sugary treats!!

Cousin Liz hosted a cookie exchange this year. Being the wonderful elementary school teacher she is, she read the book Christmas Cookies. It was a great reminder of being happy with what you have and sharing it with others this holiday season. I went out to buy it for The Rooski's library but found this book on the Christmas display instead.
Our child could be celebrating their first or even second Christmas in an orphanage without a family this year. I had to buy something so he or she will know we were thinking about them and missing them this year!

P.S. I'm pretty sure the person who said they would never eat all those cookies finished them first!

Christmas Season Kick Off

Maren and Ken hosted their annual Christmas party the first weekend in December. There was family, friends, and food aplenty! Thanks Maren and Ken! Anyone who decides to host a party during the busy Christmas season needs a bottle of wine that big!
Sibling pic, Jessie was home from Seattle to meet the baby.
Jeff texting his new girlfriend (oops did I write that out loud?) and Brian making new friends.

Well Ella, has Brian been naughty or nice?
Yes, that is Yoda on top of the tree and Jeff is wearing a women's sweatshirt.

Everett

My new nephew Everett was scheduled to make an appearance on First Thursday. We thought that was appropriate for this family so we all went to the hospital to wait impatiently. He was a no show. Instead he arrived on Friday at 6:40 in the evening. He weighed in at 8 lbs 3 ounces and was 21 inches long. According to this proud Auntie he is ADORABLE! Congrats Ken and B, we are so happy to have Everett as part of our family.

Long Time No Blog

We made the decision to go back to Russia. I know those of you who know details about our experience are thinking "what the?!" Besides the fact that we spent the last 2 years getting excited about our Russian/American family we also found, while researching new agencies, Russia is still a stable, fast(ish) moving program. We feel from talking with other agencies that we hit some bad luck last time. We were placed in an unstable region (they no longer refer kids to the U.S.) and in an agency that was struggling with their Russia program. Yes, we are worried these things can happen again.

So we have begun phase one of the Dossier paper chase for the third time. We had some great luck coming across this post literally days before our 171 H (acceptance of our advance processing of an orphan petition) expired. It will still take a few months but saved us $800. Thanks Susan! We also hit a set back, our new agency wants our home study to be completely redone, which means another home visit and more discussion about the intimate details of our childhood, family, parenting styles, marriage and faith with basically a total stranger. Soooo not Brian and I. It looks like phase one might take a few months. I will let you know when our Dossier gets closer to completion.

While the paper chase consumes a lot of my time off we have also had some fun this month. We celebrated Emma's 4th Birthday with a costume party. Yes, I went as a witch to a 4 year old's birthday party but see post above. I'm trying to fund an adoption and two costumes are not in the budget. Don't worry I was a nice, not scary witch.
We celebrated Mom's Birthday at Fogo de Chao - Yum!

We took a road trip to Michigan to spend Thanksgiving with Grandma, Aunt Jan and family. We got to see Lydia as The Little Dutch Girl in A Miracle on 34th Street. I think you can see how cute that was!!
I also became an aunt, again. But that definitely deserves its own post!

Witching Hour

Jen had her annual Hunter's Widow Sleepover earlier this month. Every year there is a theme and this year was witches. Oddly enough we ran into another group of witches.

Fall's Fading Fast

I don't know if it is the fact that it gets dark so early now or that there are more leaves on the ground than on the trees but winter is coming and with it days of being stuck inside. A perfect time to hunker down with dossier paperwork! Yep, we have decided to begin the adoption process again. We are more than a little scared but finally at a point where we can be excited too. In some ways it might be easier because we have some stuff behind us, our home study will only need some updating, we may be able to get an extension on our 171 H, and we are pros at dossier paperwork having done it twice already. In some ways harder, we have the fear of things going horribly wrong again, we need a new agency and possibly a new country, and we have done the dossier paperwork twice before so we know how challenging it can be. Wish us luck......

Welcome Sammy

The Waldorf gang got together to celebrate a new member, Samuel Joseph. I wonder if the thought of meeting each other's grandchildren ever crossed their minds during life in Johnson Hall?

Fall Favorite

A fall favorite for me is a trip to The Pine Tree Apple Orchard. I can't believe it has already been a year since the last trip. Not quite the year we were expecting..... But I guess that's life, so back to the apple orchard. It actually snowed the morning we planned to go. Not a good sign for this winter since it is only October 10th but the first snow is always pretty and somehow a novelty so I couldn't resist getting a few pictures.

Maren and Ken got their professional pictures back which are great but we couldn't resist making fun of some of the silly poses.

Then it was off to the apple orchard for a hay ride, corn maze, pumpkin patch and shopping.


A trip to the apple orchard wouldn't be complete without an afternoon of apple baking. I made Dad's (great-grandma Lydia's) apple crisp. Maren made an apple butter pie. Mom made an apple spice cake, an apple custard pie, and apple butter chocolate chip cookies. YUM!!