Noelle Dreams & Beyond

Well, it's the eve of the last day of 2007. I have to say I'm ready for 2008 and the hope that it brings. Of course this year has brought lots to celebrate, and we have ended it with a wonderful, busy, fun-filled Christmas with family. We're so blessed to have the love of family at Christmastime and every day throughout the year. I thought I'd share some of our joy in pictures: HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!

We traveled 6 hours yesterday to be fingerprinted for the second time by the federal government for our adoption, which means we've been fingerprinted 3 times in 2 years. The SBI doesn't talk to the FBI and vice versa, so we had to do separate fingerprinting for our adoption and for our fostering license. And because fingerprints expire after 15 months, we've had to do them twice for our China adoption. Oh, the joys of red tape. On the bright side, we got to spend lunch with my sister Rachel, brother-in-law Justin, and the now famous from talking about them so much and posting pictures on my blog, Savannah and Byers. We love being Uncle Chris and Aunt Kat. Of course Mama and Daddy would be nice, too. Santa, do you hear me?

Whew! It's been a busy few weeks since Thanksgiving. I celebrated my 33rd birthday this past Monday and haven't had time to blog about it until now. I'm working 4 days a week again at my day job (temporarily, until we hire another replacement for me - don't ask), and I've been feeling pretty wiped out between that and teaching yoga and holiday preparations - not much energy left to blog. But I have some updates, and I want to share some birthday pix. Turning 33 was not all that fun for me, I must admit. Chris and I certainly thought we'd have kids by now. I was actually a bit glum when I woke up Monday morning, knowing that we'd be spending another Christmas without children and without any idea of when there would be children in our lives. But with Chris' help, I pulled myself together and made the best of the day. To start off, he gave me the loveliest gifts - two scarves from my favorite store, Ten Thousand Villages, and a hat to match one of ...