Another beautiful Christmas day has come and gone. I have realized that my favorite part of Christmas is actually the preparation. And I thoroughly enjoyed preparing this year. I guess my two favorite gifts this year involved my daughter and and my son. My daughter received her referral to adopt a beautiful little girl from Liberia. This has been a process of over a year and now it seems it really is going to happen. Hopefully by spring we will be meeting little Nana and welcoming her into our family. My other favorite gift is the fact that my son is married and has a beautiful baby boy and has come back to work with his dad. I told my sister today that I don't think we realize the effect particular stresses have on our lives until that stress is gone. The day passed very quickly as it always does and it was a little different this year as Eric had to leave for work and we had to share Mikey with Nicole's family. But all in all it was another beautifully blessed Christmas and I am looking forward to the year ahead. I have learned that we never know what the year may bring but all the challenges we were faced with beginning last Christmas have turned out to be undeniable blessings. I'm sure there will be our share of mountains to climb but we will climb them one at a time with God's help. Happy New Year everyone.