Initially I was going to write a Christmas letter and
include it in our Christmas cards. And
then I realized, I write about our lives regularly in our blog so to sum it all
up in one succinct letter seemed silly. Instead, we thought it would be easier to have everyone visit our blog for our Christmas card
post. And here it is!!
Last year at this time we were preparing for Justin’s
graduation with his Masters in English Education and it was also Jack’s first
Christmas! This last year has been an
amazing time for Justin in his first year of teaching. After graduating, he took the spring semester
to cover two different long term substitute positions at local high
schools. For the fall he was offered a position in Norfolk teaching eighth grade reading. While it has been a challenge, he
knows he is right where he’s supposed to be.
As for me, I am still working with the same company in the same office but have put my advanced degree on hold for now. I miss my boys so much while I am at work that anything else that tugs at my heart just cannot seem to compete for my time right now.
Having Jack in our family has made for an awesome year. Watching him grow and change and learn
everyday is such a treat. He brings such
joy to our lives and we cannot imagine life without him. He is truly a boy’s boy and loves to throw
the ball, play outside, and run his cars and trucks around the house. He is also very kindhearted and is tender
with his baby dolls and stuffed animals.
What would bedtime be without the slew of animals and blankies in the
crib? Jack has the amazing privilege of
being cared for by his papa (Amanda’s dad) and his Ho-Ho (Justin’s dad) while
mom and dad are at work. We have been
blessed by support from our families and it puts us at ease knowing Jack is in
great hands with family!
As you all know by now, we are on the waiting list for our
adoption process and hope that 2013 will be the year we bring home our baby boy
from Uganda! The waiting has been very
difficult and with the uncertainty in the country it seems our timeline
continues to get pushed back every few months.
The wait time when we started was 6-8 months after immigration approval but
now it is up to 12-15 months. As we
received immigration approval in April, 2012, we hope and pray we will receive a
referral in the spring which would most likely have us traveling in the
summer. We encourage you to follow our
blog (click the “Join This Site” link in the panel on the right) to receive
a notification when we make any updates or post blog entries.
I cannot talk about our adoption without speaking to how we
have been blessed in the support raising.
We have had so many of you give your time and talents to help us raise
funds and we are getting closer and closer to our goal to raise half of our total needed funds
for this process which equates to approximately $15,000! We see this as further
affirmation that we are following God’s calling to adopt a little boy from Uganda
and cannot thank you enough for supporting us!
You are amazing!!
Barring any unforeseen circumstances (like we somehow
miraculously get a referral in the next two weeks) this will be the last blog
post of the year. We are very much looking
forward to spending some quality time together as a family and
not thinking about work or anything we “have” to do.
Much love this holiday season!
Much love this holiday season!
Blessings to you and yours,
Justin, Amanda, and Jack
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