Santa even remembered Meili!
We enjoyed the play, then Audrey was treated to dessert and her 5th nutcracker. Love you Audrey-girl!
I almost went to work and skipped the Preschool Christmas Party. I didn't know that parents were expected to stay and would be treated to a performance (The note read more like you could stay if you wanted and maybe you could help pass out cookies, etc.) I'm glad I made a change of plans or Xander would have been the only one there without a parent with the exception of the kid whose mom was at the hospital in labor. My office hours would not have made as acceptable an excuse... I'm so glad I went. Xander was proud as a peacock and did such a good job singing his songs. I love the look on his face here.
Some people love to hate family Christmas letters. Truth is, I thought about letting our annual Christmas letter go this year but the kids really look forward to hearing their year summed up in a paragraph and remembering the silly things said and done that might otherwise be forgotten. Before you proceed, let me just remind you that you are here and reading this of your own free will and volition...;o)
Matt is still saving the world one package at a time as UPS’s most loyal employee. One of the highlights of his year was traveling to Seattle with his parents in June. They thought he was accompanying them to his cousin, Josh’s wedding. Really, he was along for the chance to visit the hallowed birthplace of United Parcel Service. Photos were taken and a rubbing of the founding plaque now hangs on his office wall. It’s in a 20 x 30 frame. (I’m in a 3x5.) If I could sum up Matt’s year in one word it would be ‘service.’ Matt has been involved with Make Way for Books, United Way projects and most recently organized an aid station for bike riders on the Tour de Tucson route. Next year he hopes to be a rider! Matt also works with the 12 and 13 year old scouts at church. He spent many months during ’08 working with them on their Personal Fitness merit badge charting their progress running a mile, doing pull-ups, sit ups, etc. He couldn’t resist charting his own progress, as well. When he related this at work, a co-worker made the observation - ‘So, basically you’re racing children?’ 
Jenn is still doing adoption home studies although business has been quite slow. To fill in the gaps, I’ve been reorganizing and managing the files at the main office and preparing Kyrgyzstan dossiers-almost makes me wish I'd studied Russian instead of Spanish. I was able to travel to Minnesota in April to attend an agency partner conference and then planned a small weekend getaway to Sedona with Matt for our 15th wedding anniversary (Time flies!) and to attend cousin Aprille’s wedding. My renewed hobby is grinding wheat and baking from scratch. I've conquered pizza crust and a variety of muffins and have my sights set on tortillas. With all the doom and gloom in the news about the economy, I’ve taken my bargain hunting hobby to a new level. I am now an avid couponer and find pure joy in getting many grocery items for free or close to it. (Check out the sidebar for details! Seriously, coupons are going to be cool in '09. Trust me.) This exuberance coming from the girl who used to hide in the car with the seat reclined to avoid being seen at Target as a teenager!
Taylor turned 13 this year and is in the 8th grade. He still plans to be a meteorologist one day and has registered as a Southern Arizona Weather Watcher. It is a crack up to hear him call in his weather reports complete with precipitation descriptions and estimations of wind velocity. Just yesterday, he met his favorite local meteorologist, Chuck George (For Taylor, bigger than Oprah!), who was kind enough to have a quick chat with him about the colleges that he should be thinking about applying to and the classes he should be taking in preparation. I can't believe that we'll be registering him for high school in just a few months! Taylor plays the violin at school-a self-proclaimed ‘orch dork!’ He is also busy preparing to complete his Eagle project in the next few months. A few months ago, Matt introduced Taylor to the Twilight series. He was quick to initially dismiss it as a ‘girl book’ but gave it another shot when he realized that it is also a 'girls will talk to me if they see me with it' book. Needless to say, he read all 4 books in record time!
Audrey is 10 years old and is enjoying being a 5th grader-top of the elementary school food chain in our state. She plays the flute and the piano and is still attending Achievement Days at church. In February, our family got cable for the first time and our only regret is Audrey’s obsession with the Disney channel. We’re convinced that she would jump through the screen and join them if she could. While the first name of her future husband is yet to be determined, Audrey is fairly certain that her last name will one day be 'Jonas.' Audrey participated in cheer camp again this year and completed Babysitter Bootcamp. She watches the little boys for us for short periods of time and has even babysat outside of our home on a few occasions. She is really good with small children. I can’t wait to see her with her little sister!
Noah, at the ripe age of 7, has a serious crush on Taylor Swift despite Jenn’s standing ‘NO COUNTRY IN THE HOUSE’ rule. He's asked if he can send her a birthday present and often asks to eat at Cracker Barrel 'because that is her favorite restaurant.' He is also strangely enamored with politicians. During campaign season, our otherwise shy Noah chased a state legislator down the street barefoot just to introduce himself and shake his hand. Noah loves 2nd grade and wants Ms. Tinney to be his teacher ‘for the rest of his life.’ He is looking forward to turning 8 next year. He has agreed to postpone his baptism by a month or two if China travel interferes but was concerned that doing so might preclude him from joining cub scouts (?). One of the highlights of Noah’s year was watching a bobcat stalking prey (quail) in the wash that borders our home from his upstairs bedroom window. It was better than the Discovery Channel! 
Xander celebrated his 5th birthday this year by fishing for ostriches and riding in a monster truck at Picacho Peak. He loves to do his chores, wants to marry his mother and often prays for divine intervention in vital skills like learning to wink. To give you the whole picture we should also report that during 2008 Xander added running away from home, being kicked out of his Primary (Sunday school) class and stealing a sizable amount of cash from Jenn’s purse and stuffing it in his sock drawer to his been-there-done-that list. We are crossing our fingers that he has gotten it all out of his system at an early age and will be a mellow teenager... He attends Mr. Merrit’s class at St. Andrew’s preschool two days a week with his best buddies, Evan and Bennett. His first report card was hilarious. We loved how it described his behavior in terms such as ‘Oral communication is an area of strength for Xander’ when we know it really meant, ‘This kid never shuts up!’
We really hoped that this would be the year that our Christmas card would read, 'Meili Christmas!' and feature 5 faces instead of 4. Nine months of pregnancy culminating in childbirth now seems like a relatively easy way to have a child. In fact, we now have waited for Meili longer than Jenn was pregnant with all four kids combined. What a learning experience this has been! We certainly recognize the children that we have for the miracles that they are and have also learned that patience and faith go hand in hand. If good things come to those who wait, we are convinced that Heavenly Father has quite a blessing in store for us! We are eager to prove that this adoption is not a figment of our imagination by sending out an email and posting to the blog as soon as we have some good news and photo evidence to share (April or May?) so stay tuned!
Third time's a charm! I lost two other bids previously on two completely different diaper bags but now I'm so glad that I did. I had never seen this style before but when I did, I fell in love. If you can't tell from the photo, it's chocolate brown with pink cherry blossoms. I've wanted a Petunia Picklebottom diaper bag for a very long time but never thought that I would be able to afford one. I can't believe I get to cross this off of my list! I LOVE ebay!!! (-and my husband who rolled his eyes but let me buy it anyway.)
Anyone that knows me knows that I love to save a buck. That's why I'm so sick about the speeding ticket I got on Saturday. $135 fine or $190 for traffic school. Ugh! Do you know how many coupons I'm going to have to clip to make up for this?! I was going 60 in a 45. I honestly had no idea. I was driving the Suburban for the first time in a while. I've been driving Matt's Neon to save $ for the last week or so (surprise, surprise.) My guess is that I had grown unaccustomed to the V8 and smooth ride and underestimated my speed. So, I'm adding DRIVING THE SPEED LIMIT to my list of 'Things I Do to Save a Buck.'
I may be a bit delayed in this but is anyone else freaking out about the Melamine issue in China? My agency sent out an email shortly after the news first broke assuring us that they had checked with each of the handful of orphanages where the children referred to their agency usually come from and assured us that none of them were using the affected formulas. If I remember correctly, I think the email said that the affected formulas were very expensive and thus not likely to be used by the orphanages. Fast forward to last week and blog buddy Erin is in China and finds out that two of her travel mates children have just been diagnosed with kidney stones. This means that her daughter has likely had the tainted formula and since she is with the same agency that we are, we can't be all that sure that Meili has not been exposed to it too. I can't imagine what kind of sicko would put poison in babies' primary food source. I hope that they get what is coming them and that the children affected get the help that they need and are on the mend very soon.
In other China adoption news, I just put a check in the mail to USCIS for fingerprinting renewal. Ouch. I guess I should put the fine for my speeding ticket in the mail along with it. Double ouch.
Today marks 31 months since we were LID. Slowly but surely, we are getting there. We often hear that after referral, the wait seems like a distant memory. I honestly can't imagine that being the case , but I figured why not document the process just to be safe. I can't wait to watch this with Meili one day when she is old enough to understand, not because I want her to feel like she owes us anything, but because I want her to know that she was wanted and loved for a very long time before she joined our family. So, here it is. A huge thank you to those of you who sent pictures and especially to those friends and family who have been so supportive along the way!
If you have any of these, I would be so appreciative. I'm itching to finish my project! My email is azboutons@comcast.net
The batch of referrals at the beginning of September went through February 9th, leaving only 29 LIDs until ours. I decided that it was probably a safe time to get the kids on board with tracking referrals and making some sort of visual to count down the LIDs until it is finally our turn. For Family Night two weeks ago, we made a Countdown to Meili sign and 29 paperchains to tear off as the CCAA gets closer to matching us with our baby girl.
Last week, 6 more days worth of referrals were sent and six paperchains were torn off. That leaves only 23 more ahead of us! I'm starting to get excited (We might get a referral as soon as February!) but I'm stressing big time over our USCIS paperwork but that's another post for another day.
Xander got to invite his best two buddies (both named Evan) to join us. They got to feed deer, miniature donkeys and ostriches. The kids used the safety tubes to feed them but Matt had to prove his manhood and hand feed them. He got nipped at a few times.
Since Xander was the birthday boy, he was chosen to stand on the ostrich egg (A full, fresh one can support up to 350 pounds!) AND drive the monster truck! We had one happy birthday boy on our hands!!!
Age 2 
Xander woke up this morning and said, 'I like my 5 year old self!' 
