2010 was an amazing year for us, mostly full of adoption stuff. We applied to our agency on Dec 15, 2009 and brought our daughter home on Dec 4, 2010, so literally an entire year of lots of paperwork, emotional highs and lows, longing and praying, making great new friends, and living day to day with your heart on the other side of the world. It has been an amazing journey, and I wouldn't change a thing about it. This has all been God's plan. We are not in charge. He brought us our beautiful girl and made us a family. 

On a sad note, this year we said goodbye to my beloved Dakota Jane (Kody). She was my 14 year old Lab mix, who I had since she was a puppy. She has been with me my entire adult life, and it was a tremendous loss. Seeing her again will be one of the things I most look forward to when I get to Heaven. I don't know that I will ever truly be okay with it, but I thank God for his timing and bringing Maeve home when I needed her the most.

In 2011, we look forward to continuing to grow as a family and exploring the world through the eyes of our daughter. We also have lots of post placement adoption visits and reports and completing her re-adoption in the US, so she can get a Texas birth certificate. Oh, we bought a new house in 2010, just before traveling to Ethiopia for the first trip. We are in the process of gutting and remodeling the kitchen...and really look forward to finally moving in. We are so grateful for a larger house (storage!) in a great area with great schools. This is our "family house", the one we plan to raise our kids in and be in for a long time, God willing. We look forward to many family gatherings in the years to come.

Here's wishing you a year filled with Faith, Peace, Hope, and Love!

Happy New Year!