My Honest Christmas Card

The joys and tears through the years—

here are some we will share with you…

Adopting an older child from another country brings us joy and laughter. Sometimes lots of laughter. Especially when they speak English as a second language and they can't get all the sounds right. One particular difficult sound is the TH sound. It just comes out as a T sound. So if you are ever in third place it really stinks. (it’s ok to laugh, we all do)

We go through lots of everything pretty fast. Toilet paper, food, laundry detergent. But the best (or worst) time was when we ran out of bandaids. Well not totally, but we only had the tiny ones that are good for basically nothing. PERFECT for when my kid shows me a scratch I can't see and they need a bandaid.

But this one night MOM needed a bandaid. I had gauged the back of my ankle pretty deep and the only thing I found was an overnight extra-large size maxi pad. The good news is that I could wrap it all the way around my ankle and put the purple wrapper back around it to keep the sticky side from sticking to the bed. (Can you believe I said maxi pad in my Christmas letter?? I can’t either!)

Just like any normal family, our kids can get pretty annoyed with each other. On one particular hot and bothered ride in the van (our 15 passenger we affectionately call Big Blue), one kid wants to sing along to the song on the radio. Uh oh. Oh no you di'nt. There is a revolt and all singing along is successfully halted for the remainder of the drive. Which was on the way to church....where we joined 400 other people singing along to songs.

God has grown our family in 2017....in the most unexpected way. Jeremy is the king of weekend projects except his weekend project usually turns into a 6 month project--not because he procrastinates, but more so because he decides to build a "barn" that turns into an apartment that is now housing a family of 7. Not even kidding.
The whole family helped in some ways to build this barn but we all know that Dad and Saimon did most of the work.  One afternoon we were installing the metal roof and Jeremy looks at Saimon and says to me, "You know there are not many other 11-year-olds who would do what he is doing." To which I replied, "There are not many other parents who would let their 11-year-old sit at the edge of the roof, 20 feet from the ground, with a drill." We all survived the "barn raising" and enjoy sharing it with the Ngoga family.

Ngoga Family

Dad and Saimon working on the roof

Marian and Saimon

Even some friends came to help
(look closely and you'll see the hammock)

Tearing out the old garage

Having a larger family can create some problems but it can also solve some problems too. Like we never have to discuss where we are going to eat or what we are going to watch. We eat at home and we don't have cable. And most kids have something small and rectangular in their hands they can stare at. (Ugh screens).  But some of my favorite times are when we go where the wifi signal is low and we play Nerts, enjoy friends and eat good food.

 
 

Through the years we have shed some tears but we have also shared in laughter.  

And in 2017 we have laughed more.

Wishing you joy in the gifts God has given you.

And may you have more laughter than tears in the coming year.
Merry Christmas from the Evermons