We Need a Little Christmas!

After a not-so-happy November, the Nix family was ready for some Christmas cheer! However, this was not the usual December for us with cards and shopping completed relatively early,  lots of parties (one of which we typically host), and a very full calendar of events. Resting and recuperation were in order...

And in the end, I didn't feel like the Grinch at all and I'm very glad we crossed several things off the calendar! We did fit a few things in, though, thanks to the help of friends and family...

We learned about Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (via stickers :-)...and we can never leave Allie-dog out!

We also learned about an elf, who we affectionately named "Clarence" because we introduced him to Judah the day after we watched "It's a Wonderful Life." To Judah this year, however, his name is simply "Ef."

And most importantly, we've learned about the birthday of Baby Jesus. (aka, "Jesuseseses" to Judah). So cute (and fitting) the way he says His name like it is never-ending :-) Unfortunately, I have no pictures of Judah and Jesus (from our Nativity Scene) because for some reason, I chose to keep our very nice porcelain set here in DC while our older (non-breakable) one is currently  in our storage shed. Needless to say, it is way up high out of Judah's reach.

And for the very first time, we cut down our own tree! We joined several of our new friends here on an outing to a Christmas tree farm not far outside of the city.

If you happen to be a Home-Depot-kind-of-tree family (I confess, we have been before), I highly recommend cutting your own...at least once. Judah had a ball, and this is how he "helped" his Daddy cut down the tree....

Like father, like son

A little shove of encouragement ;-)

The farm highlight for Judah was most definitely the "Choo Choo!"

All Aboard!

And of course, Santa's Sleigh!

One of the many faces of Judah that crack me up.

What a fun day!

 

Now to figure out how to decorate our tree so that toddler hands won't destroy? Well, Grandma can help us make paper snowflakes!

And thankfully, Gradma also found some "shatterless" ornaments!

Daddy, this is so cool!

The semi-finished product :-)

I spy Clarence...and one adorable little boy!

Merry Christmas!!!

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Unfortunately, I think Judah is requiring less sleep these days. Boo. Although unpredictable, most of his naps are getting shorter than his previous 3-hour stretches. And at night when we put him down around 7:30, I hear him having a grand ol' time....laughing, talking, playing...sometimes until close to 9pm! I've thought about pushing his bedtime back, but he seems soooo tired by 7:30 and he sounds perfectly happy during his nighttime soirees, so I don't know? Any advice on this one is greatly appreciated.

One night last week, I think God knew I needed some comic relief after a long, hard day. About an hour after I put Judah to bed, I heard a high-pitched noise coming from the vicinity of his bedroom door. I ignored it at first, but then heard it a second time and just thought it was him "whoo-ing," as we like to call it. (He's always rhythmically "whoo'ed" himself to sleep like an owl...a coping strategy I believe he taught himself in Gladney's Care Center when he had to sleep with a room full of babies). The third time I heard it, it seemed higher and louder than his signature "whoo." The mystery was solved when Allie-dog jumped off the couch and barked near his door. I could not believe what I was hearing.....unmistakeably his new favorite toy...

What?! How could this be? Did he climb out of his crib?! How did he find this toy in the dark? Is the Ghost of Christmas Present in his room? Sure enough, this is what I saw when I walked into his room...

Clearly, he thought it was hilarious. Okay, so I did, too :-)

I'm assuming he put the recorder/flute in his crib earlier in the day and I just didn't see it? Needless to say, I've been doing a thorough crib-search these days before night-night time. Love. this. kid.

Awake Again

"I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me." ~Psalm 3:5

The morning after my last post on this blog brought the unexpected....followed by more unexpected. Friday, November 11th, my grandfather was tragically killed in a car accident on the way to be honored at a Veteran's Day Ceremony. We were very close and although he lived 90 years of a great life, losing someone this way is horrifying. His only brother, my sweet Uncle Bobby, was also in the car; he was severely injured and died 10 days later. Shortly after returning from our travels from my grandfather's funeral, I was hospitalized with the final diagnoses of mono and viral meningitis. So for the past several weeks, I have literally lied down in grief and slept because of my illnesses. However, because the Lord sustains me, I am awake again! One day soon I will journal about the details of these events. Some "sequences of errors," if you will, have become quite comical to us in retrospect. Example: Our car wouldn't start in the hospital parking lot the day I was discharged. :-) 

For now, though~I choose to focus on how the Lord has sustained me. He's given me over 30 years with my grandfather who loved me like his own. He's given me time to grieve while continuing to heal my broken heart. He's given me laughter in the memories and precious time of fellowship with family and friends who loved my grandfather so dearly. He's given me safety while our family has traveled. He's given me a husband with immense medical knowledge to know why and when to take me to the ER (twice over the past few weeks!)....who has loved me for better or worse, in the good times and bad...my greatest friend, biggest life cheerleader, and the one who knows when to hold me and how to make me smile. He's given me a precious son who is incredibly loving and completely resilient. He's given me a mother who will drop everything to board a plane, sit with me in the hospital, and feed me when I could not sit up....and who I can now say is the absolute strongest woman I know. He's given me a mother-in-law who also dropped everything to board a plane to help in the recovery stages...and who loves me like her own. He's given me amazing friends from all over the country who have sent cards, emails, phone calls, texts, and gifts my way to help brighten my day. He has given me community here in DC, only living here 6 months...neighbors who have watched Judah, let us borrow their car, and offered to help in every way. He has given me a church body to pray for me, visit me in the hospital, organize meals for us, set up childcare for Judah, and overall exemplify Christ's love toward us. He has healed my body and given me a new perspective on what is important and necessary.
And because of that, my friends, I am awake! Ready to enjoy all of life's blessings....and even life's unexpected curve balls....for in those, we are made strong and in Christ, we are renewed. And finally, he's given me life...32 years of it exactly today! And one-third of it with an amazing partner! Tonight, Jeff and I will not only celebrate life, but 10 years since I said "YES" and accepted the most beautiful birthday gift on my left ring finger :-) And we'll be celebrating here, rooftop-style~looking over DC...

Thank you, Lord, for sustaining me!

It's time to awake and celebrate!

All Things Adoption

November?!?!?! If you are like me, you are experiencing a slight state of panic (right on cue at this time every year) because Thanksgiving is 2 weeks away and Christmas is about 6 weeks away...yikes! Haven't even thought about preparing for our Thanksgiving travels, decorating our shoebox of an apartment in a toddler-friendly way, or buying (or making...more on that later) one single Christmas gift. Oh well. It will get done. Somehow.

For now, I've been convicted of simply bringing my focus to things that truly matter. After all, November is all about being thankful....for freedom, health, friends, and family to name a few...and our family would not be possible without ADOPTION. Words cannot describe my gratitude for what adoption has done for my life and our family. I know I've said it before, but the miraculous way in which Judah became a part of our family is truly amazing. Because we believe our God is sovereign, we believe that our story was ordained and orchestrated by the One who has adopted us as His children. Judah is a daily reminder of God's grace and love toward us. 

If you are considering adoption, are part of an adoptive family, or know someone who has been touched by adoption in any way, please celebrate with us this November, National Adoption Month! There are several ways we can all celebrate and raise awareness for adoption this month.  Here are a few I hope you will consider~ as suggested by our agency, Gladney Center for Adoption. 

~Wear a white ribbon in honor of National Adoption Month.

~Write an encouraging letter to a birthmother (email me or leave a comment for more details),

~Ask your local library to display books about adoption. Get them started by donating a book :-) 

~Give an adoption talk at a local school or read an adoption story book to a classroom of children.

~Ask your worship leader to say a prayer for birthmothers, adoptive parents, children living in orphanages & children living in foster care.

~Make an effort to reach someone considering adoption, whether a couple considering adoption or a birthmother.

~Organize a holiday toy drive for children who are waiting for permanent families. 

~Write a thank-you letter to someone who helped you think differently about adoption or who helped make your adoption happen.

~Light a candle in honor of all the birthparents who make the ultimate sacrifice by choosing to place their child  for adoption. 

Our family kicked off the month with fun adoption events last weekend. We are blessed to live in an area with huge support for adoptive families, and it is encouraging that Judah has opportunities to fellowship with other children who share parts of his culture and story. Saturday evening, we had the opportunity to get together with local families who all have adopted children from Ethiopia. We shared a delicious meal at an Ethiopian restaurant. So many Ethiopian beauties...who seem to share similar interests! Almost simultaneously, some of the children (including mine!) turned one of the tables into a "drum" and made some pretty interesting music!

Judah also had fun "wrestling" with the big boys...

And "flirting" with the older girls...

The following day, we attended a Gladney Family Association event in our area. It included any family in the area who has adopted through Gladney...international and domestic adoptions. It was so cool to see so many countries represented in one room :-) At the "art play date," the kids (and adults) had a blast while eating delicious snacks....

exploring their creative side....

playing "follow the leader"....

And most importantly, making new friends....

On this November Thursday, the Nix family is thankful for adoption and all that it means to our family and others across the world! 

Lion Feet and Halloween Week

I trust that all of you had a happy, wacky, spooky, sugar-filled, fun Halloween! I'm not much into Halloween, but I do admit that I had tons of fun dressing up my little lion and teaching him trick-or-treat etiquette....and eating some candy myself :-)

Our week began with "Boo at the Zoo" the weekend before Halloween! The National Zoo in DC has this event every year, and we will be returning for as long as we're here :-) It was a great way to get our family in the Halloween spirit (no pun intended). A trip to the zoo with treat stations and hundreds of cute little people in costume...fun! 

This is how Judah began the evening because he didn't want to wear his costume....

And this is post-zoo...guess the candy helped??.....

And do you see those lion feet?! He was terrified of them, but we snuck them on him during the gorilla exhibit at the zoo...sneaky Mama and Dada :-) 

He was very interested in the other children's costumes...

And this is was his favorite way to travel...

There weren't many animals out and about due to the cool evening and several zoo renovations, but Judah seemed just as happy with the fake ones...

He picked up the concept of trick or treating much better than I thought he would...

Because of that, our nutrition rules went out the window on Halloween...for the entire week.

At the end of our night at the zoo, we saw a Zebra on the way out. Judah loved seeing his black and white stripes...

And telling him "night night".......

On Halloween evening, we had more fun at a local park getting more treats and enjoying the playground as a lion :-) 

My dear friend, Susan, was in town and Judah had a blast with her!

Judah was most interested in the decor...pumpkins and balloons galore!

The evening was topped off with a little trick-or-treating at a few houses in our nieghborhood...just so he could get the hang of it :-)

By this time, he really had the candy in the pumpkin ("pumpeen") thing down....

Family pic in front of our neighborhood haunted house. The spooky eyes were not planned...just iphone camera quality!

And here's one attempt of Judah and his some of his sweetest girlfriends, Marilyn and Wren. Again, more poor iphone camera quality at night, but just pretend I tried to make this one "Instagram style." 

So as you can see, the lion headpiece never made it on Judah's head. We were lucky to get the bodysuit and feet on without meltdowns. Oh well, his little 'fro was a great mane substitute and we had a blast this Halloween!

Happy November Y'all!