Merry Christmas!

Five years ago we traveled to Guatemala to meet the baby girl we were in the process of adopting. We timed our visit around the holidays, the second week in December. The hotel, the parts of Guatemala City we visited and Antigua were decorated for Christmas. We spent an amazing week, enjoying our daughter-t0-be, loving Lauren’s ecstatic reaction to being a big sister, and soaking up the holiday spirit. The day we said goodbye and landed back in the U.S., we found out the adoption paperwork was complete and Carmen was ours. We celebrated Christmas and New Year’s and then flew back to Guatemala to bring our daughter home.

Can it really have been only five years? Really? It seems like 50 years ago.

I don’t remember much about the Christmas of 2006. I am sure we were super excited to be going back to Guatemala to bring Carmen home. I am sure we were relieved to be done with adoption paperwork. I am sure we had plans for how our new daughter would fit into our family and plans for her life. Maybe they were unspoken plans. Just things we expected. Like that she would be alive five years later.

I bet Mary didn’t expect to outlive her son either.

The day Mary gave birth to Jesus was simply a day of rejoicing, wonder and awe.

As we celebrate Christmas this year, may we reflect on living today, for we do not know what tomorrow brings. Say “I love you.” Give a hug. Have some extra grace for those in your life who need it. Serve. Remember the reason for this season…

We are taking the week off from blogging to enjoy time with family. Have a very Merry Christmas and we will see you in 2012.

Love, Dave, Lana, Lauren and Hope

Carmen, 5 years ago, in Guatemala