Now, you know how we are about not wanting to leave things until the last minute (LOL!!) but we did want to wish all of our very dear friends and family a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!For all of you who have followed our journey these last couple of weeks, you'll know that we recently returned home on 12/15/06 from China with our 6th son, 12th child Ammon Jie Xiaoling Ellison. Both Stephen and I had to jump back into the work the day after arriving home and try to tackle Christmas with Mama, Daddy, Lan and Ammon all with days and nights mixed up. We may be short on sleep but we are big on joy tonight as we wrap up our Christmas Eve and wait for the Jolly Old Fellow to make his appearance.
We wish for all of you a lovely time with family, and we are sorry we can't be with all ours tonight but we have children with flu and a new little boy who needs to get used to his new surroundings after being dragged all over China. He is sitting now on my lap, dressed only in a pull-up and we are lucky to even have that on. He is proud of his own skin and happy to share that with us whenever he can wiggle out of his coverings.
I have to tell you that early, early Thursday morning I heard Ammon stirring on his bed next to mine and I thought, "Uh, its only 1 AM and he is already ready to play??" He has been waking up between 2:30-3 AM and ready for the day at which time I am certainly not feeling jovial. He wasn't awake this tine though. He was still deep in sleep but he got the biggest fit of giggles. It wasn't just chuckling but he was all out having a belly busting laugh fest dreaming about something. Here he comes from pretty much as dismal a life as possible where even the basics of life were a luxury, he has made these huge changes as of late and he stills find joy, even in his dreams. You just can't stay mad at him or help but laugh when he is around.
May you all be blessed, remember with what you have been blessed, and plan ways to be a blessing to others.
