Santa Baby...

Rachel got to see Santa last Saturday! Her Nonnie and Poppie took her to the mall for a special outing and after going to Build-A-Bear...where she created a "Happy Feet" Penguin with a pink and black Hello Kitty dress on, she went to meet Santa.

I have made a point to not ask her about what she wants for Christmas. I figure we'll get to that time soon enough where she'll be giving me a list. We try to focus on teaching her to give, rather than to receive. However, other people have been asking her what she wanted Santa to bring her. The first thing she came up with was an IPad. Well, we quickly informed her that Santa would not be bringing her this because it was too expensive and she was too little to have an IPad. The next thing she came up with when asked was a cheerleading costume. So, I think that's a little more doable.

However, when she got up on Santa's lap and he asked her what she wanted, she told him she wanted a BABY SISTER!! That was all she asked for...

When Josh's dad told us that was what she asked for, I immediately started to cry. She's been praying and asking for a baby sister for at least a year now. Not every day, but pretty often. And it's hard to answer her questions as to why her friends have sisters and brothers and she doesn't. It's hard to help her understand why God doesn't answer her prayers as quickly as we would like.
Although it's hard to really explain the details of this to a 4 year old, I encourage her to continue praying with us and that one day God will hopefully give her a baby sibling and that we're letting him decide if it will be a brother or sister. We've told her things like, God answered our prayers when he let you grow in Mommy's tummy, and we've told her that this time a baby won't grow in my tummy. We've talked with her about adoption and what that means. But, it's still hard because we struggle with it too.

I do wonder what she was thinking. Like, is Santa like God? Maybe if I ask him he'll help God out? Or, God isn't coming through...maybe Santa can?

Anyway, needless to say...I told her that Santa would probably not be bringing her a baby sister for Christmas, but who knows...maybe by next Christmas she'll have a baby sister?

Regardless of the fact that Rachel won't get a baby sister for Christmas, it's important to remember that God did send us a baby....Jesus! And what a gift that was!

Wishing you all a joyous Christmas!
Anna, Josh & Rachel


P.S. I wanted to add this link for folks to check out...just some advice on supporting adoptive families that I found to be beneficial. This is from the blog of Tracie Loux, the consultant we are working with.

http://thespiritofadoption.wordpress.com/2012/11/13/support-love-serve-and-celebrate/