Sunday Snapshot: {Experiencing miracles in every moment...}

It's been a very emotional and exhausting week for so many reasons...and I am writing this at the moment throughly spent, but yet full of reflections tonight. Putting away the fact that we are back to sleepless nights and unanswered questions, we really are taking delight in everything that has been happening around us. Chris and I have sat and talked and tried to remember Matthew's first Christmas with us last year and how we felt, etc....and what we have realized is that as much as we felt like we were celebrating and enjoying every moment last year, we really weren't...we were shell shocked as first time parents, and then even more shell shocked when Matthew had how many surgeries, anesthesias, testing, unknowns, appointments, etc. all in the short 10 months we were a family. Add in finding out he was deaf, and oh how we grieved, yet we didn't even really know we were grieving. I found myself being sad when a Christmas song would play and Matthew couldn't hear it...., NOW, there are moments like today when Josh Groban's "Believe" came on the radio in the car and he hummed and moved his little head up and down to the vibrations. He might not know what the words or all the sounds are - but he FELT the music and loved it!!!

He also went and saw Santa today and sat on his lap...his facial expressions were priceless! He sat and "read" a coloring book with him, it's all my little guy needed to make him smile. He doesn't know to ask for Santa for things, he just thinks he's a neat guy in a red suit with a beard.

Matthew also gave Chris and I our first Mommy and Daddy present from his school this week - a placement with his handprints on it....something that we both choked up about this week as we opened it together.

And now, we also think of the possibilities of our family being a family of 4 next year, and that just makes us so happy. We are so excited to find out who our child will be. Will Matthew have a brother or a sister named Hope that we have always thought about? We are trying to be patient as we await our immigration approval to get our dossier to China...patience is so hard when we know there are so many children that need forever families....but, as we wait, we are going to take great delight in all of the moments around us, even in our most exhausted of states(which we certainly are in right now) - and enjoy WHOLE HEARTEDLY what we have and are blessed with every single day.

We hope everyone can see the miracles in front of them every moment. Like a child seeing Santa for the first time...a child delighted with Christmas lights and trees...a husband that you love with all of your heart....time with family both near and far....watching a child fall asleep and look so incredible peaceful...getting a placemat with your precious child's handprints on it....and even dreaming about the child you are going to be so blessed to be the parents of one day....yep, there are all miraculous moments....