Christmas

Jack's first Christmas with us!  It has been sweet in so many ways.  I felt it especially on Christmas Eve:

 Here is Jack (Qian Qiusheng... that's his Chinese name) asleep in his warm bed at home with his family on Christmas Eve.  All I could think of was "In YOU the orphan finds mercy" (Hosea 14:3).  God's mercy and grace on display.

Beauty beyond words.

But I'd like to be honest here and just say that it has also been hard.  Thankfully our families were very patient with Jack.  Patient with fighting over toys, patient with his loudness and awkwardness (because even though we knew what to expect this week, he didn't. It was all new for him so we couldn't expect him to know exactly how to behave in each situation, hence the awkwardness), patient with the fact that he doesn't speak or understand English, patient with his eating and mess-making, patient with him being not-so-gentle yet, patient with his nose running (allergies maybe?), patient with his drooling (seriously, this boy drools like you would not believe, can't quite figure that out yet), and patient with us as we tried to parent in the middle of it all.    As I write this out, though, the parts that were hard begin to fade away.  And what I will really remember from this Christmas is that Jack learned how to give kisses (they are sweet and slobbery and he even says "mmmwah"),  he heard about the King of Kings who came as a baby, he laid his head on my shoulder for the fist time at the Christmas Eve service, he crawled up into his great grandma's lap on Christmas Day, he ate 4 bowls of scrambled eggs at the Harmon brunch, he was so happy he couldn't hold in screams of joy at Uncle Mikey & Aunt Emily's dog, and he was in the first ever "Harmon Cousin" picture.  Be still my heart!  The hard things melt away and all that's left is a picture of grace and mercy and beauty.

And with that, I'll leave you with a few pictures of Jack's first Christmas home:

About to eat Christmas morning breakfast!

A stocking from Granmama & GranD

Lisa's family

 Jack and his Great Grandma.  So precious!

 Jack and GiGi (his other great grandmother).  I can't get enough of seeing him with them.  It's just too good to be true.  

 Matt's family

 Cousin picture!  Daniel, Molly, Jack, Leah, and their cousin Addie. Love her so much!  Our kids have another cousin on the way, too.  Baby Elijah is due in March.

 Granddaddy & Jack

Grammy & Jack