Christmas in Photos

Christmas Eve dinner at Granny's house.

The opening of the stockings!

Mara and her brand new laptop 'puter.

The ending to a happy day. 

A Christmas Entry

As usual, the Stoll Family Christmas was so busy that I haven't been able to get to my computer for blogging since the big day. But it definitely deserves comment anyway.

We started our Christmas Eve festivities with one of our family favorites--a movie. This year we all agreed that Charlotte's Web was THE movie to see. It was great! We all enjoyed it thoroughly, including Mara. She was a little confused about Charlotte's species--thought she was an ant--but otherwise was enthralled by the story and animals.

We followed that with the Christ Community Christmas Eve service. Jeff was singing in the choir for all three services but the rest of us only attended one. I managed to get the car stuck trying to park on a side street, requiring the services of two very nice church neighbors who were probably wishing they had not rented a house so close to a church with such a small parking lot and such a big congregation. After that I played it safe, dropped the kids off in front of the building and parked in the Central H.S. lot. The shuttle to the church was crowded, as was the service itself, so I got in a bit of exercise walking to the church. It was a very nice service though not one for the record books. Still an excellent way to get our thoughts concentrated on Christ's birth and away from the hustle bustle of the season.

The lack of snow removal was even worse at Mom's where we were scheduled to arrive just after church. Knowing the situation, we had taken both our snow shovels and the girls started in as soon as we got there to shovel snow so we could park in front of their house. They were soon joined by Michael and Bobby and quickly made enough space for our cars and a few additional coming Christmas Day. Their reward was a delicious dinner and good fellowship.

On Christmas Day we overslept and missed that magical time of lighting candles and the fireplace and opening gifts in the "dark." But still it was a wonderful relaxed morning and we enjoyed having just the 5 of us to share a peaceful, delightful time. We had a nice breakfast, watched Mara play with several of her new toys and took quick naps in preparation for the upcoming afternoon festivities.

We went to Grandma's house to enjoy a Christmas dinner and fellowship with Tom's family, most of the Toth family, Stewart and, of course, Grandma and Grandpa. It was the perfect finish to a wonderful holiday. We all came home exhausted but happy.

As I write there is a very light snow coming down outside. This should be enchanting and peaceful, but it just emphasizes the threat that we are supposed to receive between 10 and 20 inches more snow tonight and tomorrow morning. It has been snowing all day in Denver already and Jeff's office closed down at 2. Jeff had the foresight last night to bring home a pile of work so that he could home office today and tomorrow so he has been hard at work downstairs. I don't think any one is ready for another dumping of snow and yet, here we are. Out here on the Colorado plains we sure are not used to one of these snow storms a year, let alone 2 in a week. But this too shall pass and it gives us lots of interesting memories for this 2006 holiday season. Right now we are just hoping to be able to dig out enough that we can still enjoy hosting our annual New Year's Eve party. Ahhh, winter. I hate it.

What a Day!

I know, I know--two posts in three days! What's this blog coming to? But we had a great day yesterday that deserves a post all it's own. Katelynn and her cousin, Michael, both graduated from the University of Colorado!! Woo Hoo! Congratulations, Katy and Michael!

We can hardly believe we are the proud parents of a college graduate! Once again I'm asking myself, where has the time gone? I don't think it has really soaked in on any of us that every vestige of being a "kid" is gone. Katelynn (that name we gave her for her adult years--Katy was the "little girl" name,) must set out on her own adult path, a path which, for the first time in her life, has no set course, no map, no "this is what you do next" agenda. What a strange and disconcerting thought. But yet very exciting.

Now, even as I've said that, Katelynn has already not only considered that fact, but taken action to remedy an agenda-less path. She has been job hunting since October. Granted, this is in part because the accounting program at CU provided an entire recruiting program and how silly would it have been to ignore that? But it is also because Katelynn is a person who can't stand the thought of not having all her loose ends tied up. How can one go into a post-graduate world without a paycheck on the horizon? The college recruitment program did not end up providing a job, but that didn't stop Katy. She did some networking with profs and relatives (those uncles come in darned handy for this type of thing,) did some internet searching, mailed and e-mailed dozens of resumes and came up with another batch of interviews and, tada, some offers as well! The best offer appears to be the last which she received yesterday just after graduation. Guess that firm wanted to make sure she was officially a legitimate accountant.

So as we look forward to Christmas, Katelynn is thinking of all she has to do immediately following the holiday. First, accept a job offer. Then on the 26th she heads for St. Louis for the Urbana Missions Conference, an event she has been looking greatly forward to over the last few months. Immediately upon her return, no matter which offer she accepts, she will have to start apartment shopping, car shopping and packing for the move. A week later she will start whichever job she has chosen and, voila, she will have embarked upon her adult life with all the excitement and perils that includes. Right now we are praying, praying and praying some more for wisdom for Katy as she makes this very huge decision about which career path to take. And praising him for the opportunity.

Thank you God for all of your many blessings and your caring for each of us in such a personal way. Thank you for this Christmas holiday and for sending your son to save us. And thank you for the children you have given us and the joy they bring to our lives and home. We are a very blessed family and, in Mara's words, I'm a "blessed mama."

A Few Graduation Pics

The two proud graduates. Congratulations "kids!!"

Katelynn with her favorite professor, Dr. Burns. We were all so pleased that even though the original Leeds graduation ceremony on Thursday evening had to be cancelled, the B-school staff had arranged to have a smaller, similar ceremony after the bigger CU commencement.


Our Graduate!

Just a great picture! Aren't they CUTE!!!

Blizzard Aftermath

Snow Angels in the Drifts

Street Sledding with no chance of getting hit by cars

The front porch before shoveling.

A job well done. Thanks guys!

The Holiday Blizzard of 2006

Can you believe that blazingly creative name the local media came up with to describe the last two days of white misery we've been dealing with here in Colorado? Well, I guess it is the mainstream media after all. Perhaps they need to conserve their creative energy to come up with new and inventive ways to harass and irritate conservatives around the state.

ANYWAY, we have been snowbound for two days thanks to an enormous blizzard that hit the entire eastern half of Colorado Wednesday (yesterday) morning. Here in Greeley we had 20.7 inches of snow, the smallest amount to fall in front range towns. Thankfully, Katelynn and Nikki made it home safely on Tuesday evening with all their finals completed for the semester. 24 hours later Boulder was engulfed by 33 inches of the white stuff. Many of Nikki's friends ended up stranded in the dorm, unable to get out of Boulder much less DIA. Sadly some of them won't be able to get a flight home until Christmas morning, but at least they were able to reschedule something. But as for our family, we had all day yesterday with not a care in the world but to enjoy some Christmas movies in front of the fireplace as we munched on Christmas cookies and watched the snow pile up against the patio door. It was great.

Today, reality set in when we decided it would be necessary to shovel our way out if we wanted to go anywhere in the next five days. Jeff, Katy and Nikki spent around 5 hours with two snow shovels and a wheelbarrow clearing 3 foot drifts from our enormous driveway and front porch. Mara spent those same 5 hours climbing snow drifts in the yard and convincing Katelynn to take her for rides on her sled down the middle of the street. She had lots of fun; the others, not so much. I helped a very little bit and then begged off. After all, we only had 2 shovels.

Much to our surprise, about 4:30 a city snow plow found it's way back into these far reaches of civilization to run one swipe along the street in front of our house. So back out Jeff went to shovel a car's width from the sidewalk to the narrow path in the middle of the street. This was much faster than the rest of the job and by 6 he was out checking out the streets of Greeley in the van. By 8 he was out picking up a pizza for dinner. And thus, normal life resumes after the Holiday Blizzard of 2006.

There was one sad casualty of the blizzard for our family and that was the Leed's School of Business graduation ceremony we had planned to be attending this evening. We were all disappointed, especially Katelynn, but CU cancelled all events to be held today. Fortunately, they will still be holding the full University graduation tomorrow and have delayed that so we don't need to be in Boulder until 12:15, as opposed to the original 8:45 a.m. It won't be as personal as we won't get to hear Katelynn's name called or see her walk across the stage for her diploma, but at least she gets the chance to wear her cap and gown and make graduation official.

Well, looks like we have time for one more movie tonight before we head off to bed. All in all the blizzard was a good thing for us, providing two days of uninterrupted family time to get reacquainted after a long, busy semester.

Ooops!!!

There is a down side to failing to post for over two months. I've already forgotten so many things. The whole point is to log our life and yet I already managed to "forget" three very fun events that happened during that few months. My memory was triggered by perusing my photos for posting.

In late October we had a great time with our annual trip to the Corn Maze with the Collins family. We tried a new place this year, Miller Farm. I didn't think the maze was quite as fun as the Fritzler maze but there were lots of fun things for the kids, especially the little ones, that were new for us. The weather was perfect and the fellowship great.

The weekend after that we had a visit from travel mates Janice and Makenna Worley. Janice and I e-mail back and forth several times a week and our initial comparing of notes about what our girls would and wouldn't eat has turned into a much deeper friendship over the past 18 months. So I was very excited when Janice said they were going to come for a visit. Mara and Makenna had an absolute blast together and I still hear how much Mara misses her friend Kenna. Janice and I enjoyed a long weekend of chatting in real time, quite an opportunity to catch up and hear more about our backgrounds, families, feelings, etc. Jeff, Katelynn and Mara were so gracious and helped get the house ready for company--no easy feat when I'm in one of my conquer modes. Then Katelynn cooked us a wonderful Chinese dinner one night while the Worley's were here. A great time was had by all though Makenna was quite ready to go home by Monday morning. (Mara can be just a bit intimidating.)

And then this past Saturday was the annual Kid's Hope Christmas party. This is my 4th year as Willy's mentor and hence, our 4th Christmas party. This year Willy talked his father into joining us for the party, the first time we'd had the opportunity to meet Miguel. We had a great visit as we enjoyed our meal and the festivities. That is until time for the gifts to be handed out. Every year church members provide gifts for each Kid's Hope kid and each of their siblings. Somehow Willy's bag was missing Willy's gift. As you can imagine, this did not go over well with a 10-year-old who was quickly in tears. At first blush this would seem a disaster, but God has his ways. Willy's folks allowed us to take him shopping to pick out a gift. Because they were headed to Denver and wouldn't be back until after church started they also allowed him to join us there. He attended Kid's Connection while we attended service and he had so much fun that he can't wait to come back again. Not only is he wanting to come to church again, but we had a very fun afternoon shopping and watching Christmas movies with him. This was a wonderful opportunity which is only part of a very good semester Willy and I have had together. I am amazed at the huge improvement I've seen in his attitude this year. He is going through some very positive changes which include better reading and better math. He is obviously maturing greatly and I'm so excited and blessed to be part of his life.

Well, there are certainly many things I've still missed. I mean, two months is a long time to recount. But I think I've hit the highlights and maybe this will be a lesson to keep up more carefully. Maybe not.

A Few More Pictures

Black Friday Shopping--even Katelynn can go a little crazy in all the hubbub!

Dinner at the really cold Macaroni Grill

A good tree-trimming finished off Thanksgiving weekend.

A Kid's Hope Christmas.  

Some Pictures

Corn Maze Kids

Mara and Kenna, aka the Two Snow Whites

Not PC but very cute!

A traditional family Thanksgiving--Michael harassing his cousins 

This Is Getting Ridiculous

I think I've surpassed my own record with this two month break from blogging. As I've said, blogging is just not my cup of tea. But since the point is to have a record of our wait for our next daughter, I should really be better at keeping up. As I signed on I realized I have managed to miss a few holidays, some treasured Christmas traditions and the one-year anniversary of our LID. (Dossier log-in-date.) So let's see here.

First of all, the wait. It goes on. About all I can say about the adoption is that if referrals continue to come in at the speed they've been coming in recent months, we can expect a referral this coming April or May. This means that we now expect the wait from this point on to be about as long as we thought it would be a year ago. Or in other words, this has taken a full year longer than we originally anticipated. We are a bit concerned that we may be in China at the same time the rest of the family is enjoying the family reunion. Bummer. But at this point I am so glad to be able to vaguely see the light at the end of the tunnel that I will try not to complain. Please pray for our daughter in China who continues to sit in an orphanage without a family as we continue to anxiously wait to take her into our arms. And this is only one of thousands of babies that need families and families waiting for their children. I cannot understand how the CCAA can bring themselves to purposely slow down this procedure as they have, but does anyone really understand anything about the Chinese government? Well, okay, do we really understand any government? We're praying the process will speed back up, not for us, but for the sake of the children.

Halloween. Yep, a really long time ago! But I have to recount that Mara had a very good time wearing her Panda costume that we purchased in China just for this purpose. She was as cute as they come and wins the prize for the first Stoll child in 20 years of trick-or-treating to have a costume warm enough to wear without a coat. Because it was very cold and the crowds were small, she came home with piles of candy, most of which is still sitting in the pantry now. Mara is not a candy connoisseur. (Though I think the rest of us have helped to clean out most of the "good stuff.") Maybe it is time to toss it out in anticipation of stocking treats.

We were blessed to spend Thanksgiving with extended family at Aunt Jean and Uncle Bill's house in Longmont. It was a great time of catching up with James and getting to know his new wife Dawna and her daughter Elizabeth. We also enjoyed the company of Michael who couldn't travel to Tucson with his folks and Aunt Marilyn who provided the third grandma component for Mara who loves those great aunts. As we tucked Mara into bed that night her prayer included thanks for her aunts who are "so much fun." Not only was the dinner delicious but it was a warm, comfy, traditional day to thank God for our many blessings. Best of all, the holiday came complete with an entire week of Nikki being home to visit.

Of course, the day after Thanksgiving was our traditional kickoff for the Christmas season with our Black Friday shopping. As usual we got a late start but still managed to get some great bargains before the day was out. Since I was still recovering from my surgery, (oh yeah, forgot to blog that I had major surgery on Nov. 7th, but I don't care to go into those nasty details,)much of my day was spent sitting in various stores or malls doing lots of people watching. Mara loved this--she got to spend 2 hours playing in the play area at the Aurora Town Center since the shopping had long since become boring for her. The only emergency situation was when she tripped and bumped her head. Another kind mother had picked her up as I made my way through dozens of screaming, running children to her side. When she tried to hand her to me I had to beg off (I'm not supposed to pick up anything heavy until next week,) and ask her to just set Mara down so she could walk to the seating area with me. I'm sure I was fodder for their family conversation that evening. We ended our evening with the traditional dinner out, this year at Macaroni Grill. The food was delicious and the waiter quite charming, but unfortunately, the restaurant was FREEZING. Even the hostess was shivering. I will never understand why places of business and churches insist on keeping the thermostat at 65 degrees or below year-round no matter what the outside temperature. Am I the only person in the country that is freezing year-round when I go anywhere but my own home? But I'm pretty sure this hit a new low for a restaurant and couldn't have been over 60 degrees with an outside temperature of around 20.

On December 4 we once again attended the Air Force Academy Band Christmas concert at the Union Colony Civic Center. We love this event. Not only is it extremely well-executed but they always perform true Christmas songs that share the true message of Christmas as well as a few patriotic numbers that make one proud to be an American. Mara's courage has grown immensely in the past year. Immediately following the invitation for the children to join them on stage for a story time and a visit from Santa, Mara jumped out of her seat and without a "by your leave," was scurrying between legs and seat backs in a race to the stage.

Katelynn and I have had the opportunity for a few Christmas activities together. On the 2nd we did a shift at the church gift-wrapping booth at the Greeley Mall. Each year our church provides free gift-wrapping with no strings attached as way to "show God's love in a practical way." We picked the right time to be there. We wrapped just enough gifts to stay busy but it wasn't crazy enough to have to rush. I enjoyed the opportunity to visit with those we were helping.

Then last Sunday Katy and I enjoyed a wonderful "High Tea" at our church. The church had been decorated beautifully and the tables were each uniquely set by the table's hostess. The speaker, Sheri Rose Shepherd, was excellent, providing some good laughs and some hard truths at the same time. It was very fun to have an adult daughter to take with me.

So the Christmas season is off and running. I have most of the shopping done, which is amazing in itself, and everything shipped as needed. (Thank you, Amazon!) Now we need to get started on wrapping and baking, but those things are much more relaxing and fun, especially when there is time to do it without rushing.

After almost 3 months of job hunting, it looks like Katelynn at last has the job she wants. She just got an e-mail last night inviting her to come in and discuss specifics of "the offer." This has been a roller coaster emotionally, at least for me. Lots of ups and downs, hopes and dashing of hopes, but a real learning experience for Katelynn. Of course, now that she is an "expert" at searching and interviewing, she hopes to never have to do it again. We are praying that all the details fall in place and that come the first of the year she is hard at work in her brand new office. (Not a cubicle!)

Of course, before she can start a new job she has to get that college degree. And so next Thursday evening, Dec. 21, she will officially graduate from the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado. (Well, okay, she'll officially graduate from the University on Friday morning but none of us will be attending that ceremony.) Congratulations on the graduation and the job, Katelynn! We're so proud of you!! Let the car, apartment and kitten shopping begin. (I think this is what she's really been waiting for.)

Sadly, on the same evening is Nikki's IB Diploma ceremony at Greeley West H.S. Since the kids don't know if they've earned their IB Diploma in the spring, they cannot celebrate this accomplishment at that time. So at Greeley West there is a special ceremony held for the students that have earned the diploma the December following graduation. Since they have to wait for all the students to return home for break, and since CU ends so late, the ceremony is also very late this year. Just figures this is the year Katelynn graduates and we had to choose between the two. Nikki very graciously insisted Jeff and I go to Katelynn's ceremony as it is, after all, her college graduation. Grandma and Grandpa will stand in for us at Nikki's ceremony. Even though we can't be there, Nikki, we are VERY proud of you! We know just how much work and commitment this represents. (Believe me, we know!)

Well, life is moving on around me, and on me for that matter. Mara is getting tired of waiting for me to quit typing. At this very moment a tiny cowboy is battling a tiny tiger on my right arm. I guess I better quit and get on with living. I know I need to be doing this more often so it doesn't take so long. Meanwhile, I'll try to get some photos of all these events posted a bit later. If I don't manage to get back here before the holiday, Merry Christmas to all!