Special gifts inspired by a Special Baby- a Christmas recap

What a full and blessed Christmas we had!  This year we spent Christmas weekend with the Jones' side of the family and that meant we got to see most of Trace's siblings and their families including our nephews Luke (3), Judah (2), Isaac (2) and Alex (1.5).  Most of them call me "Aunt Randee" (which is adorable and melts my heart) and they mostly tolerate me stealing kisses whenever I can...except for Judah, he just likes to torment me from afar :) 

Here are three of the cuties- Isaac, Judah and Luke                               

This should be the LAST year Trace and I are on our own before our little Ethiopian blessing is with us (cue Hallelujah chorus), and that reality was not lost on us or Trace's family.  They wanted to join in on the anticipation of Baby Jones and we received some incredible and very special gifts pointing toward our baby's home coming.  I decided to share them on our blog for a couple of reasons:

1- I have heard that many couples planning to adopt do not experience genuine support of their family because adoption is viewed as "second best" by them, but our wonderful family is EMBRACING our path to parenthood in a way that I am thrilled and touched by.  I want people to know how important it is for extended family to share in the joy and the uniqueness of adoption because it is the WORLD to the parents-in-waiting. 

2-  These gifts are super special to me!  Some are thoughtful, some are symbolic, and others are practical and will be needed when we bring our precious baby home.  ALL were given in great love and each is so appreciated.

3- I like them and am excited to share!!!

Trace's parents bought our baby a high chair!  This is super exciting to me because I LOVE it (see the cute elephant) and it's practical since we'll need it as soon as our cutie comes home!

I got this for Trace :)  It will be a while before our little guy will fit into it (most likely) but  our son NEEDS some Dallas gear in order to fit in here at home!!!

Trace got me this giraffe for our nursery.  I'm a *wee bit* obsessed with giraffes right now so this was a perfect addition to our nursery.  Good job Trace!

WOW is the best word to describe this gift by sister-in-law Gigi's family!  I had mentioned that a really wanted a well reviewed Ethiopian cook book and after research and checking with other Ethiopian adoptive families, Gigi determined that there really were no great cookbooks so she MADE ONE FOR ME!!!  She compiled 25 recipes from people she knew that adopted from Ethiopia and from blogs of other families that had posted their favorites and she put them in a printed book- many with pictures.  I can hardly wait start trying them out and am go grateful for the incredible thoughtfulness of this book!  

Emotional is the best word to describe this gift from my sister-in-law Terri's family.    When I tore off the wrapping paper this poem is the first thing I saw- everyone wanted me to read it out loud and I could barely get through it.  So special.

And this is what was inside- a beautiful silver key necklace with room for a pearl inside.    Also included was an oyster sealed shut waiting for me to discover the beauty inside.  Terri explained that just as with birth you don't really know what you are going to get with adoption and the pearl could be one of three colors- black, white or pink.  When I opened it I found a beautiful pink pearl and put it in my necklace.  The key is appropriate too since my little Ethiopian guy definitely has a key to my heart, and when I put it on I think of him.

Lastly, Gigi sewed our little guys Christmas stocking!!!   I'm guessing you can tell that we SO hope he likes sports :)  If not, at least there is a puppy on there too :)  I put this up as soon as we got home, but I can hardly wait until next year when it gets filled with candy and gifts for our baby who should be HOME FOR GOOD!

There were other special and fun gifts, but these are the ones I wanted to share.  Christmas is not about gifts at all, but when I received each one of these they meant so much more this year, they represented hope, a dream close to fulfillment and incredible love.   God has been so good to lead us to this time and place and I have great expectation for 2011!!!