Hope!

It's the most wonderful time of the year, right?  Or at least it is supposed to be.

Yes, it is a hard time of year for us.  We are still on our journey.  We don't have answers.  We don't have an end in sight.  We still wonder why we have to go through this.  We thought we'd have a little one traveling home with us to Virginia for Christmas.

Yes, it is hard, I'm not going to lie, but this year, I have hope.  I know that I don't have a "match" yet and I don't have a baby in my arms this year for Christmas, but I do have hope.

Hope that someday, hopefully before next Christmas, that we will be a family of three instead of a family of two.
Hope that this year is the last year that I have to send out a Christmas cards with only the two of us and our puppies.
Hope that instead of just seeing the baby's first Christmas ornaments in the stores, that I will actually be able to purchase one for a VBK baby.
Hope that there will be three stockings to hang instead of two (and one for the pups, of course.)
Hope that Brennen (our nephew being born in the spring) will have someone to play with and grow up with.
Hope that God will get the glory and honor from all that happens.  I can't wait to sit back years from now, or even months from now, and be able to say, "I can see how God had this planned from the very beginning."

As Melody, Dave's cousin in Michigan, wrote in her Christmas card to us this year:  May 2010 be a year to remember!   :)

(More to come later.  I have a lot to say, but I'm struggling with how open and honest I can be on the blog.  I've had this one post written in my head for almost a week now, but every time I start, I delete it for fear of what people will think. )