Maely's 1st Christmas in the US

Due to family schedules, we celebrated Christmas on the 25th and the 26th.  Maely had enough presents under the tree to last both days and she had a wonderful time shaking, weighing and guessing the contents before she opened each package.  She got so many clothes, toys, puzzles and electronic gadgets that we may have to hire a mule train to get all of her stuff back to her village.  Here are some pictures of her first Christmas in America:

Here she is opening up her biggest present...

which turned out to have another box inside it......which

turned out to have three more subsequently smaller boxes before she found a beautiful purple hooded top. You should have heard her squeal with laughter each time she found another present inside.

Here she is playing with a Nintendo DSI that her host family gave her for Christmas.  For a little girl who had never seen an airplane, tasted ice cream or heard of a computer...until a few months ago, she sure didn't take long to figure out how to use this electronic marvel!



In addition to being extremely bright, Maely is also very creative and definitely has some artistic talents.  Here are some items she made out of play dough:

Words cannot express the joy we have experienced sharing Maely's first Christmas in the US.  Her spontaneous peals of laughter has filled our hearts to overflowing and reminded us once again what it was like to be a child experiencing Christmas for the first time.  What a blessing and a privilege God has given us and we will cherish this time forever.  At the same time we are enjoying her presence here in the US, we are laying the groundwork to establish an agricultural cooperative in her home village that will eventually fund improvements to their health, education and economic welfare.

Maely tried several times to get in touch with her family in Honduras during the Christmas Holidays but was unable to get through.  She finally managed to talk to a cousin this morning who we hope will pass on to everyone else that she is healing quickly and having lots of fun.  Sometimes I worry that her experiences here in the US will make it difficult for her to adjust when she returns home, but God in HIS infinite wisdom has already prepared a solution to this challenge...its just up to us to trust and obey!    

Our youngest daughter, Courtney will be going into the hospital tomorrow morning to have her first baby....and our first grandson.  We can't wait to see the newest addition to our family.  Our oldest daughter is adopting a child from Ethiopia and will be traveling there in January for their mandatory 1st trip court date.  If all goes well, we will have our second grandson by the end of next February.  Lots of pictures to follow!