Christmas season is upon us...in fact, we've already celebrated three times and will have another gift exchange (this time with Jay's immediate family) today!

Jay's sister, Jael, drove up this morning from Little Rock for the weekend to be able to spend a little more time with us before we head back to Winchester on the 2nd. Jael was able to be with us on Christmas day, but flew from Little Rock to Dallas and couldn't bring her presents with her on the plane. For that matter, I don't know if we could have taken our gifts after we loaded up the parent's van with all our gear...we really didn't have that much, but with a baby so much changes...for as little as she is, you wouldn't think she would increase our 'necessary' trip items threefold, but pretty much she does. =)

Vikki has said that our New's Year resolutions will be to execerise four times a week - which might be ambitious, but will be good for us. We have been very apathetic to excersise as a general rule since we have been married...I've been holding off on making major changes in lifestyle until I hit 200 lbs., but since I've been sitting at 193 for quite a while, it looks like our New Year's resolutions will come first...the only other 'resolution' we have is to make a more focused effort at returning to China. We will try to spend about two to three mornings a week getting things in order for a return. We are excited, but at least Jay is a bit nervous as well. The new and different will usually be somewhat scary, and even though we've been to China before - we'll be returning under different circumstances, not the least of which is that we plan to stay indefinitely this time! I'm thinking we'll need to clear our minds of expectations and go with an open heart and be ready to face new challenges in a new chapter in our journey. One of Jay's second cousins told him a couple of days ago that this fall will be here in 'a week.' It will come quickly...

Today is Audriana's 9 month old birthday!

We drove about twelve hours today on our way to Missouri for the holidays. We'll leave Saturday with Jay's parents to go to Audriana's Great-grandmother's in Texas. =) That's some birthday present for our little girl...she hates riding in her carseat! It's cool that we arrived today, because it is also my (Jay's) mother's birthday today! We didn't get in until about 7:30 p.m. (Central), and found out on the road while traveling that my brother, Shelby, had been just within 5 minutes of us on the way to the folks on the same road. That was before we had a mini-crisis on the road where Audriana thought she had to have dinner...can you imagine. She was none too happy when she realized we weren't stopping for her because we were in podunk Missouri...we finally had to stop in this little community called Low Wassie, which was on county road [W] and over a one lane 'bridge' (highspot over the 'wassie') before state maintenence ended on the road and we pulled off to the side of the dirt road to feed her. This was after we travelled perhaps 20 minutes with Audriana screaming and hating on her toys and drink because it was something other than her mother. She would be consoled by a pacifier for two seconds before resuming the screaming, which was sorta nice...so that was somewhat stressful and by the time we did stop, Vikki and I were both a little tired of each other I think -- aren't those character building sessions just wonderful. =) One thing I do love about our marriage is that we have gotten very proficient about sitting down and talking through the times when one or both of us aren't following the principles that God has laid out for us.

Happy Birthday Audriana! Happy Birthday Mom!

...so Audriana is clapping now. =) She started on Monday night. It's inexplicable really...we didn't really teach her! We're continually amazed at her...if we didn't mention before, she's completely mobile. She pulls up on furniture and walks around the house by pushing a chair in front of her along the tile. She doesn't know it yet, but she's getting a walker for Christmas, which will be a huge upgrade over the chair. =) Still no teeth. She will have her first doctor's appointment next Thursday...we're looking at what shots we should get for her as we prepare for a return to China.