A Little Bragging...

At the American Home Christmas bash, I had the privilege of watching Michael truly shine. He started this Little Engine That Could company from scratch five years ago and Poppy quickly partnered with him. Together they've build a terrific business with a great team and the Lord has continued to bless their hard work. Now they run the largest company of their kind in Southern California! The Christmas party was a gas! These people are like a big, hysterical, quirky, and noisy family!

Happy Birthday, Mr. Lincoln!

Our awesome nephew, Lincoln, turned four and we all celebrated what a fantastic little guy he is!

Visiting Santa at His Beach House

Santa was his jolly ol' self as we visited him at his home in Newport Beach on Monday. I'm so grateful that the older kids still find it fun and exciting to see Santa and tell (fib to) him that they've been little angels all year! They were great sports for both of the girls and made visiting Saint Nick a very big and fun deal. Man, we've got some great kids!

Papa & Ray Ray by the BIG tree.

This year Fashion Island is sporting the biggest Christmas tree in the Nation at 115 feet!

Mama & Elianna Ray

Getting very excited!

Alright, I'm not waiting one more minute!

Ray Ray absolutely LOVED Santa, and clapped and sang while sitting on his lap. Meanwhile, Evangeline who yells, "HI, Sata! HI, Sata! Hey, HIIIIII, Sata!" (sic) at every single Santa that she sees until he responds with a little wave, couldn't muster a smile for the big moment. Oh well. I think she was a little overwhelmed. Once we left, she talked about him all day long!

Here's the official shot with the girls

and all five Hausam babies with The Big Kahuna!

A Very Gingerbready Christmas Party!

Here are a few pictures from the Orange County Ethiopian Adoption Network Gingerbread House Christmas party last Saturday. We had a wonderful time with you all, and we so appreciate your sweet friendship!

The Yates Family

Susan building the Clark house

The Sherrell Family (minus Kidus who will be home SOON!)

Amanda & Andrew with Cadence Mekdes Richey (and their little bun in the oven, too!)

Julia & Clare

My unfinished house (with two Scotties!)

Ray Ray & me

The McClure Family

The Christiansens

The Paschall Family

If you would like to see all the pics, you can check out our family photo galleries. Leave a comment or guestbook message for the password if you don't already have it.

JOY to the World!

It took a whole week to get it done, but the house is now completely Christmas ready! Yea! And we even got a gorgeous dusting of snow in our local mountains! We are otherwise ignoring that it's in the 60's here and we're enjoying a crackling fire, and hot cider, and all the wintry things with full gusto anyway.

It doesn't truly feel like Christmas to me until our worship team leads Christmas carols in church. Last Sunday, my dear friend Chris Lizotte and I sang a funky, bluesy version of "Silent Night" with the great Eddie Ambrose on Hammond and worshiped our hearts out with the congregation. What a treat it is to lead worship with these awesome musicians who are so in love with Christ! For me it ushers in the awe and joy of Christmas in an incredible way!

This year we hung seven stockings by the chimney with care. I bought these stockings seven years ago in FAITH and now this year we've hung them ALL! Thank You, Jesus, that Your promises are true! The Lord never fails!

Not even in death. I can't listen to "I Miss You Most at Christmastime" without crying yet because this will be the first Christmas for Grandmother (and all of us) without Granddaddy, but when I can I need to get in the studio and record it for her. It's beautifully bittersweet. I know that she wakes up every day and chooses joy, and a peaceful heart as she labors happily on for Jesus training other believers and spreading the Gospel, but after 61 years of loving life together... As my Uncle Walt reminded me, Praise the Lord that they'll be together again soon, as will we all, in the sweet by and by! AMEN!

We are rejoicing in that promise as well. Along with all the blessings of Christmas, we are celebrating having two babies in the house this year who are enthralled with every little sparkly-lit thing in sight, and every pretty package, and all the sweets and treats, too. Evangeline is especially crazy about Christmas trees. "Tree! Tree! Lights! Oooooo! Pretty! No touchy! Mmmmm, smell!" and lots of giggles. Elianna Ray wants desperately to get into everything but so far we've been able to catch her before she's gotten to the decorations. Watching these two be so thrilled at all the sparkling delights of Christmas is so precious. And it inspires in me a fresh wonder at the beauty of the Gift of Jesus, too. God Himself parted with His Loved One for our sake and all Heaven rejoiced with singing at the birth of the King!

And so shall I! JOY to the World!

Ethiopian Worship!

A Great Website for Ethiopian Toys & Books!

Amharic Kids website was created by an adoptive family. On their site you can buy books and toys related to Ethiopia. They also have some great links to other Ethiopian sites. Check it out!

OCEAN Christmas Party!

Hey, all you SoCal Ethiopian adoptive families...

Orange County Ethiopian Adoption Network

GINGERBREAD HOUSE

CHRISTMAS PARTY

Saturday, December 8^th, 3:00

At the Hausams in Orange

Bring all your little sugarplums!

Leave a comment on this post or a message in the guestbook and we'll get you signed up to bring an appetizer or sweet treat!

A New Referral, too!

So much good news! Check out the Atwood's blog for all the info. Congratulations Keva, Trevor, & Micah, and Praise the Lord!

Kidus is a Sherrell!

Fantastic news! Brad & Christy Sherrells' court appointment was successful so Kidus Fekadu is now their son! Praise the LORD! Now we need to pray that he can come home with his new family for Christmas! WOO HOO!!!

Isn't he a cutie?!