2008 will be Great!

Dear Edison,

It's a little past midnight on January 1, 2008! Everyone is asleep and for some reason I am wide awake. Kensley has been so excited because I promised her we would watch old movies of her and Emily we had taken when they were babies. That is what we did the last few hours of 2007. I cried watching Emily on video. I knew she had grown up - but I had forgotten what a sweet, little girl she was. Her voice and the way she said, "Mama?" and her singing off-key is priceless - I even filmed her one afternoon "throwing a fit" for which she is famous in our family. So far we have only seen Kensley's ultrasound and that was pretty boring after a few minutes - especially since I can't remember what all the parts are but I promised her we would go out in the garage and find some of her when she was little. The girls have grown up so quickly and I will be saying the same about you several years from now. Emily is off tonight at a church lock-in with a bunch of her friends. Kensley is asleep and Cash is here, he's sleeping with Paul. I'm not sure where I will end up - either with Paul and Cash (too crowded) - or maybe with Kensley??

2008 is finally here! This is the year our family will finally meet YOU. 2007 was a wonderful year because it is the year you were born. 2008 is going to be great because you are going to officially become an Underwood! I'm counting the days until we meet you for the first time in February and already dreading the moment when they take you out of my arms and I have to leave you in Guatemala. The thing that will keep me going is knowing that Paul and I will return for you in only 4 short months and while that seems like a long time - it is shorter than the time we have been away from you! Just six more months and God willing, you will be able to come home with us. We can't wait.

I'm begining a project today that I hope to send to you in Guatemala this month (January). It will be a bilingual picture book, made by me (with the help of Shutterfly.com and my spanish speaking friends) that will introduce you to me, your daddy, your sisters, our dog, our house, the cars we drive, the horses and your grandparents. Hopefully it will be your favorite book and it will help you, when you see your daddy and I for the first time, recognize us and then it will make everything else familiar to you also so things here in Lancaster will not seem so scary.

I always knew that I someday wanted to adopt a child. I didn't know what year you would be born, when you would join our family - I knew nothing about you but then you happened in 2007 and that has been the greatest thing. There are years that come and go without much that sticks in your mind but there are other years that have some magical memory from which you can easily recall the year. 1970, I was born. I graduated from high school in 1988. In 1989 I married Paul, 1993 is when I held my first-born, Emily. Kensley came along in 1997.

2008 is going to be one of those memorable years - and your name will be attached!

Happy New Year, Eddy! Love, Mommy