Our Christmas Letter

We have had an extremely busy year. We are thankful for all we have and the health and happiness of everyone in the Smith home. We’ve had a lot of great changes, and would love to share with you what has been happening in our lives.

We have changed our place of worship and are now attending Faith Community Church. It is very close to our home and the kids are making new friends and are having fun going to AWANA. Kim helped with the Christmas play this year, and Jeremiah is hoping to join the worship team at the beginning of 2009.

Jeremiah is employed at the xxx; this is his 9th year now. He is on his 3rd year as a bicycle patrol officer. He loves being on a bike, giving him a different view of the city and allowing him to interact more with people. He is also busy with the SWAT team and the honor guard. He is involved with many other projects as well. He received a letter of commendation from the Chief for his work at breaking up a burglary and fencing operation in the area this year.

Kimberly is still a stay at home mom and is homeschooling the kids. She volunteers for an organization for the Medical Advocacy Team. www.medicaladvocacyteam.blogspot.com Her role is to find host families for international children who are ill and need to come to the U.S for surgery. It is a rewarding job to help children in this way. She enjoys working outside, gardening, playing with the kids and going on fun day trips with the family.

Jeremiah and Kimberly went to Haiti last spring to volunteer at Children of the Promise, the orphanage where Elijah is staying. They spent Easter there while Mickey, Jeremiah’s mom, was able to stay in our home with the kids. We also celebrated Elijah’s birthday early while we were there. Before we left home for our trip, we heard of a baby boy named Jean-Alex who needed brain surgery. The timing worked out perfectly for us to bring him home with us and care for him. Kim took him to Sacramento, CA twice for his two life saving surgeries that were donated by the surgeon and Sutter Memorial Hospital. He is doing well and receiving therapy in our home.

Loren will be 12 years old in March and is growing fast! He enjoyed playing soccer again this fall. He loves to read, play with legos, and is even writing a book! He’s a very smart young man. He is in sixth grade.

Corinn is 10 and is tall and thin. She loves art, animals, making people laugh, singing and helping in the kitchen. She’s compassionate and caring. She likes to play outside, and cuddle on the couch watching movies. She’s in forth grade.

Kylie is almost 6. She is a funny, sweet little girl. She loves to cuddle and loves her daddy. She loves singing, dancing, coloring, and everything most six-year-old girls like. She still only wants to wear dresses! She is in Kindergarten this year.

Elijah is our little 2 1/2 year old boy in Haiti. We have been working on his adoption for about 17 months now. He is legally our son, with the Smith last name. We are waiting for the last few steps before he can come home. He is a happy, cuddly, sweet boy. We can’t wait until he can come live with us.

We were blessed with an adoption shower by friends and were given some needed little boy things for Elijah. It was a wonderful way to celebrate adoption and the beautiful children God has brought to us.

We have had very cold weather these last few weeks. We experienced frozen pipes this morning for the first time we have lived here (4 years). Thankfully there was no damage. We still live in the country, on our 5 acres. We have been working hard around the place and have been remodeling our studio. Loren decided he wanted to move his bedroom out there so now he is living in that building, about 20 feet from our back door. He loves his bit of freedom, and it opened up his room for Elijah. We worked on painting and decorating it making it ready for Elijah. Hopefully he will be home soon!

We hope you and yours have a very Merry Christmas and wonderful New Year. May God bless you!