Under Advisement...

Making progress. Evi's case has officially been changed on the court's website from "assigned" to "under advisement". This means that the case has been heard by the panel of 3 judges and that they are currently making their decision. If they are unanimous in their decision, they could issue it within a few days. If there is debate or disagreements between them, they could take as long as 3 months to decide. Most cases take between 2 - 4 weeks. We just feel happy to finally see some progress in the case. Thank you to all you who have prayed for us!

On a lighter note, our family is very excited to have this week to spend together. We are looking forward to driving around neighborhoods to look at Christmas lights, going out for breakfast on Christmas Eve, wrapping presents together, and playing some games. Today was Christmas Sunday and Tom gave an inspirational talk testifying about Jesus Christ. (And coming from me, that is a real compliment! We are always harder on our spouses than anyone else.) Our family sang with the ward choir and the girls sounded beautiful in the children's chorus. I am looking forward to having no school for two weeks! I (or rather, my body) has decided that it likes to sleep in past 6:30 in the morning which is our normal wake-up time to have the girls at school by 7:15 am.

Emma's school choir sang at a new rehabilitation center near us last week. Emma saw a cute little old lady singing along and bobbing her head with the music and she decided that she wanted to "adopt a Grandparent" to visit and give service to. So, we visited her again the next day and sang Christmas Carols to her and will go in again this week to paint her nails. (Mom and Kathleen, don't you wish you were here? Free manicures by the girls!)

This season has been delicious. In addition to our wonderful friends and neighbors dropping off yummy homemade treats, we have been trying to bake something new each day. (It isn't hard to find something new when you have rarely cooked before. As a friend once said, "I have a kitchen because it came with the house.") Anyway, Emma took after Grandpa Joe and fell in love with Snickerdoodles. I have decided that toffee isn't too hard to make after all...even though mine ended up chewy instead of crunchy! (Next year, I'll get a candy thermometer!) And Tom still loves the old standby...chocolate chip cookies. Isaac and Evi have discovered the joy of dipping toast in hot chocolate and we even pulled out the special glasses last Wednesday and had sparkling cider together as a family. We started with 6 unbroken glasses and ended with 6 unbroken glasses! Wow! Our kiddos are growing up!