Nick is such a softee

And the Grinch realized something he hadn't before,
Maybe, he thought, Christmas doesn't come from a store.
Maybe, he thought, Christmas means a little bit more.


I am married to the sweetest guy! Sometimes I forget how compassionate he is and then there are moments like these.

Two days ago, while we played with the boys, the supervisors let us inside a small classroom. It was very old, but not dirty, with litttle Ukrainian pictures on the walls and some of the children's art work. We decided to read a story outloud to them with Natasha interpreting. Nick read "The Grinch That Stole Christmas", but shortened the story to match their attention span (especially since we are reading to them in a foriegn language.) Well, the old softee said "the Grinch realized that Christmas was something more than just toys." And his eyes misted over as he thought about how these boys didn't have a lot of toys or much of anything really. Then his eyes met mine and he blushed while I giggled. Only Nick could get misty eyed while reading "The Grinch."

That evening we watched "A Christmas Carol," starring Patrick Stewart. It's a classic. When Jacob Marley said to Scrooge, "Business? Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business." Nick was again touched to his very soul. Later that night (misty eyed again) he told me he definately wanted to adopt these boys and how they need a father and mother and how he would regret not meeting their need. So I reminded him that there are other orphaned children. Was he sure these are the very ones? He said "yes."

Now, to finish this story I must take you back to the morning before we left to visit the boys and read them Dr Seuss. I'd been having devotionals online, and almost every site spoke of the Christmas story and how Jesus' birth was a sign from heaven. Well, my very prayers had been for a sign to affirm my desire to adopt these boys was also God's will. And as I held my teary husband in my arms I realized my prayers were answered.