I’m writing this early, so I’m sure other beautiful things have happened while I was in Denver. They, however, will have to wait for a separate post, since this time around I’ll be reminiscing about these three beautiful things:

1. The fresh oranges Rudi brings back to me from Florida are utterly divine — sweet … and pink!

2. Putting your cold feet on someone’s warm legs under the bed covers.

3. The arrival of a new baby is a thing to be heralded from the towers of a great cathedral or to be broadcast on the evening news. It timeline seems a bit trickier, however, when you’re awaiting a baby adopted from overseas (pregnancy-announcement-birth vs application-acceptance-waiting list-birth-interminable paperwork-adoption). The process is, as it ought to be, finicky and particular, and bureaucracy likes to make sure things are stamped just so and are filed in triplicate before they pass you on to the next step. The good news is that for my friend Rebecca and her husband, Rick, the final step of the process has been achieved. Last week the Guatemalan government gave them a big thumbs-up on the adoption of their beautiful (now seven-month-old) son. They are now merely waiting for the American embassy to process his American paperwork and in six to eight weeks they’ll be rushing to Central America with open arms. Every picture I see of him has him smiling, so I can’t wait for him to have the only thing more a child could want — parents who can care for him, a family that is eagerly awaiting him, and more love than could fill the distance between Washington state and Guatemala City. What a wonderful Christmas present he’s going to be!