Christmas '11

Veeka was happy to bounce out of bed Christmas morning and start unwrapping her pile of gifts. Occasionally I wonder: What if she were not here? What if I had not adopted her? How boring life would be. Instead, the princess was tearing the paper off her new doll crib, Barbie clothes, bead sets, a play doh maker and tons of other nice things that I cannot remember at the moment. Oma and Opa helped out with lots of things, such as a trip to Cosco to buy food and one to Giant to buy more food, then a trip to the National Cathedral just to wander about and the week they were here I didn't do a whole lot but we all somehow kept busy.Oma and Opa eventually flew home and Veeka and I are now in Knoxville for a few days at a Christian resort - Smoky Mountain Christian Village , see here - we just got here and we have the loveliest cottage all to ourselves. On the way, we stopped by Grayson Highlands State Park, which is near Mt. Rogers, the highest peak in Virginia. And we stayed with a friend last night in Blacksburg so I finally got to see Virginia Tech - had never viewed the place even though it's Virginia's largest university.Unfortunately there is little WiFi in this area and I am filing this at a McDonalds where the connection is VERY slow and it's almost impossible to download more Christmas photos so will stop there. More adventures to come.