Family Christmas

It never ceases to amaze me how busy the holiday season is! And the past few weeks have been no exception in our home. The biggest news at the moment is that Chris is finally healthy again. Two weeks after his previous diagnosis (see last blog entry), he woke up screaming in the middle of the night with a 103.4 temperature - never have I felt someone so hot! He fell back asleep, though, and the next morning I took him back to the doctor. This time, he had one very bad ear infection and strep throat. I decided to go ahead with the antibiotics, and he is now back to his normal energetic self, praise God!
The weekend before that drama, we headed up to Jacksonville to celebrate Christmas with my family. We stayed at my sister Kristin's house, which is really fun for Chris because of all of the activity and cool toys! My mom stayed there as well, and Melanie, Adam, and Isaiah also came over to celebrate. It was so much fun to watch all 10 kids opening their gifts! Chris's favorite gift was the blue truck from Nanny (my mom). The next day we stopped by Sherrie's house to exchange gifts. Here are several pictures from the weekend:

Three generations attempting to figure out an ATM machine :)

Gabe loved his new pool table
One of the twins, Joy
Jane, the other twin
Isaiah loves balls!

Chris and his new truck
Sweet Dawn and her kitties
Little Rosie
Adam and Isaiah
Last weekend I had another opportunity to shoot a wedding in Clearwater with a professional photographer. I had such a good time- I loved every second of it. Mark watched Chris; even though his mom came up to help he did pretty much everything on his own. I am so grateful for such a supportive husband! I will post pictures from the wedding as soon as the photographer sends them to me on my other blog... click here to see them.

Last, (I know, this is another long one!) last Wednesday marked the 6 year anniversary of the plane crash that took the life of my dad and three other passengers. In some ways, I can't believe it has been that long - I still remember every detail of that day. But in other ways, it seems like forever since I last heard him call me "sweetie doodle". I miss him terribly, and more than anything I wish he could have met Mark and Chris in this lifetime! I know he would be crazy about them both! But I am so grateful for all the things he taught me, especially this time of year. He LOVED Christmas - think Griswald - but not just because of the lights and presents (though he loved those). He was truly excited about the meaning of the holiday - the birth of our loving Savior, Jesus. And I feel as though each year my own excitement grows as well - I am really excited about Christmas because of what it means. It means that God loves me, and has a plan for me, and will never leave me alone... and it means the same for you. I pray that if you are reading this and you don't know that love, that God will reach out to you through the tiny hands of the baby in the manger. I can't wait to see my Daddy in heaven and thank him for the childlike wonder that I saw in him and that I am beginning to experience myself. What a gift!

The Best Gift of All

If there is one thing I am trying to learn right now, it is to slow down and appreciate the simple moments in life. To quiet my mind and put aside the 6000 things that are going through my head and take the time to just stop. Because there are so many precious moments! My baby is growing up so quickly - I wish I could just drink in the sweetness.

Chris adores playing with cars, especially with his daddy. As soon as Mark comes home from work, Chris gets his cars out and begins "driving" them all over the floor, the furniture, himself, his daddy... And Mark immediately drops everything and joins him. It is so much fun to have the two of them crawling around on the floor - getting in my way - as I am attempting to cook dinner. But I am not sure which one of them enjoys it more!

It has been a long couple of weeks, as Chris has been sick. He developed a cough right before Thanksgiving, and within a few days the cough worsened and he started acting really lethargic. When I took him to the doctor, he was diagnosed with bronchiolitis and two ear infections. I had to give him a breathing treatment every 4-6 hours as well as drops in his ears. He definitely did not like that, but after the first few times he got used to it and would sit quietly (most of the time). Fortunately his cough is almost gone and he is back to running around like usual.

I have recently decided that my favorite word is hope. Because of Christmas, we can have hope! Hope that one day we will leave all of the pain and suffering of this world behind and fall at the feet of our precious Savior. I hope that you are able to take time this season to stop and bask in the love of a God who gave everything for you.

I let him try feeding himself... he did a pretty good job!

First haircut

Getting a breathing treatment

Playing cars with Dad