Christmas

Christmas. A time to stop and celebrate the amazing gift that God gave to us when he sent his son. I am not sure if it has more to do with the fact I am carrying my own son, or the fact that the last 2 months have been so incredibly emotional and taxing, but wow it really hit me this year. Not only did he send Jesus knowing the pain he would go through as he was crucified for our sins, but also the fact that he sent him as a newborn. There is nothing more helpless then a newborn, they literally depend on their moms and dads for everything, and yet helpless is how Christ came into this world. Helpless to help myself is pretty much how I have felt the last two months, and yet miraculously placing all my trust and hope in God has given me a firmer foundation to stand on then I have ever had before. I feel totally broken, and yet also totally whole.

On the pregnancy front, Isaac is growing healthy and strong. I was cleared to begin exercising again. I went on a two mile walk with Uncle Taylor and have pretty much been sore ever since. That was almost a week ago now. I am hoping to go out this week a couple times for a two mile walk - but we will see. Grace was thrilled to be back in the Bob. :)

Uncle Taylor had off Christmas Eve so he came over and helped us make cookies for Santa. Grace has continued to be very firm on her conviction that Santa could leave all presents outside, and that Mommy could bring them in. This girl makes my heart sing.

We have enjoyed the holidays with Mimi and Boppy and feel seriously blessed to have them as role models in our lives. I know they are my parents, and I know I feel the same way about Grace, but it constantly amazes me how not only did my life change completely at the end of October, but so did theirs. They jumped in and helped with Grace, helped us feel safe in our apartment, helped us to create a sense of home and normalcy at a time when everything felt so out of control. God is good. I thank him every day for blessing me with my Mom and Dad. <3

If you had told me on Halloween there was a chance that Christmas would be without Gabe. I would not have been able to fathom what you were saying. Then again if you had told me on my birthday (Nov. 4) that Gabe would be living with us again on Christmas and things would be better then they were before... I would equally have been completely confused by what you were saying. God has a powerful way of using devastating situations to shake up our lives and make us rely more fully on him.

We made our traditional Christmas Eve Dinner. Sour Soup, oplatki, shrimp, dates, apricots, tortellini, to celebrate the kids Polish, and Italian heritage. This year Grace helped out making the soup. She is such a good helper these days.

We also opened Christmas presents from out of town relatives. Thank you so much for those of you who sent us gifts, we feel blessed beyond words.

We headed to Mimi and Boppys to do some pre Christmas Celebrating, playing games, making Christmas tree stickers, doing puzzles and making home made ice cream on their new machine. There was so much laughing and joy. It is so amazing to see how far we have come as a family - the whole family.

Christmas Morning is here! We had a lovely slow day - the very best kind. Santa did come... and all the presents were brought inside :) We sang happy birthday to Jesus and talked about how we exchange gifts because God gave his ultimate gift for us. We opened presents slowly between meals, breakfast and Mimi and Boppy's, nap time, Christmas Dinner with everyone again.

 It was fun to see how Grace really enjoyed each gift and wanted to play fully with it before rushing to the next one. I love how she was in no hurry to see if the next gift was even "better" then the one before. If she opened a book, she wanted to read it 10 times. If she opened a dress, she wanted to wear it. Each gift held it's own value and wasn't compared to any other gift or treated unkindly. I hope I can learn to live life the way my two year old enjoyed Christmas. Each moment beautiful to enjoy and not comparable to any other moment, taking the time to stop and truly enjoy.

 

Talking with Gigi on the telephone was a big hit on Christmas morning. Grace was pretty sure that Gigi was inside the speaker - and we should figure out how to get her voice out :)

These two... like Uncle, like niece. I am forever amazed by their bond, and how good it feels knowing if something happened to Gabe and I, this guy would take care of, and love my precious girl.

We were blessed by gifts both for Grace, Isaac, Gabe and me, but the best gift we got this Christmas was acceptance. The ability to be a family with all of our family. It has been a long two months, but the sincerity, vulnerability and openness that has come out of this terrible mess has blown me away.

Merry Christmas from our amazingly, adorable, energetic and exciting two year old who every day continues to blow us away with her inner strength, love for helping, and ability to figure out new things.

And looking forward to a Happy New Year in 2014, where hopefully we learn from and leave this year behind as we await the arrival of our tiny gift and pray for even more blessings and miracles as we lean on God and follow his path for our lives during this next chapter.

xoxo
Mommy & Daddy