Christmas wishes

God has been so good to us, especially in the last few months, that our Christmas was wonderful before it even started.  But it keeps getting better every day as we spend time with family and friends in Somerset, and reconnect with friends from the past as well.  It is always so good to learn how God has been working in the lives of those we love, and, as my grandma shared this afternoon, this really has been a year full of blessings in our extended family.  We’ve definitely had difficult periods, but God has really been answering lots of prayers for us.  There will always be valleys, and Clay’s family is walking through one right now as they mourn the death of his uncle (his mother’s brother) on Monday, December 22.  But God has been ever faithful and steadfast through all of our valleys, and He will be through this one too.  What do I want for Christmas?  Yeah, there’s stuff I’ve requested from the stores, and I will find things to spend my Christmas money on, but in the deeper sense of things, my heart is full this Christmas.  I know that as I’ve been in valleys, sometimes it’s been hard for me to read about the good times that others are in.  If that’s you tonight, and it’s hard for you to read about all my answered prayers and blessings, I pray that you would recognize that the valleys themselves are good times, as God works through them to refine you and make you more like Him.  I can see that looking back on most of my valleys, and I know I will see it fully once I come to the end of my journey.  My wish for you would be that you can eventually say the same.

Deeper thoughts aside, on this Christmas Eve I send out wishes to all of you for a Christmas filled with toys that don’t require batteries of have 73 pieces to lose, clothes that fit and don’t have to be exchanged, gift cards to places that you actually want to go, and gifts that actually fit in the van along with all the kids and luggage on the way home.  Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

I’m back!!

After a long spell in the no-Internet desert, I’m back online, at least for this week.  Hopefully we’ll have Internet hooked up soon after the first of the year, but for now, I’m thoroughly enjoying the on-line aspect of our trip home for the holidays. 

The move has gone well so far.  We’re loving small town life, and loving our new church family.  There are so many things I’ve stored in my “I should blog about that” archives in my brain that it would take forever, so I guess I’ll just skip most of it for now and share a few little highlights:

We don’t have cable yet either, so we’ve been watching movies over and over.  Abigail has become enthralled with my Brady Bunch season one dvd’s (no comments from the peanut gallery, please!).  When the opening song comes on, you know-where they show their faces and look at each other–Abigail runs up to the TV and puts her face right beside the screen, smiling and looking around.  I asked what she was doing, and she said, “I’m the youngest sister, Sarah!”

We went to the hometown basketball game the other night, and our girls were really getting into it!  They were cheering and jumping up and down.  Catherine turned around once and stood with her hands folded in front of her and said, “Maybe when I get a teenager, I’ll get a point too!  Maybe!”

And as far as Elisabeth goes–oh, Elisabeth.  She is just a firecracker.  She has really been clingy to Daddy lately, and wails like her heart is broken any time he goes out the door.  This was really complicated on the mornings that he was gathering up things that belonged at his office, making several trips in and out, because she started up again every single time he went out the door.  I still have to watch her constantly as she gets into anything she can reach, and still loves to pick on her brother.  Amazingly, she left the tree and presents alone, though!

And little Samuel had a milestone today, just in time for me to blog about it!  He rolled over!  He’ll be four months old next week, and smiles and laughs all the time.  He is such a good, good baby.  All mine have been relatively easy, at least after the first few months, but he wins the prize.  I definitely think we’re going to keep him.

So that’s a little update.  I’ve got some pictures and stuff to put up later this week.  I am so glad to be back!

Merry Christmas!

Really quickly…

I don’t have a lot of time, but just wanted a quick update…

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends in Somerset, reveling in the excitement of recent days.  But now…

We are officially moving on Wednesday!!  Clay and I are in Lafayette until then packing up the rest of our stuff (although we haven’t gotten much done today because we had some errands to run).  The moving truck will be here Wednesday and we’re heading out!  I’ll swing down to Somerset to load up the girls and head to Salem on Friday.

We’ll get the internet hooked up as fast as we can and I’ll be back.  Don’t give up on me!!!