Feliz Anos Nuevo!

Happy New Year everyone! Hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year with your families!

We are back from our travels and getting back into the daily grind again. We had such a wonderfully amazing Christmas, it was just so sweet to spend it with our precious baby boy. I love seeing it all through his eyes, it really was magical. The Christmas Eve service at Mom's church was so sweet b/c he fell asleep as soon as David started preaching (thankfully! I was so worried the no nursery issue) and so I just held him in my arms. He is still so peaceful when he sleeps and stills has a trace of his infant look with his eyes closed. The service ended with us singing carols by candlelight and it was just so sweet to hold him while everyone sang Silent Night and the other songs. I was thinking of how Mary must have held sleeping baby Jesus (can you even imagine??) and shared my thoughts & emotions of the huge task we've been given as Moms. The sheer gratitude I feel I can never fully express of just feeling so thankful that God picked me to be Sammy's mommy, wondering how I will be able to guide him and teach him the things I feel are most important in this life, how I can nurture his faith, how I will most effectively discipline him, and how I will ever let him go when the time comes, just to name a few. So if we feel like that with our children, it is unfathomable how Mary must have felt with the task of raising Jesus. I am sure she got to the place in her heart, maybe she was already there when He was born, where she just truly gave Him over to God but even with that she was still his Mommy and still needed to make daily choices of how to best raise little King Jesus. I sure wish she had written a parenting book! ha ha! I think it was that realization that I do have a great parenting book.. the BIBLE, the actual word of God, that has inspired me to read the Bible through this year. Pastor Gary guides and encourages those of us who chose to do this each year and I just wasn't ready last year but I have committed to giving it my best shot this year. I'm sure there will be more on that later! =)

Our Christmas morning was just so fun, Sammy gave us his gift of sleeping through the night, yay! He has been a great sleeper, typically 12 hours a night, but for some reason the week or so leading up to Christmas had been rough. I am thinking molars or his new separation anxiety. Anyway, we had so much fun. It is always a little sad for me to not have my Gram sitting there with us as she was every Christmas morning of my life. I have really been missing her so much even though she's been gone for a few years now. I just wish she could have met Sammy and given me her words of wisdom. I know I will see her one day again though, I can't even imagine how much fun we will have together! wow. I am pretty sure we will have matching Ruby Red High heels to dance in (for those of you who don't know, she fostered my love of shoes). Well now Christmas mornings include my little family, Mom, Richard, and my step sister Heather. I have had so much fun getting to know her, and wow.. Sammy is sooo all about his Aunt Heather! Last year he was so new he slept through it all but this year he was obsessed with her. He even tried to say her name, it was really sweet. We have shown him her picture since we've been back and he claps and squeals then calls for her like he did at mom's with his eyebrows raised. She lives in CA so he will only get to see her once or twice a year, which is sad to me.

Sam and I were on a tight budget with Sammy being so young decided was best to give what we would have spent on him to a family our Sunday School class helps out and I know they were blessed by the gifts but I was feeling guilty that we didn't get Sammy anything for Christmas. He sure made out just fine though. Thank you so much to everyone! I think his highlight was by far one of his gifts from Mom and Richard. They got him this little car that he can ride in like a stroller and we push which was by far his favorite gift! He went on many walks and was so hilarious in it. He grinned ear to ear while in it and had to use the little door to get in and out. We dread the end of each walk b/c he still cries each time he has to get out. We even hide it & cover it up when the car is not being used so he won't ask for it. He has fallen asleep while riding in it on a few occasions and it is so funny b/c when he wakes up he instantly starts steering again. I am sure Christmas will get even more special each year as he gets older and can really grasp the true meaning of what we are celebrating. I only wish we had more time to spend up in Jax, we got to see both of our families but still would have loved more time with them and would have loved to see some of our friends too.

Christmas Dinner was fun at Aunt Sandra's. This is a fam tradition we have had since I was born. It was so surreal to have my child sitting there by the tree opening presents and to see all the "little" ones I have watched grow from help him open his gifts and play with him. My little cousins are all so big now, especially my beautiful Julz. She is all grown up, so mature. I just can't believe it. I am amazed by the strong young lady she is turning in to. Sammy just adores Duncan, he follows him around and mimics him. Duncan has grown so much too and he is so smart, he got his Harry Potter books for Christmas and was just thrilled. Quinten and Bryan are so funny to me, so sweet and all boy. It just craked me up how Sammy thinks he is one of them, they would run aroudn and say stuff and Sammy was right behind them babbling and squealing. Wow. We missed having Sherry & Karen and their families with us, if either of you are reading this...you two need to come down for another visit REALLY soon! It just isn't the same without all of us together.

We spent New Year's Eve here in Gville and Linda & Patrick came down to celebrate with us. We had such a good time with them, it is exiting to think that next New Year's Eve they will have their 6 mos old son with them.. ha ha.. just kidding, they don't know the sex of the baby yet, I just have a feelig it is a boy. I struggled a lot with the new year, especially that night. I had a weird feeling and I was really dreading 2009! Isn't that weird? Who dreads a new year??? I was really kind of sad and then New Year's day I had a lot of fun with them and Sam but still felt kind of weird. I finally realized I was bummed b/c I just feel like I have way too much to accomplish this year! The main thing being the completion of my grad program.. yikes! That is a terrible way to start the year, feeling like that, right? I had to do some cognitive restructuring which to be honest isn't totally helping but I now realize that each daunting thing, when broken down into the tiny steps needed to complete it, really isn't all that bad. I just keep reminding myself of Phillipians 4:13.. I CAN do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me. I don't have to do it alone and I will get it all done and done well. Speaking of.. time for me to get into my office. Here I go.. officially starting the work year with my 2 page To Do list. Yay!

I also have our Christmas pics on our camera that I can't wait to post so hopefully will get that done soon, thanks to everyone who reads our blog, I really have fun doing this.


HAPPY NEW YEAR! FELIZ ANOS NUEVO!