Loving Life

This has been the best Christmas. I have enjoyed every party, meal, laugh, conversation and minute that I have had to spend with my friends and family.

Christmas morning was the best. At about 5 am, Matt woke me up and asked if I was ready to open presents. He said that Gracelyn was awake and ready, but when I looked over at her she was sound asleep. I could see the excitement in his eyes so I could not resist. He looked like a five year old that had been waiting for hours. So after waking our soundly sleeping 12 weeks old, we quickly made our way to the tree. We spent several hours just taking in every minute of everything...the dogs enjoying their new bones, Gracelyn's sweet morning giggles, and reading the bible with her.

After presents, we headed to the kitchen to make a delicious breakfast. We had yummy frittatas with sausage and potatoes. As Matt cooked, I called our families on Skype to share in their mornings. I love Skype. It was so wonderful getting to see all their faces even though they are so far away. The best part was seeing the kids (Joli and Sean's blessings) faces and hearing about all the new gifts.

The Sunday after Christmas, we headed to my grandma's house. It was the first time Mama Pat got to see Gracelyn Faith. I could see the joy and love in her eyes when she got to hold her the first time. It was a moment that I had dreamed of for almost eight years.

On Monday, my wonderful in-laws arrived from Illinois and have been staying with us. I love having them here. I am so blessed to have married into a loving family. I loved them from the moment that I meet them, but my love has grown in a new way since seeing them love our precious baby girl. They are so sweet with her and love her so much.

Peggy (my mother in-law), Gracelyn and I had a girls shopping day today. It was so nice and relaxing. We were on a hunt for craft materials for me to make a few things for Gracelyn. If all goes well with hers, I hope to sell them. I have been praying for God to tell me a way to make some extra money or better yet, allow me to stay home with her. I guess I will have to wait and see if this was His answer.

Well, my Little Miss is finished eating and I need to put her to bed...or swing.
God Bless!

It's Starting to Feel A Lot Like Christmas

I would like to start by apologizing if I ramble and jump all over with my thoughts. I guess that is the “stage” of mommy hood that I am in right now. My brain is all over the place, but I want to get my thoughts down before I forget them. So here goes…I hope you can make sense of my spastic thoughts.

It’s our first Christmas with our Little Miss and we could not be more excited. There seems to be a new long awaited peace in our home this year. We have dreamed about this Christmas for the past eight years….I just got a little chocked up typing that. Thank you, God for your precious son and your precious daughter that you have trusted us to raise!

For the most part, the house is decorated and the tree is trimmed. I still do not have all the decorations up, but I really don’t care. It is amazing how my priorities have changed since Gracelyn’s birth. In years past, I had to have everything completed in a day—two tops. Now, here it is Christmas Eve and I still have a pile of decorations at the front door for our front porch and gifts in the middle of the floor unwrapped. Oh well, I don’t care and thank goodness Matt doesn't either.

This year I am all about starting new traditions as a family. I want there to be special little things that Gracelyn looks forward to each year. Little things like making handmade ornaments together. Gracelyn and I made ornaments for the tree using cranberries a few weeks ago. They look and smell great. I made them last year, but it was so wonderful to have her to make them with me this year. I look forward to many years to come of us making things together. We made some for a wreath in the dining room, but it only got half way done. As a family, we are also going to bake Jesus a birthday cake. I will talk more about that below. If anyone has a family tradition that your family enjoys, please share it with me.

Matt and I bought Gracelyn a very pink Christmas tree for her room. We decorated it was words of encouragement and little wooden blocks that her Mama Donna made her. It is so cute and I know that in a couple years she will love it.

Being that Gracelyn Faith is only 12 weeks old, she cannot open her gifts. Some wise person, I don’t remember who, suggested that I buy her some things and Matt buy her some things and then we open each others. We thought that was just the coolest idea so that is what we are doing. I cannot wait to see what Matt picked out for her. The thought of him shopping for our little girl warms my heart with such love and joy.

A couple days ago, Gracelyn and I went shopping for a few last minute gifts for her and Matt. We had the best time. She is such a wonderful shopper….thank you, God! I can’t say what I bought yet…Matt may read this today. But, tomorrow I will post lots of pictures of Gracelyn’s gifts that she receives on her first Christmas. I sure do hope she like what I picked out. While we were shopping, we had to take a “bottle” break so we joined her daddy at work for lunch. It was a nice relaxing lunch and Gracelyn even left her daddy a “gift” all over his shirt when we left.

I can’t wait to start all our celebrations. Tonight we are going to a Christmas service at church. We can wait to have fellowship with our church family and praise God for sending His son for us. Tomorrow we are going to celebrate Jesus’ birthday with a birthday cake. Gracelyn and I went to the grocery store yesterday to buy the items needed to make His cake. I really wanted to make a red velvet cake. I thought that would be fitting to symbolize the blood Jesus shed for us and red also symbolizes new begins and birth…thanks, Joli, for telling me that part. Well after searching in a busy grocery store two days before Christmas, I am told they were out of red velvet cake mix. I was so disappointed. I ended up getting strawberry. I figured that was almost red. Jesus knows I tried so I am sure He will like the strawberry just the same.

Well, nap time is almost over, so I will stop rambling for now. I would love to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. I pray that you all remember the true meaning of Christmas and invite Jesus to your celebrations, into your home and into your heart.

God Bless!

10 Things I Love About Gracelyn Faith

I just read a blog that my sister wrote about 10 things she loved. I thought it was such a cute ides that I wanted to do one too. So her goes...

10 Things I Love About Gracelyn Faith

1. The way she looks into my eyes with complete love and acceptance.
2. I love the way she laughs and giggles when she wakes up. She is such a happy baby!
3. The way she holds my finger while she is eating.
4. I love how she sticks her little butt out when I pick her up.
5. The way she smells after a bubble bath.
6. Her little lizard tongue. She loves to stick it out! I added a photo so you can see just how cute she is when she does it.
7. I love how she smiles at me when I am talking with her. Yes, she does "talk"back. We have had some great conversations.
8. I love that she is such a wonderful traveler. She has only cried once in the car.
9. That she is a daddy’s girl. It warms my heart to watch them together.
10. How she loves to “sing” with me. She loves music. Her favorite is “Jesus Loves Gracelyn”

The Start of a New Adventure

Well, it took my sweet and intelligent nephew, Hunter, to help me finally start this long awaited blog. It is something that I have thought about doing for a few years now, but just never took the time to do it. My life is busier and crazier than ever, but I figured that I would give it a try. Thank you, Hunter for helping me. I know that I will be thankful for all the wonderful memories that I am able to save for Gracelyn to read about one day.