Holiday Happenings

I cannot believe my little man is already eighteen months old. He is growing so fast and learning so much. He is our daily source of laughter.

December seems to have been swallowed whole (at least in my blogging world), but the month (as December always is) was full of cookie baking, party planning, present shopping, Christmas card making, gift wrapping, etc...

We had a WONDERFUL Christmas surrounded by family and friends. We flew home to Michigan on Christmas Eve successfully making all of our flights and although we had to...well, actually my dad and Josh had to drive back to the airport Christmas Day to retrieve our luggage, we were thankful that the weather cooperated with us and we got there safely! We thoroughly enjoyed getting all of the cousins together (we have FIVE little ones in total now, since adding Ava to the crew this past July-FUN)! I ALWAYS enjoy so much spending time with my nieces and nephews, and this trip was no exception!! I also love to visit with my Grandma, who is ninety-two and so full of life. And of course my parents soaked up every second with Gage they could! My dad even bought him a sled and built him a snowman.

Our time in Michigan was of course too short, and our flight home was of course TOO long:) Because our first flight was delayed, I had to run (literally) with Gage to our next gate and BEG them to wait for Josh (who was waiting for our stroller). This was the last flight of the day to our destination, and we did NOT want to spend the night in Atlanta.

We BARELY made it, so...our luggage did not make it. Josh had put the keys to our vehicle in his carry on, which he decided to "check" at the last minute, so we were an hour away from home at 10pm without keys. After renting a car, calling On Star to unlock our vehicle so we could get Gage's car seat, waiting for someone to come, and driving home, we arrived home at 1:30am--only then to turn around later that same day and head to the beach for a New Years Eve party.

Needless to say, by the time we got home from the beach on January 2nd, we were EXHAUSTED! Unfortunately, we came home to find that our house had been broken into while we were at the beach and someone had taken our television, video camera, laptop, gun, and a few other items. We did NOT have insurance. We do now.

Three days later, we found ourselves in the emergency room--Gage has bronchitis.

I am sharing all of this for two reasons. First of all, for your entertainment and perhaps mine someday too...looking back. And secondly, because I find myself coming out of this unfortunate week with optimism, and that could be only from God.

I am so grateful that some of the expensive gifts we received for Christmas were not sitting around for the "crook" to take, because our luggage was lost and had not been retrieved yet. I am thankful that we caught Gage's bronchitis before it turned to pneumonia and I CHERISH the precious quiet moments I am "forced" to have with him during his many nebulizer treatments (all for which he is ANGELIC)! I am so blessed that our new desktop computer, which contains ALL of my thousands of irreplaceable pictures and sits two feet away from the window through which the person entered is completely in tact.

God is so good to us, and we are so undeservedly blessed.

I hope you have all had a wonderful Christ-filled holiday season. I look forward to catching up with everyone as soon as I have the time to do so.

Pictures will follow...