Random Thoughts From Mama Bear

I've been waiting to write about our Christmas until I could sit down and put my thoughts together so they all sounded pretty. I've been trying for a long time to write a family update letter to put in our Christmas cards but I've been having trouble being creative and didn't want people to have to read yet another boring Christmas letter. Well the time has come to stop trying to make it all pretty or creative and just do it. Life is a work in progress, not always pretty, and it's better to write the memories down and share a family update even if it's not creative or doesn't sound elegant.

New Years card coming to your mailbox SOON!
Our New Years family update letter is completed. I am ordering pictures to go inside and will bet them ready to send out before I go back to work.

Christmas Eve
We went to my mom's house for dinner, visiting and to open gifts. The guys shoveled 3 feet of snow off of my mom's room before dinner. Talk about work up an appetite and some sore muscles. Dinner was yummy! LeAnne woke up from her nap kinda cranky but soon was having fun with her cousins. I got some great pictures of our girls that night. LeAnne had fun playing the the wrapping paper, boxes and my new mixing bowls. It so much fun to watch other people receiving gifts. We left grandmas house wondering if more snow would come like the weather man said. At home we got the kids in bed and Santa made a visit to our house.

Christmas Day
First gift I was able to sleep until 7am! Then I got up, made coffee, put cinnamon rolls in the oven and started to prepare ingredients for the Quiche all before LeAnne woke up at 7:30am. 2nd gift was we only got an inch of snow. :-) It was fun having a white Christmas but the snow sure made life interesting. After mama bear put the Quiche in the oven we opened gifts. Santa was good to us all this year. LeAnne got the hang of opening gifts but still had more fun stacking the presents, and playing with the paper. Amanda was really happy with her gifts and had fun watching her sister play. I cried when I opened Amanda's gift to me - a framed 8X10 picture of her and her dog. It's so rare we get pictures of her when's she home so I really treasure this picture!! Our Quiche was done just as we finished opening gifts and seconds prior to lil girl melting down because she was hungry. We hung out as a family, clean up and watched a classic Christmas movie on TV. It was so precious when LeAnne fell asleep on the floor for the first time ever. We went to my sisters for dinner in the afternoon. On our way down we saw at least 200 deer, pheasant, an eagle and a huge (estimated 2000 pounds) bull elk. We missed the shot because he ran off but you talk about a majestic animal. We had a wonderful time at my sisters, and dinner was yummy. LeAnne actually let Uncle Stan pick her up. Amanda and her cousins played board games and hung out in the girls new rooms. Their house was decorate so nice and it looks amazing! The drive home was a bit icy but we made it safely! What a blessed Christmas celebration! It was so nice to be rested enough that I was alert and not in a daze like last year. It was different not being able to see the rest of our family. We did talk to them so that helped. John talked to his brother for the first time in a while and we really want to take a trip to see them this year. Family is such a precious gift.

Reason for the season...
It's so easy to get caught up in the ever present, commercialized ways of the season we over look what Christmas is all about. I found myself on more than one occasion this Christmas season feeling like I wasn't celebrating the miracle of Jesus's birth the way it should be celebrated. I really miss being apart of a church, and we must find a new church home. I miss the fellowship, the worship, and growing in my relationship with Christs. Look what I did.. I did it again... I started thinking about myself instead of reflecting on the gift of Christmas. Geesh being human is messy, I am so self-centered and need to be more Christ-centered. How amazing it must have been able to watch Jesus grow up. I am so thankful for the birth of our Savior! Christmas isn't about the new things we get, but about celebrating the gift we've been given so selflessly, a gift that will provide us ever lasting life with God in heaven. Being a parent myself now I feel like I am seeing life with a new set of eyes. These ramblings are even a bit much for a rambling post so I'll stop by saying I yearn to be better and I am thankful for our savior.

My poor baby girl...
I was awaken Monday morning at 1:30am by the piercing cry of my daughter. I walked in her room to an awful smell and found she had thrown up everywhere. My poor baby girl! I spent the next 1/2 hour cleaning up while she cried because she just wanted mama to hold her. Then we sat for a while, she threw up one more time, and then finally drank some juice diluted with water and pedialyte She finally fell back to sleep in my arms about 4am. She slept soundly until 8:30am, had a few icky diapers that morning but then ate well, drank well and was in a great mood the rest of the day. I wish I knew what was causing her to get sick like this every once in a while. We've wondered if it could be a food allergy or a milk sensitivity. Thoughts?

Prayer for Stellan & the Mckfamily
LeAnne's one night of an upset tummy is nothing in comparison to what poor little Stellan is going through right now. I follow Stellan's mom's blog, which I found through another blog I read and it amazing how close one can feel to a family she's never met. If you're curious about their whole story I urge you to check out MckMama's blog. Please pray for this family as Stellan is in the PICU fighting RSV.

Is it really that time already?
Amanda goes home today. :-( I hate this time of our visit. We always urge her to stay, she'd have her own mini apartment at our house now, but we realize she must go home. She has said maybe she'll come go to college here and live with us. It's hard to imagine our girl will be in college in 2 1/2 years! WOW time flies so fast!

Thankful/Blessed
Thank-you to all our family and friends who have blessed us with their love, thoughtful gifts, and fun celebrations. I am so thankful for my family & friends! I love being a mama! I am thankful for my husband, my children, God's provision & guidance, and so much more! Life is so precious.

The thoughts in my head continue to whirl but I'll save them for next time. Thanks for coming along on this journey of my thoughts. :-) Coming soon... A recap of 2008.