Sunday, December 18, 2011

Getting Sentimental...among other things...

Settle in for a long winter's blog...

Since I've only been blogging once a month or every month and a half it seems like I always have a million things to say. You may remember my last post at the beginning of November. We had had a somewhat difficult fall and were all pretty worn out. I am glad to say that things have been better around here for most of us!

For those of you who didn't know I am expecting a third little miracle July 4th. It's been a rough pregnancy so far, but we are nearing the end of the first trimester and I have hope things will get a lot better in the next month.

Jonah is feeling 110% better and is back to his crazy cute little self. He views the world around him as his own personal jungle gym. I am amazed at his acrobatic skills every day. He isn't afraid of anything (with the exception large dogs)! His vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds every day and I love to hear him talk!

Liam is as smart as ever. He cracks us up all the time with the things he has to say. And he is so helpful. It has gotten to be a lot of fun doing things with him, taking him places and experiencing the wonder of the world again through his perspective. One of my favorite changes in him is his recent realization that Jonah can be fun! They play together all the time now. I hear them giggling about everything. and Liam now knows that Jonah will copy almost everything he does. This, I have found, is very dangerous!

Today was Liam's first participation in a Christmas program, or any type of program for that matter. I had been really looking forward to it, but I didn't expect to be so emotional about it! I helped lead worship this Sunday so I was there to see the program in the first service (Liam was only in the program for the second service). As I watched all the cute little kids I couldn't hold back the tears.

Most of you know that we went through 3 1/2 years of infertility before we conceived Liam. There were so many moments that I would be completely overcome by grief during those years. It would hit me at the most unexpected times. Today, all of the sudden, I was instantly transported back to a Christmas program about 5 or 6 years ago. I remembered so clearly sitting in the seat next to Edwin, watching all those cute little kids and my heart completely broke for the thousandth time. I was overcome with the realization that I would probably never get to sit in that seat with a huge grin on my face watching MY little boy or girl sing her heart out, or pick his nose, or just stand there like a statue. I actually had to get up and leave in order to go and compose myself.

Flash back to today and I was overcome with wonder! There I was watching the program, knowing that my little Liam, MY precious miracle would be up there in a little over an hour. That I would get to wave at him from my seat. That Edwin would be running around the sanctuary with a video camera trying to capture what would be to most people the most boring video they'd ever seen! God has been so incredibly good to us. He has given us more than we ever deserved. And this moment was such an overwhelming reminder of His grace and goodness.

So, without further ado (and mostly for the grandparents, because no one else will think it's interesting), Liam's inaugural performance...



And here are a few pictures of what we've been up to the rest of December.

We have had some MAJOR transitions. Edwin's parents and two of his cousins and their entire families all moved to the area on November 30th! We went from having very little family close by to having a ton of family close by. The cousins are all up in Vancouver and I took the boys up there a few weeks ago to begin getting reconnected. Here are just a few of them.



And this is Edwin's nephew Irie. Edwin's parents are raising him full time right now. Hopefully we'll all be able to help each other!

Meeting Santa and Christmas tree farm


Doesn't Jonah remind you of that kid in The Christmas Story with that poofy red coat?

Seeing the lights go on on the Christmas tree for the first time.


Watching Charlie Brown's Christmas

Discovering Nutella


Out to see the Lights Of Christmas at Warm Beach Camp with the Brennans


The crash after all the fun