The Happy Clapper! Nate at 14 months

On the 20th of this month (nate was exactly 14 months) he started clapping! So he adds that to the little collection of things he can do; waves bye-bye (along with a verbal 'aaaayyy!' everytime!) and he signs for 'more' and 'eat' and 'sleepy'. He says 'mama' and 'dada' and 'baba' and knows what 'gimme a kissie' means FOR SURE. (it means lean into mommy's face and get it all wet). He rocks back and forth and laughs whenever we say, 'rock-y rock-y!' because he thinks that's play time. He also loves to play hide-and seek with Andrew, and giggles and squeals whenever Andrew hides and then pops up from behind the couch. His physical therapy on Monday went really well! We are working on stregthening his side muscles so he can bend from side to side and lift himself back into a sitting position. He gets himself to all fours and can scoot back a little bit, but hasn't quite got the forward motion just yet. But he makes such wonderful progress in so many little ways. Thank God for you, little nate. You are our treasure. Merry Christmas!

The other night I laughed so hard my sides hurt ...isn't that a great feeling? Every year, we look forward to going to the O'Conners for their annual Christmas party. Their home is so beautiful, the food always amazing and the friendships are everlasting. I look at the faces of these...some of my dearest and best friends, and think back to all we have been through together even in just this past year. I think....oh the Lord has been so good to me and knows me so well to give me these girls as gifts to go through life with!

Our pastor and his wonderful wife...I chuckled when we arrived at the party and saw them....because we had just had been to a His Way concert the night before and went out afterward together...and the weekend prior had attended the Gaither Homecoming concert together as well! We couldn't ask for better company to celebrate the Christmas season with. What a blessing it is to call this great man and his wife our friends.

Gifts

Have you ever heard the phrase, "the best things in life are free?" I think it's true...don't you?

Earlier this week I went to Andrew's holiday choir concert. It was surprisingly Christian-themed with songs like Going to Bethlehem and a stunning rendition of Silent Night.  It began with singing and sign, then humming and sign and then silence, with sign only.  Wow.  After the concert there was a cookie

 extravaganza with free offerings of the most scrumptious confections Howard-area moms have to offer.  As I helped remove all the cellophane and arrange the trays on the table, I eyed up a few peanut butter kiss cookies that are James' favorite...and I snatched a few for him.  After the mad-dash was over and I finally located Andrew, he had a handful of thickly frosted sugar cookies in his hand.  I was like, "whoa..." and he smiled at me and said, "Dad loves these...I grabbed them for him!"

So, there we both stood, in the throngs of teenagers grabbing and eating... standing there grinning at each other realizing we had been thinking the same thing.

Andrew's generosity is a gift.

When we got home, James and Hannah were recording two Christmas songs.  One of them was Little Drummer Boy.  Hannah was wearing the headphones and only she could hear the music.  It was very trying on her patience, because she is unaccustomed to hearing herself in that way...and let's be real...the fantasy of being a rock star is much more glamorous than the realities of recording.  She was laying down her vocal track, and this is what I heard...."the fox and ram kept...huuuu! (James says, 'it's ok....let's try it again') "the rocks an...HUHHH!...the ox and hams kept rhyme....THSK!  huuuuuuh!!!  Daaad!!"

But she looked so adorable.

She sounded beautiful to me!

Hannah's tender heart is a gift.

     

The following day Maddie came home after being gone 5 days, and at dinner time we starting trading jokes.  I'm watching Maddie look from Andrew to Hannah to Dad like she's watching a tennis match, and she giggles and laughs and sputters her macaroni. This just makes us all laugh harder, and I say, "well it's good to have you home, Giggle-Box!"  And James adds, "yeah, welcome back, Laugh-a-Long!"  These are our nick names for her, because sometimes she laughs so hard at the dinner table her face gets cherry red and her eyes water. Andrew's final remark was, "well at least she doesn't get up from the table in the middle of a meal anymore and go to the bathroom and start singing, 'good morning George, how are you?'" at which point we all totally lose it.

Maddie's laughter in our home is a gift. 

 A few nights later I was home alone with Nate. I put his high chair in the middle of the kitchen and gave him bits of this and that as I cleaned up and started baking some huge snowflake sugar cutouts.  I said to him on more than one occasion, "YOU ARE SO DELIGHTFUL!" because he chuckles and hiccups and sings these adorable scales.  His eyes glisten and are so full of expression.  I was chatting to him at one point when I leaned in front of his high chair to pick something up off the floor. I felt his warm little hand pat my shoulder and heard him say, "mama".

Ahhhh....hear me say it.....Nate's life is a GIFT.

Kings and Shepherds

I think it is interesting that there were 2 visitors recorded in the Bible as having come to see Jesus after His birth;

The Magi

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi (who have been described as not only wisemen, but kings and Persian priests) from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, "where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him." (Matt 2:1)

The shepherds

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. (Luke 2:8-12)

Here's what I find so interesting...

In Revelation 19:16 it reads, "On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS."

And then in John 10:11 Jesus says; I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep....

So I thought...kings and shepherds? Is it a coincidence that both were exact names given to Jesus? I remarked on this pondering to James the other night. He had an interesting addition to my thought. He said, "funny...so was David a king...and shepherd."

Just in case you don't make the connection between the two kings and shepherds, the Lord declares in Jeremiah 23:5 "A new day is coming. At that time I will raise up from David's royal line a true and rightful Branch. He will be a King who will rule wisely. He will do what is fair and right in the land.

Of the lineage of and born in the town of (king and former shepherd) David, it is prophesied that a new King, who called Himself the Good Shepherd, will come to rule and reign. And at His birth, His visitors are none other than..kings and shepherds.

Little Thumper

Today was Natie's EKG. I was a little nervous, even though it was just his one-year check up. When he was a few months old he had one to check out every nook and cranny because heart defects occur in roughly one-half of babies born with T21. During that visit, a PDA was discovered, but nothing very alarming. In fact, our pediatrician didn't even schedule a second look. He told us that most times, PDAs will close up during the first 6 months or so. During our visit today I asked the tech if she would tell me what she saw, and she said she couldn't do that. She could only talk about the PDA because we already knew about that. But as the minutes ticked on (no pun intended) she became enamored with Nate (as everyone does!) and couldn't suppress her delight in his good nature, giggles and songs. She remarked at the wonderful blood flow through the aorta and finally couldn't resist the comment we were dying to hear..."what a beautiful heart!" Oh...indeed. In so many more ways than what her screen could reveal. Earlier this week Nate went in to see Dr. Roup for some shots. He was impressed and pleased with his progress and said, "he is blowing the doors off of every stereotype!" He doesn't exhibit any physical attributes that appear in the feet, hands, heart, hearing or digestion. Not even in growth...because although he's tracking on the "typical" growth charts well enough, he is at the 100% percentile for the DS chart! (for height and weight). Yeah Natie!! oh, and btw...his PDA is gone.

A new tradition...

This year for Thanksgiving, I had an idea; it actually occurred to me the evening before Thanksgiving as I was considering the next day and all the stuff that had to get done and running around we had to do. I started to feel overwhelmed and tired even before I went to bed. I thought, "geez...I'm gonna have to get up at the crack..." and then bing! just like that an idea popped in my head..."why not get the kids up early and take them out for breakfast..."

This sounded great to me for a couple of reasons; 

1. I could circumvent the inevitable morning bickering over the bathroom, toothpaste. etc. 

1. We are a blended family, and unfortunately the kid's placement schedules conflict for Thanksgiving so we never get to spend this holiday together as a family...and 

2. We could have hours of much-coveted "down time" together before Maddie had to leave for the day and the rest of us had to run off up north.  So this is what we did and the missed hours of sleeping-in paid off BIG time.  

For starters, our kids really like early morning gigs.  I woke up Andrew first and whispered to him that we were going to McD's and he grinned and started to get up.  I had the chance to tell him how thankful I was that he was my kid, and that I loved him and was proud of the young man he was growing up to be.  I then woke the girls each separately and shared similar little "thankful moments" with them before we bundled up and hussled out the door.

I'm loving this.

We got to the restaurant at 6:15 AM and stayed for almost an hour. 

I can't even begin to describe how good leisure feels.  

When we got home, me and the girls started on the pecan pie.  (yumm my favorite).  Maddie helped with crushing the nuts and adding the ingredients to the mixing bowl.  After the pie was in the oven, she sat by the fire next to James and read while Hannah peeled the sweet potatoes for the casserole.  Andrew was on the couch playing with Nate and I felt like I was in the middle of a Charles Peterson painting of yest'r year.

By 10:00 AM it's like we've had a whole day together, and the day has hardly begun.  

I have the good fortune of having my family and my husband's family close by.  This year, we go up north to my folks house for deep fried turkey.  And I do mean...up north!

Their home is at the end of a country road with the woods as their neighbor and the lake as a old friend. We spend the afternoon there as the fire crackles away in the enormous field stone fireplace, the football plays on and on and the snow gently falls.

But there's more turkey to be had...and when Maddie gets home we head out to NaNa's for swimming, hot-tubbing and relaxing with the Kocian clan.

It's a fun filled day for sure.  

But the best part of the day? the morning.

And creating new memories with my own family, and new traditions...

like early morning drives to McDonald's before first light.

Baking pies together...

And whispering in their ears before dawn..."I am so thankful for you"

A Night of Hope

A few nights ago James and I went to a different church! Being in ministry, we don't often get to attend other services...so having the chance to see Joel Osteen in Milwaukee was really awesome! Suffice it to television does not do his ministry justice. We felt an overwhelming presence of humility, gratitude and authenticity from his entire group.

I loved every minute of it...the worship team (led by Cindy Cruse-Ratcliff) was totally incredible.  After a song or two, Joel Osteen came up on the platform (no big intro, no rah-rah) he just made his way up like any other pastor of any other church and welcomed everyone.  The worship team sang again, Joel's mother shared her testimony, then his wife shared for a few minutes...more singing.  By the time he actually gave his message we all felt like old friends. His little girl even got up and sang a song at the end.  A beautiful night of worship, encouragement, promise and hope.  Just what we needed.