November 29, 2009

So I am going to start this a little earlier tonight in hopes that I will stay awake to finish the blog.
Friday Erica, Michael, Todd and I went black Friday shopping for everyone's list. We got home about 11 and needed a rest peroid! We hung out for a while then HR and I went to the house. Todd and Michael watched football at our house while Erica, Grandmommie and mom had a short outting together. We went back to mom's for dinner where Ken had cooked a wonderful chicken crock pot meal. We all went over to our house after dinner to celebrate Christmas together with Erica and Michael and grandmommie. We must have all been on the nice list cause Santa was very good to us all!
Erica and Michael had to leave the house about 6am Saturday morning. No one was ready for them to leave but we were all so thankful they were able to be with us for a few days. We felt so bad for Erica because she had to go home and only have about 3 hours before she had a closing shift at her work. Mom appreciated her sacrifice so much; I don't think Erica will ever know how much it meant to her.
Yesterday mom got ken to go up in the attic and get the boxes of our old clothes that mom made and some that were even hers. It was a special time to go through all that old stuff together. We got a little teary thinking about Erica not being with us but we called and talked to her. There are a few outfits I know haidyn will be getting her picture made in for sure:) We had a chicken cassarole of Sherry's for dinner which is Todd's favorite dish. After dinner Todd, Haidyn and I came home.
This morning we all got to go to church together. Haidyn really enjoyed showing GiGi and greatgrandmommie her dress up clothes and how sweet she can be in church. She was all smiles this morning for sure, right up to the very end. Josh's lesson was about being hungry for righteousness. It was a very good lesson for us today.
We went to Picadilly for lunch then everyone went home for naps, except Haidyn! She's been so spoiled lately because of company and we've felt bad for her having a stuffy nose that she didn't want to rest alone and Todd went hunting so I was left to entertain a spoiled and tired 3 month old-yay!
God has been so good to our family this year. He has blessed our family with extreme highs and also extreme lows. Out of our experiences we are now better able to empathize with others and celebrate the good God is creating even in tough situations. I know that I personally have found greater strength in God through answered prayers just in the last 3 months of motherhood and in the face of our battle with mom. God's love for us is amazing and the faithfulness is incredible. Everyday it is still a choice to look at the positive but everyday it gets easier. I don't know how many prayers I have lifted over the last 4 days for energy to help make everything well for our company and for mom to have strength and feel well enough to be with us and enjoy the time together. Mom is not use to being served because she is usually the service provider. I know it has been tough especially this week to be "Joan on the throne" but we have assured her we never expected her to entertain this holiday as she normally does. We look forward to her getting back to her normal self so that we can all be together again and mom be right in the middle of it all like she prefers to be. She has enjoyed many rest periods with Haidyn so I appreciate Haidyn being on the right pace with mom so they both would take rest periods that we didn't have to force on either of them so they would not wear down by the end of the day.
Its been the best few days, totally worth the weeks of planning, cleaning, cooking and anticipation for the time together. My prayer has been that everyone's circumstances are such that they have taken the time to loose count of their blessings just as we have. Our God is an awesome God and I want to enter his gates with thanksgiving in my heart when I meet him one day. Through this journey and my growing prayer life and scripture searching I have tried to focus my life on the real meaning that this world is not my home, these things are not mine nor do they define who I am and EVERYTHING is in God's control. When you look through those lenses, what freedom and love can overflow!