Just Around the Corner!

Oh my, the great Holidays are just around the corner and I am so excited for them! And I am most excited for family and food for these holidays. We are going to drive to Johnstown, CO to see Tom's parents among other relatives of his for Thanksgiving! I have to say I am not excited about the drive, 12 hours normally without a baby, and a little nervous about possible road conditions this time of year. We drove there for Thanksgiving 2 years ago before we were engaged and on the way home there were some scary places on the road! But I am so excited for his parents and other relatives to enjoy Titus. He is at one of those first really enjoyable stages, laughs and tries to talk to you. Isn't no longer only sleeping and eating. Although there has already been days where I wish he was that small again, guess that just means we will have to have more babies! Ha! And I am really excited for the food too! I love watching the Food Network and mostly this month it seems they have been preparing Thanksgiving feasts! Oh, sometimes I wish I had smell-o-vision television! But I am really thankful for the opportunity to spend the holiday with Rich and Carol, I am really thankful for my own family, my wonderful husband and my beautiful, delightful son. I am thankful for our health, for God's provision for us. It has been an adjustment for us to go down to one income this year and an adjustment for me in the change of pace and just daily routines from working in a workplace full time to being a stay at home mom. I am thankful for Bible Study Fellowship, for all the ladies there that are exploring God's Word with me and all of them just love Titus. One lady said a couple weeks ago as she was talking to Titus, "it is like you have 150 grandma's!" They are not all old enough to be his grandma but I thought it was so sweet and cute of her because they all adore him and I told her that is nice because unfortunately his real grandmas live far away. I am thankful for my aunt Mary, she likes to meet with Titus and I a couple times a week to chat, pray and walk together. And she loves entertaining Titus. I am thankful that God's Word is living and active in our hearts, He is working in the lives of loved ones around me in ways I never expected Him to. I am thankful for the freedom that we have in this country thanks to the soldiers who have given their lives and time away from their families to keep that freedom. Freedom to enjoy life, freedom to love God openly, freedom to have God's Word, freedom to meet openly with other believers. I am thankful for friends, like Brian and Rachelle, Daisy, Mike and Allison, Stephanie, Emily, Erin, Kristi and Sarah just to name a few. Anyway I am sure my thankful list could go on and on if had the time.

And then we have Christmas! Yikes! I am super psyched about that. We are flying into IA to visit my family in Galena, IL for Christmas. I am also excited not only for my parents to enjoy Titus but my sisters get to meet him for the first time and so does 2 of his cousins! I am so excited for the three of them to be together and play. And we get to meet our niece Bella for the first time and she just turned a year old this month! And basically my dads whole family lives back there except for Mary who is here and then most of my moms side lives back there too. So we will be having Christmas on both sides back there plus my immediate family! So what do you get a 6 month old for Christmas? I am trying to keep Christmas simple this year, with one income I am trying to come up with nice things that I can make. And I so do not want to go overboard with gifts for my child, not only do we not really have the room in our 2 bedroom apartment but I don't want to teach him that Christmas is all about gifts. This might sound unheard of but I know a family who tries to stick with 3 gifts per child based on the fact that the wise men brought 3 gifts for the baby Jesus to Bethlehem (see Matthew 2)! And I know another family that just basically does stocking stuffers with their children! I think those are some good things to think about! Besides we all know the grandparents can't hold back and resist going all out on presents for their grand kids so it isn't like he would be lacking anything if we tried to keep it simple for him.

So if you would, we would appreciate your prayers during our travel to CO, we plan on leaving Tuesday night, the 23rd, to drive to Billings while Titus sleeps and then Lord willing make it the rest of the way on Wednesday. And then begin our return on Saturday, the 27th, to head again to Billings Lord willing and do the rest on Sunday to home here. Not only that Titus would do okay in his car seat that long but that the roads would be clear and the Lord would just have His hand over our vehicle protecting us.