Willa's Birth Story

I wanted to document this story here because even though I journal, I also go back through old blog posts occasionally and read the "polished up" stories of my history. I also love reading birth stories and thought just maybe, there's someone out there who would enjoy reading mine.

We didn't find out the gender of our baby until she was born, but we had a boy name and a girl name picked out from the very beginning - before we even knew I was expecting. We didn't tell those names to anyone, not even our family! They knew the middle names would be mine or Brandon's depending on the gender, but that was all. All along I knew I wanted Brandon to tell me who it was I had given birth to.

I was due on December 17, but I was ready to get that baby out by Thanksgiving. Pregnancy was definitely NOT something I have any fond memories of. It was fun feeling her move, but that's where the good times ended! However, nothing was progressing...at all. I believe I may have had some Braxton Hicks but even that I'm unsure of. I was so incredibly swollen and around 7 months my stomach went pretty numb. I'm not sure what I felt beyond discomfort.

I was at the point where I was going to the doctor every week. At around 36 weeks the baby was already measuring over 7 pound so our bags were packed, carseat installed, and Brandon was instructed to have his phone on him AT ALL TIMES! No one thought I'd make it to my due date but after every appointment I had to text my parents, in-laws, and siblings and say "nothing yet".

Finally, at one of those appointments a couple of weeks before my due date, we went ahead and scheduled to be induced on December 19. I love love love my doctor, and this insured she would be on call and I wouldn't miss her by winding up going into labor over Christmas. Plus, this baby was big and none of us thought my body could handle going much longer.

Sure enough, December 17 came and went like any other day. Then the 18th passed us by, and December 19 was here. That week was an eternity long! It was a Thursday, and I spent the day resting, packing the rest of my things, showering and curling my hair, and I made BLT's for supper. We were supposed to be at the hospital at 8pm so we cleaned the kitchen, then tried to watch a show. I was fighting a panic attack the entire time and broke down sobbing on the way to the hospital. I still get weepy thinking about it. It was our last night just the two of us, and oh how I loved my time just the two of us! Brandon will always be my favorite person in the entire world and I was so excited to give him this gift of our baby but I also needed to say goodbye to this phase of our lives. HE played Christmas music the whole way there and pointed out all the houses lit up for the holiday. It's my favorite season, and how special we were on our way to have the best gift of all.

We got checked in and I got checked and sure enough - NO PROGRESS! It's funny now, but we just shrugged our shoulders. Whenever someone would ask me my birth plan I told them I had one step: get an epidural. I'm honest about my lack of pain tolerance, and I was TERRIFIED of labor and delivery. I knew I would have to "suck it up" for the healing process, so I wanted to enjoy having this baby as much as possible. Being induced isn't ideal and I hope next time I go on my own, but I will always hope for an epidural! It was truly amazing (for me).

They started the induction that night and Brandon and I tried to sleep. I was constantly being checked and his "bed" was pretty awful so it was a sleepless night. I don't remember when they started the pitocin but it was sometime the next day. They ended up giving me a pain killer in my IV that allowed me to get some sleep through the contractions, and then that afternoon the epidural went in. I still wasn't progressing much though, and it was pretty disheartening. I was getting so hungry, and I kept sending Brandon out to drive around, eat something...anything to help him kill time. I had really bad sinus drainage my entire pregnancy and this day was no different. I started feeling pretty sick that afternoon and chugging water and sprite to "fill up" my stomach only helped me empty it. I only thought the past 9 months had been miserable...

I finally started progressing more late in the afternoon. We'd pulled an all nighter and just wanted to have this baby! At some point the epidural rerouted itself and I was in a ton of pain. Brandon talked me through each contraction but I was sobbing and the nurses were doing everything they could to help me. I ended up getting a second epidural and relaxed so much. I was talking about how I couldn't decide between Chick-fil-A or Arby's once I could eat again (I craved fast food the whole pregnancy) but at this point we were getting close to midnight. 

I don't know what time the nurses checked me, but I was finally close enough that if nothing happened in the next couple of minutes they were going to have to get me ready for a ceserean. Like I said, I had a simple birth plan. I only wanted to get my baby here as safely as possible for both of us. They called my doctor, I gave one practice push, and we were good to go! 

I don't know how long I pushed or how many times I did. I remember feeling so sick from the reflux laying flat on my back and they "broke the rules" and let Brandon give me some Tums. He picked a blue one and a pink one and melted all the nurses hearts. 

My doctor was the only one who knew the gender so each time a nurse's shift would end she'd tell the next one to text her when the baby was born and tell her what it was. I will never forget pushing (thankfully not feeling a single thing), and feeling like superwoman with the nurses, my doctor, and Brandon cheering me on and telling me how great I was doing. At 2:45am on Saturday, December 21, the baby was finally born. A misconception about epidurals is that you miss the experience...let me tell you, I did not. I fully enjoyed the experience and knew the second the baby was no longer inside of me. 

I'll never as long as I live regret not finding out if the baby was a boy or girl. The moment Brandon turned back to me and said, "It's Willa" will forever be engrained in my memory. It's a priceless moment to me, one I'd been looking forward to my entire life. I was shocked because I was convinced it was a boy, and the nurses were crying. 

She weighed 8 pounds, 4 ounces, and was 21.5 inches long.

We brought her home on Monday, December 23, 2019.

Our Christmas baby, a little angel.

My niece Josie was born in January two years ago, and my brother brought a huge bag of her pink clothes to the hospital for us!

I believe the "fourth trimester" is real and hard, and I'll talk about that (hopefully) in my next post. Thank you for reading!

year of change

If anyone actually still comes to check this page I will be surprised. Somewhere along the way this blog slipped out of my mind and I simply haven't sat down and taken the time to write.

We've loved using those gift cards from the wedding for date nights! This was at the Chophouse.

I thought once we got past the wedding and settled into our new routine I would come up with a weekly or monthly schedule and post frequently, but then summer hit and time got short, and, well, those are my excuses!

Easter Sunday

June 10 Brandon and I went back to the Mexican restaurant where we had our first date. It was funny to me to think we were marking one year of dating when we'd already been married nearly four months! Time has moved so quickly and so much has happened in such a little while.

 

McDonald's DOES count as a picnic sometimes ;) Especially when you want to try all their new sauces!

Summer is, as always, my favorite time of year. Despite the weird little bugs we keep finding in our house and the gnats slowly growing in number and the mosquito bites and crops of poison ivy it remains the best season of all in my mind! Saturday picnics at the park, a date night here and there, Icees, fishing, simply sitting on the porch swing, fresh fruit, homemade ice cream...I'm trying to intentionally enjoy summer more this year because I blinked once on our honeymoon and here we are in nearly July!

playing Jenga - our guestbook!

To update you on our lives...

We spent a week in Northern Ireland for our honeymoon and it was everything I could've ever hoped for! We stayed in a cottage near the sea, and although it was 78° in Tennessee on our wedding day it snowed every day we were in Ireland. We slept in, ate in cozy "pubs" (had our fair share of fish-n-chips!), and drove along the coastline. We're both quiet people and very much enjoyed listening to their friendly, lilting accents as many of them engaged us in conversation and wanted to know about where we were from and why we were there! It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been, and it will forever hold a special place in my heart. One of our friends from church is from Northern Ireland and we stayed in the town his parents live in. They had us over for dinner our first night there and it was a comfort to know there were friends close by should we need anything.

snow outside of the restaurant we ate lunch at after miles of walking, white flowers at the castle we visited, sheep everywhere!, view of the Irish sea on our way "home"

driving on the wrong side, $5 lunch (so. much. food.), the cottage we rented, another snowy drive, freezing at the Harbour

Giant's Causeway, snow at a roadside stop, dinner at the "Mermaid" restaurant (coastal town)

to get closer to the airport in Dublin, we found this castle just 15 minutes away to spend our last night in!

Since then work has picked up for him and I've gotten busier helping with summer camps and other ministries our church has during the summer months. Saturdays off are precious and Sunday afternoon naps are almost tradition now. Cooking for two has been an adventure but I'm starting to get the hang of it! (Mostly thanks to the freezer that was a wedding gift from my brother!)

It's so nice to live 15 minutes from his parents, 10 from mine, and about 2 from the church! He works with his brother every day and I get to see Amie a lot since she teaches piano at the church some. Prayers I was afraid to pray have been answered in such numerous ways and some afternoons when I'm home alone I can be found tearing up because I remember the times I wept and prayed for the things God has given me today. Time, prayer, waiting...it's all worth it, just like everyone always tells you!

I hope you all have a beautiful summer and hopefully you'll be "hearing" from me again soon!

things i love thursday

Hello again, everyone! It's been a minute since I posted, so let me catch you up to speed real quick...

Since May 18, we've had two weddings, my mom took a trip to Paris with my oldest brother and sister-in-law, VBS, Jr. Camp, Youth Camp (all back to back!), my cousins and siblings and I spent a day at my grandparents' "spring cleaning", and a lot of other things got done that we just squeezed in somehow. Don't get me wrong, I love it, I just realized as I looked for my Proverb to read yesterday that it was the 21st....of JUNE. So that was a startling revelation.

youth camp 2017

So let's get into some of my favorite things over the last few weeks.

First, HAPPY SUMMER! Yesterday was the first day of summer, and let me tell you, I did not miss out on it! I wished all of my friends a happy day and generally just enjoyed the fact that even though it's felt like summer for the past month, now it's officially my favorite season!

pool days with the kids - Lena Rae swims without a ring float now, the three older boys can do handstands and flips and a gazillion other tricks, and Dougy Mac just jumps in and knows there'll always be someone to catch him. Warm skin, dripping hair, juice boxes...it's lovely.

fresh fruit - seasonal fruit will always be my favorite. Strawberry season came and went too quickly, but now there's watermelon and cantaloupe to chow down on!

"Grandparent's Day" - we didn't do this on the actual holiday, but the last Saturday in May several of my grandparent's grandkids met at their house to do some work for them. They never ask for anything, but it's been a hard year and we wanted to help out if we could. Since we're all adults, our schedules aren't great at matching up, so as many as could spent a Saturday morning washing windows, mowing, detailing their car, cutting wood, etc...whatever they needed! We ended with a big lunch and homemade ice cream. So far, it's probably been my favorite day of this year.

15 out of 22  (including "cousin-in-laws"), and 6 out of 8 "greats"!

Other things include...

Dougy's little laugh when he talks in his one word sentences - it sounds something like this: "Boys. Swim. Huh." | Lena Rae: "Kelley, when I get big like you, will you get me a phone like yours?" | simple pleasures - y'all know I love the little things, but it was raining today and this afternoon I made a bowl of spicy ramen to eat while I read a book and it was so nice | Bible trivia on Wednesday nights | VBS with the 2's and 3's | experiencing Youth Camp with 5 cousins there - 3 from my dad's side and 2 from my mom's! | new quotes

duck-duck-goose with 2 year olds - they're so little and huggable!

I remember these 2 cousins being born - now they're 14 and almost 16!

It seems like every year I find a quote that kind of runs around in my mind and becomes my non-spiritual motto for that year. Here's 2017's quote:

I hope you all have a great weekend, and that your summer is just beautiful. Thank you for reading!

things i love thursday

Have I mentioned before how much I love Longfellow?

Happy Thursday, everyone! I hope you've all had a great week - I myself am so happy we're past the mid-week hump and only have one more day until the weekend. It's been good, just long...and COLD! We had a little Spring teaser for a few days last week, but then the temps did a nose dive and it was 17 degrees when I woke up this morning. That's too cold for March in Tennessee, y'all. This weather has been unexpected and unwelcomed, but the forecast shows a rise back to the 70's over the weekend and Monday is the first day of Spring!

I sounded like a weather man just then.

First of all, two weeks ago I had a couple of my friends over for a brunch. We've called it the "brunch that nearly turned into lunch" because we traveled from the kitchen...to the living room...to their cars and conversation kept cropping up and it's so hard to say goodbye when you know it will be weeks or months before you're all together again. As we spent the morning catching up, it was like a battery re-charge. I sat there thinking "this is what's been missing", and it was such a sweet time. On a side note, my friend Faith is expecting a little boy! That's the third boy in a row for my little group of friends, and I cannot. wait. to meet him! (This is also the first boy for her family!)

Last week, our church took a group to the Master Clubs Regional Competition and I was surprised to see another friend that moved to KY when she got married a few years ago. I hadn't seen her since early December so even though it was a quick conversation because we both had commitments elsewhere, it was nice to see her and to bump into each other a few times throughout the day.

On the work side of life, something that's small but a relief to me is having our greeting card display filled up and organized. I've put this job off for a couple of weeks because it really wasn't that bad, but I knew once I tackled it I would have to organize everything. Sure enough, I headed up the stairs, got started...and an hour later every card had a slot, the correct number of envelopes, and the re-fill boxes were completely organized and labeled. I also got a huge tract order in the mail so now we're good for at least a couple of months! You know I can't post a TILT without mentioning some kind of organizing story. Sometimes I think about the little highlights in my week and know it must sound pretty lame to everyone else, but for me, it was a part of my week that I unexpectedly enjoyed.

Slowly but surely, the sickness is tapering off. I've heard of a few people getting a fresh dose of the flu (round #3 or #4), but it's not the majority anymore. Hopefully it will stay contained and everyone can be healthy for Spring! Thankfully none of my family has had anything - I've been using Thieves oil and taking vitamin C almost religiously!

And since the sweet joys of life are so often found in the little things...

giving babies sink bubble baths | shopping for summer clothes for Lena Rae since she has no big sisters and girl clothes are the most fun | aloe plants | party planning | fresh salsa | Wednesday night class shenanigans | Tanner's ability to make even us grown ups laugh (his sense of humor is way beyond a five-year-old. A bad thing at times, but so entertaining.) | progress - however slow - in sign class | the kids dipping their broccoli in ranch - snow on trees! | trips to the library | antique stores | surprise lunches with church friends in restaurants (this happened twice in one week) | early bedtimes | sunshine at 7pm | cooking - I made shrimp for the first time this week and I'm still thinking about it! (the recipe said it served four, but my dad was out of town and it only served three ;) )

I'd already dug in before I thought to take a picture

I hope this weekend exceeds your expectations and that your days are full of joy! What are some things you love this happy Thursday?

things i love thursday

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."

-Aristotle

Two weeks in a row, what do you know? Look at me go!

I love dumb rhymes.

the weather

Y'all, it was 30° this morning! What a change from last week! There was ice on my windshield and I shivered all the way to work - finally!

holiday season

Can we just say it's here already? I mean, it's too early for Christmas but Thanksgiving's in two weeks and today the kids are going to be at the house and I think we'll do some Thanksgiving crafts and teach them how to do a skit (update: Amie said she tried and it did not go well. ;) )

fall back
I don't like the fact that it's dark at 5pm and I get sleepy at 7pm and I feel like I'm always running late for everything while I'm actually an hour early, but other than that, it's great! Honestly though, it's really nice not getting up while it's still dark, and it feels like the days get off to a better start somehow. Plus, when it gets dark so early there's not much else to do but read a book!

answered prayers

The months of September and October and the first part of November were incredibly difficult for my extended family. After weeks of unanswered questions, a nearly miraculous recovery, and a few weeks of healing, today all is well again. We're planning Thanksgiving as usual and no one is ill. Only God could could have made that possible.

the election. is. over.

Regardless of how you voted (and I sincerely hope you did), it's over now and Donald Trump is our president elect. I wrote a big long thing on how I feel about all of it this morning and just now deleted it because there's no point in publishing it. Let's just remember that the most important changes will be the ones we decide to make inside of our own homes, we can lead by example, and as Christians, our orders have not changed. We'll respect those in authority and pray for them, regardless of how we feel about it. (I think feelings should be left out if it more anyway.)

a clean car

Can I confess something? In all of my neat-freakish, tidy tendencies, I HATE washing my car. It is without a doubt my least favorite responsibility. The inside stays neat as a pin 99.9% of the time (any trash is removed from that thing the moment I pull in my house). The outside, on the other hand, has to get pretty embarrassing for me to grant it worthy of a washing. It got a bath Monday though and I must say I'm quite enjoying it!

friends

The older I get, the more dear they become. I love my friends like they're my family.

And I leave you with Longfellow because...I mean, c'mon, it's Longfellow. I don't really need a reason, do I?

The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls

Related Poem Content Details

BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

The tide rises, the tide falls, 

The twilight darkens, the curlew calls; 

Along the sea-sands damp and brown 

The traveller hastens toward the town, 

      And the tide rises, the tide falls. 

Darkness settles on roofs and walls, 

But the sea, the sea in the darkness calls; 

The little waves, with their soft, white hands, 

Efface the footprints in the sands, 

      And the tide rises, the tide falls. 

The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls 

Stamp and neigh, as the hostler calls; 

The day returns, but nevermore 

Returns the traveller to the shore, 

      And the tide rises, the tide falls. 

P.S. I loved reading what you loved last week, so please feel free to use my comment section to list the things you love Thursday!

things i love thursday

Happy September 1! For some reason, this month feels like a chance at a fresh start. A clean slate, and an opportunity to change perspective, choose joy, and start the change of the seasons on a more positive note. There will still be more serious-toned posts peppered throughout this blog, probably even this month. I haven't arrived at the end of the rainbow yet, I'm just learning more about the journey to get there, and the growth along the way.

Since the first day of this month is on a Thursday, and since there's a feeling of excitement in the air due to our church's 25th anniversary celebration next week, I decided to throw it back to Things I Love Thursday because it's been a good week, friends, and I want to hold on to those happy vibes and give credit to the little things that have made it that way. (side note - that was an incredibly long sentence)

Reading. 
You know that moment when you get together with someone you haven't seen or talked to in ages and at first it's slow going but after awhile you start thinking, "Wow, why don't I talk to them all the time? This is amazing!" That's how I've been with books lately. Somehow I've scheduled my days in a way that I've found more free time in the afternoons, and in this nice mid 80's-low 90's weather, I could sit on the porch with a book for hours at a time. 
"I don't always find time to read, but when I do, I spend the next seven hours of my life doing just that."

Sunshine.
I thought they were calling for rain, but there's barely been a cloud in the sky this week. The kids came over the other day and we swam for a couple of hours. Squeals and giggles and water up noses...it was an adventure, and it was wonderful. Afterwards we took a drive with the windows down and listened to Lena Rae chatter for 30 minutes. Summer is glorious, and we're in the days where the only way I know how to describe what we're doing is savoring it. Fall is right around the corner, so each of these hot, sunny days is spent trying to wring every last drop of "summer" out of them.


Reminiscing.
"Do you remember when..." "There was this one time..." and an hour later our bellies hurt from laughing, or our throats are sore from trying not to cry. My church will celebrate 25 years this coming week, and as we go through old pictures and listen to old songs, it's impossible not to miss those that are gone, and a time when we were a very small group of people, each one of us members of a family. It's grown a lot over the years, but it still feels like a family, our lives revolve around church and church events for the most part, and it just feels right to celebrate our beginning.

ice cream cones after church - me and Amie with a couple of our friends

baby kisses | warm breezes | ice cold soft drinks (because who drinks those in the winter?) |  buying luggage and purses, booking flights and hotel rooms (hmm...) | grilling | packages in the mail | windows down | secrets and surprises | Lena Rae saying "anybody is mine friend!" | baby showers | staying in touch with my friends who've moved away (we even enjoy group texting each other ;) ) | heart to heart conversation | Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, my favorite poet

baby Klay's book baby shower a few weeks ago

 And forever and forever,

   As long as the river flows,

As long as the heart has passions,

   As long as life has woes;

The moon and its broken reflection

   And its shadows shall appear,

As the symbol of love in heaven,

   And its wavering image here. 

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

(The ending of "The Bridge")

picture post | partial update

In my last post, I mentioned that I wanted to write before I "got bogged down in life changes". I hate neglecting this blog because I know what it's like to want to keep up with someone and go for a few months without hearing anything, and truly, I do love blogging. However, I have been a bit consumed with life changes, so I hope you'll understand. Maybe in a few weeks I'll be able to share some of those changes, but for now, please just keep me in your prayers and enjoy a few pictures. :)

In February, we took a quick family weekend trip to the Smokey Mountains. Our favorite things in Pigeon Forge include The Old Mill Restaurant, the Dixie Stampede, and the newest one - The Alpine Coaster.

On March 5, 2016, my fellow "single friend" married the one whom her soul loves. It was a beautiful, touching ceremony, and the bride and groom were the calmest bride and groom I've ever seen. I hope my wedding one day will be half as God honoring as theirs was, and it's been such a blessing to see them serve the Lord together.

Now, just a couple of snapshots...

just an update!

After (how long has it been?) since a blog post, I've decided there's no real cure for writer's block. No matter how badly I want to write, no matter how hard I search for inspiration, the fact is I've got 3 articles started, none finished. Maybe soon!

For now, here's a quick picture post so you know what's been going on around here! With my best friend getting married and moving away soon, my sister graduating college in May, and so many other things looming ahead, I thought it'd be best to get an update on here before I get bogged down in life changes. Here we go!

Lena Rae turned 2 on January 21st. Have I mentioned how precious this little girl is to our family? I was sixteen when Jace was born, and for the past 7 years these kids have been my life. I love being an aunt more than I've ever loved anything, and Lena Rae has made it even sweeter with all her girly-ness. 

I also just so happen to have the world's best grandparents! For my Grandma's 80th birthday everyone got together at our house to celebrate. All 17 grandkids were able to make it as well as the 7 great grandkids. All of my grandparent's children were there with their spouses, and it was a really special night.

WE GOT SNOW! About 6 inches of it! It was so much fun, regardless of the fact that we were pretty much shut in for the weekend (which wouldn't have been a bad thing, but it was wedding shower weekend). This picture is of some of our church members/neighbors. I love living in this small town with these people and their off road vehicles!

I got to help with the bridal shower for the third one of my friends to get married. Faith will marry Vance in less than two weeks!

Kaitlyn, Faith, and I took a short girl's weekend to spend some time together before the wedding, and we couldn't have asked for it to turn out better. We were able to stay at Opryland Hotel by using my Sunday School teacher's employee discount, and because of a pizza mishap got free frozen yogurt, which caused us to be delayed long enough to see the the fountain light show at eye (balcony) level while we ate! We waited in line for about 20 minutes just to get inside the Pancake Pantry (the line was backed up to the street!) the next morning and it was so worth it! I'm so glad to have these memories for when our lives all take different paths.

I celebrated Valentine's Day with my parents, my sister, and all five of my sweethearts. We made lasagna together, had doughnuts for dessert, and watched a new movie after bath time and pajamas. They got to spend the night, and once again, being an aunt is my favorite thing!

Christine and I went shopping a few days ago and took Lena Rae with us for some fun girl time. She definitely had fun, but didn't make it five minutes at the last stop before falling asleep in the buggy! By the time we made it back to my car, she was snoring on my shoulder.

This is our "Sibling Octet". We've all been friends since birth, sang together for years, and decided to actually form a group and learn songs together last summer... but life happens and we learned two  songs and now one of our members is moving. This picture was taken after our last practice Sunday morning before we sang for the last time before the wedding. We are four sets of siblings - Amie and I (blondes on the ends), Faith and Grace (brunettes in the middle), James and Paul (orange shirt and gray shirt/black tie) and Connor and Collin (blue tie and red tie). Anyway, now you know who we are, but I love this picture and I love this group.

...and that's all for now! I can't believe February is at an end, but Spring usually begins in March around here, and I am so ready for some warm, sunshiny days. I hope you've all had a wonderful couple of months, hopefully I'll be more frequent on here from now on!

happenings

"Do you ever wonder if you'll ever know what it's like to not even be a little tired?"

"And to think you don't even have a baby waking up at night..."

So went my silly question and sarcastic response from one of our assistant pastors (who just so happens to have a newborn!). Ah, the different stages of life and the things that accompany them!

Just getting out of missions conference and feeling like we're barreling through the Christmas season, it's hard to find time to sit and enjoy everything that comes with this time of the year. Something as simple as letting things go can make such a huge difference, but it's amazing how difficult that can be.

I normally write a poem for our Christmas cards, but this year I had to let that go. We mailed them about a week ago, and I'm still feeling bad about it. My brother did it for years, and then when he went off to med school, that Christmas tradition was handed down to me to carry out. This year my mom wrote a quick update on our year and we got those pictures in the mail. I love that tradition, and I'm planning on starting next year's in July. ;) 

So far we have only watched one Christmas film. Usually Thanksgiving night we begin with Holiday Inn with Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire and watch one nearly every weekend leading up to Christmas Eve where we'll end with It's A Wonderful Life (my all time favorite movie anytime of the year). This year we watched the shortest one I could find and squeezed it in while we were all thinking about the huge lists we each had to get done. 

Amie and I make our teachers' gifts together - she makes a few things, and I do too. Several years we've been in the kitchen together preparing them, but between her piano students and me painting the hallway, well, hers are done and mine are not. (Her cookies and cheese logs are quite good, though!)

This week though, we're going to really enjoy Christmas and I can't wait! It actually started last Friday night when our Sunday School went out to eat and then to Opryland Hotel to walk around. I'll insert the big group picture when I get it, but here's a "group selfie" of the people I walked around with all night.

Saturday night I helped my friend throw her first Christmas party at her and her husband's new home. They live just five minutes down the road and we had finger foods and tacky sweaters and gag gifts and games and a houseful of happy people!

 

Monday morning we had Lena Rae and Dougy for a bit, and I decided I would go in late to work so I could make pancakes and sausage because I was missing breakfasts. (When you go to bed at 1am, you tend to oversleep and grab a granola bar on your way out!) I made a big ol' stack and Lena Rae had 3 and I had 3 and we were so full and it was delightful.

My dad has been preaching away since Monday, and he'll get back this morning. Our annual open house for our church is Sunday night, so we've been painting and cleaning and to be honest, doing a few manly things (like hanging mini blinds. I'm so impressed with myself). When he gets back, the house will be clean and shiny and sparkling with lights. We will have cookies and caramel apples and probably iced tea since it's been 70 - 75 degrees here (Tender Tennessee Christmas! haha). I'll put on Holiday Inn and guess what? We're going to sit down...together. 

All that to say, I know it's been quiet on here. I know that I never finished my Thanksgiving week and there probably won't be a Christmas story this year. Just go back and read last year's or the one I wrote when I was nineteen.

I hope everyone is having a good Christmas! Whether you're with family or not, remember that it's all about your perspective. So many times over the past few weeks I've wanted to sit down and have a little cry because it didn't feel like Christmas. We weren't all together and the house was in chaos and it was 9 at night and I was still painting. But a few deep breaths, a few looks around at all the blessings, and you can make any situation a little bit brighter by changing your outlook. Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right. Even if you don't celebrate Christmas traditionally, do what we do and celebrate family, the gifts of God, and Christ lowering himself to meet us on our level as the most innocent and vulnerable of all human beings. 

Thank you for still reading this blog. Sometimes it's just a simple documentation of my days, but I put it up for me to go back and remember. Please make the most of the last few weeks we have left in 2015! It really is a wonderful life, and it really does pass all too quickly!