A Truly NEW Year

I hope you don't mind but I am going to write my "New Year" post today, December 30, 2011.  I know it's a bit premature but I fear this may be my last opportunity to sit down and write for quite some time.

Today is Friday.  This weekend we are running some errands, visiting a few friends, and tying up loose ends.  Tuesday the movers arrive and the show begins.  By Friday, we will be in our new (but temporary) home in Moses Lake. 

Talk about out with the old and in with the new.

That is one thing I know for sure: this really is a TOTALLY NEW year.  A new home, new school for Ellie, new job for Dan, new town (I've never actually lived in a small town...should be interesting!) and new friends, neighbors, etc.  

But for right now, I am waiting.  I feel very busy in this holding pattern we have maintained for the last two months and yet there is really nothing I can do for the next few days.  I definitely feel like I am in the calm before the storm; a lot like how I felt before each of our daughters were born.  I know I should be taking advantage of this time and doing something to be more "ready" and yet, I can only sit and wait.

This will be a difficult, wonderful, transitional, exciting, full of possibility kind of a new year.  It will be lonely at first, but hopefully will soon fill in with new friends and life happenings. Otherwise, I don't know what to expect.  Will we stay in Moses Lake?  Move on to Spokane?  Sell our Buckley home and buy another in Eastern Washington or continue to rent for awhile?  Will God bless us with another baby or not? Will I go back to work?  It's funny how everyone is asking me all these questions and I really have no answer, although I feel like I am expected to know something.  If I have learned anything in these past few months (and really, it's a lesson I continue to learn over and over again) it is that God's plan always supersedes my own, and that I must have faith that everything will unfold exactly as it should (and always has).

As the new year approaches, I know we are all contemplating resolutions.  I don't know that I have resolutions per say, but I have three quotes/prayers/words of wisdom that I feel will guide me through 2012.  I am at the very least vowing to say them over and over again in my mind and heart. Here they are:

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.  Amen

Bloom where you are planted.

Be positive.

It is my hope that my words will become my thoughts and my thoughts will become my action and my life will be better for it.  I know I have lots of room for improvement!

So if you are "of the old" and we are soon moving away from you, then please know that you have been very special in our lives and we greatly appreciate how you have supported and shaped our family and life.  If you are "of the new" and we are soon moving toward you, then to you I say "Hello!" and we are excited to begin a new phase of life with you in it.  And to all our family and friends, old and new, we may be in a small rental home but the sun shines in Moses Lake and our door is open!  :) We hope to see all of you in 2012!

Happy New Year!

Here Comes Santa Claus...

Let the festivities begin!  Today we kicked off our family Christmas with our annual celebration at Nana and Papa's house.  We started with a delicious brunch and then let the kiddos dig in to their stockings.  This year was Cole's first Christmas so it was so sweet to watch him experience everything for the first time.  I think overall, his new play cell phones and ball drop toy were his favorites.  Kate picked up on the whole "unwrapping" concept and really loved opening presents.  She has just recently started the "oh wow!" inhale and made sure to expertly demonstrate this new skill at every possible opportunity.  Ellie's excitement was enormous and just filled the room with joy.  Of course, the highlight for Ellie was her new American Girl stuff.  For Kate, I think she was most excited about Cole.  :)  Those three kids sure do love each other!  Kate has a pretty impressive rendition of Jingle Bells that she will sing when she feels up to it and is also counting to ten with decent consistency.  Looks like we might have another smarty pants on our hands!  When all the gifts were unwrapped, I think we all sort of took a moment at the same time to just stand in awe of how blessed we are at this moment in time...with family, health, home and yes, even presents.  I felt the love in the room and I know that we really knew the spirit of the holiday today.  I think the love of Jesus on that first Christmas was magnified and it really was special.

OK, so here are a few pictures from our day.  Some of these are also on Facebook but I really wanted them here too.  We have yet to celebrate with the Ciabattari's and our own little McDonald Christmas morning is yet to be discovered.  Stay tuned for more!  Enjoy and Merry Christmas! (and if you are reading this, leave a little message for me...I'd like to know who is still out there!)

The McDonalds...tee hee

 American Girl NEVER disappoints!

 Great picture of the three kids...check out the seriously cute pig tails on Kate!

 Handmade with love from Ellie to Cole

 FANTASTIC game for the family with kids...actually, we adults played this all afternoon!  SO FUN!

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things...

Daddy is Home!

We LOVE the weekends because Dan is home! I thought this picture was so sweet. You can just see how much Ellie adores her daddy!

Time

It's Thanksgiving week and so I am of course like many of you, reflecting on my blessings.  I am grateful for the obvious and most important:  a loving God, good health, a warm home, good family/friends, and security.  But I am especially grateful for time.

This morning I woke up to Ellie at 5:55 complaining of a bad dream.  After my futile attempt to get us both back to sleep, Kate woke up crying from a wet diaper.   I was so tired so I put both girls in my bed with me and tried desperately to sneak 10 more minutes of sleep before greeting my day.  The three of us girls lay there in the dark all snuggled up together.  Ellie and Kate were holding hands.  It was the sweetest moment and it made me think ahead to just a few short years from now when my girls will not be with me all the time, every moment of the day.  I want to have the appreciation now, not later.  So I just lay there very still and tried to absorb every second of that perfection before both girls were climbing on me, impatiently waiting and whining for one thing or another (although that too is also a blessing in it's own right).

A couple days ago, a cousin posted on Facebook:  My boys and hubby are home, dinner is cooking, and we are all playing a game together while watching football.  Life is good.
She then went on to lament how few and far between those days are for her and I could tell by her words that really was her great sadness. And then I was struck by something profound:  her happiness is the description of my every day.  I am SO blessed to spend my time cooking and sharing meals with my family, snuggling up in the family room, and just laughing and playing and being silly.  I don't have anywhere else to be.  My job is to love my family.  Are you kidding me?  I am so lucky and this is the time I have right now and I appreciate so fully.

My friends who are fighting for a few more hours/days with their families before they leave this earth... your picture makes me appreciate mine so completely.  This Thanksgiving, let us not be thankful for things, stuff, places to go, things to do.  Let's just be thankful for the day, the hour, the minute we have with those we love most. 


And here is a picture I took of Ellie tonight.  I still see her as my tiny little baby girl but I know she is growing up now at lighting speed.  This picture reminds me of a teenager in her room texting on her phone!  AHHH!

Have a wonderful and grateful week!  Happy Thanksgiving!

For 2012

Trick or Treat

A wonderful Halloween 2011!  We were all together, all healthy, and all smiling.  Can't ask for much better than that! Ellie rocked the trick-or-treating with the "big kids" until well past 9 o'clock.  Kate was asleep by 6pm which worked out best for all of us.  :)  We have such a fun neighborhood.  There were two hot chocolate stations, three haunted houses, and even a bonfire!  Hope everyone else had a great night!