Thanks to all my faithful family and friends who continue to check my blog for updates on our family happenings despite the fact that my postings seem to come in random waves. Life inside this house is (at best) constantly busy and its been difficult for me to connect with people in real life much less online. Many of my closest friends know that I tend to fall off the planet for days or even weeks at a time... blogworld is no different. :)
But I felt I should update on Christmas... considering this was the first Christmas for two Spencer members. A very special year indeed. This Christmas was a crazy whirlwind of school and church plays, parties, baking, shopping and keeping busy little hands off of breakable shiny ornaments.
Ashley was in her first school Christmas play and it couldn't have been more appropriate that it was the play "Babushka" (having added a little Ukrainian man this year) about a little Russian woman who learns that Christmas isn't about giving gifts, but giving of yourself for Jesus. Ashley was one of 5 beauitul Angels singing "Glory, Glory, Glory to God in the highest and peace, goodwill to men". She didn't miss a single handmotion and belted out every word. It was a far cry from the shy little 3 year old who cried and cried before her big ballet recital. She's growing up so much. I was one proud momma.
She also sang in the church Christmas play with all of the other preK-5th graders. She was a sweet little sheep and the costume was adorable if I do say so myself. :) After two nights of that performance, Ashley informed me "For all the songs I didn't know the words to, I just opened my mouth really big like I was singing along." :) Hey that works.
Emily's Christmas program was at the church where she goes to Mothers Day Out and it was beautiful. All of the little ones came in from the back of the sanctuary and up through the pews to the stage. And of course Emily was waving to the crowd as she passed as if she was some prom queen on a float. It was hilarious! She sang her songs and after it was over, our whole family siezed the moment to catch a picture with baby Jesus up on the stage. Some how that was the first picture we've all gotten together since we were at the hospital with Mabry!
My dad and Margie came in town the weekend before Christmas and we had lots of fun with them... the kids love Grandma and Grandpa Turner. And love their dogs Molly and Lucy too!! They were able to come to see Ashley in her church play which was cool. It was a great visit but as always, over too quickly.
We got up on Christmas Eve morning to "have Christmas" with our kids. Jake and I thoroughly enjoyed watching each of them tear into the presents that we'd been told they wanted for weeks. It only took one gift for Micah to realize, hey, these packages have TOYS in them! And he was INTO it! It was one of those adoption moments when you can't help but tear up thinking about where he would have been today... or what he would have been doing... and the fact that he's never done this before... and the fact that he'll get to do this every year from now on. To see him light up over the giant noisy robot. And the smile on his face as he'd watch his sisters squeel at opening their own gifts. I'll never ever forget it.
Abby this year still didn't grasp the concept of opening up presents. Or maybe she didn't care. The girls had to open some of her gifts up for her and kind of get her excited over what she got. She would have been perfectly happy with the first toy... to play with it never open anything else. She enjoyed watching the chaos around her and rocking her baby dolls. Sweet girl.
We then packed up all the kids, lots more unopened gifts, and lots of food and headed to my moms house. After some cooking and a big yummy mexican feast, Mom, Dad, Grannie, Papaw, Shane, Colby, Jake, the kids and I all "did gifts" with each other. Then we packed up again and headed to a cabin that Jake's parents rented to spend Christmas day with Mom and Dad Spencer, John, Jo, Hannah, Nathan (better known as Nate Dogg by my kids), Jackson and Graham. The cabin was beautiful and it was a fun little get away.
And now we're headed into the new year and I don't even know where this one went. What a crazy year of pregnancy, international adoption, 3 kids starting school for the first time and oh so much more. And I'm not gonna lie... I'm tired. This year has taken a lot out of me. But every now and again when every thing is still and quiet... I take a deep breath, step back and look, and praise my God because I am one very blessed woman.
I made a little montage for Christmas. Some of these pictures are kind of random and I forgot my camera when we went to the cabin... but here's a few shots from this Christmas time.
Love you all. I hope you each had a wonderful celebration of Jesus' birth.
Amy, my husband Clay and I came across your blog through the Reeces Rainbow site. We live in Germantown, TN and have a 20 month old boy, Murphy, with DS, and a 7 month old girl, Madden. For the past few weeks these sites have been weighing heavy on our hearts and minds. Your coming home video had us both in tears-because of the joy you have in your lives...we would love to exchange email addresses to find out more information about your journey. We also have a blog, www.theculpeppers.com and my email address is suzannemculpepper@hotmail.com if you feel like contacting us ( or if you can ever find the time!)
ReplyDeleteThank you for your story and for saving a precious angel.
Suzanne and Clay Culpepper