Long Time, No Blog

Yes, I cannot handle my life. The holidays, my house, my kids, my hubby, and other things, have all taken precedence over posting. So sorry! But I think you probably understand. After all, this blog is here because we have lives, not the other way around!

I hoped you would not all think that I am not grateful for all my blessings (which include all of you) because I didn't post at Thanksgiving (I am VERY grateful for all I have), and I hoped you would not think I am a Scrooge because I didn't post anything during December, either. I want you to know I thought of every one of you and even peeked in on you from time to time, and I enjoyed seeing how your holidays were treating you. I am not a Scrooge, rather, I absolutely LOVE Christmas, and I love the reason we celebrate it--our Savior, Jesus Christ. I am grateful beyond expression for His choice to come to earth to serve us and save us all from the woes of sin. I am grateful for His Atonement, which enables us to repent and be with our loved ones forever, and for His Resurrection, which frees us from the bonds of death, making eternal life possible as well. I love thinking about his earthly mother, Mary, and the things she must have gone through and thought about, and about the miracle that birth is, made even more miraculous by that special Baby, who came to be our Savior.

The Sunday after Christmas, one of the sisters I work with complained about the talks that were given the Sunday before (which were about Christ's mission and Atonement)--she said something like, "Why can't we just celebrate Christmas and leave Christ a baby at Christmastime?" I didn't know how to reply without sounding critical, but I was surprised at the way she felt. There would be no Christmas without the Savior's life, His Atonement, or the Resurrection--there would be nothing to celebrate! That's why He came! I feel that we can celebrate His birth and His life and mission all at once, and it will make our Christmas celebration that much more meaningful and whole.

I was kind of disappointed that we didn't get to do a lot of the unimportant, temporal things that make this season memorable. I longed to sit in front of my Christmas tree every evening, holding a steaming mug of hot cocoa, and listening to Christmas music. I longed to go caroling to the neighbors (my husband would never do such a thing), bake Christmas goodies, build gingerbread houses, read a new meaningful story every night, make homemade Christmas stockings, and on and on. . . But unless I can hire a nanny, with all the things we had to do to continue normal life and get ready for the holidays, most of this stuff wasn't going to happen, and didn't. However, we did do one thing which I consider imperative (unless illness or new babies come to our house)--we went to Temple Square to see the lights and the nativity scene. It was wonderful, memorable, and I forgot the camera. I loved standing in front of the life-sized figures and listening to the Christmas story and the music and remembering how I felt as a child, and then watching my children experience the same wonder and joy. I choked up when I heard President Hinckley reminding us that the Savior's Atonement and Resurrection are the reason for all our rejoicing and celebration. And I was quickly reminded that all that other stuff is fun, but it isn't important, and my children are not going to be scarred for life if we don't do them all. We played plenty of Christmas music, as much as possible, and we spent time together trying to focus on Jesus and the things He would have done if He were here. Yes, my kids fought more than I would have liked, and yes, our tree didn't get put up until the week before the week of Christmas, but as long as my children know why we celebrate Christmas and why it's so important, none of the other stuff matters.

They have loved playing games with their dad, snuggling under fluffy blankets in our freezing basement family room to watch Christmas movies, they loved seeing their aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents, they LOVED Temple Square, their eyes sparkled as they helped us with our family service project, they enjoyed reading all the great Christmas stories in our book basket, and they were so excited when we finally put up their favorite Nativity set, which is starting to fall apart a bit, but that we will always patch together and keep. Yes, in retrospect, it was a good Christmas, and I hope they have felt a little more of the Reason for the Season (even if Mom was a little grumpy).

Part of the reason our holidays were a little more simplified (ha!) was because of this:

7.31.09

Confused? Don't blame you. Yes, it is Harry Potter's next "birthday," and though we're Harry Potter fans at our house (thanks, Santa, for completing our Harry Potter book collection--we only had book seven--by ordering from a clearinghouse the old six-book boxed set. . .what a thrifty guy you are!), that's not why this date is meaningful to us.

Just before Christmas, I paid a visit to my OB/GYN and he confirmed that we are expecting our sixth child, with a heartbeat, (because I've had four miscarriages, I have to see that heart beating before I will tell anyone or stop freaking out) on July 31, 2009! I had taken a test a couple of weeks before, and I just couldn't make it through Christmas without knowing what was going to happen.

Now, technically, because I have planned C-sections (ever since #2 decided to try to come out face first, and I'm not a big risk-taker, so no VBAC), this child will not be born on that day. Rather, this child will most likely, unless I go into labor sooner (which has happened before), be born on the 27th of July, because it's the week of my due date, and that's usually how things get planned. Well, we are excited, and we are looking forward to July! We'll keep you posted on how things are going--and hopefully I'll be better at posting than I have been the last month or so!

I hope each of you knows how much you mean to all of us, and how much we appreciate your love and support. Happy New Year to all of you!