Christmas

This truly has to be my favorite time of year, not only for the memories made, but for the true meaning of Christmas. To try and help my children not get so caught up in the hubbub of presents, presents, presents, my children receive 3 gifts under the tree. This is to symbolize the 3 gifts the wise men brought when Jesus was born. I must say that their favorite part of Christmas is putting Jesus in the Nativity scene Christmas morning. God is good! How blessed we are! We went and ate dinner with my sister Laura and her family...ahhh the food was delicious!




Today we went to celebrate Christmas with Steve's side of the family. We decided to do a brunch..Yum-O! Afterwards we got on our snow gear and went sledding..how can you waste 10 inches of snow and a huge hill at Aunt Linda's house? Thanks Aunt Linda and Uncle Mike! Great memories made!




Tomorrow my parents come to stay for awhile and celebrate with us. We have had some great time with our family this season!

Sami

Four things to love and adore about Sami......

1. Even though she has very few words, she speaks volumes with her eyes.
2. Her giggles that makes any ones heart happy.
3. The snuggle time we have in the mornings when she crawls into bed with us.
4. Her curiosity to find out more about her surroundings.

Sydney

The Candy Cane Princess...Sydney

7 1/2 things I love about Sydney

1. She loves, and I mean LOVES her babies! She is the best mommy I know, not only to her babies, but to Sami too.
2. I guess I also have to mention her love for animals. She doesn't complain when the dogs have to go out, or if she has to clean up after them, unlike her brother.
3. Her smile is worth more than a 1,000 words...beautiful and will make you forget your worries.
4. She is a rule follower and will make sure that everyone follows the rules, which is a great quality to have.
5. Her love for God and her quest for understanding Him more.
6. Her love for her daddy...she is a daddy's girl through and through...
7. The fact that when others are hurting, she hurts right along with them.
7 1/2. Refrigilators and pepperpony pizza...need I say more???

Spencer

Spencer, oh my sweet baby boy, here are 11 things you should know about this fabulous young man

1. He has a heart bigger than anyone his age that I know. His compassion for others is amazing.
2. The most brilliant blue eyes that could melt anyones heart.
3. The crazy sense of humor that he loves to share with others
4. His willingness to try new things
5. His musical abilities...that he got from his father's side of the family
6. A job to be done? Spencer is your man! Just ask and he is willing to lend a hand.
7. His understanding of his bone disease, that he can't do what others his age may do, and not question it, but embraces what he can do.
8. The love for God and wanting to do things that are pleasing to Him!
9. Sami...and how he interacts and plays with her and treats her like she doesn't have disablilties.
10. That he learns from mistakes made and grows from them to become a better person
11. Green beans--or wait was it jelly beans?? I love how he helps me remember the silly things that he did when he was younger.

Steven D....

So it was hard for me to decide where to start when it comes to blogging...so I decided that I would start with a brief update of my family...the 5 of us. Therefore, I am starting where it started, with my dear sweet husband. Steve and I have been married for 15 years, I can't believe it has been 15 years, it seems just like yesterday that we started dating. We have been through and accomplished so much in these 15 years. We started down "our" path with our careers. Steve was climbing the corporate ladder and I was teaching full time while going to school. I was completing my Masters in School Administration. You see I had high aspirations, I wanted to become a principal and then eventually a superintendent. Well long story short, Gods plans were way different, He sent us one of our very first blessings, Spencer. He arrived in December right before Christmas, what a perfect gift. It was then that my career path changed, I knew that being a mom was the most important job that God had given me. I was discussing how big of a struggle this was for me and a coworker of mine suggested we go part time so we could enjoy being the moms we wanted, yet also having that adult interaction that teaching provides. Three short years later Sydney joined our family in February. In November, Steve decided to leave the corporate world and do some soul searching. He looked at purchasing a franchise, working for Lowes, and many other opportunities. Again, God had his hand in this, Steve started a business of his own and works from home now. This was a huge adjustment for me, especially during the summer when all of us were at home. I didn't realize then how blessed we were to have him work from home. Sami joined us in October of 2005. This is where Steve working from home came into play. Sami is developmentally delayed which requires that she attends a special school that is about 35 minutes from our house. You see in 2008 I had to return to teaching full time,I did so with a very heavy heart. Because of medical issues with Spencer and Sami, this was the only choice our family had because of insurance, or should I say affordable insurance. Steve now takes Sami to school and spends the days with her, while working his business part-time. I am so blessed. This has created such an awesome bond between the two of them. God has taught us so many lessons through this experience. Sure we have had our struggles, but I truly think this has been to our benefit, it has brought us closer together and made us realize that as long as we stand together we can accomplish anything.

I can't believe I am blogging...

OK so many, many months ago my cousin Emily told me that I should start blogging. "It's an online scrapbook, you'll love it!" Who has time I thought...As I was sitting tonight thinking of all the things that have happened in our lives, I am a little sad that I have not chronicled them. Thus, I thought, I am starting now..so Emily you win! I am doing this not only for those people interested in my life, but for me to have to reflect back on and see truly how far we have come. I guess it's either an early new years resolution or a late one...you decide. Happy reading!