Emmanuel

We have certainly enjoyed our first week of Christmas break preparing for Christmas.  Except for a little health flair up that has annoyed me and made me feel bad, we have enjoyed a slower pace and lots of family time. 

The boys right now are obsessed with playing full "court" hoops downstairs in our basement.  They use the Ipad to keep "score" and they have such fun. 

Ashley must have taken these pictures because I do not remember taking them!  Ha!  I smiled so big when I saw this one when I downloaded.  These boys melt my heart together.  I shared this on facebook lately, but Kyle has asked a lot of questions lately about David and relapsing.  We talked again about statistics and such but it is all in God's hands.  He then said that when they all grow up that he and Hope will fight over who David is going to live with because he is so funny.  I was so touched that they would "fight" over something that some would see as a burden. 

Here is sweet Hope (bottom middle) with her preschool class at their Christmas party:)  She loved the party except for Santa!

David had archery one night over break and it was so fun to get to go watch him.  He was not feeling well that night but we are so thankful for this blessing in his life.  Ms. Penny is awesome and check out all of his special friends there with him that night!! 

Hope with some preschool friends at her party.  She is loving being home but she has mentioned her preschool friends several times over break.  She really loves this special group of kids in her class. 

Another archery shot with David and Ms. Penny!

David has also gotten to have Christmas already with Amber and Ashley.  God has blessed our family so much with these two gals. They split time working with David during the week and I know that God sent them to us!  Their families have become part of our family and we are beyond blessed with them.  For two years David has made poor Ashley play Swamp People with him.  He loves to stand up on the couch with his nerf gun and shoot at Ashley who is suppose to roll around and pretend to be the alligator!  Blessedly Ashley found this awesome blow up alligator and now she can sit and watch the game instead of having to roll around on my floor!  Ha! 

After swimming together today, Amber and David exchanged Christmas.  Here is David with his new football signed by the VT players and Bud Foster.  It will be perfect for a present that David may be getting from Santa on Christmas day!  Thank you ladies both for blessing our family with your love and energy-not only for David but Kyle and Hope as well.  It is hard to bring someone into your home but God sent both of theses ladies to us and we are so thankful.  David's life has been blessed and enriched because of them.

Another joy we have had this Christmas is cooking!  Yesterday Hope and I baked with the neighborhood girls, and today we cooked just the two of us.  I love having a daughter and it touches my heart that she wants to be with me in the kitchen.  I love her sweet little voice that says "Momma what can I help you with?"  She is such a joy.  Here she is sampling one of our sugar cookies with buttercream icing that we made today.  I am not able to enjoy the rich foods of the season, but I have had fun cooking with my favorite girl.  I also love that her Daddy dressed her today while I was resting and the two of them picked out a Christmas dress and tights for hanging out around the house. 

Mike keeps hassling me about what I want for Christmas.  We typically give the gift of time instead of giving gifts-we will take a little family day trip or overnight trip.  I keep telling him that I do not want anything under the tree.  We got our Christmas gift with a clean scan back on December 5th.  I also got my Christmas miracle of no ear tube surgery, and we did splurge and replace our garage door this break.  We have been saving for two years (the Dave Ramsey way-sigh) and we replaced our pitiful door for Christmas.  I am truly at a place where I just want time and memories with my family. 

We learned that a sweet little girl from Orange county passed away yesterday due to a rare childhood cancer.  They were actually at Give Kids the World for her wish trip a week after we were there.  I am so sad for her family and I am ever mindful that childhood cancer plays dirty.  Just because David's last scan was clean does not mean his April one will be.  I know on this side of heaven children dying to this dreadful disease makes no sense, but I believe in a God whose plans are perfect.  I ask you to include the Blaine family in your prayers as they prepare to say goodbye for now to their sweet princess, Ellie.

Enjoy every moment with your family as we prepare for Emmanuel-God is with Us.  We wish you a Merry Christmas and know that we are so grateful for your support and love for our family.  Merry Christmas!