Saying good-bye to 2008

2008 was a good year. It treated us well. There were bumps and few sharp turns here and there, but overall, it was a good year. The year in review:

March 2008

• Robert would promote to Lieutenant, but at a station far from home.
• A dear friend would give birth to two precious baby boys at only 23 weeks gestation...and have to say good-bye to them all too quickly.

April 2008

• Juliana and Mia would both become very sick...Mia spending a week in the PICU for respiratory distress and pneumonia.
• Juliana and Mia would be baptized...finally!

May 2008

• We would raise $2000 for the March of Dimes, March for Babies as a family and nearly $6000 as the Mikels-Lewis team!

June 2008

• The girls would visit the beach for the first time and fall in love with it!

July 2008

• I would turn 34...yikes, just one year away from AMA!

August 2008

• I would go back to teaching Kindergarten...my first love.
• The girls would turn TWO! And Juliana would still be rear-facing at a whopping 19.5 pounds.

September 2008

• Robert would turn 43...ouch. He, he, he...

October 2008

• Robert would transfer to a station close to home.
• The two year insurance battle over the girls would come to a close.
• We would visit our RE and "talk" about TTC again...someday...maybe...no time soon...calm down people.

December 2008

• Robert and I would see Christmas through our children's eyes...and how amazing it was.

So we move on...on to 2009. While we were making dinner tonight, I made a rhetorical statement, really just thinking out loud, "I wonder what 2009 will bring for the Lewis family." I won't repeat what Robert said because it will get all of you riled up. I sit here and really, don't know. There's an air of excitement, of anticipation, and of well, yikes! I just know that a year can bring a lot--after all, it is a long time...12 months to be exact. I will turn 35...the girls will turn 3 and start preschool! We will say good-bye to diapers and hello to big girl panties. They will really be "big" girls this year.

I do know that whatever 2009 brings, you all will be there with us and us for you...He will be there in every moment, in every breath. We will grow in ways we never thought possible.

May your 2009 be filled with the blessings of happiness, hope, peace, and love. Happy New Year!

Christmas 2008

I have finally managed to upload more photos from that last few months. It's always drama and involves far too long. I don't really know why it takes so long (okay, that's a lie...it just might be 1500 photos on the memory card...I know, I know, I KNOW...I just can't bear to hit "delete" so they are all still there on the memory card, and on my laptop, and on my external drive, and on the desktop, and on DVDs...paranoid much?).

It has been so much fun to see Christmas through the girls' eyes. They don't get it all, but what they do get is absolutely priceless. We didn't do pics with Santa, maybe next year. Let's just say when Santa was at our mall, he didn't look well, like maybe he lost about 100 lbs. And his fluffy beard of white had turned a mysterious stringy grey. We thought the girls might be a bit much for Santa, so we simply waved from afar.

On Christmas Eve, we left sugar cookies the girls' made with Grandma on Santa's special red plate and a glass of cold milk in his special mug. We also left a napkin for him to wipe, wipe with. And just before bed, the girls, Grandma, and I went outside to sprinkle reindeer food on our grass for Santa's reindeer. Of course, we made sure to keep the Christmas lights on so Santa would find his way to our home.

In the morning, the girls came stumbling out with p's and animals in tow and Robert and I showed them the unwrapped gifts Santa had left by the tree...a basketball hoop and ball, an Elmo LIVE!, cars, and Little Einsteins figurines. The girls faces were just priceless and we were doing all we could to really encourage their wonder and excitement. Grandma and Grandpa came over a little later and showed them their stockings full of other gifts from Santa.

The afternoon was spent eating a wonderful early dinner with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Matt and Auntie Annie. Afterwards, we opened presents and the girls did really well. They lost a little steam half way through because they wanted so badly to play with each present and here we were, giving them another to open. Can I say, "toy overload?"

Once we were finished, we packed the girls up and headed to Auntie Mary and Uncle Darrel's house for desserts and more presents with the whole Lewis clan. The girls had a blast with cousin Jessica's Guitar Hero game...yes, they took turns sitting on her lap playing the drums while the other sang vocals. I wish I had pics of this...Robert's sisters do and I need to make sure to get them.

All in all, it was a wonderful day. Next year will be even more amazing as they really begin to understand the true meaning of Christmas.

Thankful

It is hard to imagine that the girls have been with us for 3 Christmas'...that it's really been that long. Before that, Robert and I shared 5 Christmas' as husband and wife--the first as newlyweds, hunting for a new home (which we would find that Christmas Eve) and the next four, wondering if the "next one" would be spent with a little one in our arms. Each year would be harder than the one before, yet one that would bring us closer together. From where I stand now, it's easy to look back on the journey and see it's perfect design. For this broken road we have traveled, I am so very grateful...it's strange, but true. I have learned so much and to take away even just the tiniest bit of it for an easier stretch of road, would not give me the perspective I have today on

marriage

children

family

friends

God

faith

hope

love

gratitude...

So tonight, I am ever so thankful for this life, for this road.