"Twas the night after Christmas and all through the house ALL the creatures were stirring including a mouse. The stockings were strung from here to there, in hopes I could find them to hang for next year. The house is all lined with new toys, old toys, clothes, wrapping paper-shredded and torn, store tags, VCR tapes, diapers, and bottles, house shoes, crayons, bells and books, cups, used kleenex, magazines, ear muffs and a purse. Theres the shirt I must return. No, I'm not a size small! A blue tug boat for Zach, I'm sure there is carpet somewhere. Big sigh. I spend all September, October, November and December getting ready and excited for the BIG Christmas Day. Then, it hits. The day after Christmas blues. The tree is now bare, the house is a wreck, my kids all have ear infections along with the strep."
It continues on... with bits of info of failed potty training efforts for Megan. (Note: she did finally master this skill) I know that's good to know. Zach did finally sleep through the night, and Jennifer no longer requires the sleep she did when she was five.
We've come a long way. Sometimes, it seemed like we were dragging a 2 ton cement weight around our necks. But, we really weren't. I remember people telling me..."These are the good days!!" I would roll my eyes, and think to myself, with a half grin on my face, Yah.. come live at my house with three kids under the age of 5, a farm- with all the required farm animals- that enjoyed the grass on the other side of the fence more than "in" the fence.
Charlie and I worked our tails off, and slept occasionally. We ate more PBJ sandwiches, macaroni and cheese, than could possibly be good for anyone. We didn't go on dates on regular basis, I didn't have pedicures, Wal-Mart was my shopping place, we didn't recycle trash, we burned it. It's what we did in the country.
Our house wasn't fancy, but there was LOVE. Tons and tons of LOVE. I didn't necessarily enjoy the stress we endured, nor did I appreciate the "good" times, but I can look back now and see that there were a few things that made us the people we are today.
We loved God with all we had! Our kids knew Jesus was why we celebrated Christmas, but His death on the cross, and resurrection, was why we can live eternity with Him.
Hard work, is just that.. it's HARD. You work harder than expected, expect nothing in return. We didn't have much, but what we did have we worked for and appreciated. We weren't owed anything. We didn't expect anything.
Life can be really tough, but you never stop, you MOVE forward. You treat others like you want to be treated, only better. Don't say ugly things to people. Learned from our mistakes. Never say never.
We just took one day at a time, that turned into weeks, months and now years later.
Charlie and I are beyond blessed with our kids, but what really makes us do the silly-happy dances-with goofy voices, and faces are: Savannah, Sam, Mason, Stella, Reid, Jaxon and Gavin.
God has blessed us to much!
Enjoy the Little Things in Life, For One Day You'll Look Back and Realize They were the BIG things.
Merry Christmas!!
