Busy Days Adding Up to a Year of Grace

I didn't intend to leave blogging behind this week.  I normally enjoy making myself write something every day, telling our story.  The story has been busy lately, but I wondered this week if a better word would be full.  Busy has such negative connotations, and while having a lot of different things going on and many things spinning in my head that I need to get to can make me feel crazy, it's also good.  Life is full, and it is good, and I've had a renewal of receiving it all as a gift and with thanksgiving this week, even the crazy parts...like bloody lips at bedtime.

There has been sickness this week, though nothing serious.  Ella has had a bad cold that has now been passed to James, and maybe he'll be well enough by Sunday morning to socialize with other children.  We'll see.  When they're too little to blow their own nose or always remember to cough into their elbow I don't like to send them.

There was all four of us getting the flu vaccine, and thankfully we all got the mist instead of the shot.  I didn't think James was mature enough to handle the shot without a scene, but he probably made just as big of a scene with the mist even though it didn't hurt.  Four is a dramatic age.  I won't lie; I felt so invincible after the flu vaccine, like nothing could stop me now.  I know that's not true, but do you guys remember this?

While I enjoy the memory of watching two seasons of television on Netflix, I did not enjoy the days of 103 degree fever, the weakness, feeling like I might die, not being able to sleep because my fever was so high, watching my 3-year-old suffer and burn up with fever.  I am a changed woman and thankful for modern medicine. 

This week has been full of photo-editing, an engagement session and our family gathering...

We had a night out with our friend, Parker.  Good food, good conversation and encouragement.

This night may have also included coming home to find our garland and lights fallen on the kitchen floor and broken glass ornaments...also a mad rush to pick up the kids so the grandparents could rush to baby Eden's birth (Yay!), putting the kids back to bed with Ella crying and running a low fever, and then James, according to his story, tripped jumping off his bed, falling on the floor and busting his lip, causing so much blood I was afraid to look in his mouth for fear of what damage I might find there.  I passed him off to KJ and continued the search for Motrin for Ella.  Thankfully, no damage except his worst busted lip so far.  Parenting is exciting.

I've thought a lot about parenting/mothering this week.  It's so inexplicably great and hard at the same time.  This week I have been exasperated by a continuous slamming of doors, whining and failure to obey.  I have had a full heart overwhelmed with the sweetness of excitement about decorating the Christmas tree, of James' shining eyes and hugs and kisses having so much fun.  I have loved listening to James' repeated singing of Hark the Herald Angels Sing.  It always ends like this: "...God and sinners reconciled...MERRY CHRISTMAS, CHARLIE BROWN!"  I have marveled that it is my Ella who is so tall and sensitive to my every emotion, learning to wait before asking for something else when I'm already in the middle of a task, dancing and pirouetting all over the living room, and what happened to chubby cheeks and roly-poly thighs?

And all the very full days of this year are fast approaching their end.  It has been fast and full.  I actually made a little something I intended for our Christmas card before remembering that I had already purchased Christmas cards on clearance at an after-Christmas sale last year.  Here's a small glimpse of our year:  I'm thankful for it all.