Christmas

We have had a great Christmas! We went to our church's Christmas Eve service on Sunday (they had services Sunday and Monday) and Sam sat through the entire service! He asked what pastor Jeff was talking about and he loved listening to the music. We were shocked that he sat still the whole time! Then, we got to go to my grandparents' house on Christmas Eve night to have our traditional gumbo for dinner and open a few presents. It was so sweet! On Christmas Eve day, we spent a few hours at the urgent care clinic because Sam was coughing like crazy and we found out that he has bronchitis. No fun to be sick for Christmas, but it is what it is! He is getting better now and we are praying that his cough is gone before baby Jacob arrives!

Christmas morning, Sam slept until almost 9:30. David and I were sitting downstairs, drinking our coffee and twiddling our thumbs waiting for the little guy to wake up so we could open presents! It was so reverse of what I expected! But, it was nice to have a very relaxing morning. It literally took us about 6 hours to open the presents because Sam wanted to play with each one. I don't blame him one bit and it actually made for a very relaxing day! We headed over to my parents' house in the evening to be with them, my grandparents and Bryan, Amy, Caleb and Sarah. We had a delicious meal and opened tons of presents! Then, before we knew it, it was time to come home and go to bed! Now, we are just counting down the days til Jacob comes. I have a scheduled c-section on January 2, so if you think about us, we'd so appreciate your prayers!

Of course, being pregnant at Christmastime is so fun. I like to think about how Mary must have felt. I'm sure every mother has thought about the things that I have, but if you'll bear with me, I'd like to write them down.

I can't imagine being 14 or 15 years old, pregnant, engaged to someone I hardly know and having to travel on a donkey with this man over a long distance just so my husband could be obedient to the law and pay our taxes. Then, to have to deliver my precious baby boy in a dirty old manger with no one but my fiancee and a few animals around. I can imagine holding the precious little guy in my arms and falling in love with him in an instant and wanting to kiss him all over! I'm sure that Mary felt that way about our Saviour. But, did she know that He was LORD at His birth? I don't know. Did she know that He would be perfect in every way? Did she know that He knew her heart at that very moment and knew that she loved Him so much?

This year, I thought about being a parent in general. Mary was called to raise the Son of God and she had no idea that He was called to save the world. To die on a cross. For my sin. She had no idea. While my guys aren't going to be called to this, they will be called to go through things that I wish they didn't have to go through. They will have to take up their own cross and follow Jesus. They will have to die to themselves. At least I pray that they do. I want them to be as much like Jesus as possible...and as a mother, this means that I am going to have to let them go through tough stuff. I want so badly to be able to pour my experiences into them and have them live a life that is free from pain, but I also want them to be as close to Jesus as possible. And that means that they will have to share in His sufferings just like you and I have to. So, while I'm not raising the Son of God, I am raising boys that I desire so badly to be followers of Jesus and that's not an easy thing!