Christmas 2012

I know this post is a wee bit behind, but when you work full time and do adoption full time and family full time other things get put on the back burner!  AJ and I had one of the best Christmases we have had in a while!  It was peaceful, full of laughter and a day FULL of praise.  You see, in the beginning of 2012 things in my family looked quite different.  Both my parents were hospitalized at different times with life-threatening illnesses, both requiring hospital stays and major surgery. My father spent almost a month in the hospital recovering from emergency open heart surgery and in the beginning we weren't sure if he would be here to celebrate Christmas.  God has been so faithful to our family and restored great health and healing to us all and for that I am so grateful.  I WILL NEVER take a moment with my family for granted after this year...I don't know who would after going through that!


We really wanted to celebrate and spend time with our little pseudo niece and nephews, so we made our rounds throughout Northern New Jersey visiting our favorite little ones and watching the wonder of Christmas through their eyes!  I think it is so awesome to see your best friends as parents after knowing them for so long!  They are all great examples of love and family!

We visited our Goddaughter and had a blast watching her excitement and joy! Her parents, Dan and Theresa and AJ and I have been awesome friends since college!  Her mom and I are the sisters we never had growing up! 

This girl could not be more beautiful AND loved!!!!

We then made rounds to visit our other fav little ones and had a little Christmas visit with them before heading to my parents for Christmas Eve and Christmas day! I unfortunately forgot to take pictures because I was too busy talking to their mom the whole time...when we get together we love to chat and talk so it's right up my alley as a speech language pathologist!

Christmas day was a time where we reflected as a family all that God has done for us this year, the love we have for each other and what family means to us.  My dad read the Christmas Story from the book of Luke before dinner, which was such a moving moment for me, as well as the rest of my family.  To see my father, healthy, alive, full of life reading about the Babe who came to give us all life was truly an unforgettable moment for me.  I thank God for that memory and I will cherish forever.  I can't wait to have our children sit around their Papa listening to the birth of Jesus and having the wonderment of Christmas sparkling in their eyes.

We had snow on Christmas day and then a few days later, we had another beautiful snow storm which left our neighborhood blanketed in a peaceful shade of pure white.  The lights sparkling through the snow took my breath away and brought tears to my eyes.  The wonder of Christmas, the beauty of snow and the miracle of family made my heart full this season!  Next year...even fuller!

 God is good ...and we are blessed!

"I will praise the LORD God with a song and a thankful heart."
Psalm 69:30