Goodbye 2008!

Only a few hours left this year… how has it been nearly a decade since I was wondering if I should withdraw the few dollars I had in the bank before the millenium arrived?

My goal was to get Christmas pictures on the blog before 2009, so I’m sliding in at the last minute. We had a great holiday… a few short trips to see family, lots of good food, and very little time spent shopping!

Abby’s favorite presents this year: a toy kitchen (thanks DaddyDan, GranAnn, Nana and Daddy B!) and a treasure box full of bandaids (thanks GranKathy and Boompa!).

Our little family:

Waiting as patiently as possible for Nana and B to open presents:

Playing with her new toy while wearing her new backpack:

Christmas Dress

Eventually Matt and I will stop being shocked by the fact that Abby often looks so much older than she is… but for now, we still gasp and stare at her.

Best Room Ever

Our new rental house has a wonderful room that we’ve made the library/adult living room. No TV, no radio, no toys. I love this room. I think I’ve dreamed of it all my life. To make it even greater, it also happens to be a perfect Christmas tree room. If I ever go missing, check here first.

I’m What?!

In my experience there’s usually at least one younger teacher at high schools, and at least one student has a crush on them… and there’s always that friend who says, “Ewww. He’s old. Like at least 30!” Well when I dropped some stuff at Matt’s school the other day, and a high school boy addressed me as Mrs. Naylor, it hit me that I’m no longer either of those kids… I’m the wife of the teacher! I frequently tell people that Matt is the best dressed male teacher at Denton High School… and I tease Matt about the high school girls having a crush on him. But for some reason I just now realized that I’m the teacher’s wife. And it makes me feel a little proud and a little curious as to where the last 15 years went.

Mother’s Intuition

I’ve been thinking about Mary and Elizabeth lately. They were both blessed with miraculous pregnancies. They both gave birth to sons who even before conception were named by angels. They birthed the Messiah and the man who ran before Him, declaring the good news. And these two women, these two relatives, these two first time moms, spent three months together while they were both pregnant. I wish we knew more of that time. I can’t help but wonder about Mary and Elizabeth’s state of mind.

I keep thinking, we all hope the best for our children, right? We all want them to be happy and loved and successful and generous and smart. And we don’t want to even imagine anyone hurting them. We talk about protecting our children like lionesses. We joke about what we’ll do to the boy or girl that breaks their heart. How did Mary and Elizabeth deal with those feelings? Their love for their babies, just because they were their own, must have caused the same emotions and I can only imagine that their love for the Lord amplified them. But did they feel as though they needed to protect Jesus and John?

How must Mary and Elizabeth have reacted when they learned that their sons were killed because people actually requested their deaths? Because government rulers, who did not want to kill them, were too prideful and too afraid to say no when it was asked.

I just wonder if while spending those three months rejoicing together, Mary and Elizabeth had any idea of the pain to come?