A much needed weekend in the South…

Every photographer knows…and every client who regularly uses a photographer for their holiday pictures know…that Christmas time is by far the craziest time of year. Every year I say my deadline to order is November 15th—and every year I get gazillons of emails asking me to pretty please extend order galleries…pretty please design a last minute holiday card…and pretty please squeeze us in. With all the pretty pleases some times what little time I have to relax (very little with 3 kids 5 and under) gets squeezed right out too. I’m STILL finishing up editing and ordering–but my hubby convinced me to get away for the weekend with our three little ones. It was a much needed get away. We headed down to South Georgia and stayed in my hubby’s bestfriends guest house on his family’s property. A 500 acre lake…a toasty fire…and sweet little toes…I’d say it doesn’t get better than that, does it?!

 

Loo Bear is sitting in my favorite spot of the weekend. It was sweet time with old friends–sitting around singing Joy to the World with the guitar…sippin’ hot chocolate…and of course chasing kids. We were joined by two sweet families, 5 single guys and a bunch of sugarplum kids. While they all took off for Wafflehouse one morning, I stayed back and enjoyed the fire while Frankie baby napped. And when he woke up, we patiently awaited the crew to get back…look who was so excited to see Daddy walking back up to join us…

It was a perfect weekend…and then we had to pack up on Sunday and scoot-a-loo home just in time with our date with…

 

We had 10 families joining us…the mommas in my Bible study and their families were all coming. One of the older kiddos told the Christmas story (melt my heart!) and Santa was supposed to arrive promptly at 4pm. 4:15 still no Santa. 4:30 still no Santa. Called Santa Atlanta to find out our Santa was MIA so she (aka Mrs.Claus/Santa bookie) sent this fabulous Santa instead. HE WAS PERFECT. The kids LOVED it…although my oldest kept telling me that this was just a man dressed up like Santa. We do participate in Santa, but we REALLY lay low on him…we dodge the stories and don’t emphasize him…and instead we saturate our holiday time with the meaning and purpose of Christmas…Jesus’s birth. As P-man gets older, I want to focus less on Santa as I’m not sure what I think about him anyway…but as long as he’s in the same category as Peter Pan and Cinderella…I think it can be fun. Our Elf on the Shelf is rather inactive…it’s plenty for us to focus on Jesse Tree stories and fun crafts. And speaking of fun crafts—if you need a kiddo friendly dessert for your holiday dinner…this one is EASY PEASY! ORNAMENT CUPCAKES! How cute are these…

 

All you’ll need is good old cupcake/cake mix. White icing (cream cheese icing is best). Food coloring. Mini-Reece cups. Curved pretzels. We made red, green, blue and yellow ornament cupcakes. I made one as an example and the kids all made theirs themselves. THEY LOVED IT! And it gave them something fun to do too! And while they designed their cupcakes…we finally snagged a picture of our crew…believe it or not we’re missing 5 girls here…but here is my INCREDIBLE Thursday night Bible study crew…I LOVE!

 

It was SUCH a fun time! Yet even during all the fun I still felt like someone was missing! My heart is really beginning to LONG for our baby. My sweet friend Addie gave me a candle a few weeks ago. She also has one like it at her house—and she gave the candle to me with the SWEETEST note. Addie is also my friend who joins me and my sister April once a month to pray for our sweet baby. Addie and I are lighting our candles throughout the journey as a reminder to pray for and remember the sweet baby of our hearts. No one at the party knew what it was burning for—but every time I passed it I smiled and knew that some where in the world there is a little one that in just a handful of months will forever be our child.

 

I’m guessing by the end of our journey this candle will be burned next to nothing…maybe this glass will become the glass that he uses with his “birthday plate” each year…maybe it will be the glass that one day he uses to take communion with at his wedding ceremony…maybe we’ll pop another candle in it when we are praying for his first child one day…I have so many dreams for him already…but for now it will burn as a reminder to pray for our little guy and to remind me of his presence in the world. He may be half way around the world now, but one thing is FOR SURE…he is already in my heart and I am beginning to realize more and more how much I already love him and would do anything to bring him home. What a miracle God is doing! Oh how the Lord loves us!!! To think that He loves us even more!!!