Our first Christmas with Isaac (& officially in our arms for 6 months!!!)

Had to document a quick post seperate from our Journey to the Magi post of our FIRST Christmas with ITY…and yesterday marked officially SIX MONTHS in our arms!!! This weekend ALSO marked the longest our little guy has been in one place. I find myself looking at him over and over and wanting his heart to know–to really know–YOU ARE HERE TO STAY!!! Our night times have gotten a little hard again–but I know as we continue to pour into him and step back a bit to build more trust and have more time for cuddling and holding…our nights will get better too. I was looking through pictures of our trip to Ethiopia and how far Isaac has come…in just 6 months he has gone from learning to push up…to sitting…to crawling…to pulling up—and he can let go for a few seconds standing if you distract him and he doesn’t realize what he’s doing!

6 months ago from today…

This weekend…

And here’s a sneak peak into our Christmas fun…

For those of you who were concerned about Frank opening up Parker last week thinking he was a choo choo and being left disappointed. No worries. Frankie baby was pleasantly surprised with this…HOWEVER…he was scared of it until 2 days later. SO—Isaac helped him see it wasn’t scarey and that it was a lot of fun. Frank just took the role as the conductor until he was ready–and Isaac showed him the ropes:).

Laney’s 3 gifts were a digital camera, a princess skateboard and a tent… A tent like this can seriously be whipped out in 1 hour if you have all the supplies ready–so for those of you interested I’ll gladly post a tutorial as these would make fun birthday gifts and just things to play in! And it fit perfectly in her big girl room (WHICH she has actually been sleeping in at night!!! Sleeping in the ground CAN’T be comfortable but she thinks the tent is the coolest thing!)

Parker also got a tent, a skateboard and a batman block set thing…he also got an “elf that he can touch”…

Frank’s favorite gift was NOT the ride-on Thomas but the Thomas pjs from his Nana. He wore them ALL. DAY. LONG. We couldn’t even convince him to take them off to get something warmer on to play in the snow!

AND I realized I was WRONG! I said in an earlier post it hadn’t snowed here on Christmas day since 1985—but it was 1885 I do believe! CRAZY!!! AND it happened on our first Christmas with Isaac. TRULY…it felt so magical!!!

The kids of course built a few snowmen…obviously we are rookies and this doesn’t happen often—my kids used grapes and all kinds of craziness for his face. He even was given balloons to hold:)

And I wish you could have heard this little guy GIGGLE every time he took a little bite of snow…

OH his kissable cheeks!!! This baby puts up with so much from us doesn’t he?!
Okay, so if you are my friend on Facebook you have already been bombarded with all of these pictures…but I just couldn’t help but share them here too!!! It was such a sweet Christmas and my heart is still processing so much as we have thought so much about Ethiopia this season too…and those we left behind. I feel the Lord is leading us to do some big things in 2011—and I want to be obedient and faithful to follow. I am already amazed at what God does when you follow Him…and He continues to amaze me with His power as we say “yes”. He who is faithful in the small things will be faithful in much. Praying we will be obedient in 2011 and bring Him the glory in all that we do!!!

My oh wow moment happened on Christmas day…my children’s GREAT-grandmother was here and I can only IMAGINE how she has seen the world change in her lifetime. She was sitting there watching the wild…Isaac riding the Thomas…Frank running around with play dough in his hands…Laney and Parker being Indians–and I thought, “Oh no–I bet we are overwhelming her.” My heart melted when she stood up with her cane and looked me in the eyes and said, “Andrea, you and Richard have a beautiful home. I mean–not home.” Pause…oh no–you never know what older folks are going to say;). “Andrea, you and Richard have a beautiful WORLD. Do you know that? It is just BEAUTIFUL.” Yes…Mama Reid. Indeed. I feel like I’m living the fairytale. How sweet it is to be the daughter of a King–and to trust His plans and ways. So excited to see what 2011 brings!!!

Hope you all are enjoying the holidays with your family!!! With love from ours to yours!!!

Andrea