Tonight we say good-bye to 2016 and usher in the new year quietly. The children are sleeping and I am typing in a messy living room - our home has yet to recover from birthday celebrations and Christmas blessings.
We had a lovely Christmas, spending a few days with Graham's parents in Listowel. My parents joined us for part of Christmas day. Growing up, I don't think we were ever with another relative apart from our immediate family on Christmas Day so what a blessing for our kids to be with both sets of grandparents at the same time!
I was happy to be able to continue my tradition of being in a Christian Reformed Church on Christmas morning which helped me to at least get teary eyed, thinking about Josiah. It's rare to go to a place where I feel different and a little out of place and obviously a stranger to everyone else in the room. Getting out of my regular space helps me to focus on Josiah for a little while. I guess that is a Christmas gift to myself and Graham is sweet enough to come along with our noisy children (well, Lily-Anna wasn't too noisy).
We have actually been enjoying the winter weather which is quite surprising for us. We went skating as a family (minus Lily-Anna) and then Graham and his dad took the boys out sledding. The five of us tried to go yesterday. We safely attached Lily-Anna's carseat to a sled (just for horizontal travel) but she wasn't too excited about the arrangement after a time and Kohen wasn't interested in the big hill so our trip was shorter than planned.
We went to the cemetery today and Graham built a snowman in front of Josiah's grave. Hopefully no one else will mind. The snow was perfect. We enjoyed throwing some snow around and the boys had fun being pulled on the sled while Lily-Anna slept in the stroller.
Our most exciting news is that Graham is starting his paternity leave. It's perfect timing for the cold winter months and also this is usually around the time when my body and joints start to protest the weight of the baby who needs to be carried around.
I borrowed Mary Poppins from the library. It was fun to snuggle with Isaac and Kohen and watch them laugh. It's the first real movie we've shown Isaac, though he has seen some animated ones at school. Unfortunately, the music playing when Mr. Banks had to go back to the bank in the evening was a little scary for Kohen and he's brought it up a few times. He put his hands over his ears and then left the room.
I've realized the last few months that I seem to be missing a lot of memories of Kohen. I actually looked back at the blog and was pleasantly surprised to see lots of photos of him smiling along with stories. I saw a photo of him in the exersaucer which was great because I had had no memory of him in one. Mom told me the other day that Kohen always makes her laugh and looking back she sees how God kept him safe inside my womb and kept me from intense grief while he was growing.
One of the songs that the boys sing goes like this: "Do to others, do to others, what you would have them do to you ...." Lately, when Kohen and Isaac are arguing and things are not going Kohen's way he'll say forcefully, "Do to others Isaac!"
I found December to be very busy. Isaac was in a piano recital the first weekend, followed by his birthday party the second weekend (God really helped that come together, as did my parents who helped me make swords and noodle horses for the boys), and then a birthday dinner with family the following weekend, followed by Christmas and now New Years. I've been sad because I wasn't able to do all the Advent stuff that we did last year and Isaac asked for all of it again. I couldn't figure out where the time went for us until I realized that I always nurse and put Lily-Anna to bed right after dinner while the boys are getting ready for bed. She still takes her time nursing before bed but nursing is one of my favourite things to do. I get to nourish my sweet daughter in my arms while resting in a comfortable chair often in the dark. Apparently she enjoys it too as she's up a couple of times in the night to feed. It would be helpful to get more sleep but we'll wait until she's a little older to stop her night feeds.
It was fun to attend Isaac's Christmas concert at school as well as a play in his classroom. He wanted to be in the choir and even auditioned to have a few talking lines. Neither Graham nor I think we would have done that at his age so we're happy he has some confidence.
Lily-Anna is doing much better at eating. It took her a good couple of weeks to figure out swallowing and then another couple of weeks for her to consistently open her mouth for food. Now we're just hoping for teeth.
2016 brought us the joy of having Lily-Anna but it also brought some hard times. We are happy to welcome the new year with its new hopes and possibilities.
In late November we had a 15-minute mini session at a photographer's home. We were very surprised and happy with the resulting photos we have posted.
Thanks for your prayers. May you and yours know and experience the love, joy, and peace of Jesus in 2017.
Blessings,
Elizabeth
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
