Our Christmas was more of a whirlwind this year than ever before and it had nothing to do with the weather. CFAN had some very pressing business so Brent worked from December 14th through January 7th with only 4 days off and one of those was only because he'd worked until 4am that morning and wouldn't have been able to pull through another day without some good rest. 2 of those days were mostly spent in the car alone. Needless to say, he is exhausted...and SO AM I. We missed him terribly and are so excited he has the day off tomorrow and a real weekend ahead. Friday Dec. 18th, the very day I left for Houston by myself, our case manager was able to have the new family for Zak approved for respite care so that I didn't collapse under the stress of 4 kids. Zak's new family is so very sweet and excited to have him. Jonathan is adjusting very well. We play "High/Low. Ready? Go!" just about every night at dinner asking the kids what things made them happy and sad throughout the day and Jonathan rarely has anything that has made him sad and often he still says that he's happy to be with us. The kids had a great time at Grandma and Peepaw's house riding a new toy that Grandma got. I even rode it a bit and it was entertaining. We had a nice time opening gifts with Grandma, Peepaw, Sean, Aunt Mo, and cousin Shelby and then headed to the other side of both Houston and the family tree. We stopped to see Grandpa and Suzanne and the boys got to see the ferrets. It was a short visit, but it was a good one. When our plans fell through to see Sherry (Brent's step-mom), we asked the Carbones if they had a little time for us and of course they did. Our time at their house was one of the warmest moments of our holiday and gave us the feeling of Christmas that we'd been wanting so badly. The next morning we made the trek to my Nannie and PawPaw's house in Anderson (around Bryan/College Station). All the cousins were there and this is the first year that I felt like I didn't really get to chat very much with anyone there and just kinda buzzed around maintaining children and hanging out. Well, that was Christmas eve so we left there and headed for our very own casa to celebrate Christmas morning for the very first time at home. If you know me and the constant state of my house you would not have believed the chaos of plastic, laundry, and miscellaneous items that were WALL-to-WALL in our garage and our bedroom. We finished our elfish duties around 2 and found a place on the bed to sleep. The next morning was WONDERFUL! The kids actually slept in. We got up and showered at like 6:30 (yeah, I know, we're weird) and laid in bed waiting...and waiting...and slept...and heard the boys playing in their room around 8. They were content playing with the toys they'd already gotten and had forgotten about the toyland that awaited them. The boys sat together and laughed opening their gifts side-by-side and Haley...well she didn't want to open any. She wanted to stay on her 4-wheeler that Grandpa had bought her and let us put together Christmas eve. To be honest the chaos has slowed down, but not disappeared and nearly had me panicked. But today, my knight in shining armor came home early and will again be by my side to reign in the children and finish our to-do's. It is delightful to get to share my to-do list with him again and I hope this weekend can be restful and refreshing. I have to give props to any single parent out there and all the parents out there with 3 or 4 or more children. We are working to get in a groove, but wow, it is tough and tiring and it's been with one hand tied behind our back (bc dad's been m.i.a. a lot of the time). So I just really thank God for my husband and the companionship he offers and the strength and order he brings to our home. May I please be such a reward to him.
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