Christmas 2011

Christmas took on a whole new meaning this year. With our first Christmas as a family of 3, everything was different, including my perspective on the day. Having a child and experiencing the love of a parent definitely gave me a new understanding and extreme appreciation for Christmas. As christians we celebrate this day as the day God sent his child to be born, with the purpose of sacrificing Him, for the sins of the world. I have a new appreciation for this.  However, I can't quite comprehend how God was able to do it. How could He send His Son whom He loved so much to be tormented and killed on our behalf?  I mean, I don't even like leaving Z at daycare!  And then there is Mary. One of my favorite scripture verses has always been from Luke 2, "But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart." (Luke 2:19 ESV) I can't imagine how she felt, giving birth to Jesus, loving Him both as her child and as the Savior of the world. Incredible.

This year for Christmas we traveled down to CC to be with my family and to stick around the following week to participate in Sasha's wedding festivities! It was Zoey's first time in Corpus, and everyone enjoyed loving on her. On the drive down we stopped in Waco to introduce Z to her great-grandparents, my Papa & Nana Wall. They would join us in Corpus a few days later for the wedding, but we just couldn't wait for them to get their hands on Zoey. And it gave us some good one-on-one time with them. I must say that I have the sweetest grandparents around, and I'm so thankful that Zoey was finally able to meet them!

During the week we were in Corpus, we were able to introduce Zoey to a bunch of family and friends. It's always fun to show her off. Michael and I are definitely proud of our tiny blessing. I was especially happy that Sasha got some good "Zoey time" before she made the big move to Alaska, and that Uncle Jake finally got to meet her!

Christmas morning was fun.  Once Z woke up, we went around waking up all my siblings.  Zoey sat in Michael's lap, and he helped her open presents.  She could get hold of the paper and had fun ripping it off, and loved playing with the ribbon and bows.  My family definitely blessed her with several new things.  Here's a bunch of pics from the Christmas holiday. Enjoy.

More details to come on the wedding!!