Wow...what happened to Christmas?

Whoa, was that Christmas that just flew by?  Sorry, I musta missed it!

I found our Christmas doll sadly positioned like this on Christmas morning.  I think this picture speaks well of what Christmas was like at our house this year.  :-)

  It's been an unusual few months around our house...    Since mid-October when we started waiting for the Chicken pox to arrive, we've had sickness in our home almost continually.  Our calendar was full of events that we never attended--many of which went on without us.  It's always a strange feeling when, for various reasons, life in our little corner of the world comes to a standstill...while time passes by everywhere else.  Time, like so many other blessings that the Lord gives us, is a resource.  While activities and memories can be made on any day, a day missed is a day that can never be recovered.  In some ways, it's a little sad for me to think of all of the family gatherings that went on without us...the decorations that remain packed away in Rubbermaid bins...the cookies that were never baked...and on and on it goes.  And again, I am reminded that we have much to be thankful for as this is certainly unusual for us to have such a streak of poor health.    I am also challenged to redeem the time.    The word "intentional" is one that Mike and I have discussed a lot in recent months.  It can be so easy to slip into "survival mode" in life, going about our daily routines on "auto pilot", and before you know it, the time escapes you and all of your good intentions of quality time and fruitful ministry never happened.  The days turned into years...  The pitter-pat of precious little feet in the house has grown quiet...   Relationships have grown cold because they were never nurtured...  And you wish you could go back and cherish the moments that passed you by. So, I've been thinking a lot about what it means to make each day count.  There's nothing wrong with counting down the days on the calendar until holidays, or birthdays, or vacations.  But tomorrow cannot be taken for granted.  So, I'm again reminded of the importance of being "intentional" about making memories in our family on the good days so that it's not so hard when life has to stand still again for awhile. 

One of the reasons why I like having this blog is that it has been encouraging to look back on the discouraging days and remember the good ones.  I'm thankful that we have many good memories to reflect on...and these will mean so much to Elizabeth when she grows up.  And I'm challenged that there is still much more that we can do to redeem each and every day that the Lord gives us!