Another Christmas Past

Well, I thought no one probably read this anyway but me so I haven't been very careful at keeping it up. At least one friend keeps up with me and my crazy life by reading this so I'm going to try a little harder to update it more often. Fern being home has kept us all busy with making up for time lost. I had the most wonderful Christmas gift by getting to reunite with some dear friends from college that I haven't seen in 20 or so years. It was as if no time had passed at all as we talked and remembered how much we had enjoyed each others company. We sang old songs together that we had written and talked about how God had worked in our lives. It must be what Heaven will be like. Christmas was so nice this year once I got through all the shopping nightmare and could stop and enjoy the time with my children. No big breakdowns or blowups, no one crying because they didn't get what they wanted. We had one small altercation on Christmas morning before going down the stairs and Aimee, the Christmas morning policeman, wasn't here to fix it. Her baby boy's first Christmas marked her last one at home. She was missed for more than one reason.It was still a little painful filling the stockings on Christmas Eve and thinking about Wallace counting out each piece of candy so that they were all the same (and trying out every other piece.) We'll never really get over him being gone but it was a little easier this year. I cut back on the amount of stuff and no one missed it. Next year I'm doing even better, should the world last so long, and try to get the children gifts that mean more rather than what is on their shopping list. I think that I'll start next week, in fact. Last minute is for the birds.

I didn't get my family picture taken but have a few more days before Fern leaves to try and get one. This picture is my Christmas present from Tina, taken in October at Vogel State Park. It is a rare one because it has everyone but my step-children in it. I don't feel like there are that many of them and it seems like I need a few more. Of course, J.C. and Haley weren't there that day and they usually are. When they are here, all beds are full. I am determined not to look for any more children but I won't say no if God sends them. I know that these are the ones that are supposed to be mine. As I look at that picture, I have no doubt that each one was sent. I took all 11 of the kids at home to the movies to see A Night in the Museum today. As we all trooped in I realized that we look like a school group or a group home or something. Alina was terrible, in spite of popcorn and skittles and kept trying to steal the man's drink who was sitting beside us, crawling under the seats and doing flips on the floor. As I watched the movie I could see that my life was a lot like the night watchman's job of riding herd on Chaos. There was a quote in the movie that I was determined to remember but now I can't. It was something to the effect that we are not the great one for the job but by doing it we become great, rising to the occasion, so to speak. I'm not sure on some days that God picked the right one for the job. My 24 year old told me the other day that maybe I wasn't the best one for this job, just the only one that would take it. That is about the truth of it, but like Larry in the movie, I'm choosing to stick it out, reading up on how to do it better, trying new tactics, whatever it takes.