2008 Moments

As Bryan and Jackson circled round and round the house today playing "roar," basically chase with loud lion roars from the little man, the joy that filled my house, the sounds of laughter and love very sweetly interrupted my reflection of 2008.

This year held many moments of challenge for Bryan and I. Moments that tested our strength, our patience, our faith, and our courage. The loss of our baby followed by Bryan's job loss was more than we could have ever imagined facing at this time in our lives. I guess that's a half full thinker for ya, never to expect the bad things that face many many other people to actually happen to you. But they did and it was challenging. As Bryan caught up with my little lion and swung him in the air bringing squeals of joy I was reminded of the joy and love that surrounded every difficult moment, nudging every challenge with hope.

More happy moments than we could have ever imagined filled this year. I don't speak frequently enough about the joy that our second baby brought to our lives. Those few months I carried him thinking and dreaming about what and how our family would change with his arrival was so incredible. Instead of feeling a little anxious like we did when we found out we were pregnant with Jackson, this time that was non existent. We knew we could do this and knew how amazing it was to bring a baby into the world. He brought us the affirmation that we definitely want a big family and the excited anticipation of meeting him someday. In April of 2008 we celebrated our 5th year of marriage, a marriage that still feels as fresh and as wonderful as when we first were married, but now with those 5 years we've found an even deeper wonderful strength in each other. And Jackson this year...amazing! We've gotten to know him in such a wonderful way this year through his talking. Everyone that has kids says that it just keeps getting better and they are right. I feel so blessed to have gotten to spend another year at home with him enjoying every moment of my little guy who will be a big guy before I know it. We were also blessed with finding Bryan's new job at Ground Force. A job that he is thoroughly enjoying and despite the hour commute provides a lot of time for quality family time together. Throughout the year we were continually blessed with the love and support of our friends and family. We had so many fun moments with each of you and can't wait for more in the upcoming year.

Here's to 2009! May it bring us continued health and more happy moments than we can count!