All I want for Christmas...

I've already been given! It is truly amazing to be sitting here in front of the fire just five days till Christmas. I am truly blessed. I couldn't imagine wanting anything other than what the Father has already given me this year. Nothing wrapped in paper and bow could ever, ever mean more to me than that four year old beauty smiling at me from across the room. How did we get to this place? There are moments I'm too afraid to mention where we find ourselves, then there are other moments when all I want to do is shout it from the mountain tops. We are here! We are home! We are together! We are blessed!

It has been such a blessed season for our family. I find great joy in the simplest of Christmas traditions. I am enjoying them all. Just to have the opportunity to shop and wrap gifts with Allison, or to listen as Blake "sings"(Lord bless his heart for trying!) carols as he washes the dinner dishes, or to giggle as our Ashley sneaks ornaments off the bottom rows of all the trees in the house. She is more than ornery! I love sharing with Dave each night all the goings on around the house while he was at work.

Home is my favorite place in the world. The four walls that house my little piece of the world bring such peace to my heart. Especially at Christmas time. Ashley Kate stole our hearts the moment we heard she was born and since that very moment I have longed for home more than anything else. To know that this is the place we all come back to each day after we've run here and there, to settle in for the night, to connect again, and to care for each other warms my heart. Dave and I talked about "going home" over the Thanksgiving holiday and neither of us have ever felt we had a "home" to go back too. He moved around so much during his childhood and my home fell apart when I was very young. Our desire is to give "home" to Blake, Allison, and Ashley. To provide a place that they will return to over and over and over again, to make memories in , to feel loved in, and to know they are welcomed in. On this earth I want nothing more than to give that to my children. For this reason I wake up each day and do all that I do. I pray I'm doing all that He desires for me to do with those He has trusted me with.

This Christmas I won't be unwrapping the greatest gift of the season. Instead I'll be waking her up. I won't be waiting for Christmas morning to arrive before I get to enjoy my gifts. I'll be answering the knocks at the door as they all come tumbling in. I can't wait to have our home filled with the beautiful chaos that comes along with lots and lots and lots of family. I'm smiling just imagining what our home will hold in just a day or two.

As I shared with Dave when he asked me what I'd like for Christmas... I've already gotten it. Our baby is home for the holiday and my sisters are on their way. I truly don't desire another thing in the world. Its going to be a blessed Christmas.