Breathless

I was asked to write a poem for the Christmas season to be read at church. This is written from Mary’s perspective as a mother, enjoy!

Breathless

 

Breathless, I wait for you

I’ve prepared as much as an unprepared girl can.

Alone, I feel pain, I’ll rejoice at the mark of the beginning.

This was not my plan, but I can’t wait to meet you.

 

Scared, I’m just a girl who wants my mommy

No midwives, no bed, just a man and some animals.

I’m not ready, this task is too much

The mother of GOD? I don’t know how…

 

I wonder at your life, it was instant love

I fell the first time you fluttered,

The first time you reacted to my lullabies,

The first time your father rubbed my belly.

 

A force has been set in motion

One that will not be stopped. I’m glad I can’t see your future.

How will I do it? A mommy, a wife.

How will I raise you? Will you even need me?

 

I can’t wait to kiss your head,

And watch you learn to walk.

I can’t wait to hear your voice,

And the see the peace in your world as you sleep.

 

And I’m breathless from the pain

I’m so breathless in the process

Then I see your face, perfectly innocent

Taking everything in- tiny hands, teeny toes, rosebud mouth, dark black lashes

…and it takes my breath away.

Thrilling

Everytime I see one of these I am mesmerized. Its so facinating and really gets me in the Christmas spirit! Enjoy.

Sweet Christmas Wish

This video  made me tear up, its sooo sweet! This little girl asked Santa for her daddy for Christmas and got her wish. While you are celebrating this season, take time to remember and pray for these families who willingly sacrifice for our freedoms, our safety and our ideals. God Bless America.

Vamonos! Time for memory lane…

Next Friday, Ryan and I will be going with Aubrey to Chile for Christmas. It’s hard to believe that I haven’t been since 2000, when I graduated high school. Time flies, and my life is so different now than I thought it would be (in a good way). I am excited to have Ryan meet my extended family, see the Andes and eat panamasado and churrasco. Mmm!

What I am not excited about is the 10 hour plane ride from Dallas to Santiago. Aubrey doesn’t have a seat so we have to hold her. It’s an overnight flight, which is a blessing and a curse. A blessing because hopefully, if I deprive her of a nap that day and give her Benadryl, she will sleep the whole time. This is sort of a curse in disguise b/c one of us will have to hold her the whole time. And mommy is more cushiony than daddy… so I get that job. It has high potential to be a curse because if the nap deprivation and benadryl have the opposite effect, aka a pissy-tired-but-not-sleepy child, she will scream the whole time and all those poor people on the plane who thought they could go to sleep in America and wake up in Chile will realize they were sorely mistaken due to my offspring.

I have gotten some great advice on traveling with Aubrey and I plan on taking all of it:

• take lots of books and crayons and toys that don’t make lots of noise
• deprive the nap during the day
• Benadryl (someone told me whiskey too, but I think it was a social worker in disguise)
• get her to fall asleep in my arms BEFORE getting on the plane
• have a sippy cup ready for landing and takeoff
• fast and pray that there will be an empty seat between Ryan and I
• put diapers, wipes, etc in a big ziploc bag and keep that out, put all other bags in overhead. more room that way.
• bring earplugs for surrounding passengers in case she decides to practice her Opera.
• offer to buy a round of those little whiskey bottles for the plane if Opera continues for more than 10 minutes (what is it with the whiskey? Cost for 20 whiskeys: $75 Cost for happy plane with screaming kid: Priceless)
• Make friends with the flight attendants
• practice diaper changing on my lap from now until next Friday
• give Aubrey the benefit of the doubt and don’t freak out until freaking out is appropriate and necessary
• Remember that Ryan and I are on the same team: don’t fight with each other. Have a game plan.

That’s it so far. If you have anything that you have found works, please send it my way.

All my fears aside, once we get there it is going to be marvelous. It is summer down there and I. HATE. BEING. COLD. so that will be good. We’ll go to the beach, to the south (lots of natural parks and lakes), Ryan is going spear-fishing, Aubrey will be exposed to a completely different world and hopefully at the end of the trip, my español will be much improved. Add all that to the fact that we get to see family that has been long overdue and this should be an unforgettable Christmas.

But seriously, send the flight tips my way!

Do YOU know their names?

It must be all the flexoril that I have been taking, but I have been pondering many of life’s deep questions lately. Things like, “If I was one of the seven dwarves, which one would I be?” and “Why do I keep getting crunchwrap supremes at Taco Bell if every first bite I take, the words “dog food” pop into my  head?”. You know, important stuff like that.

Well today while sending a chain email, I was presented with the mind-boggling question of the day: Can you name Santa’s reindeer?

Well… can you?

I got this far before having to Google it: Dasher, Dancer, Donner, Blitzen, Comet, Cupid, Rudolph. The others are Dancer and Vixen (Vixen used to be my favorite! How did I forget her?!). It’s a good thing Aubrey is still too young to be disappointed in me for that. But in my searches today I found some fun information about these vehicles of gift-giving fantasy, and I thought I would share:

-Rudolph’s story was originally written in verse by Robert L. May for the Montgomery Ward chain of department stores in 1939, and published as a book to be given to children in the store at Christmas time.

-According to this story, Rudolph was the son of Donner, and was born with a glowing red nose, which made him a social outcast among the other reindeer. However, one Christmas eve it was too foggy for Santa Claus to make his flight around the world. About to cancel, Santa suddenly noticed Rudolph’s nose, and decided it could be a makeshift lamp to guide his sleigh. Since then, Rudolph is said to be a permanent member of Santa’s team, who leads them on their journey.

-Donner/Donder and Blitzen were named ”Dunder” and ”Blixem” (the Dutch words for ”thunder” and ”lightning”) in the original printing of “A Visit From St. Nicholas.”

So there. Now you know.