Bryan started the year off by traveling to Norway and Portugal to do some preaching and encouraging. He had a great trip! In March we found out we were expecting a baby, but I had an early miscarriage. I healed quickly and we found out in June that we were expecting a baby again. We had a great summer. We went to the Grayton Beach for a family vacation, enjoyed teaching VBS (it was Annalise's first year to go to VBS and she LOVED it!), and we had a great retreat in Gatlinburg. In September, we were so saddened to learn that the baby no longer had a heart beat. We were heartbroken to lose her. We found out she had Trisomy 13, a chromosomal disorder. Most babies do not make it through pregnancy and if they are born, only live a few weeks or months. We were thankful for the Lord's mercifulness in his timing. As sad as it was to lose a baby at 16 weeks, it would have been much harder on our family to endure the loss of a newborn. As it was, Annalise never really knew what happened but she would have been so upset over the death of a sibling. The Lord provided us much comfort through the kindess of our friends and family. Though I really struggled for a few months, I am doing much better now. God is the Great Healer.
We rejoice that Annalise is a happy, healthy 3 year old! She brings us so much comfort and joy.
Annalise loved Halloween this year! She had a beautiful princess costume handed down to her but she cried every time I put it on her. So, I found a really cute, soft, pink dinosaur costume and that was the perfect costume for her! She had a blast going to the library party and trick-or-treating with her buddies from church. We celebrated her third birthday in November at the park. We had a Dora theme - Dora cake, taquitos, chips, guacamole, salsa, and Boots bananas (chocolate dipped bananas with sprinkles), Dora favors, and a pinata! It was so much fun! She was surrounded by church friends and family (Mema flew in from Ohio for the occasion, too!).
We had a great Thanksgiving in Birmingham with my family and in Chattanooga with Bryan's family. And, we had a fantastic Christmas! The first EVER recorded white Christmas in our town! We spent the week after Christmas with Bryan's family in Memphis and rang in the New Year with friends in Shelbyville, TN.
We are happy to be home now to enjoy the start of a brand new year. I haven't quite finalized my New Year's resolutions, but will post about those soon. In general, I would like to be more Christlike. I'd like to be a better student of God's word. I'd like to be more organzied at home. I'd like to start preschool lessons with Annalise and teach her some basics like cleaning her room and putting her dishes in the sink. I'd like our family to be more active and to eat more fruits and veggies - just be more healthy in general. Hope you are having a great start to the New Year! Here are just a few pictures from Christmas. I'm having trouble uploading pictures. I will try to post some more later. Enjoy!
White Christmas!
Baking Christmas cookies!
Riding the train was a lot more fun that seeing the mall Santa this year!
