Christmas Reflections

It's Christmas Eve and I just got home from Franklin after spending a couple of days with my in-laws.  The Christmas Story is on TV (a must watch on Christmas Eve) and I'm wrapping my last few presents.  Austin is on shift tonight so for the first Christmas in my married life, I'll be going to sleep without my best friend by my side.  On a brighter note, I was blessed to attend service with him tonight and then feed his entire fire station (thanks to help from his sweet family).  While this night has been different than years before, I couldn't be happier and more thankful.   One year ago tomorrow, Austin and I were on our way to my parent's house for our annual Christmas breakfast.  As we drove, we talked about how thankful we were for so many different things, for each other, for our families, just all of it.  After a brief pause, Austin said he had something to tell me, that he had planned to wait until New Year's Eve, but that the time just felt right.  As I watched tears roll down his face from beneath his sunglasses, he told me that God had given him his answer--he knew that adoption was the path for us to become parents.  While my heart had been there longer, I was confident that if this was to be our future, God would have to reveal it to Austin's heart in the same way he'd revealed it to mine.  It was the greatest gift I could have ever received that day.  We agreed to start down the path and that our goal was to be on a waiting list by the end of 2012.  And here we sit today, one year later, homestudy approved, immigration approved, and on the waiting list for that precious little child to be matched with us.  As I drove home tonight, I felt an unexplainable level of gratitude.  Austin is living out his dream and calling of being a firefighter.  We have a safe and warm home.  Our families are healthy.  We are going to become parents (possibly soon).  It's all too much for my heart to take in.  I am simply bowed low with humble gratitude for all that Jesus has done for me. This has been an amazing year in so many different ways. 

Merry Christmas!  Love and hugs!