HO! HO! HO!

Today was fun! Garin got to check out Santa "up close and personal". On the way to the mall, I told Karl what Garin would do: turn and look up at Santa like he had just dropped in from another planet. Sure enough, he plopped on Santa's lap, turned, looked up and gave him this open-mouthed, wrinkley-eyebrowed stare for a minute. Then the photographer started jingling sleigh bells, and Garin turned and smiled right at the camera. Considering the number of children we had seen screaming and wailing, we were quite pleased with the result of our endeavors. We will be mailing photos to the grandparents. The rest of you will have to be satisfied with this electronic copy, as Santa must feed his reindeer and all the elves for the entire year on the prices he charges for mall photos!

Karl was up most of the night Thursday night, feeling very ill. Friday was a long day for him, and he was ready for bed by the time we got to the squadron party. We had a nice dinner and sat with some fun friends and then headed on home early. Karl was in bed by 9:30, and I wasn't too far behind him. Garin kindly let us sleep until 8:30 this morning, and we were all feeling rather upbeat today. Hopefully, Garin and I will miss this bug, and we have a great week ahead to enjoy. Matt will be here Wednesday night! He has finals Monday through Wednesday and is nervous about a couple of them, particularly Algebra II. He would appreciate your prayers as he prepares for that one on Wednesday. My biggest pre-Christmas social responsibilities are done, I cleaned house yesterday, and I am looking forward to wrapping the last few presents and making candy this week. Of course, I also have bowling on Wednesday. I plan to go practice again on Monday (c'mon 150!!), and I also need to go trim a couple of my pots before they get too dry.

Weaning is hopeless, just so you know. That sweet baby boy is nowhere near ready to give it up. He becomes inconsolable when he wants to nurse, and I try to pacify him with other things. We will just have to wait to get pregnant and give him time to do it on his own. Let me just say it before somebody puts their two cents in.....I know that some may disagree with this decision and feel that I need to get him weaned and get on medicine for pain and something to thin my blood. I understand that, but I disagree. God has given me one primary, incredible job in this life, and that is being a mother. I owe it to Him and to my boys to make them a priority. While we want to have more biological children, they are not guaranteed to us no matter what we do. But I do have these two, and I am responsible for their well-being. If God wants to make another baby inside me that will grow to live outside me, He will honor my faithfulness to the ones He's already given me and make a way for this to happen when the time is right. If it is not what He wants, there is nothing I can do, no medicine I can take, that will make life happen. And if that is the case, there is a family member(s) waiting out there somewhere for a mommy and daddy to love him or her.