The Many Christmas Adventures of Luke Jeremiah & Sunny 2014 Edition: Part One!

For someone who was reluctant to start this elf tradition two years ago, and who thought that the elf was rather creepy to begin with, (I can't believe I ever thought our darling Luke creepy!) I am certainly very excited to see him come back every year. And this year, Luke brought a friend along!

Night One: We soon found out, from Luke's annual welcome letter, that this newcomer was his brother. He requested that we take good care of his brother, and also that we come up with a suitable name for our newest elf. I was just a littler bit nervous, since it was agreed that Sebastian should name this one (since he had been too young to really have an opinion when Luke arrived Christmas of 2012), but he eventually came up with "Sun. Like the sun outside, Mama." and we all agreed that "Sunny" would be an appropriate nick-name. Thus, we now have Luke and Sunny the elves in our home for Christmas this year!

Night Two: Much like the brothers Gordon, it seems the brothers Elf enjoy a rousing game of Connect Four! I'm not sure of their rules (since it seemed by the number of chips left that Luke had taken more turns than Sunny somehow), but I'm not always sure of Parker and Sebastian's rules either. It seemed they were both in the position to win, and Parker and Bash were more than willing to help them finish the game when they came down that morning. (It is still strongly contested who won.)

Night Three: December first, and Sunny and Luke rang in the happy month by bringing us an advent calendar with the instructions to use the pictures behind the doors as suggestions for ways to decorate the house. (There are now daily squabbles about who will open that day's door, and 11 somehow got opened by mistake instead of 3 on the 3rd, but it's been fun overall.)

Night Four: Parker had been very concerned about how our elves managed to get any food in them since they are so busy at night. Luke and Sunny were sure to have a hearty snack of cranberry sauce to keep up their strength. Can't have one of them passing out on the job after all!

Night Five: Luke and Sunny brought us a gift! A box full of puzzles, puzzles featuring other elves just like ours, and it seems that they couldn't help but put a couple of them together over night. I will have to be sure to write thank you notes to them both, as the puzzles have provided hours of entertainment for our little boys. (And moments of peace for Mommy.)

Night Six: The countdown has officially begun. While three weeks seems ever so long to an impatient five and three year old, it seems like almost no time at all to a Mommy and Daddy with so much to do before Christmas morning! Apparently our elves thought I needed a reminder about how little time I have!

Night Seven: Wheeeeeee! Luke and Sunny had a blast sliding down the railings!

Night Eight: We went and got our trees (yes, I did say trees) today. Apparently Luke and Sunny wanted to get a jump on the decorating. :)

*happy sigh* I simply love this time of year! I can't wait to see what else our little elves have in store for us this Christmas. 

The Many Christmas Adventures of Luke Jeremiah...And Friend?

Look who is back! Look! (I might be more excited about this than my children!) Luke! Luke is back!

And it seems he's brought a friend.

I am so excited to have our little elf buddy back again! It's Christmas time. :)

Happy Birthday, Sophia!

On August, 1, 2006, our first niece was born. Sophia Marie had ten little fingers, ten little toes, and was the most beautiful little girl I had ever seen! 

She wasn't due to arrive until some time mid-October.

To really put that into perspective, that would be like Bean arriving today, or even as early as last week. This teeny, tiny, perfect little being was sitting there in front of us when she desperately still needed to be warm and safe inside the womb, growing and thriving and preparing for her debut.

However, there she was. From moment one, she's been a survivor. Tiny enough that we could slip our wedding rings all the way up her arm to her shoulder, her size didn't matter. She was a fighter. Odds meant nothing. Not to her. Not to us. As a first time Auntie and Uncle, Michael and I were smitten. Despite the initial moments of fear, the fact that the odds were against her was quickly pushed to the back of our minds by the sheer determined force of the little soul in front of us.

She wasn't going anywhere. She had work to do!

Her very first birthday card and gift. Obviously Aunt Holly had to be sure there were bears involved. :)

Her first goal was pretty simple. Cause everyone and anyone who met her to fall so deeply in love that there would be no coming back from it. I dare say that she succeeded. She was less than 3lbs, and all the machines, tubes, straps, and needles seemed to shrink next to her already charming little personality. Despite being almost 3 hours away, Michael and I spent every moment we could driving up to the NICU, and there wasn't a single doctor or nurse that didn't smile when they spoke of their little patient. Every single person that walked by her small, quiet area stopped to admire and compliment her. She was a star. A star before she was even expected to be born! She was a star like no other, and she proved it by shining brighter than we could have hoped for!

She was home in October! Home, when many hadn't thought she would survive past the first few days! And people continued to fall in love with her. How could you not? Being home didn't mean she was out of the woods. We all knew that there were many health challenges ahead of our little Peanut, but we also had complete confidence that our little fighter would take them on with the same spunk that she had everything up to that point. So we loved her with everything we had, and we watched our amazing, tiny one grow. (And thrive on the complete adoration of everyone around her! She's been a heart breaker since day one!)

 

Sophia's First Birthday! Those eyes!

Shortly after she turned one, Sophia was "officially" diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy. It was a diagnosis that we'd expected, but it still wasn't easy to hear. Everyone had been hoping and praying and pulling for her for so very long that it felt wrong to have any kind of diagnosis that suggested that she might have a harder road ahead. But this was Sophia. One little diagnosis wasn't going to bring her down! It was just another pot hole in the road. Nothing she couldn't easily get around. 

It wasn't even the hardest thing in her life she would have to overcome. Over the years other medical issues have piled up. Again, not unexpected, but sometimes it seems so unfair. She's been in the hospital countless times, and a few of those it was hard to hold onto any kind of hope. Even knowing the strength and determination that she has, there were a couple of times that I stood next to her in a hospital bed trying to find the words to say everything I needed to, because I wasn't sure she was going to beat it this time. There have been times Michael and I have held one another and sobbed, thousands of miles away, praying for our Peanut, because there was nothing else we could do. As the years have passed it has been encouraging to see how very far she has come, but also frustrating to realize that she is not as far as we'd always hoped she would be. But those were our goals and hopes for her, not her's, and it's not hard to smile when you realize that she is so advanced compared to where some people thought she could/would be. 

Nothing has exactly been easy for our little fighter in her day to day life, the last couple of years having been particularly hard. Like some of the darkest times in every life though, they have also brought her (and her sisters) some of their most amazing blessings! Nothing that Sophia has come up against is anything a person would ever wish on a child. But she has battled through it. She's battled through it with a smile on her face. She's battled through it despite having almost every odd stacked against her that was possible. She's battled, and won, and I have yet to meet a person who has brought so much joy and light into the lives of others just by being themselves, because that is what our Sophia does! She blesses the world! 

Today, she is eight years old. Eight! As Michael said, "How did that happen?!" I'm not sure. I still remember holding this tiny little baby that weighed nothing, and now this little girl that is all arms and legs and comes up to my chin is sitting there in her place! We have been so blessed to have her in our lives, and I look forward to watching her grow and change in the years ahead! 

I've tried here, though I can't possibly, to express what Sophia means to those who love her. How she has changed us and our lives. I can't explain what a joy she is to this world, to her sisters, her cousins, her Uncle, and me. It's just not possible. But I can share her, because she is a star, and deserves to be seen!

Happy birthday, Sophia Marie! We love you!

Center of the "pack". Such a loved little girl! I can't wait to have you all together again!