Making Enough of Me

Since I left home over 15 years ago, I have mailed out Christmas cards and a year-end letter of some sort every year without fail. This year, as Thanksgiving passed and Christmas approached, I kept thinking, "Okay, as soon as I feel 100% better I will get our Christmas card done and sent out."  Unfortunately, I am still waiting for that day to get here. It won't be my first fail of the season, I guarantee it.

So here I am, joining the ranks of social media and Internet holiday well wishers alike and sending out our Christmas wishes digitally. Next year while one of us is gone on a deployment and another one joins the family, I'll make up for lost times. For now, though it seems highly impersonal and extremely unsupportive of the financially strapped U.S. Postal System, please accept our wishes on this little old blog for a very Merry Christmas and a most joyful 2014!

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The Thompson Top Ten of Twenty-Thirteen

10. Marcus (6) lost his first front tooth on purpose, Mason (9) lost his first permanent tooth on accident, and all three kids went all year without cavities and had relatively great health.

 

9. The boys finished 2nd grade and Kindergarten at the top of their classes, and started a new year of school, breaking records and reaching goals! Last month they even got to spend the class day together one afternoon because of said achievements and were given special awards at an assembly. 

 

8. Makenna turned three over the summer and learned to swim, all while sporting a killer tan and about five different pink colored swimsuits. The girl is a Pinkalicious diva. She is also the boss, the favorite one, daddy's girlfriend, mommy's best friend, her brother's dream come true, and the future star of American Idol.

 

7. Alfer & Camille celebrated ten years of marriage with a weekend getaway at the Gaylord Texan. That's a whole lot of patience, love, paying bills, and figuring stuff out.

(Over the years, not over the weekend.)

 

6. Alfer completed another year in the USAF while Camille drove the kids to Utah to celebrate. 

 

5. Marcus and Makenna kept up their knack for comedy and performing, and are considering taking their routine on the road. Check out our YouTube channel or posts on this blog for further proof.

 

4. Camille kept the family up and running with fresh meals & playing referee, and treated herself to a birthday trip at GWB's Presidential Library and his favorite restaurant.

 

3. Mason reached the rank of a Wolf in Scouts, being only the 2nd Thompson to ever do so. Participating in the Pinewood Derby was pretty much the best thing ever. He's wise beyond his years at nine years old, and gives us plenty of parenting challenges lessons every day, all while dribbling his basketball and reading his numerous books.

 

2. After what felt like a really long couple of years, Alfer graduated with his Bachelors Degree from the University of North Texas, with emphasis in Business, Logistics and Supply Chain management. He will soon begin a double masters program in Operation Management and Engineering.

(2a. He also loves his job at Nucor Building Systems, which is just a 10 minute drive from home, in the opposite direction of traffic. Best. Commute. Ever.)

 

1. Surprised everyone (and we mean everyone) with an announcement for Baby M.T. #4, coming Summer 2014. Makenna knew before any of us did and she seems to think it will be a girl and insists we call it Rosabelle whether it's a girl or a boy. While we think she's right about a baby sister, and we pretty much let her run the show around here, we are leaving the naming of the unknown sure-to-be-brown-haired-and-eyed- beauty up to Mommy and Daddy. (And as soon as Mommy can get over the worst pregnancy all-day-sickness she's ever had, and off of her doctor ordered "lite bed rest", we can focus on little things like coming up with a name and stocking up on diapers and re-buying baby clothes and furniture that we gave away during the summer and fall.)

 

 

 

I am pretty sure I wrote a post on my former "Forney Four" blog matching this exact title when I was pregnant with little Miss M. 

And here I am again thinking some of the same thoughts. Only this time, it's for different reasons.

As my first trimester with this surprised blessing was coming to a close, my energy levels were returning, my gag reflex was being put back to where it used to reside, and my family was relishing in the fresh meals and attention I was able to finally provide. 

Unfortunately, it was short lived. Those few good days took me to a very difficult day this week when I started bleeding. A lot. Having never even seen anything remotely like that with my other three pregnancies, my fear switch flicked on in full neon mode and off we went to see the doctor. And then the next day to a specialist where we got a glimpse of this beautiful sight:

A healthy baby just swimming around, oblivious to the hematoma that had formed right under his/her playground. How it got there, we have no idea. But it's there and it doesn't want to stop bleeding. Thankfully, it's in the "best" possible place it could be under the circumstances, but still it's back to bed I go. 

And with that, lots of other things come back too. The guilt. And the feeling sorry for myself. And the unnecessary apologies to anyone who I have to ask for help. The blank stare on my husband's face after talking with the doctor pretty much summed it up for the both of us: it's going to be a long six months. 

We are prayerful that it will just heal on its own. For now I am to keep my feet up as much as possible over the next week. No shopping (thank goodness for Amazon!), driving, lifting of my baby girl, carrying laundry (ah shucks), etc....  

When I read an article last week about Oprah saying she was glad she never had kids, I admit that I thought, "How sad for her." Sure, she has a billion dollars at her fingertips and can have anything she wants, and three months into it, this is already the most difficult pregnancy I have had. But what is even more tragic to me is knowing that there are millions of women who would want to trade places with me in a heartbeat, knowing they won't ever have the opportunity. A billion dollars doesn't compare to the joy a little baby can bring. I can't imagine purposely choosing to not have children when truly, it changes everything. Especially the heart and soul of the person chosen to give life and love to that precious little one. It is a gift unlike any other.

I admit over the past three months I have been in a dark place, too sick to see any light ahead or to even envision the dark haired beauty I will get to hold in my arms in less than a year. But the images on the screen yesterday changed everything. There is nothing I won't do to get that baby here healthy, and to have the chance to join the ranks of three of the greatest children ever born! (I might be a bit biased.)

A baby changes everything, and thank goodness it does.

The holiday season is always an exciting time and one that I look forward to, but financially it's always the toughest time of year for our little family. And unexpected things always happen during these months that put that much bigger of a strain on our family's meager earnings. I think I can actually count my blessings in the morning sickness department because that has kept me in bed and out of the stores.

 

I was reading this talk by a modern day apostle, Elder David Bednar,  about the unseen blessings of paying tithing and how the opened windows of heaven do not always equate a financial kickback. It comes in numerous ways. For our family this month, it came in the form of a winter storm that prevented my husband from an AF assignment, which we didn't really have the gas money to spend on an extra 600 mile round trip. It came in the form of simple sniffles instead of hacking coughs that kept us out of the doctors offices. (We haven't been since the summer! That's unheard of for us and our little sickie.) It came in the form of kind friends willing to take my kids to and from school, and a sweet companion who loaned us a van so if I needed to get out and buy some milk, I had the way to get there. (We currently have one car.) All of these blessings add up to tender mercies and generosity from our Father in Heaven, who knows our needs even before we ask.

 

Today I have been feeling a little overwhelmed as I count up the days until Christmas and wonder how we will make it all work, especially with all the days off due to holidays. I sat down and wanted to cry and feel doubtful, but instead I pulled out an advent calendar of sorts to do some reading with my lunch. The talk highlighted today was this one, by my favorite Jeffrey R. Holland, back in 1976 before he became an apostle. As always, he said just what I needed to hear. It was a message I knew in my heart, and one that I am very familiar with, but today my faith was strengthened and reignited by what I read.

 

Take some time to read it. The Grinch was right. Christmas doesn't come from a store. Christmas does mean something more. And my hope remains firm in the promise of what it really represents. That the tiny Baby born in a dirty stable, was willing to descend below all things so that He would know how to succor, or run to and give aid to, His people.

 

That's what Christmas is about, even if Amazon, Target, and Wal-Mart would like you to think otherwise.

 

 

 

 

 

Our typical tradition is to put out the decorations and the tree on the first family home evening after Thanksgiving. My husband and I have done this since our first year together, and it is always a family affair. We do it all together or not at all. Last year we got a real-live tree only to be saddened by it's death a week before Christmas. To avoid another funeral, we decided to hold off on the tree for another week, and just put up a few decorations. We also decided to put up a new kind of tree. One we made ourselves after a nice family talk.

We all took turns drawing and coloring, and talking about ways we could put mas (which means more in Spanish) Christ into Christmas this year. And each day we get to add more decorations to it by adding kind deeds and words we see and hear from each other, and from others while we are out and about. 

The kids were so excited for this activity. We have really been putting emphasis on how we talk and treat each other around here. I want our home to be a safe place, not just for those who live here, but for those who visit. That includes the Holy Ghost. We want him to feel welcome, too. By putting more focus on "what would Jesus do?" we seem to making some progress. This idea came to me during church last week and I have already seen it come to fruition and bless my little family. 

I told my kids that when I was little Christmas was my least favorite holiday, but as I have "grown up", especially in recent years, it has quickly become my favorite. And I credit it to putting more emphasis on the Savior and watching our kids grow and love each other and realize what is really important. They still talk about how their "best Christmas ever" was when we did the 12 days of Christmas to a sweet new family that moved in. As a mom, those words and memories are priceless and thankfully come without a hefty price tag. 

We managed to find this little tree on clearance last year and forgot we had bought it!

The kids were THRILLED to decorate their own tree and put it in the playroom.

 

 

 

In other holiday news, I submitted a story to the Mormon Channel that I wrote (and experienced) years ago while spending my first Christmas away from home. They emailed me back and told me that on December 16th, it will be read over the air five different times during the day. Here is a link to the story that I put on my old blog last year, after going through some old papers and finding it. It will be played here and archived on their site for future reference.

 

 

Have a Merry Christmas everyone. I am going to post some more exciting news and events in the next few days and weeks as we get closer to Christmas day. Hopefully it will help bring mas Christ into your Christmas, too.