good news of great joy for all people.

I am typing this blog from my brand new computer. It seems I was extra good this year, as Jonathan surprised me with a computer all for me! He is very supportive of my blogging and documentation of our family journey. He also might be a little tired of finding me on his laptop. Regardless, it was a very generous gift and I am enjoying it quite a bit!

The end of December was a whirlwind of goodness for our family.

We got to spend an afternoon with Aunt Callie and Wells. When I asked Josiah if he was going to hold Baby Wells, his response was, "I might." When I balked at that answer he clarified, "if she's lucky."

As you can see, she was feeling really lucky.

I worked right up until Christmas Eve, and thanks to a coworker I got to have Christmas off even though it was my year to work it. I really like to think it was God's lovingkindness toward me, as one of the reasons I really wanted our new baby to come in the fall is that maternity leave is really the only way in my profession I can have both Thanksgiving and Christmas off. Of course, God had different plans and yet I still got both holidays off. Lovingkindness, I tell you.

We spent Christmas at my parents' house, and Jonathan's family joined us on Christmas Day. Josiah was so excited about opening presents. Like any reasonable child...he woke up at a little after 6am despite his late bedtime. I tried to stall him until 7 for the other family members, but we were downstairs by 6:45am. It was the first time during the year I wasn't upset to be up so early.

The only thing Josiah had requested for Christmas was "new drumsticks." What he didn't know was that Noni and PawPaw had much grander plans. They got him a full kid sized drum set. Needless to say, he was overwhelmed. We thought the charm would wear off after an hour or so. Instead, we listened to drums all day long. He would break for less than 5 minutes before deciding it was time to play again. The same rules applied when we brought the drum set home. We are surprised at his drum skills at 3 years old, and he can keep a pretty good beat. He is a visual learner, so I pulled up YouTube and let him watch "The 10 Best Drummers in the World." 10 minutes later, he was trying to mimic the moves he saw them make. Luckily, the overwhelming crashing doesn't phase us too much. I have a feeling this isn't a stage, so I best get used to it anyway.

This year was the first white Christmas in Atlanta since the 1880s, and even though Josiah loves snow it took a lot of convincing to get him to leave his drums behind for a few minutes.

The day after Christmas we traveled to see Jonathan's extended family in North Georgia. This year there were 32 members of our extended family there. It was also the first time in 5 years that everyone was able to make it. Jonathan's aunt and uncle are hosting a Russian boy for a month, and he added to the fun. Josiah and his cousin John David were good pals as always. They ran up and down the long hallway over and over and jumped off of landings, making adventures of everything and headaches for everyone over the age of 45.

Now we have started 2011, and try as I might, I can't come up with the motivation to set any resolutions. We have big goals for our year...sell our house, bring a baby home, excel in our careers. However, those were our goals in 2010, too. Hopefully it all happens in 2011! May the Lord's plan for our lives prevail, and may we trust Him through it all.