so long 2008...

Well.

Here we are.

2009.

I am glad to tell 2008 goodbye... sorry 08, you were just not the best digits for me... I had to learn alot, give up things I did not want to, and be mature... maturity is highly overrated by the way.

We had a lovely Christmas, fraught with cookie decorating, sickness, and new toys. I think one of my favorite parts was Lincoln, insisting we leave out cookies for Santa, so that Emerson's belief in him would be encouraged. (remember, old Lincoln was mr. "santa is dead" at school last year.) So, we leave out the cookies, which Lincoln informed me HE would come back down and eat. The boys went to bed at 8:15. By 8:23 Lincoln was back down here, munching away.

I said, "What are you doing??? Emerson is going to see you! You have to wait until he asleep!!"

Lincoln, crumbily replies, "No, he is already asleep"

Now, as any good mom knows, Christmas Eve is not normally a fall asleep fast kind of night, so I was doubting this. "Are you sure?" I ask.

"Yep! I told him if he didn't go right to sleep fast, Santa would not bring him anything." I went and peeked to make sure, and seriously, if a kid can have a look of "Check me out Santa, I went to sleep really fast" on his snoozing little face, Emerson did.

So, Lincoln eats the cookies, I snapped pictures of him, and off he goes.

Fast forward to midnight, when I go to tuck the boys in, and there is piece of red paper under Em's head... I picked it up and see, scrawled in Lincoln's little handwriting,

"Dear Emerson, thanks for the cookies"

Insert collective sigh of ,"AW, that is so sweet!" I know I did. Emerson was so excited about that note, and Lincoln played it right up.

How does a kid who never believed in Santa, get so into it?

Well, if you remember last year, and the "santa is dead" incident, you may remember, that I promptly took the boys to the coffee shop that day. Emerson had been so good and earned it, once I knew about Lincoln's bold desantatizing (*yes, new word, Desantatizing.) ways at school, I let him know that little boys who ruin that belief in Santa for others did not get ice cream. (He had been told not to tell other kids too, he knew it was mean.)

Well, sitting in that coffee shop, I felt soooo mean when he pitifully watched his brother eat ice cream, and the lady works in there asked if he was having any, and I had to tell her no, he was not. I mean, he had his little head in his hands, his eyes full of tears, and I almost caved... almost. Well, that was a HARD lesson for him to learn, but clearly, a year later, he remembered NOT to ruin Christmas for others, not to say little things about Santa not being real, etc. So much so, that he went to extra efforts to make his brother happy. The lesson worked, it paid off. It made Lincoln enjoy so much fun this year. It was not enjoyable at the time, but in the end, the results were worth it...

I say all that to say this...

2008 was, as I said earlier not exactly a fun year...

There were times I wanted to stomp my foot like a little child and say, "It's not fair!" Times when I wept and begged God to intervene in situations, then felt like He wasn't. Times when I thought, "I just cannot do this."

But it is my firm belief that when God is bringing you through a trial, He is doing so for a reason, and even when it does not FEEL like it, He has your best interests in mind. GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME! I know I have not felt this way MANY times this year, even recently... but Faith is like a muscle, if we never got to use it, it would never gain strength. That being said, I should look like Arnold on roids at the Faith Bikini Competition this year, but i digress...

Bottom line...

Hang in there, He is not done with you yet either, I suspect...