Thanksgiving and Hope

It's hard to believe that today we not only celebrate the end of the Thanksgiving weekend, but also the first Sunday of Advent.  This is such a wonderful time of year when we not only give thanks for our many, many blessings, but one when we can move forward with a spirit of hope as we prepare for Christmas.  (On the other hand, Tom and I would be lying if we didn't admit that we find it really annoying that radio stations have been playing Christmas music for weeks now and all the big stores have had Christmas items out since Halloween.)  

We certainly have so much to be thankful for: family, friends, our faith, freedom and safety provided by our awesome military men and women, the opportunity to serve God and our Church through FOCUS, a baby on the way, a roof over our heads, cars in great condition, and food on our table.  At the same time, we have a new perspective on Thanksgiving.  This year we were able to celebrate this season in a more profound way as we reflect on our many blessings and the many donors who provide these things for us.  We certainly could not do our work without the generosity of our mission partners.  We want to THANK YOU in a special way for providing for our family!

As we move forward into the season of HOPE we ask that you would keep us in your prayers as we eagerly look forward to the arrival of our little one and the arrival of Christmas.  We have had three baby showers over the past month and have been trying to get everything set up so that we will be as prepared as possible for our little one.  We are truly thankful for the many gifts we have been given.  It's funny though, how the practical things are the most exciting... the pack-n-play, the cloth diapers, the car seat and the stroller.  I must also brag about how wonderful and supportive Tom has been through the whole process.  I am thankful that he is equally as excited about the cloth diapers and is supportive of me nursing the baby.  He has also done a few loads of laundry lately, which if you know Tom, this is a great sacrifice as he HATES laundry.  

A note on the cloth diapers (since we have had many questions/comments about this decision):  

While this certainly is a "green" option, we also feel that is the best economic decision we could make (in addition to the fact that it's good for the baby too!).  Cloth diapers are about 1/2 the price of disposable diapers over the course of a child's diapering years.  And, if we start with cloth diapers now we will have them for any additional children God chooses to bless us with.  Thus, we will save THOUSANDS of dollars on diapers.  We must also add that cloth diapers have come a long way since my mom used them on me.  For more information we suggest you visit: www.abbyslane.com or www.greenmountaindiapers.com.  

As always, thanks for reading our blog and for your thoughts and prayers.  May you know the amazing HOPE of our Lord during this most blessed of seasons!