Our Inspired Journey

Christmas Eve

John and I decided to spread out the gift opening for the boys this year since they were the ones in the house opening most of them! The boys woke up Christmas Eve morning to a big present wrapped and sitting next to our fireplace! They were a little confused (not having remembered much about past Christmases anyway) but very excited when we said they could open it!!! So they did and got to play with their new play kitchen all day long. They both loved it. Ryder kept saying, "Thank you Mommy for wrapping this present for us!" He repeated variations of that thankful spirit all day long as he'd also say, "Mama, I've never had a big kitchen like this before! Thank you for giving it to us!" Cole played all day mostly putting food, pots and pans in the microwave and then asking me to take them out since he couldn't quite reach high enough to take them back out :)

While the boys were napping, John and I made one of his family's traditional Christmas Eve meals...Albondagos Soup! After adding all the ingredients for the broth, we realized that John had bought condensed beef broth rather than regular, meaning the broth was WAY too strong. Not wanting to ruin the whole meal, he went to the store to get double the amount of ingredients while I added more water to the broth making it double in size...our soup dinner for 2 turned into enough soup for 20 :) At least I now have lots of soup in the freezer for the cold months ahead and perfect for after Cora is born and we're not up for cooking!

Around 3:00 John left to play saxophone with the worship band at church for the 2 Christmas Eve services that night. When the boys woke up from their naps I was all dressed and ready to take them to church to watch Daddy and hear scripture about Jesus' Birthday when Ryder woke up with a 103.5 temperature, chills, red eyes, a cough and stuffy nose. It was clear we couldn't even go and sit real still. He was definitely not feeling well! I got them dressed thinking maybe after he wakes up and eats something, he'll feel a bit better, but he got progressively worse through out the night, so we stayed home! We played, watched a BOZ Christmas movie and waited for Daddy to return around 6:30 to have our soup and chili cheese bread before the boys' bedtime. It was pretty lonely being home alone on Christmas Eve with the boys and a great reminder of how thankful I am to have John home so much during this time of my pregnancy! Thankfully contractions didn't start back up again that night but I was ready for bed when the time came! You can see in this picture here that Ryder is all dressed up for his movie on the couch with his box of Kleenex to keep him company! Poor guy...

Before bedtime, we started a new tradition of singing and playing Christmas carols with instruments (of course) and reading the story of Jesus' birth from the Bible. This year, we used Ryder's storybook Bible to read out of since it had pictures and told it in a simple way. :) It was so incredible to watch Cole through it all and know that this would be his last "silent" Christmas. Next year he would hear the songs and story of our Savior's birth. The message of "Emmanuel...God with us" would become more real to him through the "sounds" of Christmas that we all love and look forward to every year. He came with us caroling this year as we sang through nursing homes and homes in our city. He was an angel as he took in all he could through his other senses, and gave even more as others reached out to him and his focused gaze while he passed by their rooms.

This Christmas, Cole's deafness reminds me very much of Jesus entering the world as a baby. As all babies do, Jesus came into the world dependant of his mother and father. He did not come physically strong and ready to care for others around him at first. God allowed him to be cared for. Maybe this was so He would bond with people around Him, just like all other babies bond with their mothers, fathers and family members in the first moments, months and years of life. Emmanuel means "God WITH us." God wanted us to experience Jesus being one of us, not just standing FOR us like some elected official we never really get to know. In Cole's deafness, he draws near to us and we to him in a way that is innately more intimate than one would imagine. One of the things I hear parents say when they find out that their child is deaf is that they are sad their child will never hear their voice or hear them say "I love you." In the way that the sound of a voice provides a layer of intimacy between people who hear, Cole has developed ways to be close to us through his eyes, touch and smile that are even more rich and intense than the way those who can hear convey love through their other senses. Though we can't wait to have him begin hearing, we are treasuring every moment leading up to the big moment on January 2nd when he receives the external components to his cochlear implants that will allow him to hear for the first time! I feel a strange closeness to Jesus' mother Mary this Christmas, first being "great with child," and secondly I understand how in the midst of Mary's fear of being told she's pregnant, Luke 2:19 says "Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart." Being told your son is deaf does not give reason for immediate joy, but I, like Mary, feel I am learning what it means to treasure up all God has given us to endure, and ponder them in my heart...drawing near to him in the process. It is clear by the way He sent His Son, that intimacy and closeness with us, His created ones is His highest desire.

After the boys went to sleep that night, John and I got the house ready for Christmas morning...stockings were filled, last presents wrapped, the french toast casserole prepared and put in the fridge for the next morning's festivities!

Christmas Day

One of things we have been thankful for lately is that our boys have learned to sleep in! It is common for them to wake up around 8:30 which is heaven for John and I since we've become night owls, sneaking in time for ourselves once they go to sleep. Following that pattern, we woke around 8:30 and started opening presents at 9:00. :) We were thinking about slowing the gift opening down to a few an hour, but once they got the hang of opening one, they couldn't wait to open them all! So the following pictures are of our boys in present heaven...thank you to all our family members who gave the boys something special to open this year. John and I are just as thankful as the boys since we are looking ahead to a long, cold winter indoors! Hooray for new toys to play with and keep us occupied through an Illinois winter and new sister arriving...the perfect recipe for days inside :)

After nap time we went for a Christmas Day drive and found that outside of our city there is more of the same...long roads leading to more open fields and smaller towns. So different from what we're used to in California where there is more to see and do than your senses can handle at times! The drive was meant to be peaceful but ended with a mad dash home on the freeway in response to Cole's cries (or screams) for food...it was almost dinner time and Mama hadn't started cooking yet! One thing I've never done is cook our entire Christmas dinner on my own! Living close to family, we've always been at one of our parents' houses for Christmas and have enjoyed Mama's cooking helping a bit here or there. But without grandma's present, I was left to be the primary chef this year! While John played with the boys, I whipped up our version of Christmas dinner...the goal was simple yet festive and special and ended up being ham, sweet potato casserole, green beans with caramelized onions and hot rolls. Cole ate up his dinner in no time flat (which is normal for him) while Ryder took his time deciding whether or not he felt brave enough to try so many new foods (which is normal for HIM!) In one way or another, our meal was finished and enjoyed by all 4 of us this year. :)