My promise....

So Christmas and New Year's have come and gone......I haven't had a chance to download any pictures yet... we had a wonderful Christmas with all of our family, busy, of course, but still good! New Year's we spent at my Dad and Step-mom's cabin that they rent every year in Helen.  It was wonderful too!  My brother and SIL and nephew Jake were there and my sister and BIL.  We had so much fun hanging out and playing games.  I am so thankful to God for that time with them, of just hanging out and enjoying each other.  We spent Christmas with everyone too, but there was no time constraint or little ones BEGGING to open presents or parents thinking, "we need to get home for Santa" (eventhough I really try to play down the whole Santa thing....I try every year to put more emphasis on what Christmas is truelly about and every year I seem to fail.....I just get way to caught up in the spending, sorry got way off subject)......

 Of course , as always, every single minute of every day, I am thinking about Olivia and how ready I am to get her,  oh how I wanted her to be with us this Christmas.  But it was here that I realized she's not only gaining a mom and dad and sister and 2 brothers, but also grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins.   Yes, it has taken me a while to realize this....don't judge, I may have been a little selfish in thinking "She's getting a momma!" Actually I think I have been MORE focused on "I'm getting another daughter!!!"  But now, I can't wait for her to experience everything FAMILY means.   As we have had so much time over the past couple of weeks with family, God has reminded me.....she's not only gaining the 5 of us, she is gaining so much more.  She has our extended family that already love her so much and can't wait to meet her, and she has our friends that have supported us and cheered us on, and our AWESOME church family that has loved and supported us every step of the way.  We take so much for granted and idolize all the wrong things, but thinking about Olivia and that it doesn't matter what she wears or plays with, it only matters that she has love. every. day. for the rest of her life!  This is my promise to her!