Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! I hope you all had a wonderful time with your families!

The children were abundantly blessed this year. A new baby sister, and lots of toys and new clothes from either the church or from relatives. God provided in a huge way. There were more gifts under the tree than they had ever seen before. I imagine someday when they are experiencing plenty, they will remember the children's director walking through our front door, bearing four laundry baskets full of gifts. And that memory will prompt them to use their surplus to provide for someone else. I am thankful for the memory they will have of God's love and provision.

My milk supply is again abundant. I suppose the UTI may have caused it to lessen temporarily. Anna Grace is still not nursing, causing a lot of frenzy and heartbreak around here. I have decided to continue pumping no matter what. She will get the breast milk either way.

She is very lazy in her sucking pattern, even when fed with the alternative tube system. My hope is that as she nears one month to six weeks old, she will take a more active part in her feedings. I am trying really hard to just give this to God and continue on with my mothering business. I am doing everything I can and it's essentially out of my hands. Admittedly, it is hard not to get depressed about it, but the Holy Spirit is reminding me of what a blessing Anna is, no matter how she gets her food. I need to just enjoy her, rather than spend this precious time wishing things were different.

My husband, you will remember, absolutely hates grocery shopping. I tried going once recently but it was a little too soon for the C section area. By next week I will surely be back on full shopping duty. Anyway, he put off buying items for our Christmas dinner, and finally set out on Christmas Eve around dinnertime, which would have been no problem whatsoever in California. But in Ohio, it proved to be a big mistake. NOTHING WAS OPEN ANYWHERE. We ended up having a frozen pizza, purchased at a Circle K, and to go with it we made a chocolate birthday cake for Jesus. Really sounds all warm and organized and Martha Stewardy, doesn't it? LOL We're going to have a do over sometime soon. Maybe for New Year's Eve dinner.