A Look Back

In honor of the New Year, I thought a look back at an old post would be in order.  Here’s a blog entry that I wrote last December.  That feels like so long ago, especially when I see how tiny the girls were then.  I used to have to prop them up like little dolls!  Now, they not only sit up on chairs, they can stand, jump, wiggle and do all sorts of things that make me tear my hair out.  They even climb onto the chairs themselves if they find a convenient stepstool, like a pillow or a tall toy (I’m still waiting for them to realize they can use each other as a launching pad!).  So here’s your blast from the past!  

 

December 26, 2008 

I think I finally figured out how to ensure the girls are always on their best behavior: I simply need to cram as many people into our house at all times. The more, the better. We’ve had a busy Christmas holiday, and the girls have performed like champs when called upon. When not called upon (i.e. – at home with just me), they’re wilder than a bunch of monkeys. Speaking of monkeys, here are a few pictures from the Family Zoo:

Susanna on the left: "Did you say there’s a monkey on my shirt?"

"How’d the monkey get on my shirt?"

"Hmmm…can I eat the monkey?"

"Yum…the monkey is quite tasty!"

Anyway, enough monkeying around. Back to my theory: the more people surrounding the girls, the better they’ve behaved. For example, on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, we celebrated with Jim’s parents, aunt, uncle and grandmother. The girls were pretty good, and usually let me stuff my face with all the delicious food I wanted. However, sometimes we could barely get through the salad course before someone started getting noisy. But tonight, we went over to Jim’s parents’ house where they had several families over for dinner, and the girls were good as gold. The evenings are normally their fussiest times, but tonight they smiled and cooed and lounged around as if they were hosting the party themselves. That’s what I stopped and analyzed all the visits we had when we were in California, and they seemed the most relaxed when they were enveloped by the biggest crowds. They certainly don’t take after their parents in this regard!

The girls may not have been aware of their first Christmas, but they sure made out like bandits in the toy department. Our friends and family were more than generous, and our living room now looks like we robbed a Toys R’ Us.

Here’s a picture of the girls in the darling Christmas outfits given to them by my friend Brittny. Rebecca’s wearing one that says "Santa Loves Me" and Susanna’s says "Good Things Come in Small Packages." Isn’t that the truth!

Now that I’m a mom, I find it even more incredible that the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world as an infant. At nearly five months old, our girls are still so helpless. It’s hard to imagine that the King of kings and Lord of lords was willing to shed His divinity to cloak Himself in humanity. The Bible says that the Lord Jesus Christ "made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death- even death on a cross. Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phillipians 2:7-11).