Boy was I wrong about a small Christmas... it was a HUGE Christmas!!!

I could not have been more wrong about my predicting a small Christmas this year. Christmas Eve as we just finished our dinner and were relaxing in the living room and starting to watch a Tim Hawkins video with my parents. Josh said someone is banging on the door...well I had not heard anything since we had the T.V. as loud as it would go so my dad could hear the video...I just ignored Josh and then he said more insistently " Mom some one is BANGING on the door" so I got up to check and sure enough someone was at the door!!!IT WAS CALEB! I can not tell you how surprised and overwhelmed I was!That memory will be burned into my mind for the rest of my life!!! The kids were so excited that he came. Joshua had a dream back before Thanksgiving about this same event happening on Thanksgiving day...I had mentioned a few times since then that maybe his dream will happen at Christmas but I really didnt think it would be possible. I was in my heart hopeful until Friday and then when it just seemed that all hope of it happening was gone I told Robert well I guess it is definitely not going to happen so we ate Christmas Eve dinner I had a real sense of sadness that I was trying to hide from everyone as we all sat there at dinner.I thought that Tim Hawkins would change my mood so we sat down to watch and then REAL joy as God granted us such a wonderful Christmas present overwhelmed my heart. To top it off he brought along his girlfriend Rachel and it was SO WONDERFUL to meet her and get to know her. She was easy to talk to and very comfortable to have in our home and the kids all think she is GREAT! This was just the first surprise of the weekend. About an hour after he arrived we had to go deliver a few goody bags to some friends in Taylorsville so we asked them to come but they declined. I felt horrible just leaving them sitting there on the couch when they had just arrived. Well we were only gone about 30 minutes and when we returned we were greeted with another HUGE surprise. Caleb bought the family a 55 inch flat screen T.V. and it was all set up in the living room. OH my goodness! Now we all won't have to sit a foot from the T.V. to try and see our #49.We can see nose hairs now if we want. That was an awesome gift that will make our situation of not being able to go to any of his games a lot easier to accept. Well then we had another treat Sunday night when he took Robert and I out to dinner at a fancy restaurant! I had LOBSTER!!! The appetizers were incredible and the food was so delicious as well as dessert. What an incredible treat that was! As most of you know our finances have been so difficult for the last few years due to Seminary and low paying jobs. We have not been able to go out to a real restaurant except for fast food unless we happened to have a gift card. This was so incredible to go out somewhere so exceptionally nice and delicious. We enjoyed many conversations and playing games together. The only sad part was saying goodbye. I cry easier and easier the older I get.I guess that is due to the realization that our lives slip by quickly and time between visits can feel so long when we dont see the ones we love.The knowing that I probably wont see him again for a year was on my mind when he left that and the fact that my heart was bursting with love and joy for the whole experience of him coming home.I wish at those moments I would be able to express myself in better ways than tears but I attribute that to a mothers love that just spills out. I hope through the years I can verbalize to Caleb just how much this weekend meant to all of us if not maybe he will know this kind of joy when his son someday surprises his family in such a way. I hope you all had wonderful Christmas stories as well. God has been so good to us this Christmas!

Funny thing is Grace had said not just a few times this year that she wished that this would happen. This is similar but our surprise was much more dramatic :)

small christmas this year

Well...we will be having a very quiet small Christmas this year. Melissa and Lee will be in Alabama the week of Christmas and we have no idea what Calebs plans are so we are assuming we will not see him at Christmas :( I have seen him a total of 1 hour and 30 in a whole year and now to think that we are not going to see him again is almost too much for my mothers heart to carry. He has not been home for a year and now who knows how long it will be until he comes home again. Please dear God change these circumstances.We will try and still have a good Christmas and I know things change and cant stay the same and I am not asking for that. I am looking forward to the many changes that adulthood brings all my children like grandkids and daughter-in-laws and son-in laws so I pray someday we can all be together again to catch up with each others lives and share a meal in peace and love and family full of joy and happiness for one another and praise to the Lord for all the blessings He has given us.

IT'S A BOY!!!!

Titus William Munger is on his way and we will all get to meet him sometime in mid April! The boys were happy to know they will be uncle's to a boy and Grace was happy that she is still the baby girl of the family LOL!