Due Date plus One Year

Just one year ago today, I sat stewing over the fact that my baby had yet to arrive on the scene. I worried about his birthday being far too close to Christmas, and I still wasn't sure how much closer he'd get. I had been preparing for months for his arrival, had all my Christmas shopping done and wrapped under the decorated tree. The freezer was even stocked with casseroles! I was bored, and I was impatient, and I was quite grumpy.

Fast forward one year.

Last night I sat on the couch wanting to sleep but instead creating "Lindsey's Panic List." We had zero Christmas decorations up (due to the dust, company and chaos of the remodel), we had two more new light fixtures in their packages still needing to be hung, Collin's little finger prints were visible on EVERY surface because of the thick dust, tools and other large equipment still filled the kitchen floor and counter tops, we have the missionaries schedule for dinner tomorrow and I forgot when I did the grocery shopping, and I had yet to wrap a single present.

Today through some amazing teamwork, Ryan and I we were able to finish our Christmas shopping, wrap and ship the rest of the packages, hang two light fixtures and buy one more, mop all the new flooring, dust all horizontal surfaces, put up our little 3-foot artifical tree, hang our three stockings, and go to breakfast at Bob Evans. A mighty successful day indeed, and it put quite the dent in my Panic List.

But of all the things I did today, I think I will remember most putting up our nativity scene. Before I put Collin to bed tonight, I told him about the Mary and Joseph, the shepherds and the wise men. I told him about the little baby Jesus, and how I remembered waiting for him so eagerly just one year ago today. I told him about my own impatience and boredom - in sharp contrast to today.

Tonight, just less than one year into motherhood, I feel immense gratitude for this past year with my own little baby. What a blessing he has been to us.