A Christmas to Remember

Sorry about the lack in posting, no excuse. Not much has been going on, we have just been enjoying being home together. Autumn is still healing and progressing very well. We have a check up in Ann Arbor tomorrow (December 28, 2006) - we are trusting and praying that everything is still going in the right direction. I will be sure to update you all when we get home.

Jen is enjoying her last few days at home with the girls over Christmas break as she will return to work on January 3, 2007. God has again provided as Grandma Hess has decided to stay home this winter/spring and take care of Autumn. This is a great answer to prayer for us. She is very much looking forward to spending this quality time with her newest grandchild. We are very thankful for her willingness to help us in this way.

Christmas has been such a blessing this year. Just being home together has been a great blessing and a big reason to celebrate, but this year we had a few extra blessings. It has been a tough fall / winter this year in many aspects, including financially, with Jen not working for so long and me being off for months at a time - it has been difficult, but God has provided and the bills have always been paid. Praise the Lord!. With Christmas on the way, we knew that we would be a lot tighter this year than in the past, and we were very OK with that, but God had other plans. First of all - the nurses from the Midland Hospital (pediatric / maternity) decided to bless us and the girls with many gifts this Christmas. We received many necessary household items along with plenty of toys, clothes and books for both of the girls. Jayna got double duty as she was the one that she designated to open all of Autumn's presents. She was one busy girl. We are so thankful to these wonderful ladies and the kindness and compassion that they have shown us this year.

Next, we have had many cards in the mail and drop in visitors this past weekend from family and friends dropping off both gifts and money. We have been overwhelmed by the things that you have done for our family. It has been great to see many of you over the past week or so. You know us well and have travelled through this with us. It has been great to share so much joy with you as well.

Also, a group of students at Coleman High School called STAR decided to help us out. I don't know much about the STAR group or even who is in it. I know that they are involved in different types of community volunteering and work. They planned an activity day on the last day of school for the entire high school. During this time students were able to pay to do different types of activities, like basketball, volleyball, or even throw a pie in the face of a teacher. You can imagine the money that they collected (I know how much that I would've paid to throw a pie at a teacher when I was their age). Even more, imagine our surprise when they called to tell us what they did. We didn't have any idea that this was even going on, and these kids reached out to us. They brought a check over on Friday evening, and we were overcome with emotion. With the house payment looming in the next week, we weren't sure how we were going to pay it and once again, God provided. We are so thankful to the STAR group and look forward to thanking them personally sometime when school resumes.

We have been humbled through this journey. We have learned lots of things including how to accept a gift - it is usually just people being obedient to what God wants them to do, who am I to say no. We have also learned to depend fully, 100%, without reservation on God. He has taken care of us - physically, emotionally, financially and spiritually. He has, without any reservation, taken care of us completely. We love Him and are so thankful for all of you who He has used to bless us this year.