Christmas Eve

Well, today is Christmas Eve and I think we're almost ready for Christmas. I think! All of the presents are wrapped, the house is almost clean and the steaks for tonight's dinner are marinating.
I got on Facebook for the first time today and saw that my family is getting ready for the annual Christmas Eve party in Huntington and it made me a little sad that I won't be there yet again this year. Now, we're going to WV tomorrow to see family but it's just not the same :(
This year, Christmas is very different for us. I think it's a theme in our life right now. Things just aren't the same. There's a new normal that we must adjust to. Change is good, but it's not always easy. But we have learned many things this year. At Thanksgiving I'm not sure we were ready to be thankful. Even though we reminded ourselves throughout the day of all the things that we had, it was still a very different Thanksgiving.
So this year at Christmas, I'm choosing to be very thankful. I guess in a way I'm trying to make up for not being so thankful at Thanksgiving. We are learning how much we really have even though there are times we think we don't have that much. We might not have all the "things" we are used to and Christmas under our tree looks different, but we have so much.
This year has been a year of blessing in many ways. It's been a hard year. A year I never ever want to repeat again. But I think we're at a point where we can look back and see exactly how God has blessed us and is still blessing us. The main lesson I've learned this year that God's blessings aren't always in the package that you think they are going to be in. Never in a million years would I have imagined God would bless us in the ways his has through the people He has used. Looking back, it's hard to believe that one big reminder of God's faithfulness this year has been a washer and dryer. Who would've guessed that God used that to remind us of how much He's given us.
I guess we can say that life isn't what we thought it would look like. But, we pray that our lives look more like God wants them to rather than what we would've imagined them to be. We find joy in so many things that we would've never found joy in before. We are so thankful for our two precious boys. They bring us so much joy every day. We love how they are starting to play together and laugh together. Isaac is such a loving big brother. Noah is becoming such a big boy. We can't believe how happy they make us.
My hope for you this year is that you find the Joy that we've found this year. I challenge you to take a few moments this season and look around you. Don't focus on what you don't have, but focus on what God has supplied for you this year.
Merry Christmas!