My Cup Runneth Over!

Tonight it is New Year's Eve and I am spending it in the most magical place on earth...at home with my five favorite boys! I can't believe another year has come and gone. With all the year end reviews of just about everything on tv all day, it's caused me to really reflect on this past year. I know I did a year in review Christmas letter, but I wanted to write about some of the things that get left out of letters like that. You know, the things that aren't necessarily "newsworthy" to others, but fill my heart as a mother like nothing else can. For instance, Noah's new thing is to give "big hugs". He backs up with his arms open as wide as he can make them and runs to you at full speed then wraps his arms around you giggling the whole time. Tonight at bedtime he added a new twist. When I started to let go, he said, "No yet" and clung to me as tight as he possibly could. Life just doesn't get much better than that! Or on days when we have a chance to sleep in, how Nicholas loves to climb in bed with us and play "tickle bug spiders". He starts with five fingers and says, "Here are five tickle bug spiders coming to tickle you" and then tickles you. He then counts out four of his fingers and does the same thing all the way down to one tickle bug spider. Jacob is also a snuggler who likes to have his back and neck lightly scratched. No matter how angry, upset, etc. he is, I can always calm him down this way. He also likes to ride in the front seat of the car on the way home from school (it's in the neighborhood) and stick his head out the window like a dog. He likes the way the wind makes his hair look and always asks me if he looks handsome. I also love his slight childlike lisp and the way he mispronounces some of his words...like yesterday when he told Nicholas that something was "begusting". Andrew is my talker! And he loves details! I love that he is getting old enough to enjoy some of the things that I do as an adult. One of his favorite things is to come into my bedroom at five o'clock and watch the local news with me. He loves the news and would totally choose it over cartoons any day! His love language is quality time and nothing makes him happier than getting to spend fun time alone with either Paul or me. I also love how he tries to snuggle up next to us on the couch and tries to curl up in a ball like a baby - except that he is four foot eight! And my fifth boy - the Big Boy - my sweet hubby! Well, he just fills my heart everyday. I love how he makes me laugh everyday at the little things in life. And appreciates my sometimes rather warped sense of humor!

I confess there are too many times that I get irritated and annoyed with some of their behaviors. I'm also realizing that they are growing up way too fast and that many of these "annoyances" will be a distant memory way too soon! I feel like 2007 came and went in a blink of an eye and fear that 2008 may be the same. Unfortunaltely, we have known of too many people this year that have had to say an untimely goodbye to loved ones - some of them children, some of them spouses, some of them parents. The one lesson that God has shown me over and over in each of those lost lives is to enjoy every second of every minute of every day...because none of us know what tomorrow may hold. I hope each and every one of you has a Happy New Year! I know I will...because my cup runneth over!!