The Night Watches

What a precious day, a precious gift from above, a tender reflection of the fathers love for us... Even as I type the title of this post, I am shocked that it has already been one year. Our lives were forever changed this day, one year ago... time really does fly, and passes you by before you even know it! As I reflect back on all the changes, the challenges, the joys, the memories... my heart is overwhelmed with happiness and gratefulness. I still am amazed that God would entrust to us this little boy, to care for and love. I feel like I have learned so many things this past year... things about my own heart and my desperate need for God.... things about His lavish love in giving up his perfect son for me, things about my husband as I have watched him tenderly love our child... One year ago, at 6:50 am, my water broke... quite unexpectedly, as I was not due for another 3 weeks! We were in shock and so excited... and as my contractions had not begun yet, things were quite surreal, as w...

We have had a FULL weekend, as I am sure most families around the world have had as well! Our little family of three began our festivities a day or two early, as we gave Tyler his gift from us Friday morning!!! He came down stairs with Dada to find a mountain of bricks! At first he was quite unsure about them, but once Jordan began knocking them down and re-building everything, he jumped right in. The first of many gifts this weekend for our boy... Then Saturday night we went up to stay with my parents to celebrate Christmas with them and my sister and her husband. We started went to a favorite restaurant and just had a blast. Then on the way home, my dad took us all on a tour of the local Christmas light displays (some of them were very impressive and some not so impressive at all) Here is Tyler in my parents sleigh- it is pulled by some cute reindeer. Sunday morning was our families Christmas morning... but since I was the only one with a child, we were waiting for the rest of the ad...

I just wanted to take a few moments to honor my mom... She is the BEST mom, the BEST Grandma, and the BEST friend a girl could have. She has faithfully been our #1 babysitter for Tyler, rarely turning down an opportunity to serve us. She comes all the way down from Frederick several times a week, just to hang out with me and Tyler, shop with us, and bring us little things we might need. She shows my son the most tender love, and he simply adores her. Here is a picture of the face she gets every time she walks in the door. When she is over to watch Tyler for our date night, and I am up stairs getting ready to go, I can hear them both laughing so loud.. it brings me so much joy to know that my son loves my mom. And she has been faithful to watch over and care for my son since he was first born. We have been able to take a weekly date night together, knowing that my mom would be there for the past year. Mom, I cannot tell you what a blessing that is to me and to my husband...You are helpi...

Two Sunday's ago, Jordan finally got his birthday present from me... (his birthday is in August)... We went to the Redskins/Panthers Football game with Devon and Kristine. It was perfect weather... The last time I got tickets to a Skins game, we were kind of sitting far away-- actually, we were in the very last row-- our backs were against the fence... I almost got a nose bleed!! So, yeah, I decided not to sit that far away again, so we were in the lower level on the 5 yard line... it was pretty sweet! We had such a great day, and had the best weather. Yeah, we were that close! Thanks Beth for watching Tyler all day!!! You are the best!

Each year, for the past 4 years, we have gone to Pine Valley to cut down our Christmas Tree. It has been such a great tradition, and I am so glad we got to show Tyler all the trees. It was so much fun! He was pretty interested in the trees.. he didnt try to eat them, but he liked touching the branches.. We started him off small, introducing him to a Tyler sized tree... Mommy and the boy.... The Russell Family... My cutie pie... Notice the difference in our skin tones... pink and gold... He got his daddy's skin that is for sure... and notice the eyes.... that certainly didnt come from me... Thanks Mimi and Aba! Tyler was so excited the whole time... he just kept laughing and kicking his legs! Jordan cutting the best tree ever down for us! The Kauflin family ... Until next year....

So- I know these pictures are over a week late- but I lost them on my computer for a while there- and after much searching and a few moments of panic, I found the file they had gotten put into.... all 178 of them... so here are a few of them... Each year, Jordan looks forward to the annual Thanksgiving Football game... where the faithful guys come out , rain or shine, and play a few hours of tackle football... This year, if you can remember, it was cold, and very wet... surprisingly good contitions for the guys to play-- the ground was soft (so when they got tackled it did not hurt as bad as landing on frozen ground) and the cool wetness kept them from getting too hot as they ran all over the place! However, this was not ideal conditions for a mommy and boy!!! Tyler was VERY bundled up, as we watched them play- Devon had set up his tent and heater, so we were able to stay dry and somewhat warm... We got to hang with Chel and Beth (and Jacob...)... Here we are, all bundled up!! Then of...

Tyler has been discovering a whole new world recently- our house... as he has gotten quite good and crawling, and he has begun to move on to climbing... I caught him going for the stairs... and couldn't believe my eyes as he just started to go up... like he had known hwo to do this for years... He is NOT good at going down- so we only let him do this with supervision of course! And we have now baby-proofed our house- baby gates and all! He does laps around the first floor of our house, stopping to find whatever he can and play with it/eat it...let the adventures begin!