December 31

It's so hard to believe that yet another year has come and gone. Tomorrow will mark the beginning of the fifth (!) year of this little blog of mine. It started out as a means of coping with overwhelming grief by finding God in every single day. Though it's continued to do that over the years and will continue to serve that vital purpose in the future, it's also become something I hadn't intended it to be: a log of my blessings and a day by day, chapter by chapter rendering of our life as a family. A storybook. And I am so thankful to have this storybook to share with my kiddos.

With all of that weighty stuff said, I'll get on with today's thought. As we so often do, we took a walk this afternoon. It was chilly but clear out, and quite a lovely day for a stroll (or a bike ride, if you were one of our kids). I deliberately had us stop to take this photo during a pause on what we've come to call The Long Path:

God never promised that human life would be easy, but He promised to be present. And I can sense his presence with us every single day in an assortment of little ways: in the sun, the sky, the trees, the wind, the Cars with faces I trip over on the carpet, and most importantly to me, in the faces of these people.

And also in the love that I will always hold in my heart for my Logan, who is --as is often the case-- represented here by his dear Lambie, who I decided --at the last second-- to bring along for today's journey. Nope, life is not perfect. But it's good, I wish you all a blessed, God-wink filled 2017.

December 30

Brady is the only one of my kids who flatly refused to take dance classes: Logan took a year (and would absolutely have continued had he not gotten sick), Isaac had three years, and Abby is currently in her ninth. But Brady? Nope. Wasn't gonna happen. Period. End of story. Ironically, though, he's the biggest dancer in the house right now.

As the credits played after we watched Shrek 2 this evening, my little sassypants couldn't resist jumping to his feet and swerving his hips to the music. In fact, that tends to happen whenever he hears music with a good beat. He shakes and laughs and shakes some more. (And, as evidenced by this image, makes plenty of sassy faces.)

I love that he quietly likes to dance. And I love that whenever he gets up to shake his moneymaker, I have flashbacks of Logan doing the same. It's bittersweet, of course, and always will be, but it's such a blessing to see that part of him manifested in his littlest brother.

December 29

Earlier this week, Abby asked if we could have brunch at the Black Bear Diner, so that's what we did this morning.

I know I've been a bit repetitive this week, but I have to repeat myself again: it was really nice to travel en masse, and super nice just sit at the table, chat, and eat without worrying about cleaning up or doing the dishes.

December 28

It was another quiet day 'round these parts. I slept in, then mostly bummed around the house until Adam asked if we wanted to go for a walk. (We did. Some of us were happier about it than others, and I finally got to see Evel Knievel --aka Brady-- operating his scooter.) Then this evening, after we watched Shrek, the kiddos decided they wanted to dogpile.

So they did just that: they giggled and yelped and dogpiled in (and around) the easy chair in our family room for a good 10 miles.

Ah, togetherness: 'tis a sweet blessing.

December 27

Today, I visited the DMV to renew my license (the horror! But really, the appointment system is a stroke of genius. I was in and out in 10 minutes flat). Then we went to Costco to restock on essentials this afternoon, and after we got back home, I rested and Abby played on her computer while Adam took the Little Boys on a walk with their scooters. Later, we had dinner and watched a Narnia movie, and the boys played a game one of them received for Christmas.

It was a chill kind of day; nothing really exciting, nothing really notable, nothing remarkable. But it was a nice day nonetheless, and nice, unremarkable days when we just live and love in boring, everyday ways are blessings.

December 26

Just a few short years ago, Abby really disliked shopping. She disliked it so much that she'd ask me to buy clothes for her so she could try them on at home. Her desire to avoid all stores was strong, but times have changed considerably.

Today my little shopping buddy and I hit the shops for some day-after-Christmas shopping. We didn't buy a lot, but we had fun trekking from store to store.

As I told her while we drove to lunch afterward, I like hanging out together. I may have ended up with just one daughter, but she's a pretty terrific one to have.

December 25

All in all, it was a peaceful Christmas Day. We like to circle the wagons and keep our California Christmases just for our immediate family, so that's just what we did.

The Little Boys tried to start the day ultra early; I heard them playing at 1:30 AM and told them it was much too early to get up (which prompted a clearly only-partially-awake Isaac to muse 'gee, my watch must be really wrong!' as he trotted back to bed). We got started in earnest about five hours later with stockings before we paused for a quick breakfast of cinnamon buns and trees. (Trees are the traditional Wight family Christmas morning fare.) And then it was on to presents: video games and movies and lots of cat shaming for me.

The early afternoon hours saw us head to the cemetery to visit Logan's grave --thank you to whomever left the beautiful plant-- and then Abby and I bummed around the house while the boys went for a walk with their new scooters. We finished the day with pot roast, potatoes, carrots, rolls, and pumpkin pie and a viewing of the Angry Birds Movie.

It was a beautiful day, really. A lovely day to enjoy each other's company and to remember Jesus' blessed birth. And to be thankful --in the deepest way possible-- that His birth made renewed life a reality.