Unexpected

To start this post, I want to show you the very first photo taken of our family with Noah.

Though we didn't know it yet at the time, I was already pregnant with Noah. He was alive. He was part of our family.

Here is the other family picture we have with Noah...

Because we chose not to let Ethan see Noah after he was born, we don't have a real family picture of the 4 of us together. And that makes me terribly sad. I've often had second thoughts about whether or not we should have let Ethan see Noah. But what is done is done...there is no going back now.

Yesterday was a day that didn't start well. My van was broken into a few weeks ago and my purse was stolen while I was doing a photo shoot of the Williams Family. So yesterday I had the dreaded task of going to the DMV to get a new license. I'm not sure if every DMV is like this, but every DMV in Georgia I have gone to has been employed with RUDE people. I left upset and mad after being treated horribly. I'll admit...I was having a hard time spreading the love of Jesus yesterday!!!!


I had a bunch of errands to run before our Christmas party with the Discover Point staff, the wives (and husband) of the staff, and my brother and sis-in-law. At 7:00 we went to Brad & Sandra Williams' house for the Christmas Party...(Brad and Sandra live in our neighborhood and their house was built by the same builder, so it looks almost identical to ours...in case you get confused by the pics!) Peachtree Academy was having a "Parent's Night Out" and watched all the kids while we all went to the party. We ate finger foods, played the game "Catch Phrase" ......

...and then it was time for the gifts.

Each person (or couple) brought a gift (some kind of Christmas decoration) and we decided to play the "Dirty Santa" or "White Elephant" game. Sandra told us how we were going to play the game. There are several different ways to play, but Sandra decided we would play the game where no present was opened until the very end. You could steal gifts from each other, but you had to just "judge the book by it's cover" so to speak. Trista got #1 so she got to choose first. She chose the gift I had been eyeing all night....something that looked like a picture frame.



David and I were #7, so when it came our turn, I stole the gift from Trista....I know...how mean of me. I was drawn to it because of a tiny pair of angel's wings attached to the package.

I handed it to David....

At the end of the game #1 (Trista) got to choose any gift she wanted. I was so excited when she didn't choose to steal our gift back. Then it was time to open. Sandra said it would be more fun if we opened the gifts one at a time. So everyone went around the room opening their gifts. When it was our turn, I sat down on the couch next to David and gently took the pair of angel's wings off the package.

Then we tore into the paper....

The look on my face says it all. I was in total shock and I felt my whole body go limp.

Our family picture




The game had been rigged. And I fell right into their plan...the angel's wings were a perfect way to get me eyeing that gift.


Right after we lost Noah, my brother and sister-in-law had this drawing of Noah done for us...


So Sandra talked with Jason after that and had the idea of getting the same artist to draw a picture of all of us...our first and only family picture.

The amazing artist, by the way, is Dana at http://www.portraitsbydana.com/

I cannot say thank you enough for this beautiful gift. You know, there are days when I wonder if people have forgotten. Sometimes we feel alone in our grief and we wonder if anyone remembers that just a little over 5 months ago, we lost the most precious baby. This very special gift has shown us that others have not forgotten. They grieve with us. They love Noah too.

So to Brad, Sandra, Jason, Esther, Jeff, Philip, Angela, Trista, Jeremy, Brien and Hannah.

THANK YOU. You will never know what this means to us.