Incline My Heart

I know... It's been a long time. It's been kinda busy around here. Let me update you.
On December 9th, we welcomed Ava Claire to the world. She was in a hurry to get here in the middle of a blizzard. Driving through snowdrifts while in labor is not fun! We were very grateful for Caleb's four wheel drive pickup - without which I doubt we would've made it to the hospital at all. We could've been on the news: "Woman delivers baby girl in snowdrift!" I was also very grateful to my friend Niki who drove across town at 4:00 in the morning to stay with our kids. Without her, Ava would've been born at home. Ava was born at 5:26 am on Dec. 9th. She weighed 8 lbs. 7 oz. and was 20 inches long. She was in such a rush that they didn't have time to formally admit me to the hospital or give me an IV. The doctor missed her delivery by about 30 seconds. She certainly made life interesting for a couple of hours. But she's here and she's perfect. Getting used to life with a newborn again has been interesting. But the kids love her and as long as I hold her so they can't hurt her (Kylie and Julia mob her every time I put her down), we're good! =)

I can't believe she's one month old already! I wish she'd stay tiny a little bit longer!


Then it was Christmas time. We got to spend Christmas at home with just the six of us this year. It was great fun! We ventured across town for the Christmas Eve service in the middle of a blizzard and were entirely snowed in for Christmas Day. It's so rare for us to get an entire day at home with just us, so I loved Christmas! And my husband bought me a beautiful wool coat, which was fun too! =)

This is Caleb, Ethan, and Kylie with the Magic Rocks.

The day after Christmas, Caleb's grandpa died. It was actually a blessing for him because he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and dreaded the thought of hospice. But his passing has been hard on the rest of the family. So we spent that week with Caleb's family remembering Opa and celebrating a new year all at the same time.

The kids and the guys sledding at Tam and Alan's. Brrr!

And this last week, Rob and Christina came to visit from New Orleans. I think they about froze to death! The highs were below zero - freezing even for Nebraskans! Rob bravely drove us to Central City in the dark in the middle of a blizzard. It's pretty scary to drive when you can't see where you're going and there are invisible drifts you can barely drive through everywhere. But Christina got to go sledding for the first time. And we got to celebrate Christmas with the whole Johnson family together at once! There's 19 of us now! Wow! It was pretty crazy, but lots of fun. I'm so blessed to have such a loving, wonderful family.

The mommies with their hungry babies!

And that's about it. Now back to school with Ethan and some sort of routine. I suppose I'll have to start cooking and cleaning again one of these days. But for now, I think I'm going to take a nap...