"Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!"

I thought it fitting to post something on this day because January 21st is the day I found out that I was pregnant last year, also the day Stephen chucked our dead Christmas tree out the window...a tradition we held this year.

The title of this post was the status I posted on that day, taken of course from Luke Chapter 1 in which Mary visits Elizabeth and the baby in her womb leaps at Mary's approach, and she is filled with the holy spirit proclaiming that Mary is "blessed among women". The story completely rocked my world during that momentous occasion, looking back on my relationship with Stephen, our long talks of what parenting would be like one day, what our kids would be like, and my fear each time I received a negative pregnancy test. God is so faithful and though things may not happen in the way you plan them...actually they usually don't...his goodness and mercy shine through in the moments when you realize his future for you is far better than anything you had figured out for yourself. It seems that I forget this over and over and spend way too much time fretting over things I cannot control.

Tying this in to my attempt at a holiday post...I got to revisit that chapter on Christmas with my family! It has become a tradition to read the story of Jesus' birth together before we have breakfast Christmas morning. We usually just read Luke 2. However, on a whim, I started from Luke 1...and bawled my eyes out in front of everyone at the table. I guess it just hit me really hard reading the passage within the context of the entire Christmas story. I now know the kind of love and sacrifice it takes to be a mother, to feel an unborn child move in your womb, to experience the pain of bringing that baby into this world, and the unquenchable need to protect and nurture him/her post-birth. What it must have felt like for Mary to carry the son of God...is something I cannot even wrap my mind around. Then there is the idea of giving birth for the first time, not in a sterile hospital environment with attentive nurses everywhere, but in a barn on a heap of hay, and laying that precious little baby in a trough that animals eat out of. It is humbling to say the least, not at all the story I would choose for welcoming my savior into this world, and reading through it with a new pair of mom shaped-glasses gave me all the feels.

What a joyous first holiday season we had with our baby girl. I find as I think of what to write for these posts I could really just let pictures speak for themselves. To think, we are growing up in the first generation of people that can document all of life in this way! It is pretty incredible wondering how the baby's generation will receive their archive of photos covering their lives from birth.
But, being me, I really can't let anything just speak for itself. What would be the fun in that? If you are reading this though, I know you don't mind. =) Included here are all my pictures from Thanksgiving through New Years, and a bunch of non-holiday moments in between! Thanks to her grandmas, Aria had no want for holiday clothing...and it was a good thing because the girl spits up all day long like it's her job. I tell everyone if they don't like my new perfume...Eau de Baby Vomit...they should stay away from me for the next few months. My clothing is never clean.

Some highlights from this bunch include more visits from family and friends, a couple beautiful Christmas trees (I'd like to mention that our tree, Kenneth Fogsworthy, was in the baby's nook. It was the only place we had to put it, so Aria got to move to Mommy and Daddy's room for the holidays...which Mommy absolutely loved <3), breaking out of her swaddle on cam, watching Winnie the Pooh for the first time, Uncle Jerry serenading her on Christmas, mom falling asleep with her at our annual Leopold New Years gathering, and finally saying goodbye out the window to Kenneth Fogsworthy. Happy 2016!