". . . and I will . . . pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it."

This year has been an adventurous one for our family.  We've had highs and lows and I feel like our faith has had lots of opportunity to grow and become stronger.  It's been a year of firsts for a lot of things. First time we had the experience of preparing to leave the country. First time we sold almost all that we own.  First time we lost a very close family member. First time Ronny has made the goal to begin and faithfully strive to finish his first novel around February 2012.  First time I got a calling to teach in Relief Society.  (Yay!)  It hasn't been an easy year for sure, but would I change it.  Absolutely not!  Certainly, there are days that we think that it would be nice to have some of our old "stuff" back, but it really is just "stuff" that would make life a little more comfortable.  But really and truly, we have been more blessed than we ever expected.  Christmas season was amazing!  We have had so many wonderful people reach out to us and share what they have with us.  We have truly been the reciprocal of so many amazing blessings that we truly felt that we did not have room enough to receive it.  Some family/families decided to do this incredible 12 days of Christmas for us.  Somehow they knew exactly what we needed or wanted.

The first day, they gave us a bag full of delicious food, which we, of course could always use around this house.  With 4 boys, we go through a lot of food already and we haven't even made it to the teenage years yet.

The second day of Christmas we got this awesome baby package with diapers, wipes, onesies, socks, blankets, etc.  And it came in such a cute basket that I can use for storage.

The third day of Christmas we received some new pillows and 4 twin sheet sets for the boys' bunk beds which were also given to us from the ward from DI. We happened to have almost enough sheets for each to have one set, but now they actually all coordinate and match with each other.  That is a first for our kids. They were so excited about their new sheets.

Look at this beautiful songbook.  Someone knows me all too well.  We couldn't figure out who, but the fourth day was this really awesome LDS Christmas songbook.  It has some really awesome songs in it.  Not just LDS, but some really great Christmas songs.  Love it!

This happened to be one of my personal favorites.  On the fifth day, we got some really great dish soap, which smells amazing, a nice baking pan set with a rack and lid, a nice glass mixing bowl, measuring cups, some handy dish towels, a set of tongs, and my favorite part was the recipe book that I have been dying to get since it came out into print.  I have used this cookbook a lot since I got it and I just love so many of the recipes in there and all the great pics and food tips.  I'm excited to try more.

On the sixth day of Christmas we got this super soft blanket/throw that we use almost on a daily basis, because it gets cold in our front room at night.  And who doesn't love hot chocolate with peppermint marshmallows.  So cozy and just perfect for this time of year.

The seventh day of Christmas we got a huge turkey, a big bag of potatoes, and some other yummies to make for Christmas dinner.  So grateful for the kindness of others and absolutely amazed still by their thoughtfulness.  Sure wish we could thank them personally, but I know that this would probably take the fun out of it for them.

On the eighth day of Christmas we got this basket of goodies.  Socks for the all the kids, hangers, laundry detergent, dryer sheets, and Clorox bleach.  These may seem like the simplest gifts to some, but really and truly they meant the world to us.  Besides, it helped us not to feel so bad getting things that we mostly needed or would be able to put to good use.  Hope we can do that for somebody someday.

On the ninth day of Christmas we got all kinds of bath stuff.  Towels for each of the kids, bars of soap, toilet paper, toothpaste, toothbrushes, and hand soap, plus the laundry basket that we use a lot because of the endless pile of laundry we always have. The kids had just run out of toothpaste, and we were close to running out of toilet paper and bath soap as well.  We started to wonder if someone had put a camera in our house and somehow knew exactly what we needed.  But, I suppose the Lord knows exactly what we need all the time.

On the tenth day of Christmas, we were so surprised to find this fun little wiggle car on our front porch.  Cries of excitement and joy came from the kids and everyone had to try it out right away.  How they knew that I had wanted to get the kids this for Christmas, I do not know, because, I never mentioned it to anyone that I can recall.

This was a fun one for Ronny and I.  The eleventh day was for us.  We got $15 of Target gift cards, a gift card for lunch at a sandwich shop, a gift card for smoothies, and get this a $50 visa gift card, and movie tickets.  We were able to use these for a couple of different dates.  What a blessing to be able to spend time with my hubby!

Now we weren't sure if these bags came from our Secret Santa or from an entirely different group, but these two big bags of toys for the kids were left on our doorstep without a cute little sign.  Totally blown away by this act of kindness towards our family, when we couldn't afford to spend money on Christmas for our kids.

Then about 15 minutes later, we got this beautiful framed picture of the savior.  What a perfect ending for the twelve days of Christmas!  Such a great reminder again of what Christmas is all about.

Some other amazing things that were given to us.  A matching couch and loveseat from my new visiting teacher.  She said it had been in her garage for a month and she was just trying to get rid of it.  She saw our very sad, torn up couch and had said she was more than happy to get it out of her garage.  We are so grateful for it.  It's the first matching set of furniture we have ever had, plus it's really comfy to sit on or sleep on, as you can see from the picture.

Our awesome Elder's Quorum President also asked if we would like two of these nice bean bags that had been sitting in his garage.  We didn't realize how big they were until he brought them over, but the kids love to jump on them and and obviously they are comfortable enough to fall asleep on  as well.

Now after that terribly long post, if you made it this far, you may start to see why we feel like we have felt that the Lord's blessings have literally been poured out upon us.  We gave up some things, but gained far better things including a greater understanding of God's amazing love for us. And how he truly watches over his children and blesses them beyond their own imagination, if they are only open to receiving all that he has to give them.  Many of these things were temporal things, but as the Lord takes care of his sparrows, he truly knows how to take care of his children.  Our hearts have been filled with gratitude to overflowing and we have truly been the recipients of so many blessings both spiritual and temporal.  We may not always understand what the Lord has in store for us, but I know without a doubt that whatever it is, it is something amazing if we only keep the faith and trust in him.  He knows far better than we do what is best for us.  I thank the Lord for those willing to serve him and those who reached out to show our little family such great love.