Update

So it's been a while.  I think it took me two full weeks to recover from Christmas, 14 days until I could lift my head and take a deep breath.  Shameful, really, but that's how it was.  Here are some bullet points on happenings around our house in the last month, in the style of my friend Rebekah, whose blog you should really be reading if you need a good belly laugh.

• Charlotte learns to crawl like a big girl, her bottom wiggling high in the air as she trucks from room, to room, to room.  She learns how to remove the rubber corner guard on the fireplace and carries it around in her mouth like a dog.
• Sam goes five consecutive nights without a pull up, in big boy pants.  We celebrate with Cocoa Krispies for breakfast.  The next night he wets through: 1) his jammies 2) the sheets 3) the duvet  4) the down comforter.
• I do laundry.  Lots of laundry.
• Charlotte says her first word: "Hhhhhottttt"  I think she has a thing for the fireplace.  She will whisper it quietly to herself, by herself, in the crib.  It is hilarious.  "Daaa deeeee" soon follows.  I try not to be brokenhearted.
• Sam gets a cold.  Sam gets an ear infection.  Sam hates Augmentin and throws it up twice, one time all over his sister in the bath tub.  Scott gets a sinus infection.  Scott takes Augmentin but does not throw it up.  The boys are now fine.
• 10 days later Charlotte gets a cold.  Charlotte is on her way to getting an ear infection currently.
• I make chicken noodle soup from scratch in an attempt to fight off the colds (recipe coming soon, it's a good one from my brother in law)
• Anna and I go to Vie for the first time.  I have one of the pinnacle dining experiences of my life.  More on that later too.
• Heavy things are shared by friends this month, things that make my heart ache and cause me to question God and His goodness.  Things that make me wrestle and argue with Him and sad.  But there was a moment, a Wednesday night at rehearsal two weeks ago, where He gave me something.  It felt like His hand was on my shoulder, speaking directly into my heart through the words of the song the choir was singing.  They sang it through for 35 minutes straight, it only took 32 minutes to sink in that this was a message for me: "Rejoice in the Lord always, rejoice!  I will say it again, rejoice.  I will say it again, rejoice."  Over and over and over again.  I cried in the car on the way home, the words lovingly hammered into my heart and mind.  It came down to, what do I believe?  Do I choose to believe God is good?  Even though the circumstances cause me to question and worry and be sad?  I do.  I do choose to believe He is good.  But I am still sad with these friends, January seems to be the month for it.
• February is just four days away though.