Recovered from the holiday? I'm still working on it...truth be told, I got pneumonia and a respiratory infection 3 days before Christmas and I'm still not quite back on my feet. Kind of a bummer - when Mom is sick, Christmas just doesn't quite go as planned. But I'm thankful, I am getting well.
My kids are happy.
Their bellies are full with...well, whatever my husband conjured up. (He tried to make my famous chicken tortilla soup - bless him. I'm still the soup king...)
And one of my peas has been amazing. Who knew she could do dishes? Change Sprout's diaper? And keep the house running while the Gardener has been at work. I'm very proud of her and very thankful because she really allowed me to rest and lay down when breathing...air...of any sort, was a real challenge.
Christmas is a gift that no illness can take away. It didn't really matter that I couldn't cook like I normally do or other things we didn't get to. What we did do was just be together and quietly celebrate the birth of Jesus. So, in that essence, our holiday was simply awesome.
I wanted to share with you what arrived in my mailbox just before the holiday - a quilt. Nettie, who blogs at A Quilt is Nice made the sweetest little baby quilt for Modern Relief. This year, a whole host of quilters got together and donated some amazing pieces of art to a raffle where the proceeds go to World Vision, an organization working to end hunger. Over $5000 was raised to this effort and I was so shocked that I had won Nettie's quilt! (I NEVER win anything!)
I'm probably not explaining myself very well as my head is not all that clear - you can go read about it on Nettie's blog. 
Nettie's workmanship is beautiful...this quilt is absolutely precious. I don't even know how she made it. The blocks are all wonky sized and it's so adorable. Truly, a work of art.
Well, this quilt wasn't in my hands for very long. My two peas who have some mild "challenges" had a favorite teacher last year that we love and treasure. She made a significant difference in their lives through not only her example of how she taught, ran the classroom and lives her life, but she also helped us to find a new pathway for my girls "challenges". She reminds me of Ms. Frizzle from the Magic School Bus books. She's just that kind of teacher. She saved my girls, she made them feel like they could do anything. And she's probably the first teacher that made them believe in themselves.
This special teacher, she is expecting. A baby boy. Coming this Spring.
I knew that as special as this quilt is - that I wanted to share it with this very special person. I told her the story about Nettie and the raffle and the Modern Relief efforts and how the quilt was just passing through my hands to the intended recipient. And it made her cry. She absolutely loved the quilt and she's even thinking about decorating the nursery around some of the prints in the quilt. I knew as soon as I saw this quilt that it really wasn't mine...because a new baby boy is going to be wrapped in this very soon.
xoxo,
Trish