Did You Blink?

As always, December was a whir and a blur, but we had SUCH a great month!

We finished up our training in Virginia on the 13th with a special commissioning ceremony.  It was so great to celebrate with everyone as we all head out into our different parts of the world  We made so many special friendships over our 8.5 weeks and goodbyes were definitely difficult! From Carter's teachers who were so caring to our group's leaders who became our mentors to our 'quadmates' who became our family to our new friends whom we already miss dearly, we are so grateful for all those the Lord placed in our lives!

We made it to Tallahassee on the 16th and had a great time catching up with friends and family over the holiday season.  I vow every year not to 'miss' Christmas but hardly ever succeed...this year I think I managed to do it!  We got most of our Christmas shopping and crafting done in Virginia (which helped to kick off the holiday spirit while we were up there), we decorated our quad/apartment while at training, we watched Christmas movies, we visited Santa, we went to the Bethlehem walk (and interactive nativity story), we lived in cold Virginia which helped set the mood better than hot Florida, we had Christmas parties, and to top it all off, once we were in Florida we celebrated FOUR Christmases! (one with my parents, one with my extended family, one with nick's family, and one as the 3 of us).

Carter is doing awesome and this Christmas was so much fun with him at this age.  After the first two 'Christmases' he warmed up to the idea of unwrapping his own presents and it was so neat to see him actually get excited about what was inside the boxes! He's running all over the place, pointing at everything, getting a little more adventurous with what he eats (a little...), facing forward in his carseat, learning a lot of animal noises (he can growl, bark, moo, baa, neigh, hiss, and do whatever it is that an elephant does), becoming more cuddly (melt my heart), and really showing his preferences.  He loves to play outside but he also loves to watch tv (particularly dinosaur train - it's his absolutely favorite).  At his 18 month checkup he weighed almost 27 pounds and was 33 inches tall...my baby isn't so much of a baby anymore :(  He's so sweet and funny but at a year and a half, he's also starting to have some temper tantrums - yikes! Hopefully that's a habit we can kick pretty quickly...He got sick for his first time (outside of a runny nose or two) toward the end of our time in Virginia.  We're counting our blessings it took 18 months for the first fever to hit! He was so pitiful though and while it was so sad to see him not feeling well, I loved the all day snuggles I got as we rested together and watched some Christmas movies while he get better.  He's been great ever since and if we can keep this sickness thing to once every year or two, I'll be one happy mama :)

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas wherever it is you are!  Ours was so great and a lot different than it will be next year in Brazil...but we can't wait ;)  I'll post again soon about our adventure in making it to our new home...