Merry Christmas!! I did not post yesterday, even though it was a Tuesday, because it was CHRISTMAS and I fully enjoyed the day with my family. Christmas is a magical, blessed time of year and I am most certainly blessed with the family that God allowed me to be born into!
Although I had such a blessed and fun Christmas, walking was terrible, especially Christmas Eve. I've fallen twice since I last posted. Once was pretty funny. I was at my house and my brother, niece, Mom and Dad had come over to see all my Christmas decorations. As my brother and niece were leaving, my niece wanted me to curl up in this soft Christmas blanket I have, so I did. :) They left and I was still talking with my parents. When I got up to say goodbye to them, my legs got all caught up in the blanket and I tripped and fell, but it was the softest landing ever! That blanket, although it caused me to fall, redeemed itself!! The other fall happened on Christmas Eve after I got home from all the Christmas Eve services. I had not been walking well at all and I just took a knee in the kitchen. That hurt a little more, but again, I was fine. I really truly believe that when I get super excited about things, walking becomes all that more difficult. However, I did NOT let it ruin Christmas!!
Christmas Eve is the most holy, precious time at church. I have to say (and yes, I may be bragging a little bit, but it's also 100% true), I think we have the most beautiful Christmas Eve services. I love them so much, I go to all three!
There was a Christmas Eve a few years back that I will never forget. It was one for the record books and one of the most memorable. I had just had brain surgery on December 19 to insert a shunt because at that time my doctors thought I had hydrocephalus. The surgery and recovery were a little more than I had expected to say the least. December 24 was my first time out of the house since the surgery and looking back, I completely overdid it, but it was well worth it. I enjoyed all 3 services at church and had a huge dinner at my grandparents house. After dinner, although I was feeling a little puny, I decided I wanted to go to the 11pm Christmas Eve service with Holy Communion. After having just taken Communion, I sat back down the in the pew, turned to Mom and said, "I think I'm going to throw-up." She immediately told me to run to the bathroom. So I did. I "ran" as fast as I could (and probably the fastest I had moved since having walking problems). I made it to the bathroom before throwing up. Just as I started to throw-up, I heard a voice say, "Stephanie, are you alright?". It was my friend, Kaitlyn. Her dad, Mitch, sent her in after me as he saw me running to the bathroom. If I remember correctly, she came in and held my hair back for me. That's a friend. :) By the time I made it out of the bathroom, the service was over. My mom asked my brother, Stanton to drive me home (well, not my home, but my parent's home where I was recovering.). He did, but as soon as he hit their driveway I opened the car door (which he yelled at me for - haha! I couldn't wait until he got all the way up and stopped the car.) and I threw up all up and down my parent's driveway. By the time my dad got home, he was way too exhausted to clean the puke up so he told my mom he would do it in the morning before everyone arrived to celebrate. The only thing was, the throw-up froze to the driveway and my poor dad had to get a shovel and get it all up. I laid flat that entire Christmas trying NOT to throw-up anymore. It was definitely a memorable Christmas that year, if not necessarily for the right reasons! This Christmas, Kaitlyn and Mitch were there again at church and we had a great laugh at that memory from years ago. Kaitlyn's married now had to fill her husband in on all the details. Thankfully, this Christmas, there was no throwing up!!
Another Christmas Eve memory I have was when I was a teenager and I actually caught my hair on fire. This is the reason my dad continually warns people to not dip a burning candle to light an unlit candle and for mothers and fathers to watch that their kids don't set their hair on fire. OK, maybe that's not why he warns them, but it did happen to me! I leaned over to show my brother where we were in the bulletin and my hair went up in flames! I quickly extinguished it, but my hair smelled like rotten eggs the rest of the night! Leave it to the preacher's kid to create the memorable moments on Christmas Eve. ;)
I hope everyone reading this had a blessed Christmas. I know that I am blessed. I am thankful to be alive. I am thankful for those that come beside me and help me when I need it. I am blessed that from the Christmas Eve I threw up all over the place to Christmas Eve 2018, I have gotten so much better. Oh yes, I still have many problems walking and in life in general (don't we all?!), but I know where my hope, peace, love and life come from and that, my friends, is the greatest blessing of all. As I always say (and believe down to my core): God's Got This!
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