Retirement, Christmas giftage, thankfulness

Steve is officially an old retired man.

Maybe not old...just retired from his night shift at the pharmaceutic plant.  This is like Christmas to me.  No more sleeping alone, no more whacky off-kilter schedules, no more day-in-day-out tussle with the stress of it all.  Glory be!  I am very grateful for what Steve's job provided for us: we own our house, HarriEd's medical bills are completely paid off, and we have a decent chunk of change in savings with which to make our move to St. Louis.  It was a blessing while being an immense stretch-er.  And I'm really glad that it's over and that now we can move onward and upward.

To celebrate this momentous occasion we hosted a little retirement party, which was made up of various and sundry brothers/sisters, friends-who-are-brother-and-sister, and a friend who is neither a brother or a sister to any of us.  It was a rather hip-happening time.  Steve and I had the brill idea of creating a pasta bar which was a splendid way to feed a small crowd.  We just cooked several kinds of pasta, sauteed fresh vegetables, prepared two kinds of sauces, and had some chicken and bacon on the side.  (My new favourite dish just may be sauteed veggies with fettuccine and homemade alfredo sauce.  I can only have it after I have burned about 2500 calories and/or sweat off 15 lbs at Jazzercise.)  We concurred that we will have to remember this dish when we are old and have to feed a bunch of Steve's seminary students at our house.

I have all of our presents wrapped and our stockings filled.  I just love Christmas and planning ahead makes this season more fun than stressful.  I want to go into great detail about the gifts because I'm so excited, but I know that too many loving relatives read this blog and then the surprises will be all spoilt.  However, HarriEd can't read yet (as far as I know), so I will tell you about her gifts.  She is getting a new Christmas dress which I finished yesterday.  It is a jumper which is sewn from pink striped flannel and is accented with a hot pink sash (poofy bows are the best!) and little pink fabric yo-yos on the skirt.  It looked awfully tiny when I was making it, but then I tried it on the little darling and the dress was definitely on the roomy side.  Oh well.  In addition to the dress, HarriEd will unwrap Robeez shoes (LOVE!) and four Winnie-the-Pooh related books: Now We Are Six, When We Were Very Young, The Pooh Cookbook and The Pooh Party Book. 

Sometimes God takes hold of my thoughts and says, "Look, Amelia, you are actually living the life that you have desired to live."  It's so incredible.  I have a wonderful husband in whose love I can truly flourish.  I have an adorable baby who makes my heart want to overflow.  I enjoy being surrounded by my own extended family and I can really truly look forward to spending the next few weeks with my in-laws - not too many girls can say that!  I am able to develop my interests of crafting, sewing, and reading without the pressure of deadlines and subjective judging.  And we are moving towards working in ministry together as a little family.  Hurrah!