What a difference a year can make!!

I can remember bringing in the New Year 2011 with Brandon at the Bi-Lo Center celebrating with our church Redemption and just thinking about all the year had to hold.  Birthdays, Anniversaries, the normal stuff and then many many first!  Birth of our First son, First Mother's Day, First Father's Day, First holidays with a new family member, and oh just how exciting it all sounded on that night.  We had so much to look forward to!  But no thought that night could have ever prepared me for those moments that I got to experience!

The day Karson was born what a memory!!  What an awesome experience to have with Brandon and to go through together.  But the memories from that day are overwhelming.  That first cry, first time you hold him in your arms, first prayer as a family, first time talking to Karson, first family picture (yeah I'm big on pictures!) first bath, first night together.  Truly just an experience that you can't even explain or put into words!  (And they automatically prepare you to be a close family because they give you this really small room to stay in while at the hospital so you get pretty tight! :)

And then to celebrate your first mothers day and first fathers day.  Things that you have celebrated with your parents for years and now its your turn.  But I can also remember sitting back and saying....is this really happening?  Oh how I long to be the best mom to my precious child! And can it be that Mother's Day is one of my favorite times now....yeah I think so! Not a day to pamper mommy....but for me it was a reminder as to why I do all I do.  It helped me to realize I take care of my husband and my sweet baby because I LOVE to.  It's what I was born to do (if you ask me!) And although it takes quite the energy out of me to do all that I want to for them it's also the gift God has given me.  And may I never take a day for granted that I take care of them because it's my calling!! And to see my family honor me was just a small reminder to me that everything I do whether seen or done behind closed doors for them is all absolutely worth it!!  Becoming a mom has showed me more of my worth and why I am here and I am so honored to have this as a new roll!  

And then to honor Brandon on Father's Day!  I know for a fact Karson will grow up wanting to be just like his daddy!  A warrior, a leader, someone our family can count on, disciplined, determined, dedicated!  He's the whole package....what an awesome example Karson has to follow and look up to!

Our first summer together going to the beach spending time with family and friends.  New family traditions. His first time out to the dove field, his first thanksgiving, first time out to the land, his first christmas! 

 So many memories from this year that I will forever cherish.  And pictures are a great reminder that we will all look back on someday, but the memories I have stored up I will always remember!  This year was AMAZING!  Just a true blessing that I am so thankful for!  

But I know I can close and still say....THE BEST IS YET TO COME!!!!  So we welcome in 2012 with open arms, open heart, and open direction to what God has in store for us! 

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."

 Ephesians 3:20-21