It seems every holiday I think back on the previous year’s festivities. December makes me reflect on all the Christmas’s since Duane & I met. Every December has marked big transitions in our lives, usually related to moving to a new place or major health issues. But each year I think to myself, “this is our best Christmas yet!”
December 2010
Duane & I got engaged! We had met in Idaho, and in December I moved to Colorado (where he’s from). We spent Christmas apart, but New Year’s together on the East Coast introducing him to all my friends.
December 2011
Duane & I had spent 4 months living in India, and returned to the states suddenly for health reasons. (I went to the ER the day after we arrived in Colorado). With the death of our dream of living in India, and we had no idea what to do next, or where to live. We ended up house-sitting for friends in Idaho and re-joining the YWAM team there.
December 2012
Duane & I were supposed to lead a team to India, when I discovered Monkey was growing inside me! Not wanting to risk getting sick while pregnant, I stayed home alone while Duane was in India for the entire month of December. We were both sick over Christmas 🙁
December 2013
We took our 3-6 month old Monkey on a 3 month road trip to 25 states and Canada. The trip was cut short after I had developed anaphylactic reaction to peanuts and my body started freaking out about all sorts of food allergies. That resulted in spending Christmas together in our own home for the first time ever. Monkey had her first fever Christmas day 🙁 On the bright side, I finally found a naturalpath dr who could identify and treat the parasites I had acquired in India 2 years earlier.
December 2014
We had just moved to Oregon, and were living with the Hooley’s. They were away Christmas weekend, so we had a family Christmas, but it wasn’t really our home. After a year of discovering and dealing with various food allergies, I finally did food-sensitivity testing which resulted in my list of foods to stop eating getting even longer. If I had taken a pregnancy test on Christmas day, it would have been positive, but I stayed in denial for 2 more weeks before coming to the conclusion that either something was very wrong, or a baby Lioness was incubating.
December 2015
We have 2 little girls! and our own house! I’m getting to a rhythm of making milk while caring for two kids. Now Duane has a new job too! We’ve had some big transitions in our lives, especially in the month of December!
