Tis the Season!

And now, a word about Christmas from our boy child:

Kinda melts your heart, huh? We are so thankful for this little boy! We are thankful that he "gets it" when it comes to the meaning of Christmas. We are thankful that we have him this Christmas. Realistically, if Pierson's CHD hadn't been caught and surgically corrected he wouldn't be alive right now. He didn't have much time left. To know that he has a second chance at life --- and that his precious little heart is learning to love Jesus make me want to rejoice and cry all at once.
We have been in full swing celebrating Jesus' birthday here for a while. I love everything about this time of year. Something that no one told me about becoming a parent is that life gets more fun -- and that includes Christmas. We have been having a blast. We have had more fun celebrations this year. We feel so thankful that Pierson is more interested in Jesus' birthday than Santa or presents.

So here's what we have been up to:

Climbing and sliding down the planters by the duck/turtle ponds at North Park. We are so thankful that he has the energy/desire to do this. Last year he would just watch the other kids. We just thought he liked to watch... not that he was conserving his energy/oxygen levels.






Our 2011 Christmas Card Pic snapped at the Gaylord

 We also spent a Sunday at the Gaylord Texan with my parents enjoying brunch, the ICE Exhibit and the amazing Christmas decorations there. We had a great time and even snapped a picture for our Christmas card. Well, I say we had a great time. Pierson actually really hated the ICE exhibit. After about one minute in there in an issued heavy duty parka he had a (rare) complete meltdown (excuse the pun) because of how cold it was in the exhibit. I now feel like we never have to worry about him moving horribly far away to some cold place for school or work.  I ended up taking him out early and letting Jeff and my parents enjoy. He was NOT happy at ICE but the rest of our visit there was wonderful! We had brunch by the river walk there and explored the train exhibit. We will be going back next year.



You can see here how much he did not love the cold!



Some of the most fun we have had was Pierson's Christmas program at his preschool. We are so thankful that God placed us at this school. We know that when Pierson goes to school his needs of spiritual, academic, social and physical growth are being met. We know he is being challenged and held accountable. All the children did a fantastic job! It was so fun to see the 2 year olds and how small they were and to think that P was that little a year ago. Pierson sung out loudly and we could hear him. He also demonstrated tempo very well when the teacher asked the children to do so. He gets his rhythm from Jeff. Not me!

P-Dawg and friends displaying tempo. P is looking at the teacher.

Pierson singing his precious little heart out at his preschool Christmas program

I keep thinking about how extra special these memories are and how extra special this Christmas is because we might not have had this Christmas with Pierson. I was thinking as we were watching him sing the other night how blessed we are. He might not have been up there if his heart defect had not been detected and corrected. One of the other moms of his classmates remarked to me about how much he has grown (we're almost at 4 inches since July) and I said, "Yes! Now that his heart is working he's growing like a weed" She was a little taken back. She had no idea he had heart surgery (they were gone most of the summer). No one is ever going to know by looking at Pierson what all he has gone through and how close we came to losing him. That's a good thing! We feel blessed that he is on his way to being a tall, strong young man. Our prayer is that other families with heart kids can look at Pierson and know his story and have comfort that their child will be ok too.

Of course, our greatest prayer for Pierson's heart is that it will be filled with Jesus. We pray that he grows to be a man of the Lord -- and that he exudes honor, courage, servanthood, and an unshakable love for the Lord and His people. Beat to praise Him little heart! Beat strong!