Happy New Year!

I'm sitting here next to three sleeping boys. We really know how to ring in the new year in style.

The fear of something happening to my computer and the possibility of losing all of my pictures has been looming over me for quite some time now and I keep having the best of intentions to back up all of our pictures onto cds, but things like that sometimes aren't a high priority around here and so day after day, the thought quickly passes through my mind, but I just haven't done it.

So tonight, when my computer screen suddenly became a series of colored lines and wouldn't respond to anything I did...I panicked. The thought of losing all of the documentation of the first hours, days, and weeks of my babies' lives is tragic.

Don't worry...it came back to life shortly after and so I have spent the last few hours fishing through disorganized folders of pictures and videos and copying them all to cds. In the midst of this project, Dustin and I found ourselves watching all of the videos from the past couple of months and quite honestly, I wouldn't have wanted to spend this new year's eve doing anything else in the world.

You see, where we came from and how far we have come is never far from my mind. It is not infrequent that the events of this last year come to mind: finding out we were expecting, that first doctor's appointment when we learned there were two, that first appointment in Houston when I was told that there was only a 50% chance that both babies would survive, the news that Eli just wasn't growing inside of me, the medication to control the contractions helping us hang on a few more weeks, being admitted to the hospital 7 weeks before my due date, discovering that my body just couldn't take it any longer, delivering 6 1/2 weeks early, and the several weeks spent in the NICU. And as I sit here with my two perfect babies 9 months later reflecting on those times, those emotions overcome me again, and I just can't stop the tears of joy, relief, and gratitude that come knowing that we have been so blessed to come out the other side happy and healthy.


We are blessed. And we don't forget it.

I think about these things often because I never want to take a moment with Eli and Landon for granted. I will never complain about lack of sleep or loads of laundry or never being able to leave my house because I consider those things a privilege. They mean that I have two precious little people to hold and love.

I do believe that 2008 was my best year yet. It brought me closer to my husband, closer to my God, and it brought me Eli & Landon. I am very much looking forward to the things to come in 2009 as each new day will be filled with new joys as I watch these boys grow.


From our family to yours, we wish you a very happy new year!

Love,
The Grigsbys