A Season of Joy

This is a long one!

This has been the best, most exciting Holiday Season the Munselles have had! To start off, Thanksgiving was so wonderful. Chris and I were unable to make it to Dallas for Thanksgiving the 3 years we lived Nashville, so it was such a blessing to be with all our family on Thanksgiving day. We hung out at my parents most of the day and Josiah and Layla loved all the food (if you know anything about Layla, it's that she will eat whatever is put in front of her, whenever she can!). Our only responsibility was to cook the sweet potato casserole, which Chris did without my help... what can I say, I'm terrible in the kitchen! The following day, my parents took Layla and Josiah to a farm in Waco with my brother and his wife, Naomi, and her whole family. Josiah LOVES his cousins more than me I think. When I ask him who he wants to pray for at night, he always says "Abby, Jakey, Robby". I love that he loves them, because it makes for fun family get togethers. While our children were in Waco, Chris and I moved into our OWN place!! We lived with Chris's parents through August, then we moved across the street from my work for 3 months house-sitting. It is so great having our own place with our own stuff. I forgot what all we had! Moving from a 2100 square foot house to a 1300 square foot apartment has been a slight adjustment. We had to get rid of several things, but de-cluttering/downsizing crap you don't need is one of my favorite things, so it came really easy for me. I must admit, not having so much excess is really nice. It makes me really appreciate just being with my husband/kids and not worrying about how much stuff we have. Besides, we have 2 wild children who destroy most things in their path, so what's the point of having stuff in their way?
12/12/12 was my 31st birthday (the best day ever created). My parents took the kids for the night and the hubs and I went out on a lovely date. He saw Breaking Dawn part 2 with me (what a loving hubby!) and then we got sushi to go and came home and watched an uber chick flick. It was a great celebration and I am just reminded constantly of how much I am loved by my husband and how undeserving I am of him. The week before Christmas was perfection. Chris's sister, Elyse, and her husband, Carter, were in town. Instead of buying gifts for each other, we went out to dinner. It was so fun just hanging out with the two of them and catching up and getting to know them better. Josiah is kind of obsessed with uncle Car Car. For instance, today Josiah told me that he wanted 2 mommies. Me and Uncle Car Car. I'm not sure how I feel about that... Josiah also is obsessed with Christmas lights, so one night we went to the Deerfield neighborhood in Plano and just walked around for a while. It was pretty incredible and a definite redo for next year.
Christmas eve my sister came in town from San Francisco. The last time she came in town was in February and I visited her in August, so it was so great being with her again. My brother, Matthew, and his family came in town that day too. So for the next 3 days it was controlled chaos and I loved every minute of it. We spoiled our children and loved doing it. One night all the siblings and their spouses went to Trinity Hall and had such a hilarious time. Man, I love my family. At one point I thought "in a few years there could be 8 of us". While the younger years with children are hard, the older years are all worth it!
Chris and I start school on January 22. He's going to get his bachelor's in business administration then go straight into getting his master's in healthcare administration. I am going back to get my pre-reqs so I can apply to nursing school. The last time I took a science class was well over a decade ago, so I might be horrible at it, but for over a year I have had a strong desire to become a labor and delivery nurse, so I am going to see if God gives me the ability to do it! We also start our new community group this month. We are so incredibly excited to begin/continue life with 2 dear couples that we love/adore/respect/cherish. I begin a woman's Bible study with some new friends on the 14th and it is such an answer to prayer. God continues to bless our life and we are very aware that we don't deserve any of it.