Don't Stop Believin'

This is my first blog post from Tulsa! I have been a bit unplugged the past 10 days or so as I've been trying to spend as much time as possible with my family. Today is our last day in town and then we head to Kansas City to see my aunt, uncle and cousins for a day and then make the long drive back to Ohio. We just barely made it into town on the 24th as a snow storm descended on Oklahoma. Soon after we arrived on the 24th my mother asked me to complete the final piece of the advent calendar. That may not seem all that significant, however, this year it had a special meaning. My mom has had this advent calendar for probably close to 15 years and each day of advent you take one of the little girls from around the world and place her in the proper day. We used to save the little American girl and the Japanese girl for the very end. You can read HERE as to why the Japanese girl held significance. Since the little girls are to represent children from around the globe there are of course a few girls from Africa. I am a little suprised that my mom never looked them all up to see all the countries but this year she was inspired. Can you see where this is going? A few days before we came to Tulsa, I got a text from my mom with the exclamation, "One of the advent girls is from Ethiopia!!" It took a moment to register but then I realized what she meant. How cool is that?! Every December for fifteen years we have brought out this calendar and counted down the days to Christmas with the little girls from around the world and all that time a little girl from Ethiopia was with us. I actually find it very comforting. Here are a few photos. Please note that I had been in the car for 12 hours so I am not looking super fresh.

Another one of "those moments" happened with one of the Christmas gifts we got for my mom. Damon and I were really trying to find several gifts this year that would be meaningful to the person receiving it but also serve as a double gift by benefitting a charity. We were looking through some of the items on the AHOPE website and found a necklace that was perfect for her. My mom is majorly into scrabble and is very good. I think Damon considers it one of his life goals to beat her just once. Well, this particular necklace had an image of Africa on a scrabble tile! We ordered it and when it came I looked at it and flipped it over and saw that it was on a "G" scrabble tile. Hello, G is for Grandma! When my mom opened it and saw the image of Africa on a scrabble tile she burst into tears. Then she flipped it over and said, "you got me G for Grandma." I explained that it just came that way and we weren't given the option to pick the specific letter for the tile. I think we all just paused and let it sink in and looked at each other. Life is pretty cool when you just let it wash over you and realize that even though it can be scary to know how much is out of your control it can also be pretty amazing. I am so grateful for that realization.

I have mentioned before that we watch a lot of "Friends" in my family and can pretty much recite dialogue from most of the episodes. As usual, we have watched a lot of Friends since I have been home but last night we watched a few episodes of my sister's and my new favorite show from 2009 - GLEE. I have always been a sucker for shows like Glee. Anything that combines high school angst with music is golden in my book. Today I went out and bought both of the soundtracks. I have decided that the chorus from one of the songs from the pilot is going to be my mantra for 2010. I am really going to need a mantra in 2010 and this song brings a smile to my face and encourages me to just keep going and to never stop believing that anything is possible. ENJOY!

Happy New Year! May your 2010 be filled with peace and happiness. AND.....

Don't Stop Believing!!