October 11 - December 11

Two months can be a long time. Or, it can be short. I think Aaron said it best last month: "I don't know whether to feel like....it's been a month ALREADY? or it's ONLY been a month!" I feel the same way now. Two months or eight weeks.

In God's perfect plan today would be the day that we attempted to decorate our two trees. Greg was our light guy! He mostly did not complain about the tangled mess that came out of the bin every year :) Ever the optimist he would say that once they were on the tree they shone brightly and were beautiful. Aaron is my traditionalist following very closely in the footsteps of his dad in many areas. There is never a worry about how things should be done because he keeps us all straight. He took over stringing the lights with Rachael as his handy assistant. The trees both looked great to me but I had to give the final answer since "you're the one who's OCD!!"

Somehow at our house, decorating day turns into decorating week. And so it is again. Time for bed. Lights are on both trees and nothing else. We will pick up again when we are all home together. That may be tomorrow afternoon. Whether or not another thing gets done another first was accomplished tonight in the new Davenport household and it was good. Thanks be to God!

In the spirit of Charlie Brown

I wasn't sure I would ever make the leap into the blogging world and maybe I'll only be a one hit wonder but here goes. This weekend chronicles the two month mark of beginning our lives without Greg. Perhaps that was on my mind this morning as I was feeling a little low. I am also worn down from my current bout with bronchitis. I was tired and sore from all the coughing and lack of sleep. On the agenda today was to get a Christmas tree if there was one to be had this year. Aaron and Rachael assured me that they wanted to decorate like we always have. We only had a small window of opportunity this afternoon because Aaron had to work at three and we got a late start. We bundled up and headed out. The first tree we saw was sitting off by itself without even a tag. I made the comment that it looked lonely and sort of like a Charlie Brown tree. Both the kids thought it looked just fine and Aaron made the comment: "well, in the spirit of Charlie Brown, which Dad really liked, I think we should get it!" As it turns out, we found another smaller one for the front room in the house. Greg was a big fan of this idea (two trees) that started a couple years ago. When we returned home I was amazed as I stood back and watched Aaron and Rachael take charge of putting both trees in the stands, straighten them, etc. We have done nothing further at this point since Aaron had to leave. We will wait to decorate with him.

I was reminded of the way that God takes our bad attitudes, pitty parties and self centered complaints and redeems them for our delight. The day that I did not want to pursue turned out to be a joy to my heart. The kids and I shared many smiles and much laughter even as we remembered Greg today. I was also reminded that there was only one other year since we were married that we were apart for Christmas. That was the year Greg was overseas as a part of Operation Desert Storm. God taught me more about myself and Himself that year than He had ever done before. Or maybe I just heard Him more clearly than I ever had before! I am confident that He has much to teach me this year as well.