Well, I saw this first at Scott’s and then over at Cris’s…I thought it was interesting, so I thought I’d do my own version. You take the first sentence from the first blog entry of each month. I took the title and the first sentence and I skipped any memes or other non-journal-type posts. You can click on any of the months to see their actual post. Needless to say, it has been an eventful year…with the birth of our son, the loss of a family pet, a new job and many other noteworthy events. Thanks for hanging out and reading about our life. Happy New Year!

January: Getting Anxious
My Sister-In-Law told me not to buy anything, because I would get so many gifts.

February: I’m About To Explode!
My fans are crying for an update.

March: Gabriel Donovan Roberts
Born March 4th, 2005.

April: What’s Going On?
Well, here I sit at 2:30 in the morning and I’m unable to sleep.

May: Too Early For Tears
The flood gates have opened and it is much too early for this.

June: Don’t Mess With The Bull
I’d like to take a moment and a little bit of my web space to respond to a comment left on another one of my blog reads.

July: Happy Independence Day!
I think my husband said it best!

August: Do you believe in intuition?
Do you ever have the gut feeling that something just isn’t right?

September: A Little Perspective
I’ve heard many complaining about the current price of gas.

October: Nason
The past week one of our cats hasn’t been well.

November: Hey Victor! Hey Freddie!
I’m in the shower last night.

December: Oops!
We had a database hiccup that ate all the entries we’ve added since we moved to our new home on the web.

Sweetheart of mine –

WHY do you always want the door to the closet closed before we go to bed and then leave it open so in the dark dark morning I think it’s closed and walk smack into the thing???? OH….you were getting my shoes for me cause you knew I was running late.

WHY do you always insist on leaving your slippers beside the bed so I trip on them when my sleepy butt is making its way to the bathroom in the middle of the night???? OH….you left them there for me so my feet would not get cold on the wood floors walking to the bathroom…you were sharing what I did not have.

WHY do you always call me on your way home so I know you have gotten to your car safely in the hospital parking garage and then FORGET to do it and come home a half hour later while I am wondering if someone got you and wonder why I am tears???? OH…..you forgot your phone at home and decided to stop and buy me tulips to surprise me……boy…. am I a butthead!

Maybe I should be asking WHY you love me like you do.

Everyone posts their thoughts on loved ones. I don’t have a blog and I’ve never had a healthy love to brag about. Thanks Jen for letting us post today and thank you Lara for sharing your life with me. I’m sorry sometimes I seem selfish and ungrateful…but next to Gage….you are the best thing God gave me. I love you.

Today is “Free-For-All Friday” which means you can post whatever you want on my blog. Say what you want to say, share a link, complain about household appliances, etc…all you have to do is login and post!

Here’s how to do it:

• Go to the log-in prompt by clicking here.
• Login/Password: guest/FFAF
• You will be redirected to the dashboard – Click on “Write” on the top menu bar.
• In the categories box on the right, make sure there is a check mark next to “free for all” .
• Type a title in the “Title” field and type whatever you want in the “Post” field.
• When you’re done, click the “Publish” button.

Rules:

• Please keep it clean…if you don’t think I would post it, don’t. God forbid if I find spam or porn links…
• Feel free to link your blog…just make sure you say who you are. (sign your post)
• I approve all posts and reserve the right to edit/delete inappropriate posts (or those with really obvious spelling mistakes)
• Have fun!

Our Christmas celebration with my half of the family came and went today. Jen worked tirelessly throughout the morning and into the afternoon getting everything ready. She prepared a fantastic meal, some of which I imagine I’ll be carrying with me for an indeterminate period of time… But let’s not go into that now.

The kids scored plenty of swag. Gabriel walked away with a cartwheeling Tigger, a “See ‘n Say”, he got a nifty little animal puzzle, a book of kids’ Bible stories, a very cuddly stuffed dog, and some cool wind up cars (from which Jenifer, I, and our cats also received much enjoyment). He still has gifts under the tree to open Christmas morning.

I made out pretty well this year too. After having been gifted a Playstation2 by Scott, my family filled in the missing items necessary for me to play Soul Calibur 3. Something I’ve been waiting to do for some time. That is, of course, only a trivial fraction of the blessings I’m able to count. If I were in a more articulate frame of mind, and not in a food induced state of drowsiness, I’d list them all. Suffice to say, I have a wonderful, loving, generous family. I don’t deserve them, and they don’t deserve to be saddled with me.

Two of my brothers couldn’t be with us today. Their presence is the only thing that could have improved the experience. We had fun, but you guys were missed, Ryan and Nathan. I look forward to future Christmases where we can all be together again.

Something has happened to me. I’ve always been a “social butterfly” but I hated cooking. Before Mike, I’d go anywhere, do anything…except cook. After Mike, my social behaviors calmed down quite a bit…because all I wanted to do was spend time with Mike.

I still enjoyed entertaining. I’d host the occassional Mah Jongg party and that really tickled my fancy…but somewhere along the line, I started to enjoy cooking.

This Christmas Eve we are having my In-Laws over for dinner. I’m so excited. I’ve put together a pretty yummy menu: glazed ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, creamed corn, green bean casserolle, Honeymoon Hash (a very delicious marshmallow fluff), caramel apple cake, pumpkin pie and spiced apple cider.

I’m making the deserts today. The cake is finished, all except for the caramel drizzled on top and I won’t do that until I’m ready to serve it. The pumpkin pie is cooling. I need make the Honeymoon Hash and then I’ll peel the potatoes so they can soak until tomorrow. I’ve been informed by a good friend that they whip up creamier when you soak them overnight. Plus, then I won’t have to hassle with peeling them tomorrow.

I’m loving it too! That is the strange part.

It has been a while since I wrote one of my sappy posts, but I can resist no longer. This Christmas, the miracles of the past remind me of the miracles of the present.

“Fear Not,” said the angel, “For I bring you tidings of great joy. For unto you is born this day in Bethlehem – a Saviour who is Christ the Lord.”

“And this shall be a sign unto you. You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly the sky was filled with angels, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the Highest, and on Earth peace, good will toward men.”

A child born unto a virgin, in a cold animal stable. A miracle pregnancy followed by a birth that defied the odds. Joseph cleaned the stable as best as possible, but you know it was far from a sterile environment…there were no doctors. Upon the birth of Jesus, the infant was laid in a food trough. Can you imagine? A beautiful baby boy was born and the angels danced in the skies.

I’m so thankful. I’m thankful that Christ was born, he lived, he taught, he suffered, he died and he arose, all so that I could be saved. I wasn’t a follower of Christ for many years. I didn’t grow up with the bible and I didn’t “get it”. I knew that there was something bigger than us all…but I didn’t know what it was. Just a short few years ago, I didn’t get it.

I’ve told the story a million times….I don’t really need to tell it again. In short, my body was broken but my husband had enough faith for both of us. It wasn’t until I had my angel, my Gabriel, growing inside of me that my faith blossomed. I knew that he was a miracle. Every day as he grew inside of me, as he developed, I thanked the Lord, Jesus Christ for this gift….for this miracle.

I recently visited the doctors office where they took an ultrasound of my ovaries. The doctor looked a little shocked and said, you must have been trying for quite a while to get pregnant. It was true…but I must say that the look on his face confirmed it. We were blessed. As I saw my ovaries and how they were covered in little black spots. Each spot was a cyst. Each cyst was caused by the release of a group of eggs. The eggs attached themselves because there were too many to travel and eventually turned into cysts. The doctor said, if you want another child you better do it now, because you don’t have much time, if any. Yet, several years ago, I was told that I’d never get pregnant without very costly medical intervention. While I’m not ready for another child, if it is meant to happen sometime in the future, I have faith that it will, regardless of the challenges that my body presents.

I got pregnant against all of the odds. I gave birth one month early and I was extremely ill. So ill, that I couldn’t even hold my child for over 24 hours after he was born. He was placed into the NICU with all of these tiny and fragile babies. Yet there he was healthy, strong and big. I got pregnant against the odds. I delivered in less than ideal circumstances. This Christmas I get to share it with my wonderful husband and my beautiful gift of life, Gabe.

I certainly can’t compare my situation to that of Mary and our Lord, but I can’t help but be reminded of the wonderful blessings of Christ.

Merry Christmas everyone!

I was going through a box of stuff I packed away years ago. It was kind of like Christmas. Gabe benefited from it too. He got to play with his first lightsaber.

He carefully scrutinized the device. Examining it’s every detail.

Then we had some problems… He just couldn’t seem to get the hang of the function of a lightsaber.

His sparring partner wasn’t much help either. I probably should have paired him with someone more experienced.

I’m sorry that I haven’t been posting lately. I’ve had a lot to say, but not enough time to say it. I started my new job and I love it…but it has me hoppin’ and fast! On top of the new job, I’ve been fighting a nasty cold. So, I’ve been working HARD, coming home, taking care of Gabe and then the once he’s in bed, I’ve gone to bed and slept until morning. So, I’ve been going to bed anytime between 7:30 pm-9:00 pm.

…but I think the worst of my cold is behind me and I have a few days at the new job down, so hopefully I’ll be able to post soon.

However, I have a ton if Christmas shopping and cooking to be doing, so don’t hold your breath.

As Gabe has entered our life, both Mike and I have made some changes in an effort to be a better role model for our son. One of these changes includes only using legal software on our multiple home computers. In an effort to do this, Mike has pointed me to different word editors and e-mail programs. I really like the programs that I’ve been using with one exception. I couldn’t find a free calendar program that was suitable for my needs. I’m using Thunderbird/Firefox for e-mail and browsing now. You can install a calendar extension, but their calendar has way too many bugs. I tried it for several weeks with much frustration.

So, I went on a hunt to find something. I needed it to be free, since I just can’t foot the bill for any new software. I checked out several different programs and didn’t like any of them. It was very frustrating because I really rely on a calendar to help keep me organized. Well, when we switched to parentsinprogress.net, we also switched to a new host. In the most recent newsletter from our host, they mentioned a one-click calendar installation.

Well, after trying to the one-click installation a few times, I realized that it wasn’t working quite as yet. In fact trying to get it to work was how our database got wiped out. I was frustrated and trying hard to get the calendar running and accidentally deleted the WRONG database. So, the calendar wasn’t working and I had wiped out all of our blog posts. This wasn’t going well. I searched their forum and realized that many people were having problems with the calendar. So, I waited until the next day and tried again.

Voila! Calendar greatness. The best part about this calendar is that both Mike and I can access it and update it, since it is hosted on our website. It requires a log-in to access, so it is secure. Up until now, I’ve been the keeper of our calendar. I always printed the calendar and placed a copy on the Fridge for Mike to see, but rarely was the paper copy kept up to date. Now Mike can access it any time and he can even create entries for his very own calendar. After much frustration, I’m so very happy!

Thanks DreamHost…you really are dreamy!