The best THINGS in life . . .

. . . end up destroyed just like everything else.

When we had our kitchen fire, I failed to mention a certain irony: the kitchen area that burned was the very nicest part of our house. When we bought this house almost three years ago, Keith totally remodeled the kitchen before (and as) we moved in. The rest of the house has been painted and decorated, but certainly not overhauled like the kitchen was in 2007. But fire doesn't know and doesn't care, so it burned our new drywall, tile, cabinets and stove, leaving our ancient refrigerator untouched.

Yesterday just before suppertime, the kids and I were rear-ended while driving home from swimming lessons. Someone stopped in the middle of a busy road (I don't know why), so the car in front of me also had to stop as did I. The person driving an Escalade behind me didn't stop. He plowed into the back of our God-given-with-heated-seats Toyota Sienna minivan, mashing the back door in and propelling me into the car in front of me (who hit the person in front of her!). We are all fine, though I did end up going to the ER to get my neck checked. Of course, our other, older-and-lesser vehicles are fine.

You know what my primary thought has been (besides gratefulness for our safety)? I'm just so glad that our STUFF isn't really that nice! Because it's all going to be destroyed sooner or later and I'd rather not have any major investment in things that won't last! An inexpensive vehicle that goes, an inexpensive house that keeps me warm and thrift store clothes so I don't have to cry when the baby ruins my blouse.

I've been reading this book and doing lots of pondering. I want my treasure to truly be in heaven, because as a house fire and an accident have confirmed, even the nicest things of this life get ruined rather easily! But HOW to have treasure in heaven? I'm beginning to realize that it really has a lot to do with how we spend our money on earth. Our hearts are drawn to what we have invested in - God designed it to be that way!

Wanna know what I got for Christmas? Just what I asked for: a sponsored child. I'm praying for a little girl in India named Ruma and I'm praying that as our money goes to support her each month, our hearts will be transformed. You too?

Matthew's Journal

You learned to crawl the day before Thanksgiving! Now you are FAST! You also can cruise around the furniture and stand unassisted for a few seconds. It is so fun to watch you spot something and then chase down what you want. You are also a growler – it's very hilarious because you'll growl one way when you're happy and another way when you're sad. Somehow you always know exactly what you want – if you spot something and I won't let you get to it then you pitch a little fit until you get what you want OR until something distracts you. You also think you want to drop your morning nap but can't quite make it to the afternoon one, so that's been a challenge as well.

Matthew is a very clingy boy! You like your mama and your daddy and you'll settle for Grammie or Papa but that's about it. We've attempted babysitters a couple of times in the past few months and you just scream the whole time. It can be rather frustrating, but normal for this age I know. I've taken to carrying you in the mei-tai a fair bit just to save my sanity. I'm glad you love to snuggle your Mama anyway – whenever your little head tucks in on my shoulder I remember why it's all so worth it. You say Mamamamamama all the time and I'm not exactly sure if that's my name or not, but I'd like to think so!

Right after I wrote last month about you waking up three times a night, you abruptly went down to waking only once a night. That makes me think maybe you were actually waking hungry, since the change in sleep patterns definitely coincided with you starting to really eat meals. But then we went to Minnesota for Christmas and your sleep deteriorated over those eleven nights so much that last night you spent the night nursing and cuddled up in bed with me so you wouldn't wake Grandpa Curt's whole household with your determined screaming.

You had your first Christmas – yay! You got to go into the Hills with us to cut down a Christmas tree, ride on my back as we rolled out sugar cookies, visit the lights display at Storybook Island, and play in the ribbons when we unwrapped presents. We had a fun, Christmas-y month together at home before leaving for Minnesota on the 19th.

I think our trip was a little overwhelming for you – so many new people all the time, and all of them wishing to hold you (though for most of them, their wishes did NOT come true!). If someone attempted to hold you, you'd take an incredulous look at their face and start crying for Mama. After being around your grandparents for five or six days you finally let them hold you for five or ten minutes at a time. Nevertheless, it was fun to have you meet and get pictures with lots of your loving relatives – they all thought you were wonderful.

We spent the first few days in a hotel with the Bittners – besides meeting everyone you got to go to the Mall of America and to a waterpark. You splashed around a bit, but the most fun was getting you to sleep in the mei-tai on my chest! Then it was to Grandpa Curt's house where you were quite happy during the days, crawling around and getting into everyone's Christmas presents. Guess what Mommy and Daddy gave you for Christmas? Isaac and Abby's old toys that have been stored away for a year or so! We figured you wouldn't mind and it's much more important to us to teach you what Christmas really means than it is for us to feel like we gave you everything you could ever want. Because the more babies I have the more I realize: babies just want to be loved. And you are!