I was lost on what to title my post so since so much going on was related in some way to our deployment I figured it is all part of the journey.

First of all I have to share with you all about this wonderful company called Daddy Dolls.  They have this awesome ministry to military kids and their families.  Please check them out.  What they offer is truly amazing and wonderful.  Well, needless to say we ordered a Daddy Doll for DS and it arrived right before Christmas.  For reasons I will share below, we decided not to wait to give it to DS.  And I glad we didn't wait!  He was so pleased and hugged and hugged his Daddy Doll.  Below DH's picture, I had them print "My Daddy" but DS thought we should have had printed, "Bald-i-locks."  Yes, like Goldilocks.  DH's hair is falling out at an exponential rate so the joke around here between DH and DS is that DH is called "Bald-i-locks" and DH calls DS "Heredity."  Oh what I live with. 

DS had reflux as an infant and then had a stress-related recurrence when Daddy was deployed last time.  I was on guard for it this time and sure enough it's back.  So after a trip to the Dr. and appropriate medicines for him, DS is doing much better.  DS also started with the crud a few days before our Dr. visit and she found the beginnings of an ear infection.  Again more medicines and he is on the mend.  Poor kid.  He is so rarely sick and this sick at that.  And he has only ever had one ear infection when he was 10 weeks old that we truly feel was due to reflux.  He is a champ, though.  So like I said, we felt it best to go ahead and give him his Daddy Doll.  DS was thrilled!  He hugged and hugged on his Daddy Doll.  I told him that he could give Daddy a hug anytime he wanted and Daddy would get it.  His response?  "How can Daddy get my hugs?  Is it electronic or something?"  I said, "No honey, Daddy knows your heart and knows that you send hugs anytime you can.  This way you can really hug him."  DS still wanted to know HOW that happens.  I just gave up.  lol!  The other funny story about our Daddy Doll is that they take full length pictures to make the dolls.  I did not know about Daddy Dolls until after DH had left so I had to make do with any pictures I already had.  The only one I had that might work was this one that was taken last deployment and the guy that put the CD together cropped DH's legs off and super-imposed his picture in front of a flag with the words "One Nation Under God."  You can see that picture at the end of this post.  The wonderful people at Daddy Dolls worked with me and had their graphics gurus "make" DH new legs for the Daddy Doll.  You should have seen all the funny emails back and forth about "making" DH "new legs."  Even DH said they did a great job "on his legs!"  Funny, funny.

We have also been very blessed with frequent communication with DH.  It has been such a blessing and his unit has also scheduled video tele-conferences monthly.  We had our first right before Christmas.  It was fun to get to see Daddy on TV and DS enjoyed Daddy trying to give kisses through the screen on his end.  DS also left a sweet little note on the board in the room we were in.  It definitely recharged our batteries for the holidays.

Took DS to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra again.  Oh wow.  It was awesome again.  I am starting to get the story in the music.  It is a beautiful story and the lyrics tell of many stories relating to Christmas.  They also play favorite Christmas hymns as well.  I have no idea if any of the musicians or the producers or the people behind TSO are believers.  But I do know that God tells us His Word will not return to Him void and He can use whatever means to send His message out.  So we are already making plans to attend next year's concert.  Perhaps next year DH can be there to see for himself what an experience it is.  Till then I will work on reading lyrics and finding out more behind TSO and the stories.

Christmas was actually really nice all things considered.  DS got lots of Star Wars stuff plus some other nice surprises.  We went to our church here in town for the Christmas Eve service.  I always like to go to church on Christmas Eve to get my focus right.  And did it happen this year.  The peace and comfort I had in my heart as we headed home was truly priceless.  I think one thing that touched me deeply was towards the end of the service.  We had sung Silent Night with lighted candles.  That also always put my focus on Christ.  But at this point the bells rung very slowly 6 times.  Then, after the last of the 6 slow rings died away, they pealed with joyful rings .  This was a medieval tradition where the 6 slow tolls symbolized the demise of satan at the birth of Jesus Christ.  Then after the demise the joyful tolling symbolized the joy of the earth at the birth of its Savior.  It almost brought me to tears.  How can I forget that sweet baby's birth was the birth of God made man that would so soon die on the cross for me?  It was a lesson in not separating the two for me.  And it put everything in perspective.

As I look toward getting back on schedule and back to school, the Lord is again teaching me so much.  I will share them later.  For now I have to wake DS from a rare afternoon nap.  But I promise to share them.  So many times there are things I want to share and time gets away from me and then the post seems to never happen.

Though it is belated, Merry Christmas to all.  I pray your Christmas was blessed and the peace in our hearts and the lessons from this season will carry us through the new year.