What a great Christmas!

Well, Christmas continued to be wonderful for our household (we hope yours was as well!). On the morning of Christmas Eve, Meredith and I had the adventure of making cookies for Santa--Meredith ate more sprinkles than she put on the cookies. We were also able to attend service at Emerywood Baptist where John had a solo in the Cantata. The service was especially reflective and intimate even with the sanctuary packed full! After, the service, we went back to Ben and Elaine's house to enjoy breakfast for dinner and open gifts with the Partin side. Meredith got some wonderful and thoughtful gifts such as a new table and chairs hand-made by a local carpenter as well as a great Leapfrog reading system that she plays with on her new table. We finally made it home in time for Meredith to quickly go to sleep before Santa visited our home.

On Christmas morning, Meredith gave us a gift by sleeping until 9AM. When she awoke, we opened "pesents" that were under the tree. Santa gave her a new percussion instrument set and her very first soccer ball and "Meredith-size" goal. We then went to Ben and Elaines for lunch and a quiet afternoon with the family adding Uncle Wayne and Nanny. I am so thankful that Meredith has been able to spend some quality time with her great-grandmother. We then returned home for nap-time. John and I decided that it would be special to watch "The Nativity" so we turned it on and reflected on the story of the birth of Jesus while our little gift slept. We are so thankful for the birth of our Savior and for the yearly reminder of the incredible story of his birth. Our church has been reflecting a lot on Mary this past month and I have been really pondering what it must have been like to be her! Can you imagine how she really felt when the Holy Spirit came upon her to tell her she would be a virgin pregnant with a child and that he is the long-awaited Savior? It blows my mind and I just pray that I would be so willing when God calls on me--in fact, I hope that I haven't missed his calling in any way!

Today, we took down decorations and spent quality time as a family. Meredith is at such a fun age and through the last couple weeks, it blows my mind how much she is absorbing and immitating! We find that we laugh all of the time at the wonderfully cute new things she is saying and learning! It is such a blessing to be a parent! As far as our angel baby #2, things are still progressing perfectly as I can tell. I am having a lot of braxton hicks contractions but am in close contact with my doctors office on how to manage them. We are anxiously waiting for January 8th when we find the sex. :-D

P.S. Kenny, I need your pictures from Christmas at our house for the blog!!!!

Christmas Early and Asheville

This past weekend was full and great! We spent time with my (Melissa's) family celebrating Christmas which happened to be white thanks to about 4 inches of snow on Friday and Saturday. It was such a wonderful celebration to the point that my abs and face hurt from laughing so much. We had a wonderful time with my mother and brothers as we ate great food and opened very thoughtful presents. Meredith really loves spending time with family and especially LOVED her new kitchen that she received. Once Meredith went to bed, my brothers, John and I had a very hilarious time playing Super Mario Brothers on Wii. I am not a huge fan of video games but between the game allowing us to all four play simultaneously (really brings out your ability to work as a team) and the hilarious remarks by my brother, Greg, it was a night of laughs and fun! Thanks Mom, Kenny, Michael and Greg for making it a great holiday thus far for us! :)

As for the celebration of John and my 5th anniversary, we were able to get away on Sunday night to Asheville (which received about 14 inches of snow). John made reservations at the Princess Anne Hotel which is an approximately 30-room Historic Bed and Breakfast. It was beautiful and special with accomodations that spoiled us. On Sunday evening, John made reservations at a trendy restaurant in Biltmore Village called "The Corner Kitchen" which was really yummy. We then had tickets to the Candelight Tour at Biltmore Estate where we were able to tour the "largest house in America" with the accompaniment of carolers, dramatic readers, harp players, and dancers. It was romantic, magical, and definitely something that pushed us a little further into the Christmas spirit. Today, on our way home, we stopped and watched Avatar--now, I resisted the idea of watching the movie, however, I really wanted to watch a movie (we don't get out to watch movies very often). Just my luck, the only movie playing at the time we arrived was Avatar. John really wanted to see the movie so we watched the movie. I want you all to know that the number of times I turned to John and said, "this is a really great movie and I am so glad we are watching it" was countless. I highly recommend it to both the girls that love a love story and the men that love a good war/epic movie! By the way, thank you so much to Ben and Elaine for caring for our angel baby and allowing us to go out of town. We are so thankful to have family close and willing to spend time with our sweet girl allowing us to recharge as a couple and giving Meredith invaluable memories with her grandparents.


We are glad to be home and have a few days to relax before the holidays sweep us away again later this week. I will say that upon my return we received many sweet cards from friends and family including a sweet note from my Great Aunt Marilyn. Aunt Marilyn, your words were kind and your prayers are sincerely appreciated! We love you! Pictures to be posted soon of Christmas with my family!

It's the Holiday Season....

....and we are LOVING it at the Partin household! We think it is even going to get better once this weekend comes and Meredith and I can spend a couple weeks at home! Meredith is truly loving dancing to all of the christmas music, watching the fun christmas specials (that we record and play for her later), and savoring the joy of the season! I hope to post lots of pictures and updates as we go through this season enjoying friends and family!

In addition, John and my 5th anniversary is Friday which just blows my mind! It feels like I just walked down the aisle! John seems to have plans to whisk me away this weekend yet I have no idea where we are going! I guess that will be an update as well to look forward to!

Finally, we set the date for Baby's ultrasound! We will be finding out if our cutie is a boy or girl on January 8th! Stay tuned for all of the excitement of the next month!