rest of the journey. As the flight attendant closed the door in Denver I got her blanket and little pillow out and told her to lay down on my lap. As we waited to taxi out for takeoff I gently rubbed her head and before we took off she was fast asleep. She slept the remainder of the 2 hour flight. What a blessing for her and for papa! We arrived into SFO, waited our 2 hours out there and then boarded an Embraer turboprop. Sash
a wasn't all that thrilled with all the extra noise and vibration a turboprop brings in flight. We landed in Redding around 11pm and made our small car ride to grandma's house. Grandma and Sasha spent some time reading the Christmas story and then it was off to bed.The next day we went to meet Aunt Shelley and Sasha's cousins Luke and London for the first time. We met at In and Out Burger and had a fantastic lunch. After lunch we all went to the park and played. It was suppose to rain most of the week we were in CA so this was our one chance to get her outdoors and get her some good exercise. She loved the park. We played on
the swing, the slide, the balance beam, and the wood bridge. That evening her cousins from Reno came and stayed with us at grandma's house. All the cousins played and played. Sasha and her closest in age cousin Samantha love playing and being creative together. One of Grandma's reindeer must have been really dirty as Sasha and Samantha got the box of baby wipes out and used every single one of them to clean the reindeer. I walked into our bedroom to see a pile of white wipes covering the reindeer. Needless to say the reindeer was now clean.Christmas Eve day was a lot of fun. Sasha and Samantha colored Grinch aprons so we could make cookies later that day. We then went into aunt Shelley's for pl
ay, making cookies, dinner, and then on to the Christmas Eve service. The kids had a blast making and decorating cookies. Sasha had a blast eating the sugar cookie dough. We ate an early dinner / late lunch (which was fantastic Shawn!) and then cuddled up on the couch to watch a Christmas Veggietales movie. Papa and Sasha both fell a sleep and caught a quick nap. We then got Sasha dressed for cousin pictures and then off to the service at the old Cascade Theater.Up to this point I had thoroughly enjoyed our time and for the most part it was completely joyous. It is always something about church that God seems to continue the healing process of loosing Jenny. As soon as the service started I had a really hard time as all I could think about is that Jenny should be with us. At one point when Sasha was sitting on my lap I looked over to my left and saw an empty seat and just thought to myself this isn't right. Throughout the service I continued to process, cry, pray, and morn the loss of my beautiful wife. God very gentley and firmly reminded me that all our time in this world is finite, and that He has a plan and His plans, thoughts, and ways are much higher than we can even imagine. He, as so many times in the past, whispered to me to just trust Him. God is the God of comfort and he met me and comforted me at the Cascade theater that night. He again reminded me that He, who is all knowing and sovereign, choose to send His Son into the world to die so I could one day live with Him.
After the Christmas Eve service we went back to grandma's house to open gifts. Sasha received many cool toys. She also received a beautiful Russian Adoption doll from grandma. After gifts we put on our new PJs papa gave Sasha and get ready for bed. After all, Noah was on his way to visit Sasha for the first time!
The next morning I went in to the be "Noah come?!?!?!" I said yes he did, and he left presents for Sasha. She was a little disappointed when she went into the living room and didn't see Noah actually there. I quickly explained that Noah was now night night just like in the Christmas Classic movies we watch and she was good with that. Sasha had a great time opening her gifts. Lucky for Sasha, Noah came to Grams house also for our Christmas there on New Years Eve.
After Christmas Sasha played with her cousins until they left Sunday morning. We then had a couple lazy days with Grandma and Grandpa. On Monday I came down with something (I still say it was strep throat though the culture didn't come back positive) and went into the immediate care for some antibiotics. I was feeling good enough to travel on that Wednesday as we started our long trip home.
Sasha did absolutely awesome flying again. She is going to be papa's little traveling friend! We left Reddin
g around 9:30 and got to San Francisco at 11:00. We had a three and a half hour layover there. We got a smoothy, ate lunch, road escalators, and played at the "kids spot". Again, we were getting into our nap time by the time we boarded the aircraft at 2:30. No longer did we get seated and I get her blanket and little pillow out was she laying down and asleep! The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful though with a 45 minute delay in Denver. We made it home, extremely tired, late that evening. All in all, a very successful trip and Christmas. Thank you to all those that have been praying for Sasha and my journey through this chapter of our lives. God's presence has been seen in His comfort and peace. Please continue to pray in the weeks and months ahead.On New Years Eve night we had Christmas with Grahms and Buddy, Aunt Shell and Uncle Zach, Caitlin, and Michael. It was another very fun time with Sasha. She is getting the gift opening thing down pat. On New Years day we had our trad
itional prime rib Christmas dinner (which was fantastic!).All in all it was a good Christmas. Jenny was greatly missed (as she always is and will be) but it was great watching Sasha experience her first Christmas with her forever family.
I will have a slide show of our Christmas put together very soon.
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