OUR BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY CRAFT CREATIONS TRIBE

If you have been a part of the Country Craft Creations Family for a while, you have witnessed firsthand how beautiful, Long lasting friendship are made here .  I am always amazed how our lives intersect and so many of us have walked in the same shoes on this bumpy road we call life.We have shared many of the same joys, headaches,  tragedies, and triumphs.

It is here that many of us find another person who truly understands and knows exactly how we feel because they have walked in our shoes. Our scrapbooks tell our stories, and we share them freely. Many people can sympathize, feel sorry for, celebrate with,or try to understand the events, both good and bad, we have lived, or are living.

We all have empathy, we all care, and all sympathize with each other. The second that someone posts a life event- dozens and dozens of good wishes, prayers, and fun emoji's follow. We celebrate with each other as if we have known each other all of our lives.It' amazing!

 But when we find someone who's actually lived our story, we immediately connect on a different level. Not a better or worse level, just a deeper level .

We are all connected in some miraculous, almost mystic way, and yet, some of us hardly know each other. Teresa Elliot and I also walked along the same roads- especially the road of adoption, I remember her telling me her story at the first retreat. My face lighting up as she spoke, because I know that kind of love, that miraculous gift from God. It was an immediate bond.A stranger becomes a sister of the heart.

 When I read Jennifer's entry, I could feel my heart wrap around her words for we both walked that long, scary, dark path of infertility- we know exactly how the other felt during that journey. We also knew the earth shaking joys of motherhood! What a gift! 

 So, today I share with you our designer, Jennifer Palmer's beautiful words:

Christmas – I’ve always loved Christmas. The lights, the smell of pine, the treats and goodies, everything leading up to the big day. I took piano lessons as a child and I used to get so excited when my mom would get out the Christmas sheet music because I loved playing all those songs.

But as an adult my love of Christmas had started to fade. My husband and I had been trying for 8 of the 9 years we had been married to get pregnant. He was active duty Air Force at the time and right before we got the dreaded diagnosis that we couldn’t have children we also go orders to move again, from Colorado to Georgia. I thought this was a good change. We’d be somewhere new, far away from home and family and that it may help me work through all the emotions that came with an infertility diagnosis.

We had been in Georgia for a year when we flew home to Utah for Christmas. That Christmas was the absolute hardest for me. My husband and I had just spent a weekend at Disneyworld taking in all the Christmas magic they have to offer but I couldn’t enjoy it. We came home to Utah to my sister who had recently announced her second pregnancy. While I was happy for her my heart just hurt for us. I was done. But then something happened….

In January I wasn’t feeling so hot. I was tired, everything hurt, and I had random nausea. I chalked it up to stress and depression but something kept me going back to “what if”. So, I bought a pregnancy test (a three-pack actually) the beginning of February. The first one came up positive. I thought there’s no way it’s right so I did a second one. Positive. Third one – positive. My husband and I both thought it’s got to be wrong. I made an appointment with my doctor who also gave me positive test results and referred me to the OB/GYN. I still didn’t believe it. I went to that appointment on Valentine’s day and they did an ultrasound and much to my shock I WAS pregnant. According to the doctor I was about 7 weeks along. 7 weeks from Christmas night. Our son, Nicholas, was born 9 months and two weeks after Christmas night. I still don’t know what changed but he is my little miracle and late Christmas present (which my husband reminds me of every year without fail). We celebrated our 18^th anniversary in September and Nick’s 7^th birthday.

Nick brought the joy in Christmas back to me tenfold. I go out of my way to make things magical for him. We always do family outings to see lights, and see Santa, and whatever other events I can find. He gets Christmas pajamas from the “pajama elves” every year, and we always bake cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve day (or the day before). Every time I look into his big blue eyes I know he is my miracle baby and my reason for existing.

Our December Daily for Day Six, we will center around your favorite or hardest journey thus far. It can be any journey- fun, miraculous, earth shattering, scary, or joyful. It can be about your trip to Paris, your trip to a hospital, (which can be good or bad), or your journey to independence. It can be about a journey you have witnessed and admire. It can be a Christmas Journey toward a deeper meaning. How has this journey affected the person you are today? How has it affected your holidays? Did you find the "reason" for your journey,  because I believe God never puts us on a path without a purpose lesson, or new destination. 

I hope you share some of these journeys with us. Sometimes one person's  journey can help another person continue on their journey or find a new path. Sometimes your journey can just make another person happy or perhaps push them out of their guarded bubbles towards a new adventure.

Heres to many more peaceful and meaningful Christmas journeys together.