The Face

Christmas has come and gone, and it was a busy and good day, if not as much about Jesus and Jesse and I would have liked it to be. We waited for the older two kids to come home Christmas morning before opening presents, and then we all headed over to my mom's to open gifts there. After lunch, Jesse and my stepdad, Jeff, headed to Green Bay to tow home the Saturn. While they were gone, Jake, Doogie, my stepbrother Jeremy and his brother-in-law David played Wii. Mom, Molly, my sister-in-law Krissy, and I played Apples to Apples, a board game, in the kitchen. Jesse and I make a tradition of buying a new board game for our family every Christmas, and Apples to Apples was it this year. It's incredibly fun, and the game went on with players leaving and coming back for hours.

I was very blessed with Christmas presents this year. Jesse got me a whole set of my favorite beauty products. Dove put out a line of Cucumber Green Tea items, and I adore the body lotion. Nothing else works like this stuff. I went through my first bottle in a less than a month! Jesse got me two bottles, plus shampoo, conditioner, and face wash. Doogie bought gifts himself for the first time this year. For me, he bought a large dry-erase monthly calendar for wall-mounting. I love it! He got Jesse some kitchen utensils, which Jesse loved too. My mom bought me new sheets for a our bed (yay!) and a new, incredibly soft bathrobe. I left it at the end of the bed last night, and when Mia stumbled in at 3 am to sleep on the floor she grabbed it as a blanket. Before she fell back asleep, she said that it is so soft that she wants to sleep with it every night!

Mia is unusually thoughtful for a five (almost six) year old in her selection of Christmas gifts. Tuesday night when Jesse came home from work, he kicked off his shoes, and Mia noticed that he had a hole in the toe. She came and asked me to buy him some socks for Christmas so that his toes didn't have to stick out anymore. Christmas Eve night when Jesse was leaving work, Mia called him on my cell and gave him very specific instructions about what to get me from her. So from Mia, I got a notebook for making my lists and a box of chocolate turtles. That's a lot of consideration for such a little girl!

Both the Saturn and the van are fixed, so we finally have working vehicles again! But the driver's side door fell off of Doogie's car yesterday, so we'll have to get that fixed now. And the car curse goes on!

The Face by Angela Hunt is another stellar book by one of the best writers in the business. I always know that whenever her name is on a book, it's going to be a terrific read. Sarah Sims was born without a face due to a tragic genetic condition. She's spent her entire life secluded from the world and being cared for by the CIA. Now at the age of twenty, she works for them as a computer genius living on a remote island near Spain. Her aunt Renee had clue about Sarah's existence until she comes across a letter while going through her deceased mother's belongings. Renee immediately wants to know her long-lost niece, the daughter of her only brother who died tragically shortly after Sarah's birth. Renee, a licensed psychiatrist, applies to work for the CIA as well in order to meet and get close to Sarah and hopefully free her from her life of isolation. The chapters alternate in narration between Renee and Sarah giving the reader a thorough understanding of their feelings as they get to know each other. Hunt gives a great deal of information about how faces speak their own language, which is fascinating, especially as Sarah tries to learn to use expressions which opens her heart to emotions she's never before felt. I wish I could tell you how amazing the conclusion is, but I don't want to give out any spoilers. Hunt writes a Christian book that never speaks of Christ, but the conclusion is incredibly moving, especially looking at it in terms of Jesus. Hunt has written a novel that speaks to the value of suffering as well as why for a life to be full it must have love in it.

Today's pics are of the girls opening their presents Christmas morning. Mia loved her Buddies movies; she's already watched them twice each, and Molly had been waiting for Breaking Dawn since it came out in August. I couldn't get any decent pictures of Doogie, but we got him a car stereo for the long trip he'll be making to Superior next year.