My Christmas Angels by Jason W. Chan

My Christmas Angels is a tragic yet heartwarming Christmas story about Greg, a single father whose daughter falls into a coma. Riddled with grief, Greg stays at his daughter’s side, he comes to terms with the possibility that his daughter may never wake up. He buries his grief in doing good deeds. Uplifted, Greg takes solace in the realization that through great tragedy can come great blessings.

My Review - I loved this story and it sucked me right in. I also loved how it was a true story. The reason it only got 3 stars instead of 4 (while I'm raving about loving it) is because of the ending. I couldn't stand not knowing what happened to Angie. I kind of like how the author lets you decide but for real I wanted to know what happened. Overall a pretty good read.

An Irish Christmas by Melody Carlson

Melody Carlson is the bestselling author of more than 200 books, including My Son, the Savior and The Christmas Bus. She lives with her husband in Sisters, Oregon.

For Colleen, life is spinning out of control. She just lost her husband, and her relationship with her young adult son Jamie is crumbling. Should she confess to him the secret that has been haunting her for twenty years?

Jamie has a few secrets of his own. When he announces his plans to join the military, Colleen decides it's time for the two of them to take a trip together--to Ireland.

The truth they discover there could fulfill both their dreams in a way neither ever thought possible.

An Irish Christmas is a captivating story of love, deception, and secret passions, from popular and prolific author Melody Carlson.

My Review - this book was just okay for me. It too me until about page 80 or so for it to really get good for me and even then it was predictable. I loved the actual story about Jamie, Liam and Colleen though. And the ending was good, which as I've said before is rare for me to like an ending. I'll be reading more Melody Carlson and hoping for less predictably.

Some pictures and....

Here are two pictures of Maddie. They are done by Murphy's Memories. She's awesome!! Our plan is to go back and have her take Maddie's pictures at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months. 

But I really posted to say....

Merry Christmas!!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year. Remember the reason for the season! We are doing our Christmas Jar tonight and I can't wait! :)

A Sister's Secret by Wanda E. Brunstetter

Grace is the oldest sister in the Hostettler family. Having put her rumschpringe (running around years) behind her, she has returned to Holmes County, joined the Amish church, and begun a new life. For the past four years, everything has been going fairly well, until the day she sees an English man who knows enough of her past to jeopardize her future. Will Gary Walker's passion for Grace destroy more than one life? Amish man Cleon Schrock is planning to marry Grace, but ignorant of her past. Will love and faith triumph over shame and deception in Holmes County?

My Review - This book was good. It seemed like it took me forever to read since I was also caring got a newborn. But I'm glad I did finish it and I will be reading the other books in this series at some point. I had a feeling about what was happening with Grace and her secret but then I was just slightly wrong. I loved the ending which is not something I can usually say about a book but I did. The only thing I would change is to find out who was attacking the family...Maybe it's in the next book though! :)

Madelyn "Maddie" Rae

From this...

To this...

So as you can see I had my baby girl! :) Madelyn "Maddie" Rae was born on November 30, 2011 at 11:34pm weighing in at 6 lbs 11 oz and measuring 20 inches long. Isn't she a beauty?!

I was induced on November 30th at 8am and after 3 cervic softner pills and 12 hours later I was still at 1cm and 70% effaced. They actually called my doctor and she was on her way in to do a c-section (I would have had to been put to sleep if they did that.) Well, all the pain meds I had had were IV pain meds. They talked me into an epidural but I'm allergic to the "Caine" family drugs so I couldn't have one! So basically I was knocked out when I wasn't having contractions and I'd come to just for the contractions. While it wasn't the best experience I've ever had it was all worth it. During labor though I didn't think so and I told my husband as much. At one point I told him I didn't know why people did this to themselves and that this would be our only one. I also told him I wanted him to hurt like I was hurting and that's why I was squeezing his hand. He also told me that I kicked him at one point! (haha. I don't remember that) But I went from 1cm to 4cm, to 7cm, to 8cm, to 9cm (and I stayed there for what felt like FOREVER!) and finally at 10cm! We stayed in the hospital till Friday and came home Friday evening. We are doing pretty good and sleeping okay too.

This is a whole new and overwhelming experience but I couldn't share it with a better person, my husband Jamie. And we are so thankful for Maddie! :) Of course come back, I'm sure I'll be posting more pictures of my sweet girl!