Merry Christmas!

I hope you all had a very blessed Christmas. I was given a precious gift this Christmas and want to share it with you. I know Christmas can be a hard time of the year for many and please know that a candle was lit and a prayer said for you.

I was always taught that Christmas is much more sacred than presents, bows or even cookies but this year the true meaning was very evident to me and I hope it was for you as well.

The week before Christmas I was in the hospital, I know, not ideal. A few days prior, I started having severe abdominal pain so my doctor had me admitted to the hospital. Being 24 weeks pregnant made things a little more complicated. I underwent several ultrasounds, an MRI and a CT scan but nothing definite was showing up. After 6 days, I was still in the hospital and my body seemed to be shutting down in some areas. The doctors finally requested their last resort: surgery. They wanted to try doing the surgery laparoscopically first (much less invasive), but thought I was too far along in the pregnancy for this to be possible. Throughout this time, my family and friends had placed me and Baby Allison on several church’s prayer chains. I was also communicating with some of my favorite speech bloggers and was assured that bloggers around the country were praying for me. One of my teacher-friends came to visit in the hospital and dropped off tons of cards from my entire staff and several from my dear little students.

Knowing I was covered in prayer, going into surgery was, surprisingly, an extremely peaceful experience, one I know only came from God. When I woke up, the doctors said they were able to do the surgery by laparoscopy (yay!) and baby was doing fine! They had never imagined the surgery would go so well and…they never saw someone so happy post-surgery. The culprit had been a twisted Fallopian tube that had eventually died in my body-extremely painful and extremely rare! Here’s me immediately after surgery (fist-pumping at that!)

This year I received an amazing gift. I feel like I finally know what George Bailey felt like at the end of “It’s a Wonderful Life.” When I think about how much I’ve been blessed this year, I continue to tear up. Blogging has played a huge part in this. The fact that I knew I was being prayed for around the country by fellow speech therapists, friends and family was extremely precious to me.

I was back up on my feet after surgery and was able to finish our “project” Christmas. I love finding that “perfect gift” for someone. This has become more and more difficult for me!…what about you? I’ve found that a lot of my family and friends just go out and buy whatever they need, which makes gift-giving a little tricky. So…I decided this year would be a “project” or “homemade” Christmas. Here are some of the gifts I (or let’s be honest-my husband) tackled.

Homemade soaps
I made three kinds-eucalyptus, orange and almond/oatmeal. They turned out great-especially once they were packaged with ribbons and bows!

This one I have to give credit to my amazing husband. I saw this ladder once in an Amish furniture store and when I went back to buy it, they were not longer making them. Sooo…I did what any good speechie does: Looked some pictures up on Pinterest and asked my skilled husband to help me =). He did an amazing job with these photo ladders! He even made them look distressed like I wanted.

I was able to finally start getting to work on the soon-to-be nursery. I painted stripes on one wall and am liking the result!

I looooove breakfast food. If I had the choice, I would rather a meal of breakfast food over a romantic steak dinner-hands down. I couldn’t wait to make my signature homemade waffles for Christmas morning =).

I feel happy that I was able to get some things done over break (and don’t worry, I did plenty of resting after surgery for those of you who are concerned!) I can honestly say that this was the best Christmas ever and I ironically, I never want to forget my experience in the hospital. I was given many precious gifts this year. I can live freely in Christ, I have been surrounded in prayer by friends and family and have seen them answered and I have my health and sweet baby’s health to be thankful for. I only pray and hope yours has been as blessed.

Come as you are. Leave encouraged.

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Comments

CC says
December 27, 2013 at 10:36 pm

Awesome post! Love you! And super love the fist pump!!!

kreinacher says
December 27, 2013 at 10:44 pm

I am so glad to hear that your Christmas prayers were answered!

Lauren LaCour says
December 27, 2013 at 11:05 pm

Love this, Nicole! So thankful for you and that the Lord showed you a little more of Himself and His love this Christmas! 🙂

Felice Clark says
December 28, 2013 at 12:09 am

What a wonderful story to share! It always helps my faith in the Lord’s goodness when people share things from their lives. We did a DIY christmas this year as well. I made clothespin magnets, soap dispensers, knitted chic headbands and jewelry holders. Love the soap. Would love the recipe!!

TeachSpeech365 says
December 28, 2013 at 2:29 am

Thanks for sharing your story! So glad you’re doing well now!

Tracey Jardine says
December 28, 2013 at 2:18 pm

What an incredible post! You are an amazing young woman, Nicole. Christ’s love definitely shines within you, and you are an inspiration to all of us. So glad they figured out what was wrong, were able to fix it, and that you and your daughter are doing well. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

SLP Gone Wild says
December 28, 2013 at 4:49 pm

Preach it, Sister! Love this and you and so glad that everything is going well!!! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your family 🙂 xo

Speech32 says
December 29, 2013 at 2:17 am

Your post brought tears to my eyes because of the journey that you went through but also that everything is ok. You look so happy post surgery – I wish you the best as the new year starts and you remain healthy and happy.

annied says
January 1, 2014 at 5:38 pm

What a joy your blog was to read. I am so glad that you were comforted in the arms of our Savior and the love of friends and family. Amen, Amen.

Miss DeCarbo says
January 6, 2014 at 6:35 am

I’m tearing up and want so badly to hug you right now. I am so, so happy that you and baby are well. God is so good! We love you and are so thankful you had a great Christmas!

Miss DeCarbo says
January 6, 2014 at 6:35 am

I’m tearing up and want so badly to hug you right now. I am so, so happy that you and baby are well. God is so good! We love you and are so thankful you had a great Christmas!