sweet baby boy

today in church i held, for the entire time,
 little Elijah in my arms.
there is something mystical about holding a newborn that is not even a month old.
 he cooed and he slept.
he nestled into my arms like a contented bear hibernating for winter.
all warm and fuzzy-like.
of course, i've never witnessed a bear hibernating or getting ready to
hibernate,
but i imagine it is the same.
it was bliss.
.......................................................
this evening the Strangarity family descended on the house.
o what
joy!!
i'm just always amazed at how close we have remained.
and i guess, we're not like "super" close as maybe some cousins are.
but, i love these boys and laugh so hard with them.
it still cracks me up that abi and i (and my two adopted sisters) are the only girls.
somehow, abi and sean had girls, and then ryan, as well.
but like all the 6 brothers and sisters of my dad only had
boys.
all my "fight" and tom-boy is from the "boy cousins" as i've always
affectionately called them.
literally everytime we all got together till 3 yeas ago something broke.
it could have been a body part, stitches, a window, games, clothes, computers,
i could go on and on of the things my parents gladly (or stupidly?!?)
put up with that allowed us all to be together.
all, 14 of us first cousins to be together.
we used to have these crazy sleep-overs here.
now we all work or have school.
but, man o day...our home videos are AMAZING.
we were so
cool.
i guess the moms today did the math and realized there were 12 of us born in 7 years.
thats a lot.
one big cuban crazy family.
i need to find my computer cord and then i'll update some photos...
...................................
o yeah, its the new year!
new year?!
new year
eish....
i have all sorts of things i've been praying towards and believing for myself this year
and at some point when things slow down i'll share them. i don't like "resolutions" on principle. but i do believe its good to have a clear focus and goal and set steps towards achieving that. right now, i'm just trying to make it
till thursday. so much to do....so little time.
.................................
dad, joey, his friend (and mine too) david, and i went to see F&M win their Christmas tourney tonight. it was lazy basketball, lots of fouls but it was still good.
oooooo i love basketball and competition. so much.
so, very
much.

and because everything is better with some visual candy. brother and i were bored Christmas eve so we pulled out the camera for a quick shot. enjoy friends!