Christmas Ornaments For Caroline ~ 2011

Last year I did a post about ornaments that I had started to collect for our sweet Caroline. That one simple post took me all day to write and I swear I cried buckets of tears. Looking back now at that post and re-reading it I realized how therapeutic it was. I needed to go out and find those ornaments, hang them on our tree, take the pictures, and post the words that my mothers heart told me to. All of it stung. All of it still felt like I was living in a nightmare. But, I still needed to do it. I'm soo thankful that I did. I was able to start a little something that is special just for her.

This year as it neared my Caroline's birthday (October 15th) I began to get that anxious, panic-y feel. On one particularly bad day I asked Graham if he was up for a little retail therapy (thank God my boy loves to shop!) and we headed out to Hobby Lobby. Despite the earliness of the season, I knew that Hobby Lobby would have most of their ornaments already out. I was right!

Graham and I went up and down each isle picking out ornaments for each family member. I loved the one above and picked one out for each of us. I ended up the crazy lady at the check-out with 3 identical "G" ones :). Of course Caroline had to have one to match ours. I was delighted to discover that out of all they had there they only had 1 "C" one and I got it!!

While Graham was picking out ones for himself and his little brothers I noticed an entire section of nothing but pink ornaments. For a brief moment I was drawn to those but then just couldn't do it. I could feel myself starting to get really choked up and I couldn't look at them with out really embarrassing myself and Graham. In that moment I realized that I wasn't quite ready yet to take that step. Funny how just one color can mean soo much.

Walking down the next isle I was drawn to the above ornament. It was perfect! It was brightly colored and had my favorite word on it!! This would be Caroline's other ornament for the year!  This shimmery ornament with the bright lime green ribbon just had to be for her. I decided then that every year I would get her several ornaments special just to her and that at least one of them would have to say "HOPE". It will forever be my word to remind me of just how lucky I am to be Caroline's Momma. It also reminds me of just how powerful our God is and the promise that he holds for each one of us.