Christmas Gifts...

This year was an interesting Christmas to say the least...

I'll share a few short stories here in my typical fashion, but in reverse chronological order.


The Gift of a Child
Our family Christmas schedule this year was a little bit different than in years past. In the past, we have always had our family Christmas at my parents' house. But this year, my older sister was pregnant over Christmas, with her due date being December 31st. Since she couldn't travel so close to her due date, we decided to have our get-together at her house. But due to Christmas celebrations for my sisters' in-laws, we decided to wait and have our family celebration the weekend of New Year's instead.

It worked out pretty well for everyone, especially my sister. She made it through the Christmas celebration, but not much past it! And on Monday, January 2nd, baby Allison was born. So I am an uncle again! This now makes 4 nieces and 1 nephew for me!

Since we were all staying at Bethany's house for the weekend, we were all able to go to the hospital and see baby Allison later that day. This was the first time I had been able to see one of my nieces or nephews while still in the hospital, so it was pretty special for me. Bethany said the labor was over very quickly, so Allison's face was a little bruised. So her face was purple for a while, but it had already greatly improved by the time I saw her. A pretty cool Christmas gift, I think!!

By the way, I just had to share one more story here. I was in Akron a few weekends ago, so I had volunteered to watch Bethany's kids for the day since both Bethany and Matt had to work. It was the first time I watched any of my nieces/nephews for an entire day by myself! I was a little scared at first because I was worried that I wouldn't know what to do if something happened, but it actually turned out to be a very fun day. The girls were very well-behaved and things went along without a hitch. Although, I did have to change Jill's diaper a few times. And, believe it or not, that was the first time I had ever changed a diaper! Up until then, I had done a great job of avoiding it whenever the family was together, but I didn't have a choice that day because I was watching them by myself. But you know what? It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. So mark it down, December 17th, 2011: the day Uncle Benny finally changed a diaper!


Christmas Host
Like I said, we actually had our family Christmas celebration this year over New Year's weekend. Since my sisters would be spending the actual Christmas weekend with their in-laws, that meant I would have spent Christmas alone this year. But instead, my parents decided to come down to Cincy to spend Sunday and Monday here with me.

So in preparation, I put up my Christmas decorations this year, including my tree and my Peanuts nativity scene. I even put up my stocking, but Santa must have missed my house because it was empty on Christmas morning. I made dinner for my parents on Sunday evening, and then on Monday we went out shopping. I picked out a nice watch for myself as a gift from my parents. All in all, a great weekend spent with my parents.

Enjoy a few photos from my home. I tried to be a little artsy with the last one of my tree. I love the light it gives off in the evenings.

The Great Healer
As if the last two items weren't enough, this Christmas was special for me for another reason.

December 20th marked the 1-year anniversary of the surgery I had to remove a cancerous spot on the bottom of my foot. Yup, it was just over a year ago that I had been diagnosed with a patch of skin cancer and had gotten a quarter-sized pit dug out of my foot to remove it. At first, it was very painful and hard to walk around. And I was worried that my foot would never be the same. But now over one year later, I am simply amazed at how well it has healed.

Since the wound was on the bottom of my foot and near the heel, I had to walk around on the ball of my foot for a few months. And I was a little worried that I would never be able to run like I used to. But I was actually back and running by about May, and I even completed a 5k in June!

But the best part is that there have been no more cancerous spots found since then. I've been in to see the doctor 4 times since the surgery to check for other growths, and each time I've checked out clean! That's not to say that another spot won't show up in the future, but at least now I know to look for them.

Back at the time, I thought it would be neat to do a "photo-log" of my foot so that someday I could go back and look at the healing progression. So I took a picture of my foot every day for about 3 months so I could compare them later. Of course, day-to-day, the changes do not seem like much, but they definitely add up over time! And I took the final picture just a few weeks ago, on the 1-year anniversary. Simply amazing!

My photo log has also really made me appreciate just how awesome the human body is. That our bodies can heal themselves like this just blows my mind. And The Lord has really revealed more of Himself to me through this whole experience. He is our "Great Healer" (of both body and mind), and there is nothing too difficult for Him to do. He is definitely my Great Healer. And not a single time goes by when I look upon the miracle He did in the healing of my foot and fail to think upon Him, how He healed me, and how He has kept me healthy ever since.

I've posted a video slide show below and set it to some appropriate music. But some of the photos are kind of gross, so watch at your own risk!