Joshua and the Gift of Nathan

Wow. I am really slacking in the whole blogging department. I can't help it! I'm enjoying my family so much! :)

I hope to have time to catch up after New Year's Day...but I may be very sporadic until then. Or not. I just don't know what each day will bring.

We celebrated Christmas with our kids on the day after Christmas. It was the day when everyone could be here, since Holly had to work Christmas Day...and Logan and Morgan were with Morgan's family.

We had a great time, and I think the kids all enjoyed their gifts. Of course, the greatest gift is celebrating the fact that Jesus was born. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and Only Son, that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life." John 3:16. 

No greater gift.

And it was the best gift to me to have all of the kids here at the same time.

But the sweetest gift BY FAR...was when Joshua gave Holly a present for her baby.

A couple of days before Christmas, Joshua came downstairs and whispered to me, "I have the perfect gift for Holly's baby."

Now, I had gotten a couple of things for the new baby...a book, a "soft" Nativity set (that he/she can play with)...and something for his/her nursery. I had not mentioned to anyone that I was getting gifts for the baby...since he/she won't be born for several months.

Joshua's eyes were all lit up and sparkling. He was so excited. I said, "what's the gift?" He said, "Nathan."

If you knew Joshua during the first 8-10 years of his life, you knew Nathan. Nathan was Joshua's Cabbage Patch baby doll, and Joshua took him EVERYWHERE. In fact, Joshua "loved" Nathan so much, that his head was nearly severed and was hanging on by a thread...and I had to rush around and try to find a NEW NATHAN that looked exactly like the OLD NATHAN...and make the ol' switcheroo.

I haven't seen or thought about Nathan in years. Like...in twenty years or so. The first Nathan is in the hope chest...severed head and all...but the 2nd Nathan? I had no clue where he was, but, apparently, he was on the top shelf of Joshua's closet. Joshua said he had to "use a golf club to whack him down."

Sweet, right?

I was really taken back by all of this, because Joshua thought of this all on his own. He was so excited to surprise Holly. I seriously almost lost it when he told me about this (turns out I wouldn't be the only one).

I told Jim and the boys about Joshua's gift, so we all knew it was coming. We saved it for last. Holly opened the bag. Joshua had written a "poem" to her about the baby. On the outside of the note, he wrote something like, "a great treasure for your baby is inside this bag."

She opened it up, and pulled out Nathan. I recorded the whole thing and posted it to my Facebook and IG (martythemoose). To say she was shocked would be an understatement. She started crying...and then she laughed...and then she cried.

SHE KNEW what a special gift this was.

Joshua said, "I don't need him anymore...it's your baby's turn."

(sniff)

Nathan is a little bunged up, a little dirty...and he may have every disease known to man on him...but we were all so touched by Joshua's selfless gift.

"Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:13