'Twas the night before Christmas...

If you would have asked me a month ago what we would have been doing on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning this year, I would never have guessed it... yes, it's official... my baby girl spent her first Christmas in a shelter!! Here's the story...
We spent the couple of days before Christmas in Gainesville with Chad's family. We had taken Chad's truck because we had a lot of gifts (and several big ones) and didn't think we could fit it all in the car. When we woke up Christmas Eve morning and saw that it was raining, Chad's parents graciously agreed to let us take their mini van to my family's house in Edmond since the weather was going to keep us from putting everything in the back of the truck. Having no idea that a snow storm was coming, we headed south on 35 about 20 miles to Krum so that we could have breakfast with Chad's extended family before heading north to Oklahoma City. We should have headed to Oklahoma right when we woke up, but none of us had been watching the weather (obviously)! Around 11:15 my parents called and said that there was a really bad blizzard coming and that we needed to pack water, blankets, and snacks, just in case, and to get on the road immediately. None of us knew that this was going to be the worst snow storm since 1914 or we would have stayed at that point. We got our stuff together quickly and headed out.
We were doing well and being very cautious, but I'll just go ahead and say it right here... what normally would be a 2 1/2 hour trip became a 22 hour trip. At 2:50 pm (mile marker 104) we came to a complete stop. Here is what we stared at thru our front window...
I know what most of you are thinking... how bad can it be? They have a newborn and a 2 year old. I'm sure they were sleeping. Right? Uh, no! I have a 2 year old who has never taken a nap in his car seat in his life, so we had about a 3 hour meltdown! (This was when I was naively under the impression that we were going to start moving so I wouldn't let him out of his car seat).

Since Cohen was screaming at the top of his lungs, there was no way that Channing was going to sleep...

Finally, after I realized that we were probably going to be stuck in this storm thru the night, I let him out of his seat to walk around. Channing was thankful for this too...

Thankfully I am breastfeeding or we would have been up a creek. We had no formula in the car! We started rationing food when we realized that this was serious. We wanted to have something for Cohen for dinner and breakfast, and I just had a little and kept drinking water so that I could feed Channing. Cohen was so sweet... he kept trying to feed Chad and Chad would say "I'm full, you eat it." I really did feel like I was in a movie.

We did make a lot of good memories in the car... how did we go to the bathroom you might ask? There was no way that I was going to get out in a blizzard to go pee. Luckily Cohen had about 6 sippy cups packed in his suitcase... let's just say I filled up 2 of them.

We also somehow made it out without a single book, so Chad and I took turns making up stories. That was pretty interesting.

We had an old tissue that we wadded up and used as a "ball" and found an ink pen that we used as a "bat" and played "baseball" for a good 30 minutes.

We also took turns saying what we were thankful for. Cohen said "I'm thankful for Jesus, and David, and Goliath" (his go to answers right now). Chad said "I'm thankful for our family and that we are all together on Christmas Eve, even if we're stuck in a snow storm." And I said, "I'm thankful for sippy cups." We all laughed... I don't think Cohen knew why, but he laughed anyway.

We also spent some time praying with Cohen. We asked God to help us get out of this storm and to keep us safe. I remember thinking, "God, I really hope you answer this so that Cohen can see how you work." Well, I didn't think it would be answered like He did... later that night we got a knock on the window. It was a guy from a church at mile marker 104 (right where we "happened" to be stuck) saying that the highway was going to be shut down for at least the rest of the night and that they were opening their church as a shelter. We were able to follow some trucks and slowly make it over to the church. We are so grateful for the Goldsby Baptist Church and the community of Goldsby. They truly showed Christ to us and hundreds of other people that night. People from the church somehow made it in to bring blankets so that we could sleep on the sanctuary floor. The pastor called the lady who owns the corner store and she opened it up so that they could feed everyone sandwiches. Several of the church members stayed there thru the night and cooked a hot breakfast for everyone around 5 am on Christmas morning. And the worship pastor and some of the singers came and sang Christmas carols to try and lift everyone's spirits while the pastor read the story of Christmas from the bible. I saw several people crying. I'm not sure if it's because they were frustrated with the cirmustances of being away from their friends and family on Christmas or because they were touched by the body of believers who came together to rescue us. Either way, the Lord worked that night.

Around 9 am on Christmas morning, we finally arrived at my parent's house. Since Santa couldn't come while we were asleep that night, he came while Cohen took his nap that afternoon. We also made Christmas cookies...

And played in the snow.... we had to put ziploc bags and duck tape on Cohen's feet since I didn't bring snow shoes (like i said... no idea!)

I love this picture of his cold face. That hat was my dad's when he was a little boy... he was a Colts fan even before the Manning days.

Playing with Chaney in the snow!

I had to wrap up Channing real quick and get a snow picture. Ignore me... still in my pj's!

Chandy, Chaney, Chad, and Cohen built a snowman.

Later that day we opened presents... I think he likes the new sunglasses

Channing and Chandy taking a break on the couch. All the present opening was a little too much for them.

Cohen playing his new guitar with Papa!

His new football helmet... it might be a little big.

The next Romo!

Going back a few days... Cohen and Jake had a lot of cousin time.

I love this picture of Jake...

They also got to play with their 2nd cousin, Gavin. Look at all that blond hair!

Checking out the new toys...

Jake wanted to be doing whatever Cohen was doing and playing with whatever Cohen was playing with. It was pretty cute!

Just had to stick this in there... this is a little piece of heaven!

We were able to get one family pic.

We celebrated with the Shelton side the weekend before and Cohen was the one following all the older cousins around this time. Here is being taught how to play dominoes by the older boys.

Love this pic!

And last but not least, my Meemaw holding her new great-grandbaby!