Merry Christmas 2008

It is hard to believe that it has been a year since the last Christmas card mailing. 2008 has been full of fun, excitement, challenges and blessings. I thought that instead of writing the traditional paragraph style Christmas letter, I would share with you how God has worked in our lives to turn each challenge into a blessing.

Challenge: balancing life with a one year old, a very special 11 year old, and a 12 year old

Blessing: becoming a family of 5. Zachary finally realized that Ava is here to stay and that she is not an “it” but a “she.” He now says “get her” instead of “get it” when he wants her out of his room. Ava adores Jacob more than I could have ever imagined and I think Jacob feels the same. Jacob reminds me that he will be 30 when Ava graduates from high school. Definitely a blessing! He can be there when her first date picks her up!

Challenge: getting Zachary to sleep in his own bed all night without coming into our bed every night at 2:00am

Blessing: discovering that this was our challenge not Zachary’s. Victor and I had put off “making” him sleep in his own bed. I can’t tell you how many times we said, “this is the week that we are going to make it happen.” Truth is, it only took two nights and that was it. No crying, no protest at all! Now it is hard to wake him up in the mornings. So the blessing is seeing how much God has taught us through precious Zachary!

Challenge: adjusting to life with an infant in the house AGAIN

Blessing: being able to savor each moment while knowing what is to come over the next 12 years. We are such different parents to Ava than we were to the boys. Not better, just different. I have not been able to really describe it or explain why we are different. I can only say that we are calmer, more patient, and believe it or not flexible. Why we are different? My thought is that we have seen God’s miracle of life go from an infant to a middle school student. We don’t stress over the little things but take each in and realize that each moment of each day is a gift to be cherished. Yes, there are still moments of chaos but they are brief and quickly forgotten.

Challenge: knowing the fact that siblings of autistic children are more likely to be in the autistic spectrum than their peers who are in families with no children with autism

Blessing: BELIEVING not just saying or thinking, but truly believing and trusting that God created each of us for a unique purpose. The LORD will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore. PSALM 121:7-8. This verse is painted on the wall by Ava’s crib and is a reminder to me that whatever His plan is, it is good! Over the past year, we have watched Ava and celebrated each milestone including crawling, turning when you say her name, and each new word. She is quite the talker! She even says “hi” with the sweetest southern accent. And of course the boys have taught her to say football.

Updates on all of us – Victor is in his second year as Principal at Youree Drive MS, I have a new position as Associate Vice Chancellor of Academic Services at LSUS, Jacob is in the 7th grade and still loves soccer, golf, hunting and art. Yes, hunting! He successfully completed his hunter safety course this fall. Zachary is in the 4th grade at a new elementary school and has the same special education teacher, and little Ava is 14 and ½ months old and changes every week. Big surprise – she has light hair and blues eyes. Victor’s parents are well and continue to enjoy retirement. My Dad continues to work and my Mom is having a hip replaced New Year’s Eve. She hosted her big Christmas open house with much pain and cannot put it off any longer. Please pray she recovers quickly so that she can get back to life. Especially meaningful to us is the care she provides all of her grandchildren when we are at work or in need of a helping hand. Victor’s parents will be helping out while she is recovering.

In closing, we are so blessed and thank God each day for the way He shows us how challenges are just blessings waiting to be discovered. We pray that during this Christmas season and New Year that you will discover an abundance of blessings! Love, Victor, Melissa, Jacob, Zachary & Ava Mainiero

A little peek into me!

Before you read this, there is a little disclaimer! I am sure that I am not the only one that does things like this especially this time of year but it makes me feel better to put out there for all to read and know that we are not alone in this time of chaos. Raising children, working, taking care of our husbands, cleaning house, Christmas shopping, baking (yes, on occassion I do bake), wrapping presents, mailing cards, and this that and everything.

So this is my life. I was out of town at a conference last saturday the 6th through tuesday the 9th, came back sick, we hosted the Youree Drive Middle School Christmas party at our house Friday the 12th , hosted a sunday school class party at our house saturday the 13th, cooked for and attended my parents' open house sunday the 14th, monday still sick and back to the doctor this is where the fun begins - yes chaos seems to begin -

This morning I am getting ready as usual, nothing out of the ordinary. Does anyone else out there multitask? I don't mean thinking while driving (that is how Victor describes his multitasking). I mean really multitasking! I am sure that I already knew I did this but this morning I really saw inside myself. I was brushing my teeth and became distressed when I could not find something else to do while brushing my teeth. WHAT?!!? Was I seriously thinking, "I have to do two things at once even in the two minute time span of brushing my teeth?" Yes, I was! Do I need medication? Surely this is described in a some physician desk reference somewhere!

Then I make the comment to Victor that I was surprised that I weighed _____ when I was at the doctor's office this week. I will not put a number here. I will say that it was not much less than I weighed in my last month of pregnancy. So what does Victor say? "I would never guess that you weigh that much." Not upsetting now that we have been married for almost 14 years but Jacob had a response after hearing this. Mom, what he should have said was, "in my mind you weigh just what you did when we got married." Very funny! Too bad Victor did not hear him and I am still wondering how he came up with that!

So as the week comes to an end, I look ahead at all that needs to be accomplished before December 25th.
Prepare food for office lunch Friday
Bake Christmas Cookies
Mail Cards
Finish Shopping
Wrap Gifts
and all of the other things I am forgetting!

If any of you have ideas on how to be an efficient multitasker without loosing your mind, PLEASE give me a crash course!

How does a little girl spend her time when...

...she has a 12 year old brother? That's right, gets in the middle of all of the fun he is having with his friends. I remember being the little sister of a brother who slammed many doors in my face when I wanted to see what he and his friends were up to. At this point, Jacob is still allowing her to be in the middle. He even lets her push all of the buttons. We will see how long that lasts!