we did it!

what a difference a year makes

"we did it! we did it! Praise Jesus, we did it!"

did I climb Mount Everest? nope
did I traverse nations near and far? nope
did I cure cancer? nope
did I come up with the newest invention? nope
I simply kept all 4 of my children alive, my marriage in tact, and at least the majority of my sanity in the first year of my twins life!!
I feel like super woman, I feel like I could do anything, I feel like with God and me together there's nothing we can't do! (or survive)
When I was a younger Mom, with only 1 child, I remember telling a friend that I felt like there was more I wanted from my life- more I wanted to do for God than simply be a wife and a Mom. I told her that I wanted to do something big and wonderful and "be somebody" for God; not just scoot through life as an ordinary Christian. Well, I got my hearts desire and more. My life is the farthest thing from ordinary that I could ever want; my relationship with God is not even close to being ordinary and I have done something great and wonderful- I survived an entire year with 4 little children, 4 children aged 2, 1 and zero at the beginning of this journey!
In one week we will be celebrating our twins 1st birthday and I feel like simply surviving this past year has been the greatest accomplishment of my life, to date!
 The thing is, though, that I did not survive this first year of my babies' life on my own. They say it takes a village to raise a child and I don't know about that, but I do know that it takes a village to raise twins and I also know that we were blessed with one of the best "villages" surrounding us. I truly wish that I could write a "post" on here, thanking each person by name for what they did...but, not only would it be pages and pages and pages in length, but to be honest- I don't even know or remember who all helped us and what all they did. (I'm still not sure I'm out of my sleep deprived "fog" but I definitely am doing a lot better than when we first brought our m&m's home!) From the people that brought us meals, to the ones that took our older kids for a few hours, to the ones that set up "help" schedules, to the ones that sat at our house while our kids were sleeping so Korey and I could go for a quick walk together, to the ones that handed down twin clothes, twin strollers, twin books and twin advice, to the ones that gave diapers and wipes, to the ones that prescribed medicine for my mastitis over the phone so I didn't have to bring my preemie babies to the clinic, to the one who rode with me to the hospital and held oxygen on my baby's nose, to the ones who took care of us in our 2 hospital stays, to the ones who brought treats and or coffee to the hospital, to the ones who sat with me and prayed with me and made me laugh at some of my darkest moments, to the ones who held my babies on mommy's night out so I could come and enjoy myself, to the ones who braved the chaos and came over to hang out with me, to the ones who braved the chaos and invited me and the kids over, to the ones who texted me and kept reminding me that I wasn't alone and that you cared, to the ones who called and put up with screaming kids to listen to me cry, to the ones who didn't forget about Hailey and Jackson, to the ones who didn't judge us when our kids came to church "tattooed" with pen and marker from head to toe, to the ones who loved on us despite our irrational behavior, to the ones who made and brought us christmas cookies, to the ones who offered free babysitting,  to the ones that prayed for our marriage, prayed for our kids and prayed for my sanity, to the ones that said nice things, gave positive feedback, or encouraged us, to the ones who were there for us- who came diligently, to the one who slept over, to the ones who did things that I forgot and things that I may not have even known about! To all of you, I owe the deepest and most heartfelt thank you that I can muster! To all of you, I owe a debt of gratitude that I can never re-pay! To all of you, I owe it all! I'm sitting at my computer with tears streaming down my face in thankfulness and immense gratitude for all that you have selflessly given and been to me this past year. I know I could not have done it without each one of you and it was because of each one of you that I can say that I did it and I survived the hardest year of my life!!(so far...one never knows what's to come, right?!)