Originally from December, 2010
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of our dear ones from the Twedt family! I thought I would start this year’s letter with an experience I had this summer in Florida at the MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) Convention.
During Convention, I was lucky enough to hear Donald Miller, author of Blue Like Jazz and A Million Miles In A Thousand Years speak on leading better lives for ourselves, our families, our communities, the world and for God. Don spoke about daring to dream bigger dreams and challenged us to go home and play the What If? game with our families. Basically, we were asked to write What if…? in the middle of a giant piece of paper and dare our family members to fill in the blank.
Immediately I thought of the possibilities. What if Greg and I took our children to the camp I worked at in Romania? What if we took our children to visit our friends in Tanzania or China? What if we applied for international adoption? But the more I listened to Don speak, the more I was certain God was saying something entirely different about the immediate future. One single question kept coming back to me. What if….?
I couldn’t wait to tell Greg about the What If? game! Unfortunately, he thought it was pretty lame, especially after I filled in the blank. Greg doesn’t find Donald Miller very funny or even inspiring. I think he fell asleep watching the free DVD lecture that came with Blue Like Jazz. Then again, maybe Greg’s just jealous of the picture I have of Don and me from when I met him in Florida, except my sweet husband doesn’t have a jealous bone in his body.
After much praying, tons of confirmation, a slow change of Greg’s heart, and a semi-surprise, we are pleased to announce that our What If? is in the works and will come to pass this July. It may seem little and insignificant to some, this What If? of ours, but for us, it dares us to dream beyond what’s comfortable and prompts our hearts to trust God more by taking a giant leap of faith. By the way, our What If? is this: What if we had another baby?
I realize that being pregnant with #3 is hardly a surprise to many of you. Yet the drama queen in me couldn’t resist setting it up like that. I suppose it makes for a top-heavy Christmas letter, but I’m totally okay with it this year.
Moving on to each family member: Greg turned the big 4-0 this August and does’t look a day past his early 30s. Even though I’m eight years younger I’m insanely jealous of his youthful looks and boyish charm. Much like years past he is involved with the Men of Hunger Bible Study and is still plucking away at the garage. I think the stainless countertop for his workbench is all that’s left. Then again, I tend to avoid any and all conversation about the garage so there’s probably a lot to do that I either don’t know or conveniently blocked out.
Right after Greg’s 40th we became uncle and auntie to Amelia Dean Andrews, compliments of my stepbrother Ben and his wife Jennifer in Tennessee. The following month I returned to MOPS, but this time to a new volunteer position in leadership. I’m loving every minute of it, or most moments anyway. Last year I wrote about how God was teaching me not to wait for courage but to trust Him and rely on His strength. Little did I know that He was preparing me for something to come. A few months later I had the opportunity to share my life story with about 75 women at MOPS. God is so good! I actually liked speaking in front of everyone, which was a shocker since I dread public speaking. I believe God was glorified when I shared my experience of how he brought me through an eating disorder in college and taught me to love Him with my whole heart. He loves each of us so very much and all He wants from us is our heart willing to love Him and follow him.
But enough about Greg and me. It’s time to spice this letter up and play the What If? game to talk about the kids.
What if Steven is healed? What if his vision is fully restored and his eye muscles stabilize? What if?…These are the dreams dearest to our hearts and what we’re hoping for, praying for and waiting for. My heart hurts thinking of the last year and a half and all we’ve been through with Steven. In January we received a 3rd opinion, which we were certain would be positive, only to find out Steven really does have Morning Glory Syndrome. Less than 1 in 5 million folks in the US have MGS, and our little guy has a rare form of it. Nice. Then sometime around the beginning of the year, a spot on Steven’s optic nerve was discovered. Now the word cancer was never spoken aloud, but after loosing my dad to cancer that’s exactly where my mind went. Turns out everything is fine, and we’re praising God for it, but under doctor’s orders we had to put our boy under anesthesia for a MRI to make sure nothing was wrong with his brain, which sometimes happens with MGS.
The latest is that Steven’s right optic nerve is normalizing. We were told that this happens with MGS but that it always goes back. It’s not gone back. Do I dare say miracle? I’m trusting that God fearfully and wonderfully made Steven’s eyes and has an amazing plan for them, a plan that will display His glory, splendor and majesty, along with His goodness, compassion and love. Back to my question: What if Steven is healed? Well then, God will certainly be glorified because it wouldn’t be for any effort on Steven’s part! He’s fully mastered the ability to remove his contacts, he constantly warps the frames of his glasses beyond recognition and damages the lenses from chewing on them. I must say though, Steven’s specialty happens to be ripping off patches with a vengeance It’s all supposed to get easier as he gets older, but frankly at just shy of 2, Steven is stronger and more determined not to cooperate than he was a year ago. Don’t get me wrong, we LOVE the care we receive under Dr. P. She’s the best pediatric optometrist around. “Doctor,” and Miss Rachel the receptionist, are like family and we love them dearly. All of that aside, we’ll be happy for the day when we just bring Steven in once a year for his annual eye exam, as we do Emily.
Speaking of almost 4-year-old Emily, It’s her turn for the What If? game. What if…? What if Emily actually ate dinner without pitching a fit? Now that would be the ultimate miracle, perhaps greater than Steven’s healing! Now I’m the first to admit that I prayed long and hard for boldness and compassion for both of our children when I was pregnant with them. And I know that Emily was also fearfully and wonderfully made without mistake. But the thought has crossed my mind that maybe I should have dropped the boldness and focused a bit more on praying for compassion when praying for Emily, except she’s a very compassionate little girl too. I want to honor our daughter in this Christmas letter, so I will be quick to point out that things are about 90% better than they were in years past. It’s just that Emily is one smart little girl who dearly loves to control things. She’ll make a great CEO one day. Emily loves preschool with Teacher Nicky and Teacher Linda, although she doesn’t tell us much about it. We do hear all about her new friend Audrey at preschool. Whenever Emily says Audrey she says her name with the perfect British accent just like Teacher Nicky’s, which I secretly adore. I mean, really, who hasn’t secretly tried to impersonate the British? Oh, just me? Anyway, Greg and I are amazed that every day at school Emily’s mind is filled with learning and fun and wonder and that her heart is filled with God’s truth and love, often blowing us away with the things she says. Like her brother, Emily is a joy and a delight and we love being her mommy and daddy.
That brings us to the end of this year’s Christmas letter. We love each of you so very much, especially those we don’t get to see often. We pray that 2011 will be the year that God dares you to dream beyond what you know and take comfort in. We can’t wait to hear how you and your family answer the question that rocked our world: What if…?
Love,
Greg, Nicole, Emily, Steven and Baby-to-be