♥ Wishing You Love at Christmas and Always ♥

Yesterday, after a particularly difficult few months, there was a burning question on my heart:

What is love?

During the day, I received numerous texts and e-mails and calls from people wishing me a wonderful holiday. Friends sending me love, just because it was on their heart to do so. Long time friends... work friends... brothers and sisters in the wind... and my children. All of this contact unexpected.

In the mail, I received cards from many of you and gifts with wishes for a wonderful holiday. An ornament I will always treasure (thank you Dave!). A t-shirt from overseas that I can't wait to wear (thank you Suzanne & Albin!). So many cards with thoughts and well wishes that filled my heart with overwhelming gratefulness for God bringing each of you into my life.

Sometimes people listen to that voice in their heart, reach out, and make a difference without ever knowing what they have done. They give us what we need in the moment when we feel at our most alone. Thank you my friends... for listening... for sending me what I needed without you even knowing it. Many of you know how difficult Christmas has been for me these past few years. You have given to me all that I need.

I have said this all my life: I have the most caring friends in the world. You are the best Christmas gift I could ever receive. I wish the same for each of you. I wish you love beyond measure, joy abundant, and hope for all good things in the approaching new year.

Last night, my son and his girlfriend brought home a new member to our family for Christmas. Her name is Sophie and she's got a lot of spunk! She is enjoying climbing on all the furniture, running through the hallway into the living room, and standing on my keyboard as I type... HA! LOL (I'm loving it!)

And then I knew... I knew what love is for me.

Holding her, loving her at first site, love just "is" for me. I don't choose who I love although I do choose who will be allowed beyond my defenses. My only choice when I love someone is how much do I trust you... not how much do I love you. And it has nothing to do with whether or not you love me.

Love...

For me it exists the minute you touch my core. It stays with me always. What I feel when I love is seared into my soul. It will never go away. Helen Keller said, "What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us."

Know this my friends... you have become a part of my heart forever.

Sometimes it seems that loving others brings us pain. It's not the loving that hurts us. It's never painful to love someone else. It is what comes with the act of giving your love away that can bring us to our knees and cut us to the core. If you are feeling a loss this Christmas, always know that eventually you will get back up again. Never regret loving. It is the most valuable gift you can give someone else. Never stop loving. You will die if you do.

And always remember: Love heals.

When you can separate the pain you feel from the love you feel, you can then move on and breathe again. Breathe through whatever it is you are going through today and know that people care for you. Never doubt it. You are loved. Don't give up. Don't lay down and die. Put one foot in front of the other and know that loving someone is never wrong. It might just be that it is not right for them to love you in return.

Merry Christmas to all my family and friends. May love embrace you this new year and give you all of what you need in life.

Laugh always. Live without regrets. Love without expectations.

Meet Sophie (getting to know Samantha and Faith below).
She is a cutie!!! Thank you Amira and Joel, for bringing her home for me to love... she is wonderful!

p.s. She needs a kitty house to claw... my chairs are gonna be in shreds soon! LOL :)